Cabinet Construction Complete... GUNCON2 Interface Circuit Assembly...

[tivogre]

I ordered it from Action Electronics online.

http://www.action-electronics.com/ppkeysto.htm#Plates

It's in the "Stainless Steel Wall Plates" pdf here:

http://www.action-electronics.com/pdf/03-033ae.pdf

Part number WP-C/M

They have a WIDE variety of plates with different connector and hole configurations.

The pass through jack I used is on that same page in the feed through section.



Their prices and shipping were reasonable;  they were quick.

[tivogre]

Tonight I cut out the left side panel for the cabinet.

I still have to trim up the small radius corners, but It's pretty close.

I'm especially happy with the large radius curves:



Details of the cutting process are on my site here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2042

Next I'll finish up the small radius corners and see if this will be an acceptable template for the right side.  I think (hope) it will!

[kickngas]

Great work.  Beautiful curves!  I just have to ask....how much will that sucker weigh?  I just had to move my cab upstairs to my FROG, and it was like lead and didn't even have any electronics installed!

[tivogre]

At long last, BOTH side panels for the cabinet are CUT!!!

I spent a while today "tweaking" the left side panel getting the small radius curves the way I wanted them, and making sure I had a nice even reveal all the way around the frame.

It's amazing how much differences just the little detail of rounding over the sharp corners into smooth curves makes in the over-all appearance of the cabinet.

Once I was satisfied, I did a test fit of the left side panel on the RIGHT side of the frame;  It fit dead on!  That made my life MUCH easier.

At that point, I made fairly short work of duplicating the side panel;  here is the resulting test fit:



As you can see, both side panels, the control panel, the coin door assembly and the keyboard drawer all play together nicely. 

The gory details of side panel construction are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2043

Next up is installing t-nuts into the side panels so they can be mounted, cutting the t-molding slots in the sides, and laminating the sides.

[tivogre]

I decided against using t-nuts to attach my panel sides.

Instead, I decided to embed bolts into the panels like I did for all of the other removable panels on the cabinet.

Yesterday, I drilled all of the through holes for mounting the panel sides, and cut all of the recess holes to conceal the bold heads:



While the side panels were in the (now dusty) shop, I went ahead and routed the t-molding slots in the panel sides.



I put up a tutorial on both of these processes (mainly focusing on getting the holes drilled square to the panel surface and getting a perfectly centered groove) as part of my web log update:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2044

Next up will be laminating the inner panel surfaces and then installing the bolts with epoxy...

[tivogre]

I spent a few evenings doing some pretty mundane stuff...  drilling the bolt holes in the cabinet frame to match the sides, and filling in jig / screw holes with Bondo in preparation for laminating the side panels.



This week-end I got the inside of both panels laminated (the protective plastic is still on them for now):

   

I'll have to permanently install the bolts and fill in THOSE recesses before laminating the outsides.

The week-end update is here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Days%2045%20and%2046

[tivogre]

Today I installed the bolts that will hold the side panels on to my cabinet frame.  There will be 10 1/4" bolts per side;  no exposed hardware on the outside of the cabinet.

After temporarily installing the bolts,



I filled in around each bolt head with some epoxy:



Giving me permanently installed bolts!



Web site has been updated:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2047

Next up is to sand the epoxy flat, touch up with some Bondo, then get the outsides of the side panels laminated.

[tivogre]

Today, I got all of the prep work done;  I'm ready to laminate the "Money Side" of the side panels!

I started by sanding down all the epoxy, going over the bolts with Bondo, and then sanding that smooth to get as good a surface as I can for the laminate application:



Then I traced the cabinet side outlines onto both sides of the laminate, as I have done before:

 

 

Next up is applying the contact cement and getting the LAST TWO SHEETS of laminate applied!!!

Web site update for today:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2048

[tivogre]

...
Well, almost.  I have the t-molding installation yet to do.  That will be last so I can get it right down against the control panel.

BUT the last of the laminate is applied.

I'll spare you the details here.  You've seen them before;  they're on the web site here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2049

The finished sides look GREAT!  Even better than I'd hoped.  Especially after I took off the protective plastic:

 

Unfortunately, black laminate doesn't photograph as well as it looks in person.

The to do list is getting shorter:

Complete the wiring for the admin panel, including the cabinet volume knob

Finish the marquee panel and install the glass / marquee

Bolt all the removable panels on to the cabinet

Tidy up the wiring in the cabinet a bit

Play some games!

