javeryh's Woodgrain Cabaret Copy

[javeryh]

Well - if hot glue had a glimmer of a chance - 4200 would do it.
that said..
Maybe make some blocking for behind the speaker to hold it in position from the backside.
If the shapes are awkward..  You could add some foam to press against it to keep it snug..

Foam is a good idea... hmmm...

My hot glue idea would have worked but I never took into account the weight of the speaker pulling on it.  The mounting plate is light as a feather.

[yamatetsu]

How about using something like the metal strips I used to mount my monitor? You can cut them to (almost) any length, bend them any way you like, if they can hold a monitor, they should be good for your speakers too.

[leapinlew]

Good work as always Javery. Keep on keep'n on!

[Jimbo]

How about using something like the metal strips I used to mount my monitor? You can cut them to (almost) any length, bend them any way you like, if they can hold a monitor, they should be good for your speakers too.

I second this idea. I've done similar in the past and it worked well.

[firedance]

https://www.toolstation.com/all-purpose-fixing-band/p39724

have used this for various fixings such as speakers and holding down wires on my bartops and other projects.

and these to hold in the montior, easy to bend in a vice and easily cut with a hacksaw

https://www.toolstation.com/herringbone-joist-strut/p65340

not sure on US equivalents tho 

[javeryh]

Those metal strips are interesting.  My only concern is that I need a tight fit of the monitor and speakers up against the front panel but not too tight.  In my infinite wisdom, I decided to mount these things directly behind the 1/16" laminate and not up against a sturdy 1/2" MDF panel or something.  So if I tighten the metal straps too much it will cause the laminate to either snap or pull away from the MDF.

I think I've worked out a solution for the speakers at least.  I haven't even begun to think about the monitor yet but how hard can it be?  LOL.  Stay tuned.

[javeryh]

OK, I think I worked it out.

This is what I'm trying to do.  I need a way to keep this thing in place and also support the weight of the speaker that will get screwed into the back.



First thing I did was extend the speaker wire - not sure you can tell but I used some shrink tube to keep things neat and it seems to work.  The plug on the end will fit right into the circuit board that I also ripped out of the speakers.  You can also see the curved area on the one side of the speaker grill - this is what was giving me fits.





Here is my solution... I made some clips out of 1/8" hardboard scraps I had laying around.  The flat piece will hold the curved area down and the angle bracket will hold down the other side.  When in position, the curved side is about 1/16" higher than the 1/2" MDF panel it is recessed into which is why I had to notch out the hard board.  On the other side, it sits about 1/4" below the 1/2" MDF panel so I made an angled bracket to make up for that depth.





To attach them, I decided to use double sided tape and then just a drop of glue on the top and bottom, which is why the tape doesn't cover the entire surface.  I did this in case I ever need to pop them off and make a change (although I highly doubt it - the speakers can be replaced without taking out the grill).  Also, I don't really know what I'm doing LOL.

They seem to be holding.





I could have been a little neater but it was hard to position everything, keep the speaker in place and not press too hard on the laminate from behind.  I could have used an extra set of hands for this but it worked.

Here's where I'm at.  Starting to shape up!



Next I am going to work on the mounting the marquee monitor.  The more I think about it, the more I think using the Vesa mounts is the best way to go about this.

 

[yamatetsu]

Maybe I'm missing something, this pic looks like you could have used a piece of wood that goes across the speakers, cut out two holes for the speakers and a curve for that thingie in the middle and add some battons to the underside that hold the speakers in place.

[javeryh]

Maybe I'm missing something, this pic looks like you could have used a piece of wood that goes across the speakers, cut out two holes for the speakers and a curve for that thingie in the middle and add some battons to the underside that hold the speakers in place.

yeah, I'm not that smart... That would have worked but I would have had to make a notch on one side where the grill is higher than the MDF and then add a 1/4" spacer or something on the side where the grill is lower than the MDF.  If the stupid grill was flat/even it would have ben easy but I was determined to use the front of the Amazon Basics speakers without modifying them.  See how it curves at the top?  That's what I was dealing with.

