Author Topic: System 1 Cab (updated 5th June, DC added!) (Read 43935 times)

Minwah · « **on:** May 01, 2004, 06:55:28 am »

Here's my first MAME cab

I've been working on it (on and off) for the past 6 months, and I just have it up and running. I figure it will be a while until I completely finish it, so I thought I'd post some pics now...

I built the cab from scratch, with the design based loosely on Atari's System 1 cab (RoadBlasters, Marble Madness, Peter Packrat, Indiana Jones, Road Runner).

I still have to do:

3x Control panels (inc. artwork),
Sideart.

As always comments etc are more than welcome

My pics aren't terribly good, but here goes:

Minwah · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2004, 06:56:14 am »

Side view:

Minwah · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2004, 07:01:01 am »

Running:

stuzza · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2004, 08:04:45 am »

Looking great so far Minwah!

Cool idea having the admin buttons and speakers on a separate panel. What size monitor you got in that?? Hmmm... I wonder what frontend you'll be running.... LOL

JoeB · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:36:50 am »

Your first MAME cab!?

How can the author of one of the best front ends out there never have a cab in the first place? Have you been running MAMEWAH on your regular PC up to now?

If so.. AMAZING! MAMEWAH feels like it was written from the ground up to run on a machine rather than desktop PC!

paigeoliver · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2004, 10:29:25 pm »

Nice, I own a System I cabinet. That is spookily similar. Although the back is a bit different towards the bottom.

If I were you I would have made the side panels exactly the same, that way you could buy the repro System I sideart if you ever felt the need.

I guess you will be using gamelauncher?

steve_pss · « **Reply #6 on:** May 02, 2004, 02:42:15 pm »

Nice cab man! Make sure you stay away from the MameWah FE tho

Harakiri · « **Reply #7 on:** May 02, 2004, 07:47:50 pm »

Congrats Min, that's one of the best cabs i saw around here ever!

BTW: I love the speakers panel!

SaiNRuB · « **Reply #8 on:** May 03, 2004, 12:44:07 pm »

Just wanted to say what a nice cabinet youve built there. I love Roadblasters and Indy and the Temple of Doom so im really feeling that design you got.

Good Job man and if you need any help with setting up Mamewah let me know.

Minwah · « **Reply #9 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:37:43 pm »

Quote from: stuzza on May 01, 2004, 08:04:45 am

Looking great so far Minwah! Cool idea having the admin buttons and speakers on a separate panel. What size monitor you got in that?? Hmmm... I wonder what frontend you'll be running.... LOL

Well I'm planning to make swappable control panels, so I thought why not have the start buttons permanately placed to save buying (& wiring) those buttons on every panel. I thought it might also make the speaker panel a bit less bare. I only have 1 admin button, which is pause and also the IPAC shift function - I don't like using P1 Start as shift because of those accidental 'quits'.

It's a 21" monitor, looks quite big in the cab when compared to an original System 1 (they had 19" screens)...

You guessed the FE

Here's how my skin looks on-screen:

Minwah · « **Reply #10 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:40:16 pm »

Quote from: JoeB on May 01, 2004, 09:36:50 am

Your first MAME cab!?

How can the author of one of the best front ends out there never have a cab in the first place? Have you been running MAMEWAH on your regular PC up to now?

If so.. AMAZING! MAMEWAH feels like it was written from the ground up to run on a machine rather than desktop PC!

It's true, the best I've had until now is a HotRod. I've always hated desktop FE's since you (usually) have to have access to your arcade controls, mouse and keyboard, which is a pain. So it was effectively written for cabs, I knew I'd want one some day

Minwah · « **Reply #11 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:43:12 pm »

Quote from: paigeoliver on May 01, 2004, 10:29:25 pm

Nice, I own a System I cabinet. That is spookily similar. Although the back is a bit different towards the bottom.

If I were you I would have made the side panels exactly the same, that way you could buy the repro System I sideart if you ever felt the need.

I guess you will be using gamelauncher?

Well I couldn't get all of the exact dimensions / angles etc., so I decided it would be a loose copy rather than a replica. I did consider the System 1 sideart, as it is generic, but I think I will eventually design something myself. The bottom rear of the cab I purposely changed, so the machine can be pushed nearer to walls (with skirting boards) and also just to have a slightly smaller footprint.

Minwah · « **Reply #12 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:45:31 pm »

Quote from: Fiend on May 02, 2004, 07:47:50 pm

Congrats Min, that's one of the best cabs i saw around here ever!

BTW: I love the speakers panel!

Thanks, I wasn't sure I would like that panel when finished. I was hoping to just route 4 or 5 grooves for the speakers (old skool style), but my routing wasn't up to it. I was a bit worried the speaker grilles might look a bit crap, they look OK tho...If I ever get the urge I could cover the whole panel with a grill like the 'real' System 1's...