I hope you guys are enjoying all this documentation.  It's a lot of work.  Hopefully, it will inspire or help someone else to build their own cabinet.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!

[SNAAKE]

I must..WOW !! once again,good job !

EDIT : SAY !

[tivogre]

You must.... what?

Thanks for the compliment... I think...

 

[shodokan123]

show us when it is done

much <3 on the cab.

[tivogre]

Today I assembled the parts to make the volume knob for my cabinet:



This will be installed in the center of my admin panel, just below the bezel glass.

I'm still waiting on a shaft extension collar to arrive before I can install this volume knob.... but I tested it and it works great!

Full details / photos of the process are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2050

[tivogre]

Today I worked on the wiring harness for my cabinet's admin panel.

The panel has 4 buttons on it.  Two green PAUSE (P) buttons and two red EXIT buttons.  I want the wired so that EITHER green button will register PAUSE, but BOTH red buttons must be depressed TOGETHER to EXIT.

Here's a schematic of how I wired them:



And here's the harness so far:



I'm going to splice an RJ-45 jack on the end of the harness so I can disconnect it easily for service if required.

Here's the more detailed web site update for the day:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2051

[tivogre]

Today I added the RJ-45 plug to my admin harness and installed the completed harness in the removable admin panel assembly:



I also started work on building this circuit:



Using the above circuit, I will be able to turn on or off the 4 free credit buttons underneath my control panel with a single lighted rocker switch inside the coin door.

The coin door switches will always remain active.

Details on progress today are at:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2052

[tivogre]

I have decided to use a DB-25 connector for all the wires coming in / out of the project box for the coin control circuit.

For any EEs (or just smart electronics folks) in the house, I have two questions before I finish building this...

1. Do I even NEED the diodes in the circuit above?

If I don't include them, then whenever a coin is inserted in a coin slot,
ground will show on the output side of the free credit button. Seems
this wouldn't be a big deal, because if the free buttons were "off" that
ground's going no where; if they were ON, then it's just as if I pressed
the button.

2. Do relays get hot or have a short life when they're "on" most of the time?

I expect that I will have the free credit buttons enabled most of the
time (thus the relay coil will be energized). The relay will be in a fairly
small project case.

[Ed_McCarron]

I have decided to use a DB-25 connector for all the wires coming in / out of the project box for the coin control circuit.

For any EEs (or just smart electronics folks) in the house, I have two questions before I finish building this...

1. Do I even NEED the diodes in the circuit above?

If I don't include them, then whenever a coin is inserted in a coin slot,
ground will show on the output side of the free credit button. Seems
this wouldn't be a big deal, because if the free buttons were "off" that
ground's going no where; if they were ON, then it's just as if I pressed
the button.

2. Do relays get hot or have a short life when they're "on" most of the time?

I expect that I will have the free credit buttons enabled most of the
time (thus the relay coil will be energized). The relay will be in a fairly
small project case.

I don't think the diodes are -really- necessary.  Worst case scenario, you've grounded a floating switch contact.  Even if both button and coin switch actuate at the same time, you've just created parallel paths to ground.  I don't really see any traps.

As long as your relay is rated continuous duty, it should be fine. 

What about something like this?  No relay.  Perhaps someone else will chime in - more people looking at a circuit helps prevent design errors.

Ed



Edit:  Goofy .jpg ate some lines...  theres a few horiz lines missing...


Edit #2:  On looking at the circuit again, theres an off chance that if you are NOT in free play mode, and someone puts a coin in at the same time someone else presses a free play button, 2 credits may register.  Don't think theres any potentially dangerous wiring in there, tho.

[wintermute]

No, I don't think there's any reason to include the diodes.

[Ed_McCarron]

Heh, great minds and all...

[wintermute]

Haha, you wrote almost exactly what I was going to say in my reply before I started drawing the circuit..  You must have been faster on the "draw".

good idea though 

wm

[tivogre]

Those drawing are great ideas you both had.  I had the same idea.

Unfortunately, I can't go that route.

The grounds for the free coin switches are shared with other buttons inside the control panel;  all wiring is going through DB25 / Parallel cables.  I DEFINITELY don't want to undo the wiring in there:



Since I didn't plan properly and use a dedicated ground wire just for the free coin buttons (seems obvious NOW) , I can't just "cut their ground".  I only have access to the 4 wires RETURNING from the free credit buttons.

