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Author Topic: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)  (Read 10598 times)

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skeptic

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Long story short, I've decided to build a mame arcade cabinet.  I've never done anything like this and while I plan to research, figure things out and make mistakes on my own I'm sure I'll have specific detailed questions from time to time.  For now I'm just hoping for advice, thoughts and a sanity check on my high level plans:

Computer:  Zotac mini-PC w/celeron (1.2Ghz maybe???) cpu.  After switching from mini-PCs as HTPCs to Roku then FireTV and now Shield TV devices I had a bunch of small devices I couldn't bare to just toss.  I got it in my head to use this one as a mame box.  Initial testing shows it can't play everything, but it's ok for the games I'm most interested in.  This is pretty much set - unless someone tells me this can't work at all.

OS/Software: Xubuntu linux, mame, daphne and Attract-mode front end.  Pretty much set on linux unless someone can give me some very compelling reason to change.  Attract-mode is the first front-end for linux that I liked the looks of.  I'm satisfied with attract-mode, but if someone offers something better I'm willing to look.

Cabinet: First and most important, it needs to be at least somewhat camouflaged as regular furniture.  I haven't decided if I want to go with something that looks like a large-ish end table or a full large coffee table replacement.  The trick with a coffee table arcade cabinet is it would need to be height adjustable.  The low coffee table height where it would live most of the time is way too low for use as an arcade machine.   Of course the controls and monitor need hidden.  For a hidden monitor I was thinking just a simple smoked glass over the monitor area. 

Controls:  Saved the best for last...  From what I can come up with it appears I need 1 joystick, 1 trackball and 9 buttons PLUS coin/start/admin buttons just for player 1.  My list of priority games is not huge, but it includes fighting games (6 buttons on right), Asteroids type games (2 buttons on right, 2 on left 1 low middle) and Centipede (trackball).  Positioned correctly these 9 buttons would also be fairly correct for Defender and Missile Command and pretty much any other game with the exception of Track and Field.  I think for T&F I'll just have to make due and use 3 of the buttons from the group of 6.  I believe player 2 just needs the 6 fighting buttons + coin/start and if I decide to go with player 3/4 they just need 2 game buttons plus coin/start.  Does this all make sense?  Has anyone else done a layout like I'm describing?  I'm somewhat concerned with space and creating a confusing cluttered layout.  Maybe I'm thinking about it all wrong and all I need are joy + 6 buttons for player 1 and 2, 1 trackball and 1 low-middle "hyperspace" button.  If positioned correctly I could use 2 buttons from each group of 6 plus hyperspace for asteroids, player 1 joystick and the button closed to the joystock plus hyperspace plus 3 player 2 buttons for defender.  Is this crazy thoughts from a noob that has never tried to put something like this together?  I could use some advice on this one.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 10:03:22 am by skeptic »

thewisteron

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2017, 08:07:09 pm »
Is this a cocktail cabinet? I'm assuming so since you want it to double as a coffee table. Controls are hard to hide and make look nice at the same time, but do a few google/BYOAC searches and you'll find some good ideas.

Attract-mode is nice.  I like Launchbox Bigbox better, but not sure of the Linux compatibility.

Your button layout is confusing when trying to read it. I don't really understand why you need 9 buttons for player 1. Probably better idea to sketch something quickly and show us what you mean.

yotsuya

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2017, 08:38:32 pm »
Is this a cocktail cabinet? I'm assuming so since you want it to double as a coffee table. Controls are hard to hide and make look nice at the same time, but do a few google/BYOAC searches and you'll find some good ideas.

Attract-mode is nice.  I like Launchbox Bigbox better, but not sure of the Linux compatibility.

Your button layout is confusing when trying to read it. I don't really understand why you need 9 buttons for player 1. Probably better idea to sketch something quickly and show us what you mean.
I agree. Sketch it out first and then see if you're happy with it. It doesn't sound very appealing to me as is.
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skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2017, 09:56:11 pm »
Yes, cocktail style.

Forgive the lack of drawing skills and scale is probably way off but:



Neither is great, the first one is busy - 9 buttons for 1 player.  The second is confusing and depending on distance it's either a big stretch or the players are crammed together. 

I'm open to ideas.

