My build

[dkersten]

OK, last night I hit a wall.. my back was really hurting after only an hour of work, so I stopped.. but not until after I finished enough to get some pics that are a good representation of the finished product.

The problem is trying to take photos of a glossy black cabinet in a brightly lit shop and still get details in the cabinet.  I had to do a little photoshop retouching to get them even reasonably decent, and still they pretty much suck.  But it is the best I can do.

Got the t-molding and coin door in.


Here is a pic with the CP in place, the "wings" that help ease the transition from the 48" wide CP to the 28" wide cab, and aside from some dust and fingerprints, a reasonable representation of what it looks like.


I added 2 external USB ports on either side of the cp for light guns


And in an attempt to get a good picture, I turned off the lights and used a flash.. at least it is a decent profile even if the quality of the pic sucks


The paint is so damn soft it is driving me nuts, but aside from a couple minor details like installing the volume control under the CP, mounting the CP with bolts, screwing the back on, and adding a couple items inside to keep wiring in order internally, it is pretty much ready to fire up.  Well, at least until Thursday when I get the LED's for the buttons, which will mean an evening of wiring again... And next week when the pedals come in it will be tempting to not cut holes and start working on that part... But I could have the games going and be working on adding and refining more (or just playing) tonight if I want to..

[dkersten]

Well, it is up and running! 

I still have the LED's to put in when they get in, and a ton of programming to do for lighting.  And I still have a few dozen games I would like to add, as well as some other emulators, etc, but that will happen over time.

I had to work out a few glitches, but nothing major.  One oddity was when I was first configuring the ipac ultimate, I had the trackball plugged in and the X axis was backwards.  I verified that I had the unit facing the right direction and the up-down worked but the left right was backwards.  So I swapped the pins on the connector for the two X axis controls and it was perfect.  But when I got it all plugged in last night, they were backwards again.  This is something like how when you go to plug a USB in and it doesn't fit so you flip it and it still doesn't fit, so you flip it again and it fits..  wtf..   Anyway, swapped the pins again and it works right now.

I mentioned above that I made a design decision to put the spinner closer to the bottom of the CP instead of above the trackball like most people do.  This seems logical to me for a lot of reasons, and I ended up shifting it to the left so there was more room for using the trackball.  This is fine except for one thing - the spinner knob is big enough that you sometimes touch it when using the trackball, and then it moves the x axis a little, screwing up whatever you are doing.  Easy solution really, just pop the knob off when playing with the trackball.  But still kind of a bummer that it interferes slightly.  Wish there was a lock for the spinner when not in use.

I am still trying to work out how to get the u360's to work in Demul, but otherwise things are all working well.  Excited to get LEDs in..

Here are pics:
With the CP and keyboard drawer open.  Surprisingly stable even like this, thought it might be front heavy but it isn't.  I added a stay for the cp so it will lock at 90 degrees when open.  Already came in handy. 


Here is a pic of the back with the panels on.  I added a toggle switch for the marquee so I could turn it off while playing.. I also have a PWM dimmer for LED strips coming so I can dial down the intensity, it is too bright.


Here is a pic with a game running, marquee turned off for the sake of a better picture. 


Here I the front end.  The 27" monitor I got doesn't actually support 1600x900, which was what everything was set for.  This is odd since it is a 1920x1080 screen, but if you go to 1600x900 it switches to an odd resolution and squishes the image.  So I reconfigured the layout really quick to fit the 1920x1080 resolution.  I might have to tweak it a little, the snap is a little too big still.  But MaLa is so damn easy to adjust.


One more view of the whole unit.  I am very happy with the overall look and feel, and the back corner "wings" make it look like it was built to have the big control panel.  (they are great for setting a phone or beer on too while playing)


I will get some pics after the LED's are installed, but this about wraps it up.  I have a few people interested in this now so I might be building a few more soon.  For now I just want to move on to other projects and get more off my plate so I can take some time to relax and enjoy it all.  Thanks to everyone here for the positive feedback and the compliments.  Also thanks for the resources, I couldn't have done all this without this forum to help. 

[ChanceKJ]

  love it.  This is a great build and it turned out quite nice.

Can you post pictures of the hinges and method you used for the lid of your control panel?

[BGoulette]

I'd be interested in seeing your hinge solution, too: I'm designing something that has a "box" for the controls, but it's actually set inside the sides (though the actual cpl sticks out a bit); I was looking for a "sliding" hinge that would let me slide the cpl top out about 3/4" before actually tilting it. I'm pretty sure such things exist!

Also, the cab looks great!

