Custom Lightgun Cab *completed*

Main > Project Announcements

<< < (3/5) > >>

TapeWormInYourGut:
After the core cabinet was put together, I then took it all apart, painted, and applied artwork. Painting took a while because I wanted a very nice finish. I ended up rolling on a black base coat, sanding, and then spray painted. I spent a lot of time painting and the final result looks almost like it was vinyl wrapped. I'm very happy with how the paint turned out.

To give some context on how things are held together, I used a pocket-hole jig to create pocket-holes in strategic locations that wouldn't interfere adjacent pieces or other hardware. Here are various panels with them drilled around the perimeter.

And here is the base:

And here are the various pieces being put back together as I apply the artwork. I also want to say that I don't regret getting the "luster" artwork finish over the gloss. With everything together, I really like the finish and I could not be happier. Gameongrafix did a really great job with the prints.

And here's the cabinet back together:

TapeWormInYourGut:
Next, I popped on the plexiglass bezel and added a frame around it to hide my poor measurements. Let's just say that the cab isn't 100% square and the plexiglass was far from a perfect fit:

I then started mounting the Marquee LCD and 43" Display.

I used a few L brackets for the Marquee:

And then I just used some VESA hardware and a 2x7 board to keep the display in place.

The IR LEDs for the lightguns needed holes in the plexiglass bezel, so I created a jig. I used tape to mark off where the holes needed to be placed after the screen was mounted. I then used the jig to align and drill the holes.

Afterwards, I painted the backside of both the Marquee and Display bezels. This was a DISASTER. The Marquee's bezel came out beautiful, but the primary bezel bubbled up. I waited the correct amount of time before spray painting, and I cleaned the plexi first. I'm not sure what cause the bubbling.

It was an expensive mistake, but, I fixed it by buying "mirror black" vinyl wrap off of Amazon. They had 10" car-wrap samples that were fairly cheap. I applied it to the front of the plexiglass rather than the back. It actually came out really nice. Not as nice as the paint would have came out, but I'm still happy with it. The only downside are a few seems that are not really noticeable.

And here is everything lit up.

TapeWormInYourGut:
After the cab was together with everything installed, I then started adding the hardware.

Here is the top with some of the Marquee boards mounted. It cam with 3 daughter boards. I drilled some holes into a piece of left-over acrylic, screwed in some atx motherboard risers to attached the boards to, and then put it all together. I then mounted this behind the marquee.

Here are the speakers and amp mounted in the center section. I just used wood around their perimeter and across the top to keep things in place. Please note that the speakers are moved out of place so that you can better see what I mean. The wood surrounds the bottom of the speakers so that they can't move.

And then the computer and power strip is mounted at the bottom. The power strip is one of those "smart" strips that disables a few sockets depending if power is being drawn from one of the main sockets. The computer and 43" display are always powered on. The marquee, speakers, and lightgun power supplies are only powered if the computer is turned on.

ORIGINALLY, I was going to use 1/2" plywood for the backing. But the cabinet is really sturdy and I also wanted it breathable. So, I used hardboard. I added some boards with slots that the hardboard can slide into. I also mounted fans to the hardboard which are wired into my computer.

I also use a Streamdeck to kick off some games. I'll be adding more shortcuts later.

And I also added USB ports to the bottom since the computer isn't easily accessible.

TapeWormInYourGut:
I also want to take a minute to talk about the guns. I use 8-pin GX16 sockets for the lightgun ports. Again, not too much detail since there is a lightgun forum, but I just wanted to show how the cabinet is connected.

It has 4 ports total, supporting up to 4 players. Then, there are dual power buttons to disable the recoil if desired. Each power button affects 2 ports. So each side has 2 sockets + 1 power button.

My cabinet software will do a bunch of calculations to determine which lightgun socket should be assigned to each player #. For example, if there is just 1 gun plugged in and it's on ports 3 or 4, then I assign it as player 2 because it's plugged into the right side of the cabinet. If the game happens to only support 1 player, then I assign it to player 1. If the game is a 4-player game and a gun is plugged into port 3, then it is assigned to player #3.

I configure the guns per game. The software also runs in the background to handle outputs (i.e. replacing mamehook). So it reads DemulShooter and Mame network outputs to trigger the recoil, rumble when damaged or when a coin is inserted, and whatnot.

The GX16 sockets are a combined USB2.0, and then 12+24v pins are used for the remaining 4 pins. This will allow me to create lightguns that have a 12v or 24v recoil, without the need remember which guns are 12v or 24v in order to plug into the appropriate socket. So, the 12v guns will use the 12v pins, and the 24v gun will use the 24v pins. Just plug an play.

TapeWormInYourGut:
So, whats the damage? Here are the various costs. I want to be clear that I set out to make something similar to those "commercial" cabs that people are making. I also want to play newer lightgun games at 1440p and higher.

The reason I am putting the costs here is because I know a lot of people are probably seeing these on Youtube and also see how much is being charged. Well, here is what it costs me in parts. I had all the tools already so no pricing on things like that. Keep in mind that I also use a lot nicer hardware than those cabinet builders, especially the display. The structure itself is of better materials as well. You can look at components that I used and determine where costs can be saved.

For example, you can get a TV display for half the price. I did not want to cut a hole for a remote IR sensor, and also I wanted g-sync at 4k. So I chose a screen that uses wireless tech for the remote and also supports a 120hz refresh rate without screen tearing. It's a gaming display and I have zero regrets on it.

You also don't need an acrylic bezel. I personally love the sheen and look. You can just use hardboard and cut a hole in it for the screen, which runs around $20 for a 4x8' sheet.

Finally, the GUN4IR lightgun costs are not included either. I hacked up arcade guns which cost me about 300$ each total. But you can mod toy guns for like $40 if you want basic guns.

Total cost: $3565

== CABINET ==
$ 310 - Wood (plywood, framing, base)
$ 150 - 1/4 (48"x48") acrylic for Bezels + Control panel
$ 120 - Materials (screws, bondo, paint, sand paper, rollers+brushes, felt, etc...)
$ 35 - T-Molding (T-molding.com)
$ 320 - Full Artwork prints
------------------------------
$ 935

== CABINET COMPONENTS ==
$ 580 - 43" Main Display (Samsung NEO G7)
$ 400 - 28" Active Marquee Screen (VSDISPLAY 28 Inch 1920x360 IPS Stretched)
$ 210 - Sony SS-CS5 speakers + AIYIMA A07 Pro TPA3255 Amp
$ 40 - i-Pac2 (T-molding.com)
$ 130 - Stream Deck (ebay)
$ 120 - odd & ends (USB cables, gx16 connectors, brackets, power socket/switches, wire, led strips, etc...)
$ 25 - 6 LED PushButtons (Ulitimarc).
------------------------------
$1505

== COMPUTER ==
$ 190 - Motherboard - MSI Pro Z760 WiFi
$ 190 - CPU - 12600kf or 12600k
$ 30 - CPU Fan - SE-224-XTS
$ 400 - Graphics - 3070 ti (ebay)
$ 100 - Power Supply - Corsair RM750e 750 Watt 80 Plus Gold
$ 90 - Memory - TeamGroup T-Create Expert 32GB Kit CTCED532G6000HC30DC01
$ 70 - Harddrive - 1TB Western Digital Blue SSD
$ 30 - Windows 10 Pro (International OEM License)
$ 25 - ATX Test mount frame (aka the "case")
------------------------------
$1125

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version