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Author Topic: Arcade 1up Conversion  (Read 6089 times)

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Denicio

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Arcade 1up Conversion
« on: October 20, 2020, 10:59:18 am »
I realize i may get slammed here for this question.......BUT..... 

Having sold my 2 real arcade cabs years ago i am looking for a simple solution to get back into a game for my mancave.  Before, i HAD to have an original cabinet. Now, not so much. Something close that has the feel of an arcade cab.

My plan is to get an ArcadeSD card and just built out the Control Panel that i want. I was looking at this option for 150.00 and it comes with a monitor. Not a terrible price.

Without dogpiling on me, is there something i am not considering with a project like this?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Space-Invaders-Arcade-Machine-Star-Wars-BattleFront-2-Bundle-Arcade1UP-Electronic-Arts-Xbox-One/617143752


jdbailey1206

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2020, 11:20:40 am »
May pbj suggest a pi?

Thenasty

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2020, 11:26:59 am »
If I did not have a Mame cabinet already, I'd buy that just for the Cabinet (then MAME it).

$150 is a great price IMO.

Thenasty's Arcademania Horizontal/Vertical setup.
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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2020, 11:52:30 am »
The $150 Space Invaders cabinet was originally going to be the cabinet I used for an Arcade1Up to MAME video I'm doing for my YouTube channel, but ultimately went with a Pacman one instead because my son invested some money into it as well and he wanted pacman. I'd jump on that $150 price, that comes with free shipping. It's the lowest I've found for one as well. I'm not a fan of the Arcade1Up's because of the limited games, limited control layouts, and tiny monitor, but for $150, that ain't nothing that can't be fixed.

Phreakwars

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2020, 11:58:29 am »
Also, I do have a little inside info here about this. Walmart is planning on reducing some of the older stock Arcade1Up's for clearance soon, probably around the holidays. If Space Invaders ain't your thing, you might be able to get another model at a low cost as well if you wait it out a bit.

negative1

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2020, 02:07:46 pm »
in before you get crushed by the haters:

try posting here, or getting the post moved here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,22.html

later
-1

Denicio

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2020, 03:34:19 pm »
The $150 Space Invaders cabinet was originally going to be the cabinet I used for an Arcade1Up to MAME video I'm doing for my YouTube channel, but ultimately went with a Pacman one instead because my son invested some money into it as well and he wanted pacman. I'd jump on that $150 price, that comes with free shipping. It's the lowest I've found for one as well. I'm not a fan of the Arcade1Up's because of the limited games, limited control layouts, and tiny monitor, but for $150, that ain't nothing that can't be fixed.

This was my thinking as well. Buy it knowing its getting gutted on day one. Basically buying the cabinet and monitor. Although i have heard the Monitor is a tad wonkey and needs an adapter kit to get fully VGA/HDMI.

I am toying with the idea of just building my own cabinet too.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2020, 03:38:07 pm »
You'll get better results by building your own cabinet, even if you use cheap-ass Chinese parts.  The build quality on these guys is similar to cheap bolt together furniture because that's essentially what it is.  You only get a 17 inch lcd that requires you to purchase a driver board to get it working on anything else so you are essentially buying some cheap controls and a tiny, flimsy cabinet.  Don't get me wrong for the right price anything is fun to toy with but imho 150 is still too high. 

leapinlew

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2020, 07:44:18 pm »
If you got the time....

I'd suggest checking craigslist and marketplace to get a cheap Arcade1up to mod. In doing so, you can get a good sense of the fit and finish of these units. If it's not your thing, you could probably resell it for most of your money back, or even a small profit.

I currently own 3 of these machines, but I've owned about a dozen total. One is a 60-n-1 conversion, a heavily modified to Gorf cabinet, and a stock Mortal Kombat cabinet. My biggest gripe is 1/2" MDF, but if you know what you're getting in to, you could be cool with it.

Good luck!

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2020, 11:16:44 pm »
Like I said, I'm in the middle of a conversion at this moment, and I can't say I disagree with Howard and leap. Very thin board. Tiny ass cams on the bottom. This thing is smaller then I expected, lucky for me I ordered the one with a riser. My original plan for this new build was to give some blueprints I have of a custom cab to my local cabinetry shop and have them make the shell for me since I suck at woodwork like no other. There is also a vinyl print shop in town and the owner is a buddy of mine. He can easily do full size cab skins. Honestly, that should have been the way to go if you are serious about building a nice arcade. I say you can make an Arcade1Up into a bad ass cab and do some easy transformations, but there are size limitations that I have run into thus far. Keep in mind, you'll want an admin set of buttons to access other features. There are a couple of ways to go. One way is add more buttons, another way is use an iPac controller's "SHIFT" function which allows you to assign different key actions to the standard buttons. Good way to cut down on wiring too.

Denicio

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2020, 11:36:15 am »
Like I said, I'm in the middle of a conversion at this moment, and I can't say I disagree with Howard and leap. Very thin board. Tiny ass cams on the bottom. This thing is smaller then I expected, lucky for me I ordered the one with a riser. My original plan for this new build was to give some blueprints I have of a custom cab to my local cabinetry shop and have them make the shell for me since I suck at woodwork like no other. There is also a vinyl print shop in town and the owner is a buddy of mine. He can easily do full size cab skins. Honestly, that should have been the way to go if you are serious about building a nice arcade. I say you can make an Arcade1Up into a bad ass cab and do some easy transformations, but there are size limitations that I have run into thus far. Keep in mind, you'll want an admin set of buttons to access other features. There are a couple of ways to go. One way is add more buttons, another way is use an iPac controller's "SHIFT" function which allows you to assign different key actions to the standard buttons. Good way to cut down on wiring too.

Thanks to you and ALL for the replies. I've decided to simply just build my own cab.   

This place seems to have many solutions. Just weary of the 85% accuracy though....        https://www.classicarcadecabinets.com/ms-pacman.html

The more i look into the 1up, the more i see i will be spending extra unnecessary time and $$ to get it where i can simply follow along with the link above.  I have found a local print shop that can print the side panels to full size.....SO...my options are:

1. Print Sides only, cut those, get the Control Panel and reverse engineer it from there.
2. Find a local wood shop who has a CNC set up and pay them to cut all the parts. Again....paying someone to cut something with 85% accuracy gives me pause.

I am 'decent' with wood working tools (because i am too cheap to pay retail for many things i use). I have learned that dark stains or black paint...with my cuts......hides a lot of imperfections :-) I can fake it pretty good! For instance, i have attached a picture of the outdoor kitchen i did last summer. I am no Bob Vila...but i kinda know my way around a saw to fake it well enough......

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2020, 10:09:35 pm »
85% accuracy just means it hasn't been verified and with a ms-pac it'd be virtually impossible to verify all of those curves. 

I built a pac-man from scratch.... it wasn't hard and I had the basic cabinet together in a day or two.  You need to be good with a jig-saw though as it's basically all curves.  A tip I would give is to buy your control panel (I'm assuming you want a metal one for ms-pac) before you build to make sure you get the width right.  Also don't buy a pac/ms-pac control panel but rather a game that uses the same one like sky shark.  Since pac-man is such a popular franchise you'll pay top dollar for "pac-man" arcade parts even though other games had identical parts. 

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2020, 10:33:25 pm »
I've had way more luck finding a machine and refurbing it. You might be on the hunt for a while to find a machine that isn't an arm and leg since retro is so hot, but if you are patient, you can find something.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2020, 11:47:14 pm »
You should’ve kept the Dynamo!


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Denicio

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2020, 11:16:26 am »
85% accuracy just means it hasn't been verified and with a ms-pac it'd be virtually impossible to verify all of those curves. 

