FLYNN'S ARCADE (Project Code Name: Overambitious) - FINISHED

[ChanceKJ]

Nominated for the 2014 BYOAC User Choice Awards Full-size Multi category!

IT’S DONE! I think it’s time to official put a pin in my first arcade build. First of all I would like to thank the many people that helped with this build. In no particular order (and pardon me if i forgot anyone).

PL1 - For a TON of advice and help on things to numerous to mention.
Nephasth - inspiration, parts sourcing, crippling help, and the driving force for neat cable standards.
HaRuMaN - CAD work and design help.
yotsuya - for the constant heckling.
Jarrett - the basis of the CP design
SpaceHedgehog - For help with his paint process
CraftyMech - for his SLG Mini, and a ton of tech support
Lucian045 - for printing my artwork, and providing art samples and advice.
EMDB - for the help with the castors
blind_dado - for the inspiration with the Griffin PowerMate
OldTymeToys - Custom keychain work

Also HUGE shout out to the fine folks at Paradise Arcade, GroovyGameGear, ArcadeShop.de, and Ultimarc for dealing with my orders, special requests and constant barrage of questions. As well a whole bunch more local Calgary vendors, and small parts vendors around the world. Its crazy to think/say but this build wouldn’t have been what it is without parts from Germany, Asia, the U.K. all over the US, Canada, and the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Everyone i’ve missed, (you know who you are), that provided insight, inspiration, and tips. As well as those of you who follow this thread. Extra special shoutout to those of you who have the email notifications going, (sorry for the 2am updates, haha )

This build was made possible with the inspiration from the following other builds. Check them out:
Nephasth - Two-Headed Beast
edekoning - Magneto
SpaceHedgehog - R-Pod MkII Racing Simulator
blind_dado - Arcade Odyssey
mcseforsale - The Blue Pill
EMDB - Project RetroCade

Complete Flickr Gallery (Over 500 photos!)
Chance's Arcade

Side Panel CAD/PDF Download
CLICK HERE
2017 Edit: I have updated the download package to include a 1-to-1 scale PDF document for better printing on large format printers.































Vandal Switch Source
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/737142


Molex Part Numbers

Molex Micro-Fit 3.0™
43645-0200 - 2 circuit Male
43640-0201 - 2 circuit Female
43025-0400 - 4 circuit Male
43020-0401 - 4 circuit Female
43025-0600 - 6 circuit Male
43020-0601 - 6 circuit Female
43025-0800 - 8 circuit Male
43020-0801 - 8 circuit Female
43030-0007 - Female pins
43031-0007 - Male pins

2.54mm Pitch SL™ Crimp Housing
22-55-2101 - 10 Circuit
22-55-2201 - 20 Circuit
22-55-2321 - 32 Circuit
16-02-1125 - SL™ Crimp terminals



Begin Original Post:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, after drooling over some of the custom cabs here for a couple weeks i've decided to do the due diligence on START building my own standup full-size.

I've always had this sick love for the Simpsons arcade 4-player. Even tried to track one down a few times over the last decade.  However now that i've officially become debt free I feel it's my duty to do the only sensible thing, and that is to load my credit card back up with arcade parts and wood screws! This all became really serious a couple weeks ago when i saw an ad online for the new Xarcade prebuilt units. I posted a link to their site on facebook and sure enough a number of my friends made drooling sounds as they read their news feed. A buddy of mine made a joke about building one in his shop instead of paying $2500 for something cut out of the back of a comic book. That got me thinking, and well... here we are now...

