Turtle Box - Severdhed inspired pedestal cabinet

[yotsuya]

Either that, or all four of you dudes can all have your own glory holes. 

[pbj]

Uhm.. or I just leave the redundant buttons that NOBODY will EVER notice or comment about except for BYOAC members.

 

[severdhed]

looking good

[wp34]

Uhm.. or I just leave the redundant buttons that NOBODY will EVER notice or comment about except for BYOAC members.

 

So true.

[Malenko]

meh, buy a dowel rod, cut of 4 piece, plug the holes , bondo or spackle, quick sanding, quick once over with the paint. Not a significant amount of work

[pbj]

 

[pbj]

Also found out you can hook up a USB keyboard to an Xbox and it works fine with XBMC, CoinOps, and (more importantly) MAME.  I may end up hacking a USB keyboard for players 3 & 4 in an effort to keep costs down.  Even the usual chore of mapping out the key matrix is moot - all I need is 10 inputs per player and it doesn't matter what they do.

T-molding has been sitting in the UPS warehouse for three days, but we've finally come to their schedule delivery date.  Should be looking good tonight.


 

[yotsuya]

Also found out you can hook up a USB keyboard to an Xbox and it works fine with XBMC, CoinOps, and (more importantly) MAME.  I may end up hacking a USB keyboard for players 3 & 4 in an effort to keep costs down.  Even the usual chore of mapping out the key matrix is moot - all I need is 10 inputs per player and it doesn't matter what they do.

If you need one hacked and mapped, let me know - it's become a specialty of mine **glares at Ark**

[404]

 

looks really good with the coin door

[pbj]

100 feet of t-molding arrived yesterday.  Just as an FYI - 100 feet is $45 shipped via Amazon from t-molding.com.

[kahlid74]

I do not like that paint color but to each their own.  Keep on trucking.

Also, I'm not a fan of how far player 3/4 are positioned.  Almost a 90 degree.  That would be true north would be their left.  That could be very disorienting when playing.  Also having to crank your head 90 degrees left or right to play would be tiring after a while.  Did you try it/experiment with it before you positioned them/drilled the holes?

[pbj]

That 0.01% of the time 4 players are on this thing, two people will just have to deal with it.   

Anyway, finally decided I'm going to chunk an Xbox in this.  Found these USB adapters to be particularly cheap:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300938217632?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[severdhed]

i think it looks great.  that color is awesome, and the coin door looks nice...i plan to add one to mine if i ever find a good deal on one. 

as for the position of players 3 and 4, they appear to be in very similar position to mine, and i can say they are quite comfortable to use.  when playing 4 player TMNT, i prefer Donatello which is player 3, so i frequently use those controls, the angle looks rough, but i is quite comfortable.  you also have to remember that you will be about 3 feet from the screen, so it isn't like you are right beside it.  you stand with your body at about a 45 degree angle to the screen, your arms sit both at very comfortable angles, just at player 3, your joystick hand is a few inches farther away from your body than your button hand, and the opposite for player 4.  I have had quite a few 3 and 4 player game sessions and never once had anyone complain about it. 

[pbj]

The color is non-negotiable.  I'd make love to it if I could.  I haven't played anything on this, but I did pretend to be player 3 and 4 when I had it sketched out on the wood and it seemed fine. 

Going the Xbox route means I've got a Lono encoder and harnesses from Paradise Arcade going unused but... meh. 

Minimus 16k is $6.99 via Amazon.  I bought five of them and added a six cent hose washer for free shipping.  Figuring $45 all said and done for the control interface and it's not too horrible.  Cheaper than any other option I could work out for the Xbox, they can be used on the PC, and I'll have an extra one in the junk drawer.

 

[pbj]

Stole some pegboard from the grocery store and put a couple of shelves in the base:



Added blue t-molding to the base as well:



 

[matt4949]

Lookin good Jim.

[Malenko]

last pic gave me an idea.

replace the coin buttons with beer/cup holders.

[pbj]

You clearly have not seen the size of my friends.  Cup holders will keep our little T-Rex arms from reaching the joysticks.

[Malenko]

You clearly have not seen the size of my friends.  Cup holders will keep our little T-Rex arms from reaching the joysticks.

worth posting what I did to see that picture,lol. 

[severdhed]

that looks great. what kind of display are you planning on using?

[wp34]

Looks great.  Too bad those turtle dust washers didn't work out. 

[pbj]

Ugh.  Word of advice... just pay for the damned Kade PCBs.



 

Anyway.  Six (!) hours later the control panel is wired.  My Lono encoder and associated wiring harnesses sit snugly (smugly?) idle in their box.  I am far too embarrassed of the rat's nest of wires and zip ties to share a picture of the horror.  But it's done.  One Minimus is hard wired to the controls, and I think, "hm... this may be a bad idea" so the other three had male headers added that run into some of my surplus box stock of 1,000 female Molex connectors.

Was also pleased to discover there are a couple of official DDR Xbox games, so this project can be merged with the DDR pads that currently lay on their sides in my garage.

[pbj]

It's..... alive.....



Currently running on the garage TV where I throw empty beer cans at Tony Romo.

Anyway, still need my USB -> Xbox cables for players 2-4, and need to figure out the LEDs but damned if you can't play some Ninja Turtles on it.

 

[severdhed]

awesome, congratulations.....although now that it is working,if you are anything like me,  there isn't much of a chance of it getting finished.

