Author Topic: Mars Invasion - Upright following Saints Book (Read 49187 times)

RaggedEdge · « **on:** August 06, 2005, 10:49:36 am »

OK, so I bought Saint's book back in April and have been working on this project since in my spare time. I have been taking photos all along and like his book says, I decided to contribute back to the community. So here is the beginning (back in April). I went to Home Depot here in Houston Tx and rented a table saw for $40.00/ day I did most all the cuts with it, except for the two side pieces. The second picture shows all my pieces cut out. I would have never attempted anything like this without the book and the community. Thanks.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2005, 10:56:12 am »

Following the book, I put both side pieces together and concentrated on sanding down the differences. I had to go out and buy are router, but that was not too expensive. It was on sale for around $70.00. The 1/16" slot cutter bit I got from Home depot.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2005, 11:04:42 am »

The base assembled. i decided to go with two rotating wheels on one end and fixed wheels on the other to make it easy to steer. It will be sitting on carpet so I don't think the wheels will come into play that much, but it did make moving it into the house easier. The second picture shows how I assembled the side panels onto the base. My garage was sloped toward the front, so to keep things level I stacked up some MDF scraps under the base end and used a level, while the saw horses were used to level the other side. BTW, it was damn hot the day I did this, 99 Deg. F That's why I was in the garage.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2005, 11:44:09 am »

Now it is really starting to look like an arcade cabinet. Everything went as planned (by the book so to speak). I was happy with the 45 degree joints. They all lined up well. Those were cut with the table saw, and I contribute that to how well they lined up. That is one thing that I have learned working on this project. There are so many time when I wanted to take a shortcut, but I stuck to my guns and tell myself "There is no rush to get this done, it is on my timeline". One mistake that I made was to use the speaker panel for the top back panel (just below the 45 degree joint). I didn't realize this until I mounted what I thought was the speaker panel, but I thought about it and realized it should not cause me any problems. The access hole in the back will be a little bigger and the speaker panel will be a little longer (back into the monitor area. I have to pay more attention before I start gluing and screwing.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2005, 11:52:27 am »

Now you can see that the speaker shelf is really too long and goes back farther than it needs to. That was from the mistake from the previous post. No harm done (I hope). I decided to use the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 (going by the book again), so I used the provided templates and cut them out with a jig saw.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2005, 11:57:58 am »

OK speaker holes are cut and the monitor shelf goes in.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:03:52 pm »

I decided to use a door on the front instead of mounting it permantly. This proved to be the hardest part so far. Not think well, I just sat the door on the base of the cabinet in place and penciled in the hinge screw holes. Big mistake. Once I got it mounted of coarse the door would drag on the base. DOH! OK, so I flipped the door around and put my metal square under the door to lift it off the base while I penciled in the new marks. That turned out better, but if I would do it again, I would raise the door even higher before penciling the hinge screw holes. The door just barely drags even with the screw slots adjusted all the way up. Oh well, live and learn.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #7 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:05:03 pm »

oops, I forgot to attach the two pictures to the above post.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #8 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:10:12 pm »

I put together the control panel and sat back and drank a few cold ones after this. Whew! Major milestone met.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #9 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:16:03 pm »

I realized it was time to go buy wood putty to fill the countersunk holes. I bought some but didn't like the consistency of it. I seemed like it never dried (maybe the humid Houston weather). So, I went back and bought wood filler. I read on the container that it could be sanded down after it dried. That seemed to work much better. I don't know if I bought the wrong kind of wood putty or what. Then the sanding began....What a boring time consuming process....but I remember my thoughts from above "There is no rush, this is on my timeline" :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #10 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:24:29 pm »

Two coats of latex primer and three coats of latex gloss black. I got the best surface when I used the high density foam rollers from Home Depot. Don't come try to find them at that location because I think I bought them all :-) I thought about using semi gloss, but I just had to have some kind of a reflection. I thought about getting it painted at an auto body shop, but with a little one on the way in June, I would cringe thinking about the "terrible twos" and what abuse my cabinet will take during that time :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #11 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:29:47 pm »

In the house and upstairs. I first tried to take it upstairs with only one other person. No way! I recruited 3 of my neighbors, inticing them with lots of free credits when it's done ;-) BTW, the wheels paid off when getting it in the house. I was able to roll it around all I wanted.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #12 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:33:17 pm »

OK, it was coin door cutout time. Nothing too special here, I used a hole saw the round the corners. All from the book as usual.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #13 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:36:42 pm »

