VIDEOTRON (2 player Bartop for the kids) - video tour uploaded

[Jimbo]

So it's more or less finished, this is how it turned out - nothing like how it started, LOL.  It had about a bazillion theme changes, lots of hours in the garage prepping panels for paint or artwork, but lots of fun.  Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback during the build - I learned a lot, as always.  The full thread follows these pics...





And here's a video tour...



------------------------------ FULL THREAD FROM FIRST POST STARTS HERE ------------------------------

While my other "long term" Jimbovision cab project is continuing slowly (I'll update the project thread soon), I've started another shorter-term project for my kids - a bartop arcade running Retropie.  My aim is to be able to give this to them as a gift at Christmas.

Goals: -

• Control panel for 2 player Arcade/MAME games with a trackball and spinners
• 8bitdo controllers for retro console/computer games
• Storage Space for 8bitdo controllers and mini-racer wheels

I have designed it in Sketchup...







I've chosen 2 x Dominux8 leaf switch joysticks. I'm so impressed with the Dominux8's on my existing cab that nothing else would do for this build.  I wanted a trackball for Centipede/Missile Command/Marble Madness/etc, so have gone with a Happ 1/4" one.  The spinners are TurboTwist2's along with 5" Mini-Racers for Super Sprint and similar.

I chose 4 buttons per player as we don't play fighters and it would have made the Bartop wider than I'd have liked.  I've added a "Hyperspace" button between the spinners for Asteroids, Defender etc.  I think I can just about play Defender OK with this CP layout.  Front panel has 1P Start/Coin and 2P Start/Coin buttons.

So that's MAME... for console/computer games (mainly NES/SNES/PS1/Megadrive/N64/C64/Speccy/Amiga) I've bought a couple of 8bitdo SN30 Pro controllers.  Happy playing these with controllers rather than the arcade controls (well, maybe except C64/Speccy/Amiga will use the CP controls).

I wanted a storage box behind the marquee to store the 5" mini-racer wheels and the 8bitdo controllers.

The monitor is a Dell 19" (£30 GBP on ebay). It's a 5:4 monitor with 1600x1050 (I think) resolution.  Even with the RetroArch CRT shaders applied the games look great and run very smooth on this monitor - even scrolling seems smoother than I've seen on other newer LCDs. 4ms response time and seems to have very little input lag.  The Benq gaming monitor I tried recently absolutely sucked (very choppy scrolling) compared to this old beauty.

I'll have a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ inside, and have got an Adafruit 20W amplifier to power the 3" speakers.  Plan is to have an IPAC2 as the keyboard controller.

The control panel will be 2.5mm thick mild steel, bent in 2 places so the spinner panel sits around 45 degrees.

I haven't got a theme in mind yet, clearly something to go with my chosen name "The Arcade Time Machine".  I don't know why I called it this, other than I think it'll be cool when the kids ask "Dad, can I play on the arcade time machine?"   Ideas for theme/artwork welcome (buttons/trackball/balltops that are coming are white).

Size is 530mm wide, 500mm deep, and at highest point (top/front of marquee) 640mm tall.

Just waiting for controls and materials to arrive, then I'll get cracking.

[Richie_jones]

Looking forward to it..

[barrymossel]

I like the storage on top. Might consider something like that for my build as well...

[javeryh]

I am intrigued by the metal CP.  I wish I knew how to work with metal!

What are you going to do about 4-way games, if anything?

[Jimbo]

I am intrigued by the metal CP.  I wish I knew how to work with metal!

What are you going to do about 4-way games, if anything?

Metal's not so bad, cutting just takes longer   I got mine CP cut to exact custom size (293x500mm) from the seller on ebay. I've just now received it and it's perfect.  I don't have a brake for bending it, and I need it bent in 2 places so I'll use a local company for that, they'll probably charge me £10 or so.

I'll be adding USB ports on the back of the bartop, so I'm hoping for 4 player games I can use extra controllers plugged in (or Bluetooth).  I think Retropie is pretty good at setting that stuff up.

[javeryh]

I'll be adding USB ports on the back of the bartop, so I'm hoping for 4 player games I can use extra controllers plugged in (or Bluetooth).  I think Retropie is pretty good at setting that stuff up.

I meant 4-way like Pac-man and DK, etc. (not 4 player)!

[Jimbo]

I meant 4-way like Pac-man and DK, etc. (not 4 player)!

D'oh

I opted for a trackball instead of a dedicated 4-way.  I have a 4-way on the cab at work, and it rarely gets used tbh.  People just use the player 1 8-way joystick (It's also a dominux8, which for me is good enough).

[Mike A]

I have a 4-way on the cab at work, and it rarely gets used tbh.

 

[Jimbo]

I have a 4-way on the cab at work, and it rarely gets used tbh.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love using the 4-way and prefer it over an 8-way for those kinds of games... but most people at my work are not retro nuts like me and don't really care what the joystick is as long as it works.  They are all spoilt rotten on the cab at work with rubber-grommet joysticks, buttons with leaf switches, CRT with groovymame etc... and they don't even know it!   

But I also grew up on a C64, where an 8-way joystick was the norm. I'm totally used to using them for games like DK, Pacman etc since the home computer versions were the first versions I played.  So whilst yes, in an ideal world I'd have one on the bartop panel, there's not enough space, and the trackball trumps it for me as it gives more games my kids can play.

[barrymossel]

I'll be adding USB ports on the back of the bartop, so I'm hoping for 4 player games I can use extra controllers plugged in (or Bluetooth).  I think Retropie is pretty good at setting that stuff up.

You might want to look into this then: https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-joystick-selection (and maybe this as well: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6624/change-controller-name/).

[Jimbo]

I'll be adding USB ports on the back of the bartop, so I'm hoping for 4 player games I can use extra controllers plugged in (or Bluetooth).  I think Retropie is pretty good at setting that stuff up.

You might want to look into this then: https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-joystick-selection (and maybe this as well: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6624/change-controller-name/).

Brilliant - thanks!

[Jimbo]

Mini update: The speakers and amp turned up so I connected them up and they sound amazing



The Amp is a class D Adafruit 20W Stereo Audio Amplifier - MAX9744
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-20w-stereo-audio-amplifier-class-d-max9744/overview

If you supply it with 12V it can supply 20W to two 4-8ohm speakers.  It has pinouts for a volume potentiometer so I should be able to add a nice volume control knob somewhere on the cab (see questions below).

The full range speakers I chose are the 3" Visaton FR8 2008
http://www.visaton.de/en/products/fullrange-systems/fr-8-8-ohm

I also bought 2 of the Visaton FRS8 grilles:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visaton-Grille-Black-Plastic-Speaker/dp/B013E4AOQI

I'm using a 12V wall adaptor plug so I had to solder on the supplied capacitor, then I soldered on the speaker terminals (I didn't want to be soldering the speaker wires directly to the board).  I twisted some wire and connected up the two speakers and it all works lovely.  After soldering 3 jumpers to set it to analog mode, I tested the volume with the supplied potentiometer (holding it in place for now, not soldering on) and the range is perfect - quite a loud volume is possible at very good quality.

This has given me 2 questions:

1) Where should I mount a volume control knob?
 Between the speakers?
 On the front panel of the CP, in the middle between the start/coin buttons?
 Hidden on the back of the cab?

2) Has anyone had experience of mounting a nice volume control knob/dial to either wood or metal, and can offer advice on how to do it nicely?

[Mike A]

mount it in back.

[javeryh]

mount it in back.

I concur... probably because that's where I'm putting it on my cab.

Has anyone had experience of mounting a nice volume control knob/dial to either wood or metal, and can offer advice on how to do it nicely?

There are a lot of ways to do this.  I opted for recessing it in the back panel using a piece of ABS plastic.  Take a look HERE.