[zestyphresh]

I would keep it simple, can you attach a piece of wood behind the speaker? If so you could epoxy a bolt to the speaker (M8 +) and then have a hole in the piece of wood it then passes through and simply bolt it from the other side.

[javeryh]

Anyone have any thoughts on using CA glue (super glue) to hold the plexiglas in place tight against the black laminate?  I'll test on some scrap but I was thinking of putting just a drop of glue in each corner to hold it in place.  Sandwiching it with the monitor is not quite enough to do the job...

I figured out the monitor mount today - what a pain.  Everything had to be spaced just right to use the vesa mounting holes to hold the monitor exactly in the right spot.  I haven't drilled the holes to attach it yet - I'm going to do that tomorrow with a clear head instead of messing something up now.

Once that is done, I will be pretty much stuck on the build without the CRT.  This will give me a chance to really focus on the software though - BigBox is kind of confusing and it's hard to tell what changes I'm making in real time.  So many bells and whistles that don't do anything but confuse things.

Also, for those of you that have done dynamic marquees, is there a hi-res zip file out there for the marquee art?  I am working on the game list but a lot of the marquees that I have look awful all blown up.  This isn't near final - I'm going to probably try and trim it to about 100 games that I'll actually play.  The games in blue will require a second emulator - not sure it's worth it.  Are there any notable ones I'm missing?  Any must-include rom hacks?

[jennifer]

 

[Laythe]

Anyone have any thoughts on using CA glue (super glue) to hold the plexiglas in place tight against the black laminate?  I'll test on some scrap but I was thinking of putting just a drop of glue in each corner to hold it in place.  Sandwiching it with the monitor is not quite enough to do the job...

My thought is absolutely don't do that.

Cyanoacrylate superglue has a tendency to make a permanent white fog on nearby surfaces when it cures.  It doesn't always do it - it only does it when it will really screw you over.

This would be one of those times.

Silicone RTV maybe?

[javeryh]

Thanks a lot.  Glad I waited. 

I am going to try a little square of double sided tape in each corner instead.  It will be sandwiched between the back of the laminate and the plexi.  That stuff has proven to be very strong to me in the past and in this instance it doesn’t even need to do that much.

[Arroyo]

I used contact cement for my laminate over acrylic work.  I looked it up to make sure it wouldn’t harm the acrylic first and it’s listed as an approved material.  Worked great on mine.

I am going to try a little square of double sided tape in each corner instead.

I’d be concerned about that.  Whatever adhesive you end up using I think it’s best it covers the whole area.  Only having it on some areas would make it more susceptible to tearing/cracking if pressure was applied because the pressure would be applied unevenly. 

[javeryh]

I used contact cement for my laminate over acrylic work.  I looked it up to make sure it wouldn’t harm the acrylic first and it’s listed as an approved material.  Worked great on mine.

I am going to try a little square of double sided tape in each corner instead.

I’d be concerned about that.  Whatever adhesive you end up using I think it’s best it covers the whole area.  Only having it on some areas would make it more susceptible to tearing/cracking if pressure was applied because the pressure would be applied unevenly.

Hmm... now I'm not sure what to do.  Let's see if these pics will help describe it better... The goal is to just get the plexi to rest flat against the back of the black laminate.  Here is a shot from behind:



The black area around the cutout is the laminate on the front panel.  I want the plexi to fit snug against it so the end result will look like this (without the protective paper obviously):



I was thinking of using the double sided tape just in the corners so it won't move.  I don't necessarily want a permanent bond (especially if I have to replace the plexi for some reason down the road).  My original plan was to just sandwich it in between the monitor and the laminate, however in practice this didn't work.  The plexi was still able to move by about 1/32" creating a gap with the laminate even with the monitor in place. 

I am definitely at the "I'll figure it out when I get there" part of the project. 

[Arroyo]

I get your concern about replacing the Acrylic, I had the same concerns over mine (scratches and all that).  However I let it go in mine cause there wasn’t an alternative that I could see.  Practicing using Novus in the scratches led me to be less concerned. 

