A few questions from a beginner

[Hooch]

I'm building a 4 player mame cabinet, based on several designs floating around.  I ordered the Ipac4, but now realize it may not have enough inputs.  Player 1 & 2 have 6 buttons each while players 3 & 4 have 3 buttons each.  The joysticks are 8 way.  That alone is 50 inputs.  Then the 4 start buttons along with 2 buttons for each side of the coin mechanism (let me know if this doesn't use a spot) comes to 56, I haven't even gotten to the mouse buttons or admin buttons.  I only need 2 admin buttons pause and quit (unless someone can convince me I need more) and I suppose I could share those with mouse left and right with the aid of a shift button, but that still leaves me 2 short.  Any ideas, or am I stuck with adding on an Ipac2?

I'm trying to decide if I want to add a fan or vent to the angled section above the TV.  Any suggestions.

BTW here is the brief documentation so far of my project.
http://www.exv.net

Thanks,
Jeff

[JustMichael]

8-way joysticks only have 4 switches.  To go up-right the up and the right switches are pressed...  

[TalkingOctopus]

I'm trying to decide if I want to add a fan or vent to the angled section above the TV.  Any suggestions.

The fan would never hurt, but is probably unnecessary

[whammoed]

Mouse buttons do not hook up to IPAC.  You would need the optipac for that.  (or some other optical interface or mouse hack)

[Hooch]

Thanks for the quick replies.  I have to say out of the many online communities I've been a part of, this appears to be the most helpful and most courteous I have seen.  I've only been trolling around on the boards for about a week or two, but so far I love it.

Another quick question.  How many people use caster wheels, and does it help, also does it rock when you are playing with intensity?

[Pasqualz]

Hooch, it looks by your pictures that you are basically using LuSiD's plans. correct? I'm in the process of building my cabinet from LuSID's plans! Anyway, I'm planning on using casters for easy transport of teh cabinet, but I'm also thinking of putting leveling feet on the cab so that it will be less moveable once I put it in it's final location. So far I've been unable to find the levelers at home depot, but I knwo they're out there somewhere. Basically, they are plastic feet mounted on a bolt that screws into a metal piece mounted on teh underside of the cabinet. If you turn 'em clockwise, they move downward, and counter-clockwise moves them upward so that you can level the cabinet on any floor! If anyone knows where I can find these, please let me know!!!!!

[DaveMMR]

Thanks for the quick replies.  I have to say out of the many online communities I've been a part of, this appears to be the most helpful and most courteous I have seen.  I've only been trolling around on the boards for about a week or two, but so far I love it.

Another quick question.  How many people use caster wheels, and does it help, also does it rock when you are playing with intensity?

I wrestled back and forth with using caster wheels but decided to get a pair of stationary and a pair of rotating with a lock just in case I have to get to the back (that actually came from the cabinet building write-up whose author and webpage I can't seem to locate at this time).  The way I designed the inside of the cab, however, the only time I ever have to get to the back is if there's a TV problem.  The wheels won't be a big problem if the cab will be on a carpet, but with locking wheels you should be okay.

[Tailgunner]

I use casters on my sit down cabs, but my uprights use levelers only. Then again I own a refrigerator dolly and can move the upright cabs with little effort.

@Pasqualz:  I buy levelers at the parts counter of a nearby arcade/vending distributor. There are several online places that sell them, (Happ, Bob Roberts, Arcadeshop, ect..) or you could check your yellow pages to see who's listed under Amusement Devices or Vending.

[RayB]

To original poster:

Buttons and joystick switches only require 1 unique wire each. For the 2nd wire, the ground, they can all share the same ground wire. So there you go, 6 + 6 + 3 + 3 button, + 4x4 joys, + 4 start + 2 coin + 1 ground = 41

Plenty of room left for your admin buttons too...

[Hooch]

Hooch, it looks by your pictures that you are basically using LuSiD's plans. correct?

I got a lot of my design from Lusid, but I also took a lot from arcadeparadise.org.
a few small differences are the speaker panel doesn't go as deep, I used 1x1's to keep from putting screws in the side panel, the panels aren't flush with the sides (they are about 1/2" deep), and I used 2x4's for added support.

RayB, thanks for the help.  I didn't realize at first that 8 way joysticks only took 4 wires, that was where I was off on my numbers.

The one thing I keep going over in my head is if I want to make an access door out of the front panel.  My main problem is that I want it recessed about 1/2" deep and I'm not sure if it's possible to do that with hidden hinges.

In your experiences which was more difficult, the building of the cab or the wiring of the cab?

anyway, thanks for all the help.  Keep the posts coming with more helpful hints.

[RayB]

I always find wiring to be pretty easy. Just use cable ties and group your wiring in a logical manner, and try to use color coding too. If you do that, I find wiring is as easy as "slot A into B".

But it's been a while since the last cab I truly messed with -- In 1993 I wired a Super Nintendo console into an Arcade cabinet.

My MAME cab right now is still in parts acquisition mode. :-)

[Bumblebounces]

Another quick question.  How many people use caster wheels, and does it help, also does it rock when you are playing with intensity?

I didn't put casters on my cab for exactly that reason.  I didn't want it to be moving on me while was playing.  What I didn't realize then but I know now is that the damned cab is so heavy, it never would have moved.  I did decide to put "hand truck" style wheels on the back of the cab so I can tip it back and roll in and out of the house if/when I needed to.  This has proven to be very useful.  

One last thing...  Are you planning to have this cab on carpet?  If you are, what kind?  How much pad under it?  If you have thick pile carpet and good pad under the cab, it will likely rock back and forth a little, no matter what you do.  I have this problem and I was a little bent about it at first but you get used to it and it's no big deal.

Bumble