Minwah · « **Reply #13 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:47:05 pm »

Quote from: SaiNRuB on May 03, 2004, 12:44:07 pm

Just wanted to say what a nice cabinet youve built there. I love Roadblasters and Indy and the Temple of Doom so im really feeling that design you got.

Thanks

RoadBlasters is one of my old favourites too, looking forward to making my driving panel now!

patrickl · « **Reply #14 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:47:48 pm »

Really slick cab. Looks incredibly professional.

Do you plan to run the glass over the monitor and marquee in one piece?

Minwah · « **Reply #15 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:53:19 pm »

Quote from: patrickl on May 03, 2004, 03:47:48 pm

Really slick cab. Looks incredibly professional.

Do you plan to run the glass over the monitor and marquee in one piece?

Thanks

Yes, the glass will sit in a groove above the speaker panel:

Minwah · « **Reply #16 on:** May 03, 2004, 03:55:02 pm »

...and be held in place by the hinged top panel, with a similar groove:

I will probably stick some T-molding onto the glass to break up the marquee from the screen - I'm interested to see what it looks like without first tho...

jcrouse · « **Reply #17 on:** May 15, 2004, 03:59:43 pm »

What are the two cutouts in the front for? One is probably a coin door. Is the othe for a pedal for driving games? I like the idea of swappable panels. I just finished my first cocktail. I built an upright last winter. I am now reworking the upright and may go with swappable cp's. Next winters project is a driving cockpit. GEEZ......No wonder i'm still single at 40+.

LOL,
John

paigeoliver · « **Reply #18 on:** May 15, 2004, 06:58:26 pm »

The right cutout is where the over/under coindoor goes. The left cutout is for the front door, the boards go behind it.

Minwah · « **Reply #19 on:** May 16, 2004, 09:41:23 am »

Quote from: jcrouse on May 15, 2004, 03:59:43 pm

What are the two cutouts in the front for? One is probably a coin door. Is the othe for a pedal for driving games?

Paige is right, here's a pic with the PC board installed:

Oh, and you see the 8 shiny carriage bolts - that's for the pedals (pedal levers yet to be installed...)

I'm glad I went for swappable panels, even tho I only have 1 so far...I'm beginning to miss my old favorite OutRun

Stingray · « **Reply #20 on:** May 21, 2004, 03:23:52 pm »

Fantastic work! This cab is going to look great when you have all of the finishing touches in place.

-S

dirt · « **Reply #21 on:** May 22, 2004, 04:21:37 pm »

well i guess i'm not the only one with a system 1 mamecab. yours looks great!!! i cant wait to see it finished. after looking at your machine i think i want to put some balltop joys in mine now as well as some colored buttons. that would be new for me because the last 4 cabs i've built have all had black joys and buttons. mine is working but now i need to do all the artwork. i bought it as a working jamma cab for $103 on ebay then sold the "boogie wings"pcb for $97.50 also on ebay. i put it together with an extra ipac and computer that already had an arcadevga card in it. does that fe look familiar

Minwah · « **Reply #22 on:** May 24, 2004, 03:17:25 pm »

Quote from: Stingray on May 21, 2004, 03:23:52 pm

Fantastic work! This cab is going to look great when you have all of the finishing touches in place.

-S

Thanks

, yesterday I installed 1 more touch:

In case anyone's interested these are analog Happ pedals I got from ebay. The pedals themselves were a bit rusty/scratched so I sanded them back, primed and resprayed with Hammerite smooth silver paint. Then finally I stuck on skaters grip-tape, to prevent the paint wearing off (the pedals probably had something similar stuck on originally, I could see the remains of the adhesive). I have replaced the pots with 100k ones, and interfaced as per the instructions here: http://www.gunpowder.freeserve.co.uk/wheels/wiring.htm. So far they work great

, don't have a steering wheel setup yet tho

Edit: I have since been using a Gameport > USB adaptor, as the calibration seemed to go out when using just the Gameport. Also, the input is more stable through the USB convertor.

Edit 2: I'm now using an AKI (AKI0) to interface the pedals, as it was proving to be a pain configuring things. Some devices on some of my control panels would appear before the pedals, messing things up. Works great btw

Minwah · « **Reply #23 on:** May 24, 2004, 03:20:52 pm »

Quote from: dirt on May 22, 2004, 04:21:37 pm

well i guess i'm not the only one with a system 1 mamecab. yours looks great!!! i cant wait to see it finished. after looking at your machine i think i want to put some balltop joys in mine now as well as some colored buttons. that would be new for me because the last 4 cabs i've built have all had black joys and buttons. mine is working but now i need to do all the artwork. i bought it as a working jamma cab for $103 on ebay then sold the "boogie wings"pcb for $97.50 also on ebay. i put it together with an extra ipac and computer that already had an arcadevga card in it. does that fe look familiar

Cool, seeing your 'real' System1 in black makes me quite pleased how my fake one turned out, looks quite close

I really like ball-tops, but for more colour choice you could always get coloured bat-tops. I'm not sure if I will use the NeoGeo colours in my final stick panel (that one is a test one), but I really like the red

And yeah, nice fe

AlanS17 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 24, 2004, 04:05:07 pm »

Quote from: Minwah on May 24, 2004, 03:17:25 pm

Thanks , yesterday I installed 1 more touch:

Show off...

j/k

I wanted to do that with mine but I never got around to it. Got everything else working and then I never finished it.