If it were me I’d do the contact cement, and hinge it in place during application.  I’m sure there are some other adhesives that’d work, I’d just be sure they won’t chemically affect the Acrylic and still bond with the laminate.  I know Bob is a fan of construction adhesive, that could be an option that will give you more time to line things up if you are worried about using contact cement.

[yamatetsu]

You could:

- Doubletape the plexi to the monitor, mount the monitor so that it sits flush against the laminate.

- Use two layers of plexi, the second layer longer than the first one, so that you can glue those together and screw the bigger part to the board under the cutout for the screen.

[javeryh]

I get your concern about replacing the Acrylic, I had the same concerns over mine (scratches and all that).  However I let it go in mine cause there wasn’t an alternative that I could see.  Practicing using Novus in the scratches led me to be less concerned. 

If it were me I’d do the contact cement, and hinge it in place during application.  I’m sure there are some other adhesives that’d work, I’d just be sure they won’t chemically affect the Acrylic and still bond with the laminate.  I know Bob is a fan of construction adhesive, that could be an option that will give you more time to line things up if you are worried about using contact cement.

Hmm... what would the difference be between contact cement and double sided tape?  Both will do the job here, I think.  Contact cement would definitely be permanent though.  The acrylic weighs almost nothing so just a tiny bit of double-sided tape would hold it in place. 

I was lazy today and didn't do anything but tomorrow is a work day and since my current office is also where I'm working on the cabinet I should make some progress.

You could:

- Doubletape the plexi to the monitor, mount the monitor so that it sits flush against the laminate.

- Use two layers of plexi, the second layer longer than the first one, so that you can glue those together and screw the bigger part to the board under the cutout for the screen.

I think I'm going with your first suggestion.  The board under the cutout for the screen is only 1/8" thick so I cannot screw anything to it.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys (and gals)!   

[javeryh]

Alright... after staring at this thing for the better part of a week, I decided to take the leap and use the double sided tape to hold the marquee plexiglas in place.  Hot glue was another consideration but I was afraid it would be too bulky once dried for the monitor to sit flush against the plexiglas so I ultimately went with the tape.  I just used a little bit in the corners because the tape is strong and all it has to do is keep the plexiglas from moving and withstand a tiny amount of pressure when dusting/cleaning.  It seems to have worked?  I guess time will tell.

Here are shots from the back (tape is in the corners) and front:





Once the the plexiglas was in place, I was able to install the marquee monitor.  This was a little tricky but not too bad.  I cut out a piece of 1/4" MDF the width of the cabinet and drilled holes in the center for the Vesa mounting screws (M4 size in case anyone needs to know).  I drilled these holes slightly big to allow myself some wiggle room in case things didn't exactly line up. 






Once I got the monitor mounted to the MDF, I held it in place so that I could do some fine tuning.  I had to make sure the ends of the MDF sat flush to the strips of wood on the sides so that I could screw it in place... but at the same time I had to make sure that the monitor was as far forward as possible so that it rests against the plexiglass.  To make small adjustments, I added some washers in between the back of the monitor and the MDF - I tried a bunch of different combinations until I was satisfied with the fit.  It turned out that a 1/8" rubber washer plus 1 regular washer (that couldn't have been more than 0.5mm thick) did the trick.



Once I had everything dialed in, I used 4 screws to secure the monitor in place.





So here's where I'm at with the monitor and plexiglas installed...



Now the real trick will be getting the marquee to display exactly in the area that I want...  BigBox xml files can be tweaked but I'm not sure how yet.  Hyperspin (with Hypermarquee) has a window that can be dragged and resized to wherever you want, which sounds perfect, but apparently Hyperspin is currently broken due to a Windows 10 update in May.  No word on when that will be sorted out.

I bit the bullet and started putting in bids on computer monitors on eBay so hopefully I'll have one in hand by the end of the week.  I'm a little nervous about this - hopefully whatever I get will behave like I want (power on when computer comes on).  In the mean time, I'm going to begin working on designing the control panel and sorting out the artwork.   

[firedance]

coming along very nicely 

[javeryh]

coming along very nicely 

Thanks.  I'm slow but I'm at least moving along.   

