My Vertical Bartop "CLASSIC CADE" lots of pics and a short Video UPDATE 16.12.12

[Coolin]

Hey guys
just thought I would share my old/new project. This is something I thought up last year and no sooner had I started my wife presented me with a lovely baby boy and scuppered my plans in the process and spare time has been at a premium this year. That aside now things are getting easier and I am managing to get a little me time at last so have decided to put the project back on full steam ahead

The idea was to make a small vertical bartop which I could use as an up and running prototype so I can work on the frontend at my leisure, this I will do over the next several months as every game has to be customised which is a long drawn out process. If everything turns out as expected I intend to make a half size scale donkey kong using my custom frontend to go in the boys playroom

I never really plan anything as such as I prefer to scribble a few ideas on paper, transfer them straight onto 6mm MDF as router profile templates and using these cut the parts for the project usually from 16mm MDF but on this occasion I used 12mm as seen below.

my original profiles (bottom) with project pieces above


After a couple of modifications to my profiles and a couple more re-cuts till I was happy I then added a couple of bracers and set about assembling via PVA and a few screws
I did not want the screen to lay too far back and was trying to keep it from looking too boxy hence the curve on the rear of the profile



A couple of clamps overnight and it was starting to look like something I envisaged


During this time I had also been working on the hardware, I was given an old shuttle PC which was quiet and more than powerful enough for my tastes and paired it with a 15in Dell monitor which I won on eBay for £5 so the total cost inc the wood (offcuts from local DIY place) comes in at a whopping £13 lol.

Since the above which was mostly done last year I have now done the following:

Made the CP out of an old XBox 360 DOA Arcade stick (eBay £17), this works great with my frontend however I replaced the actual Joysitck for a one I can sw 4/8 way as I am a sucker for the classics.

I have mounted the PC onto what will be the back of the Bartop and replaced the 2.5 SATA drive for a small SSD to improve boot and game loading times.

Stripped the case off the monitor as I need the smallest frame possible for my concept to work.

Bought some small speakers from my mates computer shop (£9) these may not be cutting edge Audiophile kit but they still belt out a mean pacman chomp which is all I need hehe

Designed the decals which are basically a rehash off a previous project, they are a little over the top in eye-candy stakes but they will do.

Finally today I cut the slots for the t-moulding and primed the cab ready for the decals which should be ready this weekend

I am away to Cyprus on my Jollies this coming sunday for 7 days but I will try to get the decals and kit in place and post a couple of pics before I head off but in the meantime a few progress pics so far

Primed and ready for decals


XBox arcade stick stripped and fitted


Organised Chaos but all working and ready for cab


work done in illustrator they will be printed in high quality colour matched and protected under a laminate layer
as I said a sucker for the classics, they may look a little strange but once fitted and trimmed to size should suffice


Well thats it for now I know its been done before in every shape and form but hopefully my cab coupled with a vertical front end and its custom games will give a new approach to an old formula. I already have several games working really nice and im excited how it all turns out.

thanks for looking

[sunnyp]

Looking great so far - loved your last effort.  Where abouts will you get the artwork printed?

[Seith]

I love the "House Rules" - any chance I could get an illustrator or photoshop file of that?  Hilarious.

[Coolin]

Looking great so far - loved your last effort.  Where abouts will you get the artwork printed?

I get it done from a mates work colleague and he charges me £45 per sq mtr. I'm not sure if this expensive or not but The quality is outstanding and I'm told its done on a 20k + machine. On top of that he has redone a couple of jobs for free as the art got messed up. I'm not sure if a decal company would redo FOC in the same circumstances

[Coolin]

I love the "House Rules" - any chance I could get an illustrator or photoshop file of that?  Hilarious.

I got it from arcade art library here:

http://arcadeartlibrary.com/arcade_art/index.php?sessionid=936011d80395b593ad7807e27e20f3e1

Regards Colin

[Coolin]

Well back off me travels and straight to work. The decals arrived shortly before my holiday/vacation and as usual I was blown away by the quality, best of all was the protective layer which covered the artwork (laminated) It was incredibly thin, not washing out the colours whatsoever and gave uber protection 

note the CP which I completed before I left on my hols


I opted for a simple CP layout which I think tones down the overblown EyeCandy on the sides and along with the white speakers and T moulding compliments the overall colour scheme.
I'm well chuffed with the overall look and although probably not everyones cup of tea it works for me 


The white philips speakers seemed to be made for this project, they are more than enough for my classic games and best of all cost less than a tenner (approx $14)


A close up of the Control Panel.
I know its a little cheesy but Classic Cade is all I could come up with at the time and at least it gives it a name of sorts.