I tend to do things with a little too much ambition some times, and it either goes down in a blaze of glory like a fighter plane, or goes down in a blaze of glory like the Hindenburg, (i'm working on my methods...).  I've outlined a few ideas that i wouldn't mind to steal borrow from a few other notorious builds. I will endeavour to thank you and give you credit where credit is due, but it has become apparent that i'm gonna need a bit of guidance here and there in order to keep a potential "Chernobyl" into just a minor "Three Mile Island". Some of my ideas/notes have included the following:


Controls: IL Convex, 2 ball top US360's, 2 ball top j-sticks, U-Track pearl Trackball.
TV: 32" Toshiba 32L1350U (based on viewing angle and design of stock bezel)
Computer: MacMini(early 2009) boot camp'd into Windows 7,  (Powerful, small, Energy efficient, collecting dust in my office.)
Cabinet: Wide body, low profile LCD design. 4 player CP
Electronics: PA Lono2, PacLED64 (2), IL RGB-LEDs, Spare PSU for Cab lights etc, Logitech LS21 speakers (Cheap, hackable )

Design Goals:
-3/4 Cabinet Birch. 
-LED light in a drawer cupboard under the CP activated automatically when opened.
-LED backlight for the marquee.
-Working 4-player coin drawer. Matching color return buttons, theme logo vinyl graphic.
-Chassis mounted Headphone jack I/O plate with Griffin PowerMate volume control and USB, located on front of the CP.
-2.1 audio system (logitech LS21).
-Themed Arcade Tokens and key chain.
-Top cabinet ventilation. Going for a clean look, so i'll hide them up top.
-Clean and organized CP wire job. Custom black wire harness. 
-IL Concave RGB/LED buttons (black tops, lit rings) (As seen on the Two-Headed Beast)
-Molex QD on all LED harnesses (Also thanks to Nephasth (you bastard, thanks for the expensive ideas... )
-wire coin buttons and coin slots to both add credits
-Hammered Black diamond plate aluminum kick plate, (might skip this, depending on the finished product)
-Magnetically attached marque holder.
-Maximus Arcade Frontend with custom GUI skin.
-Removable CP module. Bolts, washers and clamping knobs to make Cab/CP separation easy/painless,

Control Panel:
-Modified from jarrett's "Space Paranoids" 4-Player design.
-4 player controls, P1/2 8-button, P3/4 4-button. 8way sticks, recessed trackball.
-4 Start/Coin button sets,
-MAME master control buttons: Pause, Menu, Exit, Aux,
-no bolts or plates shown on surface.
-3 button power I/O on the back overhang. One latching for master power, then one momentary each for TV and Mac.

Game list (Must Have's):
-Pac-Man
-The Simpsons
-TMNT
-GTA2 (PC or PS1)
-Donkey Kong
-1943 Series
-Bubble Bobble
-Tetris
-Frogger
-Doom (PC)
-Bomberman
-Metal Slug Series
-Mortal Kombat Series
-Super Mario (NES)
-Super Mario 3 (NES)
-Super Mario (SNES)
-TLOZ: Link to the Past (SNES)
-Many, Many more...


Design steps:
1. Spousal approval (CHECK!)
2. Planning, sourcing, materials (CHECK!)
3. Finalize Cab design (CHECK!)
4. Mass purchase of materials/tools (CHECK!)
5. Built the Cab at the shop (CHECK!)
6. Paint the Cab (CHECK!)
7. Front End design and Software configuration (CHECK!)
8. Move the Cab to my place for component/controls installation and CP build. (CHECK!)
9. Software configuration (CHECK!)
10. Beer & Video games. (Coming Soon!)


Theme and Artwork.
The overall theme information is found here.
The Finished artwork can be seen here.

Current Roadblocks: 2014.Nov.09
1. NONE!
 

Well, I hope you'll all enjoy the horrible mess that i'm about to make. Hopefully i'll be able to get some tips and tricks along the way and contribute back to this place at least something since i've received so much great advice just reading about your builds thus far. Well, that and in hopes you'll bring solutions to me instead of me having to spend hours more using the search function on the site!

[yotsuya]

[ChanceKJ]

Get. out. of. my. head!

 

[ChanceKJ]

Doodles:


The underlaying plans I desecrated in iOS are not mine, Credit for those go to user Ionos at The OCAU . I just needed something to sketch to when i hit the pencil to the vellum. I've got a link someplace on my iPad...
Of course the original design of the CP comes from jarrett's "Space Paranoids". Don't really know why, but i just love that shape for a CP.

Side note: I've discovered it IS incredibly hard to handwrite on an iPad. I always thought my customers were just bad at signing off on their repairs when i worked at Apple...