OK, time for the control panel. I followed the book, but am now wondering if I should have hinged the top onto the control panel. I guess I can go back and do that if I need to.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #14 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:40:00 pm »

Control panel and front door mounted to cabinet, but they still need to be painted.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #15 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:47:08 pm »

OK, all parts painted and the coin door installed. I wanted to have a working coin door so I got the one that actually credits the games.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #16 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:50:25 pm »

I put the base speaker in the cabinet just to get it out of the way. Also, I printed out a scaled drawing of all the templates for all the controls to get a feel for how things are arranged.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #17 on:** August 06, 2005, 12:55:09 pm »

I created a scaled model of the cabinet so I could see how my graphic would look on it with all the controls. I used Truespace by Caligari to model the cabinet and placed the CP overlay graphic on it. Then I modeled all the controls. The Mars background came from JPL's Mars Rover photos. They always have huge high resolution files on their website, so I was able to keep the 300 dpi that I wanted for the graphic.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #18 on:** August 06, 2005, 01:03:59 pm »

OK so now I have almost caught everyone up with what I have been doing. Last week, I worked on the Lexan for the control panel. I took my control panel file up to Kinkos and after failing to get them to understand what I wanted, I finally found a Kinko's that had someone there who really took and interest in what I was doing. His name is Bobby and he is at the Greenspoint Kinkos in Houston (in case someone is near there) He printed the CPO out on indoor vinyl for me. It looks pretty good, although I do see some banding from the inkjet cartridges. Probably it would look better if I had someone like Mamemarquees do it, but I am satisfied for now. I cut out the graphic and used a small drill bit to put pilot holes in the Lexan so I would know where to center all the holes. I used a 1 1/8 spade bit and clamped the Lexan on top of the control panel and got after it with the drill.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #19 on:** August 06, 2005, 01:08:45 pm »

After drilling the holes and using a 3" hole saw for the trackball hole, I couldn't wait to see how it looked. I probably shouldn't have taken the protective film off yet, but I plan to keep it well protected in the meantime. I mounted the Lexan with all the buttons that I currently have. I liked the results other than the banding that shows up on the graphics.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #20 on:** August 06, 2005, 01:18:06 pm »

So this is how the project looks today. I have been practicing with routing out an area on a scrap piece of wood (1/4" out of 5/8" MDF) for the underside of the control panel for the joystick. I am concerned about the strength of mounting the joystick with only about 1/4" of MDF left. I think I am going to also get some metal strips and mount then under the joystick and screw them into the full thickness of the wood. It seems like it will work. Also, I ordered one of the Oscar Controls Vortex Spinners that showed up on Ebay this week. I got it two days ago. Great product. I was impressed with the quality. If you are looking for the Vortex Spinner the ones on Ebay are the real deal. Last I looked there were 4 left. From Happ, I ordered the High Lipp trackball and special mounting plate. I'll pr active routing out a surface for the mounting plate on a scrap piece of MDF. Also on order is the Hagstrom ME4 optical encoder and now that Ultimarc has the Ball Top J-stik, I plan on making a large order this week for the ArcadeVGA, J-stik, and Ipac4. If anyone has any questions or wants to see some more photos that I took along the way, just let me know. Hopefully this will all be of some help to others.

Knievel · « **Reply #21 on:** August 06, 2005, 04:19:03 pm »

Looks real nice so far, quite a shine on there.

Good job documenting the build. It'll help a lot of people that are building that same cabinet.
Looks to me like Kinkos needs to replace a print cartridge/cartridges, I would get them to reprint that if I were you. You might get better results using paper as well, it's all I've ever used for mine. The CP graphics are great and they deserve to be printed right, that orange should POP.

As for your joystick mounting, I route all mine from the top. It will give you more stick length and leave more MDF for support.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #22 on:** August 06, 2005, 05:56:38 pm »

Thanks. Yes, the more I look at that graphic the more I want to do something about it. I actually used your idea with the areas around the controls having a darker color but the background shows through. Where did you get your CPO printed? I don't think I will try Kinkos again. I was just so excited to have someone actually appear to be interested in helping me get that graphic printed out that I just accepted it the way it was. That's a great idea about the joysticks. I guess you just cut a square hole large enough for the main part of the joystick to go down through and let the mounting lip rest on top of that square. It seems there will still only be about about 1/4" of material to screw into, 1/4" for the joystick and the rest for mounting. How do you handle the heads of the screws? Wouldn't they stick up into your Lexan/Plexi? I do like the idea of the longer stick length.

