COMPLETED: Rotating 6-panel driving cab pics. Won a Mamey!

[unclet]

Ok, here are some pictures of my driving Mame cabinet.   The TV rotates 360degrees and the 6 paneled assembly also rotates 360degrees.  Each of the 6 panels can be locked into place so the player can really use the assembly of their choice without worrying about it jiggling.  I hacked 6 MS Dual Strike controllers (thanks 1Up) so all 6 assemblies are active via a USB Hub at all times (ie: simply rotate and play).   I hacked the controller like 1up indicates on his site but I also decided to go ahead and hack the A,B,C,D,X,Y,Left trigger and Right Trigger buttons as well so I would have plenty of buttons per Dual Strike to use for all the wiring required.    This cabinet took me 10 months to complete.  Keep in mind that I have a family and was not able to work on it every day and when I found time to work on it, I could not work all day long on it either.

I "do not" have webspace so I will post some of the pictures I have in this post.  Keep in mind I still have areas which need to be touched up with the black paint.
 
The 6 panels consist of the following:

1) $40 - Spy Hunter 270degree steering assembly (Ebay)
2)   $5 - Star Wars yoke (from an arcade guy I know)
3)   $5 - Sega HangOn motorcycle assembly (from an arcade guy I know)
4) $20 - Two VirtualOn 8-way joysticks each with thumb and trigger buttons (from another arcade guy I know)
5) $30 - Pole Position 360degree steering wheel (Ebay)
6) MadCatz Universal steering wheel (which I use it for my Xbox)


The shifter panel consists of the following:

1) 2-way Forward/Reverse return to center shifter with turbo button
2) 2-way Low/High shifter (ie: not return to center) with turbo button
3) 3-way shifter with turbo button (*)
4) 4-way shifter

* The faceplate for this shifter is a 4-speed though.


The brake panel consists of the following:

1) $35 - Virtua Racing gas/brake pedal assembly wired as single-axis (Ebay shipping from CA to FL)
2) $35 - Virtua Racing gas/brake pedal assembly wired as dual-axis (Ebay shipping from CA to FL)
3) MadCatz Universal  gas/brake pedal assembly (in the picture this assembly is fitted over the single-axis gas/brake pedal assembly)

- The brake panel (where the two sets of gas/brake Virtua Racing pedals are mounted) moves left and right so a person can play 3 pedal games easier by being lined-up with all three pedals.

- The TV rotates since this machine will eventually go upstairs in a loft area where you can rotate the TV to simply watch cable TV from a couch (which will be behind the back side of the cabinet).

- The top cover (where the rotating TV sits on) is covered with the HappControls Black Pica Vinyl.  It was very easy to apply and looks great.  The vinyl is also used on the shelf where the Xbox is located, along where the arcade seat comes in contact with the cabinet, covers the Xbox gas/brake pedal wood mount and underneath the MadCatz steering wheel.

IS  THIS MAMEY MATERIAL?  

Questions and comments appreciated,
UncleT

[unclet]

Pole Position shot:

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Spy Hunter pic:

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Star Wars pic:

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Xbox pic (see the Xbox pedals which fit over the left gas/brake assembly):

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HangOn pic:

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Joystick panel pic:

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Shifter panel pic:

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SingleAxis pedals (slide to the right):

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DualAxis pedals pic (slide to the left):

Note:  Should be able to use the right pedal from the left gas/brake assembly as the clutch for 3-pedal driving games (ie: Hard Drivin' etc....)

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TV Rotate pic 1:

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TV Rotate pic 2:

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TV Rotate pic 3:

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Arcade seat pic:

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Computer storage pic:

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Locking panels down pic:

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How I stopped TV from rotating (6 panels have similar stopper):

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Xbox pedal assembly which fits over the left gas/brake assembly:

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See how the seat fits nicely against the shifter panel:

(yes, I know I need to still touch up that area with black paint).

[hulkster]

pretty cool in an overboard type of way, but that is definitely cool.  that looks like a pretty expensive setup, but if you have the money, i guess go for it!  only thing is, you are limited to certain types of games, unless you put a ps2, xbox, gamecube in there.  that would be bad ass for mario kart!

