Started a frankencab.... (I know I know....)

[bobbyb13]

Your fortitude on the wiring is admirable.
Looks like you will use up that whole iPac 

Funny how something so otherwise mundane becomes so satisfying, isn't it?

[uptown47]

Your fortitude on the wiring is admirable.
Looks like you will use up that whole iPac 

Funny how something so otherwise mundane becomes so satisfying, isn't it?

Haha, yep! I think there's only 8 pins of the iPac not being used. I used to wire up big electrical panels as a day job many moons ago though so don't mind the wiring so much. it just drives me a bit daft when I can't make it as neat as I'd like.

I was working on it again last night cutting back mains wires to length and remaking the plugs on them to try and make the whole thing a bit neater and more manageable.

I've had an idea of how I can re-jig the internals to make it more spaced out and neat though so might just get everything working first and then strip it all back and start again. Just depends whether I can be bothered or I'm too busy playing Frogger.... :-)

 

[Mike A]

You could buy a dupont crimper tool.

[Drnick]

You could buy a dupont crimper tool.

And then read this guide thoroughly

https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Good-Dupont-Pin-Crimp-EVERY-TIME/

[uptown47]

You could buy a dupont crimper tool.

Believe it or not - I did think of this 

However, I needed to strip and crimp the "dupont" wires anyway (even though - technically they're not Dupont connectors they are "Amp DuBox" connectors but they have become known as Dupont through Chinese suppliers using this name) as I need to convert the wires to a larger gauge in order to hold the 4.8mm crimp for the buttons so, rather than stripping and crimping multiple times, it also sped up development to use the 'premade' wires.

But you're right - I could just buy the tool and crimp my own. I've got some cable saddles on order though and I think, by the time I put the saddles in and tidy up / cable-tie the wires, I should be able to dress it off okay.

You could buy a dupont crimper tool.

And then read this guide thoroughly

https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Good-Dupont-Pin-Crimp-EVERY-TIME/

Thanks for the link. They are fiddly little ****ers aren't they...

[Mike A]

You have a ton of wired connections. Using those jumpers multiplies the number of connections. That multiplies the number of possible failure points.

I won't beat the point to death, but you really should just do it right the first time. It will prevent headaches later.

[uptown47]

You have a ton of wired connections. Using those jumpers multiplies the number of connections. That multiplies the number of possible failure points.

I won't beat the point to death, but you really should just do it right the first time. It will prevent headaches later.

Yep, I completely agree with you - there is an explanation (read: excuse!). I was originally trying to wire everything on the bench and then fit the loom into the machine. The machine is in the summerhouse and the light isn't brilliant in there so wiring in the house (i.e. on the bench) is easier due to better light. However, because this machine has been planned (read: made up) as it's gone along - it transpired that I couldn't do that as I couldn't retro-fit the bulkhead that the control modules plug in to. So.... I have ended up doing 'some' on the bench and the rest in situ.

If I'd known this at the start then I would have just bought the tool and wired the whole lot in situ as it would have been better. However, at the moment all the connections I've done so far are working and, if it did end up that I started getting failures, it would be easy enough to just re-wire everything bespoke.

[Mike A]

I get it. Backtracking sucks.

Just remember I told you so when 1989 Kathy Ireland invents time travel, knocks on your door, wants to play Zaxxon, and she forgot her clothes. And then your CP doesn't work.

[uptown47]

I get it. Backtracking sucks.

Just remember I told you so when 1989 Kathy Ireland invents time travel, knocks on your door, wants to play Zaxxon, and she forgot her clothes. And then your CP doesn't work.

When Kathy Ireland (from '89) knocks on my door and asks to play Zaxxon - *then* I'll rewire it. 

[Titchgamer]

Holy hell that loom give me nausea!

You are a braver man than me and I work with cables for a living lol

Like Mike I would suggest a different approach to this but I think you are past the point of no return now lol

[bperkins01]

You have a ton of wired connections. Using those jumpers multiplies the number of connections. That multiplies the number of possible failure points.

I won't beat the point to death, but you really should just do it right the first time. It will prevent headaches later.

