| Main > Project Announcements |
| Project: My first cabinet - Mid 90s and before! [Complete] |
| << < (14/15) > >> |
| minorhero:
--- Quote from: PL1 on October 09, 2024, 02:48:22 am --- A decent ratchet crimper with the correct dies for Dupont pins is your friend, especially if you intend to insert those pins into a housing. Even with the right tool it can be hard to get a good, clean crimp that fits into the housing. - Unlike horseshoes, hand grenades, and atomic bombs, "close" isn't good enough for Dupont crimps. :lol There are several posts in this thread showing how to mount a microswitch so pressing the coin return will trigger the microswitch. The downside to using this approach for power vs. coin is that someone (kids or guests?) could accidently shut the system down. --- End quote --- Yeah getting the darn duponts on correctly is.... terrible. I was trying to do it with needle nose plyers and was like.... there has got to be a better way. Then I watched some videos and everyone was using crimpers. Then I looked for how to do it without crimpers and the overwhelming response was.... don't. I mean some people said you can solder them and I tried that as well and after 20 failed attempts got 1 nice 2 pin connector and 1 ok... But it was painful. So I ordered a cheap crimper since the nice crimpers cost hundreds. It comes today so hopefully that will be good enough. I was going to light my coin return slots but you make a very good point about people accidentally turning it off. There is always that possibility but since most guests will see me turn it on via that spot, they will know not to push it again. Still to try and head these problems off a bit I think I will refrain from lighting the coin returns and thus make them a less tempting target. I did not think of using a microswitch though! I was literally going to solder some wires to the coin return mechanism so they touch when the lever is depressed. Using a microswitch is clearly the better method. Thanky! |
| minorhero:
Small update: I got the power button working :D I have an 90s era coin door on my machine I bought on ebay a while back. Once I decided to use a microswitch as the activation mechanism, it really simplified the build. I began by scrounging around for a screw that would fit the microswitch. Then I found a hole on the coin mechanism and widened it slightly so my screw could fit but was still tight. Then I attached the microswitch. The screw was a tight enough fit that I only needed one. After that it was a simple matter to cut a small piece of wood and glue it in place so that when the coin return was fully extended it just made contact with the microswitch. I attached the wood with some superglue: I am still waiting for my darn crimper tool (package was delayed) but I muddled through with needle nose plyers to do 2 connectors so I could attach this micro switch. Delightfully it worked on the first try without any fuss whatsoever. So now I can finally turn the cabinet on and off externally. In other news I got rid of the windows login, the recycle bin, and I tried (but failed so far) to get rid of the task bar. Once I manage that it won't look quite sooo windows-y when I boot up the computer. I also added big box to the startup folder. So there is that. I also did a MUCH better job attaching the marquee today. I used 1/4 inch plexi to hold it in place around the edges. Its thin and transparent enough it doesn't leave a shadow. So huzzah! In the still to do list there is getting rid of the task bar and installing the LEDs. |
| minorhero:
Update: I got in my crimper tool. It took a few extra days to come, but it did finally come and wow, is it sooooo much better then trying to crimp wires with a needlenose plyers. For those that may one day need to know what crimper to use (because there are many different sizes), I found this one to be the cheapest that would do the deed: iCrimp SN-28B After I prepared all my LEDs I then attempted to install them in the buttons. My first plan was to drill right down the middle of the button under the microswitch. This failed completely because the microswitch got in the way or the wires got in the way of microswitch (depending on placement). It was at this point I realized the importance of drilling holes in the switch to allow for the wires to pass through. BUT, that would necessitate a LOT of work on my part after attaching all the dupont connectors on the ends and I wasn't convinced it was necessary. Instead I ended up drilling for the LEDs in the side of the button at an angle. That worked incredibly well and was much easier to deal with. Here is how that looked: The light is probably not quite as even as it could be at the button tops, BUT it still lights up the individual buttons and it honestly does look good. So I am calling that one a win. Here is how my control board looked all wired up: At this point I installed the controlboard and began working on the software side of the LEDs. I downloaded LEDBlinky and started configuring it. And here I ran into a problem. I stopped configuration part way through and then later came back to it. BUT MAME