Locke141

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2017, 10:36:02 pm »
Go get a piece of scrap wood and make a button lay out.

Most people find that they don't use most of the buttons they have from there first builds.


skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2017, 11:21:12 pm »
I'm open to suggestions.  Surely I can't be the only person that wants to play Asteroids, Defender and Street fighter.  My favorite games are Asteroids, Defender and Galaga in no particular order.  Street Fighter and other group or vs games are for nights with beer and friends. 

Seriously - does anyone here play both Asteroids and Street Fighter?  If so, what do you use for a controller?

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2017, 11:26:24 pm »
I'm open to suggestions.  Surely I can't be the only person that wants to play Asteroids, Defender and Street fighter.  My favorite games are Asteroids, Defender and Galaga in no particular order.  Street Fighter and other group r vs games are for nights with beer and friends. 

Seriously - does anyone here play both Asteroids and Street Fighter?  If so, what do you use for a controller?

I have a 2 P 6-Button cab for Street Fighter, a dedicated Asteroids cabinet, and a dedicated Centipede as well, among others. See a pattern?

You're going to find that if you want a "one cab to play them all" setup, you're going to have to make compromises. It'll never be perfect, ESPECIALLY with what you want to do.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

thewisteron

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2017, 12:52:19 am »
Part of it depends on how picky you are when it comes to mimicking the exact button layout for each game.

For example, I don't care when I'm playing Defender if the button layout/spacing is exactly the same as it is on the original cab. I just use the buttons next to my joystick.

I'd also recommend getting some scrap wood and prototyping it.

skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2017, 01:38:12 am »
I'm open to suggestions.  Surely I can't be the only person that wants to play Asteroids, Defender and Street fighter.  My favorite games are Asteroids, Defender and Galaga in no particular order.  Street Fighter and other group r vs games are for nights with beer and friends. 

Seriously - does anyone here play both Asteroids and Street Fighter?  If so, what do you use for a controller?

I have a 2 P 6-Button cab for Street Fighter, a dedicated Asteroids cabinet, and a dedicated Centipede as well, among others. See a pattern?

You're going to find that if you want a "one cab to play them all" setup, you're going to have to make compromises. It'll never be perfect, ESPECIALLY with what you want to do.

Agreed.  There is a reason driving games, games with spinners and flight stick type games are not accounted for in my plans, just toooo much crap for one setup.  At the same time, I have neither the space nor the desire to have several arcade machines in my house.  Ok, I would like several arcade games if I had a game room.  My last house I had a game room with pool table, darts, poker table, wetbar...  Maybe again in my next house, but I just don't have room for that where I'm at now. 

After much googling I ran across this page with a very similar layout to what I'm thinking.  I'd move the joystick to the left of the left pair of buttons, maybe push them closer to the others and lose spinner and extra "asteroids"  buttons for player 2.  Seeing something very similar to what I'm thinking on an actual board makes it not look too bad. 

I'm not picky about exact layout/spacing.  General layout and arcade functionality is all I'm after.  By this I mean, Defender needs a joystick on the left with a button within convenient  thumbs reach for reverse, 3 buttons on the right for thrust/fire/smart bomb and another button somewhere in the middle for hyperspace.  Similarly, asteroids needs two buttons on each side and a 5th in between.  Fighting games need a joystick on the left and 6 buttons, 3 over 3, on the right. 

I'll for sure proto-type a button layout, but remember this is my first arcade cabinet project and just barely getting started.  Still in the figuring out what I want stage if you will.  I started by making sure my mini-PC would even work at all, I now have mame/daphne/attract-mode setup and running.  Now I'm trying to loosely plan out the controls so I can identify and start ordering parts I need.  I know it's easy to say "get some scrap wood and prototype your layouts" but I don't even have buttons.  :)  I can be a bit of a planner (over planner?) so my current step is to get an idea of the layout I want to go with so I know how many buttons and joysticks I'll need, so I can research what kind of USB interface I need to wire the buttons through.  Whew..

paigeoliver

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2017, 01:36:20 pm »
You would actually be surprised how quickly you totally just get used to playing games like Defender and Asteroids on a stock Street Fighter control layout. There is nothing inherently superior to the strange button patterns those games came with to just a normal button bank.

Full disclosure, I own both Asteroids and Defender machines, so I am quite familiar with playing them with both the original controls and Mame.
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2017, 03:04:40 pm »
I know you said its set, but I would keep looking for a better (cheap) pc--dual cores can be had all day long for cheap (free) nowadays--just remember mame favours individual processor speed over number of processors--its all the other windows crap that gets helped with multiple cores...and if you use hyperspin as your front end, you will need something pretty beefy for it to run and boot quickly and smoothly..other front ends are less graphics intensive and so need less resources.

That said, if you go with mame .37b5 or something like that--old pc's and skinny front ends on an XP box run just fine.
its better to not post and be thought a fool, then to whip out your keyboard and remove all doubt...

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2017, 05:13:38 pm »
I know you said its set, but I would keep looking for a better (cheap) pc--dual cores can be had all day long for cheap (free) nowadays--just remember mame favours individual processor speed over number of processors--its all the other windows crap that gets helped with multiple cores...and if you use hyperspin as your front end, you will need something pretty beefy for it to run and boot quickly and smoothly..other front ends are less graphics intensive and so need less resources.

That said, if you go with mame .37b5 or something like that--old pc's and skinny front ends on an XP box run just fine.

I am running .106 on a 15 year old computer, and it runs everything relevant at full speed.



Of course newer mame versions bring better emulation, but that better emulation is often invisible to the end user and .106 on intel is better than anything on an Arm processor.
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skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2017, 05:37:16 pm »
You would actually be surprised how quickly you totally just get used to playing games like Defender and Asteroids on a stock Street Fighter control layout. There is nothing inherently superior to the strange button patterns those games came with to just a normal button bank.

Full disclosure, I own both Asteroids and Defender machines, so I am quite familiar with playing them with both the original controls and Mame.

You mean stick plus 6 buttons, 3 over 3?  How would that even work, Asteroids pretty much needs 2 buttons side-by-side for left/right and 2 buttons side-by-side for thrust/fire.  I suppose hyperspace could go anywhere (no pun intended).  Similarly, Defender needs a reverse thumb button near the stick but the 6 fighter buttons would work for the rest.  I'm not arguing or disagreeing, although it kinda sounds like it, I'm just not following how you are doing it and I'm trying to understand.


I know you said its set, but I would keep looking for a better (cheap) pc--dual cores can be had all day long for cheap (free) nowadays--just remember mame favours individual processor speed over number of processors--its all the other windows crap that gets helped with multiple cores...and if you use hyperspin as your front end, you will need something pretty beefy for it to run and boot quickly and smoothly..other front ends are less graphics intensive and so need less resources.

That said, if you go with mame .37b5 or something like that--old pc's and skinny front ends on an XP box run just fine.
I'm actually running a fairly lightweight Linux distribution, Xubuntu.  Not the lightest you can get, but it's fairly easy on resources.  I'm running Attract-Mode for the front end, not hyperspin which I've heard is a resource hog and only runs in Windows anyway.  I considered using the video previews, but for now I'm sticking with screenshots.  I may try the videos later, but I want to keep resource use down. 

On the other hand, I'm running the latest version of Mame, 0.183.  I had planned to stick with .160 as i understand it's the last version before they added new features which also require more overhead, but somewhere along the line I switched up to the newest.  I realize a 1.2Ghz dual core Celeron 857 is a low end low power mobile cpu, but it seems to be working out ok.  It has 2G ram and a 60G SSD.  I have another 2G ram I'll probably pop in, although I doubt it will make much difference.  I'm not ruling out a new pc in the future, but for now this one really does seem to be working just fine.


I know you said its set, but I would keep looking for a better (cheap) pc--dual cores can be had all day long for cheap (free) nowadays--just remember mame favours individual processor speed over number of processors--its all the other windows crap that gets helped with multiple cores...and if you use hyperspin as your front end, you will need something pretty beefy for it to run and boot quickly and smoothly..other front ends are less graphics intensive and so need less resources.

That said, if you go with mame .37b5 or something like that--old pc's and skinny front ends on an XP box run just fine.

I am running .106 on a 15 year old computer, and it runs everything relevant at full speed.



Of course newer mame versions bring better emulation, but that better emulation is often invisible to the end user and .106 on intel is better than anything on an Arm processor.
FWIW, you show 1G ram and an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ in your video.  I checked benchmarks for it, average cpu mark on cpubenchmark.net is 370 with a single thread rating of 578 , and my celeron shows up with 1170 average cpu mark and 633 single thread rating.  I know, blah blah blah, numbers numbers numbers.  Basically, you confirmed that I should be fine with my current setup as long as I don't want the newest CHD based games or try emulating other game consoles.



BTW, I ordered my buttons and such last night, should be here in a few days.  I went back and forth, changed my mind again and again, and at one point or another each of these 3 were "the one I'm going to buy" until I eventually just ordered one.

IPAC USB keyboard encoder - This seems like the best option.  IPAC 4 would give all the connections I'd ever need, it's setup for MAME by default but configurable.  It's also the most expensive (although the cost of the board is only a tiny fraction of the total cost) and the most confusing for a newbie.  Confusing in the sense of figuring out which buttons and joysticks to buy or what else is needed (rolls of what size wire??)..  I think it would also make for the cleanest install the way you run wires and cut to fit.  Didn't buy one.

Zero Delay USB joystick encoder - Seems like a very good option.  Able to buy and setup 1 player at a time as they show up as a joystick device.  I found a number of kits but I wasn't completely happy with any of them.  I started making a list of buttons/joysticks to order with a couple of these encoder boards... The biggest plus is also the one downside, joysticks and not keyboard encoder.  I really want tab and esc and a couple other keyboard keys.  I can work around it, re-config mame, but still...  Did not order this, but there is a good chance I will later.  Seems an easy thing to add when I want more players.

X-arcade DIY kit - $70 for 2 player kit plus another $50 for a trackball.  It seems as though a lot of the older complaints I found have been addressed in the last year or two - smarter better encoder board, improved button quality.  I figure this is a good middle of the road, easy for the beginner, reasonably priced kit with everything I need so this is what I ordered.  I was very hesitant at first because it only supports 2 players and I may want 3 or even 4 players.  Finding and reading about the ZD setup makes the 2 player limitation of the X-arcade a non-issue.  I can always add ZD joysticks with up to 12 buttons each and no button/key conflicts with the X-arcade stuff. 


Titchgamer

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2017, 01:47:14 am »
Personally I would of gone with the Ipac but each to their own :p

As for the buttons, dont over think it.

2 buttons together position 1&2, then 4&5 and last button is position 3 or 6.

You would be surprised how quickly you can adapt to different button layouts.

skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2018, 06:09:57 pm »
I know I kinda dropped off, but a combination of not liking any cabinet ideas I was coming up with and a healthy dose of "life happens" led to this project going dormant.  However, I'm getting back at it and have made some progress.  First and most important, I decided on a cabinet design.  I'm not 100% in love with it, but it's either this or analysis paralysis.  Forgive the rudimentary quality and lack of details/trim/molding/pulls, I'm not a modeler and this was the first time I've ever used a CAD program.  I just needed something quick and simple to help visualize and plan what was in my mind. 

Closed dimensions roughtly 44" tall, 45" wide, 23" deep.  The 32" monitor (gray) will be on a tv wall mount turned sideways and and mounted to the back of the cabinet and will allow the monitor to swivel from the angled position as show to laying flat over the controls (green).


The controls I came up with.  I burned through a few other boards putting together what I thought I wanted, only to change my mind.  Admittedly I have not actually used this layout as I haven't put everything back together, but I'm happy with it.  I think this is going to be just what I'm looking for.  Again, sorry for the picture quality.  The board is 42" x 11".



I'm not sure if anyone else has built an arcade cabinet like this.  Actually, I'm almost certain someone somewhere has, but I didn't find any pictures of anything like this.  To that end I'll try to document the build and take better photos.  I do have some concerns right off such as the top front corners - they may need cut off at an angle that matches the control board and matching pieces mounted to the lid.  Unfortunately you can't just cut off the corners and mount those to the lid as the pieces will be off by the width of the saw blade, just enough to make it look bad.