Yep, I completely agree with you - there is an explanation (read: excuse!). I was originally trying to wire everything on the bench and then fit the loom into the machine. The machine is in the summerhouse and the light isn't brilliant in there so wiring in the house (i.e. on the bench) is easier due to better light. However, because this machine has been planned (read: made up) as it's gone along - it transpired that I couldn't do that as I couldn't retro-fit the bulkhead that the control modules plug in to. So.... I have ended up doing 'some' on the bench and the rest in situ.

If I'd known this at the start then I would have just bought the tool and wired the whole lot in situ as it would have been better. However, at the moment all the connections I've done so far are working and, if it did end up that I started getting failures, it would be easy enough to just re-wire everything bespoke.

ok - a crimp tool and a flashlight.. 
At least you know 

[javeryh]

I get it. Backtracking sucks.

Just remember I told you so when 1989 Kathy Ireland invents time travel, knocks on your door, wants to play Zaxxon, and she forgot her clothes. And then your CP doesn't work.

When Kathy Ireland (from '89) knocks on my door and asks to play Zaxxon - *then* I'll rewire it. 

If Kathy Ireland from 2020 knocked on my door I'd get that Zaxxon up and running ASAP.

[Gilrock]

When I saw the first photo in reply #39 yesterday I couldn't even think of anything that wouldn't hurt feelings.  I'm going to dub it the "frankenharness".

[uptown47]

When I saw the first photo in reply #39 yesterday I couldn't even think of anything that wouldn't hurt feelings.  I'm going to dub it the "frankenharness".

  yep, it does look really messy. I've got it all written down though so I know exactly where everything goes.

[bobbyb13]

I get it. Backtracking sucks.

Just remember I told you so when 1989 Kathy Ireland invents time travel, knocks on your door, wants to play Zaxxon, and she forgot her clothes. And then your CP doesn't work.

Kelly Le Brock came to mind as I read this...

[uptown47]

I get it. Backtracking sucks.

Just remember I told you so when 1989 Kathy Ireland invents time travel, knocks on your door, wants to play Zaxxon, and she forgot her clothes. And then your CP doesn't work.

Kelly Le Brock came to mind as I read this...

Ooofff!!! Of "Weird Science" fame. Back in the day I would have given my right-arm to pacman her q-bert....

[uptown47]

Well, more work done over the weekend. Managed to get my first game of Frogger out of the cabinet on Sunday. It was brilliant to finally play something on it!!!

Still got a ton of work to do tidying the cabling up etc. Also started going through Mavericks Arcades brilliant tutorial videos on LEDBlinky (if you have LEDBlinky but don't really understand it fully then I can highly recommend them).

Also I've got to make the Player 2 button and joystick modules.

The next step is to get the side LEDs to start doing something pertinent and then start setting all the software up. At the moment I've just got MAME working but I'm using BigBox as my front end (brilliant front end by the way!) and so I want to set up other systems - especially Spectrum as that was the computer I grew up with.

[80sarcadegames]

A+ build!!!     
So clean and well designed!! 

Can you share the link to the "stretch LCD dynamic marquee" that you purchased for this?

[uptown47]

A+ build!!!     
So clean and well designed!! 

Can you share the link to the "stretch LCD dynamic marquee" that you purchased for this?

Wow!! That's a surprise!! That's the first person who actually likes it on here I think!! Thank you :-)

I bought the stretched LCD from eBay (UK). It was from a guy who was a shopfitter and he'd had skip them as part of a job - he didn't want to throw them away when they were working so he sold them on eBay.

They do come up on eBay from time to time or the other place that they can be sourced is Alibaba I believe.

Thanks for your kind words but, if you really want to see a nice build, head along to some of the other posts in the Project section - The Grid is an amazing one and there are plenty of other good ones out there. :-)

[javeryh]

Wow!! That's a surprise!! That's the first person who actually likes it on here I think!! Thank you :-)

I like your cabinet a lot.  Your modular control panel idea is pretty neat and a good way to maximize the amount of games you can play.  You also did what at least 50% of us can't do and that is build something in a reasonable period of time.

Regarding the dynamic marquee - was this just plug and play with BigBox?  I am using a regular old 16:9 monitor for my dynamic marquee with the top and bottom hidden.  I cannot figure out how to resize the monitor window in BigBox though.  It just puts the art dead center on the second screen when you enable the marquee screen feature in the options.

