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Author Topic: V-Cab  (Read 11214 times)

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lamprey

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V-Cab
« on: June 04, 2014, 12:32:53 am »
There is a phrase to the effect that good artist copy, great artists steal. While I’m probably neither good nor great, I’ve tried to leverage (some might say steal) as much as can from those that have come before me. I have to give special props to Jarrett for his wonderful Space Paranoids artwork that he, graciously, shared with the community.

Now, about the build: nothing revolutionary, just a modification to existing themes with some of my own (fun?) modifications thrown in. However I had several goals in mind:
  • Virtual Cab –To display bezel and marquee artwork on a per game basis.
  • Franken Panel – To play a majority of MAME games (I know, I know).
  • Driving Games – To play Super/Championship Sprint (and similar games) with “authentic” controls (or as close as possible)

Virtual Cab
My thought was to use a 55” TV in portrait mode to achieve my desired results.  Long story short I was able to pick up a cheapo 55” 4K TV last December for a reasonable price. All I can say is the bezel and marquee artwork look awesome on it! I was planning on a slim design, but ended up changing that so that I could have storage for swapping a driving control panel.

Cabinet design with TV placement:


Cab with the side art:


Franken Panel
What more is there to say? It’s a ye’old Franken Panel. I’m Going to be using leaf-switches all around; for buttons and joysticks. The P1 & P2 joysticks are both 8-way with the left one being a rotary. Plus a Push/Pull spinner, Tron Flight Stick and 4-way Joystick. If things work out I’ll have some little goodies to share later, but here is a pic of the CP artwork:



Driving Games
As mentioned, I wanted to be able to play some driving games, specifically Super/Championship Sprint. Also I thought it would be cool to get a Star Wars yoke. As luck would have it (or not) it took me forever to get driving parts. I’m sure I was looking in the wrong places, but it took me about a year to gather the parts. Luckily everything fell into line and I was able to get some pedals (from Badlands I think) and I got a Championship Sprint CP with 2 wheels and the fixings. The Yoke I bought didn’t have the handles/grips. At that time, I didn’t know the handles were so expensive to buy. Luckily, I found a Road Blasters CP for cheap that had handles and I think I’ll be able to repurpose the control panel to use with the yoke.  Basically, taking the Championship sprint CP, cutting it in half and inserting a portion of the Road Blasters CP in the middle. Think of something similar to a three player Super Sprint, but with a yoke in the center. Here are some pics of the parts:

Pedals as I received them:




Pedals after some TLC:





I have the wood for the cabinet cut and laminated (at least what I can before assembly). So, assembly will begin this weekend. Then I’ll work on the control panel.


I have some other goodies I’m working on that I’ll share soon.

 :cheers:

ChanceKJ

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2014, 02:21:33 am »
YEOWCH! 55"!

That one hell of a big Donkey Kong experience. 

johnndeanna

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2014, 02:30:55 pm »
Yikes, 55"!!! Going to need some serious SPF for that beast. Good luck.

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2014, 02:37:55 pm »
Ha, yeah I see how that seems really large. But, when you also display the bezel artwork, it makes it a nice size so that you can do a game screen size from 19"-24" in the middle of the bezel. Hopefully, I can get things semi put together this weekend and take a couple of pics to help see where I'm going with it.

talkgeek

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2014, 05:01:56 pm »
This is def on my watch list

- 55" screen less than a 60cm from your face - be interesting to see how playable that is for anything other than driving games, definitely a way to feel immersed in the game tho ;D
Currently building http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137777.0.html Mass-Replicate
Built "n0tsq3" cocktail cab http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133913.0/all.html
..and restoring a Sega MegaLo 410 Candy Cab & Moon Patrol Cab

Slippyblade

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2014, 05:07:28 pm »
Those pedals cleaned up nice, good job.

rablack97

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2014, 06:24:57 pm »
it is possible

This was some ultracade a company built for a talk show celeb.




This guy builds similar version on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/55-4-Player-Home-Video-Arcade-Game-MAME-TM-The-Ultimate-For-Your-Man-Cave-/331188300828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1c5c6c1c

lamprey

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Kick-Panel / Pedals
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2014, 12:09:08 am »
I had a little time to mess around, so I did some work on the kick panel for mounting the pedals.

Front Hole:


Back Hole: Notice my tight routering skillz and light paint application..  >:D


Back with Pedal:


Looking Down:


Front with Pedal:

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2014, 12:09:57 am »
it is possible

This was some ultracade a company built for a talk show celeb.
<snip>
This guy builds similar version on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/55-4-Player-Home-Video-Arcade-Game-MAME-TM-The-Ultimate-For-Your-Man-Cave-/331188300828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1c5c6c1c
Damn that is a wide puppy!  :o

lamprey

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Top Lights
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2014, 12:57:55 am »
I carved out a little time after work to work on the top piece. I don't know how successful this will be, but I decided to add some lights to the top that shine down towards the control panel. I'm doing some stuff with florescent pigments (i.e. the Tron Handle) so I thought I'd add some black lights and see what happens.