Bones · « **Reply #23 on:** August 06, 2005, 06:26:44 pm »

Looking really good. A very classy build!

AceTKK · « **Reply #24 on:** August 07, 2005, 01:20:29 am »

Nice cab and nice ride! Where in Houston do you live? I'm a bit east of downtown.

-Ace-

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #25 on:** August 07, 2005, 08:54:45 am »

I live on the northwest side (249 Louetta area). Thanks, I enjoy both the cab and the cobra

Knievel · « **Reply #26 on:** August 07, 2005, 10:12:29 pm »

Using a local place these days but Mamemarquees is great from what I hear. You don't need it laminated like they usually are if you're using plexi, so ask him for a price to print it on glossy paper. It should be cheaper than what's listed on the site.

The background shows through on the darkened areas around my controls, I think it looks great like that. If it's not dark enough for you just increase the Fill Opacity some more. I set mine at about 65%. And I can't tell if you did it already but a Drop Shadow will put a dark border around your glowing outline.

Yes that's how I mount my joysticks. I use 3/4" MDF so after routing out the 5/16" required for the base I've still got 7/16" left, which is plenty.
Using the 5/8" MDF would leave you with 5/16" to support it. I think it should still be fine but you might want to put some metal under there.

Get the screws with the countersink heads(triangle-shaped) and tighten them down until they sink into the mounting plate just enough to be below the surface. I recommend #8-32x1 machine screws.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #27 on:** August 10, 2005, 11:38:43 pm »

Finally, tonight I had some time to work on the cabinet. I received my Golden Tee trackball mounting plate. This thing is larger than I thought. I had to cut a little bit of the top edge so it would not interfere with my three trackball buttons. The first picture shows how much it overlaps with the two lower buttons. It's not a big deal and once the overlay is over the mounting plate, no one will know. I routed out the huge area for the mounting plate in the second picture. As you can see it was dark outside, but I was determined to get something done today :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #28 on:** August 10, 2005, 11:45:03 pm »

Also, in following along with Knievel, I decided I wanted to mount the joysticks on the top of the control panel, instead of underneath. I practied on a test piece of MDF. I routed down only 1/4" and then cut out a square hole for the joystick base to fit in. After screwing the base down with countersunk screws, I realized I still need to go 1/16" more to get the screw heads flush with the top of the control panel. Not a big deal, and I will do that on the control panel. It feels like the amount of MDF below will be plenty to support any radical game playing. I will especially like the height of the joysticks. This is a good way to mount them. Thanks Knievel.

Knievel · « **Reply #29 on:** August 11, 2005, 12:49:11 am »

I see where you get your nickname from.

Seriously though, nice job with the routing.

You'll save yourself some work and get a stronger mount if you use those machine screws I mentioned. Drill the holes right through the CP, slip a washer + lockwasher nut on the end and tighten it down till the head sinks into the plastic.

madhatter349 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 11, 2005, 10:31:54 am »

where did u get that control overlay from

thanks

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #31 on:** August 12, 2005, 12:13:18 am »

Madhatter,

I made the control panel graphic myself. I grabbed one of the high resolution mars rover photos from JPL's website, and tinted it a little red orange color in Photoshop. Then I used CorelDraw to add some other lines and transparencies. Took it to Kinkos and had them print it on indoor vinyl (probably not the best quality).

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #32 on:** August 12, 2005, 12:18:54 am »

Well, thanks to Knievel again, I went to Home Depot and picked up the proper machine screws and routed out the joystick holes in my control panel. Mounting them from the top is definitely the way to go to get the full length of the sticks. To route out the proper size square holes, I created a square pattern that I could lay on top of the control panel and run my router against and not have to worry about making any "ragged edges"

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #33 on:** August 12, 2005, 12:23:21 am »

Once I tightened the machine screws down the heads pulled down in the hole a little bit. I later laid my graphic and Lexan over the control panel and everything looked really good. Nothing sticking up under the Lexan at all. I like it.....and yes, that is a real drop of sweat you see there on the control panel....or is it tears

wintermute · « **Reply #34 on:** August 12, 2005, 10:57:29 pm »

How did you cut the holes out in your CP overlay? I know someone "skilled" could probably do a nice job with an Xacto knife, but I'm kind of afraid that I'll make a mess of my overlay.

thanks!

wm

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #35 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:28:53 pm »