So... I'm ready to cut the blank for the CP and I'm wondering how deep I should make it.  It is 18" wide so I was thinking about 6-3/4" or 7" would be nice and proportional.  My DK cab is roughly 22.5" x 7-7/8" so scaling that to 18" wide would give me about 6-3/8" in depth but this seemed slightly shallow so I thought an extra 1/2" to 3/4" couldn't hurt.

Now, regarding controls... I have been thinking of a ServoStik with 3 action buttons as the main layout.  P1 start and P2 start and pause/exit button somewhere.  It would be cool to fit a spinner or 2.5" trackball on here somewhere but honestly I don't think there is enough room without things looking cramped.

I have been referencing Minwah's and marck74's CPs and want to mash them together.  I don't have any "must have" games in my list so something generic is probably fine for me.  This will also be my only cab with a horizontal monitor set up for what it's worth.  I also do not think 18" is wide enough for a SF set up for 2 players plus the admin buttons.

Any thoughts?

[Arroyo]

Looking good buddy.  Now that I see your monitor will support the Acrylic behind it I agree the double sided tape looks like it works fine.  Plus you’ve got the added support form the friction of the TV and the wood underneath right?  Well done.

On the computer monitor thing, just know you’ll have to throw some artificial scan lines in there for most games as the resolution will be at least 480P.

On the CP I agree 2 player fighting games would be too tight.  It’s funny I wouldn’t have guessed that the CP is 18” in length from the pics I would have said closer to 25”.  It’s looking real nice.

[javeryh]

Looking good buddy.  Now that I see your monitor will support the Acrylic behind it I agree the double sided tape looks like it works fine.  Plus you’ve got the added support form the friction of the TV and the wood underneath right?  Well done.

Thanks - I ended up being afraid to use contact cement or any sort of chemicals for fear of them leaking onto the visible surface once the pieces were squeezed together.  I think this will hold and if it doesn't all I have to do is take out 4 screws to remove the monitor.  We shall see.

On the computer monitor thing, just know you’ll have to throw some artificial scan lines in there for most games as the resolution will be at least 480P.

I figured this would be the case.  Sourcing an actual arcade monitor is not going to happen for me so the computer monitor is the next best thing.  I'm assuming a scan line generator is easy enough to implement in MAME.  I was messing with Hyperspin and it looks like there is a scan line generator option there too?  I'm still learning - on my 3rd fresh install attempt.  I keep getting errors.

On the CP I agree 2 player fighting games would be too tight.  It’s funny I wouldn’t have guessed that the CP is 18” in length from the pics I would have said closer to 25”.  It’s looking real nice.

yeah... this cab is small, which is what I like about it.  It will easily fit in the corner of a room and I might even be able to get this one upstairs in the office once the kids' toys are finally cleared out of there.

[firedance]

the hyperspin scanlines are just for the menus, they are quite basic but may suit your build ?

maybe to keep the same scanlines across everything maybe this may help, not used one myself tho.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Retro-Game-Arcade-Machine-Screen-Scanline-Video-Generator-Board-VGA-Connection/193555204612?hash=item2d10ca0a04:g:AJ8AAOSwOWdfAp-G

[javeryh]

the hyperspin scanlines are just for the menus, they are quite basic but may suit your build ?

maybe to keep the same scanlines across everything maybe this may help, not used one myself tho.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Retro-Game-Arcade-Machine-Screen-Scanline-Video-Generator-Board-VGA-Connection/193555204612?hash=item2d10ca0a04:g:AJ8AAOSwOWdfAp-G

Wow that looks like a simple solution.  I would want scan lines on everything anyway.  It would be weird to not have them in the menus but then have them in game, right?  I'm going to file this away for sure.

My monitor won't be here until Monday now so in the meantime I'm trying to figure out Hyperspin.  Launchbox just isn't flexible enough, unfortunately.  It will make a nice under the TV solution when I get around to building an emulation PC but for this cabinet I don't think I'll be able to get it to do what I want it to do.