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2018, 06:33:03 pm »
Just 2 things that bother me about your CP which may or may not be a problem:

1) proximity of p1 stick and p2 buttons to the edge of your CP,
Your design looks like you have high walls either side of the cp so having them that close could be a knuckle smasher for p1 and potentially uncomfortable for p2.

Just something to consider.

2) Is that trackball mounted right?
Thought most were mounted so x and y is parallel to square bolt holes (hope that makes sense yours are diamond shape so potentially diagonal?)

Good luck

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2018, 06:30:49 pm »
I love Asteroids Deluxe, and enjoy Asteroids and Defender. Always hated the button layouts, and using only buttons in the case of Asteroids. A dual six-set layout of cozy spacing can do it all, with the 'reverse button' button for Defender being within reach of your left thumb.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2018, 06:32:37 pm by Mr. Peabody »

skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2018, 09:15:26 am »
Just 2 things that bother me about your CP which may or may not be a problem:

1) proximity of p1 stick and p2 buttons to the edge of your CP,
Your design looks like you have high walls either side of the cp so having them that close could be a knuckle smasher for p1 and potentially uncomfortable for p2.

Just something to consider.
Agreed - that's what I was trying to get at with my "front corners may need cut off" comment.  If the sides do get in the way, I'll just cut them off and change the lid to compensate.  However, want to start with the way it's shown above because A) it's easier, and B) it will look cleaner and more like a regular old cabinet when closed.  Being hidden in plain sight is an important consideration.
Quote

2) Is that trackball mounted right?
Thought most were mounted so x and y is parallel to square bolt holes (hope that makes sense yours are diamond shape so potentially diagonal?)

Good luck
 
Yep, it's mounted correct.  It's an X-Arcade brand.

I love Asteroids Deluxe, and enjoy Asteroids and Defender. Always hated the button layouts, and using only buttons in the case of Asteroids. A dual six-set layout of cozy spacing can do it all, with the 'reverse button' button for Defender being within reach of your left thumb.
That sounds like one of my early proto-types.  I forget why I chose against it, I think it just didn't feel right.  Of course now that I've integrated a track ball in the middle I think trying to spread p1 controls onto p2 buttons would be a bit of a mess. 

In any event, thanks for the feedback both of you.  Being my first cabinet I'm sure I'll be making a number of mistakes, and come up layout changes I want/need to make.

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2018, 04:38:50 am »
Yep, it's mounted correct.  It's an X-Arcade brand.
Could you show how you mounted it exactly? Pictures from the bottom maybe? And how for you routed the wood (I guess you did?). Thanks!

skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2018, 05:00:49 pm »
Yep, it's mounted correct.  It's an X-Arcade brand.
Could you show how you mounted it exactly? Pictures from the bottom maybe? And how for you routed the wood (I guess you did?). Thanks!
I guess you could say I cheated.  It's 1/4" plywood over 5/8" mdf.  The mdf has the big square-ish hole cut all the way through.  If not obvious, the trackball is fastened only to the 1/4" plywood. 



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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #20 on: February 28, 2018, 05:14:38 am »
Yep, it's mounted correct.  It's an X-Arcade brand.
Could you show how you mounted it exactly? Pictures from the bottom maybe? And how for you routed the wood (I guess you did?). Thanks!
I guess you could say I cheated.  It's 1/4" plywood over 5/8" mdf.  The mdf has the big square-ish hole cut all the way through.  If not obvious, the trackball is fastened only to the 1/4" plywood. 
Damn you! That's smart. Might want to consider that as well. But doesn't plywood chip easier when making the holes for the buttons?

skeptic

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Re: Noob sanity check...
« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2018, 12:11:10 pm »
Yep, it's mounted correct.  It's an X-Arcade brand.
Could you show how you mounted it exactly? Pictures from the bottom maybe? And how for you routed the wood (I guess you did?). Thanks!
I guess you could say I cheated.  It's 1/4" plywood over 5/8" mdf.  The mdf has the big square-ish hole cut all the way through.  If not obvious, the trackball is fastened only to the 1/4" plywood. 
Damn you! That's smart. Might want to consider that as well. But doesn't plywood chip easier when making the holes for the buttons?
It does chip a little, and with this being my 3rd attempt my hole saw drill bit is getting a bit dull.  However, it does't chip/splinter much and only on the back side.  Drill from the top and ignore the small amount of splintering on the bottom that you'll never see anyway.  Honestly, the MDF chipped much worse.  Probably because it's A) painted, B) my bit is getting dull and C) I was pressing down kinda hard due to the dull bit.

