Ready to order controls! (first part of cabinet) -- Need some help!

[sofakng]

Today I purchased John St. Clair's "Project Arcade" book... and after about a year I'm finally ready to start my first cabinet project.  First I'm going to order a keyboard encoder, joystick, and buttons.  With this I'll be able to fool around with connecting it to my PC so I have something to use while I save up for the rest of the parts.  Next I'll buy a 25" or 27" (most likely 27") TV.  After that I'll start putting together the actual cabinet.

So, with that said... Here is my control panel parts list:

Happ's Super Joysticks (TWO of them)
http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/super_joy.htm

Happ's Pushbutton with Horizontal Microswitch (TWELVE of them)
http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/5891xxl.htm
Note:  This includes 8 buttons per player, 1 & 2 player start buttons, and 1 & 2 player "insert coin" buttons.  Other functions will be used via a "shift" button.

KeyWiz v1.5
http://www.groovygamegear.com/Page5.html

Now... here are my questions/concerns...

Joystick:  I'm not sure if the Happ's Super Joysticks are the right joysticks for me.  I plan on playing a lot of fighting games (Capcom almost exclusively), but also a lot of Metal Slug and other games including older 4-Way Pac-Man type of games.  Since this is my first cabinet and I want to start cheap (but be able to expand), I like the ability to switch between 4-way and 8-way.

Buttons:  These are pretty much a definite.  They seem to be the standard buttons for nearly all types of cabinets.  Do I have enough buttons?

Keyboard Encoder:  This is another area I'm not sure about.  Should I buy a KeyWiz over an IPAC?  I only plan on building a 2-player cabinet.    Does Ultimarc still sell the Mini-Pac?  Would that be the way to go if I plan on adding a spinner and trackball?

Other:  As I mentioned above, I do plan on adding a trackball almost definitely.  The spinner I'm not so sure about, but a trackball sounds like an awful lot of fun.  Please take this into account when giving me suggestions.

Any help would be greatly appriciated!  I'd like to order the parts either tomorrow or monday so I could (hopefully) get the parts by next weekend.

Again, thanks for any help.

[jcoleman]

You're going to need more than 12 buttons...

Also, you probably don't need 8 per player, unless you are planning on using the cabinet for Playstation games too.  I'd go with 6 or 7, depending on whether you want to match the Neo Geo layout or just approximate it with the Capcom layout.  Add your 1 and 2 player buttons and credit buttons and you have a total of 16, 18, or 20 buttons depending on how many you need for each player.

[abrannan]

I used supers in my project and I couldn't  be happier with them.  I play pretty much the same mix of games that you do.  Yes, if you had all of the various kinds of joysticks side by side, you might find you like another model better, but I don't think you'll be missing anything with the supers.

As far as buying from Happs, be paitent, they tend to do a joystick sale every now and then, which can knock the price down by almost half.  There are also a couple of ebay stores that sell the joysticks and buttons for cheaper than Happs.  

[sofakng]

Well, I might use the cabinet for PlayStation games, but I'm really not sure.  What would you suggest?  (6 or 8 buttons per player?)  Does Metal Slug use 4 buttons? (eg.  1 2 3 4, instead of Capcom's top row=1 2 3, bottom row=4 5 6)  I'm not sure what to do now...

What about keyboard encoders and my trackball situation?  Any suggestions on that?

[AmericanDemon]

Do a Cap/Neo Geo layout 7 button config.

Basically you have all 6 of the capcom buttons like normal, but you add 1 more button a little lower and to the left and then you have an almost perfect Neo Geo layout too!

[sofakng]

Ok, the Neo-Geo layout looks good to me.  So it will be 7 buttons per player.

I've decided I definitely want a trackball and a spinner.  How many extra buttons should I put next to my trackball on my CP?

Happ's Controls has a sale on their:
3

[Apollo]

It's a totally normal Happs 3" trackball it just has a slightly higher plastic lip for mounting to 2002-2204 Golden Tee ( which you don't need to be concerned about).
I have this exact same trackball and you would be hard pressed to find a better product anywhere, buy it. It only needs very slight mods to interface it to a mini-pac or opti-pac which basically just means cutting off a molex connector.

[sofakng]

Ok, it's actually this trackball (in case anybody else is curious):
http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/56010011.htm

What about the Mini-Pac vs IPAC+Opti-Pac thing?

[sofakng]

Wow!  I never realized how things add up so quickly... I just spent $400 on my control panel ALONE!  My next big purchase will be the TV (27" should cost around $200)... and then I'll build the actual cabinet.

