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| Custom Lightgun Cab *completed* |
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| TapeWormInYourGut:
A little progress. Took apart the cabinet to prep and get everything ready to paint. Also took care of cutting the acrylic. Next steps are paint, applying the artwork, and then start installing the electronics and hardware. I got the artwork from GameOnGraphix and the quality is really nice. I'll post pictures when I install. I chose the the luster finish, but if I build another cab then it'll be gloss instead. Unfortunately the table-saw left some chips and of course I caused a few dents moving things around. I went through each piece and put on some Bondo and then sanded it smooth. Also finished all general sanding. Here is a portion of one piece as an example, but I had to go through 7 total. I also cut the t-molding slots, and cut all necessary holes for the buttons, stream deck, light-gun "holsters", coin door, and some notches for the monitor's shape. I decided to put the speaker behind the screen because I didn't really like the look, so I didn't cut any speaker holes. Cut 3 acrylic pieces as well and poked the holes. The acrylic was first cut a bit oversized, and then I used a flush bit on my router along the previously cut plywood to trim them down to exact sizes. Acrylic was messy, but everything is perfect without any chipping. Also added a rounded champer to the gun holster holes on the acrylic. I did the same to the front of the "control panel" as well. Finally recieved all of my PC hardware. Instead of mounting a standard PC case or directly to the cabinet, I bought a cheap "test bench" and will mount that inside the cabinet. Shouldn't have any issues with heat and still easily portable if I need to remove it. I then installed Windows and got most of the software ready. |
| thealumnus:
Thanks for sharing your build. I've been lurking for a little while now here and on reddit r/cade and other forums to try to make up my mind if I should build or purchase a custom Lightgun cabinet. I've seen the commercial 40 & 50 inch models you referenced and my issue has been deciding if I wanted to take that on. Your post has tipped me in the direction of doing it myself. Will be following your progress here with great interest. Total noob question: Do you mind sharing the name of the software you used to create your mock up and cutting templates? |
| TapeWormInYourGut:
Hey bud, sorry for the late reply. I've been using the tool called SketchUp for the plans. It has a bit of a learning curve. https://www.sketchup.com/en/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-free They have a free online version that runs in your browser which I've linked above. You need to create an account through. However, they're last Windows version that was free is "Sketchup Make 2016" which is actually what I use. You'd have to find a download for it through. It might just be the 2016 pro version without a license code. The cabinet is complete except for custom software that I've been slowly coding. I was hoping to have it done, but I'll work on posting pictures. Building myself had saved me $1-2k versus buying one, and I have far better components inside as well as better material. I actually have a doc that has all of my costs which I can post as well. I'll work on getting final shots and posting here this weekend. |
| thealumnus:
--- Quote from: TapeWormInYourGut on May 02, 2024, 08:08:23 am ---Hey bud, sorry for the late reply. I've been using the tool called SketchUp for the plans. It has a bit of a learning curve. https://www.sketchup.com/en/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-free They have a free online version that runs in your browser which I've linked above. You need to create an account through. However, they're last Windows version that was free is "Sketchup Make 2016" which is actually what I use. You'd have to find a download for it through. It might just be the 2016 pro version without a license code. The cabinet is complete except for custom software that I've been slowly coding. I was hoping to have it done, but I'll work on posting pictures. Building myself had saved me $1-2k versus buying one, and I have far better components inside as well as better material. I actually have a doc that has all of my costs which I can post as well. I'll work on getting final shots and posting here this weekend. --- End quote --- That's a great savings and probably the main reason I'm looking to build myself. Well that and in my early research based on comments here and other forums/ sites it became clear that there no perfect plug and play option so building your own at least ensures you understand how things work on the software side especially. Thanks for sharing the software. I actually couldn't tell it was sketchup that you used which is awesome ! I used sketchup for some non arcade projects back in 2014, and I'm going to look into it. Also appreciate your willingness to share some updated pictures of the work in both the completed form and any of the other in-between/ process images. With what you previously have shared it looks awesome. :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: |
| TapeWormInYourGut:
Thanks. Honestly the worst part is configuration and software, which I've been working on for a few months. Most emulators use raw device input or they'll use your mouse index to configure the player #. So gun #1 is not always player #1 depending on how things are plugged in, or if the emulator has the specific lightgun configured for a particular player. My software goes in and edits the configs for each emulator and game based on the port # that the gun is plugged into. I.e. Devices plugged into port 2 are updated in the emulator to be player 2. It doesn't completely configure the games, but it does update the device indexes or device Ids in the configs. It also handles outputs to trigger recoil and whatnot to the correct gun. Originally I used mamehook for outputs, but Mamehook is a pain since the outputs are defined by the USB Com device #s. These don't usually change once they're set, which poses the same problem mentioned in my first paragraph. So...I modified all of my mamehook ini files to use common mamehook-scripts, and then my tool corrects the COM port in those scripts before the game is launched. I.e., it changes the Player 1 recoil script to point to the correct COM port. But, I ended up scrapping mamehook since it doesn't support every game. So my software replaces that as well. It configures the lightguns (such as setting 4:3 or widescreen settings) and also handles the outputs to trigger the gun's recoil and whatnot. I'll leave details in the lightgun sub-forum when the tool is more complete. It's won't be a plug-and-play since it was made for my lightgun cab, but will be open sourced. Each game needs to have a profile in the tool in order to know how the lightgun should be configured, so it's not drop and go software. |
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