Controller panel parts list... do I have it right?

[Tzakiel]

About to order parts for my first-ever control panel. The goal is to have something like a Japanese style fighter cabinet for 2 players, with sanwa parts and the slagcoin Astro City layout for each player. The cabinet will also be used for dreamcast, neo geo, and snes emulation. I will use hyperspin front end. I've decided I don't need a spinner, dial, trackball, guns, or wheel.

  I've never done this before, so the below list is simply what I have gathered from reading so far. I'd really appreciate any feedback or notice of omissions.

This will all be mounted to the UAII cabinet in 1/2" MDF (with appropriate recess for sanwa parts, etc)

• Joysticks: 2 Sanwa JLFs
• Action Buttons: 16 Sanwa screw-in buttons (8 each player)
• PCB: I-PAC (any advantage to other PCBs?)
• Other buttons: P1 start, P2 start, Exit, Pause, Save, Load, Vol Up, Vol Down... is that a good list?
• Coin door: I am hoping to wire for coin input (and return the coin) rather than have buttons. Is that easy to do?
• Wiring, connectors: I am not sure about this... what type of wire should I order and what crimp connectors?
• T-molding and plexi for CP top

[PL1]

Other buttons: P1 start, P2 start, Exit, Pause, Save, Load, Vol Up, Vol Down... is that a good list?

The first 4 sound good, the last 4 I'm hesitant about.

Install and configure the software BEFORE you make a final decision on which ones you need and want to use.

Coin door: I am hoping to wire for coin input (and return the coin) rather than have buttons. Is that easy to do?

As long as you get a mechanical coin mech, there is a microswitch that you can wire just like a button.

Wiring, connectors: I am not sure about this... what type of wire should I order and what crimp connectors?

Check out the prefab wiring products at Paradise Arcade Shop.

They have daisy chains and pre-crimped wire sets in 0.110", 0.187", and 0.250".

The prefab daisy chains may not be as neat as Neph's wiring pr0n, but they save you a lot of time and have consistently solid crimps.

If you want to crimp your own, get stranded 22 AWG and a ratchet crimper -- your hand will thank you for that investment later.   


Scott

[Mysterioii]

There are many many people around that will tell you not to put extraneous "admin" buttons on your panel....  opinions are fine, but a few might seem a bit vocal about it...    

I have a few extra buttons on my panel, but it really is a horrible panel that I laid out before even finding this forum....  One of these days it will be rebuilt, and to an extent simplified.  I fully plan to keep exit and pause buttons on the panel.  Since it's not a repro I think they make perfect sense for what this thing actually is, and I'm not ashamed of that.

That being said, I will probably get rid of a couple of the other buttons now that I think better of things.  The I-Pac lets you designate a button as acting like a "shift" function, so you can hide things like having shift-coin1 act as tab or whatever.  This is absolutely fine, just make sure your shift key isn't set to something that you're going to hit during gameplay at the same time as the other buttons. 

But again, it's your panel, do what you want, just give it plenty of thought first.  Pause and Exit, I'm sticking by those guys...   

[Tzakiel]

Wiring, connectors: I am not sure about this... what type of wire should I order and what crimp connectors?

Check out the prefab wiring products at Paradise Arcade Shop.

They have daisy chains and pre-crimped wire sets in 0.110", 0.187", and 0.250".

The prefab daisy chains may not be as neat as Neph's wiring pr0n, but they save you a lot of time and have consistently solid crimps.

If you want to crimp your own, get stranded 22 AWG and a ratchet crimper -- your hand will thank you for that investment later.   


Scott

Thanks for your reply. Can you give me some idea of which specific products to look into from Paradise? Looks great but the selection is a bit overwhelming. The rainbow packs? What size would make sense for the connectors, given I am using sanwa parts (but maybe happ for 1p, 2p, exit, pause)

[paigeoliver]

I am not a fan of visible admin buttons myself. I only wish to comment on a couple of them.

Save, load, and exit are all potential game wreckers easily pressed on accident.

Volume Up, Volume Down. Never in 13 years of owning arcade games have I ever felt the need for external volume buttons.

[Richardgregory]

Volume up and down - hmm, never thought of that, but these days you can get PC speakers that have a remote control were volume can be adjusted - challenge here is I think it's Infrared.

[Tzakiel]

Ok, I'm sold on taking out save and load. Think I still want pause, exit, vol up, vol down. Without any volume control I feel like i would be reaching for the mouse and exiting to windows. I'll keep all of these well out of the action area.

Any additional insights on wiring would be helpful.

[Richardgregory]

You could also try Bluetooth speakers that have a remote as well - of course you'll need to have a Bluetooth enbabled PC.

[Tzakiel]

After looking at the prices for happ coin door and mech... Yeahhh might need coin buttons too. But I think I would put them on the cab elsewhere rather than the cp.

[paigeoliver]

Ok, I'm sold on taking out save and load. Think I still want pause, exit, vol up, vol down. Without any volume control I feel like i would be reaching for the mouse and exiting to windows. I'll keep all of these well out of the action area.

Any additional insights on wiring would be helpful.

I find that once I find the right volume spot on a machine I never touch the knob again. You can also just unsolder the speakers volume knob and run it someplace accessible.

[PL1]

Can you give me some idea of which specific products to look into from Paradise? Looks great but the selection is a bit overwhelming. The rainbow packs? What size would make sense for the connectors, given I am using sanwa parts (but maybe happ for 1p, 2p, exit, pause)

Sanwa buttons use 0.110" tabs and the Happs use 0.187". (Check the description and ask the vendor if you're not sure.)

Use the Rainbow pack wires to connect the buttons to the encoder inputs and daisy chains to connect the other side of the button/microswitch to ground.

Any wires you don't use on this build, you can use on the next one.   


Scott

[yotsuya]

I buy $14 speakers and tear them apart, using the powerboard/amp and connections and solder wires to the cabinet speakers. I then mount the amp PCB near the coin door to adjust the volume if need be. 

[CoryBee]

Volume up and down - hmm, never thought of that, but these days you can get PC speakers that have a remote control were volume can be adjusted - challenge here is I think it's Infrared.

Infrared will pierce right through your marquee art so that makes a good place to hide it behind.

You can also just unsolder the speakers volume knob and run it someplace accessible.

I do this on all of my full size builds. Have a ton of Cat5 cable so just use that as the wire.