[Shieldwolf]

OMG

That thing is a monster. Very cool and unique

[menace]

Very nice--you must be a driving madman!  My only question is why the 360 degree rotating tv?  Also, as a finishing touch you should put some kind of bezel around your tv to make it look less tv-ish and more arcadeish--I think that would really bring it home as a complete system--very nicely done all the same though!

[unclet]

I did put an Xbox in there......  look on the shelf where the TV is as well as seeing the MadCatz steering wheel as one of the 6 panels.

PS;  Total cost was $1515.00   This is not that much money if you consider that it was a nice hobby for 10 months and that the  cabinet will be around for many years in my family.

[unclet]

menace:  The rotating TV part (as described above) was so when I move this cabinet upstairs in a loft, the TV can spin around so people can watch television on it while sitting on a sofa.   Did not want to waste a TV just for a cabinet again (I have standup Mame cabinet already) so my wife agreed to give up our other 27" JVC TV as long as it was watchable from a sofa.   She also did not want it to be enclosed in front with plexiglass or bezel, so people can still have full access to it as a normal TV.   Give and take.......she asked for a little bit, so I gave it to her.

[pocketbikez]

totally awesome!

i noticed on my spyhunter machine that the steering pot is a 1k pot, did the original pot work with the dualstrike hack or did you have to replace the pot. if so what kind of pot did you use and where can i buy one.

thanks and awesome job.

-paul

[rdagger]

Impressive driving cab.  Now you just need to add 2 large LCD monitors that fold out on the sides so you can play TX-1.

[SNAAAKE]

 
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANT ONE !!! ...

Very nicely done.Did you make any detailed plans on the 6 driving controls and everything you did ?

AGAIN,awsome cab,very unique !

[Xiaou2]

 Nice Job Unclet !!!  ^_^

  I may be inspired to change my design.

 

   

[unclet]

pocketbikez:  I ordered my Spy Hunter from Ebay and whatever pots were on there are the ones which I ended up using.   I never really looked at what kind they were.  I would have assumed they were the standard 5K type.  I am surprised yours had 1K pots attached.  Anyway, I just connected it to a Dual Strike hack and it worked fine.

BTW:  I used 1Up's description of the Dual Strike hack, but I also decided to hack the A,B,C,D,X,Y,Left Trigger and RightTrigger buttons as well.    This gave me plenty more buttons per Dual Strike to connect stuff.

Snaaake:  No plans, since I kind of made it up as I went along.   I first cut a hexagon (guessed at a good size), then proceeded to construct each of the 6 platforms where each assembly would be fitted.    

I do have about 100 pictures though (numbered in the order of my progress), but the problem is I do not have webspace or the skill to post pictures even if I did.   Anyway, if you (or anyone else for that matter) would like to donate some webspace (and their time) to post all of my pictures on for me, then everyone can look through the progress and see the progression which I went through.

[SirPoonga]

You finally got that done.  I will ahve to read through the entire HUGE thread.  I want to find out what you decided to do to keep the panel form rotating.

[HeadRusch]

Two Words:
In-Sane

[Raider]

LOL! Yeah that's pretty insane! Cool though! I dig the shifter CP one legger burnie graphic!

A Mamey? Why not?

[Edgedamage]

Rock Zilla quote:
"Nothing exceeds like excess"

[unclet]

SirPoonga: There are pictures which show how I stopped the TV from rotating past 360.  This is the same mechanism I used to stop the 6 panel assembly from rotating past 360 as well.   As for selecting which of the 6 panels to play with and then "locking" that panel into place so it does not move or jiggle....I did finally solve this problem.   There is a picture of it above.  My wife's idea really.....she came up with the solution of using "two" slide bolts.  Using "one" only would still allow jiggle, but using "two" worked great.   No jiggle at all.

[Generic Eric]

I think it looks awsome.  Did you scan that Star Wars CP "art" before you applied it?  It would be great to have that in the vector library.

[unclet]

generic_eric:  Actually, I found a JPG picture of a true StarWars cab control panel overlay and then just messed around with it using a photo editor to come up with my own finished JPG image.    I printed it out and then had it laminated.  Sorry, no vector work done here.

