An Original Fix It Felix Build --- 100% Complete!

[jdbailey1206]

Last weekend was one of those weekends where I thought I could what I wanted to get done in two hours but the cab had other ideas.  Even though I thought I had fixed my channels for my tmolding I was wrong.  I'm starting to think my router is on it's way out.  What do you expect from something that is 25+ years old.  Pretty good run for a router in my opinion.

The right side t-molding went in without a hitch. 


But the left hand side(the side I filled in earlier in my build) gave me the most trouble.


Not only was it like this at the top but all the way around.  Not good.  After going back and forth with my wife to no avail where she put the hot glue gun I went to Home Depot and got a nice Dewalt one.  Not only can it not get lost due to size and color but it did a pretty good job of holding down my t-molding.


I was also able to get the bezel off of the monitor.  I was going to leave it on but once I got my cardboard bezel cut out the monitor bezel forced the cardboard bezel up and it looked awkward. 


In between all this I was hitting the low spots on my coin door with Bondo's Glazing and Spot Putty.  It takes a little bit longer to dry but it is already mixed and it sands away really well. 


I also did a quick test to see how well the coin buttons work and it's about as easy as putting a coin in the slot.  This picture was an early picture.  I have already ran a wire wheel on the back and was in the process of filling the low spots also.

[jmike]

 
               Coming together. I can see the finish line... I think.

Do you have all the artwork printed? If you have the bezel printed can you tell me what the measurement are for the inner portion? Where the monitor will sit.

I want to see how big a screen will fit in the bezel.

 

[jdbailey1206]

Yeah jmike.  I can get you the measurements.  I can tell  you right now I have a 19" LCD and it seems to be just a little too big.  It fits almost exactly in the inner dimensions of the bezel but I tend to have to look to the top of the screen and then back down.  I would like to try an 18" or 17" monitor just to see how much difference it makes.  But I am happy with the 19" monitor.  It's not like I have to constantly watch Ralph to know where he is.  I can see him in my peripheral vision most of the time.

[wp34]

Awesome!   

My painter (wife) will only use Behr.  Thanks for posting this.

I've already told everyone of my whole paint mishap.  Below I've listed a picture of the Behr Latex paint I used.  It yielded nice even coats. 


The paint code is shown below.


If anyone can't decipher the label it reads:
Behr Ultra
Base: 7754
PP Ultra Int Satin\Satin
Custom Color Match
CLRNT     DL     EL     TL
384th      50     303   19
Quart

If you need this color and can't access the internet in the paint store I found that Behr's Liquid Blue was almost an exact match for the Donkey Kong blue.  It's not perfect but damn close.

[jdbailey1206]

               Coming together. I can see the finish line... I think.

Do you have all the artwork printed? If you have the bezel printed can you tell me what the measurement are for the inner portion? Where the monitor will sit.

I want to see how big a screen will fit in the bezel.

 

Okay jmike if I understand you correctly you would like the inner dimensions of the bezel.  They are as follows:   Height: 14 1/4 x Width: 15 1/4 
If this is incorrect let me know.  I have also included a picture at the bottom.  These are very quick measurements.  So don't expect them to be precise.

wp34 - No problem on the paint.  Glad to help.

[jdbailey1206]

Disclaimer:  I am not a licensed electrician.  This post is not in anyway a certified way to wire your arcade cab.  Only a suggestion.  I in no way can guarantee or warrant your application of the following how-to.     

Last Monday I had some free time at night so I decided to take some time and wire up my power supply to my rocker switch which will be on the outside of the cab to get power to all the components.  The rocker switch can be found here and the I found the power supply I used at Meijer.  For those who don't have a Meijer close by the power supply can be found here.  The Rocker Switch also requires a 10A fuse.  Those can also be found on Amazon.  The link is here.

Before the operation:


When working on this setup always remember that BLACK=LIVE, WHITE=NEUTRAL, GREEN=GROUND.  And as the following pictures show you it is easy enough to wire up. 



