Frame - A mame arcade inside a photo frame

[arcadeswede]

About three years ago I decided to build a MAME arcade machine.
The result you can be seen here (only in swedish, sorry!) http://victorclausson.tumblr.com/post/17560909775/projekt-arkadmaskinen
This arcade did not fit inside our new apartment since we had a baby so I wanted to build something smaller.

I’ve realized over the years that shmup games is what I like the most, so I wanted to dedicate this build to vertical shooters mostly. Actually the idea came up when I was figuring out how to flip the screen physically if you play horizontal and then vertical games. So why not build everything into a customized photo frame and hang it on the wall, that way you could flip the frame when you play both types of games. That’s when I came up with the project – FRAME



This project will probably cost me a lot since everything has to be powerful and small but I want to include two extra things into this build. It'll also display family photos (during screensaver) and have a Plex Media Server running.

(MAME) When Frame is up and running it'll show the Mala Frontend or Mame gameplay.
(FAMILY PHOTO SCREENSAVER) When nobody is playing, the screensaver will start and display our family photos. This will be linked to a Dropbox folder if you want add/remove photos.
(PLEX) This will be running in the background and since Plex sometimes transcodes media to some devices the computer for this build will have to be somewhat powerful.

To get started, I need a LCD/LED screen that becomes the starting point for how deep and large the photo frame has to be for the entire build. Then from there I can start drawing everything in 3D before I start cutting.
"Measure twice and cut once"

Currently working on:
- Find and rebuild monitor.

To-do list
- Find and rebuild monitor.
- Research and buy necessary components.
- Create drawings.
- Build frame.
- Configure Intel NUC (Mame, Photo screensaver, Plex)
- Build arcade sticks and configure with PC.
- Mount on wall and enjoy!

List of components
Material - MDF (frame), Plexiglass (front), Thicker paper (border)
Monitor - Dell 2007FPb - $0
Controls - Wireless Xbox 360 controllers built into arcade sticks connected with Xbox360 PC Wireless Gaming Receiver.
Computer - Intel NUC (don't know model yet)
Speakers - ?
Fans - ?
Paint - ?
Misc - ?

Please let me know what you think! I will need your help to get this project finished 

[arcadeswede]

So I did some testing with 4:3 vs. 16:9 monitor. I was going for a 16:9 monitor but after trying DoDonPachi on both monitors. I think I'll go with the 4:3 monitor. I really like that fullscreen (edge-to-edge) look. Also, photos looks much better in 4:3 (3:4) than 16:9 (9:16).



I'm not a fan of stretching the original aspect of a game to fit a 16:9 display, so to avoid having to deal with these black borders, I should go with a 4:3 monitor, right?
In that case I have a couple of these monitors at work. I found them in the dumpsters since nobody works with 4:3 monitors here anymore, they all want 16:9 screens. Lucky for me!

EDIT: The 4:3 is a 20" display and the 16:9 is a 22" display.

[Malenko]

first off BRILLIANT idea!

To answer your monitor question, a 20" 4:3 will have an image thats about 16x12 (12x16 vertical) a 22" monitor will display a 4:3 source at about 14x11 (11x14 vertical) so the 20" monitor will actually display a larger 4:3 image than the 22" widescreen.

What did you plan to do for the controller(s)?  blue tooth dongle with PS3 guts or hack a 360 wireless controller and use a dongle, or....other?

[Grasshopper]

So presumably the control panel will be separate and detachable, or wireless.

My main question would be - why bother with the frame? Could you not just attach a TV to the wall with a standard TV mounting bracket that allows you to rotate it by 90 degrees? Brackets that allow you to do that are easy to get hold of, and quite cheap.

[Malenko]

I'll play devil's advocate here and say its probably for aesthetics. When its not in use for gaming, its going to be an electronic picture frame.

[arcadeswede]

What did you plan to do for the controller(s)?  blue tooth dongle with PS3 guts or hack a 360 wireless controller and use a dongle, or....other?

I think I'll go with wireless Xbox 360 controllers hooked up to this Xbox360 PC Wireless Gaming Receiver since I'm going to use Windows 8. From what I heard the Xbox reciever is more plug-n-play than getting a PS3 controller to work with a PC. Correct me if I'm wrong! The Xbox controller will then manipulate keyboard-inputs to get it working with mame easier.

My main question would be - why bother with the frame? Could you not just attach a TV to the wall with a standard TV mounting bracket that allows you to rotate it by 90 degrees? Brackets that allow you to do that are easy to get hold of, and quite cheap.

Malenko is right and putting up a TV on the wall is way too easy. I like to build stuff and I really enjoy the whole process. BUT, I was thinking about getting a rotating wall mount for the Frame. I just need to found a super super thin one!

[Le Chuck]

Double kudos if you make it battery capable and put a touch glass over it so you can plop it on a table and play touch games

[arcadeswede]

Double kudos if you make it battery capable and put a touch glass over it so you can plop it on a table and play touch games

Sounds like an iPad would be a better and cheaper choice for that
I'm just not a big fan of touch games.
Battery capable on the other hand would be cool but the space is limited with this build. I'll keep it in mind!

