Robotron bartop - Finished!!!

[LeedsFan]

OK as promised here are some pics of the progress to date.

Here is the motherboard located in the base of the cabinet. There's just enough room in there and the ports had to be placed facing inwards. I'm using a powered USB hub anyway and the graphics card has a flexible lead for the VGA plug.  I did have to plug in one USB for the hub and a 3.5mm jack for the speakers prior to fitting. The board had to be orientated in this manner as it was the only way it would fit.





This is the shelf above which hosts the hard drive, PSU and USB hub. Most things were fixed in position using strong double sided sponge strips (like that used for car number plates). Even the shelf itself is sat on brackets using these strips. It really is quite strong stuff and there's no danger of the shelf falling out.





Marquee lights installed, again using that sponge strip. These are cold cathode tubes which run from the PC power supply. Same as the ones I used in my mini Star Wars.





And here is the test (once I'd swapped out the dodgy power socket for the correct one!).  Cathode tubes light up when switched on and the speakers give decent sound for their size.

I do have one issue though, as seen in the pic below. I forgot about this... and it was a problem with my Star Wars project earlier. When using the slider controls in the TAB menu of Mame the screen cuts off when lowering the image in portrait mode. You can see the game image has cut away at the bottom but yet there's plenty of screen to go. Why does this happen? Does anyone have a solution?

On the previous project when I had this issue I was able to reposition the monitor. But this time I'm not gonna be able to do that. Or I could, but it would spoil the way the cab has been designed thus far. I'm gonna start Googling for a possible solution to this. It might be something really simple (I hope!). 

[yotsuya]

Yay, LeedsFan! Long time no see!

[JDFan]

Looking good ! I'm also in the process of building a Robotron Bartop and will be watching here for ideas.

Here's a render of what mine was going to be based on :


And the current state of completion :




Made a few adjustments to the concept as I didn't like the overhanging CP but it is coming along -- Good to see another build based on Robotron as it is one off my all time favorites.

[LeedsFan]

JDFan that looks cool!  The compromise with the sideart looks very neat. Of course with bartops we can't have the full sideart. I would agree about changing the overhanging CP panel.

What joysticks are you planning to use? Thing with Robotron is you need decent sticks and I chose U360s because they have a lovely circular motion with no microswitch clicks. The originals were leaf switch joysticks but were quite stiff. For a bartop you may end up moving the thing around on the table with those sticks! With U360s you can be accurate yet have fingertip control and still keep the circular gate of the originals.

As for my earlier problem with the screen cutting off... I did find a solution. And that was to open up the NVidia control panel and move the desktop down as far as it would go. This cuts off the taskbar and loses about an inch of the desktop in total. But when Robotron starts the image is now low enough to not be a problem. It's quite central now and when it comes to fine adjustments with the bezel artwork in place I foresee no problems.

Now onto installing the U360s and getting this baby playable!

[JDFan]

Thanks -- I'm building it on a tight budget for now so went with the Happ competitions since EBay had a set of 2 with 14 Happ buttons for $44 shipped and also went with the ZD encoder for $11 shipped from Hong Kong for the same reason ! (but will probably switch them out later if the gameplay seems to suffer too much.) - and the Marquee, bottom art and screen plexi are 1\2 inch plexi I got for free from the local Hockey rink since they had a couple panels that got broken during a hockey game laying out back !

Now onto installing the U360s and getting this baby playable!

LOL - I actually threw together a temporary CP as soon as the buttons and encoder came in just to play through on my desktop -- spent several days playing around with Robotron and Smash TV on it before actually getting any work done on the build so now I'm waiting till the cabinet is fully complete beffore reinstalling the joysticks so I don't stop building !!

[LeedsFan]

Well an update... and I did take pics but there's not much point as I will explain.

I got the game playable with the U360s plugged in and everything seemingly going perfect. But on a rare occasion I noticed that the sound would stutter very slightly. This annoyed me and I played around with the settings in mame config file.

I needed to have waitvsync to be ON as I was getting some screen tearing on the graphics between levels. The game does a little sequence of coloured boxes between levels and these were looking choppy with waitvsync OFF. With it ON it's smooth as silk and the game seemingly plays fine. But when I pressed F11 for the games speed I saw it was blinking between 99% and 100%. This may be good enough for some people but I want this to run 100% all the time. No tearing OR sound stuttering. For the specs of this PC it should be able to run Robotron at full speed.