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #22 on: April 02, 2018, 10:08:32 am »
Last week was spring break for my kid so I decided to take it off as well.  In addition to other stuff, we finally build the cabinet. 










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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #23 on: April 02, 2018, 03:08:27 pm »
Wow!  That think is covert!  Nice job!

DeL
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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #24 on: April 02, 2018, 03:16:19 pm »
I would make it like this.
Thenasty's Arcademania Horizontal/Vertical setup.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=26696.0

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #25 on: April 02, 2018, 03:36:26 pm »
Good job!
I like Thenasty's idea too.

I also like that picture on the wall behind your arcade.  >:D

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #26 on: April 02, 2018, 03:41:58 pm »
That is pretty cool man.

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #27 on: April 02, 2018, 04:55:26 pm »
Great idea for hiding the controls and screen.  Would be cool if you could make the screen rise up when you open the top hatch.

The things we go through to make our hobbies wife friendly.   Here's what I had to do with mine ;)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,135143.0.html



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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #28 on: April 02, 2018, 04:58:20 pm »
Framed porn... okay...

Arcade cabinet... bad....

 :dizzy:

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #29 on: April 02, 2018, 04:59:58 pm »
I opted to marry a reasonable woman rather than have my interests simply overruled.
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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #30 on: April 02, 2018, 06:28:04 pm »
This is definitely one of the oddest builds I've seen in a while.

Side note....I just never understood the appeal of blending an arcade machine into a piece of furniture. I've never really seen any that could pull it off.

If I want an arcade game in my house...then I'm just going to put it where everyone can see it. Be proud of it, nobody has to look at it but you so why hide it?
« Last Edit: April 04, 2018, 06:24:07 pm by vwalbridge »
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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #31 on: April 02, 2018, 06:45:35 pm »
As long as it does what you want and plays OK then ignore any neigh sayers.  And if it gets wife approval that's all the better. At least you built your own panel and didn't just throw an Xarcade in there.  I too would want the largest possible screen rising up from inside the cabinet though, Looks like you could probably get a 32" or 36" in there. 
As for wife approval/disapproval, my wife keeps telling me to get rid of the bartop and the jukebox.  I feel that if I actually did get rid of them that I would just end up building others to replace them anyway, Maybe I should just build a full size and a wall juke to see what happens :)

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #32 on: April 02, 2018, 06:58:09 pm »
Horses are neigh sayers. People are naysayers.
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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #33 on: April 03, 2018, 12:59:05 am »
First, what's with all the focus on being wife-friendly?  I referred to this as wife-friendly because that is a consideration for many people.  While I sometimes joke or use that as a design requirement in reality I wouldn't want an obvious arcade machine in my living room.

I'm a bit surprised by the negativity of some of the posts.  I guess on a forum dedicated to video games I should expect some childish comments. 

I would make it like this.
I considered that (assuming you mean attach the monitor to the lid), but to get a good slant the lid would need to tilt way back so you'd need to pull the cabinet far from the wall.  I suppose I could attach it to the lid at an angle but then I might have interference issues with the controls..  I dunno, I like the way it is.

This is definitely one of the oddest builds I've seen in a while.

Side note....I just never understood the appeal of blending and arcade machine into a piece of furniture. I've never really seen any that could pull it off.

If I want an arcade game in my house...then I'm just going to put it where everyone can see it. Be proud of it, nobody has to look at it but you so why hide it?
If I had a game room or man cave like I did in my last house I'd just build a typical arcade cabinet.  I don't so I decided to make something that looks like a regular cabinet most of the time.

As long as it does what you want and plays OK then ignore any neigh sayers.  And if it gets wife approval that's all the better. At least you built your own panel and didn't just throw an Xarcade in there.  I too would want the largest possible screen rising up from inside the cabinet though, Looks like you could probably get a 32" or 36" in there. 
As for wife approval/disapproval, my wife keeps telling me to get rid of the bartop and the jukebox.  I feel that if I actually did get rid of them that I would just end up building others to replace them anyway, Maybe I should just build a full size and a wall juke to see what happens :)
The TV is an extra I had lying around, but it is a 32" so you're right about it fitting.  :)



This IS my first attempt at an arcade cabinet.  It's not perfect, I kinda winged it and figured out a lot of stuff as I went along.  If I had to do it over I'd do some things a bit different, and I may still tweak and change things on this one.