[PL1]

The good news is that you already have spousal approval -- keep her happy and saying, "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby" rather than, "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".

Hopefully you can come up with a good sideart theme so you don't leave a barren Black Mountain Side on your cab.

Just keep your spirits up no matter How Many More Times you have to revise your plans.

There will be Good Times Bad Times, but Your Time is Gonna Come unless there is a Communication Breakdown that leaves you so Dazed and Confused that you can't finish the build.

For the light in the drawer, consider using a roller microswitch that engages with the back right or back left side.




Scott

P.S. For those wondering about the content of this post , click here.

[jdbailey1206]

Design steps:
1. Spousal approval (CHECK!)

Spousal approval...Pure gold!  By the way...No cupholders?  I KID!  I kid!   

[Rick]

Doodles

If you keep up with the doodles as plans, then you are certainly well on your way! I'm excited to be watching this build.

<AJ>Subscribed.</AJ>

Rick

[yotsuya]

I'm trying to figure out what Scott does for a living.

[mcseforsale]

Aw, crap!

AJ

(notice I'm posting above you...  )

Doodles

If you keep up with the doodles as plans, then you are certainly well on your way! I'm excited to be watching this build.

<AJ>Subscribed.</AJ>

Rick

[jdbailey1206]

I did  feel spaced out this morning.  I don't remember typing my last post on this thread.  So AJ is capable of possession.  So there's that.   

[yotsuya]

That CP shape is known affectionately in some circles as 'The Aircraft Carrier'.

[mcseforsale]

That CP shape is known affectionately in some circles as 'The Aircraft Carrier'.

LOL, yeah, but when you have a 32" LCD, there's a lot of real-estate to cover. 

AJ

[Nephasth]

-IL Concave RGB/LED buttons (black tops, lit rings) (As seen on the Two-Headed Beast)
-Molex QD on all LED harnesses (Also thanks to Nephasth (you bastard, thanks for the expensive ideas... )

Glad the Beast can still be a source of inspiration! I can help you out with lowering the cost on the Molex parts. PM coming your way.

[ChanceKJ]

Hopefully you can come up with a good sideart theme so you don't leave a barren Black Mountain Side on your cab.

For the light in the drawer, consider using a roller microswitch that engages with the back right or back left side.

P.S. For those wondering about the content of this post , click here.

Ok, A, Yes, I have a plan for the side art but thats under wraps unless i change my mind. I have a weird idea about a Hindenburg theme now... (joking). Plans call for a laminated wood surface to aid in the vinyl application and reduce the amount of paint fumes that would inevitably kill the few remaining braincells i have left.

2, That switch is a magnificent idea! I'll wire it up like a fridge door.

and D, the Led Zep jokes, you have no idea how funny that is to me. (Big fan)...

Spousal approval...Pure gold!  By the way...No cupholders?  I KID!  I kid!   

It had crossed my mind a few times. i just keep thinking back to all those cases of liquid damage i dealt with at Apple. Tragic stuff...

I'm trying to figure out what Scott does for a living.

 
...i honestly had something funny to say here last night. it has escaped me.

That CP shape is known affectionately in some circles as 'The Aircraft Carrier'.

Really?  I think it looks more like the bridge of an oil tanker...  http://richard-seaman.com/Travel/Turkey/Istanbul/BosporusOilTanker.jpg

Glad the Beast can still be a source of inspiration! I can help you out with lowering the cost on the Molex parts. PM coming your way.

  Thats a win. Replied!





This place moves fast...

Now, ethical question: Looking at all these nice bartops that are being CnC'd is it a sin if i forgo most of the standard fabrication of the cab and have the technical bits plotted out on a local woodworkers CnC?

[Nephasth]

Now, ethical question: Looking at all these nice bartops that are being CnC'd is it a sin if i forgo most of the standard fabrication of the cab and have the technical bits plotted out on a local woodworkers CnC?

If you have the resources... Use them!

[ChanceKJ]

You know that's what I figured.