[arcadeswede]

So I began to remove the plastic from the monitor to make it as thin as possible. I measured the depth of the monitor and it was 57mm (2 1/4 inch?) that also includes the height of the nuts for mounting it. Now I know the size of it so I can begin to create the drawings.


It turns out that the monitor doesn't work I heard some "crackling" noice inside of it so I opened it up and found a bad capacitor.


This is probably the reason why they threw it away in the first place, but no worries! I just need to replace that capacitor and we're good to go

[stivtysk]

Following this with great interest

[arcadeswede]

While I was removing the circuit boards I was thinking about getting rid of the backplate of the monitor and place all the boards on the back of the display to get more space.
I know that I need to isolate the back of the display with some rubber mat or something but what else should I be worried about?
I'm an electrician so I know what to do and not to do. I'm just not that good at small electronics stuff.


I was also able to get rid of this board since it just provides USB and power for external speakers (or something?). I hope the display will work without it. I will try that later this week when I fix the capacitor.


I went from 57mm to 44mm by doing this. That's 13mm of extra space! Gotta keep it tight

[stuckpixel]

This is a brilliant idea -- do you have the NUC in hand yet? Have you tried sizing it to make sure it's not going to be too thick?

Another possibility might be a gutted laptop instead of a NUC.

[arcadeswede]

This is a brilliant idea -- do you have the NUC in hand yet? Have you tried sizing it to make sure it's not going to be too thick?

Thank you!
No, but I looked up the size and dimensions online. I'm not going to use the case for it, I'll mount the NUC motherboard on the back of the display as well and there's room for it now. The highest part currently is the heatsink for the power supply board and it's 30mm high. The NUC (from what I could find) is also 30mm high and 101mm in width/height so it'll work, I hope

[Malenko]

Do you plan to have a recessed opening in the wall to cut down on the thickness, or do you plan to have the whole thing be easily transported ?  You should have adequate space between the wall studs (16" on enter) if you decide to hide the guts behind the frame.

[ChanceKJ]

You'd be surprised what one can do with a NUC.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138341.0.html

[arcadeswede]

Do you plan to have a recessed opening in the wall to cut down on the thickness, or do you plan to have the whole thing be easily transported?

No, I will try to make it as thin as possible so I can hang it on any wall. That's why I'm removing unecessary parts to reduce the thickness and I'm aiming for a thicknesss of 60mm from the wall to the front of the frame. I will have a good overview of it when I finish the drawings.

You'd be surprised what one can do with a NUC.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138341.0.html

I loved your Flynn's Arcade project, great job and thanks for the link to the Super Playchoice project! It gave me a lot of great information.
When it comes to the NUC, is the dimensions that I described above correct?
I'm a little worried about the heat in my build. I saw that you changed the fan to a thermocouple for the CPU and used the baseplate as heatsink?
I don't think I can use the baseplate as a heatsink (or whatever you wanna call it) because that's the back of the display where the lights are. I'm worried that it will destroy the display inside when things get hot.
Suggestions?

[AzureKnight]

Liquid cooling?  I know a lot of those systems are smaller than a standard set of fans/heatsinks.

[arcadeswede]

Liquid cooling?  I know a lot of those systems are smaller than a standard set of fans/heatsinks.

Is there a small liquid cooling system for the Intel NUC?

[arcadeswede]

Updated the main post with a to-do list.

[ChanceKJ]

I loved your Flynn's Arcade project, great job and thanks for the link to the Super Playchoice project! It gave me a lot of great information.
When it comes to the NUC, is the dimensions that I described above correct?
I'm a little worried about the heat in my build. I saw that you changed the fan to a thermocouple for the CPU and used the baseplate as heatsink?
I don't think I can use the baseplate as a heatsink (or whatever you wanna call it) because that's the back of the display where the lights are. I'm worried that it will destroy the display inside when things get hot.
Suggestions?

Thanks,     Dimension wise will depend on the NUC you get your hands on. I know you can source just the main board for a couple of the models, however for the price difference to get the enclosure, it comes in handy if you ever want to tear this down and use it for something else. 

I wasn't worried about heat with my mounting block and the solid metal baseplate. However unless you make the back of your frame a solid sheet of aluminum and mount it like i did it will be quite a bit thicker. Those NUC fans aren't very thin. The base still gets hot though, not scorching hot, kinda like a fresh cup of coffee hot.

If i can shove a NUC in a game controller you'll be able to make a custom frame that holds one and a display. It all comes down to design.  Get your hands on the NUC as soon as you can as it will guide your enclosure design in a major way. Try and make it work without removing the fan if possible. You are in effect building a "poor mans iMac". Maybe take a look at an iFixIt teardown of an iMac for some layout inspiration. Think about how its built with the unibody. I'd start designing the enclosure around the PCBs/NUC then add the display last.

Also, get yourself some Kapton sheets or tape from your local electronics supply shop to insulate the PCB contacts on all those little boards.

[arcadeswede]

Think about how its built with the unibody. I'd start designing the enclosure around the PCBs/NUC then add the display last.