All wired up.


And installed.  (All be it blurry.    )


I wanted to thank PL1 for showing me how to put together this set up when I put together my weecade.  I was nervous when I put together my first one but for this build it was a whole lot easier.  More to come.

Note:  Always use spare wire from your power strip to create your jumpers.  If you use a smaller gauge wire you run the chance of creating a bottle neck for the electricity.  Someone may want you dead but its not me.   

[PL1]

Glad to assist.   

Mind if I use the 3rd and 4th photos for the wiki entry on this topic?


Scott

[jmike]

 

  Thanks for the bezel measurements jdbailey.
Nice job on the Rocker Switch.

Thanks for the links too

[jdbailey1206]

Glad to assist.   

Mind if I use the 3rd and 4th photos for the wiki entry on this topic?


Scott

No problem Scott.  Good thing I was a hand model before I took to arcade building.   

[jdbailey1206]

That weekend I was able to start getting all the small stuff that needed to be done buttoned up.  This included installing my power strip, installing my Bezel Art Retainer, and cutting and installing my monitor bezel.  I also cut out and installed the matte board that hangs behind the monitor bezel.  Or as Phetishboy over at KLOV calls it a Ninty Mullet.  I didn't get any pictures of the bezel and mullet before I installed them.  Since I didn't use an arcade monitor my measurements were different than the originals and it was easy for me to measure for the monitor bezel, install it then measure and cut my "Ninty Mullet". 

The mullet's dimensions were as follows:  22 3/8 x 13 1/4.  There is a fold 1.75" down from the top that creates the lower part of the mullet that hangs and creates the light barrier.  On the top part of the mullet there is a 1 1/8" gap.  This gap is centered in between the length of the mullet.  This creates an area where for the Bezel Art Retainer to poke through so it can be accessed from the back of the machine.  As seen below.


A front internal picture of the 'mullet', bezel and retainer.


Everything all wired up and rocking my mullet.   


I also had some time to install my serial plate.  I picked up metal number stamps at Menards.  The flash was too bright and flushed out the number.  Nothing too important.  I just used the number 11212.  The date Wreck It Ralph came out.  My screws were a little off too.  Guess I have used my good eye when I installed the ones on the left.   


By the end of the day I threw my artwork mock ups back in just to see how it is going to look.  Not too bad.



Up Next:  Speakers, grills, and amps.  Oh my.

[PL1]

Good thing I was a hand model before I took to arcade building.   

 

Pics cropped/labeled/added to wiki.   


Scott

[meyer980]

So beautiful

[wp34]

Looking great.  I really like how that serial plate turned out.   

How do you like that replacement Nintendo joystick?

[jdbailey1206]

So beautiful

Looking great.  I really like how that serial plate turned out.   

How do you like that replacement Nintendo joystick?

   Again thank you for the kind words.  WP - The stick is heavy and clunky.  And I love it.  Sometimes it's not only good to get the look of the old arcades but also the feel. 

[jdbailey1206]

I feel like I'm borrowing time to work on this anymore.  I found a little time to install the amp, speaker and speaker grill.  I received my speaker grill a little after I got my monster of a speaker.  They each were ordered from Mikes Arcade and Quarter Arcade respectively.  The speaker looked to be an excellent reproduction while the grill was an original.  It still had DK blue on it.     It was a little scratched up in spots but a quick rub down with 400 grit, a shot of semi-gloss and it was like new.  The speaker grill was 1/8 taller than the MDF speaker grill.  This was of no fault to the grill itself.  I believe my measurements were off on the cab itself.  A quick haircut with my tin snips and everything fell into place.   

One thing that also threw me off was the connectors to the speaker.  Most loose speakers that I have dealt with have the same connector size and are marked accordingly.  IE The positive is marked red and the negative is black.  With a quick search I found this cool little tutorial to determine your speakers polarity.  After that it was easy enough to wire to my amp.


After everything was put together I put my control panel on to see how much clearence I had.  Oooohooo.  Dat's close.   