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #34 on: April 03, 2018, 02:26:23 am »
First, what's with all the focus on being wife-friendly?  I referred to this as wife-friendly because that is a consideration for many people.  While I sometimes joke or use that as a design requirement in reality I wouldn't want an obvious arcade machine in my living room.

I'm a bit surprised by the negativity of some of the posts.  I guess on a forum dedicated to video games I should expect some childish comments. 

I would make it like this.
I considered that (assuming you mean attach the monitor to the lid), but to get a good slant the lid would need to tilt way back so you'd need to pull the cabinet far from the wall.  I suppose I could attach it to the lid at an angle but then I might have interference issues with the controls..  I dunno, I like the way it is.

This is definitely one of the oddest builds I've seen in a while.

Side note....I just never understood the appeal of blending and arcade machine into a piece of furniture. I've never really seen any that could pull it off.

If I want an arcade game in my house...then I'm just going to put it where everyone can see it. Be proud of it, nobody has to look at it but you so why hide it?
If I had a game room or man cave like I did in my last house I'd just build a typical arcade cabinet.  I don't so I decided to make something that looks like a regular cabinet most of the time.

As long as it does what you want and plays OK then ignore any neigh sayers.  And if it gets wife approval that's all the better. At least you built your own panel and didn't just throw an Xarcade in there.  I too would want the largest possible screen rising up from inside the cabinet though, Looks like you could probably get a 32" or 36" in there. 
As for wife approval/disapproval, my wife keeps telling me to get rid of the bartop and the jukebox.  I feel that if I actually did get rid of them that I would just end up building others to replace them anyway, Maybe I should just build a full size and a wall juke to see what happens :)
The TV is an extra I had lying around, but it is a 32" so you're right about it fitting.  :)



This IS my first attempt at an arcade cabinet.  It's not perfect, I kinda winged it and figured out a lot of stuff as I went along.  If I had to do it over I'd do some things a bit different, and I may still tweak and change things on this one.
I think you did a great job! I can totally imagine that you don't want some kind obvious full cabinet in your living room, but still want to play an occasional game now and then. I would have never thought of doing it this way, but I like it.

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #35 on: April 04, 2018, 01:26:46 pm »
First, what's with all the focus on being wife-friendly?  I referred to this as wife-friendly because that is a consideration for many people.  While I sometimes joke or use that as a design requirement in reality I wouldn't want an obvious arcade machine in my living room.

I'm a bit surprised by the negativity of some of the posts.  I guess on a forum dedicated to video games I should expect some childish comments. 


Who the hell is telling you to put it in your living room? The focus is because the damn thing is covert. You put in a lot of effort to hide the damn thing. "Hey man what are you up to? Oh just playing my dresser, wanna come over?"

Anyway, sorry to be negative, this is all tongue and cheek. I think it is a very impressive build. Much nicer than most that attempt to hide arcade cabs from the wife.
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

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Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #36 on: April 04, 2018, 01:32:49 pm »
”Hey man what are you up to? Oh just playing my dresser, wanna come over?"

I effing LOLed like I haven’t LOLed in a long while. Thank you.

***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #37 on: April 04, 2018, 01:40:09 pm »
Ian is the goods.

I wonder if there is a secret drawer for his man parts. >:D

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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #38 on: April 04, 2018, 05:59:55 pm »
Ian is the goods.

I wonder if there is a secret drawer for his man parts. >:D

Every once in a while...  ;D
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Re: Stealth hidden secret wife-friendly cabinet (was Noob sanity check...)
« Reply #39 on: April 04, 2018, 08:17:24 pm »
Ian is the goods.

I wonder if there is a secret drawer for his man parts. >:D

Every once in a while...  ;D

Ian, dude, get on a plane, I got a ZapCon pass with your name on it :)

Well, if your name was PSC Guest #2, but still...
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***