 

[uptown47]

No the marquee wasn't just plug n play there was a bit of messing around.

You have obviously sussed out to go into the Options in BigBox and enable the second monitor.

To do the resizing you need to mess around with the Themes/*yourTheme*/Views/GameMarqueeView.xml

I had to add --

Code: [Select]

<!-- GRID DEFINITIONS -->
           
           
    <Grid Height="768" Width="1366">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>                       
<ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
               
               
        <!-- GAME MARQUEE -->
               
               
        <Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath}" Stretch="fill" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />
            <TextBlock x:Name="GameMarquee" Visibility="Visible">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                    <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Arcade - Marquee/_Default.png">
                    <Binding Path="SelectedGame.Platform"/>
                    </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        <Image x:Name="MainMarquee" Grid.RowSpan="3" Grid.Row="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.Column="0" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=GameMarquee, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Arcade - Marquee/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Stretch="fill" Panel.ZIndex="1" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />
    </Grid>
There's a thread that I got that info from on the Launchbox forums and the settings will be slightly different for each user I'm sure.
https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/44040-how-can-i-properly-display-marquee-images-on-custom-cut-lcd-screen/

Just read through that thread and have a mess around with your GameMarqueeView.xml (and then, when you sussed it, you can change your PlatformMarqueeView.xaml as well).

**** MAKE A BACK UP OF EVERY FILE YOU MESS AROUND WITH!!!!! **** (obviously )

If I can help any further just let me know

[Arroyo]

I think your cab is fun.  You made a unique design, that incorporates some interesting functionality (gun holders).  Like Javery said half the people here never complete a cab or get anywhere near as far as you did (you beat me  ). 

How are you liking the modular controls?  Anything you would change about the design?  Do you find the joystick button distance comfortable?   

[uptown47]

I think your cab is fun.  You made a unique design, that incorporates some interesting functionality (gun holders).  Like Javery said half the people here never complete a cab or get anywhere near as far as you did (you beat me  ). 

How are you liking the modular controls?  Anything you would change about the design?  Do you find the joystick button distance comfortable?   

I was a little worried about the joystick / button distance actually but I don't notice it. I am really liking the modular design. I'm so glad that I stuck to doing it modular now that I have it set up. I've just received some 'flight stick' type joysticks so I'm going to make modules for those (when I've finished player 2 joystick/buttons). This will allow me to re-live my mis-spent youth playing Assault!

As for the cabinet as a whole, I couldn't be happier. I really love it. I'm just writing some software at the moment to help me sort media files etc for my front end in order to make up some really 'neat' platforms (i.e. no duplicated images, everything with the same name, each game with all associated media including the marquee etc).

I've managed to put a jukebox on it too and got the side LEDs working along.

All in all I'm really chuffed with it

(Can't wait for the guns to arrive as well!)

Thanks for your kind words Arroyo. I might have beaten you to the punch with the cabinet build but, when it comes to quality, there's just no comparison. Your cabinet is hands-down the best I've seen. Really looking forward to keeping tabs on the project and seeing the finished article.

[Arroyo]

I might have beaten you to the punch with the cabinet build but, when it comes to quality, there's just no comparison. Your cabinet is hands-down the best I've seen. Really looking forward to keeping tabs on the project and seeing the finished article.

Appreciate the thought, there are however many very well made builds out there as far as quality goes.  A few that come to mind:

Misson Control

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,13118.0.html

Rotoron

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,158083.msg1661521.html#msg1661521

Blip:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137295.0.html

Black Ops:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,101426.0.html

I got all of my inspiration from looking to folks like these and many others who have done incredible work over the years.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the cab, that's what it's all about.

[uptown47]

Yep, those are some beautiful looking cabs!!

[javeryh]

No the marquee wasn't just plug n play there was a bit of messing around.

You have obviously sussed out to go into the Options in BigBox and enable the second monitor.

