READY PLAYER ONE: Arcade Cabinet Build (First Build **ALMOST COMPLETE**)

[Pauly]

IT ALL STARTED WHEN...:
I was on Reddit one day doing my daily reading of the front page when I ran into a post on someone building an arcade cabinet for a client of theirs called Smash Fighter (Here is that post). I was instantly inspired looking at his images reading labels where I could find them on where he got these parts. After a week or so of poking around his photos I noticed something he wrote "Cabinet was inspired by Chance's FLYNN's Arcade Cabinet on BYOAC. Did a google search and found this post on these forums which introduced me to the magic of BYOAC  . That was it....hook, line and sinker. Let's do this.

UPDATE 8/12/15 (Landed Design Theme: READY PLAYER ONE)

I have been thinking about this for years. I have owned around 4 arcade cabinets in my life (Galaga '88, Rampage, Tron and Dragon's Lair)...All of them are gone now, except for Dragon's Lair who my children "kinda" think is cool for the novelty, but get bored pretty quick - and I personally don't like playing games alone ALL the time. DL was bought in college and it's hard for me to let it go, but I think it's about time to sell it and make some space for this new build that will get my family & friends involved in the fun..

Artwork:





Early Concept:


INSPIRATION:

• ChanceKJ's FLYNN'S Arcade Cabinet
• Ethan's Smash Fighter Cabinet

GOALS:

• Sell Dragon's Lair to make space - I put a listing on the forum, go check it out!
• Design a Arcade Cabinet for 4 player's (Family and Sleep Overs)
• Use Mala as Front End (Thanks to ChanceKJ for helping me make that decision - I read his horror story of Hyperspin)Using HYPERSPIN, it's just too good to pass up.
• 4 Joysticks, 1 Trackball, 1 Spinner, 1 Pinball Plunger and 7 buttons for Players 1 & 2, 4 for Players 3 & 4
  
• Light Guns
• Make it BLINKY as crap (I've got two little girls)
• Coin Operated with hidden credit button under cab for each playerCoin button by each player button on top of CP - The price for a coin door in the end wasn't worth it this time around.
• Do it within a year and create memories with my kids
• Have professional print work done using Brad's services (Lucian045)

GAMELIST MUSTS:

• TMNT
• TMNT II
• X-Men
• Captain America and the Avengers
• Street Fighter III
• Mortal Kombat III
• Metal Slug
• Terminator 2 (Gun Game)
• Area 51
• Dragon's Lair I & II
• Space Ace
• Donkey Kong
• Tron
• Pac Man
• Rampage
• Arkanoid
• Crystal Castles
• Marble Madness
• Pinball of some sort
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Killer Instinct
• Wrestlemania

PARTS LIST (As I get them I'll write them in):

• 1 x iPac 4 from Ultimarc
• 1 x PacLED64 from Ultimarc

(Going to have to purchase another one...SO MANY LEDs)

• 1 x Ultimarc 3" Pearl Trackball and RGB LED courtesy of Arcadeemulator.net
• 7 x IL Concave Buttons from Paradise Arcade
• 4 x Generic Concave 1-4 Player Buttons from SanStar
• 1 x Generic Pinball Plunger from SanStar
• 1 x LED Joystick from Paradise Arcade

I plan to add to this list, but at the same time I don't want the game amounts to be overwhelming. Mainly I am looking for games that can have up to 4 players, utilizes the spinner, Lightguns and the trackball. If you got ideas of some good ones let me know!

I realize that this list sounds ludicrous, but it's not impossible. I know I should start small, but....nah. This is what I want. I'll deal with the headaches.....removing Hyperspin from the build might be the number headache reducer according to many. Some parts have been ordered and are already on their way. I will document my build and share my knowledge and artwork along the way. 

Thanks for taking the time to read,

- Pauly

[Pauly]

While I am at it. Anyone know of any good CnC shops in Dallas, TX area?

[johnrt]

Use Mala as Front End (Thanks to ChanceKJ for helping me make that decision - I read his horror story of Hyperspin)

That I have missed. Can you point me in that direction?

[vwalbridge]

Hey Pauly! Nice to see that you have decided to take the plunge and build your own arcade! I guarantee it will not be your last.  