[Jimbo]

mount it in back.

I concur... probably because that's where I'm putting it on my cab.

Has anyone had experience of mounting a nice volume control knob/dial to either wood or metal, and can offer advice on how to do it nicely?

There are a lot of ways to do this.  I opted for recessing it in the back panel using a piece of ABS plastic.  Take a look HERE.

Ah - great, thanks.  I see what you mean.  I expect I can get a pot with a longer stem too to save routing.  I think mounting it on the back is a good plan.  I'm also thinking a couple of admin buttons on there too (perhaps EXIT (escape), and PAUSE).  Maybe TAB.

How are you planning on shutting down your cab cleanly?

[javeryh]

Ah - great, thanks.  I see what you mean.  I expect I can get a pot with a longer stem too to save routing.  I think mounting it on the back is a good plan.  I'm also thinking a couple of admin buttons on there too (perhaps EXIT (escape), and PAUSE).  Maybe TAB.

How are you planning on shutting down your cab cleanly?

You'd be surprised.  I looked around for pot extenders, longer pots, etc. and didn't have much luck.  Let us know if you find anything though.

I'm planning on wiring a momentary pushbutton to the Raspberry Pi - there are YouTube videos explaining how to do this.  I bought a $7.50 "vandal button" which is basically flush with the panel you mount it on.  I put it on the top panel above the marquee (HERE).  This should *in theory* power everything on and off.  The monitor only comes on when it senses a signal but other than cutting the power on the back of the cabinet I'm not sure how to do a complete power down.  The marquee light will be plugged into the Raspberry Pi via USB so that should shut down once the Pi is turned off.

[PL1]

I'm also thinking a couple of admin buttons on there too (perhaps EXIT (escape), and PAUSE).  Maybe TAB.

Exit and Pause sound good, but putting Tab on a bartop for the kids seems like you're asking for trouble.   


Scott

[Drnick]

Don't put a tab button on there, get a small wireless keyboard with trackpad built in and use that.  You will almost never need to go into the menus once you have configured everything anyway.

[Jimbo]

You'd be surprised.  I looked around for pot extenders, longer pots, etc. and didn't have much luck.  Let us know if you find anything though.

I'm planning on wiring a momentary pushbutton to the Raspberry Pi - there are YouTube videos explaining how to do this.  I bought a $7.50 "vandal button" which is basically flush with the panel you mount it on.  I put it on the top panel above the marquee (HERE).  This should *in theory* power everything on and off.  The monitor only comes on when it senses a signal but other than cutting the power on the back of the cabinet I'm not sure how to do a complete power down.  The marquee light will be plugged into the Raspberry Pi via USB so that should shut down once the Pi is turned off.

Thanks for that.  I have a shutdown button on top of my upright cab that works well, but it's not a Pi, I'm new to that area so will checkout the youtube videos etc.  I've heard that you can wire a button up to the GPIO pins which run a script to shutdown, but I haven't looked in detail.  I guess there's always the case someone can switch off at the mains though... perhaps I should stick a mini UPS in there lol

I like the idea of making it flush too... current button gets knocked sometimes when people place something on top of the cab.

Exit and Pause sound good, but putting Tab on a bartop for the kids seems like you're asking for trouble.   

Yeah good point.  I'll skip TAB.  Retropie can setup a hotkey for emulators e.g. start+select to exit them, but I'm considering having a dedicated EXIT button on the back, hooked up to the IPAC escape key, for emulators where that doesn't work or can't be configured.  I don't really want a visible pause on the front, but having one on the back will come in handy when it's "dinner time, kids!".

Don't put a tab button on there, get a small wireless keyboard with trackpad built in and use that.  You will almost never need to go into the menus once you have configured everything anyway.

Good plan.  Space might be getting tight in the storage box behind the marquee with the 2 x mini racers and 8bitdo controllers... but I wonder if I can find one small enough to also fit in there.