[menace]

You wouldn't happen to have said jpg still around would you?  I would love a copy if you are still in the christmas spirit!  Also, you're spy hunter art looks nice--where did that come from?

[Karman]

How did you interface the shifter with Pole Position?  The controls for PP in mame are a button press to switch between High and Low, but the shifter uses an on/off microswitch.    I have a PP cab myself and am trying to figure out how to mame it.

[hyiu]

wow.....

nice....

wow....

(sorry... don't know what to say other than wow...)

I guess you'll have a lot of driving to do... haa haa...
 

[unclet]

Karman:  I have not configured the cab for each driving game yet, so I have not tried out Pole Position yet.  I literally just finished the cab a couple of days ago.  

menace : See attached images below (or on next page).

[unclet]

Here is the Star Wars control panel image I started with (got image from someone's Ebay post):

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Here is what the Star Wars image looked like after I got done editting it and "playing around" with it:

Note: I then simply resized it to the size I needed for my control panel.

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Here is the Spy Hunter image I started with (forget where I got this image, but it was the best one I could find without having the steering assembly blocking the control panel):

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Here is the Spy Hunter image after I got done editting it and "playing around" with it:

Note:  I obviously got creative to fill in the right side of the image    

[DOC]

ohh man... i'm stunned!!   " this is powerfull!! " that is prolly the only machine i've seen so far with that CP system " let me curse a little and HOOOOOOOOLLLLYYYY SH*T " that is some extremly well done work you've got yourself " may your machine inspire others....!! "

doc..

[RetroJames]

With the announcement of the completion of this project and other threads actively pursuing rotating control panels of various sizes and girths, we as a board are entering into a very weird facet of this hobby.  Be afraid, very afraid.  

[unclet]

Why is it called "Mom's Arcade"?    Well the answer is because my other Mame cabinet (4-player standup) is called "Dad's Arcade"  (see pic) and I thought this way I could immortalize my wife (who is the most understanding woman I know when it comes to her husband's hobbies.....which ultimately go "inside" our house   )

PS:  Keep in mind I also have a 9'x4' arcade air hockey, a tournamemt style Tornado Foosball table and a 10' arcade Skeeball machine as well.   Not quite sure she would allow a video jukebox at this point  ......  

[unclet]

Here are some shots of the early early progress.....way back when :

[unclet]

anthor pic:

[Zakk]

Was there ever any doubt?  


http://www.mameworld.net/massive/Awards/Control_Panels/control_panels.html

[Brax]

Amazing.  

......I'm thinking it's missing an actual motor. Considering your previous excess, a blown 454 should suffice.   May as well have real sound effects. Actually. Maybe two motors so you have stereo sound.  

[Brax]

Btw, I gave Zakk (Mr. Mamey) the heads up.  

[saint]

I do have about 100 pictures though (numbered in the order of my progress), but the problem is I do not have webspace or the skill to post pictures even if I did.   Anyway, if you (or anyone else for that matter) would like to donate some webspace (and their time) to post all of my pictures on for me, then everyone can look through the progress and see the progression which I went through.

If you or someone puts it together  I will donate the web space.

--- saint

[Zakk]

Btw, I gave Zakk (Mr. Mamey) the heads up.  

Check the post above yours  

[unclet]

saint:  Might take awhile, but I will try to get some help and put something together.  I have no skill in web design, though placing some text with pictures should not be rocket science.  Thanks for the webspace donation, I will be in touch.

Brax Thanks for contacting Zakk on my behalf

Zakk  Thanks for the MAMEY!!!  Much appreciated!!!!

[RetroJames]

saint:  Might take awhile, but I will try to get some help and put something together.  I have no skill in web design, though placing some text with pictures should not be rocket science.  Thanks for the webspace donation, I will be in touch.

Brax Thanks for contacting Zakk on my behalf

Zakk  Thanks for the MAMEY!!!  Much appreciated!!!!

If you can send me a zip to jamann@gsu (remove this spam block) .edu I can convert them to a photo album pretty quickly.  The order may be a bit off, but if you can group them into larger blocks for the diff stages before sending, I can sort them by those groups.

