Daraku Tenshi Themed Cab - Complete

[DarakuTenshi]

Here is my second go at building an arcade machine from scratch. Hopefully I made enough mistakes on the last one that I can make this one work the way I want it to. Anyway I've taken the design of the MKII cab slimmed it down and made it a bit wider for the use of games like MK9 and SFIV. I also made a couple modifications that you can probably see in the comparison shot of the two models.

I think I have all the measurements worked out the way I want it as you can see by the Sketchup model that I drew. It's taken me a couple months for me to finally decide on what style of cab to build, but I think I have a winner here. I know that this will take me some time to build (especially with my busy season just starting) but it's going to be fun!



Though I was originally calling it an MKII clone I've now gone a different direction. This style of cab has been used for Mortal Kombat games, Killer Instinct, as well as many other conversions. Now it's going to be home to a lesser known fighting game Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels.
Here is the current design (some things are still going to change)


I just got my over under coin door in the mail today and got it installed so now I'm hoping that progress will move much faster.

[UPDATE]
4/7/2014 98% Complete. Only a few more things to do to call it done, and that's going to take me finding someone who can bend aluminum to a specific angle for me. That and adding the instruction cards on the marquee for the original Daraku Tenshi game.

[rablack97]

subscribed....have something similar in the works....

picked up a ps3 and 22 inch synchmaster for $100.00 for a slim mk9 dedicated cab...

just in case you didnt see this....this is Ond's Metropolis cab

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,118612.0.html





This somewhat mimics your design even slimmer....

I got these plans converted to CNC so you can send it off to a shop and get all your pieces cut for you.

Just some more ideas for your journey......

watching with interest...

[DarakuTenshi]

Very cool. Most definitely slimmer than mine.
I'm not a carpenter and it's been a long while since I've done any sort of woodworking (my last cab was finished around 2001 or 2002). The end product of this one will be 33.5" wide X 29" deep. Should be able to get it through most doors with out a problem.

I got my side's cut today and I didn't want to stop, but I need to pick up a few things before I continue cutting anything else. I am still working on trying to decide how to paint this thing and what kind of artwork to use. But, I've decided to rework the control panel a bit from the original design.

[DarakuTenshi]

Well, I've gotten the rest of the wood cut except for one piece. It's almost cut down to size but will have to wait until I build the frame up to make sure I get the dimensions exact.

[shiori1425]

I got these plans converted to CNC so you can send it off to a shop and get all your pieces cut for you.

How did you convert them to CNC plans?  Did you just run it through some software or did the CNC place do it for you?

I want do make my own cab and get it CNC'd but have no idea where to begin.
Thanks and sorry to hijack the thread with an unrelated question.

[rablack97]

I got these plans converted to CNC so you can send it off to a shop and get all your pieces cut for you.

How did you convert them to CNC plans?  Did you just run it through some software or did the CNC place do it for you?

I want do make my own cab and get it CNC'd but have no idea where to begin.
Thanks and sorry to hijack the thread with an unrelated question.

PM Me, we can take this offline...

[DarakuTenshi]

Things are still moving along very slowly with what little free time that I have. Every time I get a chance to work on the cab it's very little at a time. Right now I'm waiting on my coin door to come in the mail before I move on to the next step in which I will begin the building the the cab.

In the mean time I've settled on a design that I wanted to go with and have come put with a mock of the finished product. I will have to do a bit of redesigning on the artwork as well as the marquee because I've had to vectorize the original DT artwork.

[severdhed]

looks good....never heard of that game before, but it looks nice

[DarakuTenshi]

Yeah, not many people really have heard of the game. It's got a cult following. I've been obsessed with the game since I first saw it and have designed a couple websites dedicated to the game.

[DarakuTenshi]

Thought I'd just post a better look at the art since I'm nearing completion on it now.

[UPDATED IMAGE BELOW]

Added a different character on the opposite side of the cabinet.

[keilmillerjr]

Thos cab design looks awesome! The actual cabinet design is rather simple, but the graphics really make to look bad ass.

[Malenko]

I love Fallen Angels, went through the service mode and looked at some of the sprites for unfinished characters..... they seem pretty awesome too, sad they werent finished (like the Thai boxer with taped fists).


The art goes perfect with the game too, kudos!

[stinkyrob]

Thos cab design looks awesome! The actual cabinet design is rather simple, but the graphics really make to look bad ass.