I have the metal CP now cut to the right size, so hopefully tonight I'll get enough time to measure up and punch the centre holes for the controls.

[barrymossel]

Mini update: The speakers and amp turned up so I connected them up and they sound amazing



The Amp is a class D Adafruit 20W Stereo Audio Amplifier - MAX9744
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-20w-stereo-audio-amplifier-class-d-max9744/overview

If you supply it with 12V it can supply 20W to two 4-8ohm speakers.  It has pinouts for a volume potentiometer so I should be able to add a nice volume control knob somewhere on the cab (see questions below).

The full range speakers I chose are the 3" Visaton FR8 2008
http://www.visaton.de/en/products/fullrange-systems/fr-8-8-ohm

I also bought 2 of the Visaton FRS8 grilles:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visaton-Grille-Black-Plastic-Speaker/dp/B013E4AOQI

I'm using a 12V wall adaptor plug so I had to solder on the supplied capacitor, then I soldered on the speaker terminals (I didn't want to be soldering the speaker wires directly to the board).  I twisted some wire and connected up the two speakers and it all works lovely.  After soldering 3 jumpers to set it to analog mode, I tested the volume with the supplied potentiometer (holding it in place for now, not soldering on) and the range is perfect - quite a loud volume is possible at very good quality.

This has given me 2 questions:

1) Where should I mount a volume control knob?
 Between the speakers?
 On the front panel of the CP, in the middle between the start/coin buttons?
 Hidden on the back of the cab?

2) Has anyone had experience of mounting a nice volume control knob/dial to either wood or metal, and can offer advice on how to do it nicely?

I use the 4 ohm version of the speakers in a calculated boombox some time ago. Really nice speakers, though these won't ever get to full use...

[Jimbo]

Small update - measured and marked out the metal control panel tonight.  It was too late for the noisy punching of the centre holes.  It took a good couple of hours but it's all ready for punching now...



The location for the bends has also been marked out.  The centre of both bends should be right in the middle of the two close-together score marks.



I'll be taking this to get the holes cut and the panel bent next week.  The trackball needs a 57mm hole.  Joysicks, spinners and buttons 28mm and the mounting holes for the bolts 6.5mm.

Once I have the panel back, I'll then double check the dimensions and adjust the sketchup plans accordingly.  I have had to guess at the radius of the bends, so the finished bent panel might be a couple of millimetres out - we'll see!  I allowed for 3.5mm extra on the panel's top surface for each bend.

[Jimbo]

Need some help with theme ideas please

Bear in mind the controls I have are all while, and I was thinking White t-molding for sides/marquee.

I have 2 ideas in mind currently for "The Arcade Time Machine"...

 1) A steampunk style mechanical old time machine theme with cogs and gears and whatnot.  Gold/metal looking sides/cp etc.  Something a bit like this https://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/sites/default/files/styles/650_scaled/public/TM-Logo.png

 2) A theme based on HG Well's Time Machine Movie, like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Poster_for_the_1960_film_The_Time_Machine.jpg  I like the guy in the middle of the logo, could maybe make him holding a joystick or something... but I don't really know what to do for the rest of the cab if I go with this theme.

3) something else?!

Thoughts and ideas welcome!

[Mike A]

Pick your favorite arcade game and use a re-imagining of that cabinet's artwork.

[Jimbo]

Pick your favorite arcade game and use a re-imagining of that cabinet's artwork.

I'm pretty settled on the name and general theme of "arcade time machine"... it's the nuances I need to iron out

(besides, you try to get my kids to agree on their favourite game... or anything for that matter!)

[Mike A]

The name and general theme are bad. You just asked for ideas this morning. Take some time to reconsider.

[Jimbo]

I had a good think today about how to mount the Dell monitor I have.  I wanted to be able to take out the monitor and replace it fairly easily (should it become faulty). I'm putting a 4mm tinted-grey glass panel in front of the monitor so I also wanted to be able to take that out and replace it in the future if needed...



I have a mixture of 15mm, 18mm, 12mm and 6mm ply making up the bartop, so have used those thicknesses here.  At the top and bottom there are two 15mm battens glued together. They will be glued/screwed in to the side panels. In front of the monitor I've put a 6mm bezel from the screen edges up to the sides/marquee/cp. In front of that is a 4mm tinted tempered glass panel.

Two small blocks of ply are mounted on the back on each side of the monitor to keep it in place laterally.
The four small blocks of ply on the bottom and top battens will hold the monitor in place.  I'll attach these to the battens with brass inserts and hex bolts so they're easy to take off.

As you can see at the top, the speaker panel will have a small ~4mm routed channel to keep the top of the glass panel in place.  To keep things in place at the bottom, and to ensure I can replace the glass if needed, I thought up the following...





So this is a small L-shaped bracket made out of 6mm ply.  It will bolt on via the brass inserts again from underneath should I need to remove the panel.  This bracket doesn't go the whole width of the bartop, as I need some space for the control panel support blocks either side...



The reason for the two CP support blocks is that I needed room for P1's joystick leaf switches (on the left) and P2's buttons (on the right).  I may add one extra support for the CP in the middle of the panel (behind the trackball) but I'll see how strong the metal is when it's been bent. It might not need it.

The thin angled batten will have the 6mm monitor bezel rested on it for extra support. 

[javeryh]

Damn I wish I saw your monitor mounting solution before I went and did mine.  Mine doesn't feel so secure... but I'm working on a solution.

[Jimbo]

Damn I wish I saw your monitor mounting solution before I went and did mine.  Mine doesn't feel so secure... but I'm working on a solution.

Thanks. I hope it helps, I went through all sorts of designs before settling on this one.  I had considered screwing the glass into the bottom two battens from the front instead of keeping it in place with the L-shaped bracket, but aside from the glass panel being a fair bit more expensive, it meant it would have had to come down further below the level of the CP top (so the screws would be hidden) - which would have gotten in the way of the CP support blocks.

[Jimbo]

Hopefully picking the metal panel up tomorrow, drilled and bent

Toying with this as a name/theme:-

"B.A.R.T." (Bartop Arcade Retro Terminal)

[Jimbo]

I got the metal control back today from being bent in the brake...



I had to get a 57mm HSS hole saw for the 2 1/4" Happ Trackball...


It fits so snug.  The metal panel is just under 1mm higher than the plastic ring surrounding the trackball. 

[Jimbo]

I mounted all the controls to the panel and tested out the feel for size etc.  Happy with how it's turned out.  I'm able to get my hands to all the controls without the spinners getting in the way, and using the trackball either right or left handed isn't impeded either...





Controls fit nice and snug on the underside so hopefully wiring won't present any problems. The IPAC2 and TT2 spinner usb interface board will go on the front face in the centre between the P1/P2 start buttons...



I built a small scale model out of craft foam.  This will be given to a friend of mine who is kindly doing the artwork.  He likes to have a model so he can run with his ideas on it properly.   It was a lot of fun building this!



I'll be looking to buy in the plywood and start to make all the panels very soon.

[Jimbo]

Building commences!  First off the design had a tweak to the side panels.  I didn't like the curves so much so now has straighter sides.  I made another scale model in craft foam and gave it to my friend who is doing the artwork.

Name of the cab is now B.A.R.T which stands for Bartop Arcade Retro Terminal.  He'll be kind of robot-ey.



I recently got a table saw so I cut all the panels except the side panels as that's a bit tricker.  As you can see I had an idea to 3D print some router arc templates to help with the curved parts of the side panels.  A friend helped me get these printed and they worked really well with a flush trim router bit...



Here's a closer look at the arc near the marquee section...



And here's the arc near the control panel section...



After routing around these guides, the cut arcs were spot on...



So with one side cut, I masking taped the piece of plywood I had for the other side panel as I was using a jigsaw to get rid of most of the wood so the router would not have much to cut with the flush trim bit.  There were a few splits but mostly outside the panel edge...



