Unstupid's Countertop Quarter Muncher... Prototype Done (mostly)

[Unstupid]

This is just a prototype to test fit, finish, durability and playability...  No artwork because this cab is going to end up in trash...  The final versions will have CP and side art.






Questions.... Go!

[emphatic]

The coinbox to cabinet size ratio is eeeeexcellent. *rubs hands like Mr. Burns*

Questions? Well, if you knew it was going into the trash, then why laminate or paint it?  Nice work, sir.

[CraftyMech]

Don't throw that cabinet away! Really nice work, I've also been reading your Ms. Pacman cocktail cabinet thread for ideas and inspiration.

I'm guessing with the color scheme and lack of player buttons that this project will be a dedicated Pacman (and variants) bartop using a 60-in-1 board?

[404]

throwing it away!?! You are aware that some people on this forum do not have an arcade of any kind and you are here gloating about throwing away an arcade!? 

[yotsuya]

C'mon, man! You need to either light it on fire or throw it off you roof! 

[Unstupid]

The coinbox to cabinet size ratio is eeeeexcellent. *rubs hands like Mr. Burns*

Questions? Well, if you knew it was going into the trash, then why laminate or paint it?  Nice work, sir.

Yes... That is the smallest coin box I could find,  I still ended up cutting off the coin box handle to get it to fit, but this is just a prototype... Will account for that in the next iteration.  Also I did not laminate or paint the box.  It is prelaminated plywood... The only thing I painted was the backside of the bezel and the aluminimum bezel retainer.

Don't throw that cabinet away! Really nice work, I've also been reading your Ms. Pacman cocktail cabinet thread for ideas and inspiration.

I'm guessing with the color scheme and lack of player buttons that this project will be a dedicated Pacman (and variants) bartop using a 60-in-1 board?

Thanks!  Glad I could be of inspiration.  Exactly.. This is a dedicated 60 in 1.  I have other CP configurations that will allow other games to be played.

throwing it away!?! You are aware that some people on this forum do not have an arcade of any kind and you are here gloating about throwing away an arcade!? 

Don't worry... Prototype means that there will be others.  Ive been working on this design for months and i have plenty of other iterations headed for the dump as well... BTW, besides testing for fit and finish, I'm also testing for "flat-pac"ability and shipability

[404]

at least give away the poor thing to someone nearby.

[Unstupid]

at least give away the poor thing to someone nearby.

Would be pretty useless to others unless they want to dump some money into it...  The hole is specific to a 10.4" monitor and nothing much larger will fit.... They would need a control panel... These are the same steel control panels that are used in a ms pac cocktail.  Also the tmolding slots on this cab are a little off cause when I was routing them on my router table there was dust getting underneath causing the slot to not be in the middle...  So I flipped it over and recut the slot but now it's too big to hold tight....  Also there it a little chip in the laminate you can see in the second picture. 

[Yvan256]

That's the problem with guys who have access to an industrial CNC router... their prototypes are better than most of our cabs. 

Why is your design lacking a marquee? Even a non-lighted, thin marquee at the top would be better than nothing at all, wouldn't it?

Will you design your flat-pack as full boards where people have to snap the tabs? That would simplify packaging and protect the main panels. The tabs being at the bottom of the panels would mean that any damage from removing them would be inside the cabinet, so no problem there.

[Unstupid]

Why is your design lacking a marquee? Even a non-lighted, thin marquee at the top would be better than nothing at all, wouldn't it?

Will you design your flat-pack as full boards where people have to snap the tabs? That would simplify packaging and protect the main panels. The tabs being at the bottom of the panels would mean that any damage from removing them would be inside the cabinet, so no problem there.

I toiled with the marquee for a couple of weeks and could not make it work..... the problem is that the machine is very narrow (less than 11" wide) since im using a Ms Pac cocktail CP.  And the height of the machine is just under 17".  Say I added a 3" marquee on top that would push the height of the cab around 20", almost double the width of the cab..  My main goal in this project is to make it as small as possible while being as playable as a full size machine.... Also the smaller size would make it easier and cheaper to ship, should I ever decise to do so... 