[RetroJames]

Xbox pic (see the Xbox pedals which fit over the left gas/brake assembly):

I'd like to see more about how this works

[1UP]

Wow!  Just when I thought it was impossible to add any more controls...  

I might have to talk some business with you soon...

[shmokes]

The funny thing is how those pictures don't do that monster justice.  When I first saw it I thought, "Man, a cabinet that nice deserves better than a wimpy 19" TV."  Then I read further and realized that's a 27".  It is dwarfed by the size of the cabinet.  You should substitute a 32" in there at your earliest convenience.  And, as was mentioned, maybe build some kind of enclosure, with a bezel and smoked glass to give it a "finished product" feel.  

You have my congratulations and my envy.

[pocketbikez]

How did you interface the shifter with Pole Position?  The controls for PP in mame are a button press to switch between High and Low, but the shifter uses an on/off microswitch.    I have a PP cab myself and am trying to figure out how to mame it.

i also am in the long process of developing a driving mame cab, i've figured out that pretty much all the driving games can be shifted with a happs 4 way shifter. im trying to save space on the control panel, but for arcade realism youd want more shifters for individual games.

i go into mames setup for pole position...

tab
input (this game)
then i map both the 1st and 2nd shifter switches to the gear change input.
 
when i shift into 1st its low and then shift into 2nd and its high. the happs 4way shifter has a short shift throw and its easy to stay on one side of the gears(1st and 2nd). feels just like the real arcade machines.

i've wondered why pole postion, turbo and spyhunter in mame arent programmed to shift like the real arcade machines, they all use a single microswitch on-off gear shifter.

[Xiaou2]

 btw:  what?  no rotating shifter control panel ; )
                      no rotating pedal base? ; )

 any 'bass shakers' under the seat?  
(they are a must have!  www.partsexpress.com)

  just some ideas mods for the ultra insane ; )

 
   I hope andy w. or other encoder sellers will see that
more and more panels are rotators with tons of controls and that we really could use a better all arround solution for the many device types needed.



 

[HagHore]

That is sweet!  Now you just need to build 3 more, set them side by side and have some awesome XBox Link driving mania!

[unclet]

shmokes: My wife tried to get me to use the 32" TV, but it turned out to be too high when seating in the arcade seat and also too BIG and close to the face when mounted.  Actually the 27" is a perfect size when sitting so close.

Also, I explained about the plexi and bezel already..... my wife's one request was that the TV could be used as a normal TV and could still be viewed from a sofa somewhere in the room.   This is why there is no plexi/bezel and why the TV rotates.   Give and take....I assumed my wife gave a lot letting me keep this beast in the house, so it was no bigbie to keep the TV looking like a TV for me.   Although plexi/bezel would look cool.

pocektbikez: I have a Low/High shifter which only has one microswitch.  Basically when it is in the HIgh position the microswitch is activated, otherwise in Low it is not.  I think this might work for me for Pole Position and Spy Hunter no problem.

Xiaou2: funny.... but you know my pedal assembly does move left and right.....

HagHore: Another cab like this means divorce....

[pocketbikez]

I have a Low/High shifter which only has one microswitch.  Basically when it is in the HIgh position the microswitch is activated, otherwise in Low it is not.  I think this might work for me for Pole Position and Spy Hunter no problem.

when u wire-up the single microswitch shifter and try to use it in mame (for pole position, turbo and spyhunter) you will find that it wont work properly. you will have to shift into high then back into low to shift once.

test play buggy challenge 1984 (buggychl.zip) that is how the shifter input should work for pole position, turbo and spyhunter. the problem in mame with these 3 games is that shifting needs a keypress then a release for each high and low.

a few solutions are...
1. ask mame dev's to fix the shifter inputs in the mame code, or maybe its in the roms.

2. somehow attach a second microswitch to your single switch high-low shifter.

in the meantime you can also just map your 4-way shifter like i pointed out earlier and play the games now.

let me know how it goes when you wire it up.
-pocketbikez

[Xiaou2]

 Im also currious about your Spyhunter situation.

