Scratch build (Zombies ate my neighbors theme)

[cipriani2k]

Hello, my name is Jake and this is my first time building an arcade cabinet. I've loved video games since I was a kid and I always felt like I missed out on that golden era of arcades. I always used to play zombies ate my neighbors growing up and since I'm building a mame anyway I figured why not?

I started this project some time ago, but between school and work it's been going slowly. Now that I'm done with school I've decided to finish this up. I started back in 2010, and I didn't feel like posting up stuff in such large increments of time. So now that I'm graduated and getting close, I figured I'd just dump some pictures. Any comments or suggestions are welcome, but like I said it's my first build so don't expect anything crazy.

Some very basic measurements, just wanted to make sure my crt fit and my wrists sat at a good level when I played.


Cut out side panels, a little uneven at parts. I had to sand a decent bit to get it close. I had never cut wood before this so it went better than expected.


Added on the framework.


Standing up, looking pretty.



Here's my basic setup going into it. Computer, speakers, smart strip. The light gun I got working but it's gonna be a bit before I get that going. I want to rig up a gun that looks like the squirtguns from zombies ate my neighbors but I'm still toying around with ideas. When I was testing roms, the guncon proved pretty fun anyway.


I bought some smaller speaker grates and got the holes going for that.


The cabinet was too small for the crt I had picked out, I didn't consider how bulky the case was. So I popped that out and voila. Fits pretty well now.




I added a shelf for the motherboard in the back.


Made a fixture for around the tv so the bezel would sit properly.




Bezel sitting in


Drilled in a board to hold the plexiglass in


Cut out the spot for my coin door.


Control panel cut out and buttons/joysticks mounted in. When I first started this project, many moons ago, I was thinking marvel vs. Capcom 2 machine so I went with different colors. Waiting on a few new button colors to make it more zombie themed.

Wired up everything to test it, mounted in the ipac controller to the board too.
*This was a quick setup to test software, the final wiring will be crimped and unexposed.


Added control panel clamps, so I can get to the panel if I need to. Had to cut out some of the frame for the clamp. Everything is such a tight fit, it was kind of a pain getting everything in such a small area.


Had to cut out some of the wood to fit the joysticks in properly. Added some support for the middle of the control panel, just in case things get rowdy.


Next step is mounting the computer onto the cabinet.

Measured out the motherboard holes and added screws in. I used a few washers to give it some space from the side.


Added two pieces of wood on the side of the hard drive and mounted those on the side.


I decided to mount the power supply onto the shelf. It's pretty sturdy sitting there so I only added a small piece of metal screwed into that and the shelf.


Everything sitting in and wired. I completely forgot about the graphics card when I was planning things out. I went with 2 washers for the motherboard at first and then had to go to 5 to get it to sit in right. Then I had to move the hard drive over to make room for it. And then I found out the power supply didn't reach it, so I had to get some 6 pin extenders for it. A momentary lapse of reason set me back a little.




And art came in!
Control Panel:

Marquee Panel:

[Arturius]

Looks fantastic so far mate

[PL1]

Couldn't figure out how to resize images btw, any insight would be great.

If you change "IMG" in square brackets to "IMG Width=400" in square brackets, it will resize the photo to 400 pixels wide.

Example:


Protip: if you like what someone did in their post, click on "Quote" to see the code.
It's a good idea to resize photos before uploading for the people surfing on their phones (cuts down on their data plan usage) and for people with slower connections.

Another thing that you may want to consider is uploading (already resized) photos to the forums directly using the "Attachments and other options" pulldown instead of linking from another server.

If your photobucket account is changed/deleted or the service goes out of business all your photos will be lost.  If they change servers or pathnames, all your photo links could be broken.

There's a sticky thread here in Project Announcements just for uploading images.


Scott

P.S. Looks like auto-correct changed "bezel" to "bevel" twice in your post.
 

[Nephasth]

Wired up everything to test it, mounted in the ipac controller to the board too.

Solid wire? No QDs? No solder? Oh my.

[Malenko]

Id never use exposed wire, even for the player grounds. Love the theme, that was a great SNES game. Why did you go for "player left" instead of "left player" ?

[Felsir]

Great choice of theme!

Why did you go for "player left" instead of "left player" ?

Wasn't it like that in the game like that?