I completely agree, those graphics are really sweet.

[DarakuTenshi]

Thanks for the kind words all.

I love Fallen Angels, went through the service mode and looked at some of the sprites for unfinished characters..... they seem pretty awesome too, sad they werent finished (like the Thai boxer with taped fists).


The art goes perfect with the game too, kudos!

Yeah, after I got interested in the game and started doing much digging into the history of the game as well as all of the lost information on it, I really began to have a new love for the game. Rather disappointed that it was never finished
 

[CaptainMarvel]

I got these plans converted to CNC so you can send it off to a shop and get all your pieces cut for you.

Out of curiosity (and my own education), how much does something like that cost - generally?

[DarakuTenshi]

You might want to PM him... you'll probably get an answer faster that way.

[DarakuTenshi]

Just another small update.

This image is not even the most up to date image, as I did some work last night. But, I've been trying to work with a 7.2v drill and it's been making things hard as I try to put screws into the cab. I put a few in and then the battery dies  So no I've gotten an 18v drill and boy does it make a difference! I'm sure I'll need this drill once I start trying to drill through metal anyway.



You may be wondering why I painted the inner side of the cab already... that was because I thought it might be easier, only to find it probably will cause more problems than what it was worth, but I should be able to get it worked out in the end.

[DarakuTenshi]

Still moving slowly along. I got some parts in the mail so I was able to cut the panels before attaching them. I also found out that I cut my control panel pieces wrong, so now I get to do that all over again. Problem was after redesigning part of the cab I forgot the write down the new dimensions for the CP.

[DarakuTenshi]

I ran into a problem that you can't see in the picture but it's concerning the CP. I actually like the problem but I have to figure out a way of working with it.

Anyway here is the updated image.

[DarakuTenshi]

I got my marquee in the mail from gameongrafix today and the print quality is amazing! Superb job 

I guess I will have to buy more products from them for sure.

[DarakuTenshi]

Well I had a little bit if time today after dinner and I decided to tackle the task which worried me the most. I was worried that I could not get this lined up properly since I don't have a drill press. After a bit of thinking and a lot of measuring I was able to get the task done. It's by far not perfect, but it worked out quite well.

So anyway the mount for the monitor is set to go, and I can start cleaning up and painting the cab.

[DarakuTenshi]

The cab is all patched and first coat of primer applied.


And now you can see my garage from a different angle and see how messy it is. 

[DarakuTenshi]

And now I've got the 1st coat of black on. But... I hope the black looks black once it dries. Right now it looks blue 


[edit]
Strange the picture it looks black, but for the most part it doesn't look too bad. It is a very dark midnight blue color but in most lighting it wont be distinguishable as blue or black.

[harveybirdman]

It may not seem like there's a lot of people watching but I'm following along. I like what you've done so far. Keep it up.

[Malenko]

It may not seem like there's a lot of people watching but I'm following along. I like what you've done so far. Keep it up.

I look at every update 

[DarakuTenshi]

Thanks guys. Like I said n another post I personally don't post much in the project threads but I'm on them daily watching everyone's progress. That is why I mainly continue to post even though there have been no replies... But thanks for letting me know.

[othar]

following

[DarakuTenshi]

It's coming along. I now have casters and levelers installed. Fully painted (minus CP) and marquee installed, and if you look close you'll see the key chain by OldTymeToys.

[Malenko]

lookin good bro! Im impressed!

[DarakuTenshi]

Thanks!   

[Slippyblade]

That marquee looks very sexy all lit up.  Good job.   

[DarakuTenshi]

I got a friend to help me lug my cabinet upstairs to my game room and I'm now able to get some of the wiring and insides of the cab put together. After trying to get it upstairs around a staircase that turns and breaking my back I installed my fans and speakers.


Now I have to go put a heating pad on my back... I'm not as young as I used to be 

[Gatsu]

it's looking great so far man. can't wait to see it finished.

[Le Chuck]

This is one of my favorite games. Nice to see it's getting a worthy treatment. Keep it up.

[ark_ader]

That bad boy looks awesome.  Nice job on the design. 

[TheDude]

Very nice design.
Plus I love this game, it's underrated but still extremely good, with a bunch of unusual-looking characters !
Suscribed !:)

[DarakuTenshi]

Over the past couple days I've been working on my control panel. I have plained it down with my router for the plexiglass protection (which was a huge mess but I hope that I was able to successfully correct it. Today I got my CP artwork in the mail and I have finished drilling and routing out the joystick crevasse. Im dreading when I have to apply the artwork to this thing... That was too expensive to make a mistake on.

