Thank you all for the helpful information over the past couple of months. I don't have the room or resources to go full arcade but I finally have a setup that works for me. I thought you might like to see the finished results.
The brains are an old Dell Optiplex 380 running Windows 10 off an SSD for super fast booting and using Launchbox (free version) as the front end. Bigbox looks sweet but ultimately I just don't really need it. I'm running mostly Mame, a couple of Sega Genesis games, Daphne, and Typhoon 2001. Launchbox does exactly what I want it to by unifying them all under one menu seamlessly. I'm also running a separate instance of a no-nag version of Mame using Mamesaver as my screen saver. This randomly loads a game and runs it for however long you want. Setting Mame to auto save means it's basically cycling though the attract mode of whatever games I put in there.
The controller is obviously an X-Arcade two player stick that I've had since 2007 but have upgraded with their new controller board. I know X-Arcade isn't popular around here, but I've personally never had a problem with mine. I performed a button mod to quiet the super-clicky microswitches down and it's like a whole difference animal.
Swapped out the right player with an Omni2 4/8-way switchable joystick from GroovyGameGear.com and I can switch it by pulling on two cables without opening the case. Installation wasn't too hard, but I did end up having to expand the routing out to fit the new stick, holes lined up fine though. The stick is awesome, I just wish I had bought the upgraded ball top instead. I mainly bought it for 4-way games and I always use my right hand on the stick and the left side buttons which allows you have be centered on the panel.
The spinner is the GRS Arcade spinner from Thunderstick. It was INCREDIBLY tight to fit this in the panel where it made sense and wouldn't get in the way. There's really not much room inside these panels! I could have just sacrificed a button, but I felt it was too much in the way. You probably also noticed I made an alteration to my spinner knob. The silver kinda stuck out so I sprayed it with four coats of Plasti-Dip rubber coating. It looks better and gives it more of a grippy finish. You can't see it in the pics, but I also installed the included "mouse buttons" you get on the left side. I probably won't use them much but I had room so I did. Spinner is well made and works great and when I had some minor issues, Thunderstick went above and beyond to help me out.
The 4x3 LCD monitor is on an articulating arm so I can easily rotate it for portrait orientation games.
The Kensington Expert wired trackball is locked down with velcro but easy to remove when I'm not using it. I know people are probably wondering why I don't just use the Tank-Stick with the trackball but I bought this years before that was available, also, the Tank-Stick is too wide for this cabinet.
I made a little steering wheel to slide over the spinner knob. The wheel is actually a lid from a Food Saver canister I had laying around. Usually they are white, but this one is black. The black ring around the edge is a vacuum cleaner belt. Underneath it is attached to a 1.5" rubber pipe cap with some velcro fuzz to give the knob something to bite into. The pedals are a USB programable footswitch. Only on-off switches but better than nothing.
I also rigged up a secondary fire button for games where I need both hands like TRON or Battlezone. It's just a cheap arcade button that fit perfectly in an old film canister.
The whole thing is actually on a hinged drop down table (I think it was a desk) and folds up out of the way when I'm not using it. Lighting is just an inexpensive color changing light bulb.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little tour! I'd always wanted a system with a rotating monitor, a 4-way switchable joystick, and a spinner, and now I do!
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Topic: My setup is finally done. (Read 3162 times)