Also, get yourself some Kapton sheets or tape from your local electronics supply shop to insulate the PCB contacts on all those little boards.

Thanks for the input!
Yeah you're right. Once I finish the monitor I'll try to get a hold on a Intel NUC.
Maybe this Kapton tape would work for isolation?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191381700359?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[AzureKnight]

Liquid cooling?  I know a lot of those systems are smaller than a standard set of fans/heatsinks.

Is there a small liquid cooling system for the Intel NUC?

Honestly, I don't know.  I have never actually done a liquid cooled system but I know a few people that have.

[arcadeswede]

Oh dear! So, I had a spare monitor for parts and I thought it would have the same kind of capacitor that I needed. Turns out this monitor uses a power adapter so there's no built in PSU.
Why didn't I think of that?

I took a look at the circuit boards on the "spare monitor" and they're smaller than the first monitor! So I might go with this one instead. I have to extend some cables and desolder some connections, replace them with ribboncables but then I'll have a monitor that's around 36mm instead of 44mm in height.

[arcadeswede]

I super glued some nuts to the back of the display to hold the circuit boards. Some of the nuts did stick really good but 2 out of 6 didn't


My co-worker saw what I was doing and did this awesome plate for me. It turned out great and it's only 1mm thick plus the 1mm adhesive tape underneath.


The connectors on the circuit boards like USB, composite is going to be desoldered to (again) ger more space. The Intel NUC is going on the left of the display.

[yotsuya]

What's holding that plate to the monitor? Just adhesive tape?

[arcadeswede]

Yep! Just a strong adhesive tape. I cleaned the plate and the back of the display with a spray called Super Clean. It really removes the greasy surface that some plates have and makes it really clean and dry.
The adhesive  tape will be enough to hold the circuit boards and it won't come off easy.

[yotsuya]

Yep! Just a strong adhesive tape. I cleaned the plate and the back of the display with a spray called Super Clean. It really removes the greasy surface that some plates have and makes it really clean and dry.
The adhesive  tape will be enough to hold the circuit boards and it won't come off easy.

I hope the heat from the  monitor doesn't weaken the adhesive. I've seen that happen before with foam tape inside cabs. Good luck, looks good!

[Malenko]

guess JB Weld might be overkill?

[arcadeswede]

I hope the heat from the  monitor doesn't weaken the adhesive. I've seen that happen before with foam tape inside cabs. Good luck, looks good!

That's true. I'll have to leave the display on for a couple of hours to see if the heat reaches a point where the tape fails. I didn't really think about that 

guess JB Weld might be overkill?

If the adhesive tape fails after some heat tests I'll definitely go with the JB weld. Why not? Thanks for the tip!

[rablack97]

This could be one of them.....

[Superfrog]

When playing with a xbox 360 controller, why not playing on a big tv?
What's the different here?

Nice idea, but for me., nice when you can hook up the arcade stick and buttons 

[ChanceKJ]

Why not gut the controllers and make wireless 'fight stick' style controllers with arcade buttons and sticks that match the frame?

[arcadeswede]

When playing with a xbox 360 controller, why not playing on a big tv?
What's the different here?

Nice idea, but for me., nice when you can hook up the arcade stick and buttons 

I am going to use arcade sticks!
I'm just using the xbox 360 controllers mainboard to hack and build my own arcade sticks.
Or I'll buy some cheap arcade sticks and make it wireless, change buttons/joystick.
It all depends on which option is the cheapest but that's like the last thing to do in the list.

[arcadeswede]

Why not gut the controllers and make wireless 'fight stick' style controllers with arcade buttons and sticks that match the frame?

Exactly! That's what I'm going to do. Did I say I was going to play with Xbox controllers earlier?

EDIT: Oh, I did in post #5, sorry. The main post holds the correct info but I forgot to mention that in post #5.

[arcadeswede]

Alright! Here's where I'm at right now.


I'm trying to layout all the "difficult" components that will decide the thickness of the frame. I'm aiming at 50-60mm.
I haven't purchased the Intel NUC yet but I have all the dimensions so I'm trying to figure out the best place to put it. At the top, the bottom?
I think I'll put two small fans at the top of the frame to get some nice ventilation going. I think the best place for the NUC would be at the top below the fans.

I have a question for ChanceKJ: How much height did you reduce by removing the fan and added the heatsink for the NUC. I'm thinking about doing the same thing you did with the Super Playchoice project. Also, where did you buy the heatsink?

I will continue to extend the cables to the circuit boards next and see if the heat from the monitor will make the adhesive tape fall off.

[ChanceKJ]

About ⅓.  The heatsink was out of a fan less nuc enclosure kit. You won't be able to by just the part.

[arcadeswede]

Long time, no update! Finally getting somewhere!
Did the extension of the wiring to the PCB's and the monitor works great!
I left it running for a couple of hours and the adhesive tape held everything together. I tried pulling the baseplate just to check the strength of the tape when the monitor was "hot" and I couldn't move it.








I'm now going to clean up the wires and start researching for parts and create drawings for the frame.