[DarakuTenshi]

I woke up this morning from a dream about working on my cab... so what do I do?  I go out and work on my cab!

Anyway I ran into a bit of a snafu on the control panel, but ended up working my way around the issue and it seems to be sturdy enough. I also pulled out my plexiglass and drilled out the holes for that. I did chip the plexi in one spot, but it's hardly noticeable once the buttons are in place. If I could do it over again I would have used my router to put the holes in the plexiglass rather than using the spade bit. It would have been faster and much more accurate, and I wouldn't have chipped the plexi either 

Now... I have a few things that I need some help with deciding, I'm a bit torn on a couple things... take a look at this picture.


Two things. First of all I'm debating on the coloring of my T-Molding... I've got White, Clay, or Gold.
After seeing the clay I do not really like it at all. The white might be nice when the cab is all painted black, and it's what I was originally going to use as you can see in the 3D model above. But, I thing the gold will probably look the best.

Secondly, look at the picture above again and let me know your thoughts on the buttons in the top center of the CP. Originally I was going to have all the buttons orange, but I decided that I want to break that up a bit. I thought I would recycle my old buttons from a 360 Joystick I made quite a while back (which no longer gets any use. So I was thinking about going all black buttons for the navigation/exit/pause buttons. Though I will probably keep the exit button RED just to make sure it stands out, so it's not accidentally pressed.

What do you think?

Oh, and here is an updated picture.


And, here is the full pic of the control panel

[Le Chuck]

Go with gold molding.  Do black button centers with white rings for your admins so it mirrors the lettering on the CP, you can do a red ring for the exit to set it apart.  Looking awesome. 

[Malenko]

Go with gold molding.  Do black button centers with white rings for your admins so it mirrors the lettering on the CP, you can do a red ring for the exit to set it apart.  Looking awesome.

^this

I was going to type pretty much the exact same thing.

[DarakuTenshi]

I didn't even know buttons like that exist. I started looking around but can't seem to find any concave buttons with different colored rims. Do you know if they exist?
I prefer to keep all the buttons in the same style if at all possible, all I found was Sanwa and some other un-branded buttons that looked like something off of a slot machine.

[Malenko]

I didn't even know buttons like that exist. I started looking around but can't seem to find any concave buttons with different colored rims. Do you know if they exist?
I prefer to keep all the buttons in the same style if at all possible, all I found was Sanwa and some other un-branded buttons that looked like something off of a slot machine.

you take the plunger out of one button, and put it into the barrel of a different one.

[DarakuTenshi]

I looked at my buttons and couldn't figure out how to do that... the look as if they are sealed. How can one accomplish this?

[severdhed]

remove the microswitch from the button and look at the bottom.  watch when you press the button, there will be two square tabs that move(one of them will activate the switch when it is attached.

press the button the whole way down, squeeze those two tabs together, then press them back up through the holes they come through.  once they are inside the holes, pull the plunger and spring out, repeat.

to put them back in, it works best to compress the spring and squeeze the tabs together before pressing it back into the button housing.

it is pretty simple once you see how they work.

[PL1]

Here's a field-stripped translucent button so you can see the tabs that Severdhed is talking about.




Scott

[EMDB]

Gold t-molding. And I would use all white or all black buttons. don't mix the button and the ring colors. You already have contrasting button surrounding, it will look like a zebra...

[DarakuTenshi]

Thanks for the info on the removal of the button casing.

@EMDB - I wasn't quite sure about the colors so i was going to test it out to see what it looked like.

I'm a bit ticked off today as my CP paint has dried and now the top of my CP does not fit in place anymore. I under estimated the thickness of the paint. Ot maybe it was swelling of the MDF I'm not sure.

[DarakuTenshi]

The problem I ran into with the CP happened in one other spot in the cab which worked itself out. I hope the CP will do the same after I let the CP top sit in the CP box for a few days. If not I'll have to disassemble the CP and take a few millimeters off of one of the sides to allow it to move freely.

Until the few days go by I decided to put the monitor in place so that I could work on the bezel... so for now here is the next image I took.