To do the resizing you need to mess around with the Themes/*yourTheme*/Views/GameMarqueeView.xml

I had to add --

Code: [Select]

<!-- GRID DEFINITIONS -->
           
           
    <Grid Height="768" Width="1366">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>                       
<ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
               
               
        <!-- GAME MARQUEE -->
               
               
        <Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath}" Stretch="fill" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />
            <TextBlock x:Name="GameMarquee" Visibility="Visible">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                    <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Arcade - Marquee/_Default.png">
                    <Binding Path="SelectedGame.Platform"/>
                    </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        <Image x:Name="MainMarquee" Grid.RowSpan="3" Grid.Row="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.Column="0" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=GameMarquee, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Arcade - Marquee/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Stretch="fill" Panel.ZIndex="1" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />
    </Grid>
There's a thread that I got that info from on the Launchbox forums and the settings will be slightly different for each user I'm sure.
https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/44040-how-can-i-properly-display-marquee-images-on-custom-cut-lcd-screen/

Just read through that thread and have a mess around with your GameMarqueeView.xml (and then, when you sussed it, you can change your PlatformMarqueeView.xaml as well).

**** MAKE A BACK UP OF EVERY FILE YOU MESS AROUND WITH!!!!! **** (obviously )

If I can help any further just let me know

Thanks!  I will read through this and see if I can work it out but I'm not holding my breath.  I know what the xml file is but modifying it is way out of my league...

[uptown47]

Well if I can be any help mate just give me a shout and I'll do what I can.

[javeryh]

Well if I can be any help mate just give me a shout and I'll do what I can.

Thanks.  Are the GameMarqueeView.xml and PlatformMarqueeView.xaml universal files?  Meaning, if I change them and get it sorted for one BigBox theme, will it apply to all themes?  Right now I just have something called "AllNightLong" as my theme and it's OK but won't be the final one I use.

EDIT: I can see now that there is a GameMarqueeView.xml file in each Theme folder under "View" and if that file isn't present it will default to the "Default" theme.  I don't want to derail your thread any further.

[uptown47]

Well if I can be any help mate just give me a shout and I'll do what I can.

Thanks.  Are the GameMarqueeView.xml and PlatformMarqueeView.xaml universal files?  Meaning, if I change them and get it sorted for one BigBox theme, will it apply to all themes?  Right now I just have something called "AllNightLong" as my theme and it's OK but won't be the final one I use.

EDIT: I can see now that there is a GameMarqueeView.xml file in each Theme folder under "View" and if that file isn't present it will default to the "Default" theme.  I don't want to derail your thread any further.

Yep, as you've already sussed out - the files are in each Theme.

If you are having problems with it you could create a thread over at the Launchbox forum and we could all chip in there to try and help you out. I'm sure with some back-and-forth, hair pulling and swearing we'd get there in the end

[uptown47]

Been meaning to post back for ages now just to show some of the extra bits and bobs I've added to the cabinet.

I'm not sure how many people have heard of DOF (Direct Output Framework) - it's some software that interfaces between Future Pinball (and Visual Pinball / Pinball FX3 as well) to link the game on the screen with your LED lights (and/or other physical real-world components). (https://directoutput.github.io/DirectOutput/)

After really enjoying playing some Future Pinball on the new cab I added 7 Siemens contactors to the inside of it and set up the DOF to fire my side LEDs and contactors according to what's happening on the play field.

It's difficult to see from the video but hopefully you get the idea....


It was relatively simple to get set up but provides for a great pinball experience. Especially the contactors which thump away against the cabinet as the ball fires off the bumpers etc

I also set up a jukebox on the cabinet. It's using "retrobox" (http://arcademy.fr/retro-jukebox.html) which is launched from LaunchBox/Big Box which I use as my front end.


Using the brilliant LEDBlinky to colour the buttons and also using the arduino to do fancy things with the programmable LEDs on the side of the cab.

I know it's not everyone's taste as some people find it a bit "tacky" but (personally) I love it. Especially the DOF on the pinball. Well worth exploring.

:-)

[Zeosstud]

Cabinet looks like a lot of fun.. Hope you are enjoying it..

Zeosstud

[uptown47]

Cabinet looks like a lot of fun.. Hope you are enjoying it..

Zeosstud

Yep, absolutely love it thanks Zeostud.

Really liking the pinball as well (surprisingly). Wasn't sure how well known DOF was around the cab makers on here but it really adds an extra dimension to the play.

:-)