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Author Topic: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"  (Read 4366 times)

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TebJohnson

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My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« on: March 22, 2021, 10:19:01 pm »
Hello all,
Long time reader, infrequent poster. I have finished my cabinet that I started about a year ago during the first covid stay at home order.
I built my first cab back in 1999 (yes, I'm old). It met it's demise about 10 years ago. I have been wanting to build another, learning from my mistakes for quite some time.
I used my sudden stay at home time back in April 2020 to start planning and cutting. Once I went back to work, it was pretty much weekends only. I'm happy to say that the cab is finally physically done (seem to be always tweaking front-end & other software related items). I've included a few images of the finished product.

I have received so much inspiration, information and help from this forum, I hope my cab can serve as inspiration for others just getting into this wonderful hobby.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask!

« Last Edit: March 22, 2021, 10:49:01 pm by TebJohnson »

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2021, 10:21:36 pm »
Cab on (hyperspin starting)
« Last Edit: March 22, 2021, 10:49:27 pm by TebJohnson »

Mike A

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2021, 10:49:22 pm »
That is the widest cab I have ever seen. (Pic is stretched)

thomas_surles

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2021, 10:49:32 pm »
Try screenshotting your pictures to reduce quality and upload that so it don't stretch.

Nvm it's fixed

vertexguy

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2021, 10:55:27 pm »
Looks like its coming together nicely.  Got more of a 3/4 or side shot?  Curious what you plan for that little screen up top?  Digital dynamic marquee under a static marquee?  Your bezel design with the light gun sensor is very similar to what I'm attempting.  I dig it.  Got any shots of how you mounted the sensor internally?
« Last Edit: March 22, 2021, 11:02:42 pm by vertexguy »

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2021, 11:02:34 pm »
The middle screen is an "instruction screen". Here come a few more images....

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2021, 11:03:33 pm »
Control Panel and corresponding instruction screen

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2021, 11:05:25 pm »
Just realized the led colors don't match in that one.  :laugh: Like I said, always tweaking that sort of stuff.

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2021, 11:09:53 pm »
Gun image shows up for gun games

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2021, 11:16:27 pm »
Here's an example of one of the screens. The actual images are 1920x1080 on the screen.

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2021, 12:38:48 am »
As I got it up and working, I was rediscovering all the great driving games. I figured I had 2 choices; build a dedicated racing cab (wasn't going to happen), or improvise with some modular add-ons. So here it is in racing mode.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2021, 12:40:28 am by TebJohnson »

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2021, 03:24:54 am »
Looks very good.I like the little instructions.Any chance of a side on foto?

bobbyb13

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2021, 04:25:08 am »
Instruction/controls to be used screen is cool.
What did you use for the screen and how is it implemented software-wise?

And how is your steering wheel staying stuck during play?

Cool cabinet.
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2021, 09:03:59 am »
Here is the monitor I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DD7GNXN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I am using hypermarquee / EDS to call up the controls image along with the marquee.

If you look at the control panel, you will see two holes above and to the sides of the trackball. The steering wheel has two posts (the original threaded bolts) at the top that fit down into the holes. The weight of it and the two posts keep it very stationary during play.

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2021, 09:10:14 am »
Looks like its coming together nicely.  Got more of a 3/4 or side shot?  Curious what you plan for that little screen up top?  Digital dynamic marquee under a static marquee?  Your bezel design with the light gun sensor is very similar to what I'm attempting.  I dig it.  Got any shots of how you mounted the sensor internally?

Both the monitor and the sensor are cut in to a piece of 1/2" ply so the fronts are all flush with each other. The sensor fits snug enough in the cutout that it doesn't go anywhere.

javeryh

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #15 on: March 23, 2021, 09:40:27 am »
Very nice job.  The instruction cards are really great.  How long did that take to customize every game??  I want to do something similar for my cab (instructions pop up after launching a game for like 4-5 seconds or maybe when pause is pressed) but I don't feel like making 100 different .jpgs for this...

Also, where are you getting marquees?  I can't find suitable ones for Fantasy, Pioneer Balloon, Mr. TNT and a few others.  Any leads?

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #16 on: March 23, 2021, 10:19:17 am »
Very nice job.  The instruction cards are really great.  How long did that take to customize every game??  I want to do something similar for my cab (instructions pop up after launching a game for like 4-5 seconds or maybe when pause is pressed) but I don't feel like making 100 different .jpgs for this...

Also, where are you getting marquees?  I can't find suitable ones for Fantasy, Pioneer Balloon, Mr. TNT and a few others.  Any leads?

Thanks!
Once I made a suitable template, making the controls screen for each takes about 5-7 minutes.
I am still working on it. I have about 560 mame games, and probably have about 180 screens done. I try to do a few every day.

The marquees, I started with what is out there on emumovies, google, etc. If I didn't like the quality or resolution, I recreated my own.
I just looked at pioneer balloon. As I don't have that game installed, I didn't have a marquee for it. But I'll take a crack at recreating a suitable one


vertexguy

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2021, 09:42:35 pm »
Love to see more photo and detail on your driving accessory mount.  Thats exactly what I wanna do.  What wheel and pedals is that, and is it all usb?  Full wheel rotation or only 180?  Any force feedback?
 I can't tell but do you store the controls in the cab?

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #18 on: March 24, 2021, 02:14:44 am »
Love to see more photo and detail on your driving accessory mount.  Thats exactly what I wanna do.  What wheel and pedals is that, and is it all usb?  Full wheel rotation or only 180?  Any force feedback?
 I can't tell but do you store the controls in the cab?

I found everything on ebay. The wheel is a monaco gp wheel. Picked it up for $23.00. It is an optical 360*. It is connected with an ultimarc spintrak usb adapter.
The pedals are from a revolt machine I picked up for $35.00  Both pedals are pots that are connected with an ultimarc A-Pac. The a-pac is in the control panel. I am using Cat6 wire to an ethernet port on the front of the cab. The pot wires are spliced into another cat with an rj45 on the end. All I have to do is plug in the ethernet cable. The a-pac stays plugged in all the time, so there's no issues with what windows sees as game controllers coming and going.
The box I built for the pedals has a bottom that is an inch deeper than the top/sides. This slides under the front of the cabinet and keeps it in place so it doesn't pop up or fall over when you press down on the pedals. Right now they are not stored in the cabinet. The driving controls were an after the cabinet was built thought. The front panel is on with pocket screws and no glue, so I could swap it out for a door down the road.
I'll get some pics of everything for you in the coming days. BTW, your cab design is awesome. I can't wait to see the finish product!

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #19 on: March 24, 2021, 02:25:18 am »
Very nice job.  The instruction cards are really great.  How long did that take to customize every game??  I want to do something similar for my cab (instructions pop up after launching a game for like 4-5 seconds or maybe when pause is pressed) but I don't feel like making 100 different .jpgs for this...

Also, where are you getting marquees?  I can't find suitable ones for Fantasy, Pioneer Balloon, Mr. TNT and a few others.  Any leads?

Here's a Pioneer Balloon marquee for you. I couldn't find a matching font, so I had to 'freehand' the lettering. Not 100% accurate, but close. Let me know what you think!

javeryh

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #20 on: March 24, 2021, 10:39:12 am »
Here's a Pioneer Balloon marquee for you. I couldn't find a matching font, so I had to 'freehand' the lettering. Not 100% accurate, but close. Let me know what you think!

Thank you!!!!  Pic HERE.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2021, 10:46:14 am by javeryh »

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #21 on: March 24, 2021, 12:02:06 pm »
You're welcome. Love It!!!

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2021, 11:44:24 pm »
Very nice job.  The instruction cards are really great.  How long did that take to customize every game??  I want to do something similar for my cab (instructions pop up after launching a game for like 4-5 seconds or maybe when pause is pressed) but I don't feel like making 100 different .jpgs for this...

Also, where are you getting marquees?  I can't find suitable ones for Fantasy, Pioneer Balloon, Mr. TNT and a few others.  Any leads?

Here's one for fantasy

javeryh

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #23 on: March 25, 2021, 06:45:25 pm »
Very nice job.  The instruction cards are really great.  How long did that take to customize every game??  I want to do something similar for my cab (instructions pop up after launching a game for like 4-5 seconds or maybe when pause is pressed) but I don't feel like making 100 different .jpgs for this...

Also, where are you getting marquees?  I can't find suitable ones for Fantasy, Pioneer Balloon, Mr. TNT and a few others.  Any leads?

Here's one for fantasy
Thanks!  I’ll get this going as well... I’ve been not adding games if they don’t have good marquees because I want it to look good more than I want to play it LOL.

Flicky is another one.  Awesome game but no marquee to be found other than super low resolution...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2021, 11:26:00 pm »

Thanks!  I’ll get this going as well... I’ve been not adding games if they don’t have good marquees because I want it to look good more than I want to play it LOL.

Flicky is another one.  Awesome game but no marquee to be found other than super low resolution...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
[/quote]

This was one of the hardest one's I've tried to clean up. Maybe you could be missing ones that I've already done!?!?  :laugh2:




javeryh

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #25 on: March 26, 2021, 09:15:43 am »
This was one of the hardest one's I've tried to clean up. Maybe you could be missing ones that I've already done!?!?  :laugh2:

 :notworthy: :notworthy:

If you haven't played this one it's the very definition of "Hidden Gem".  It's so easy to understand but really hard to master.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2021, 09:29:41 am by javeryh »

TebJohnson

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #26 on: March 27, 2021, 05:58:14 pm »

 :notworthy: :notworthy:

If you haven't played this one it's the very definition of "Hidden Gem".  It's so easy to understand but really hard to master.

I played it, and added it to my frontend. It is a good one! Thanks!

mgb

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2021, 11:11:15 am »
Very nice.
 I love the instructions screen

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Re: My first cab (in the last 20 years) "Covid Cab"
« Reply #28 on: March 29, 2021, 05:49:33 pm »
OP.  Nice build.  Wondering if you have plans or images of how the control panel box is constructed and attached to the cab.   I'm really struggling with attaching a CP to my cab. (currently in the planning stage still... 1 year later...)