How much does it cost to build the actual cabinet?  (with t-moldings and all the works to make it look professional)

Here's what I ordered so far in case anybody is curious:

2x Happs Super Joysticks (used for 8-way)
1x Happs 3" Trackball (Golden Tee edition)
1x Happs 3" Trackball Mounting Kit (just in case I decide to use it)
1x Ultimarc T-Stick Plus (used for 4-way)
1x Ultimarc IPAC/2 (USB and extra PS/2 cable)
1x Ultimarc Opti-pac (USB)
1x Ultimarc Wiring Kit (I needed wires anyways...)
1x Oscar's Vortex Spinner
1x Oscar's Engraved Spinner Top
18x Happs Black Pushbuttons
8x Happs Blue Pushbuttons
2x Happs Player buttons (1 and 2 player buttons)

Phew!  I can't wait to get all of it in.  It would certainly be nice if it came in before memorial day.

Does anybody see anything I missed when ordering?

[Chris]

Wow!  I never realized how things add up so quickly... I just spent $400 on my control panel ALONE!

And it's only beginning.   :O  Don't feel like you have to buy absolutely everything new... eBay is your friend.  I bought an old generic cabinet from eBay for $60, and it came with two joysticks, 14 buttons, a wiring harness, monitor glass, and a coin door.  If there's any source nearby of dead, trashed cabinets, get one if you can and strip it for parts.  Even the most water-damaged cabinet may yield a marquee holder, monitor glass, panel clamps, or some other useful part.

If you want a coin door, you'll need that.  Happ has 'em, but they turn up on eBay all the time.  (There's one at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=3294008286&rd=1 right now; it's missing locks, but includes mechs.)  Unless a coin door says it comes with mechs, you'll need coin mechs too.  And there are now custom BYOAC tokens available at http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=19225 .

Other specialty things you may need from Happs, eBay, or Bob Roberts (http://www.therealbobroberts.com):

- Arcade cabinet leg levelers
- Control panel clamps
- Lots of .187 18-22 ga. (red) female quick disconnects (two for each button or joystick direction)
- Lots of 18-22 ga. wire
- a 6-pin Molex connector to connect to your trackball

I'm sure lots of this is in the book.... I really should go out and buy it...

--Chris

[krick]

How much does it cost to build the actual cabinet?  (with t-moldings and all the works to make it look professional)

There's nothing wrong with building your own cabinet but you might want to consider buying an old cabinet and MAME-ing it instead of building your own.  You can pick up old cabinets at auctions for as little as $10.  It's a great place to start.  Then later when you've gotten a little deeper in the hobby (and your wallet has recovered), you can tackle construction of a cabinet from scratch.

I bought a complete working game (GigaWing) for $250.  It had a clean 25" arcade monitor and a 37" wide control panel.  It was originally a 4 player Sega cabinet from 1992, possibly "Arabian Fight" though all the original artwork is gone.
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/mame/gigawing.jpg

When I first got my cabinet, I just bought an arcadeVGA card and a J-PAC from Ultimarc.  I just plugged the J-PAC into the cabinet's existing JAMMA wiring harness and and I was playing games in about an hour.

I had to rig up computer speakers for temporary sound but now I have the sound pumped through the cabinet speakers using the "amplifier hack".

Does anybody see anything I missed when ordering?

There's a lot of little stuff that was mentioned in the last post.  However, if you start with an already functioning cabinet, you get a lot of that stuff.

[sofakng]

- Arcade cabinet leg levelers
- Control panel clamps
- Lots of .187 18-22 ga. (red) female quick disconnects (two for each button or joystick direction)
- Lots of 18-22 ga. wire
- a 6-pin Molex connector to connect to your trackball

Ok, the wire and quick disconnects I'm pretty sure I have under control.  I ordered the "Wiring Kit" ($19) from Ultimarc and that includes a bunch of cable, crimpers, and I believe they are disconnects (I just need that block from Radioshack now)

Do I need to buy that 6-pin Molex connecter in order to use my trackball?  Where can I buy one at?

Also, what are the control panel leg levelers that you mentioned?

Krick-- Thanks for the suggestions.  I'd be tempted to buy a used cabinet but I would be *only* interested in the arcade monitor.  I don't like the look of a lot of older cabinets, and a newer cabinet would cost way too much.  I'm still debating between an arcade monitor vs a TV, but thats a discussion for another thread

[Chris]

Do I need to buy that 6-pin Molex connecter in order to use my trackball?  Where can I buy one at?

Radio Shack will have it.  They'll probably call it a "6-position interlocking connector".  Should be a couple of bucks.

Also, what are the control panel leg levelers that you mentioned?

Control panel clamps and leg levelers.  I don't know what cabinet design you're using, so your design may or may not need clamps. http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/acesor/49005900.htm

Leg levelers are what the cabinet sits on.  Cabinets are HEAVY.  You may prefer to go with casters.  Arcade leg levelers usually have a 200 pound load rating, which is a bit of overkill, but make sure whatever you get it can take the weight.... http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/acesor/49100200.htm

There's lots of other stuff, I was just trying to think of the things most often forgotten...