20 mins later and the 2nd side panel matches the first perfectly



I had a few more grooves to rout out today for the monitor glass to sit in, and to retain the marquee plexi. For this I used a 4mm cutter at a depth of 3mm.  Lots of practice with the router today!  Oh, I also cut the speaker holes with a 3" (76mm) hole saw...



I still have a couple of 15 degree angles to chamfer on two of the panels, and then some mounting blocks to make.  That'll be next I guess!

[Jimbo]

Had a first stab at artwork today, with a crude attempt of texture mapping in sketchup to see the concept in situ....





I'm happy with the general idea... I can't change the colour of the controls now as they're already bought.  I'd still like to fit in what B.A.R.T. stands for somewhere (Bartop Arcade Retro Terminal) but I'm not sure where.... marquee? 

After I got the kids to design some art for the side panels, we all decided it would be really cool to go with my friend's suggestion and paint them with 'black' blackboard paint so they can use chalk (or chalk pens) to change the side art whenever they want .

Not sure what to do with the bezel around the monitor.  Black currently, and it will be covered in grey tinted glass... but perhaps it should also have some artwork on it under the glass... ?

Any ideas/critique welcome! 

[yamatetsu]

A starfield on the bezel, the speaker board and the marquee?

[rave0035]

I like the starfield idea.

Too much grid currently.

Break up the CP - don't have the grid continue through all three sections.  Maybe just the top and bottom portions, with something like a Defender retro-futuristic design on the spinner part?  I'm thinking blocky outlines and a bringing in a few of the colors found on the marquee.

[Jimbo]

So I've got started painting the bits of the bartop that need it.  First up are the side panels.  I needed to paint the parts of the insides of the side panels that are visible.  This is the areas to the side of the screen, all around the edges, and inside the storage box on the top area behind the marquee.  I'd followed Ond's video for this as I am really a complete novice painting anything!  I have posted to his thread here decribing my experience.

First off I filled the areas that I needed to with Isopon P38 body filler. (I've been told this is pretty much identical to "Bondo" as I could not find that over here in the UK).



I needed loads of filler near the end grain where the saw made a mess of the cuts...



After 3 coats of High Build Primer (from Halfords), and lots of sanding between coats, I get it to this stage: -



Lots more work then with 1 coat of grey primer, and 3 coats of high gloss black paint (again all from Halfords), wet sanding in between, and some final goings over with Maguire's Ulitmate Compound... I finally see the results of my hard work and I'm very pleased.





I made some mistakes during this, and some areas are less than perfect, but it's definitely good enough for me, and I learned a lot so the next panels that get the same treatment WILL be perfect!

Next up I think I'll be affixing the mounting blocks to the side panels, and preparing the other panels with paint.

[Ond]

Excellent!    That's the shine right there.  Thanks for covering your experience in detail in my painting thread.  That will help other people who are thinking of trying it out.  I like the font style/art on your marquee.  I like the name too, I know other's aren't so keen on it but I think it's clean and simple - go with what you like.   

[leapinlew]

I'm late to the party, but I've always mounted my LCD's directly to a board that secured to the side panels. The monitor usually has mounting options once you remove the base. I would then secure it to the board. Not sure if that makes sense the way I explained it..... 

Your method will definitely work, but it seems like a lot more steps.

[Jimbo]

Thanks guys   Your painting guide was brilliant Ond... very helpful.

leapinlew... I think I get what you mean... but would that make it difficult to get the monitor out if you wanted to replace it?  I'm using an old Dell 2nd hand monitor... might go kaput after a while and I want to be able to easily replace it if needed.

So today I mounted the CP mounting blocks... these bits needed shaping to match the profile of the metal CP top.  After some sanding to fit, I finally got them in place.





The other mounting blocks are all easy and straight/right-angled.  Those'll come soon.

[Nephasth]

Metal CP FTW! Looks nice!