MortalKab 4 player DIY slim arcade cabinet/ Finished / Update?

[yotsuya]

You: **stress** **stress** **stress**
Guests: "Cool, does it play Galaga?"

Advice: unless the surface is really really bad, I would not worry about it at all. Make sure it's pretty smooth, and you'll be fine.

[vwalbridge]

Yea, unless you painted the sides of your cab with sand, then Lucian's vinyl is gonna adhere just fine.

If you are really paranoid, you can used a J Roller but I'm pretty sure that Lucian includes a felt-covered squeegee to press the artwork down firm.

[deezdrama]

I had Brad Bowman print it. Not sure who Lucian is.
I got a felt squegee / razor kit off ebay for $8 ... its here waiting for the vinyl.

Never worked with vinyl before so just want to be sure it sticks and stays that way. Read too many posts about vinyl lifting up.

The paints cured for a week or more now.

So the concensus is ...dont sand...just clean with alcohol before applying?

[vwalbridge]

 Brad's screen name on here is Lucian042

[deezdrama]

Brad's screen name on here is Lucian042

oh .... lol , didnt know

[yotsuya]

Just make sure the surface is smooth and clean and you should be fine. If it lifts, use a glue stick.

[deezdrama]

Its relatively smooth but the satin clearcoat gives it a texture or feel of a 500-1500 grit sandpaper.

Thats why I wondered if I should use a really fine sandpaper to try and make it smoother.
Ive never worked with vinyl before so not sure how smooth is smooth enough. Its smooth but has a textured matte smoothness....not like a gloss glasslike smooth. It feels more like fine sandpaper or a fine textured plastic 3 ring binder

[deezdrama]

I hadnt really felt the sides since I toweled and aired off all the overspray last week...

I just checked them.... pretty smooth, Im sure I was worrying for nothing. 



On to the next topic. I bought my u-trak new.... disassembled it to send the trackball in to swap for a pearl one and noticed 3 of the 4 plastic screw towers used to hold the 2 halves together were cracked. Not a huge deal...just hoped the u-trak plastic was durable, this isnt a sign in that direction. Whoever assembled it must of overtightened them. Anyone else notice this in theirs?
As long as they hold its no biggie I guess.

But yeah.... im sending the blue trackball in for pearl white. I figure it would look better.
Im now thinking I should get opaque white rgb buttons. I really cant afford $5+ per button but im planning to upgrade to rgb down the road so might as well do it now right.
Problem is.... I havnt researched much into the white rgb buttons. Anyone have a preference in the ones that are available?

[Frank Drebin]

I'd get everything from Andy at Ultimarc if I could but I like the Electric Ice from GGG just because you can get leaf switches.  Andy does have the RGB harness that plug directly into the IPAC ultimate IO.

I'm going with these:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73&products_id=408

[deezdrama]

I was going to try paradise arcades hoku with the IL rgb disk but says they are out of stock.
I plan on ordering a sample of several buttons and a led stick to test.

Got my glass ordered.... just went with 3/16" light gray tempered from oneday.
Artwork should be here today 



I need to start getting tools for wirring. I have a couple soldering irons but not sure of there wattage.

Whats generaly a good wattage soldering iron for this hobbys needs?

[yotsuya]

I was going to try paradise arcades hoku with the IL rgb disk but says they are out of stock.
I plan on ordering a sample of several buttons and a led stick to test.

Got my glass ordered.... just went with 3/16" light gray tempered from oneday.
Artwork should be here today 



I need to start getting tools for wirring. I have a couple soldering irons but not sure of there wattage.

Whats generaly a good wattage soldering iron for this hobbys needs?

I'm sure whatever irons you have are fine. For the MAME aspect of this hobby, a good set of crimpers is more important than a soldering iron. I only worried about soldering when I started into dedicated authentic arcade equipment.

[deezdrama]

Ya... ive just seen that paradise has single color IL button led pcb's for $1 and thought about testing a couple out with some different buttons I was going to order but they need leads soldered on. The IL rgb's are $1.75 and have leads but out of stock so was just going to get the single color ones for now to test and get the feel/looks of the hoku buttons.

Susan said they have some in stock but cant update the site right now cause shes on a trip.

Didnt know if a certain heat range iron would be recommended....the ones I have are really old the stickers cant be read so dont know the wattage.

I hope the 3/16" glass I ordered will be thick enough. I think thats about the thickness of side car windows and they are tough. 1/4" seemed excessive and would add alot of weight. Hope I wasnt wrong about that since the price difference was about the same

[yotsuya]

Just don't punch the glass in a fit of anger and you'll be fine.

[deezdrama]

Got my artwork in.
Brad Bowman (Lucian045) does great work and was really helpful with all the questions I had.
His vinyl worked out great and was really easy to work with. My pictures from my phone have been really washed out lately and dont know why, the pics just didnt capture the vibrant colors but it looks great in person.

[deezdrama]

pics with t-molding installed

[deezdrama]

Im even more confused now on which buttons/sticks to go with.

I originally planned on the jlf's and the chrome bezeled single color buttons but then decided on translucent white rgb hoku buttons and balltops with led sticks from paradise..... I even sent my blue utrak ball in to swap out for the pearl white.

Now with the art on - I see the jlf and chrome ring buttons would be a great match.

Guess I need to order some samples from paradise..... I had a bunch of stuff in my cart ready to order but their site says they are out of IL rgb illum pads. Susan says they do have some -that she just needs to update the site but Ive been waiting days and still says sold out

[deezdrama]

Got the marquee area finished,installed speaker grills, and received some glass. Fits good, the light gray is pretty light tinted but with the inner cab painted black it isnt too bad. Not sure if I will mask off and paint a bezel yet or not.


Ordered controls..... had to cheap out on buttons. Was going to order samples of 4 different buttons I was considering (was leaning towards hoku rgb buttons) but want to get this thing done so cut off about half the cost just going with chrome bezel led buttons from paradise. Got them with 20g switches. For joysticks ill be using extended shaft jlf led sticks and paradise led sticks for p 3 and p4.

waiting for controls to ship....ordered a good pair of wire strippers and disconnects. I guess Im going to wire using cat5 cables that I have laying around.

Still need to order ipac4 and rebuild my old gaming pc/install software.....getting close though.

[deezdrama]

Couple questions.
Those power strips that turn all your electronics on when the pc is turned on.....what are they called or whats a general search term for them?

Also.... can anyone recommend a really good sounding pc speaker/woofer system for $50-$75? Does the sub really affect hdd's?

Thanks

[JDFan]

Couple questions.
Those power strips that turn all your electronics on when the pc is turned on.....what are they called or whats a general search term for them?

Smart Strip or Smart Power Strip - One pictured below ( Blue = control - green powered on/off when blue is on/off, Orange always on )

[Slippyblade]

smart strips.

As far as the sub and HDD's...  You can get a 60gb SSD for $30 these days and not worry about it.

[deezdrama]

Im going to be using a 4tb drive for all my roms etc. I already bought a regular 500gb hdd for the OS so SS is out of the question unfortunately .

[Slippyblade]

Holy crap.  A full MAME romset is 40ish gb.  Once you remove all the mahjong, fruit machines, and mechanicals it's down to mid 20gb.  Toss in a handful of CHD's and it still easily fits in 60gb.  What all you putting in this thing?!

[yotsuya]

Holy crap.  A full MAME romset is 40ish gb.  Once you remove all the mahjong, fruit machines, and mechanicals it's down to mid 20gb.  Toss in a handful of CHD's and it still easily fits in 60gb.  What all you putting in this thing?!

Those PS1 ISOs take up a lot of space, homes.

[deezdrama]

Ive got a full mame romset on an external 1tb drive here that I put together a long time ago with all the videos for hyperspin.
Also have alot of the systems I had a s a kid nes,snes,tg16,3do.
Im getting some more roms from a buddy... all the newer dc and ps1 stuff.
Also want to run alot of the steam pc games I have

I dont know.... maybe I will only need 2tb but planned on 4tb just to be safe.


Im not sure which pc to run either.
My current pc is an old quad at 4.2ghz with 8gb ram and a gtx 770 oc.
I know it will run things fine but if I can get away with using this other older rig then I would prefer to.... its an old quad running at 3.2ghz with 4gb ram and gtx 650ti.

I would like to run some of the newer street fighter and mk's and maybe even mkx but dont know if the old 650ti is up to it

[Slippyblade]

Ah, videos.  Yeah - I can see that soaking space.    I've always kept it simple as possible.  ROMS, snaps, maybe marquees.  That's about it.  And I've never used HyperSpin.  Kinda bugs me when the front end consumes more resources than the games.

[deezdrama]

Yeah... and im sure hyperspin will be a pain in the ass to setup ... I had it running good years ago but have since reformated that pc and forgot everything I knew about it so I will be back to square 1 .
A part of me wants to just run with the harddrive I have with a mame set but I have invisioned a full hyperspin setup for many years so going to travel down that path of many headaches lol

[Slippyblade]

HyperSpin is sexy as hell when it's setup properly.  I just failed that particular skill check.  Honestly, I think I rolled a critical fumble.

[yotsuya]

Jeez, set up HS once, make a copy of the folder, archive it, and file it away. I've been using the same setup since 2011 with no issues. I even set up a NEWER version Hyperspin install for a buddy but still use my old version for my own projects.

[deezdrama]

2011 is probably about the time I last setup hyperspin. Any idea what all has changed since then or has it been mostly stability updates/patches?

[yotsuya]

2011 is probably about the time I last setup hyperspin. Any idea what all has changed since then or has it been mostly stability updates/patches?

I dunno, I last did a set up two summers ago.

[scoodidabop]

I set me up earlier this year but I'm not familiar with the older versions.  If everything works and you're happy with it I'd probably just update your emulators and leave hyperspin/hyperlaunch alone.  We all know how deep that rabbit hole can go.

Man you cabinet is looking nice!  That MK art looks great. 

Can you post a link for those locks?  I think I'll do those on my NASA build.

[deezdrama]

They were just some cheap ebay locks

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261134840973&alt=web

[scoodidabop]

They were just some cheap ebay locks

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261134840973&alt=web

Ah, sweet. Thanks!  Those barrel locks are kinda sexy.

[deezdrama]

They were just some cheap ebay locks

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261134840973&alt=web

Ah, sweet. Thanks!  Those barrel locks are kinda sexy.

They felt a little gritty at first, I applied a drop of superlube to a key and worked the locks...they are breaking in good.


Man a little progress today while  waiting for controls to arrive.

Pulled the glass out and installed som black automotive edge trim to the top of the glass (looks much better) then cleaned the tv , and glass for final install.

Got the computer reformatted, spliced a molex for 12v and 5v to supply leds.
Found a antec lansig speaker/sub system I forgot I had in the basement.....woot...freebeee

Got the bottom of cab, marquee, and coin reject leds wired/soldered/installed.
Saved some hyperspin youtube demo videos and a mk2 playthrough video to the pc to play for now to see how the tv looks with the light tinted onedayglass piece.

Got the pc in, everything hooked up, the tv picture looks amazing. Im super excited now to finish this cab! Just putting the pc in there to loop some videos really gave me a glimpse of how sweet it is to have a cab in the house. Im already planning a bartop build for the kids now lol.

Hopefully my controls come this week.
2 led lit jlf's, 2 led lit paradise sticks, and for now just rolling with the chrome bezeled led buttons.
Got 100 .187 disconnects, and 100ft of cat5 cable ready for wiring. Had to order 100 .250 disconnects after I realized the led terminals on the buttons are .250.

Things left to order.....Ipac4, rgb led for utrak, and a bigger hdd to transfer my mame set on and start getting my other systems setup.







Question....... Im running windows 7 64.... I dont need to completely hide windows (im ok with the cursor) but would like to make a custom windows load screen, and have it boot right to hyperspin....
Any links or guides to accomplish this?
thanks

[vwalbridge]

Use a program called Windows 7 Boot Updater to change the Windows boot animation.

[Frank Drebin]

Use a program called Windows 7 Boot Updater to change the Windows boot animation.

Yep.  Its really easy.  You will still have your Bios screen though.  I just went with a black desktop background with all icons deleted, auto hide the taskbar and have hyperspin start up on boot, and have the pc shut down on button press.  Hides windows good enough for me, as I'm always tinkering in the background.

Enjoying your build quite a bit BTW.  Looks great.

[deezdrama]

Use a program called Windows 7 Boot Updater to change the Windows boot animation.

Yep.  Its really easy.  You will still have your Bios screen though.  I just went with a black desktop background with all icons deleted, auto hide the taskbar and have hyperspin start up on boot, and have the pc shut down on button press.  Hides windows good enough for me, as I'm always tinkering in the background.

Enjoying your build quite a bit BTW.  Looks great.

Thanks.....
Ive read of people using a windows shell that only lets htperspin and the needed system files to run....is this necessary?

  My controls were delivered.
Too bad im stuck at work and have to work overtime.
  I should of called off today and got some wiring done lol.

[vwalbridge]

Ive read of people using a windows shell that only lets htperspin and the needed system files to run....is this necessary?

I would advise against shelling Hyperspin on Windows. It's a major PITA to do and doesn't gain you that much performance anyway. Plus it's an even bigger PITA when you need to get back into windows to filddle with anything.

Just change/remove the windows boot animation, change the desktop wallpaper to solid black, hide the taskbar and change the mouse cursor to a simple back cross-hair.

Now if you really want to get crazy. Follow all the steps on the 2nd post of this thread.

[Frank Drebin]

Thanks.....
Ive read of people using a windows shell that only lets htperspin and the needed system files to run....is this necessary?

Up to you to decide.  If the windows startup sounds and sights (cursor) bug you the instant sheller program is really easy to do on Win7 and can be reversed quite easily too.  Just youtube it.

(on xp, but same principle)

edit: listen to ^^ a guy who has done it before.  I haven't shelled mine and likely wont.  Mine looks pretty damn good without shelling.

[vwalbridge]

Thanks.....
Ive read of people using a windows shell that only lets htperspin and the needed system files to run....is this necessary?

Up to you to decide.  If the windows startup sounds and sights (cursor) bug you the instant sheller program is really easy to do on Win7 and can be reversed quite easily too.  Just youtube it.

edit: listen to ^^ a guy who has done it before.  I haven't shelled mine and likely wont.  Mine looks pretty damn good without shelling.

I've have not personally used Instant Sheller but I've heard it does not fully work on Windows 7. Verbage from their website:

"Its for Windows XP Service pack  2 and above, Vista and Windows 7 although for full functionality XP is required. It also requires the .net framework 2 service pack 1 or above."