Glad my amp is tiny.  I found this little guy over at Amazon.  Wish I had seen one of these for my weecade.  Could have used the room.  It doesn't matter.  I have a feeling that my weecade is going to be pieced apart for other grander ideas. 


A quick note on the sound.  I know that these are only arcade sounds but some of the sound effects sound hollow.  I am going to see if I can merge the channels down to one in Windows and see if that helps any since I am only running on one channel.

Besides getting my coin plates installed into my newly resurrected coin door that was all I could accomplish for the day.  Hopefully I can get my coin door in place and I'll just have to order my bezel glass and artwork and she'll be ready for prime time.

[jdbailey1206]

Yesterday I went to eplastics.com and priced out the sheet of plexiglass I needed.  Their pricing was fine but to ship it across the States cost just as much as the plexiglass itself did.  Yuck.  Had to find someone locally (which I should have done in the first place) and I think I'm in luck. 

Last night I took a couple hours before bed and finally got my coin door in and wired.  I can't get an overall quality picture of the coin door.  The paint I used was Rust-Oleums Texture Black Spray Paint.  Maximus used it on his DK restore and it really looked great on his coin door. 

You can see the texture of the paint below but it doesn't give you the punch it does in real life.


I knew when I ran the wire from the coin door to Kade I would have to make a break in the wire in case the CP had to be serviced.  I thought I would have to hack some smaller computer molex connectors but ChanceKJ pointed me in the direction of Digikey and sent me the molex connector part numbers he used on his Flynn build.  It was greatly appreciated.


Finally I wired the other end to my coin door and zip tied it to my USB extension cord.  Now when I have to service the cp all I have to do is open the coin door and do two quick wire disconnects and the CP is free.


Hopefully I can get my plexi squared away at lunch and I'll be sitting pretty.  It may take me some time to get the art work all printed out but if I purchase it over the next month or two I should be fine.

[wp34]

I picked-up an old Nintendo cabinet a few weeks ago.  I used your Liquid Blue swath idea to compare the blue's and apparently my cabinet is a little darker blue than a regular DK (or FIF).  I didn't realize there was that much variation in the colors.

If you need this color and can't access the internet in the paint store I found that Behr's Liquid Blue was almost an exact match for the Donkey Kong blue.  It's not perfect but damn close.

[Santoro]

Love the way this is turning out.  Looks factory fresh!

[koolmoecraig]

This is just great.  I love the serial # plate.

I have been out of the hobby for a while.  Is this run in MAME?  If not, what is the optimum set up for a cabinet running Fix it Felix and nothing else?  A friend of mine has been begging me to build her one.  Excuse my thread hijack but something tells me you know the answer.

[meyer980]

This is just great.  I love the serial # plate.

I have been out of the hobby for a while.  Is this run in MAME?  If not, what is the optimum set up for a cabinet running Fix it Felix and nothing else?  A friend of mine has been begging me to build her one.  Excuse my thread hijack but something tells me you know the answer.

The Fix It Felix software runs in Windows, but MAME isn't needed. There's actually a few different versions of the software, the "official" version used by Disney leaked and is pretty easy to find online. When you add on Howard_Castro's wrapper found in this thread, it's actually pretty decent. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,135805.0.html (Without the wrapper you can't change controls, high scores don't save, and it adds a few other nice things)

There's also two scratch made alternatives. One by Sjaak from this forum, another by BadBoyBill (on KLOV I think?) Neither are publicly releasing their versions but they did allow a few to test, and both of theirs look amazing with many cool features. You can drool all over Sjaaks software/cabinet in this thread, he did a great job. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=129479.0

Anyway, back to your question. All you'd really need for a dedicated fix it felix is a cabinet, windows pc, the software, and some way to interface it (jpac or ipac, what have you) That's all Disney did! Here's a video showing the inside of one of the real cabs.

[koolmoecraig]

Thank you for taking the time to compile and post all of that information!