would never light up more then the coin buttons and 1 player button. The pause button, and the rest of the player buttons never lit. I tried a bunch of different things but have not gotten any farther with that issue. I suspect it has something to do with a save state of some kind with LEDBlinky installing a config file somewhere that it never overwrote once I finished the configuration. Bigbox had no trouble lighting the correct buttons and the buttons would cheerfully go through animations, but not stay lit once the games started. That said... this is small potatos compared to what happened next. While I was spinning my wheels on the LED software issue I decided to go ahead and install the ventilation into the cabinet. To that end I bought some 3" soffit vents. I decided to pull my computer out of the cabinet for the drilling since I knew it would produce a lot of sawdust I wouldn't want to fall into my computer. I drilled the holes and installed the vents: I cleaned up the sawdust and then went to push my computer back inside. And that.. that was when I noticed my mini-usb cable that connects my IPAC Ultimate to my computer just kind of laying on the floor of the cabinet......... It would seem that my cable was a bit too short and I didn't even notice the tug when I pulled my computer out. But that tug would be when my too short cord ripped apart the usb port on the ipac ultimate... /le sigh. I watched some videos of how to desolder and re-attach a usb port but it looked beyond my skills. So now I have to wait for a new ipac ultimate before I can move further along on this build. I also ordered a longer mini-usb cable.... |
| Zebidee:
Nice work! The kids are going to love it! :applaud: USB ports are surprisingly difficult to solder. When I build GreenAntz units I do the USB first, because it is the most tricky. I also cheat and use hot air with some solder paste rather than trying to solder the tiny pins separately. If I screw it up anyway, then I can always just start a new board. A thought - I like the main power button bold and obvious, but out of the way - somewhere between the screen and marquee, or maybe between the screen and control panel, works well. You can get all kinds of power buttons, including ones with an LED-lit power symbol. Make it a feature. To tidy up power cables snaking out that hole in the back, you could install a female PC-style power socket (IEC-320) with built-in switch, LED and fuse. Then you can just use any normal PC power cable with it, or remove completely as convenient. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304569422089?chn=ps&_ul=AU&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1WLrXSc6VQD2TmAsydaKhbg4&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-170288-465394-0&mkcid=2&itemid=304569422089&targetid=325425753764&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9047123&poi=&campaignid=20874198158&mkgroupid=154197095902&rlsatarget=pla-325425753764&abcId=&merchantid=494523277&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3624BhBAEiwAkxgTOjgzr0weakTsJ8IxowcfBmn0neZjggmhKFnX2sRU03hBl6l39lsXWhoChXIQAvD_BwE |
| minorhero:
--- Quote from: Zebidee on October 14, 2024, 02:29:53 am ---Nice work! The kids are going to love it! :applaud: USB ports are surprisingly difficult to solder. When I build GreenAntz units I do the USB first, because it is the most tricky. I also cheat and use hot air with some solder paste rather than trying to solder the tiny pins separately. If I screw it up anyway, then I can always just start a new board. A thought - I like the main power button bold and obvious, but out of the way - somewhere between the screen and marquee, or maybe between the screen and control panel, works well. You can get all kinds of power buttons, including ones with an LED-lit power symbol. Make it a feature. To tidy up power cables snaking out that hole in the back, you could install a female PC-style power socket (IEC-320) with built-in switch, LED and fuse. Then you can just use any normal PC power cable with it, or remove completely as convenient. --- End quote --- Thanky! The kids definitely do love it, its a lot of fun playing with them. Yeah when looking at videos of how to deal with the usb connector I was hoping it was going to be a situation where you just snap in the new one and solder the corners or some such. That... was not the case. I asked briefly in a facebook group incase anyone had a trick but it was a lost cause. I've already ordered a new ipac. If I were building this for someone else I would definitely include a proper power button somewhere. But as it is, this machine will never leave my house, and wow, is it satisfying to press in that coin return button. The feel of it engaging the mechanism makes it easily the best pc power button I've ever used. It makes me want to find ways to mod my actual gaming pc :P Nice idea with the female pc power port. I like it! I was just going to drill the back and be done as its the back and will not be visible to anyone, but that is definitely a nice touch adding one of those to back. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |