Punch-Out! Themed Bartop Unit (LONG overdue, but 99% complete) WARNING pic heavy

[mike boss]

Not the weekend I had hoped for progress wise.
Got some parts and I'm ready to rock and roll.
What I don't have is the time!!!
PC is mostly set up, but I recall having issues with the video card.
So off to Kijiji I go to track down a video card (and LCD monitor).
Tuesday is a holiday here is Canada (Canada Day), no retail powers to distract me.
Hoping I can make major progress and perhaps track down the needed parts.



EDIT - I updated the cabinet spending. The PC I purchased I purchase as part of a bulk deal well over a year ago. I paid $100, but got some SNES USB controllers, a N64 controller with USB adapter, and an iPac and Arcade VGA. Package was well worth it. I'm yet to add the PC value to the total.

[Malenko]

copy the text before submitting

[Rick]

It's July 8th! Mike, what's up? Any updates?

[mike boss]

Sorry for the lack of updates.
I've had a busy few weeks, with another few busy weeks to come.
Not to mention I've been sick as a dog.
So while I prepare for my daughters 1st birthday and the wifes return to work I thought I'd wait for some of my parts to come in before getting any further into the project.
My cold cathode tubes were replaced and arrived safe (thank gosh!). I'm still waiting on my LED fans. I've had a hard time tracking down a modest (cheap) PCI Express video card on Kijiji. Same can be said for a 19" "non widescreen" LCD monitor.
As such I have not placed my order for the artwork as of yet.
Speaking to Rick I decided I'd modify the control panel slightly, this way it can be easily removed. The idea being I can build the cabinet and not have to have the artwork available @ that time. If I did not do the modification I could not remove the panel once assembled and I would have to have the art.

[mike boss]

Replacement cold cathode tubes are in, as are my LED fans.
So now I've got most everything I need.
Still looking locally for a 19" LCD (4x3 ratio) , but I'm confident I'll find one close.
This Saturday is my lil girls 1st birthday party and Monday the wife goes back to work.
I expect about a week of crying (from the wife) , so by next week I should be able to dive into this and get the art completed and ordered.

[mike boss]

Things have now slowed down me for.
I hope to have some major updates in the coming weeks.

[mike boss]

Progress with the cabinet has been slower than I would have liked.   
I was really hoping to rip thru this, but  family obligations took center stage.
However, I am happy to report that the artwork has been ordered and I should have it shortly !!

[Rick]

Progress with the cabinet has been slower than I would have liked.   
I was really hoping to rip thru this, but  family obligations took center stage.
However, I am happy to report that the artwork has been ordered and I should have it shortly !!

Good to hear!!! Can't wait to see progress!

[mike boss]

Proud to say that my artwork ships out today.

It's coming..............shipping out today!
I can not wait.

[JDFan]

Proud to say that my artwork ships out today.

It's coming..............shipping out today!
I can not wait.

Is that a pic of the printed art that they sent you before shipping it out ? -- Looks like it came out pretty good.

[mike boss]

Proud to say that my artwork ships out today.

It's coming..............shipping out today!
I can not wait.

Is that a pic of the printed art that they sent you before shipping it out ? -- Looks like it came out pretty good.

Yes sir it is !!!!!!!!!
And I'm told it looks even better in person.
I'm so excited to get this !

This bartop is going to look amazing when done, I'm confident of that.
I'm looking forward to getting to try out my HypserSpin drive.
And I think all the LED stuff (fans, cold cathode tubes, LED buttons) are going to give it an awesome look.
My wife does not know this.............. but I want two more of these.
(Lucky for her a recent hit @ work kinda makes getting them a non possibility)
Rick's bartops are AMAZING! Really they are fantastic.

[Rick]

This bartop is going to look amazing when done, I'm confident of that. I'm looking forward to getting to try out my HyperSpin drive. And I think all the LED stuff (fans, cold cathode tubes, LED buttons) are going to give it an awesome look.

We're all waiting alongside!

My wife does not know this.............. but I want two more of these. (Lucky for her a recent hit @ work kinda makes getting them a non possibility) Rick's bartops are AMAZING! Really they are fantastic.

The arcade cabinets are really a small thing - it's the work YOU DO that make it awesome!



Can't wait to see!

[mike boss]

Artwork arrived today..... one HUGE plus to getting it locally !
I'm hoping that I can get the cabinet together amongst all the other plans.
The artwork looks fantastic, I hope to have a progress update shortly.

I also updated the spending, $340 to date (project costs) .

[mike boss]

*** Fingers Crossed *** I should have some build pics this weekend.
With that said.....................

I just wanted to tell you guys about PrintShock!
David @ PrintShock is AMAZING..........and a fellow Canadian.
Everything about PrintShock and David is A+++.
I really cant tell you guys how good his service, product, and fast shipping are.
I'm thrilled with my Punch-Out art, and thought I would push his services here.
For anyone in Canada looking for a source, or closer to home, Ontario, David is your guy.
You guys can email him at support@printshock.com

 

[PL1]

Sounds like a glowing recommendation.   

You may want to mention them in Rick's "Canadian Vendor" thread here.

Also, would you like them added to the wiki list of vendors under Artwork?


Scott

[mike boss]

Will do.

Thank you

[mike boss]

Not much of an update... but I have started to assemble the cabinet.............FINALLY!!!!!!

[Rick]

Not much of an update... but I have started to assemble the cabinet.............FINALLY!!!!!!

And? ANNNNND???

[mike boss]

So I'm looking back at this thread shocked by how long ago I started this project.
WOW! Where does the time go ? What happened ?

I won't make it a big long thing, and I huge rant. But I will provide some context.
My dad passed away days after my first child was born. My daughter served as a welcome distraction from the pain in my life at that time.
I think simply put I was depressed, I stopped caring about me, put everyone else first. Things generally seemed less important.
I think I was in a rut to be honest. Then somewhere in this time my second child is born, my son.
Now I have two kids, twice the work, half the time.

Things I enjoyed and liked took a back seat. It was (and still is mind you) make sure the wife is OK, make sure my mom is OK, make sure the kids are OK. Who made sure I was OK ? I was a little down, I told my wife I wanted to split (the D word). I was just done !

I managed to overcome my demons at that time. Once again making time for me, time for things I enjoyed. Sure I would putt about, post now and again, but my MOJO was gone. My desire to things I once loved so much was non existent.

Needless to say I bounced back and I learned so much. I learned how we (or I) didn't celebrate the small victories in life. Or how I didn't make the time for things I enjoy. It's crazy to me that I let that go, but I'm glad it's back.
For me when I make that trek downstairs to the basement and I do the smallest of things, perhaps a small repair, or some minor cosmetic work on a machine, how much joy it brings. I'm at peace as corny as it may sound. It's my time away from the rest of the world to do something I enjoy.

I can say that I'm at a good place right now, happy, healthy, family is good, family unit is strong. I've found time to MAKE TIME for myself. I've found that love again, that spark I get when I tinker or work on my machines.

With that said it was time to wrap up this Punch-Out machine. It was long overdue. I was uncertain of what I wanted for the internal brains of the machine. But I settled on this 32GB image that included MAME and some console emulation.





I tried a few different button options, but in the end decided to go with the LED buttons. It was my first time working with them.
But I love the overall look they give to the cabinet.





I went with a ZERO DELAY ENCODER for the controller. Really simply to use and set up. I just had to make sure I ordered the one with the connection for US buttons and joysticks.




Some LED fans to give an extra glow to the machine.









Just doing some testing. I had some issues initially with the monitor. Turns out I'm quite certain it was the VGA cable.
I'm using a 21.5" LED monitor. I had some flicker when I started to build the machine. I had a 22" Dell installed. I didn't notice the flicker when I was playing the games. Only during the MENU would I get the flicker. I made some changes to the config file to lower the resolution. All appears fine now.






















animals baby name in english


All in all once I revisited the project it came together quickly. A Raspberry Pi 3B serves as the brains of the operation.
I'm using a 32GB SD card with an existing Pi image I had found.
The build has all your classic consoles including MAME. As of right now I'm having an issue where MAME won't save my configuration. So my controller needs to be set up every time. I'm sure I'll crack the code, I just haven't yet. In playing today I still get a little flicker when I exit an emulator and go to the main menu. I know my Pi power supply is sufficient at 3A, but I'm wondering it too much is plugged into the power bar ? I use an arcade power supply to power the 12V fans and the 12V LED buttons.
I need to clean the inside of the plexi and give the monitor a wipe down, but overall the machine looks good and plays well.
I did a custom keychain as pictured, using the original Punch-Out artwork.
I think that about sums it up !