One question I was wondering - I was playing a one of the "real" ones at Disneyland and they have both a "Fix" and "Hop" button.  Thing is, Felix hops when you push up on the joystick so the "Hop" button is redundant.  I actually played 10 times better when I stopped trying to use the hop button.

Am I missing something here with that button?

[jdbailey1206]

Moe - The reason for the hop button is for when the large pieces of brick are in the way.  Then you can "hop" over them.

[Sjaak]

Moe - The reason for the hop button is for when the large pieces of brick is the way.  Then you can "hop" over them.

Correct, you will not get past level 3 without the hop button

[ridicrick]

Awesome work man! Great build!

Here is something I have been working on that you might enjoy. Had a custom lexan overlay cover made. I then reverse printed and put it on the back of the overlay. It turned out amazing and professional looking just like it would have been in the 80s (but only screen printed). The translucent look before I added the white also looked very cool.

Also I am looking into have 100 authentic serial plates made with numbers stamped out 1-100 of course. I will post them if I do get them made.

[jdbailey1206]

Rick - Did you consider doing this with the monitor bezel also?

[ridicrick]

I am actually doing this with not only the bezel but also the marquee. The way these light up is 10x better then the translucent vinyl inkjets print on for marquees. But this cost more as its two sets of vinyl instead of one. Im also doing pinball playfield plastics like this.

[jdbailey1206]

What is it gonna run?

[meyer980]

redicrick, consider me interested too.

[ridicrick]

PMs sent

[SORHP]

I may be in for this also with my orders I'm placing

[pinballsmith]

My cab looks exactly the same as the one on youtube. Disney painted the entire inside including the wood that holds the computer black on mine. I've been noticing the leaked version is surprisingly easier than the final version used in the cabs.

[404]

I've been noticing the leaked version is surprisingly easier than the final version used in the cabs.

ghost the drive
accidentally leave a copy lingering somewhere on the intarwebz 

[jdbailey1206]

Okay guys.  I know I'm repeating myself but don't expect much out of this topic for the next month.  I have gotten the cab to the point where all I need is to find the monitor bezel and pay for and apply the artwork.  I just jumped on to give some quick responses and post the pictures I took (finally) of the coin door up close.

WP - Wow.  That is a real drastic difference from the color I have on my cab.  My paint color was taken from Choppers paint colors which he found on his cab when he was refurbishing it.

Nice DK cab.  LCD doesnt look bad behind the plexi either... What paint codes did you use for your blue??

I removed the control/speaker panel side and took the whole piece in to SW. Underneath one of the corner blocks was a great area to match from that had not seen the light of day since built..

The only thing I can really think of is that your paint has faded over the years.  I'm just wondering if there is a hidden place on your cab you can find that has been protected and will show a different shade of blue. 


Santoro -  Thanks for the kind words.  I took my time on this cab and I am really happy with it so far.  It even plays well.  I can't wait to get the artwork on and call it finished. 

koolmoecraig - I was really happy on the way the serial plate turned out.  It wasn't hard for me to replicate the DK serial plate and put my own spin on it.  I want to thank CoreyBee also for the excellent, quick, and easy tutorial he has on making these beauties.  Sorry I didn't respond to your earlier questions but it looks like meyer980 more than helped with that.  Kudos to him.

ridicrick - Love the artwork man.  I'm glad you have ventured into doing something original with the artwork.  We have already talked over PM and I think once you get the monitor bezel's worked up I am going to order one for my cab.

pinballsmith - I've played the leaked version and I have to agree that the leaked version is almost tedious to play.  I never got a chance to play it in the park (too far in either direction) but the leaked version gives me the feeling that I am playing Pong.  Fun?  Yes.  Not really demanding and tedious?  You bet.  Also thanks for posting a picture of the cab.  I was going to go with a tinted monitor bezel but now that I know the originals aren't tinted I can just go with plain ol' lexan.  I avoided painting the entire inside of my cab.  I wanted to give it the feel of the DK cab which is not entirely painted and I also didn't want the sides to distort in case the paint soaked in and distorted the sides of the cab. 
 