I built a pac-man from scratch.... it wasn't hard and I had the basic cabinet together in a day or two.  You need to be good with a jig-saw though as it's basically all curves.  A tip I would give is to buy your control panel (I'm assuming you want a metal one for ms-pac) before you build to make sure you get the width right.  Also don't buy a pac/ms-pac control panel but rather a game that uses the same one like sky shark.  Since pac-man is such a popular franchise you'll pay top dollar for "pac-man" arcade parts even though other games had identical parts.

That was going to be my plan. My old Mrs Pac Man to Multi refub in 2015 used a Control Panel i got (complete) from The Arcade Shop. Nice CP but all the buttons were utter shite. So i ended up spending MORE money on it having replaced all the micro switch buttons to leaf and the joystick too.
It seems Twisted Quarter has blank/drilled CP's for cheap. SO i was leaning on that...and then just building out the CP with good leaf buttons, stick and a track ball.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2020, 02:40:54 pm »
I realize i may get slammed here for this question.......BUT..... 

Having sold my 2 real arcade cabs years ago i am looking for a simple solution to get back into a game for my mancave.  Before, i HAD to have an original cabinet. Now, not so much. Something close that has the feel of an arcade cab.

My plan is to get an ArcadeSD card and just built out the Control Panel that i want. I was looking at this option for 150.00 and it comes with a monitor. Not a terrible price.

Without dogpiling on me, is there something i am not considering with a project like this?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Space-Invaders-Arcade-Machine-Star-Wars-BattleFront-2-Bundle-Arcade1UP-Electronic-Arts-Xbox-One/617143752

You can get a blank one for $150 here.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2020, 05:06:19 pm »
You can get a blank one for $150 here.
Blank what? That's a user-supplied artwork package for an Arcade 1Up.

Vocalitus

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2020, 01:43:40 am »
You can get a blank one for $150 here.
Blank what? That's a user-supplied artwork package for an Arcade 1Up.

Correct.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #18 on: November 29, 2020, 04:40:36 pm »
I bought two A1UP cabinets for the very reason you were considering. From day one of ownership I wasn't happy with them and continued to upgrade them thinking the more authentic I made them the more I'd like them. Commercial grade controls? Better, but nope. Lit marquee? Looks good but the novelty wears thin when its at eye level sitting down. Coin door? Cool, but nope. PC? Got the games, but its no fun when the monitor is in front of your stomach. With a riser... The 1/2" mdf for the side panels is reasonably strong for a small cabinet but the kick panel will crack if you sneeze on it. It really is a flimsy box. Nothing is hinged, and the machine screws strip the wood after a handful of times opening it up to tinker with the control panel. And don't even get me started about the back panel. Walmart has blown brand new cabinets out at $50 or less but you'll pull your hair out trying to snag one. And people on classifieds think their some kind of collectors item and charge 3 times what they paid. But all things considered, the components should easily exceed $150. The custom art, monitor, cheap controls... They must get quite a bulk price from their sources.

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #19 on: November 29, 2020, 10:50:55 pm »
if you're lucky and check brickseek, you can find $50 deals.

this guy just got a pac-man 40th anniversary one for $50:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Arcade1Up/comments/k3np0d/the_legends_are_true_of_the_fabled_50_dollar/

later
-1

Drakkorcia

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Re: Arcade 1up Conversion
« Reply #20 on: December 05, 2020, 04:56:30 am »
if you're lucky and check brickseek, you can find $50 deals.

this guy just got a pac-man 40th anniversary one for $50:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Arcade1Up/comments/k3np0d/the_legends_are_true_of_the_fabled_50_dollar/

later
-1


I agree, but the key phrase is, "if you're lucky". I never was. And it's very aggravating. There are resellers/scalpers that live on brickseek and go in at a moments notice and snag everything up. This was another complaint I had with A1UP; they have no control over their distributors and this creates a very unbalanced market which gives the lucky and the scalpers rock bottom deals and makes others who bought cabs for $300-500+ kick themselves. It just sours the whole experience imho.