Control Panel complete for first ever cabinet...

[tivogre]

I'm new here... but I wanted to share my first completed control panel with you guys (I've done a lot of lurking here over the past few months).

Thanks for looking!

[eightbit]

Definately very clean looking. What are you using for interfaces?

[tivogre]

For interfaces, I'm using a KE72 and an Opti-Pac.  I'm working on the wiring so that their are 4 D25 ports on the rear of the panel, and I can just plug in 4 "printer cables" from the main body to the CP.  That will allow me to make other panels, if I ever feel the need, without having to buy additional interfaces / break-out boards.

[SNAAAKE]

nice panel there.What did you use for the sides ?
Silver laminte from wilsonart

[tivogre]

Nope.  Not silver laminate.  My original plans were to use more Wilsonart black laminate on the sides... but I saw some issues:

     1.  I couldn't readily get a long enough strip to wrap all the way around for a price I was willing to pay.

     2.  I thought that all black would be too bland and heavy

     3.  I didn't trust my skills with laminate enough to be convinced that I would end up with a final product I'd be happy with.

I fretted ogver what to do for a while;  I finally ended up going with.....  Heavy duty Aluminum Foil!!!  Yes, I know what you must be thinking... how's THAT look in person and / or how will THAT hold up?

I made a sample board, scuffed up the back side,  with some 220 grit,  crumpled the foil, then rolled it flat again (for some texture), applied the contact cement, and let her rip.

I was very pleased with the look of the sample board, so I went with it.  It looks / feels good to me;  it is harder to scratch off than enamel paint.

Maybe I'll regret the choice later due to long term effects...  I dunno.

[CitznFish]

Foil?    Impressive, just keep your CP away from the microwave!  

[iwillfearnoevil]

very creative. i'll be interested in how the foil holds up, but i think you'll be fine unless maybe you have little kids roaming about.

[Raleigh]

Looks really nice, good job.

The red button below player 2 looks a bit out of place, what is its functions?

[CitznFish]

Looks really nice, good job.

The red button below player 2 looks a bit out of place, what is its functions?

Plunger for VisualPinball?  

[tivogre]

Looks really nice, good job.

The red button below player 2 looks a bit out of place, what is its functions?

It's a "plunger" button for pinball.  I'm not especially pleased with the red button, and may switch it to something more "subdued".

[Pixelhugger]

I wouldn't sweat the foil decision. If it doesn't hold up you could get thin aluminum sheet metal from the local hardware store. Easily cuttable, easily bendable, and permanent. I've been toying with this as a way to create a logo for the sideart of my cab. I really like the metal look. Very cool.

[PacManFan]

What are the 7th buttons on players 3 and 4 for? I'm not aware of any 4 player 7 button games. As a matter of fact, I don't recall any 4 player 6 button games either.

-PMF

[Tilzs]

MK3 Run perhaps. The row of 4 for Neo Geo? That'd be my guess

[tivogre]

What are the 7th buttons on players 3 and 4 for? I'm not aware of any 4 player 7 button games. As a matter of fact, I don't recall any 4 player 6 button games either.

-PMF

<shrug>  Probably over-kill, but I like having the 4th (1st?!?) button on the bottom row for NEO / GEO games.  Also like the position of that button to use in one button classics.

Symmetry and flexibility are the only other reasons I can come up with.  How would YOU like to be player 3 or 4 and get the CRAPPY 3 button station?  

Seriously, they may never be used... but they were cheap and easy to add at this point;  if I DO need them, they're there for me!

[tivogre]

Here's a shot of the wiring harnesses I've built.  Three of them have "female" connectors;  these cover all of the buttons, joysticks, flight stick.  

The 4th harness has a male connector.  It has all of the spinner, trackball axis / buttons, along with all of the power and ground wires for these components and the TB light.

This one is "keyed" differently than the other three (male vs. female) to ensure that I NEVER connect the wrong plug to the interface boards and blow them out with +5 or +12 volts.

Now, to get on with fitting these harnesses with the QD connectors and getting them inside the CP!!!

I'll keep you posted.