[Malenko]

Wasn't it like that in the game like that?

All I remember is Zeke and Julie *shrugs*

[wp34]

Great theme.  I loved that game on the SNES.  Have the music going through my head now thanks to your build.

I want to rig up a gun that looks like the squirtguns from zombies ate my neighbors but I'm still toying around with ideas.

Do this.

[Seith]

I present to your build... my 2011 hallowe'en costume:

[melvinbates]

Looking good.  I loved that game as a kid  .

[Le Chuck]

Great start!  Might wanna touch up that wiring a bit, look forward to seeing more!

[cipriani2k]

Haha, ya the wiring is rough. It was a temporary setup rigged up for a day just to work on the software. I ordered arcade crimps and have some regular wire for the final build

[cipriani2k]

Got some parts in and managed to get a few more things done.

Went with LEDs for the marquee light. Ordered this set.
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=307

I got a bunch of molex extensions from tiger direct, since I needed some from the fans anyway. They were like 60 cents each.

Replaced the female side of the molex and wired that to the LEDs


Fit on the led nodes on a board.



I went with Logitech Z313 speakers a while back when they were on sale.

Wasn't 100% sure how I was gonna mount it so I decided to take a look inside and see what's going on.

Was pretty psyched to see the speakers had a spot for mounting. Accidently cut the wire getting to the 2nd one but other than that no real complications.


I cut out a circle the same size as the speaker grates i bought and then cut another hole for the speaker itself.
I'll mount the grate on the outside and it'll just screw in through the top of the machine into this piece.



Cut the fan holes, still waiting on the filter and fan grill to come in.



Bought some l brackets from home depot and spray painted them black and cut screw holes.

The bottom was on an angle so I glued a slice of wood on the bracket and painted it so it sits right against the marquee.


Hoping to start painting before next week so I can start actually mounting stuff on but I dunno how long it's gonna take to fill in all the counter sinks and I still have a few things to figure out too. Feeling good though, thanks for the feedback so far

[BC_Jeffro]

just about as sweet as it gets

[opt2not]

Great theme! One of my favourite games.

Construction looks solid and clean. I'll be keeping tabs on this one!

[OpFlash]

Nice work keep it up!

[cipriani2k]

Going a little slowly :\. Managed to get some work done though.

Bought 2 White 5mm leds from radioshack and a resistor for the coin door lights. Hooked it up to a molex connector from tiger direct.
I used this calculator to figure out the diagram and resistance. http://ledcalculator.net/default.aspx?

Coin Door lit up.


Puttied up the holes


And lastly mounted the subwoofer in so I could get it out if I have to.


A little bit with the new router bit, 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint, and what seems like an eternity later.


The only real reason I felt like updating is that with the paint on my control panel finished I'm finally ready to pop my graphic on.
The ridiculously blue looking buttons are actually purple, which looks a bit cooler next to the green than it looks in the photo.

[dgrams2000]

Looking good!  Nice job so far.   

[cipriani2k]

Woo, little more work done. I got the measurements wrong for the marquee sign, so that's gotta wait unfortunately. And as nice as the side paint turned out, I've definitely decided on getting some side art done. I don't really have a great idea of what, but if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear/see them.

Had to rewire everything once I applied the graphic.


Applied the t molding after rounding out some corners.


I had one very sharp angle on each side so I had to go with a coping joint, which I have Woodshop Flunky to thank for the idea/advice. Ending out turning pretty well, definitely coming to grips with the idea there are gonna be quite a few minor imperfections.


And this is where I'm at. Soldered the leds and ran some wire management. Now I'm just waiting for the marquee to come in, maybe a few minor tweaks here and there.

[05SRT4]

Man loved that game growing up. Great build. 

[Malenko]

looks really good, I was a little worried about the project when you stopped updating. The Tmolding looks great, I wouldnt call that an imperfection at all.

[dandro]

+1, great build and not an imperfection at all but rather a functional design compensation! 

[cipriani2k]

My last update was over 2 years ago and all I had to do was mount the fans and mount the marquee sign. Time has a way of slipping away I guess. But I finally finished my arcade No side art and no light guns, those may be things I get inspired to try down the road but not things I'm sure I really want or not. I couldn't have finished this build without the help of this community and even though I haven't been anything close to active, I just wanted to thank everyone. Some final pics: