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4 Player Pedestal Build

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Shookie:
New member of the site.. getting started on my 1st build and have my 14 year old son helping me out.  He's been asking for an old school system for a while and I told him I wasn't going out and spending $5K to buy one.  If he wanted one, he had to help me build it so here we are.....  I'm a pretty handy guy (mid-40's) but have never built an arcade before, so I have some stuff to learn.  Have been reading and researching for a few weeks now.  Already have the panel partially designed in Fusion 360.

Key items in the build are:

  - 4 Players (pedestal style with a big TV mounted on a wall)
  - Servo Stick joysticks with LED balls
  - 7 buttons for P1 and P2, all LED
  - 4 buttons for P3 and P4, all LED
  - 4 buttons on sides for pinball style games, all LED
  - Trackball with RGB lighting
  - Separate player and coin buttons for all 4 players, all LED
  - Admin buttons including Play, Start, Stop/Exit, Volume Up, Volume Down and 2 Mouse buttons (left/right), all LED
  - Spinner with 2 separate buttons, LED
  - 4 cup holders

I am looking at Ultimarc for most of the hardware.  Was originally going to install a 5th joystick dedicated for 4-way games.  Decided against it and think I'm going to us Servo Stick joysticks and set it up to automatically switch to the right mode for each game.  I want the system to be as easy to use as possible for my wife, kids, friends, etc.  I'm welcome to other ideas here.

Ultralux buttons (with chrome) for everything except Admin, will use Gold Leaf for them.  I like the inserts on the Ultimarc site for $, players, start, pause, etc.....  I think 2 - I-Pac Ultimates should handle all of the joysticks, buttons and LED's.

Will add some USB connections, fans, etc.  Debating on adding speakers to the sides of the panel vs on the lower portion of the pedestal.  Haven't thought a ton about that yet.  Definitely don't want to rely on crap TV speakers.

For graphics, my son is working on designing something with all old school game characters.  A big collage of stuff on top of the panel.  Everything else will probably be black paint.  Maybe some random stickers on the sides.

For electronics, thinking a PC right now.  Love the simplicity of the PI 4 but think I want a little more horsepower.  Liking the Launchbox/BigBox interface and am leaning that way.  Haven't spent a ton of time looking at options there yet since I'm haven't even bought parts or started building yet.

Here's a pic of my son and I drawing out some different designs.  Helped a lot with spacing things right and translating that to Fusion.  It seems OK this way, but I've read some criticism of this shape.... will keep looking more.

The panel so far..... 48 inches wide, 6 inches tall and around 20 inches deep.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.  Looking forward to this!


BadMouth:
Link no worky.  At least not on tapatalk.

Shookie:

--- Quote from: BadMouth on December 29, 2020, 06:09:21 pm ---Link no worky.  At least not on tapatalk.

--- End quote ---
Realized I could put pictures right into the post.... hope that works better.

vertexguy:
Looks like a good start Shookie!  I definetly recommend prototyping the panel before committing

For me personally, I wouldn't put cup holders anywhere on it.  If you can't live without them I would put them on the sides or maybe even slightly under the cp. Putting them right up by the front is going to cause a number of distractions.   I would also reconsider some of your dedicated buttons.  How often will you need a mouse L and R button?  Assuming its for rare maintenance situations, leave that to a regular mouse inside the cab or use any of the buttons from the player controls.  I would also reconsider the outer player control layout.   You're going to all this trouble to make a 4 player cab, so make sure those outer players have just as good an experience as the inner.  Think about the type of 4 player games you want to play and how important wrist rests and elbow room are to you.  Good luck!

Shookie:

--- Quote from: vertexguy on January 04, 2021, 12:14:17 am ---Looks like a good start Shookie!  I definetly recommend prototyping the panel before committing

For me personally, I wouldn't put cup holders anywhere on it.  If you can't live without them I would put them on the sides or maybe even slightly under the cp. Putting them right up by the front is going to cause a number of distractions.   I would also reconsider some of your dedicated buttons.  How often will you need a mouse L and R button?  Assuming its for rare maintenance situations, leave that to a regular mouse inside the cab or use any of the buttons from the player controls.  I would also reconsider the outer player control layout.   You're going to all this trouble to make a 4 player cab, so make sure those outer players have just as good an experience as the inner.  Think about the type of 4 player games you want to play and how important wrist rests and elbow room are to you.  Good luck!

--- End quote ---

Thanks!

I can understand about the cup holders.  I kinda want them there and my son does as well so will keep them in the plan right now.  I'm sure at some point there will be a spill and I'll be annoyed, but I'll deal with it. 

About the mouse buttons, I've seen some other layouts with them and felt it was a nice idea to use in conjunction with the trackball.  You make a good point though.  Having a mouse below with the computer is easy and saves a few buttons, wiring, clutter, etc.

Regarding P3 and P4, We drew it out a few times and think what we have works.  That said, won't really know till I actually build a mockup of it.  Either cardboard or a thin sheet pf plywood or something.... will definitely build a test version and make sure the layout works.  We put the P4 joystick further forward so that persons elbow is far enough in front of P2's elbow.  Seems to make sense, but we will see.

Ultimarc has been out of stock on the trackball and spinner.  I think they are back in stock beginning of next week and I plan on placing my order for all the parts then.  Once I have everything, then I can mockup the CP and see how everything looks.

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