That's why I'm going this (much more complicated) route.

It says nothing on the relay one way or the other about continuous duty.

[Ed_McCarron]

I expect that I will have the free credit buttons enabled most of the
time (thus the relay coil will be energized)

Bummer on the no common ground.

What about using the normally closed side of the relay, so that the free play buttons work when the relay is DEenergized? 

That said, I've had relays in control panels (industrial, not arcade) energized for 6 months at a shot.  They get warm, but all I've seen blow is the indicating lights on the relay.

Socket the relay, and get a spare?

[tivogre]

I only worked a bit yesterday.

I managed to get the switch and input connector mounted on a project box:



And assembled the input / output wiring harness:



As always, details on the daily website update:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2053

Next up is assembling and wiring the "guts" of the little black box.

[Pik4chu]

Those drawing are great ideas you both had.

[tivogre]

It's been a busy week-end!

I finished up the circuit for the free coin control switch.  It was a tight fit getting everything into the project box:



I ended up NOT using the diodes, as I believe they weren't needed AND there was no room in the project box for anything else!

In an unexpected twist for the Arcade Cabinet, my home media server PC crapped out.  I took this as a sign that I needed a better PC in the arcade cabinet!   

I moved the motherboard, processor, memory, and hard drive from the Arcade PC into the server case.

In its place, the Arcade Cabinet got a gift from New Egg:



To replace the Arcade PC, I bought a new motherboard, processor, memory and hard drive.  This allowed me to do a clean XP install and not have any headaches from changing the motherboard / processor from underneath the OS.

So...  the new Arcade PC is a 3.4 GHz Intel processor on an 800MHz front side bus.  1 GB of DDR400 ram, and a 10,000 RPM 74 GB SATA drive.  This should be able to play most of the classics.  (JOKE!)

After about a day and a half getting both PCs up and running, I moved on to tidying up the wiring harness that is the backbone of the cabinet:



All the gory details from this week-end are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Days%2054%20to%2056

Next up on the punch list is to install the volume knob on the admin panel, mount the free coin control box, and then get this puppy all put together!

[Pik4chu]

It's been a busy week-end!

I finished up the circuit for the free coin control switch.

[tivogre]

I got a full evening's work in today;  I got a LOT done!

Progress today included mounting the Free Coin Control box:



...which lights up nicely!



Making a bracket for and installing the volume knob on the admin panel:





And starting on some FINAL ASSEMBLY!!!

I mounted the power strip and secured the wiring:



Covered the speaker panel in grill cloth:



And installed the Monitor, Bezel, Glass, Admin Panel, and Speaker Panel onto the cabinet frame:



Tomorrow I'll do some more final assembly.

All the gory details on today's progress (and about 30 new pictures) are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2057

I'm in the home stretch!

[tivogre]

In a couple of hours last night, I cut out a mounting board for all of the cabinet interfaces and attached everything to it.

Here's a shout of all the interface boards as mounted in the cabinet:



What a rat's nest, eh!   

Details are here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2058

At this point, I just have to bolt on all the removable panels and the sides, and then hook up the PC and tidy up the wiring.  I also realized last night that I stall have to cover my marquee frame and install the marquee and glass.

[tivogre]

THE SIDE PANELS ARE ON!!!



Unfortunately, in my excited state, I forgot to take a picture of the sides on before I mounted the control panel.  No big loss, I guess.

I have also finished up the wire tidying:



That's pretty much as neat as I could get it in there.

BUT watch out for hydras:



Still to do:

     1.  Install the t-molding
     2.  Cover the marquee frame
     3.  Install the marquee and glass
     4.  Mount the subwoofer on the speaker panel
     5.  Install the top panel
     6.  Install the coin door
     7.  Software / front end configuration
     8.  Side art - hopefully pixelized aluminum space invaders!

I guess I should work "play some damn games" in there somewhere.   

Full daily update is here:

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2059

[dweebs0r]

Wow,

Don't take this the wrong way but your cabinet is perfect, except the foil!!
It is so well thought out and perfectly engineered that the
foil "cheapens" it somehow.

Maybe it looks better in person but I cant see putting all of that effort into this cabinet and then leaving it partially covered in foil like a baked potato!

JMHO,

-Dweebs

[Pik4chu]

Wow,

Don't take this the wrong way but your cabinet is perfect, except the foil!!
It is so well thought out and perfectly engineered that the
foil "cheapens" it somehow.

Maybe it looks better in person but I cant see putting all of that effort into this cabinet and then leaving it partially covered in foil like a baked potato!

JMHO,

-Dweebs

I kinda have to agree. in your CP construction page I thoguht it looked cool and was a neat look, but seeing it all together as one Just doesnt give the same feel it used to.  Maybe if it was smooth and not crinkled?

[tivogre]

Unfortunately, there is no way I could EVER get it on there smooth.  You're gonna get a wrinkle somewhere. 

My though was that given that, may as well "go with" the crinkled look and "do it like you meant it".

SNAAKE has commented (negatively) on the foil before too.

I may replace it sometime down the road... but I still think it looks decent in person.

I'm also going to be covering the marquee frame in foil.  Maybe that will help... maybe not.

If you've got any other ideas how I could get that aluminum look (which I DO like a lot, and picked up on with the aluminum trim on the rest of the cabinet), I'm all ears!

Thanks for the compliments otherwise, though!

[Timoe]

I check this thread everytime you make an update and every tenth time I visit your site.  One day (when I have a full day off or something) I will sit down and study your process from beggining to end.  Very well documented and very original.

[tivogre]

I check this thread everytime you make an update and every tenth time I visit your site.  One day (when I have a full day off or something) I will sit down and study your process from beggining to end.  Very well documented and very original.

Last night, I was looking through everything on the web site;  I was surprised how much stuff is there.

It's up to about 600 pictures of construction progress.

If I printed it out, it came to about 250 pages.

I've almost written a short novel!

Thanks for looking;  I hope the effort of the documentation helps others out in the future.

[tivogre]

Today, I painted the edges of the cabinet sides black "just in case" before installing t-molding.

I got the t-molding done on both sides on the front below the control panel.

I also got the t-molding installed around the top on the right side panel.



BUT...  Not to be outdone by Mr. Bones... the last cut was a doozy.

Trimming the molding at the bottom of the back of the cabinet, I slipped with the utility knife and stabbed myself in the side of the left knee.  It was pretty deep and bleeding;  I didn't want to risk waiting around with a knee injury (worry of tendons and what not).

4 hours and one trip to the emergency room later:



T'was but a flesh wound... but I got 4 stitches inside the wound and 6 stitches on the outside.

Maybe in a day or two I'll get around to the left side.

I did a daily web site update.  But there isn't too much more there than in this post.

http://www.ogredog.com/mame_construction_home.htm#Day%2060

Maybe in a day or two, I'll get the other side done.

[Bones]

Mate this is the first time I actually waited for all the pics to download due to my slow service and I must say, you are doing an amazing job. Every aspect of your build is clean and professional and I can only imagine the amount time you have put into producing something like this.

It looks great.

Shame about the leg, could have been worse, you could have hooked yourself on the tackle.

[dennis808]

If you've got any other ideas how I could get that aluminum look

Check out this post:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=42161.0

The panel is covered with contact paper with brushed aluminum look, the stuff is sometimes used on (kitchen) cabinet-decorating, and is quite expensive.
I think your cabinet (together with your striving for perfection) deserve a roll of that stuff.

Another (Dutch) link with some varieties: http://zilver-metallic-plakplastic.deplakplasticsite.nl/zilver-metallic-plakplastic.htm

[Pik4chu]

If you've got any other ideas how I could get that aluminum look

Check out this post:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=42161.0

The panel is covered with contact paper with brushed aluminum look, the stuff is sometimes used on (kitchen) cabinet-decorating, and is quite expensive.
I think your cabinet (together with your striving for perfection) deserve a roll of that stuff.

Another (Dutch) link with some varieties: http://zilver-metallic-plakplastic.deplakplasticsite.nl/zilver-metallic-plakplastic.htm

lol darn-it, beat me to it!

[AceTKK]

I agree, the foil has got to go.  You spared no expense on this cab (a 10k rpm Raptor hard drive for a MAME cab? Overkill much  ) and, like I said earlier in the thread, the foil is like a gold tooth on a supermodel.  Aluminum sheet goods are fairly inexpensive, do it right or don't do it at all IMO.

-Ace-

[tivogre]

Anyone want to give me some pointers on working with aluminum sheet?

I presume I can route it with a carbide bit?