It looks like you are diving in head first and going all out on your first build. I agree, might as well go big. If you are going to do it....do it the way you want to. It might feel overwhelming at times but it will be worth it.

In my opinion, the woodworking is the hardest part. So its great that you have considered using a CNC shop. Once you get over the "construction" part, that's where it gets easier.

Take your time and make sure the woodworking is perfect. You will thank yourself later.

I'll be following!

Use Mala as Front End (Thanks to ChanceKJ for helping me make that decision - I read his horror story of Hyperspin)

I can't imagine any arcade of mine without Hyperspin. To each his own, but you might want to reconsider this later. Hyperspin can take a good cab and make it a great cab in my opinion.

Hyperspin has a somewhat steep learning curve but you really only set it up once. You can then use that setup on any cab at a later date.

[Pauly]

Use Mala as Front End (Thanks to ChanceKJ for helping me make that decision - I read his horror story of Hyperspin)

That I have missed. Can you point me in that direction?

Sure thing. It's real short, but it was summing up how I was feeling about a week ago when I started working on the software side of the build. I LOVE the look of Hyperspin, it's just so unnecessarily over complicated with the setup and not worth the pain in the end.

Here is his short - F' Hyperspin post.

[Pauly]

Thank Vwalbridge! I may consider Hyperspin again (because it is amazing), but for now so I dont get frustrated up front Mala is sitting pretty.

[pbj]

I don't even like Dragon's Lair and even I wouldn't sell a working Dragon's Lair I had had for years.  It's not THAT much space.

[reptileink]

^

[Pauly]

I don't even like Dragon's Lair and even I wouldn't sell a working Dragon's Lair I had had for years.  It's not THAT much space.

You know how long I've thought that? This cabinet was going to go to my grave, but I just woke up one night and thought - nah. I'm good. There is someone out there that will respect this cabinet so much more than I. There is a true hardcore DL fan, that wants to add this to their collection in their basement and it's a shame it just sits in a corner in my house. 

I'm not a collector, I love games and my kids and I want to combine those two. Here is a picture of the cab, btw.

[yotsuya]

I'd buy it if you lived in AZ.

[vwalbridge]

Wow, I've forgotten how funky the DL cab was. I mean... just look at that marquee! So unique looking.

Yours looks to be in tip top shape. Should fetch some pretty good coin right?

[dkssprs]

Hi. I am also building a new cab for the family (FAMICADE).

One of my goals is the cab will have a coin acceptor but also a secret way to turn the cab into free play mode.

Why did you choose MALA? The only fortend i have used is MAXIMUS and i think its easy to work with it. Is MALA better?

[Pauly]

Hi. I am also building a new cab for the family (FAMICADE).

One of my goals is the cab will have a coin acceptor but also a secret way to turn the cab into free play mode.

Why did you choose MALA? The only fortend i have used is MAXIMUS and i think its easy to work with it. Is MALA better?

From my VERY limited experience, I went HYPERSPIN first and had many frustrations with it. Read about MALA and gave it a shot, it's incredibly easy to use and setup. Also I loved Mala had customization options available, for instance look at this guys custom theme, not too shabby. Theme editor is real simple, too.

http://www.severdhed.com/images/arcade/malalayout2.jpg

Not exactly as great as Hyperspin, but I think it amounts to how much work you put into it. I am actually very unfamiliar with Maximus, so I can't really comment on how it compares.

Also I did find an article about MAXIMUS comparisons here. Maybe I need to take a little more extra time into deciding the right frontend.

[reptileink]

I went Maximus after being frustrated with Hyperspin.

This is the Xbox vs PS  debate you will find throughout the internet. I think it comes down to how comfortable you are with setting each one up. I found the "point and click" of Maximus a much easier go than Hyperspin personally. After all, I want to spend time PLAYING the games, not endless hours setting up the front end. You can get really creative with Maximus (I made custom images for systems), or just use it "out of the box" and still have a pretty cool interface. I wish I had more time/patience to do more with it, but in the end, it's about playing the games, not how flashy your front end is.

[yotsuya]

I stayed with Hyperspin after not being very frustrated with Hyperspin. Set it up once, never have to again. 

[vwalbridge]

I stayed with Hyperspin after not being very frustrated with Hyperspin. Set it up once, never have to again. 

yotsuya is my homeboy. Us Hyperspin guys need to stick together. 

I've set up 2 (highly modified) Hyperspin cinfigurations.  So if you decide to go that route hit me up if you need help. I feel like a Hyperspin Jedi now.

Also, since it looks like your cab is going to play mostly arcade games, it will make your life much easier. In all seriousness, I almost quit on Hyperspin twice but I'm SO glad I didn't. Sure, Hyperspin has it's annoyances just like anything else but the polished look far makes up for it in my opinion. Where people get into a lot of trouble is file names in Hyperspin. Hyperspin is very strict with file names. Games, videos, artwork, sounds, themes, etc must all have EXACTLY the same file names for the eco-system to jive.

[yotsuya]

I stayed with Hyperspin after not being very frustrated with Hyperspin. Set it up once, never have to again. 

yotsuya is my homeboy. Us Hyperspin guys need to stick together. 

I've set up 2 (highly modified) Hyperspin setups.  So if you decide to go that route hit me up if you need help. I feel like a Hyperspin Jedi now.

Also, since it looks like your cab is going to play mostly arcade games, it will make your life much easier. In all seriousness, I almost quit on Hyperspin twice but I'm SO glad I didn't. Sure, Hyperspin has it's annoyances just like anything else but the polished look far makes up for it in my opinion. Where people get into a lot of trouble is file names in Hyperspin. Hyperspin is very strict with file names. Games, videos, artwork, sounds, themes, etc must all have EXACTLY the same file names for the eco-system to jive.

Exactly- and there's plenty of re-naming tools to make that process easy, too.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Yeah, Hyperspin has a bit of a learning curve. So what? So does cab building.

[Pauly]

Alright, as I am waiting for some of the pieces I ordered to come in I started boxing out how I believe I want the cab to look. Here is an image, let me know your thoughts.



Going with the "Aircraft Carrier" CP layout with a Dragon's Lair cab inspired marquee.

[yotsuya]

I'm glad people at least call it the "aircraft carrier" now. Somewhere, up there, Goz is smiling down on us.

[Pauly]

I'm glad people at least call it the "aircraft carrier" now. Somewhere, up there, Goz is smiling down on us.

I actually believe I heard you refer it to that and I thought, that is the perfect description. Side note, who's Goz?

[yotsuya]

I'm glad people at least call it the "aircraft carrier" now. Somewhere, up there, Goz is smiling down on us.

I actually believe I heard you refer it to that and I thought, that is the perfect description. Side note, who's Goz?

Goz is the first person I heard us that term. He's an old-timer,  and I've been greatly inspired by him.

[vwalbridge]

Now THAT is an arcade.  She is a big one for sure. And once again, if your gonna do it...might as well go big. I like it.

However, I have a couple of questions:

1. Will you be able to remove the control panel?  (I only ask because you might need to fit that arcade through a doorway or around corners. Removing that control panel could help)
2. What size is that screen?
3. Do you have the means to bend those 2 angles on that marquee?

[Pauly]

Now THAT is an arcade.  She is a big one for sure. And once again, if your gonna do it...might as well go big. I like it.

However, I have a couple of questions:

1. Will you be able to remove the control panel?  (I only ask because you might need to fit that arcade through a doorway or around corners. Removing that control panel could help)
2. What size is that screen?
3. Do you have the means to bend those 2 angles on that marquee?

Great questions!

1. Control panel will be removable, I plan on using clamp knobs to assemble/disassemble.
2. 32" - This is the one I was looking at specifically.
3. NOPE! Got to figure that out. Right now, the plan is to look for suggestions. 

[vwalbridge]

Now THAT is an arcade.  She is a big one for sure. And once again, if your gonna do it...might as well go big. I like it.

However, I have a couple of questions:

1. Will you be able to remove the control panel?  (I only ask because you might need to fit that arcade through a doorway or around corners. Removing that control panel could help)
2. What size is that screen?
3. Do you have the means to bend those 2 angles on that marquee?

Great questions!

1. Control panel will be removable, I plan on using clamp knobs to assemble/disassemble.
2. 32" - This is the one I was looking at specifically.
3. NOPE! Got to figure that out. Right now, the plan is to look for suggestions. 

I noticed that you opted for the 720p TV. Looks like they have a 1080p version for $50 more:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V0923TG/ref=amb_link_433310882_1

I certainly don't like spending money for people and classic arcade games are not going to look any better on a 1080p screen.But just checking for you.  I'm also sure you considered it as well.

I have bent 1/8th inch plexi with a heat gun before and it was actually pretty easy. If you go slow and don't heat it too fast, it will not turn it cloudy. And now that I think about it, finding/making a one-piece marquee bracket could be the real challenge.

[dmckean]

Classic arcade games probably will look better on a 1080p screen if he plans to use HLSL. I was about to suggest the same TV.

Are you going to have a coin door?

Have you thought about making the Player 2 joystick switch-able between 8-way and 4-way instead of having 5 joysticks?

[vwalbridge]

Classic arcade games probably will look better on a 1080p screen if he plans to use HLSL.

You make a very good point.  Not to mention standing that close to a screen, higher rez could make a difference to your eye. I might sleep better at night knowing that I could play some Street Fighter 4 in 1080p if I wanted to.

But once again, I really don't want to spend your money for you. It's amazing how fast the cost adds up on these cabs.

[aldub516]

on the topic of the bent marquee, I promise it is easy to do. The look on my face the first time i bent my first lexan was like a little kid. I used i believe .093 thickness lexan. Heres a few methods for lexan bending. I used it like crazy on my pedestal and love the final product. In my opinion, lexan is easy as butter to drill, cut, bend and do what youd like with, with minimal effort.

I used a heatgun i found laying around in my shop. Gets real hot real fast. To bend lexan without following a shape like angled surface or something, i basically drew a line where id like the bend on the lexan. I took 4 blocks of wood, and clamped two on each side of the lexan, on each side of the line. Basically the point is obviously to just reveal the area youd like to bend, being a vertical line in the marquee. Simply apply some heat and within seconds, you can bend it wherever youd like. Its even easier if youre applying lexan to a bent surface. You can just heat it and bend it along the curve, or over a table corner. If you want to be precise, you can miter the ends of the blocks to a point, so when you clamp them, you get a very precise bend. If youre going to do it often, you can have multi angled blocks for different angles. As i said though, its easy as butter. Dont read into any difficult gimmicks. Heat the hell out of lexan where it needs, and bend it where it needs a good bendin enjoy.. youre going to start looking at things in your home like "what can use some lexan around here"

[pbj]

32" = too small

720 = junk

[Pauly]

Classic arcade games probably will look better on a 1080p screen if he plans to use HLSL. I was about to suggest the same TV.

Are you going to have a coin door?

Have you thought about making the Player 2 joystick switch-able between 8-way and 4-way instead of having 5 joysticks?

Hmm, maybe I should consider 1080p then, not that much more.

I plan on having a coin door for sure, I was thinking about this one. http://na.suzohapp.com/amusement_products/coin_doors/40-0946-00

I was considering the ServoStick and still am. Less sticks would be nice for sure.

[Pauly]

32" = too small

720 = junk

Thanks for your feedback. Can you support your opinion? 32" seems like a pretty generous size.

[dmckean]

32" = too small

720 = junk

Thanks for your feedback. Can you support your opinion? 32" seems like a pretty generous size.

I'm not really sure what he meant but TVs models tend to jump in size from 32" to 40". I think for ends up almost too big.

With a 32" TV you'll get a 24" picture for 4:3(horizontal) games and an 18" picture for 3:4(vertical) games. If you made the jump to a 40" TV, 4:3 games would be 30" and 3:4 games would be around 22.5 inches. 32" seems OK to me.

[eds1275]

Want to keep the games list small, but want to have spinner, 4 players, guns, trackball, pinball... If you are indeed using MaLa I would suggest just loading it up and then hiding the All Games master list.

I'm sure finding a CNC shop in Dallas won't be hard. Although for many of the users here, the build is most of the fun. I personally have a lot of games nights and play an awful lot, but am happy I did the work myself. A lot of people tend to over think, over engineer, and generally make a problem out of joining wood/mdf together.

[Pauly]

Want to keep the games list small, but want to have spinner, 4 players, guns, trackball, pinball... If you are indeed using MaLa I would suggest just loading it up and then hiding the All Games master list.

I'm sure finding a CNC shop in Dallas won't be hard. Although for many of the users here, the build is most of the fun. I personally have a lot of games nights and play an awful lot, but am happy I did the work myself. A lot of people tend to over think, over engineer, and generally make a problem out of joining wood/mdf together.

I am glad you brought this up. I am not much of Woodworking person, but as I do any craft - I find it fascinating! With that said, I decided to give the actual woodworking a shot myself.  I purchased a table saw and a router and started measuring things out. I know I am going to screw up the measurements somewhere, but thats going to be the learning part. I think my goal is to not injure myself (badly) personally!

Also when I mean a small game list I am saying less than 100 or so. There seems to be builds will over 400 games, I just don't want to do that. I want to build mine with games that are specific to the tools I have on the board. I get the irony that there are a ton of controls and that I have and probably everything will work, but then I am only looking for the elite few. Mostly multi-player games - MK and SF are a must and I would like to connect Steam as well.

I dont want to try to over engineer it. I am actually probably most wood workers worst nightmare. I measure maybe twice and say "HELL WITH IT, LET'S DO THIS!" and either comes out perfect, or I am buying more wood.

====

Update: Joystick and Buttons came in from Paradise Arcade. I am testing them out on a pencil box to see the difficulty in wiring these things up. So far, so good.

[eds1275]

The problem with trying to get only a select few, is everyone's ideas will be radically different and even worse, you will miss out on the hidden gems, of which there are many. One of my favourites is The Outfoxies, my niece loves Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, my nephew loves Loco-Motion, and my wife loves Puzz Loop. Not exactly 5 star top tier games but all amazing and worth putting the time in to play!

The woodworking is not rocket science. I mean it's basically just a box! I would have gone with a circular saw instead of a table saw. Really the only tools you need are a drill, a router, a circular saw, and a jigsaw.

[Pauly]

table saw was more for the small pieces and also this project was an excuse for the wife to get a table saw  . I have all the other tools listed ready to go!

I may reconsider the game selection based off your post, i just noticed my kids last night enjoying some games on mame that i thought were terrible. 

[Generic Eric]

The woodworking is not rocket science. I mean it's basically just a box! I would have gone with a circular saw instead of a table saw. Really the only tools you need are a drill, a router, a circular saw, and a jigsaw.

See my post here for the generic game of boxes.  Read it because: The arcade cabinet is a box.  A box of boxes if you will.  It should focus some places that you'll want to get measurements to.

[Pauly]

Quick update. I started cutting out the control panel and wanted to share some things I've learned.

• Gorilla Glue is awesome and a bastard at the same time - little goes a long way, there is a lot of expanded glue to cleanup. LESSON LEARNER +1
• I need to master the jigsaw and tablesaw - just learned for the tablesaw what a "Sacrificial Block" is which has been helpful for cutting those small pieces

I am going to build the walls next for the panel, question to you guys. Recommended height for the CP? I am seeing 4". With the 3/4" MDF on the top and bottom the walls would only have to be 2.5"....Am I correct on this? Let me know and thanks!

[vwalbridge]

I LOVE gorilla glue.

But this doesn't look like WOOD gorilla glue:


Regular gorilla glue does foam out and expand everywhere. Makes cleanup a mess. You really should be using wood glue from here on out. Did you try wood glue and not like it?

[Pauly]

I LOVE gorilla glue.

But this doesn't look like WOOD gorilla glue:


Regular gorilla glue does foam out and expand everywhere. Makes cleanup a mess. You really should be using wood glue from here on out. Did you try wood glue and not like it?

Ok here is the deal.....no.....In a matter of fact, I didn't even know that existed. Let me be honest, my crafting skills from a 1-10 is about a -2.

...Sigh....headed to the store after work and going to get Gorilla Wood Glue. (In my defense it said ANYTHING on the bottle.  )

[abkaz]

Were you planning on screwing the CP's side pieces into those strips of wood? If you're using decent wood glue you probably don't need any strips or screws to hold the sides onto the base piece. Just glue and clamp them on. The glue's bond is stronger than the wood itself.