[CthulhuLuke]

Man, those super slick wiring harnesses are a sign of a true electrician!  Damn I wish I had that kinda skill when I put together my first cabinet!  Very nice layout on the control panel, its gonna make parties a freakin blast, especially since that thing will be super easy to fix if any buttons go wrong cause you know EXACTLY which button went wrong!  I'm definitely going to have to do some color coding like that on my next cab, and for sure wrap the cables or something to make it look a lot cleaner.
     -Good work so far
         -Chu

[eRA186]

if the foil doesn't last you could always get chrome contact paper at your local crafts store like Michaels.by the way thats a clean wiring job.

[DutchDude]

Boy - I really like your CP

What are the dimensions on it? How does it play in 4 player (room wise).

What did you use for the flight yoke.

What would everybody think of just using the neo/geo 4 button row for player 3 and 4? Since I am going to use an I-pac and could use the extra buttons.

Any chance that you have a measured drawing of the layout??

[tivogre]

Boy - I really like your CP

What are the dimensions on it? How does it play in 4 player (room wise).

What did you use for the flight yoke.

What would everybody think of just using the neo/geo 4 button row for player 3 and 4? Since I am going to use an I-pac and could use the extra buttons.

Any chance that you have a measured drawing of the layout??

Thanks for the compliments;  sory for the LONG delay in replying.  I've been really busy at work the past couple of months!

The CP is ~47" x 17".

With the angle and location of the players, four folks fit around comfortably.

The flight stick is the "Heavy Duty" 3 button flight stick from HAPP.

I do have a visio layout of the panel and sub-lay-outs for all of the button clusters / player stations.  If you can use the visio files, I'll gladly share them.

Thanks again for the interest!

[tivogre]

Here's a couple of shots of the completed wiring for the CP.

I was very anal about it (since no one will ever see it), but wanted to play aroiund with making the harnesses and all the color coded shrink wrap and wire ties.

I am happy with the way it turned out.

All I have left to do is make a mounting plate for the 4 25 pin connectors to mount on the back of the CP, and I can move on to the cabinet body.

Unfortunately, it's fully playable now;  that tends to delay progress!  

[tivogre]

Here's a close-up of one control station:

[BobbyG66]

Forget the chrome sides, redo them in clear lexan to show off your wiring job!

Fantastic work! Very impressive.

[Witchboard]

First off, nice CP.  I notice you've got your monitor setup.  I was thinking about puting a flight stick on my CP in about the same place, but I was wondering if it blocks the 4th players view of the monitor.  Your wiring job is awsome.  I agree with Bob, you should consider allowing your players to see how immaculate your wiring job is.

[tivogre]

First off, nice CP.  I notice you've got your monitor setup.  I was thinking about puting a flight stick on my CP in about the same place, but I was wondering if it blocks the 4th players view of the monitor.  Your wiring job is awsome.  I agree with Bob, you should consider allowing your players to see how immaculate your wiring job is.

Well... "set up" is a bit liberal.  The CP and monitor are just on a makeshift stand until I can get a cabinet body built.  The monitor will actually be about 6" highter than you see it now relative to the control panel.

That being said, even now it doesn't block the view (of an adult at least), because the angle you're looking down from is well above the flight stick.

[Witchboard]

Cool.  Thanks for the reply.  That's the first thing I thought of when I was thinking about putting a flight stick.  I still may not put one, just a spinner and trackball.  Thanks for letting me know.

[Harakiri]

I'm sorry if this seems dumb but where and how are you going to connect the 3 males and the female?? Are you gonna make adaptors?

[tivogre]

I'm sorry if this seems dumb but where and how are you going to connect the 3 males and the female?? Are you gonna make adaptors?

Not dumb at all!

If you look at the wide shot above, you can see the 4 wiring harness from an earlier post hanging out the back of the CP.  They are connected to 4 Printer cables (the beige cables you see leading away from the CP.

At the OTHER end of these cables, I cut off the DB25 connector, and soldered the individual tiny wires to some larger gague multi-conductor wires;  those ultimately lead back to the interface boards (KE-72, optipac, and spinner optics).