Still debating the flat pack idea...  problem is the machine was designed for specific hardware (monitor, CP, hinges, speaker, coin acceptor, power supply etc..).  Now do I offer a flat pack with a list of hardware for you to buy or do I just sell a fully assembled unit ready to go out of the box?  As far as the tab ideas...  heres the thing... I can build 4 cabs per 1 4x8 sheet of plywood but I can't build 1 cab per 1/4 sheet of plywood because of the way the parts nest.  also if they were tabbed I wouldnt be able to drill out the holes on the side of the plywood for the dowels and I also wouldnt be able to cut a slot for the tmolding. 

[TopJimmyCooks]

You're going a long way to get a coin mech in there.  Do you anticipate someone using this to make $ with?

[Unstupid]

You're going a long way to get a coin mech in there.  Do you anticipate someone using this to make $ with?

Let's say "No".    Don't know what kinda legal ramafications there would be should someone try and use a 60-in-1 board to make $...  Ya know!

[TopJimmyCooks]

Not making any judgement.  I see a 60 in one at every bowling alley around here set on $.50.  Just curious. 

[Unstupid]

 . Well the first one I build will be a dedicated Ms. Pac Man.  I plan on sending it to my sister on Kauai.  Her boyfriend owns a burrito shop and they have a little counter outside where people wait for their food and its the perfect place for this machine.  I'm not sure if she'll enable the coin slot or just set it up as free play for her waiting customers. 

[leapinlew]

I gotta say, go for the marquee. I have a build very similar to this one:


Dimensions are 11" wide x 20.5" tall x 19" deep. Go for it. I even jammed in a CRT monitor and the whole thing is pretty small.

[leapinlew]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

[Unstupid]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

I didn't determine the size of the control panel... That was done by Midway 30 years ago:  http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4474 These are steel control panels and 3/4" laminated plywood... This machine is not meant to be a scaled down replica of the actual machine... this machine is made to be used in the real world.

[leapinlew]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

I didn't determine the size of the control panel... That was done by Midway 30 years ago:  http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4474 These are steel control panels and 3/4" laminated plywood... This machine is not meant to be a scaled down replica of the actual machine... this machine is made to be used in the real world.

And they look great - just a little big. No worries. 

[Unstupid]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

I didn't determine the size of the control panel... That was done by Midway 30 years ago:  http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4474 These are steel control panels and 3/4" laminated plywood... This machine is not meant to be a scaled down replica of the actual machine... this machine is made to be used in the real world.

And they look great - just a little big. No worries. 

So does yours.... 

[leapinlew]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

I didn't determine the size of the control panel... That was done by Midway 30 years ago:  http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4474 These are steel control panels and 3/4" laminated plywood... This machine is not meant to be a scaled down replica of the actual machine... this machine is made to be used in the real world.

And they look great - just a little big. No worries. 

So does yours.... 

I think one of the big differences is the screen size. What are you using a 15" LCD? That definitely helps playability and sort of forces your height. Since you plan on using yours on location, do you think it will get enough attention without a marquee of any kind? I always thought it would've been cool to use, like a 17" or 19" widescreen and use the top portion of the monitor as the marquee and the rest as the playfield keeping the 4:3 scale and change out the marquee graphic depending on the game being played.


And FWIW, mine is used in the real world. It's very playable and is played fairly often.

P.S. how do you plan on adding action buttons? If you are using an original 4 way joystick, and judging by the bolt pattern you are, than it takes up a lot of space. Is there enough room?

[Unstupid]

If I had any aesthetic comment, it would be that the control panel is kind of deep for the size of the machine.

I didn't determine the size of the control panel... That was done by Midway 30 years ago:  http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4474 These are steel control panels and 3/4" laminated plywood... This machine is not meant to be a scaled down replica of the actual machine... this machine is made to be used in the real world.

And they look great - just a little big. No worries. 

So does yours.... 