[Locke141]

Nice work.

Love all of it. Nice to see some one finish there 4 player pedestal. I have been stuck on painting for months with mine. 

I had MAME on my xbox back in the day. How do you like it? Does it still hold up? 

Congratulations.

[yotsuya]

Currently running on the garage TV where I throw empty beer cans at Tony Romo.

Figure out how to turn that into a game or cab and I got cash-in-hand for you!

[pbj]

The Xbox emulator experience is frustratingly close to being perfect.  One aspect I dislike is when you select a game, the screen goes completely dead a good 10 seconds before the ROM starts loading.  Maybe it's not that long, but it feels like it.

Visionary 3 is a neat looking menu system but the categorizations are terrible.  It's very difficult to find specific games.

So I'm currently leaning towards booting into XBMC and then running CoinOps 4. 

If I had an extra PC laying around capable of HDMI output, I would have used a PC.

 

[pbj]

Currently running on the garage TV where I throw empty beer cans at Tony Romo.

Figure out how to turn that into a game or cab and I got cash-in-hand for you!

[Locke141]

The Xbox emulator experience is frustratingly close to being perfect.  One aspect I dislike is when you select a game, the screen goes completely dead a good 10 seconds before the ROM starts loading.  Maybe it's not that long, but it feels like it.

Visionary 3 is a neat looking menu system but the categorizations are terrible.  It's very difficult to find specific games.

So I'm currently leaning towards booting into XBMC and then running CoinOps 4. 

If I had an extra PC laying around capable of HDMI output, I would have used a PC.

 

Good to know.
Thanks

[Generic Eric]

Currently running on the garage TV where I throw empty beer cans at Tony Romo.

Figure out how to turn that into a game or cab and I got cash-in-hand for you!

That would be easier to figure out if he was receiver.

Find large cardboard standie, but it in the garbage. 
Behind it, use plexi or something for a back board. 
Adhere *in a creative manner* circles as if they were floating at a similar angle to skeeball. 
Make sure liner is in garbage can to hold cans. 
Leave cardboard standie of bad player in garbage.

[pbj]

Hm... The Tony Romo Challenge.

Two trash cans.  One done up to resemble the opposing team, and one for a Cowboys receiver.  Points deducted for every beer can that lands in the Cowboys bin, one million dollars added to your contract and a sincere promise from Jerry Jones to wash his pecker before he makes you kiss it again for every crucial can that lands in the opponent can on the other side of the garage.

 

[yotsuya]

Hm... The Tony Romo Challenge.

Two trash cans.  One done up to resemble the opposing team, and one for a Cowboys receiver.  Points deducted for every beer can that lands in the Cowboys bin, one million dollars added to your contract and a sincere promise from Jerry Jones to wash his pecker before he makes you kiss it again for every crucial can that lands in the opponent can on the other side of the garage.

 

Can you work in a Jessica Simpson bonus level somehow?

[pbj]

Ugh.  Yoko Romo.  I'll give him respect for tagging that moron before she got fat and keeps getting paid by Weight Watchers despite not actually losing any weight.



Just a shame it cost us the playoffs.

[yotsuya]

Ugh.  Yoko Romo.  I'll give him respect for tagging that moron before she got fat and keeps getting paid by Weight Watchers despite not actually losing any weight.



Just a shame it cost us the playoffs.

I woulda tagged her while she was fat, too. Give Tony his Dooshbag points for breaking up with her the night before her birthday. 

[pbj]

Another freaking four hours sunk into this thing...



But... it works.  100%.  The 5V line off the Xbox wasn't enough to power 8 lights, and the 12V line was running them far too hot.  I'll either get some 12V bulbs or use a wall wart to power my mashup of LEDs and 555s.

 

[pbj]

Bust out another $20....   

12V bayonet base LEDs:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221403500901

RCA couplers:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331164615319

25 foot component cable:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290886165532

Complete overkill, but the pricing is all over the place on these things and I was afraid 12' would be too short.


 

[Locke141]

I always check www.monoprice.com for cables. Its hard to beat there prices.

$7.35 for a 25 foot cable.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023508&p_id=962&seq=1&format=2

[pbj]

Excellent advice, but I believe it came out 25 cents or so cheaper to get it off the guy from E-bay.  Pricing is all over the place on component cables... I could have done 40 feet for less money, but that was going to be a lot of coiled up cable. 

[matt4949]

I alway check www.monoprice.com for cables. Its hard to beat there prices.

$7.35 for a 25 foot cable.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023508&p_id=962&seq=1&format=2

BookMarked.

[pbj]

So, I bought a bunch of battery powered xmas lights for my dust collecting DDR pads.  The battery packs were cut off and saved, the LEDs were wired up to a wall wart.  A toggle switch was poached off a battery pack.  Here's what happened to it:



The Kades were customized so that when that switch is flipped, everything is the same except the joystick now emulates the L-stick instead of the d-pad.  (and the "Exit" button is remapped to Back-White so that the MAME option menu pops up instead)

And why would one do this? 

One reason:



After all these years, I finally have Gauntlet Legends playable on an arcade panel.  Brought a tear to my eye.  Unfortunately, it's Dark Legacy but we can't have everything.


This is such an obvious tweak to the Kade Xbox mapping that I'm going to suggest they make it standard.