[pbj]

Looks sharp, man, welcome back.

 

[mike boss]

Looks sharp, man, welcome back.

 

Thank you. I'm glad to be back. Glad to have it done.
As I said a few more little things to tackle, but they should be an easy fix.
Now time to complete my new PC set up for my Mario Bros so I can finally use my Aim Trak guns!
(and I'm also working on a Wide Body Mario Bros for my bro)

[woosdom]

If you used an image you may need to expand your file system so you can use all the memory on your card.  Hope that works. Easy to do from the advanced settings option.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mike boss]

If you used an image you may need to expand your file system so you can use all the memory on your card.  Hope that works. Easy to do from the advanced settings option.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks @ woosdom.

I had actually looked into that as I had seen a video on that prior.
My image was a 32GB one which I put on a 32GB card.
As per the Pi menu, it shows I have used 96% of the card.
I'm heavily leaning towards sourcing a new image and trying my luck.
As I said a few things (small things) I'd like to change on the cabinet.

A few issues, I tried putting the SD card in my PC to look for a MAME folder/settings folder.
However the PC would not read the card. So I simply removed it from the PC....not safely.
It appears now I had some freezing, perhaps I corrupted the image/card ? I have no idea.
I also noticed I get a flashing square box in the top right corner, which I understand is a power supply issue.
However I don't recall having that days ago.
So a few things I'll look into, saving of MAME settings, possible power supply issue, and possible joystick issue.
As these small updates are made I'm sure I'll share here.

Now the quest begins for a new image !

[NIVO]

looks good mike. A worthy nintentop for sure!

[mike boss]

So right now the project is done, but does require some tweaking.
I went with a 32GB image I found online which I really like.
The menu is slick and clean, and has some great background music to boot.
I mentioned prior I had screen flicker which I believe was from a bad VGA
cable. I still get some flicker when I exit a game and go to the main menu.
It's nothing to bad or overly distracting. I'm yet to have an extend play time
to really test this.

It also seems that now, all of a sudden I'm getting the flashing multi-color
square in my top right corner. A quick search of YouTube and it would appear
this is power supply related. I'm using a 3A power supply, and I don't recall
this ever appearing before. I don't know if the powerstrip I'm using is perhaps
not sufficient, but somehow I doubt that. This will need to solved as well.

It would appear that all these issues kind of appeared at one time. For example
I'm having some issues with my joystick. I don't recall these issues being around
even just days ago. Perhaps I knocked something loose when installing the t-molding,
I'm unsure. But during game play the other day (Final Fight) I noticed I could not move,
and the time on the game kind of froze for a second. However the music still played.
Not sure if this indicates a failing SD card ? Perhaps caused by me removing (not safely)
from the PC ?

Lastly is my configuration issues. I have a Street Fighter button layout, 3 over 3.
I've mapped it as follows :

B A L
Y X R

The configuration works OK, but in MAME, specifically Street Fighter it doesn't give me
LP MP HP over LK MK HK. When I attempt to re-map in the MAME the controls, all is fine,
however the configuration wont save. I'm going to try mapping the controls as follows
and see if it provides me with an output I like.

A B X
Y L R

If it does I'll stick with the current image I'm using. Should it not work I think I'll look
for a different image. I like what I have, but by no means is it a must have. I just need
things to work the way they should. I'm unsure if perhaps Retro Pi is perhaps better to use
as opposed to Recall Box.

[mike boss]

So I've done a little more messing around and here is an update.
These Raspberry Pi's are so finicky when it comes to power.
I've probably ordered 4 different power supplies, 2 of which don't work.
One works well and recently I ordered a 3A version. It was fine...but now
(after just weeks) it's giving me issues. I tried to unplug the power supply
from the power strip and see if that made a difference, it didn't.
So I've gone with my old trusty power supply and no more flashing square....
so proud to say that is solved !

My joystick issues......reconfigured the joystick as it was working more
like a 4 way than 8 way. For the life of me I could not do any special moves
in Street Fighter. That has now been resolved and the joystick is working well.

My issue still remains with MAME not saving my control settings. However I have
an idea. I have two Pi's with the same image on both SD cards. I'm going to attempt
to save my MAME settings on the other Pi with the other card. If it works I'll simply
swap out the entire Pi or just the SD card. I plan on doing that testing tonight.