The objective here was that the 4 parallel cables coming out of the main cabinet body will ALWAYS provide the connection back to the interface boards.  Since they have a known, FIXED pin-out relative to the interface board functions, I can make different control panels that would essentially be plug and play via these 4 cables.

Hopefully, this answered your question.  feel free to ask if you want more info or pictures of what lies at the other end of the cables.

[countchocula8]

great job so far (both cabinet and control panel). cant wait for the final product.
if not too troublesome, will you post a diagram of all your wiring for the cp? i'm in the process of wiring my cp out into db25 connectors and i'm curious as to see how you did it.
keep up the good work sir.

[tivogre]

great job so far (both cabinet and control panel). cant wait for the final product.
if not too troublesome, will you post a diagram of all your wiring for the cp? i'm in the process of wiring my cp out into db25 connectors and i'm curious as to see how you did it.
keep up the good work sir.

Sure.  Here's a Microsoft Excel file of my wiring key:

http://members.cox.net/kevkmartin/MAME%20Wiring%20Key.xls

Let me know if you have any questions.

[countchocula8]

ok. stupid question for all the readers...

how do i ground my cp?
will someone walk me through the grounding process... with grounding the joysticks and buttons and the ipac? some site talked about daisy-chaining the ground wire, but i'm not sure on how to do this.  how many ground wires would i need? (lol...i'm not even quite sure on what grounding means ).
also, once i have a ground wire, what do i do with it? do i connect it to the ipac? i see 2 spots marked on ipac for it, but i'm not sure what to do with this either.

thanks guys.

p.s. if you guys use lots of exciting examples and engaging anecdotes, i promise not to fall asleep in this class.

[tivogre]

ok. stupid question for all the readers...

how do i ground my cp?
will someone walk me through the grounding process... with grounding the joysticks and buttons and the ipac? some site talked about daisy-chaining the ground wire, but i'm not sure on how to do this.  how many ground wires would i need? (lol...i'm not even quite sure on what grounding means ).
also, once i have a ground wire, what do i do with it? do i connect it to the ipac? i see 2 spots marked on ipac for it, but i'm not sure what to do with this either.

thanks guys.

p.s. if you guys use lots of exciting examples and engaging anecdotes, i promise not to fall asleep in this class.

The way most encoders work is that they have several terminals for inputs.  Each input responds when that terminal is connected in a circuit (continuous loop) with "ground".  Each button or joystick direction is actually a tiny switch;  when a button is pressed, it completes the circuit from the input side of the switch to the ground side of the switch.

So, you don't really "ground the CP"...

Each "switch" for the CP (every button and every joystick direction) must have one terminal attached to ground.  As you have noted, there are 2 connections for ground on your iPac.  Since you (likely) have more than 2 inputs on your CP, you must find a way to get a wire from each "switch" in your CP back to this iPac terminal.

While it is possible to run a separate wire from each switch's ground terminal back to your iPac, this gets messy and uses a lot of wire.

What daisy chaining really means is connecting many switches' ground terminal together in a "chain".

Here's a picture of one of the "chains" I made up for My CP:



Each of the pictured chains shows 11 terminals.  A 12th terminal was eventually added to the end, with a wire long enough to go back to the encoder location, giving me 12 connections per chain.  Each chain served 1 player (4 joystick directions + 7 buttons + 1 start).

As you can see this is just several pieces of wire, each long enough to go from one switch (button or joystick direction) to the next.  twist two wire ends together and crimp on a terminal to the pair of twisted wire ends.  Repeat this process until you have as many ground connections as you need.

In my situation, I have a total of 8 ground terminals on my encoder...  so I divided my controls up appropriately between them.  In your case, you have two ground terminals, so your chains will be longer (serve more switches each).... but it's the same principle.

You could even get away with ONE ground wire for the entire CP...  but that would make trouble shooting harder if a switch stops working in the future.

If this wasn't enough detail, or you have more questions, let me know!

[countchocula8]

thanks sir

[tivogre]

The construction documentation for this control panel is now complete and on-line at:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_cp_construction.htm

Hopefully, someone will find it helpful.

Any comments or suggestions for additions or clarifications are welcome!