Minwah · « **Reply #25 on:** May 24, 2004, 07:07:35 pm »

Quote from: AlanS17 on May 24, 2004, 04:05:07 pm

Show off... j/k

I wanted to do that with mine but I never got around to it. Got everything else working and then I never finished it.

Well I always knew I would eventually want pedals...I found a RoadBlasters type pedal which I was going to use (it has it's own housing and could easily be bolted on as an afterthought), but I thought it worth getting 2 for more compatibility. Then I found these pedals, and so planned how to fit them from day 1 (well day 5):

AlanS17 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 24, 2004, 07:16:03 pm »

Does the plate mount from the inside or what? It's a very clean install.

Minwah · « **Reply #27 on:** May 25, 2004, 05:15:46 am »

Quote from: AlanS17 on May 24, 2004, 07:16:03 pm

Does the plate mount from the inside or what? It's a very clean install.

Actually I just removed the plate and drilled holes in a similar pattern through the front panel. The pedals are long enough to reach through the 18mm MDF...

Only problem with this method is trying to insert the pedals themselves at the same time as holding the mechanism springs round under tension. Throttle was OK but the brake uses 2 springs, only 1 minor flesh wound suffered tho

Minwah · « **Reply #28 on:** June 17, 2004, 01:27:20 pm »

Installed the coin door & front door the other week

(pic deleted - see one below)

kujina · « **Reply #29 on:** June 17, 2004, 09:04:25 pm »

Really nice cab so far, I take it you used 18mm MDF how does the 3/4" (19.05mm) t-moulding fit?

Minwah · « **Reply #30 on:** June 18, 2004, 04:41:23 am »

Quote from: kujina on June 17, 2004, 09:04:25 pm

Really nice cab so far, I take it you used 18mm MDF how does the 3/4" (19.05mm) t-moulding fit?

Yep 18mm MDF...the T-molding fits fine, there is a *slight* lip each side, but you can't really see it. You can just about feel it if you run your finger along the edge.

kujina · « **Reply #31 on:** June 20, 2004, 01:30:17 pm »

Hi Minwah

One more question related to the t-moulding, where did you get the router bit to cut the groove?

...Thanks...

Minwah · « **Reply #32 on:** June 21, 2004, 10:24:16 am »

Quote from: kujina on June 20, 2004, 01:30:17 pm

Hi Minwah

One more question related to the t-moulding, where did you get the router bit to cut the groove?

...Thanks...

www.screwfix.com . Be careful tho as you have to buy the cutter, arbor & bearings separately. The cutter I got from there has 2 wings, rather than the 3 wing ones I've seen pictured/link to here frequently.

kujina · « **Reply #33 on:** June 22, 2004, 09:08:41 am »

I see you

Minwah · « **Reply #34 on:** June 22, 2004, 11:41:22 am »

Quote from: kujina on June 22, 2004, 09:08:41 am

I see you

kujina · « **Reply #35 on:** July 18, 2004, 08:32:04 am »

What kind of paint did you use, the finish looks great.

Minwah · « **Reply #36 on:** September 16, 2004, 03:52:50 pm »

OK after 4 months off or so (thanks to making my analog control panel, then having to add analog support to MAMEWAH!), I decided to start work again.

I've been a bit pissed off with where I filled the screw heads...for some reason the filler expanded (maybe absorbed moisture from the primer?) at some point and so all the screw heads show (well, the filler protrudes). On the side panels I will rub them flat before I apply the sideart, so am not too bothered about that atm.

I decided to remove the coin door and pedals, rub down the protruding filler on the front panel, and cover the whole front panel & door with some Happ vinyl I had spare. I'm really pleased I did this - a big improvement IMHO

Edit: just thought I'd add in case anyone's interested, that the vinyl looks very black in reality - the camera flash makes it look quite grey here...

Generic Eric · « **Reply #37 on:** September 16, 2004, 04:19:35 pm »

Be careful on the corners and edges, that looks sharp!

hunky_artist · « **Reply #38 on:** September 16, 2004, 07:06:22 pm »

that cab looks fabuous... cant wait to see more

I was wondering if I could ask a favour, what's the inside measurement... I'm curious how wide your control panel is (in the planning stages of mine you see)

thanks!

daywane · « **Reply #39 on:** September 16, 2004, 09:23:19 pm »

I also noticed your doors. (from your first picture) also the built in shelves in the wall.

Nice house.
I am working on my house 1 weekend on house 1 weekend on arcade cabs.

I like the green walls


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