I'm gonna stop into a place here in Calgary that specializes in CnC. Get a quote.

I figure it could be a big time saver and as well give a more "Pro" look and feel compared to the wobbly "Made by Chance^tm" esthetic.

[kahlid74]

That's a lot of buttons.

[yotsuya]

You might want to check with HaRuMaN on that aircraft carrier. I think he might be able to help.

[ChanceKJ]

That's a lot of buttons.

Agreed, but there is a method to my madness. That and you'll notice the blatant omission of the ubiquitous spinner, dedicated 4-way and buttons.   I have this thing with looking back on projects and going "F$&@, I should have built that in..."  So it's likely the previously mentioned spinner might make an appearance.

You might want to check with HaRuMaN on that aircraft carrier. I think he might be able to help.

Yeah, I saw that in another thread. I have a few things I need to talk to him about if this quote for CnC pans out...

[ChanceKJ]

OoooH, i get it now...





Took a trip to a couple of places to get wood today. <Insert Strip Club Joke Here>
I've thought about a couple options and i was pondering the pros and cons of each.

-3/4 Cabinet Birch.
Pro, Lighter then MDF,
Con, It would have to involve paint.

-3/4 Melamine with an MDF core.
Pro, no paint required.
con, May not be as light as the super light MDF is. Hard to find.

-Superlight MDF
Pro. Cheap and abundant. Light weight MDF
Con, Paint...

-Melamine with Birch core <---Best option i'm thinking.
Pro, no paint, light, finished surface pre prepped for vinyl wrapping.
Con, Have yet to find a supply in town. 


I didn't think castors were so damned expensive! On another note, i did manage to find vents, drawer rails, European hinges, and a few other random bits of hardware that will hopefully over-engineer the thing. Looks like most of the lumber places close at 5, 5:30. so i'll need to plan to leave the office early some time this week. Bad news is my hookup at Futureshop no longer works there, so that means TV at full price. oh well.

[mcseforsale]

If yer in the US, Harbor Freight for castors.

AJ

[ChanceKJ]

Mmmm, I'm in Calgary, but thanks. I think I know a couple places that might have them for cheep now that I think about it.

It's the plywood that's becoming a pain in the ass to track down. Everyone seems to have that crappy particle board laminated with melamine.  I've sent a bunch of emails out this morning as well as I've found a couple places to do the CnC work. Once I find the wood I'll finish the design and grab quotes for the CnC.

[ChanceKJ]

Figured out the joysticks, trackball, and I think i've finalized the design. The two options are below.
I've also made a couple trips to my local electronics component store and Home Depot to price out materials, get ideas, etc.
I've priced out the CP parts and electronics. Buttons i want aren't in stock in the quantity i'd like. The coin door i want from HAPP is also out of stock. 

EDIT: I have included a link to download the finished side panel plans in the first post.  ...or you could click here.

(Notice in an effort to save time i scrapped the plans to draft this by hand as previously stated. So there's the first casualty of my ambition)


Hey, if anyone wants to use these for their own cab i'm cool with that. Just don't blame me when the thing explodes on your table saw... 

[ChanceKJ]

I seriously feel like a tool right now... I JUST found this: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

[PL1]

No biggie -- just let Saint know that you like it, but it would be so much better if we could get the logins working again so we could update the contents.   

It's almost time for another monthly bump over in the Wiki Discussion sub-forum.   


Scott

[ChanceKJ]

Yeah, i just spent an hour going through it and a ton of the links are out of date. I also found that when i went to click on an images to get a closer look most of them were the same size as shown on the wiki page.

ah well.

[javeryh]

That's a lot of buttons.

I came here to post this.  Simple is always better, IMO.  It's OK to not be able to play every single game known to man.  That's why you build cab #2!

I am super jealous of the spouse approval.  Someone should write a wiki on how that happens.  I'm almost there but I think I'm missing a key piece of information.