Well thats it for now but after I figure a couple of niggling problems i'll install the gubbins and try get some progress posted for next week.
Thanks for looking

[Coolin]

Hey guys

Due to a few niggling problems holding me up I have finally made a little progress and installed the PC. However before I was able to do this I had to redesign the bottom to help with cooling and also give access to the joystick for 4/8 way switching. The back also acquired a hand hole which doubles up as an outlet for the warm air generated while its switched on and the back decal was applied.

The bottom has also acquired some nice feet to raise it off the base, this is aiding airflow up through the cab helped on by the PSU who's intake is drawing air up from the bottom and pushing it out towards the top.

The SSD HD is held in place with velcro as is the PSU so the bottom can be removed if needed in the future.

I need to source some edging to trim round the hand hole giving it a nice finish (any ideas apart from splitting some rubber tubing?)

note the PC power button below the hand hole this will be fixed in place and eventually changed for something a little nicer in the future.


I was originally going to paint the back with black, but as I had a little spare room on my decal workspace I decided to print something simple which I am now more than happy to have done. The rear curves look much nicer in the flesh as do the decals and overall finish but the camera doesn't seem to capture it so good.


I will fit the monitor this weekend and if everything is working as it should ill post a few progress pics with the frontend running if I get the time.

Thanks for looking Col x

[griffindodd]

Great stuff, I really like the colors and layout. Usually splattering characters all over a cab just doesn't work, but somehow you have managed to get away with it, I think the minature size makes it come together.

[rablack97]

nice job man....maybe next time, laminate it first or throw a few coats of primer, sand and then some gloss black, let it cure...

this will give you a smooth surface to put your graphics on, so indentions or orange peel...

[Ond]

This looks tasty!  I like the color combo in the art.

[Coolin]

nice job man....maybe next time, laminate it first or throw a few coats of primer, sand and then some gloss black, let it cure...

this will give you a smooth surface to put your graphics on, so indentions or orange peel...

I did a few coats of primer and sanded between coats on the sides and CP. These are perfect however I was originally just going to paint the back black as its rarely seen but later decided to add a decal.
Due to the fact all my PC gubbins were already in place it would have meant stripping it down to get a decent finish which would have been the best option, but tbh it looks worse in the pics than it actually is due to the lighting conditions and if it comes back to haunt me the back is easily removed and I can always redo it.

[emphatic]

Looks very well built.

[Coolin]

Well quite an update and although there are a few things left to do it was up and running for the family pre-xmas get together and I am so glad as it proved to be a big hit.

I have used Maximus Arcade for many reasons but for me its easy to configure for any screen format or size and its really snappy unlike some that spring to mind. I will do a little video of the front end in the next month or so but for now here is a few screenies of it which will give you an idea of what I am trying to achieve.

I have set it up in 1024 x 768 on the dell 15in monitor mounted Vertically, this is my 4th rendition that may change as may the marquee in the future but for not it suits my purpose and more importantly lets me hammer away on some of my fav games. I have set it to cycle through 4 sets of games Classics (as shown) Shmups, Neo Geo, All Games. This pretty much covers my play style and favorite genres.

Try to imaging the black border as wood separating the game screen from the marquee as I have a 10mm piece of perspex sandwiched between 2 strips of wood to give the effect its separate from the main screen. It gives a weird prism like effect that you can only appreciate in real life I have tried to capture with a camera but to no avail. I will try again after the holidays.



I did originally try to utilise as many original bezels into the project as possible but I canned this as the actual game area was quite small in a lot of cases as can be seen from the couple of shots below


and another example, very nice but again losing lots of gaming real estate. The bonus is I can easily swap bezels on the fly should I wish but after playing the larger counterparts I much prefer not to


So I came up with a quick and simple generic bezel designed on PS this is the vertical one which has an identical Horz version


and another quickly knocked up alternative that suited certain NGeo games. both these bezels maximise my games screen size to 10.5in on the diagonal which is perfect for a cab of this size


Although I haven't been able to capture the bezel correctly I hope you can get an idea of what I have achieved, also the screen is much nicer IRL as it looks washed out in the pics, It is actually much brighter, more colourful and the blacks are blacker for want of a better description lol. Maybe its the angle I shot the photo. Anyway I will try at a later date to capture this.


A real gamer in the making my son just loves it although its only button bashing ATM


Finally a little video spin to see it in all its glory. I will at a later date do a one with narration to show off the front end if anyone is interested.


Thanks for looking and happy holidays to you all Col x

[Jumpman64]

That is a cool little bartop.  I like the custom bezel with control labels. 

