Timewarp Retrocade

[chrism]

Hi Peeps,

I'm from a remote town in Africa, and after many years of good intention, I've finally managed to build a cab of my own (completed about March 2014).

A quick read through some of the other announcements, and of course I know by now what *is* out there made by some awesome builders, and I know my cab is not going to break any records.
But I did do it on a shoe-string budget, and in a place where getting arcade parts or specialized parts is truly non-trivial. So for that I am proud, and standing in front of my machine, I do feel great accomplishment. The last video arcade machine I saw in this town disappeared/broke more than 10 years ago (but of course I am an 80's junkie). I am glad to be able to replay those memories and to share them with my kids - even if they think the games are nowhere near on par with the X-Box.

I'm trying, like I imagine a large number of the other members here too, to encourage other peeps on the fence to get up and build their machines. Because in the end - the builds ARE worth the effort.

I've just started a web site www.timewarp-retrocade.com and if you have the time or the inclination, please have a look and drop me a comment. I know less about web sites than I did about woodwork and building arcade machines when I began that.

I'm almost certain I'm going to get flamed, but here's the post anyways. I won't learn if I don't try!

Thank you.

[Le Chuck]

Is this our first Africa build?  Not sure, welcome!  Great first outing, looks like your monitor could stand to be a bit bigger but like you said you're working on a tight budget with limited materials so good on you for getting one built!

Stick around, I'm sure your perspective on things would be much appreciated around here being as you're so far removed from where most of us are living.  What nation/part of Africa are you in?

[Generic Eric]

Cool cab.  Thanks for sharing.

From the web page:

At some point while assembling the bezel, my son asked me what the design was. When I told him he looked at me in disbelief and remarked, 'You have the blueprints for R2D2 and you're building an arcade machine instead?!?'

I like how the background matched up with the bezel.

Thanks for sharing your plans as well!

Consider picking your favorite picture and submitting this to the wiki: http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Wiki_Add_Project

Collect the following info as well:

Project Type:
Construction Method:
Monitor Type:
Encoder Type:
Special Controls:
OS:
Front End:
Build Date(s):
Use a date format like this for the Build Date(s):    01 Oct 2013
Build Thread:

[BobA]

Nice build.  Great work considering the limiting factors that you overcame to produce the cab in Africa.

[PL1]

Is this our first Africa build?

Nope.

here in Tanzania.

Scott

[Nephasth]

Is this our first Africa build?

Nope.

here in Tanzania.

Scott

That's not even the first one...

[PL1]

That's not even the first one...

True.  That's just the first one that came to mind.

Other African builds include:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137919.msg1424049.html#msg1424049

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137293.msg1415984.html#msg1415984

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139792.msg1446595.html#msg1446595
(not his build thread, but he mentions his location)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,114547.msg1215129.html#msg1215129

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129168.msg1422021.html#msg1422021

. . . and many more.


Scott

[chrism]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

I'm sure my build is far from the first in Africa - in meccas like Johannesburg and Cairo, I'm certain there are loads. Often thought of shipping an old machine from one of these cities, but you won't know what you're getting till you've got it and then it's too late.

I'm from Namibia, home to the world's oldest desert, the world's tallest dunes, the world's biggest meteorite and possibly the world's oldest flowering plant (the welwitchia) and now also to Timewarp-retrocade. he he.

Thanks for the kind words. I'll make sure to put more details of my machine here too.
Cheers

[Le Chuck]

That's not even the first one...

True.  That's just the first one that came to mind.

Other African builds include:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137919.msg1424049.html#msg1424049

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137293.msg1415984.html#msg1415984

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139792.msg1446595.html#msg1446595
(not his build thread, but he mentions his location)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,114547.msg1215129.html#msg1215129

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129168.msg1422021.html#msg1422021

. . . and many more.


Scott

Still not convinced. 

Congrats chrism on being the first of many firsts! 

[markc74]

I like it a lot. I don't know if you did a lot of reading on here but you've got a lot of things right. The sideart works really well, the bezel and marquee are proper arcadey. I think you nailed it.

Nice work chap. 

[Vigo]

Welcome, friend! I love the logo with the font using fade out lines. So perfectly 1980s!

[chrism]

I thought I could post some of my fails here... of course if a builder went through these forums thoroughly, it is unlikely he'd/she'd make the same ones... here's some more ammo to avoid them!

1/ putting lacquer over self-adhesive 'carbon-fiber' vinyl on the control panel. (actually this might be fine if you stop there. The real mistake was trying to sand it with an orbital sander (grit-400 water paper))

... after the lacquer (plastic varnish) - sorry the quality is bad, but it did look real good and shiny. (I lacquered it to make it tougher)

... with the intention of sanding to reapply another coat, i felt a bit of resistance with the orbital sander, but didn't pick up what was happening till it was too late.

... I thought I could clean it off to a smooth finish and re-lacquer, but it just got worse...

... and worse!

Lucky the vinyl removed fairly easily - and then three coats of high gloss enamel is where I left it.

I think I heated the vinyl/lacquer with friction from the orbital sander and it reacted badly (!). It was sort of crystalised as I was taking it off... what I learnt is not to sand over vinyl!
Maybe it can be done or is this a definite 'do not try this'?

[Locke141]

Still not convinced. 

Congrats chrism on being the first of many firsts!

I can ashore you that I'm in Tanzania (in East Africa) and that Beat'em up-X and Chrono stick were built here. See attached pic of my son and our Masai friend. How ever, I'm an ex-pat that can have parts brought over by friends traveling back and forth to the states. 