[dkersten]

Just a basic piano hinge that is counter sunk to be flush.  I added a simple lid stay to one side so it stays up.  It is not as good as I would like it, but it is functional.  If I did it again, I would have bought a longer hinge and cut it to fill the entire bottom width, which is about 28 inches wide.  Instead I am only using a 12 or 14" hinge and if I am not careful it will eventually fail with the weight of the CP.  However, after the last LED connections are done, I won't be opening it often so I am not worried.  I might add a second stay to the other side as well, just to be safe, but again, it works well enough.  I also added a couple gussets to the part of the base it is mounted to, just so it is stronger.  Those are the wedge shaped pieces you see in the pic. 

This pic is the only one I have on my phone right now that shows the hinge.  I can get more detailed pics if you want.  I used the table saw to cut the long dado for the hinge, just set at about an eighth inch and ran the base back and forth over the blade until it was all cut.. this way the base was at the proper angle.


Here is a pic of the CP base with the dado cut for the hinge

[dkersten]

I'd be interested in seeing your hinge solution, too: I'm designing something that has a "box" for the controls, but it's actually set inside the sides (though the actual cpl sticks out a bit); I was looking for a "sliding" hinge that would let me slide the cpl top out about 3/4" before actually tilting it. I'm pretty sure such things exist!

Also, the cab looks great!

I think I can visualize what you are thinking.. I have never seen a hinge like that personally, but who knows, it might exist.  An alternative would be to come up with some kind of very short slide and attach it to the CP, then attach the slide to the hinge at the front edge of the box so the CP will slide back, then you can tilt it open..  The stop on the slide would take all the weight though so it would have to have a very definite stop on it.  Since you only need like 3/4 inch, perhaps finding a super short ball bearing drawer slide and extending it almost to the end so it will only go 3/4" more, and line it up to be flush with the bottom of your CP and the base, attach to the CP and hinge it to the base.  That way it could slide back the remaining 3/4" before hitting the stop, and then hinge open.  I assume when you slide the CP back "in" it will hit the cab and stop.  Then you just need a way to secure it so it doesn't slide out easily.  I would say magnets but if you were playing a game where you are pulling back a lot they would probably release, so a mechanical latch of some kind would be best.   

An alternative would be to have the whole CP box  on a slide that is already extended to within the 3/4" you need to pull it back before tilting the CP top.  That way you have two separate mechanisms, and can hinge the top on a simple piano hinge.  You could countersink the slide into the bottom of the box and/or the base it sits on so the box is nearly flush to the cabinet.

Just some thoughts.. hard to describe in words, lol.

[BGoulette]

An alternative would be to have the whole CP box  on a slide that is already extended to within the 3/4" you need to pull it back before tilting the CP top.  That way you have two separate mechanisms, and can hinge the top on a simple piano hinge.  You could countersink the slide into the bottom of the box and/or the base it sits on so the box is nearly flush to the cabinet.

Just some thoughts.. hard to describe in words, lol.

At first I was all excited after reading what you wrote above, about sliding out the whole CP; then in my sketchup file, I realized that because I just had to angle the spot where the CP "cuts" into the sides, I wouldn't be able to slide out the box in its entirety. And it sounded like such a great idea, too!

Something like this is what I was considering, though I need to make sure it'll fit in the space available without catching on anything else: http://www.amazon.com/8050-Flipper-Door-Slides-anochrome/dp/B007SOK1RS%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB007SOK1RS (12" is huge, but I haven't seen anything smaller yet!)

Although now I'm thinking that perhaps I could develop some sort of hybrid approach and mount the CP top on slides with a short travel angled to accommodate the top, all mounted along a length of piano hinge or the like. There's enough overhang that even if the piano hinge were visible, you'd never see it unless you were on the ground looking up at it...all right, so maybe someone would see it, but hey

Thanks for the ideas: got me thinking out loud! I'll let you have your thread back again!

[dkersten]

That slide you linked is pretty much what I was thinking, without the angle brackets of course.. The problem is indeed finding a short slide though, which is why I would think that take a short 12" one and extend it to almost the end, and mount it that way.  It won't be able to go forward any further because it will probably hit your cabinet in that direction, and it can only go the last bit of travel out before hitting the stop.  However, most 12" slides would be over 18" at extension..  I think it would be possible to cut one down though now that I think about it.  Usually the bearings are in a bracket within the slide, so as long as you cut it longer than the bracket you could shorten up the slide length to a few inches, then extend it to where you need, attach and hinge, and you have what you need..

Hmm.. I might have to look at some of my accurides I have lying around my shop and see if this would be possible...

[laurocesarr]

Hello friend, can you post the project with the dimensions?