Brocade - Raspberry Pi case shaped like an arcade that even lights up!

[chito]

in Feb 2015 as i was finishing up working at groupon, I created a basic raspberry pi arcade that would sit in the social area. It was lazer cut from 5mm bamboo and came out really nice. It had a basic 3d printed control pannel and I also had some stickers printed. The only one that turned out ok was the marquee. But it was meant to have the word GAMEON in white on the side panels.
I now call that GameOn the first prototype because since then ive made many revisions. it was sooo basic and ended up costing around $120 AUD which is around $91 USD



By March and after 3 different prototypes (each one getting cheaper as i refined the process and learnt how optimised files better) I had the final V3.7.1 created in SketchUp. And even had a sarcastic theme and artwork ready. This time, it had 3d printed controls, 3d printed coin door, acrylic control panel, acrylic screen, acrylic marquee and best of it all, it lights up like a real arcade using LEDs, ie screen, marquee, controls and coin return.



I got a kit of lazer cut and 3d printed parts made up. I bought paper and clear sticker stock and printed the stickers myself as i was getting crazy quotes from companies. Who would've thought that 6 stickers would cost so much. Once i painted and sanded the wood, painted the coin door (left the controls white), experiments heaps with the stickers until i had a process down and wired up all the LED's. I created the last prototype, but the photos dont do it justice.



So why post this now?
well after leaving the project for a bit, I recently started work on an actual arcade cabinet (which ill also be posting about soon). In an Australian forum I found a guy who im now working with to print the stickers, which are now Vinyl. The first sample came in and they look great!!! so pleased with them.
There was a problem but. 2 were not printed correctly so he is redoing them and if they are correct, Ill have new photos soon!

So you might be wondering how hard can it be to print stickers? Well the project doesnt just use normal stickers, sure the side art and the control panel use normal stickers but the screen and marquee use special stickers.

For example: the marquee uses a sticker where the adhesive is on the same side as the ink, called reverse print or 2nd surface print, this is so the artwork can stick to and be seen through the acrylic. on top of that how many printers have white ink? most printers assume white stock and so white is created by leaving white areas alone... the sticker for the marquee needs white backing otherwise it will be transparent (as my experiments revealed). So you can see how this can become an issue when youre trying to explain all this to the printers

The screen is a little bit more complicated as it uses 2 stickers to create a 3d effect with a bezel on one side and an arcade screen the other.

If anyone is interested in this project or wants to know anything, just ask. Everyone ive shown this project to has wanted one and Ive made 3 units of the prototype 4 version and give them away. In fact when Retropie ran a contest to come up with their new logo, The brocade was part of the prize. If there is enough interest ill look at maybe creating kits.
http://blog.petrockblock.com/2015/03/22/we-need-you-to-design-the-retropie-logo/

[sealcouch]

Yotsuya's build of the year right here.

[yotsuya]

Dude did a good job.  And honestly,  that's what a Pi is prefect for... cute little hobby thingies.

[chito]

So im back from holidays and just before i left the revised stickers came in. So now that im back ive started to finish this mini build off. Phone died so ill take some photos and have them up later on.

I applied the new vinyl stickers to the parts that were missing them.
Assembled the parts that make up the main frame.
wired and soldered the LEDs (and tested - looking great)

So tomorrow ill finish gluing it all together.

The only blocker is the coin door. its a SLS 3d printed part so ill need to paint and assemble it. But i not sure i have a good copy lying around. I may need to order these parts again.

Maybe ill make a mini version of my other build lol. You can read about it here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,151843.msg1588984.html#msg1588984

[Malenko]

needs more buttons.

[yotsuya]

needs more buttons.

Needs more bros to be a Brocade.

[reptileink]

I'm confused, is this not a working mini arcade?    Or just a desk ornament?

[chito]

its a fully working raspberry pi running retropie. this build is just for the case. one thing to note here is that with the LEDs running the unit draws a bit more current than usual so stronger adapter is needed or just dont overload attached devices. i solved this using a powered usb hub explain below

needs more buttons.

Needs more bros to be a Brocade.

this thing gets used a bit. because its so portable, it has gone on trips with friends and  house parties etc. plenty of bros. the setup i use even has an electronic coin mech which collects money for pizzas or whatever for the night. the only issue i get is the girls complain about the name lol so one day ill get around to creating a female or neutral theme.

when this is out in the wild it has a console like setup. i have a box i created that contains a powered usb hub, ipac, s5 electronic coin validator and admin buttons. this box connects to the raspberry pi via usb thanks to the usb hub. the ipac runs the coin validator and admin buttons.
i can run 4 x-arcade solos and 2 usb controllers via the usb hub which has usb wall mount pass throughs. ill have to take photos of the whole thing.

[chito]

Here is a pic of the setup. When its all connected it really does have more of a console feel. Just looks like a little arcade



All thats left is the coin finish off the coin door and take some updated pics. The vinyl stickers look great and really gives it such a polished look.