 I got a SH controller long ago... but when went to hook it up to a 5k pot, the pot got destroyed after turning the wheel.  Seems the gearing was too great and turned it too far.

 I dont think I tried the 1k pot that came with it... but i think that was cause it was missing a lead (busted)..  

 Please check your pot... if its small in size and blue in color... then thats probably the original.  Does it work with the dualstrike hack?  If you can... get the K reading on it.

 Also... does anyone know if there are pots available that will work in a spyhunter arcade machine?  Id hate to lose my machine over a 'rare?' pot going bad : (

 

[menace]

I can't believe I missed your rotating tv explanation right in the main description(overwhelmed by pics i guess) and thanks for the jpgs!  I was thinking, why not put the tv on a sliding/rotating mechanism so the tv can be enclosed in a arcade type space while playing?  The tv could push back from the player, rotate, then push back in for the people on the other side--this way you could keep the tv exclosure tight to the tv for the mame effect without sacrificing any functionality--too crazy?

[pocketbikez]

Xiaou2: heres a pic of my spyhunter steering pot. both of my spyhunter control panels have 1k pots. this is a pic of the very bottom of the pot. i flipped the picture 180 degrees.



The manuals schematics also show both the steering and gas pedal pots as 1k. In the spyhunter manual the steering pot is part number # 105E-00004-0002. The gas pedal pot has a different part number... # AA27-00017-0000. I've checked happcontrols.com and they dont have any 1k pots, i also searched the net with no luck. seems the only hope is to watch ebay for a parted out spyhunter machine.

Unclet: please check your spyhunter pot and see if it says 1k on it. if you have already wired up and got it to work with the dualstrike hack im in business. this info would be great as i dont want to burn up my original pot.

thanks
-pocketbikez

[unclet]

pocketbikez: How about I use my 2-speed return-to-center shifter (which has two microswitches) to play Spy Hunter, Turbo and Pole Position?  When you push the shifter up it will activate the shifter and then it will return to center which means the microswitch will no longer be activated.

Xiaou2 and pocketbikez: As for the Spy Hunter pot type on my assembly...this is the best I can do for you.   I do not plan on taking the Spy Hunter panel off my rotating cab (disconnecting wires, removing screws, etc...) to get at the pot just for a look.   However, I did design my rotating panel so I can lift off the black cover from it so my hands can get inside .   Anyway, I stuck in my camera and this was the best picture I got of the pot.    There is some blue on it, but you can judge if this is the "blue" you are looking for.   I can also tell you that when I bought this Spy Hunter assembly on Ebay, the seller indicated that this assembly was ready to be plugged in and be played.   Considering the seller's comment, I would imagine that if a Spy Hunter arcade machine only uses a 1K pot, then this is what must be on my assembly.   I connected the Dual Strike directly to wires which were already coming from the Spy Hunter pot, so I did nothing new myself there.   To test the Spy Hunter assembly, I went into My Control Panel/Game Controllers and clicked on the Dual Strike controller which was related to my Spy Hunter assembly (remember I have 6 total).  I then selected "Properties" and then clicked the "Test" tab.  I can then test that all thumb and trigger buttons work along with the pot movements.   All I can tell you is that when I tested the Dual Strike which was wired to my Spy Hunter assembly, I can move the steering left and the "test" cursor moves left.  When I moved it right, the "test" cursot moved right.  I also finally went into Mame and clicked on (what I think) was "Analog input" or something.   I could map my Spy Hunter steering wheel movement in Mame.  It recognized the +/- movement.  Hope of this helps.

[Arcade-Inferno]

This looks like a great cab and I'd be happy to donate space on my server to host it. Let me know if you're interested.

[unclet]

Arcade-Inferno:  Thanks for your offer, but I already excepted "saint"'s offer for some webspace.   I do appreciate it.  When the site is up, I will post a link for everyone to see my progress, along with some nice PCB shots of my Dual Strike PCB hacks.......  

I did not just hack the directional pad and Up/Down and Left/Right pots (like 1Up's site shows).......I decided I needed more buttons so I also hacked the A,B,C,D,X,Y,Left trigger and Right Trigger buttons as well.   I will show everyone where to hack the Dual Strike for these as well......

Thanks again