[DarakuTenshi]

Well it's been close to 2 months since I've done anything cosmetically to this thing. I've mostly been working at configuring Hyperspin which was a bit of a learning curve... some of the things I'm still working on have proven to be difficult.

Also to throw another wrench into the works I broke down and bought a PS4 which took some of my funding away that would have gone to the cab. I guess I'd probably be done with all the cosmetic stuff by now had I not made that purchase. Oh well...

I got my bezel from Tap Plastics today and finally got around to cutting the matting and installing the hardware to keep the bezel in place. I still have a bit of work to do on it, but it's not looking half bad. I just have to find a company that can custom make me some aluminum pieces to finish it off.




I'm also not happy with the navigation buttons, so they will probably just end up being solid black.

Other than that I have my side art that was just sent to gameongrafix.com a couple days ago. Then by my next paycheck I'll be picking up the t-molding so I can do that and the side art on the same day.

[Malenko]

I'm also not happy with the navigation buttons, so they will probably just end up being solid black.

None of the pictures have Daraku Tenshi running on it? for shame lol

The nav buttons, in my opinion, would look much snappier if they were all like the second button. White barrel and black plunger, mates up with the kanji pretty well. You say you were going with white t-molding on this?

[DarakuTenshi]

Actually the one above that says Steel Hearts Team is Daraku Tenshi.

No I think I decided to go with Gold t-molding.

[Malenko]

Actually the one above that says Steel Hearts Team is Daraku Tenshi.

No I think I decided to go with Gold t-molding.

ahh you got me with the double post!  Gold would look good for the molding, but consider the admin buttons in black and white

[DarakuTenshi]

Yeah I think I'll buy a few more white buttons so I can do that.

[Malenko]

The cab looks fantastic, very professional looking build.  If you want, I can whip up a fake bezel to hide the wide screen for Daraku , I just need to know the pixel dimensions 

[JBED]

Great looking cabinet! The bezel surrounding Dig Dug is there a program you use to get bezels to fill in the horizontal parts or is this a feature in mame/hyperspin etc?

Thanks for your time.

[PL1]

Great looking cabinet! The bezel surrounding Dig Dug is there a program you use to get bezels to fill in the horizontal parts or is this a feature in mame/hyperspin etc?

Thanks for your time.

MAME has a Video Options menu where you can select the desired options based on the layout (.LAY) file.

Progetto Snaps and Mr. Do are great places to look for art and .LAY files and MAMELayPlus is a MAME build for horizontal-mounted or vertical-mounted widescreen monitors that has some higher-resolution art packs.


Scott

[DarakuTenshi]

The cab looks fantastic, very professional looking build.  If you want, I can whip up a fake bezel to hide the wide screen for Daraku , I just need to know the pixel dimensions 

Yeah that would be cool. I'll have to get that for you later.

[DarakuTenshi]

I got my t-molding in the mail so I went ahead and installed it along with the side art. Unfortunately, I forgot how they send the t-molding in 20' rolls so now I'm a bit short to complete the task. I will have to order some more and then I will finish installing the artwork at that time.


The molding looks so much better in real life than it does in the pic... then again so does the side art. When it's done I'll get a much better photo posted.

[lcmgadgets]

Just tuned in here. Sweet cab! Congrats! 

[DarakuTenshi]

Alright... 98% finished with the cab. Couple more things to do on it and within the next couple weeks I'll have my Ms. Pac-Man cab that I can start restoring 
Then again... I've also been thinking about building a racing cab or a pinball simulator.


Here is a video walk-around... not sure how to imbed it.

[Malenko]

been following since the start, something to be proud of for sure. Amazing how close your pre-project render was to the final cab!

Hope to see this one win an award next year 

[yotsuya]

Looks good, my friend! 

[scoodidabop]

Hey I found this on youtube! Great build dude.  I just got into this game very recently.

[pbj]

 

Nailed by the 20' t-molding scam.

[DarakuTenshi]

Nailed by the 20' t-molding scam.

Sadly yes
Not sure if the gold t-molding could be had elsewhere, but just recently I was looking at tmolding.com to purchase black 3/4th for my CP that I'm building. When I saw the final price for that 20' roll I said forget that noise. I then go to eBay and purchase the same product (from the same seller) at a fraction of the cost. Not sure why they sell it for so high on their website and so low on eBay.

[JDFan]

Here is a video walk-around... not sure how to imbed it.

Just remove the s from https in the link !!

! No longer available