I think one of the big differences is the screen size. What are you using a 15" LCD? That definitely helps playability and sort of forces your height. Since you plan on using yours on location, do you think it will get enough attention without a marquee of any kind? I always thought it would've been cool to use, like a 17" or 19" widescreen and use the top portion of the monitor as the marquee and the rest as the playfield keeping the 4:3 scale and change out the marquee graphic depending on the game being played.


And FWIW, mine is used in the real world. It's very playable and is played fairly often.

P.S. how do you plan on adding action buttons? If you are using an original 4 way joystick, and judging by the bolt pattern you are, than it takes up a lot of space. Is there enough room?

That's a 10.5" LCD... It has a smaller bezel so it makes it look larger which is why the CP looks so large...  It's hard to see how small it actually is without a frame of reference.  I should photograph it next to a coke can.  It's small but it is still very visible even without the marquee because the tmolding and screen pop against the black laminate.  A 15" widescreen would have been cool in portrait mode with the marquee on top but I think even those are too wide for the control panel.  Also I'm running a dedicated game on a 60-in-1 so I have no control of what is displayed on screen, unlike with mame where you can program digital marquee's and bezels.

I wasnt saying yours is not "real world" ready but the first machine i'm making will be placed outdoor under an eave.  So it will be protected from direct rain but it will be sussceptible to ocean mist, large humidity changes,  direct sunlight, as well as people spilling their drinks on it etc....  Not to mention people will be pulling on tugging on it all day (hopefully).  This is why I used 3/4" laminated plywood and steel control panels rather than 1/2" MDF.  The 1/2" MDF looks better because its the right width for such a small cab, but I wouldnt expect it to last more than a couple months out there before it starts to fall apart.

The first cab I'm building will be a dedicated Ms Pac, so it will not need any action buttons, only the Joystick and the 1 and 2 player buttons which you see there.  That is an original 4 way mounting plate but I replaced the joystick with a JLW.  For other configurations I have a couple sets of blank panels that I'm going to try and fit a 2 1/4" trackball to do games like centipede etc..  For games like galaga, donkey kong etc I have some sets of these:


I'll just plug one of the holes and throw some artwork on top.   

[Unstupid]

Soda can for a frame of reference....

[CraftyMech]

With the 60-1 board have you noticed with Ms Pacman the opening board is sometimes the wrong color? Wondering if it is just my board.. the opening level is sometimes purple, and if I die it turns back to orange. Probably an emulation quirk I guess.

[leapinlew]

With the 60-1 board have you noticed with Ms Pacman the opening board is sometimes the wrong color? Wondering if it is just my board.. the opening level is sometimes purple, and if I die it turns back to orange. Probably an emulation quirk I guess.

Mame does that and so did the actual arcade game. I notice it happens the most when the person before me gets past the banana stage.

[yotsuya]

With the 60-1 board have you noticed with Ms Pacman the opening board is sometimes the wrong color? Wondering if it is just my board.. the opening level is sometimes purple, and if I die it turns back to orange. Probably an emulation quirk I guess.

Mame does that and so did the actual arcade game. I notice it happens the most when the person before me gets past the banana stage.

Didn't it have something to do with the timing of when you coinup?

[leapinlew]

With the 60-1 board have you noticed with Ms Pacman the opening board is sometimes the wrong color? Wondering if it is just my board.. the opening level is sometimes purple, and if I die it turns back to orange. Probably an emulation quirk I guess.

Mame does that and so did the actual arcade game. I notice it happens the most when the person before me gets past the banana stage.

Didn't it have something to do with the timing of when you coinup?

Thats a good question. Either way, the problem sounds serious and dangerous. Crafty, you better send me your 60-n-1 for proper disposal.

[CraftyMech]

Thats a good question. Either way, the problem sounds serious and dangerous. Crafty, you better send me your 60-n-1 for proper disposal.

Sure thing! Just send me $75 in postage, Post Office rates keep going up

[Woodshop Flunky]

You're work is always very clean and impressive.  The inside looks as nice as the outside.  Nice job. 

My nephew is joining the Marines next year.  I've been thinking of making him a small cab similar to this as a graduation/farewell gift.  Something small enough to fit in his wall locker, and pull out easily.