After a quick look at the other build Scott posted other then mine, most if not all were built in South Africa (SA), a meddle income country, not a developing country or what used to be called 3rd world. They can have stuff shipped by amazon and from lots of other venders around the world for a reasonable price. Africa is a big continent. The fact this build was built in "a remote town" in Namibia is amazing.
A tip to my African brother . If you trust your local mail, lots of sellers on e-bay from China will ship to us for no additional fee. For me it just takes 4 weeks plus.

[Nephasth]

What's going on with those buttons?

[chrism]

Hi Nephasth,

My apologies for the poor quality piccies... my galaxy note suffered 'samsung sudden death' before I could copy my build pics off. The pictures that survived are from a very sad blackberry camera, and a few that I had whatsapp'd to others.

Is that the issue with the buttons?

Cheers

[chrism]

Hey brotherman Locke, you're spot on about South Africa... plenty of resources there. I've read of arcade cabinet auctions in CapeTown and Johannesburg - if you live there it's not difficult to get a good box for refurbishment. As for new builds, they have retail stores for controls and other parts. (not as common as in the US, but they have them).
As for China items, it was a good source once - but over the past decade customs and/or the postal service has picked up on the goodies coming in and you now have less than a 20% of receiving your goods. Poof - they just do the vanishing act - complete deniability where ever you ask.

[chrism]

FAIL #2 : LCD off angle gamma shift resulting in restricted vertical viewing angle.

I know there are mentions of this on this site and in other places - but honestly, it is the one fail that I cannot repair on my machine. People HAVE to know and be aware of this because it's a complete bummer that's not easy to catch or fix. I have read of other people making this same mistake, ruining or compromising their builds.

A person with a head height over 5' would see no problem on Timewarp retrocade - but for someone shorter - like my 8 y/o daughter, the view is absolutely horrible. And it's only in the final stages of building where I picked this up from her. I could raise the angle of the LCD vertically by only about 10 degrees until it came against the speakers on top... and that's all correction I could apply. Nothing else helps other than a high chair and cushions.

So... lesson here is if you are using LCD, check the viewing angle in the specs before you commit... then check it again physically with a vivid picture (or your game) moving your head above and below the viewing plane. My screen (Dell 1907FP) is rated at 140 deg horizontal and 130 deg vertical. RUBBISH! Yes, I can see / make out what's on the screen at those angles, but they look nothing like they should! The colours have shifted - some getting brighter and others darker - resulting in a very awful image.

Here are two pics - let's say mine and my daughter's view of the same screen. The 'bad' pic is seen at about 50 deg below perpendicular to the screen (so 100 degree span gives this bad image but its rated 130?).

[Locke141]

Hey brotherman Locke, you're spot on about South Africa... plenty of resources there. I've read of arcade cabinet auctions in CapeTown and Johannesburg - if you live there it's not difficult to get a good box for refurbishment. As for new builds, they have retail stores for controls and other parts. (not as common as in the US, but they have them).
As for China items, it was a good source once - but over the past decade customs and/or the postal service has picked up on the goodies coming in and you now have less than a 20% of receiving your goods. Poof - they just do the vanishing act - complete deniability where ever you ask.

I have never had a problem with getting small item from China but I have been told if my package seem to have something valuable inside it may not make it.

How did you get your parts?       

[chrism]

the only part that i ordered was the controller from uk arcade world shipped to a uk address and brought over by a friend on vacation. everything else i made or obtained locally. i  had to change my ideas a few times because what i wanted was not available (in the whole country - blue t-mount is prolly the biggest example of that…  i ended up with silver edging to avoid ordering 100m minimum order from SA. so my design changed to the silver font - which might have been a blessing - i think it looks good.)
dhl and ups are reliable but will cost you good, and despite claims of 3 business days, etc. might spend weeks in customs in the capital or the port.

[Locke141]

It came out really nice.

I always see cool stuff going on around BYOAC and I find my self wishing I had this or that part. Things that are easy to find in the US. For me, the best part of your build is that you did it in a much harder settings then most any one here ever will. 

You should add this to the "I completed my build thread.  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,142020.40.html

   

[chrism]

FAIL #3: Controls placement.

Another item that I missed the importance of, was the positioning of the player controls.
I measured an equal distance from each edge (left and right) of the CP where to place the player controls template - joystick and 6 buttons.
This resulted in equal distance from left edge to the joystick on the left and the rightmost buttons and the edge on the right - This is NOT good.
Two reasons why it's no good:
1st: a player standing naturally over his/her controls is centered somewhere between the joystick and the 1st set of buttons - meaning that in two players, player two (right side) has much more arcade real estate!
2nd: If we were going to bias the CP real estate, it should be the other way round - left controls should be more centered because as 'player 1' controls, they are most commonly used. On timewarp retrocade, playing one player looks a bit odd because the player is standing off to the left instead of more centered. From other builds, I see I am not completely alone...

LESSON: put a mid-line of the player on the controls template. Measure equal distances to the mid-line from left and right of the CP to place your controls.

Check two white lines (where players' noses would be) in attached image...

[AzureKnight]

   Nice work, I think you did a really great job!

[chrism]

Thanks AzureKnight!

I'm still busy with the web site - and don't worry, peeps, I am definitely linking to BYOC - wish I had found BYOC before I did my build.   

I've set up a 'King of retro' quiz / competition (fame the only prize).

Why not have a go...

http://www.timewarp-retrocade.com/retroq.html