[Eldritch1969]

Cool little bartop !   
I love vertical bartops !!
Can we publish here at bartopmania, we have a thread going on with cool bartops from all over the web, and yours sure looks nice ?
Thx

[kuchta]

This is a great bartop. I love how compact you were able to keep it. If you have time to put it on a scale, I'd be interested in knowing how much this weighs. I'm looking to make a bartop in the near future and want to try to keep the weight down. Your project seems to be a great example of how to do this. Awesome job!

[Coolin]

Cool little bartop !   
I love vertical bartops !!
Can we publish here at bartopmania, we have a thread going on with cool bartops from all over the web, and yours sure looks nice ?
Thx

Thanks and yep of course feel free, I will pop over and check you guys out too as there can never be enough bartop ideas on the go they have influenced me loads in the past and I've gleaned some cracking ideas for my projects

[Coolin]

This is a great bartop. I love how compact you were able to keep it. If you have time to put it on a scale, I'd be interested in knowing how much this weighs. I'm looking to make a bartop in the near future and want to try to keep the weight down. Your project seems to be a great example of how to do this. Awesome job!

Although its quite compact at a mere 11x18x13 (w.h.d.) it's quite a lump weighing in at a whopping 22lb that's in UK money btw.
The reason for this is I never attempted to cut the weight as it actually helps when you panic and mash the joystick in all directions to avoid losing a life. It basically just sits there solid and unmoving unlike my little ipad project that jumped around like a tap dancers fanny lol

This was made from MDF which is quite heavy in its self, that and the fact it has a full blown shuttle PC inside and quite an old dell monitor boosts the weight a lot. However if you are trying to ditch a lot of weight check out the stuff they use on furniture in small camper conversions in the UK it's called vohringer board it's ultra light and comes in lots of nice finishes. Next maybe consider an all in one board which come out of china I have a 60in1 which covers most of the true classics like DK, BB, SI, pacman ect ect ect. These are about the size of a small PC sound card and extremely light. The do bigger ones 360in1 ect ect which include neogeo ect but you could probs pick up a sh PC for a 10th of the price my last 3 off ebay cost less than $50 and play everything I throw at it arcade wise. Anyway I'm rambling again but it may give you food for thought whilst planning it out and good luck whichever way you decide to go.

[kuchta]

This is a great bartop. I love how compact you were able to keep it. If you have time to put it on a scale, I'd be interested in knowing how much this weighs. I'm looking to make a bartop in the near future and want to try to keep the weight down. Your project seems to be a great example of how to do this. Awesome job!

Although its quite compact at a mere 11x18x13 (w.h.d.) it's quite a lump weighing in at a whopping 22lb that's in UK money btw.

Thanks a lot for the info. I know I'll need a little heft, but I want to make something that won't be too difficult to move from room to room. I'll be using a 19" monitor, so I don't think I'll be able to keep mine as light as yours, but I'd be happy with anything close to that.

I also like how and where you implemented your handle. I'm thinking of doing something similar and was planning on using something like this, but your build looks pretty good bare, so I'll have to think a little more about it. Anyway, great job again!

[bluemini17]

I am in aw of your marquee design / integration. very clever idea! I must try that some time. I can see how it is going to take a while making the custom 'in game' bezels. 

David

[Eldritch1969]

Thanks Coolin'

Here's the thread on bartopmania :

http://bartopmania.com/index.php?t=msg&goto=162&#msg_162

[Coolin]

I am in aw of your marquee design / integration. very clever idea! I must try that some time. I can see how it is going to take a while making the custom 'in game' bezels. 

David

Actually its quite easy to customise a game for my frontend! once you are happy with a vertical and horz lay file just dump it into the artwork zip along with a marquee and whichever bezel takes 1min tops.

I now have several bezels to suit most games the only struggle is finding certain Marquees in a high enough rez

[markc74]

Wow - that IS nice! Loving the way you got the marquee space working - it really works well

Having the Exit and Pause labels as part of the display is a touch of genius too!

 

[felixuco]

  Amazing ĦĦĦ... it´s so beatifull, congratuletions for this job, l love it so much, only cuestion could you tell me sizes, using for made it the cabinet, i would like to do one for me  but i will use one monitor of 17 ",
Thanks a lot

[dmarcum99]

Is the monitor producing the marquee image while playing the game??  How was this accomplished?

I love the design of this bartop and hope to build something similar in the near future.   

[mgb]

Great job.

I love how it came out. The frontend looks terrific and I love the marquee on the monitor. 

[buzzyc]

Joined just to say how much I love this bartop Coolin!
I'd love to do something similar, and was wondering if you'd be willing to share any of your design plans/artwork templates that I could work off to make my own?

Thanks in advance.

[kingstonking]

i also want to ask you that is the monitor producing the marquee image while playing the game??

[sabreerbasAlpha]

I tell you what Coolin.. I love it. Simple, looks fantastic, I love the blue and white look to the Cab. Great job man..