I played around with the mame specs and couldn't get it to run 100% unless waitvsync was switched OFF... which meant tearing between levels. Then I decided to try something.....

I removed the Geforce 6200 card and tried the onboard Intel graphics instead. This cured the problem! I can run with waitvsync ON and use scanlines and the games runs at 100% all the time. Needs more thorough testing but it seems to be OK now.

Strange that the Geforce 6200 would perform worse than the onboard graphics. I know it's an old card but even so I thought it would have been an improvement.
The MB is an Intel D845GRG using Intel Extreme graphics... whatever that means.

I also dicovered that the USB hub I was using has developed a fault where four of the the seven ports now don't work. So I'm swapping it out for a different one. Gotta admit the hub did look extremely cheaply built. All fancy flashing LEDS in a clear plastic case with the ports actually wobbling and rattling about in their housings! Cheap ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. Once this is swapped out and everything tidied up more pics will be uploaded.

[Epyx]

Nice work on the build so far, looking forward to seeing this completed! 

Love Robotron and it gets a lot of play on my cab and I had no idea about the blue patch...so reading about that now thanks!

[LeedsFan]

Bit of an update.  Fitted a new USB hub and re-orientated the motherboard now that the graphics card is not being used. The only problem this gave me was that the VGA cable didn't have enough room to be plugged into the port as the MB was a tight fit in there. I did get the cable to plug in but only after chopping away at the plastic that surrounded the plug itself. I had to "thin it down" so to speak. I did buy a 90 degree VGA adaptor.... but when I plugged it in I found it bent the wrong way! It pointed to the floor of the cabinet instead of pointing upwards which is how I expected it to. My mistake it seems... had it pointed upwards it would have blocked out the parallel port. Not something I care for here, but I can now see why it bends that way.

Here I've installed the USB front panel (from the donor PC) to the project. This was a bit of an afterthought in all honesty which is why it doesn't look as neat as it could. I wanted to be able to plug in USB sticks or a gamepad at will without having to open up the back door. That would be too clunky. The ear socket jack could come in handy if anyone wants to wear headphones. The mic socket won't be used at all.





Here is the control panel now finished off. Forgive the odd coloured ball tops, they will be changed to the correct red ones soon. The panel here is locked down using the correct sized allen key which I cut down using a grinder. It fits in the locking tab underneath nicely and holds the panel tightly closed under play conditions. I also got the T-molding slot out out as well.








Next things to do are get the side vinyl applied and fit t-molding. Basically I'm on the home straight now and just finishing off.

I've still yet to decide if this project should play other games than Robotron. The obvious ones that spring to mind are Smash TV and Total Carnage. These games would require the use of a gamepad if played in two player mode and I'm not sure of the view P2 would get considering the joystick positioning is set purely for a single player game on this small bartop.

I also tried those two games on this system and they won't run at 100% without the use of some frameskipping in Mame. Robotron seems fine at 100% speed with zero frameskip, but not these other two games. So I dunno whether to bother with them.

[LeedsFan]

Almost there now. 

Got the side vinyl applied. I decided on vinyl again because basically I just hate painting. With vinyl you do get to see little imperfections in the wood, but the finish is constant throughout. No runs, brush marks or areas where the spray hasn't applied evenly. I went for the closest colour of the side of a Robotron as I could remember. It's a silvery grey IIRC. I wasn't as OCD on this colour match as I was with the DK bartop paint as the sideart I have planned isn't arcade original either.







The back door is now finished along with a proper arcade lock fitted. I went for as close a detail as possible for the back of the cabinet (even though you don't really see it). Anyone who's seen the rear of a real Robotron may well recognise the oval cutouts with the gauze mesh in there. There is also a large toggle switch on the original which I think switches on/off the marquee light. Here it's the power switch on a momentary toggle which resets back to rest. Alongside is the volume control.







Got the bezel and marquee fitted along with the top cover. Bezel art I tweaked myself in Microsoft Paint and got it printed out at a local Staples store. Marquee is a 50% size of the original printed by Scott at GameOnGraffix, as is the CP art.  Control panel overlay was a lot easier to fit than I imagined. The work I'd done before to make sure everything fit just right paid off here at the end.











