Fish Boy's Project Aquarium

[UnoWho]

So when last on this board I was going to make an asteroids aquarium arcade machine.  Why?  Well it solved a few problems with space and the missus.

Now since I offended members of this board by turning a 40 year old cabinet [that looked like crap] and broken monitor into a marine gaming experience,  I shall say now that no classic arcade cabinets will be harmed during my project.  I did have chance of an Atari ROTJ which would have worked out,  but I'm sure someone would have lopped my head off if I tried.    I did lots of research this time around,  if I accidently cook the fish,  the cat will be happy.

So I have some new ideas, sketches, fish,  Raspberry PI and some mineral oil.  Mineral oil doesn't taste good BTW its overrated.

I want to do a one way mirror display, so it will show the fish, and then when it is game time the tank will be the display.

I got a load of crap from Yots last time I posted here, and after careful reflection,  I could see my error.  Let's start again and I hope you can help make my aquarium arcade a reality.

[UnoWho]

OK I will use this space for build preparation.  I have an idea that will allow me to store my consoles, and have a Retropie build to play vintage arcade games.  As I am not cooling my old PC mainboard (it died) I am going to use a PI3 inside one of these:


The one I have has a small LED on the top but it is perfect size for the PI.  I have some gravel, and a LED strip to light the PI up.  There are plenty of examples on youtube but require a great amount of use with a dremel, and I do not want the fish tank to get contaminated.  There are issues with the cables going into the tank that siphon the mineral oil out of the tank over time, so I will have to look at some alternatives.  Ideally I am thinking one cable will be enough (HDMI) with a 5v, but the amperage is too small, so I will hot glue a power line to the hdmi cable.

I will use one sided glass to shield the fish from the excess light.  I am looking for a tank that is about the same size as a 20 inch 4:3 monitor that will be raised and lowered via a linear actuator.  The Viewsonic 20 inch monitors are heavy so I might need two to balance the weight.

The cabinet needs to be able to support the fish tank, monitor and the consoles.  I would like each console to have its own pull out shelf for ventilation, and reduce the cable hell.  The control panel will be similar to a Xarcade solo as I will be needing an encoder that will work with all consoles, so no cable swaps.  All video (component) will use a converter to VGA and I will  use a DVI to HDMI adapter and HDMI hub.

Other than the monitor weight, console weight and control panel stabilisation, the control panel bucket will swivel inside the cabinet looking flush when not in use and then lowered/pushed out with another linear actuator when the power switch is flipped.  More on that later.  One of our fish is called nemo, so the artwork will be disney'ish, unless someone has a better idea.  The design has to fit a small space, and that's all I have to play around with.

Design and cardboard mocks to follow.

[UnoWho]

Reserved

[Titchgamer]

2018 - The year of innovation people!! LOL

OK ya loon, What ya planing this time!?

[Ian]

YES!!!!!! 

[yotsuya]

Let me know if you have any build questions, brother. And be good to the fish.

[Malenko]

Silly suggestion, why not have the Aquarium behind the LCD monitor, and when you aren't playing, the LCD slides down out of view behind the control panel. Simplifies the build without worrying about angles and mirrors , and you can use drawer slides/locks from your local hardware store.

[JDFan]

2018 - The year of innovation people!! LOL

OK ya loon, What ya planing this time!?

Nope - Just reusing the idea that was shown on Tanked with their Pinball machine aquarium

[Titchgamer]

2018 - The year of innovation people!! LOL

OK ya loon, What ya planing this time!?

Nope - Just reusing the idea that was shown on Tanked with their Pinball machine aquarium

Dont spoil it!!

[Nephasth]

Silly suggestion, why not have the Aquarium behind the LCD monitor, and when you aren't playing, the LCD slides down out of view behind the control panel. Simplifies the build without worrying about angles and mirrors , and you can use drawer slides/locks from your local hardware store.

Not silly. Really, it's the only thing that makes sense.

[opt2not]

Oh look another controversial thread. In before the lock. 

[leapinlew]

Can't wait!

[nitrogen_widget]

Why not mineral oil aquarium with motherboard in the oil and robotic fish.
https://www.amazon.com/XYKTGH-Swimming-Activated-Electric-Clownfish/dp/B071G1FBJL/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1520646534&sr=8-5&keywords=robotic+fish&dpID=51MOnI%252BQLxL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

[UnoWho]

They look cute but the battery lasts a week and in and out of mineral oil on my hands would make me look like a greaseball in ten minutes.

Besides, my luck those things would be floating on top of the tank regardless.

I'm having problems posting images.  So I will set up a flikr account.  Stay tuned.

[JDFan]

I'm having problems posting images.  So I will set up a flikr account.  Stay tuned.

Best to use the sticky thread on this forum to post pics in and then link to them in your thread -- That way they don't disappear before the forum does like all the ones that were posted to photbucket did recently !

[Ian]

Still think this is a troll account.... He just so happens to pop up during our lack of imagination thread? I call bs all day long. I will step back and not be apart of the suckers.