1.  Come up with awesome idea to build arcade cabinet
2.  Tell wife
3. 
4.  Everyone is happy!

[ChanceKJ]

Two things I really can't fathom:

First, why do people seem to criticize the button count. I mean it's not like I'm making a 4-player 8 button CP with Pin controls, dedicated 4-way stick and spinner with buttons. Hell, my games list is only 71 titles long now that I've finished collecting them. Why design interface boards with 72 channels that can be strung together for hundreds?  Haha, it's like now that CRT's have become so far antiquated and a few top end epic builds are using LCD's that now you see all the Anti-LCD purists turn to Anti-button evangelists. 

The Spousal approval thing. It's totally funny that everyone keeps pointing that out. I said "hey hon, look what I wanna do!" And she was like "well that's cool, I'm not gonna play it because it's not something that interests me. But you seem pretty keen on it and it makes you happy." (That's not how the conversation exactly went, but you get the idea). Maybe it helps because were D.I.N.K.'s  (dual income no kids) just entering our 30's.  Oh well. 

[javeryh]

I've just found that more buttons leads to more confusion - the less clutter on a CP the more people seem to enjoy it.  My first cabinet tried to "do everything" and it led to 500 questions every time I had people over to play.  My DK gets played a ton more and no one really ever asks me how it works other than how to switch games.  Of course, it only has a 4-way and one action button so it's not that tough to figure out but still.  The DK has about 30 games and the other cab had about 300 so you would think that the cab with more games would be played more but it just didn't (so I got rid of it).  I don't know - there's no right answer but I was just sharing my own experience.

[yotsuya]

I've just found that more buttons leads to more confusion - the less clutter on a CP the more people seem to enjoy it.  My first cabinet tried to "do everything" and it led to 500 questions every time I had people over to play.  My DK gets played a ton more and no one really ever asks me how it works other than how to switch games.  Of course, it only has a 4-way and one action button so it's not that tough to figure out but still.  The DK has about 30 games and the other cab had about 300 so you would think that the cab with more games would be played more but it just didn't (so I got rid of it).  I don't know - there's no right answer but I was just sharing my own experience.

***slow 80s clap***

Most of us that are "Anti-button evangelists" speak from practial experience.

What kind of coin door are you looking for? I have a brand new one I don't need that I was thinking of offering for sale.

[ChanceKJ]

I totally get the argument when it comes to user experience. But this is 50% the reason why I'm spending more money to light up all the buttons (and maybe sticks) with the buttons per game.

Mmmm, coin door.  http://na.suzohapp.com/amusement_products/coin_doors/40-0946-20

[PL1]

If Yotsuya doesn't have the kind of door you're looking for, check out Divemaster's site here.

The second option on that page matches with the link you posted -- PM Divemaster127 if you want to confirm.

Since this is bigger than a flat rate box, I'd definitely suggest that you not order direct from Happ.


Scott

[ChanceKJ]

20 Points to Scott!

That's awesome, thanks! I tried doing a search online and couldn't seem to find any other vendors with it.

[HaRuMaN]

You rang??

What do you need?

[ChanceKJ]

Haha, nice.  I'll shoot you a PM. 

[yotsuya]

Naw, I don't have that door.

[ChanceKJ]

Naw, I don't have that door.

Damn,

Looks like I'll have to have it shipped to some family in the US and have them bring it up in November.

Hey thanks anyways!

[yotsuya]

No problem. I'm still working on that other thing we discussed.

[ChanceKJ]

No problem. I'm still working on that other thing we discussed.

[ChanceKJ]

Well, it's on now.

Just placed my order for:

-2 x J-Stik Ball-Top                 
-4 x Joystick Mounting Kits (5mm)
-2 x PacLED64 Advanced LED Controller.
-1 x U-TRAK FlushMount Arcade Trackball. (U-Trak Pearl  with USB2 + Cable)             
-1 x U-Trak RGB LED Illumination Kit     
-2 x UltraStik 360 Ball Top with USB cable
-4 x UltraStik 360 Long Handle Shaft. (Ball top)

...my credit card just started to singe the countertop a little. 

Just ordered the Speakers on Walmart's website too. Figured it would be better then trying to race around the city and look for them at a dozen different stores.


Next up: BUTTONS!
(and a small Myocardial infarction)