Now I'm on to the final touches. I still need to shell Mala/Mame and fit some cabinet feet. I also need to cap off the screw heads that are visible and fit a black strip along the top of the CP where it meets the screen.
I also need to apply the final sideart and then give it a decent test. I may need to come back and fit a vent fan on the rear door, I shall need to see.

Next pics will be the finished item. 

[chopperthedog]

Cool cab. Too bad you're on the other side of the pond. I have a pair of 30mm red balls (insert many jokes) not being used that you could have for the cost of postage.


good day.

[CoryBee]

Cool cab. Too bad you're on the other side of the pond. I have a pair of 30mm red balls (insert many jokes) not being used that you could have for the cost of postage.

I'll take your balls!

That was a joke, I have no need for them

[TheDude]

Awesome bartop !
Shape is nice and so is the decoration !

[LeedsFan]

OK got this finished today. There maybe one or two really tiny things I might tinker with, but nothing so important to mention here. It is basically completed now.

I got the software shelled within Mala and I decided not to bother with the other games. It's a dedicated Robotron bartop now. I figured that to play two-player Smash TV or Total Carnage simply wouldn't do the games justice with one player using a gamepad. Especially as their view of the screen would be compromised.

The controls are fluid and it plays Robotron lovely, but I expected nothing less from the U360s. Very slick and you don't have to rag the controls about. I'd need to see a real Robotron player have a go at this though.
I think they may still rag the controls around being totally used to the arcade counterpart and I dunno if the CP would stand up to much of that. It is well built but there's only one lockpin holding the CP shut.

I took plenty of pics and picked out the best ones: (A lot of pics were discarded for glare and just generally being crap)




























I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I've not broken any new ground with this project except I've not seen anyone do a Robotron with U360s before. Some people will still say that only the arcade original controls will suffice, but I would have to respectfully disagree. Just because something was the "original" does not mean it can't be improved upon. It's only because back in the day there was simply no choice. You played the arcade and got used to it and that was that.

The control panel was the hardest part of the build which is why I tackled that first. Cramming the U360s into a 50% size panel that still flipped for access was a bit of a trial. Other than that the rest of the build was quite straight forward.

Think I'll get to playing these games a bit more and see if I can get something resembling a respectable score. Donkey Kong is the only game I'm any good at. The rest I'm just a novice in all honesty, but I love their gameplay and classic status which is why I chose to build them.

[TheDude]

Man, this looks really great !
The bezel gives the bartop a very genuine feel !
 

[JDFan]

Nice ! 
 

[Le Chuck]

Wow, super tiny footprint.  Looks great, well done   

[Chris John Hunter]

Thanks -- I'm building it on a tight budget for now so went with the Happ competitions since EBay had a set of 2 with 14 Happ buttons for $44 shipped and also went with the ZD encoder for $11 shipped from Hong Kong for the same reason ! (but will probably switch them out later if the gameplay seems to suffer too much.) - and the Marquee, bottom art and screen plexi are 1\2 inch plexi I got for free from the local Hockey rink since they had a couple panels that got broken during a hockey game laying out back !

Now onto installing the U360s and getting this baby playable!

LOL - I actually threw together a temporary CP as soon as the buttons and encoder came in just to play through on my desktop -- spent several days playing around with Robotron and Smash TV on it before actually getting any work done on the build so now I'm waiting till the cabinet is fully complete beffore reinstalling the joysticks so I don't stop building !!

Any help I could be John, you let me know. I love Robotron myself. Awesome

[Chris John Hunter]

OK got this finished today. There maybe one or two really tiny things I might tinker with, but nothing so important to mention here. It is basically completed now.

I got the software shelled within Mala and I decided not to bother with the other games. It's a dedicated Robotron bartop now. I figured that to play two-player Smash TV or Total Carnage simply wouldn't do the games justice with one player using a gamepad. Especially as their view of the screen would be compromised.

The controls are fluid and it plays Robotron lovely, but I expected nothing less from the U360s. Very slick and you don't have to rag the controls about. I'd need to see a real Robotron player have a go at this though.
I think they may still rag the controls around being totally used to the arcade counterpart and I dunno if the CP would stand up to much of that. It is well built but there's only one lockpin holding the CP shut.