[Unstupid]

You're work is always very clean and impressive.  The inside looks as nice as the outside.  Nice job. 

My nephew is joining the Marines next year.  I've been thinking of making him a small cab similar to this as a graduation/farewell gift.  Something small enough to fit in his wall locker, and pull out easily.

That would be a cool grad present....  How big are those lockers.... You could probably shave a couple inches off the depth of this machine by removing the coin mech and coin bucket.  You could also shave a couple more inches by building a custom CP.  You couple probably get it under 12" deep if you wanted.

[Woodshop Flunky]

That would be a cool grad present....  How big are those lockers....

When I was in the service, our wall lockers were about the size of an office supply cabinet... about 3ft wide and 18 inches deep.

That was 20yrs ago, but things couldn't have changed too much.  You still need physical space for you personals, and issued gear.

[Unstupid]

Looking to build a whole bunch of these, in different configurations...  10" screens that run at 640x480.  Want to make a whole arcade of little machines running classic games:

You have a source for 640x480, 10" screens? Where? How many left? Which input(s) do they have? How much are they?

Replying you your post from the slg thread... Don't want to derail that one.... Called a Pyle PLVW10IW monitor.  Inputs VGA, BNC, Composite.  $160... Supply your own 12v though.  They sell these as in wall security camera monitors.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/PLVW10IW-10-4-Inch-In-Wall-Mount-Monitor/dp/B00118EM1S/

[rCadeGaming]

I gotta say, go for the marquee. I have a build very similar to this one:


Dimensions are 11" wide x 20.5" tall x 19" deep. Go for it. I even jammed in a CRT monitor and the whole thing is pretty small.

Lew, was going to comment in your thread for that cab, but would have been a major thread revive.  Anyhow, that's awesome, I haven't seen too many bartops here with a real CRT.  I would say it's a shame you can't do native res on that, but with the screen size you wouldn't be able to see much difference anyway.  The only thing I would change is to add two more action buttons, then you could play all kinds of vertical shmups.

-

Unstupid, I love the shape, and I'd have to agree with everyone the someone would love to have the empty cab, even if it does need specific parts.  They could make it work, don't trash it!

Heck, you sell it like that, and use the money to rebuy the parts.

The only thing to me is the coin mech on the side.  It's kind of a reach, and you couldn't line a few of these up next to each other like that.  How about just a simple coin entry plate on the CP, top left.  The coin could fall through a very short chute with a microswitch in it.

http://na.suzohapp.com/electrical_supplies/42107500.htm

[Yvan256]

Replying you your post from the slg thread... Don't want to derail that one.... Called a Pyle PLVW10IW monitor.  Inputs VGA, BNC, Composite.  $160... Supply your own 12v though.  They sell these as in wall security camera monitors.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/PLVW10IW-10-4-Inch-In-Wall-Mount-Monitor/dp/B00118EM1S/

Here's the specifications from Amazon:
- 4:3 Screen Aspect Ratio
- 800 x 640 High Resolution

Seems like a weird resolution to me, usually it's 800x600. Do you get weird artifacts from the pixel resizing from the 60-in-1, which I think outputs in 640x480?

[Unstupid]

Replying you your post from the slg thread... Don't want to derail that one.... Called a Pyle PLVW10IW monitor.  Inputs VGA, BNC, Composite.  $160... Supply your own 12v though.  They sell these as in wall security camera monitors.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/PLVW10IW-10-4-Inch-In-Wall-Mount-Monitor/dp/B00118EM1S/

Here's the specifications from Amazon:
- 4:3 Screen Aspect Ratio
- 800 x 640 High Resolution

Seems like a weird resolution to me, usually it's 800x600. Do you get weird artifacts from the pixel resizing from the 60-in-1, which I think outputs in 640x480?

Yea amazons website is wrong, but then again, so is pyle's.  Even Pyle's site has it at 800x640, but on the box and in the instruction manual it states it is a 4x3 640x480 panel.  Here check it out: