First Build - Project TBD

[DatsWassup]

HOW IT STARTED

I was watching an episode of Shark Tank with the wife when two guys showed up selling the ArKeg.  A terrible idea that no shark invested in, but it got me thinking about owning my own arcade cab.  I started doing some research and found a few sites that sell them, I had the one I wanted all picked out until...  I found this site.  I instantly became hooked (thanks to everyone who posts on here).  I told the wife that we could save $$ if I built the cab myself which I believed to be true at the time, but now I know better.

I've been ordering parts for the past week and plan to head over to the brother-in-law's place this weekend to start cutting some wood.  I don't really have any space to work at my place, or any tools, so yea...

DESIGN

I'm planning on a 32" slim cab, I really like Chance's cab so it will have some similarities.  I like the look of the Midway cabs so I tried to combine that with the slim features of Chance's cab.  And this thing was born.  The control panel is pretty much a 1:1 of Jarrett's Space Paranoid design, minus the sticks in the middle.



THEME

I'm kind of in between themes here.  I'd either like to do a (newer) Ninja Gaiden theme or a Gears of War theme.  I know neither of these were arcade titles but I am no arcade purist, simply a gamer.  I know I want the color theme to be Red and Black.  Talking with a couple people now to try and get some designs sketched up.

TIMELINE

I want to have this thing complete and ready to go before Halloween, about a month and a half.  I know that may sound slightly delusional but I blame everyone on this forum.  I've been reading all these builds and now feel like I'm a pro, so we'll see how this goes.  Wish me luck.

[Malenko]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

[Xerobull]

I love that control panel layout. Let me know if you need the PSD files.

[DatsWassup]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

[Token]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

BYOAC will rib you for it, but if you are set on 4 players the USS Midway is probably your best-looking option. Having those cutouts is better than a giant rectangle sticking two feet off the sides of the cab with corners that jab into players 3 and 4.

Good luck!

[yotsuya]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

BYOAC will rib you for it, but if you are set on 4 players the USS Midway is probably your best-looking option. Having those cutouts is better than a giant rectangle sticking two feet off the sides of the cab with corners that jab into players 3 and 4.

Good luck!

I disagree. Have you seen an actual 4 player Midway or Konami cabinet. NBA Jam? Simpsons? Those control panels aren't 4 feet wide.

Someone please post a photo of 4 people using the Space Paranoids design. I have NEVER seen one. I want to see what makes that design so "optimal".

[geeteoh]

I'd have to get friends. Although that keg option is tempting. Maybe that would help.

[Token]

I disagree. Have you seen an actual 4 player Midway or Konami cabinet. NBA Jam? Simpsons? Those control panels aren't 4 feet wide.

I was a child when the Simpson's 4 player cabinet hit arcades. I am wider now. I think it is reasonable that MAME 4 player cabs have larger CPs than their ancestors, especially if you want more than two buttons for players 1-2. And if it is going to be wider, go ahead and notch those corners out.

Having said that, I don't really care for 4-player CPs. I would rather break out two cordless game-pads for players 3 and 4 for the 2% of the time that we want to run a 4 player game. IMO, the Platonic ideal is a CP that is 1 1/2" narrower than the cabinet and set into the side-panels.

[yotsuya]

I personally don't care anymore,  but I do want to see a photo of the SP panel in use. Just for posterity's sake.

And the "we're all wider now" argument is silly.  What, adults never played these games BITD?

I think this panel is currently popular with new builders because it allows them to use a 32-36" LCD in a wider, non-traditional cabinet. If it works for them,  so be it.

I agree with your assessment in the second paragraph.

[pbj]

The cut corners work pretty well on my turtle box.  Allows all us fatties to get in close without much cock-to-butt touching.

[Green Giant]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

BYOAC will rib you for it, but if you are set on 4 players the USS Midway is probably your best-looking option. Having those cutouts is better than a giant rectangle sticking two feet off the sides of the cab with corners that jab into players 3 and 4.

Good luck!

I disagree. Have you seen an actual 4 player Midway or Konami cabinet. NBA Jam? Simpsons? Those control panels aren't 4 feet wide.

Someone please post a photo of 4 people using the Space Paranoids design. I have NEVER seen one. I want to see what makes that design so "optimal".

The difference is this one has a trackball while those only had joys and 3-4 buttons.

[yotsuya]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

BYOAC will rib you for it, but if you are set on 4 players the USS Midway is probably your best-looking option. Having those cutouts is better than a giant rectangle sticking two feet off the sides of the cab with corners that jab into players 3 and 4.

Good luck!

I disagree. Have you seen an actual 4 player Midway or Konami cabinet. NBA Jam? Simpsons? Those control panels aren't 4 feet wide.

Someone please post a photo of 4 people using the Space Paranoids design. I have NEVER seen one. I want to see what makes that design so "optimal".

The difference is this one has a trackball while those only had joys and 3-4 buttons.

Right.

Still would like to see a photo just to see  one.

[Malenko]

Welcome to the fleet.  We will now have more aircraft carriers than the US Navy.

I actually tried to get away from the aircraft carrier look but I couldn't find a better way to space out 4 people.

[pbj]

Ordinarily, I'd make a joke about "you will never have 4 players on your machine EVER" but it's actually happened a few times to my machine this year.  :|

[DatsWassup]

Malenko, that looks a little tight.  I never liked playing a hardcore fighting game at the arcade and bumping elbows with the guy next to me when I was a kid.

Sorry for getting everyone riled up    Didn't know 4 player CPs was such a touchy subject.  Worse-case scenario if I hate the CP I can just replace it later down the line.

[Malenko]

tight?  Is a slightly modified midway 4 player layout. CP box is literally an NBA Jam CP box, the CP itself is the exact same size as NBA Jam but the sticks are lined up across so you can play smash TV/Karate champ/total carnage/etc and the middle 2 players have the SF Neo layout.  Ive had 4 adults play it at the same time (if you consider me an adult that is ) no issues no bumpin elbows but we play like normal people  not with both elbows extended as far as possible to each side 

[JDFan]

Malenko, that looks a little tight.  I never liked playing a hardcore fighting game at the arcade and bumping elbows with the guy next to me when I was a kid.

Sorry for getting everyone riled up    Didn't know 4 player CPs was such a touchy subject.  Worse-case scenario if I hate the CP I can just replace it later down the line.

Don't think it was you that caused everyone to get riled up - It's just that every new member these days always wants to build a 4 player set up with at least a few of each type of controller that can play every single Arcade and Console game that has been emulated on. And most of the longer time members realize just how little use those extra controls ( spinner, Trackball, 4th - 8th button for each player, etc. etc.) will ever get used within a couple month of the thing being built and how much harder it makes it to play those games that do get played well on a CPO designed to do everything ! - not to mention how much extra cost it makes building the thing.

IMHO you'd be much better off deciding what 20+/- games that you really want to play - look at the controls they use and see how many you can not live without actually use a specific control and delete any that require specific controls that only 1 or 2 use that are not critical to that list. ( Once the first build is done there is plenty of time to build the next ones for specific games you miss that need that spinner, flight stick, trackball and 3 atari buttons, dual joystick per player, etc. setup - and those specific games will play sooooo much better with a CPO built specifically for them rather than just thrown on somewhere on the original CPO)  and then build something setup for the games that remain on the list. Then really think about it and decide if a 2 player setup would suffice ( ie. how many 4 player games are on the top 20 list you made and how many times after the initial couple weeks will you actually have 4 people in the room wanting to play the same game at the same time)

Sure you might be the exception that will always use the 4 player setup or might be happy playing that special game you remember with a specific layout adapted to fit a 4 player CPO layout even though it is nothing like the original game was laid out ( ie. playing Defender with a regular button layout rather than the reverse directions near your 2 way joystick and using one of a 8 button layout rather than your thumb) - but rarely does that happen so they are just trying to make you think about things before committing the money and time to building something you wind up not being happy with !!

[DatsWassup]

JDFan thanks for the informative comment, I get where everyone is coming from.

Now to get back on track. Friday night I got started on making the sides.  I'm using 3/4" Baltic birch.  I did like I've seen some suggest and printed out a 1:1 template of one side.  I then cut it out and sanded it until I was happy and used that side to trace out the design on the second and did a rough cut.

This next part I was pretty excited about, I pulled out my brand new router with a bottom mount flush trim bit and got ready to cut the second side out. Luckily I first practiced on some scrap and I was tearing the scrap wood up.    I soon realized I was going the wrong direction.  After trying to go the other way I was more comfortable.   I was 99% done when the ball bearing came off the bottom of the bit and I cut out a small chunk out of both sides.  I through some Bondo on the one side, still need to fix the other.

[DatsWassup]

I was planning on taking a bunch of pictures throughout the whole process but things did not go as smoothly as I hoped.  Ran into a bunch of issues and was more focused on finishing things and totally forgot about the pictures.  I laid out how I wanted everything on paper but completely different once you actually start cutting the wood and realizing that what you pictured doesn't actually work.  Anyway, I got both sides done and got the shell pretty much assembled.  I still need to figure out a couple of things.



I'm waiting for my coin door to arrive, once that does I can cut the hole and mount the bottom front piece and the access drawer.

[DatsWassup]

I purchased two of these 22mm Vandal switches.  Now online they look pretty big, I didn't think about how small 22mm actually is, but I think it will work out in the end. 



I'm thinking I can hide these under the CP or something.  I also picked up this mount for the buttons.  The goal is to have one button turn on the computer which will be connected to a master surge protector and in turn will power everything else on, the second button will be for the TV.

[GSXRMovistar]

The goal is to have one button turn on the computer which will be connected to a master surge protector and in turn will power everything else on, the second button will be for the TV.

Why can't you have the TV hooked up to the same master socket so when you power the PC on the TV receives power, therefore just single button needed?

[DatsWassup]

The goal is to have one button turn on the computer which will be connected to a master surge protector and in turn will power everything else on, the second button will be for the TV.

Why can't you have the TV hooked up to the same master socket so when you power the PC on the TV receives power, therefore just single button needed?

Most TVs won't turn on just because you turned on the power strip they are connected to, I've seen some TVs that have a "hotel mode" or something similar that do this.