Lastly as this thread was brought back from the dead I wanted to send thanks again.
Thank you to Rick @ Gameroom Solutions as his product is awesome. I know Rick is back
in business with some new designs. I look forward to seeing what 2019 brings from Rick and
Gameroom Solutions. Rick is amazing, the product is amazing (I hope this build shows such),
and his customer service is top shelf.

Thank you once again to JDFan as he provided me with HUGE help in developing the artwork
for this project. I could not have done this bezel artwork without his huge assist.
Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.

[Mike A]

That guy keeps his customer's artwork without their permission and he sells it. I had to fix numerous problems with one of those kits that a friend of mine bought.

Selling other people's artwork is very shady.

[mike boss]

I can't speak to that @ Mike A, as I don't know.

But everything about every single dealing I had with Rick was nothing but professional.

[Mike A]

I am glad you had a good experience.

[leapinlew]

Dude! Damn. Sorry about the trials life has put you through. It sounds like you are doing alright, so that's good. Time helps put all things in perspective.

So, I have to imagine you've had to put up the glasses in your gameroom by now. You know this gameroom: https://imgur.com/a/i4WD2 and these glasses:

Those babies can't resist that kinda stuff.

So, I always wanted to ask - what kind of foosball table did (or do you still) have? I've never seen a model like that. I've played a lot of foosball and just curious. It's the main reason I remembered your gameroom. It looks like a European model.

[mike boss]

@ leapinlew

Thank  you.

I feel good, I feel I'm doing well.......no complaints !
The cave remains mostly the same, some things have changed since  going back and looking at the photos. I've added a 23" all in 1 touch screen PC  that serves as my jukebox. Candy had to go away ! Glasses actually remained, I try to keep the kids away from the basement. I'm "mean daddy!" - JJ I'm not !

The foosball table is a FAS, it is an Italian model I got at auction years ago.
It actually recently had some modifications done to it. I changed out the paly field, added some LED strips to behind the goals which I power via power bank.
I also painted the plastics a nice bright white......... mind you perhaps I've installed them too tight as they have chipped a little. So I need to glue them a little.
I'll try to find a pic ......it cleaned up well !

Here is the Foosball link : http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,159178.0.html

* The playing field hasn't been changed in the pics posted to the thread. I'll update it. But I'm happy with how it turned out, inexpensive and looks good. The lights are awesome ! *

[mike boss]

I tested my second Pi today that has the same image I'm using in my Punch-Out.
Sadly the issue with MAME not saving my control configuration is also present on this SD card.
Once you dump out of MAME the control configuration resets back to it's default.

[J_K_M_A_N]

Where do you live Mike? MN perhaps? I have messed with the PI a fair amount but I am not good at all with remote assistance. If you are close, maybe I could help you out. If not, I can try and show you how to look for directories and what permissions they have. I am FAR from an expert (especially with Linux) but I have figured out some permission issues I was having in the past.

J_K_M_A_N

[mike boss]

@ J_K_M_A_N

I'm just east of Toronto, Ontario Canada.
Any help would be appreciated.

I've done a little more looking around with regards to my Pi image.
So I found the image online, its 32GB and I believe it is a Hercules build.
It is RecalBox with Emulation Station (as per the load screen).
The primary issue at this time, as stated prior is that my MAME configuration will not save.
I've tried to set a default MAME set up, and specifically configure the Mortal Kombat games.
Upon exit the settings revert back.

I have a Windows PC, and when I enter the SD card I can see only the BOOT partition.

[J_K_M_A_N]

I will try and get some screen shots this week maybe but you need to find the folder that stores the MAME settings. To do that, I use Filezilla Client because it will show the permissions on each folder. When I had a problem in the past, I found the folder and it was set as root and I had to change it to PI. But, I use retropie so it may have different permissions as far as logging in and what folders are where. Once I found the folder that needed to be changed, I used Putty to log in as PI and I looked up the commands online that allowed me to change the permissions to PI from root.

You will have to look up what the user names are with the versions you are using.

J_K_M_A_N

[mike boss]

I've been quite busy as of late.
Not much time to mess around with the Pi.
As such I'm looking to change my Pi image to a different 32 GB image.
If the controls don't work this is no good to me.