I bought some UV LED flashlights, took off the cap (with the LEDs) and cut the caps down a little to recess them near flush with the top board.

Here is a pic of the flash light housing, cap and cap after cutting:


Here is the top with the holes for the lights:


Here is a pic showing the wire connection (a little solder to hold):


Lit up:





corpuscle

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2014, 05:49:50 am »
55" design looks really interesting, how long till it's mounted ? :)

keilmillerjr

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2014, 10:43:46 am »
Enormous screen coupled with a frankenpanel? Honestly, I'm a little worried. :dunno

lamprey

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Shell Assembled
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2014, 10:51:59 pm »
Small update, I assembled the "shell."



I probably didn't do a very good job describing my vision, so I think there might be some confusion around the virtual cabinet concept. Here is crude "photoshop" of the above image showing the virtualness of the cab. In this pic the marquee, speakers and bezel are all virtual. With the TV having a width of 27" and the original PacMan bezel being 23", it is slightly later than the original. Additionally, it puts the game screen at about 21" diagonal (depending on how one places it in the bezel).



EDIT: Adding a close up of the lower speaker grill:

« Last Edit: June 09, 2014, 11:01:56 pm by lamprey »

lamprey

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Driving Control Panel - Cut-n-Paste
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2014, 10:58:19 pm »
As noted in my first post, I have a RoadBlasters and Championship Sprint control panels. I decided to combine them into a single control panel so as to have two steering wheels and a yoke. I removed the overlays from each and cut the Sprint CP in half and took the middle chunk of the RoadBlasters CP. Here you can see them all next to each other in the intended configuration:



I used the other pieces of the RoadBlaster CP to make a "Splice" to join the parts together:

'

Here is the Splice in place:


My plan is to bond it all together with a metal epoxy. Then build a bit of a frame for it and bondo all the gaps. We'll see how it goes.

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #14 on: June 20, 2014, 12:33:16 am »
Been busy with work, but got a couple of things done.

1. Cut slots for t-molding on upper and lower cab.
2. Applied laminate to outside lower/base portion of cab.
3. Made a frame, assembled, bondoed and painted the driving/yoke control panel:


This is the under side of the "frame" I build to bind everything together as well as extend the depth of the panel:


Here it is bonded:


Here it is painted. Not perfect, but I'll be putting a vinyl overlay on it:




4. Cut out the main control panel and the acrylic topper:


lamprey

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Control Panels Bases
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2014, 11:22:02 pm »
I completed the control panel bases:

Main CP:


Driving CP:

lamprey

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Side art and TV
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2014, 11:26:33 pm »
I put on the side art and installed the TV. The reason I went with a two-part cab design was to make it easier/possible to load the TV and not have any of the none display portion of the TV showing.

Step one, put the top of the cab on it's back:


Step two, load the TV into the channels:


Step three, mate up the base, bolt together and stand it up:




I also, made a small mod, I got a black thumb lock and replaced the key lock on the coin door:



lamprey

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Sample screen shots
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2014, 11:29:22 pm »
Here are a few sample screen shots. It's impossible to see from the screen shots, but the bezel and marquee artwork look almost like they are printed. It's very cool to have that crisp bezel and a flicker-pixilated game screen!  :cheers:








withalligators

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #18 on: June 27, 2014, 12:26:11 am »
Super cool.  I'd toyed with the idea of a 4K sideways.  The resolution is high enough that you must never see any antialiasing, right?  Is it a 60 Hz or Seiki 30 Hz panel, if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers,
Alex

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #19 on: June 27, 2014, 01:19:53 am »
Super cool.  I'd toyed with the idea of a 4K sideways.  The resolution is high enough that you must never see any antialiasing, right?  Is it a 60 Hz or Seiki 30 Hz panel, if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers,
Alex
Depends on the material, but if you look close enough you can see some antialiasing. Although, hard to tell unless you are really looking for it. Yeah it's a Seiki 30Hz. I wouldn't want to use it for modern gaming, but it works great for the classics.

jaharr01

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #20 on: June 27, 2014, 02:00:57 am »
That thing is HUGE. Full size donkey kong. I wonder if it would be possible to do a PIP and do it as a 2 monitor setup. you could do like artwork and control panel on one and the game on the other and it would still be huge.Tons of possibility. I would think with a driving game you would want it horizontal.

withalligators

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #21 on: June 27, 2014, 03:03:52 am »
This things begs to have video taken of it. 

johnrt

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #22 on: June 27, 2014, 03:11:17 am »
Great build!!  :applaud:

I have made a VCabinet bartop. Here's a video of my build:


And here's pics and artwork files:
http://www.379009.net/vcabinet/
« Last Edit: June 27, 2014, 10:38:41 am by johnrt »

walls83

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #23 on: June 27, 2014, 10:55:52 am »
looks really good.

What are you running to get the bezel and game art running on the screen like that. 

been gone for a while
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lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #24 on: June 27, 2014, 12:17:48 pm »
Great build!!  :applaud:

I have made a VCabinet bartop. Here's a video of my build:


And here's pics and artwork files:
http://www.379009.net/vcabinet/
Nice build. Very clean and tight! excellent work!

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #25 on: June 27, 2014, 12:19:08 pm »
This things begs to have video taken of it.
I'll see what I can do. I need to get the control panel wired up and such. After that I need to tune the HLSL for this monitor. I doubt it'll come through in a video, but I'd still like to get it dialed in first. :)

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #26 on: June 27, 2014, 12:21:11 pm »
looks really good.

What are you running to get the bezel and game art running on the screen like that. 

been gone for a while
Walls, that is all built into MAME. You just need the artwork. I did some customization for me own needs. But, the majority of the bezel artwork can be found at Mr. Do's site: http://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_ingame.php

 :cheers:

markc74

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #27 on: June 27, 2014, 02:06:14 pm »
Pretty sweet. Took me a while to realise the speakers were part of the display  :dizzy:

Now the quest for hi-res artwork though!

PL1

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #28 on: June 27, 2014, 11:32:17 pm »
Check the MAMELayPlus download page here for high res marquees.


Scott

lamprey

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Buttons
« Reply #29 on: July 09, 2014, 02:03:42 am »
Time to work on this project has been a little slim, but I have some progress that I've made over the last week or so. As many of you know there are different ways to illuminate the buttons on a CP. I was thinking of going with the method that Ond Posted. However, I tried another method because I had the materials form another project already on hand. Plus, it was orders of magnitude easier. :) In particular I had some Smooth-Cast ONYX which is a black urethane resin. So, what I did was to use a clear push button plunger and put a touch of the resin inside to "blackout" the center, but allow light to come up around the side. That coupled with a black push button "body" had a nice result.


Here is a clear plunger with black resin inside:


From the top:


And a set:


« Last Edit: July 09, 2014, 02:15:48 am by lamprey »

lamprey

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Illuminated Buttons
« Reply #30 on: July 09, 2014, 02:04:41 am »
Here is a sample illuminated the colors (RGB) are much more accurate in person. Additionally, there is not the bloom affect that you see in the pictures. I'm going to monkey with my camera setting and see if I can get a more accurate picture to share. (Apparently I should also get a tripod for my camera :)):






lamprey

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Tron Controls
« Reply #31 on: July 09, 2014, 02:14:16 am »
I showed above where I had added some black lights to the top of the cab pointing down on the control panel. My goal was to have the upper row - 4-way joystick, spinner, 4 buttons and tron flight stick all similar in color and fluorescence. I'll have more detail later, but here is a small teaser of the buttons I made to match the tron handle:


Normal Light:



Under black light:


 :cheers:

ChanceKJ

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #32 on: July 09, 2014, 10:37:10 pm »
That's a really cool effect with the buttons. It's different. I kinda like it. :)

Good job.

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #33 on: July 09, 2014, 11:23:33 pm »
That's a really cool effect with the buttons. It's different. I kinda like it. :)

Good job.
Thanks Chance.

As much fun as I'm having building and tinkering, I wish I was finished so I can kick back and do some gaming! :)

lamprey

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Tron Stick Illumination
« Reply #34 on: July 09, 2014, 11:35:26 pm »
I'm doing the illuminated plexi bit under the CP overlay to indicate which joystick(s) are to be used. However, for the Tron handle I decided to do internal illumination. I might do more (higher up), but for now I decided to illuminate the base of the handle. I picked up some UV LEDs. I got two types to test out: a "regular" UV led and a wide angle "Straw hat" LED. As it turns out. The regular ones work great for illuminating the joystick plexi and he wide-angle one worked best for illuminating the buttons I made. Additionally, I think the wide angle ones worked better for the Tron joystick illumination.

I wasn't sure what to do with the LEDs, so I too a pushbutton nut and used that as a base to attach the LEDs to. Yep, that's some pretty badd-ass soldering! >:D:



That so happens to be a nice fit on the shaft (that's what she said):



Attach the handle a voilà (note: it doesn't look as in-your-face-bright as the pictures would indicate):




talkgeek

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #35 on: August 11, 2014, 03:35:38 am »
Nudge... Its been a month, what's happening?  :dunno
Currently building http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137777.0.html Mass-Replicate
Built "n0tsq3" cocktail cab http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133913.0/all.html
..and restoring a Sega MegaLo 410 Candy Cab & Moon Patrol Cab

lamprey

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #36 on: August 11, 2014, 12:56:03 pm »
I keep getting distracted. :)

 I'm going to try to wire the CP up this week and see if I can't more-or-less be done with the physical build portion of things.

reallylike720

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Re: V-Cab
« Reply #37 on: January 12, 2019, 11:19:37 pm »
I keep getting distracted. :)

 I'm going to try to wire the CP up this week and see if I can't more-or-less be done with the physical build portion of things.

How'd your project turn out? Did you get Super Sprint working?  I'm thinking about buying one or making a mame one.