I took plenty of pics and picked out the best ones: (A lot of pics were discarded for glare and just generally being crap)




























I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I've not broken any new ground with this project except I've not seen anyone do a Robotron with U360s before. Some people will still say that only the arcade original controls will suffice, but I would have to respectfully disagree. Just because something was the "original" does not mean it can't be improved upon. It's only because back in the day there was simply no choice. You played the arcade and got used to it and that was that.

The control panel was the hardest part of the build which is why I tackled that first. Cramming the U360s into a 50% size panel that still flipped for access was a bit of a trial. Other than that the rest of the build was quite straight forward.

Think I'll get to playing these games a bit more and see if I can get something resembling a respectable score. Donkey Kong is the only game I'm any good at. The rest I'm just a novice in all honesty, but I love their gameplay and classic status which is why I chose to build them.

This is fantastic as much as it pains me to praise a fan of Leeds. Well done very impressive  

[emphatic]

Looks great! I'd prefer 25 mm balltops myself, but I'm not sure you can use Japanese ones on the U360?

[LeedsFan]

Looks great! I'd prefer 25 mm balltops myself, but I'm not sure you can use Japanese ones on the U360?

I just went with the Sanwa 35mm ones as the red is a nice deep colour that matches the original. I could have used 30mm Sanwa ball tops but I just decided that gameplay was crucial and tried to stick to the closest "feel" even though it is a 50% sized bartop.

Seimitsu do the same sized ball tops but their idea of "red" is totally different. Both manufacturers do use the same thread though so the choice is there. U360s are based on Sanwa JLWs so there is plenty of choice in ball tops.

[Jigenjuke]

LeedsFan, Lookin' great!  How does it play and more importantly what's your current high score on this little cab?

Jigenjuke

[LeedsFan]

LeedsFan, Lookin' great!  How does it play and more importantly what's your current high score on this little cab?

Jigenjuke

Haha... don't laugh. I've not had too much time to spend playing it but my highest score is only around 145K. 

The brain stage nearly always gets me. I can spot Mikey quickly and then I try to protect him. I always end up doing something silly though like getting to the last few mobs and killing them before picking up all the Mommy's. 

My current screen I get stuck on is the first tank wave where those round things bounce from the sides. I suppose practice will in the end make "perfect". Or maybe not.... LOL!   

I suppose someone at Replay in October will fill the scoreboard with unattainable scores. I might need to remove my Hi folder in Mame before that event. I remember not removing it on the DK bartop at one show and someone put up a score I've still not beaten on that cab. But I don't mind that one as my highest is better than that score so I know I have it in me to beat it.

With Robotron that would never happen. There was one guy there last year that was brilliant on the arcade machine. He was racking up a huge score but the event came to a close on the first day and it had to be switched off. I want him to be there this year and have a go on this. Even if he only plays for a short time (say a few hundred K) just to give his opinions on it.

[MRMIKE]

Resurrecting this to get hold of JDFan - any off the shelf joystick you found that works good with Robotron while still working with fighters etc,,? IL Euro suck for Robotron.

Thank You in advance

Thanks -- I'm building it on a tight budget for now so went with the Happ competitions since EBay had a set of 2 with 14 Happ buttons for $44 shipped and also went with the ZD encoder for $11 shipped from Hong Kong for the same reason ! (but will probably switch them out later if the gameplay seems to suffer too much.) - and the Marquee, bottom art and screen plexi are 1\2 inch plexi I got for free from the local Hockey rink since they had a couple panels that got broken during a hockey game laying out back !

Now onto installing the U360s and getting this baby playable!

LOL - I actually threw together a temporary CP as soon as the buttons and encoder came in just to play through on my desktop -- spent several days playing around with Robotron and Smash TV on it before actually getting any work done on the build so now I'm waiting till the cabinet is fully complete beffore reinstalling the joysticks so I don't stop building !!

[Malenko]

geeeeeeee I wonder who approved a 6 year old necro bump as a first post.

MrMike, why not post in a thread that he posted in this WEEK instead? http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,160202.msg1686439.html#msg1686439

[opt2not]

I'm loving this resurgence of Robotron enthusiasm as of late.

Even though this project was fantastic, Mal is right, JDFan is still active here. No need to necro bump finished project threads for your hardware questions.

I don't know what the post requirements are for noobie members, whether you can start your own thread or not, but in any case I've created a thread for you to discuss this in.   

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,160253