404 - With all of your luck I think it should be more than fair for someone to 'linger' you a copy.    

Finally just a few quick pictures of the coin door.  I couldn't get a good shot in my dark basement but my brother in law helped me move the cab upstairs and I snapped some pictures in a well lit room to show not only how well the textured paint came out but also the Bondo filler worked.  The paint may not be what was on the coin door originally but I really like how it turned out.

Before:  (Dents,scratches, stickers, and bends.)


There was a gigantic dent in the middle of the door underneath the sticker.  I filled it with my Bondo filler and after paint it's like it never even existed.


After:



Close up goodness:
I really like how well the coin face plates and coin door look together.



Thats all for now.  I will still be haunting the forums so don't be afraid to ask any questions.  I will always check on the topic.  I just won't be posting that many updates.  I just hope it doesn't take me another month to update.   

[pinballsmith]

Wanted to mention that the real Felix cabinets were not painted in Liquid Blue, and they also primed the cabinets in a black enamel before the blue went on.

[wp34]

That coin door looks fantastic.  How did you clean up the coin mechs?

[jdbailey1206]

Wanted to mention that the real felix cab is painted in Liquid Blue, but the primer they used was black. It makes the blue slightly darker.

Yeah.  The original paint code from Choppers DK cab is a real close match to liquid blue.  The picture I took doesn't do the match justice.

That coin door looks fantastic.  How did you clean up the coin mechs?

The door itself just came with the service switch and counter attached to the back.  I picked up my coin mechs here.  I didn't want the machine itself to be coin operated so I removed the coin mechs from the face plates, installed the face plates, and wired up switches to act as the coins when the coin rejection button is pushed.  The idea itself was 'borrowed' from Choppers Dk build.

[wp34]

The door itself just came with the service switch and counter attached to the back.  I picked up my coin mechs here.  I didn't want the machine itself to be coin operated so I removed the coin mechs from the face plates, installed the face plates, and wired up switches to act as the coins when the coin rejection button is pushed.  The idea itself was 'borrowed' from Choppers Dk build.

Thanks!   

[koolmoecraig]

If you make the full art kit available - Lexan CPO, Bezel, Marquee, Side art and Serial plate, I would be interested and I'm sure many others would be as well. Might be a nice was to defer your costs?

[SORHP]

A quick note on the sound.  I know that these are only arcade sounds but some of the sound effects sound hollow.  I am going to see if I can merge the channels down to one in Windows and see if that helps any since I am only running on one channel.

just curious if you got the sound issue worked out, and what you did?

Thanks man, love the thread

[jdbailey1206]

A quick note on the sound.  I know that these are only arcade sounds but some of the sound effects sound hollow.  I am going to see if I can merge the channels down to one in Windows and see if that helps any since I am only running on one channel.

just curious if you got the sound issue worked out, and what you did?

Thanks man, love the thread

SORHP - I went into my Windows sound settings and played with it until it sounded correct.  It's been a while since I had heard anything from a single speaker.  I am so use to having a 5.1 system for gaming it's really odd reverting back to mono sound.

If you make the full art kit available - Lexan CPO, Bezel, Marquee, Side art and Serial plate, I would be interested and I'm sure many others would be as well. Might be a nice was to defer your costs?

Craig - I did not create the artwork I am using.  It was created by ridicrick.  If you read earlier on this page you can see what avenue he is taking with creating the physical artwork and I will most likely be going with him.  I would PM him for the artwork package.  I sent you a PM with the serial plate artwork.  If you go to the second page of this thread there is a detailed explanation on how I physically created it.  Don't worry about compensating me for the serial plate.  I've been on here for two years and guys are always helping me out.  Le Chuck helped me with artwork when I first got on and 404 saved my butt last week by soldering my Minimus AVR (mentioned earlier in the thread) back together.  Think of it as paying forward.