Hyperspin is NOT easy though.  Very unfriendly for someone like me but I'm willing to learn.  So far I've installed Hyperspin 1.5.1 and Rocketlauncher on an external hard drive.  Now I'm watching YouTube videos on how to get MAME to play nice with it. 

[Mike A]

Where do you live that an arcade CRT is not even a remote possibility?

[firedance]

Yeah its a steepish learning curve to get hyperspin and rocket launcher playing nice together, took me a good while and like you watched a load of youtube guides, ones by "austin" are good ones to watch, i found it much easy to run all emulators thru retroarch, instead of loads different emulators and keep mame separate.

Launchbox/bigbox is very easy to get it up and running and looking like hyperspin with the right theme 

[javeryh]

Where do you live that an arcade CRT is not even a remote possibility?

I'm in NJ just outside NYC.  I have no idea other than eBay where to get CRT monitors.  I already bought a Dell E771P 17" CRT monitor.  It's 1024x768 resolution so it's true 4:3.  I'll have to add the scan lines to make it look a little more authentic but this should work fairly well... assuming the monitor actually works when it gets here!

Yeah its a steepish learning curve to get hyperspin and rocket launcher playing nice together, took me a good while and like you watched a load of youtube guides, ones by "austin" are good ones to watch, i found it much easy to run all emulators thru retroarch, instead of loads different emulators and keep mame separate.

Launchbox/bigbox is very easy to get it up and running and looking like hyperspin with the right theme 

I finally have HyperSpin talking to RocketLauncher and can launch games within the hyperspin.exe from the wheel.  It has taken me 2 full days "working from home" to get here and if I had to recreate it (which I will 100% have to do based on the way I set it up), I do not remember a lot of the steps.  No online tutorial was comprehensive and most are outdated at this point.  But it is working and I'm starting to get the hang of things.  I even added my own wheel logo to a game that didn't have one - naming the file and placing it in the correct folder - and it showed up in the wheel.

Next, I need to make the layout look like I want - there is a giant MAME logo on the screen which needs to go, among other things.  This is just the default theme/layout in Hyperspin.  I got the wheel to be vertical instead of round, which I like better but I need to space out the logos more since a lot of them overlap right now.

I have not even thought about configuring controls or adding Hypermarquee or figuring out start-up and shut down scripts/routines, etc.  But it's a start.

I also set up launchbox with the marquee on the second screen in about 10 minutes.  So easy.  But it's just not as customizable as I'd like.

[Mike A]

Craigslist

There are a bunch of them in your area.

[Jimbo]

Me and Mike are besties on this one... you need an arcade monitor!  c'mon dude. :-)

[leapinlew]

I'm fine with the LCD's with scan lines. Is it as good as an arcade monitor? Nope, but it's close enough to me that I don't mind it at all.

[jennifer]

 

[Mike A]

https://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/ele/d/three-commercial-arcade-monitors/7155649925.html

Javeryh. Leave your house right now and go do this.

[Arroyo]

[Mike A]

I was going to text you a link Arroyo just because I know it would hurt.

[Arroyo]

I’m already driving, I just hope Javery doesn’t see this for a day or two.

[Mike A]

Stop by my house on the way. We can have a few beers.

[Mike A]

https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/vgm/d/huntington-station-arcade-machine-new/7153183111.html

Or talk to this guy. He butchers cabs and shoves LCDs in them. The CRTs have to be somewhere.

[javeryh]

Have at it Arroyo...  unfortunately, I do not have the technical know-how to tinker with old monitors/TVs that may need cap kits or parts replaced or hacked to work with a vga connector, etc.  The CRT computer monitor is an OK compromise for me.  The guts are always the hardest part of these builds for me because I'm not that computer literate and getting everything working and behaving the way I want is a huge mountain for me to climb every time.  Wiring stuff is fine but configuring stuff is a nightmare.

Anyway, the monitor I bought has shipped and should be here Monday at the latest and then I can get on with finishing up this build.  There is still a fair amount to do - mainly configuring HyperSpin and figuring out the control panel (plus getting someone to do the artwork for me).  I'm looking forward to actually working on the cabinet once the monitor gets here - doesn't feel like I'm making any progress trying to learn the software.