Wintermute,

I bought a brand new exacto knife and laid the Lexan (with the holes already cut out) on top of the graphic, which was on top of the control panel (with it's holes already cut out) and lined everything up. Then I used the fact that the holes were already cut out and carefully moved the exacto knife up and down as I went around the edge of the hole. It really wasn't too hard, I just took it slow. My graphic overlay was indoor vinyl, which is a little thick, but I think it would be just as easy as with a paper overlay.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #36 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:35:28 pm »

I got all my controls mounted now. The joysticks on top worked out just fine. No screws sticking up, nothing causing any distortion of the graphic what so ever.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #37 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:37:56 pm »

Here are some more closeups of the underneath side.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #38 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:43:38 pm »

The Vortex Spinner....great product!! Also, I ran into a problem when I tried to put the control panel top down on my control panel base. As it turns out the big disk that is used to create the pulses for the spinner would rub the back fo the control panel base. Also, since I used the Golden Tee trackball mounting plate and it is bigger than a normal one, it's front mounting screws also conflicted with the front of the panel. I had to take it all outside and get the router out and route out some areas of the front and back of the control panel base. I didn't like having to do this, but I am too far down the road to rebuild the control panel top, or the base. I'll live with it. See the following pics to see what I had to do.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #39 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:45:20 pm »

Oh joy, what fun!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #40 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:50:43 pm »

Luckily, I didn't have to take any more wood out than I did. I guess I should have planned the layout a little better, and considered the larger mounting plate, and the fact that when the top is angled down toward the front, it causes the spinner wheel to push farther back. The good thing is it it all went together after routing the base of the control panel, and the spinner actually turns freely now. Whew! A narrow escape

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #41 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:52:12 pm »

OK, here are two shots with it all together again. Now for some wiring...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #42 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:05:25 pm »

OK so now I see why everyone says not to make it playable until you are done. I have been "testing" all the games to make sure they are running OK. Once I powered it on after wiring the control panel, it was all over. I'll have to get back to working on it this weekend. I did make a Mamewah Skin to match the CP graphic. I also purchased my smartstrip, some 25 and 15 Din type connectors for CP removal, and the fluorescent light fixture for the marquee. I am going to try to use the plastic corner protectors as a retainer for the marquee. I am not sure how it will turn out, but that's the plan for now.

Knievel · « **Reply #43 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:18:20 pm »

Looking good. Those plastic corner protectors work great for marquees.
I would suggest spraying them flat-black first and then go over that with a clear-coat. Gloss or satin depending on if you want them shiny or not.

BTW You're not alone on that spinner issue. I had to notch the CP box on my Neon machine. The smaller V2 has solved the problem on all my cabs since.

Now pull that iPac and bury it in the yard!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #44 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:33:10 pm »

Yeah, the first time I put the control panel top down on the box, it actually bent about 3 of the teeth on the spinner. So much that it would not spin, as the teeth would hit the pickups. I was stressing a little, because that spinner is such a good quality device, an there I was bending it before it was even used. I straightened it back out and it seems to be OK. Also, I noticed if I spin it really fast, the software can't keep up (or the pickups on the spinner, I don't know which). It sure makes playing Tempest just like the old days. Arkanoid works well with the Vortex also. I didn't really need to buy the Ipac 4 since I only have a two player panel. I had this misconception that more is better, but now I have all those waisted terminals for player 3 and 4. Maybe I'll build a 4 player some day. Saint's design has a reset, pause, escape, and two flipper buttons, and I haven't figured out which terminal to wire those to. It seems I will have to reprogram the Ipac also, to add these auxiliary buttons. Any ideas on which terminal to put these buttons?

Knievel · « **Reply #45 on:** August 18, 2005, 12:00:54 am »

If you hit TAB during a game you can go into the service menu and adjust the Spinner settings. Look for Analog Controls, then Dial Sensitivity and fiddle around with that number. For instance the default setting for Arkanoid is way too slow, I think 150 is good.
I've never owned an Ipac but it looks like you can go without the admin. buttons if you want to. Otherwise I think you'll have to re-map some of your unused inputs.
From the Ultimarc site:

SHIFT MODE

Pressing and holding 1player start enables shift mode with access to the following keys (when "MAME" setting is used):

2 player start=Esc

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #46 on:** August 18, 2005, 08:16:05 am »

Thanks! You have been a big help Knievel, and I really appreciate it. I did not realize the Ipac was already setup to do those functions without the extra buttons. Also, I had read about the Tab key to bring up key assignments, but I though this was only for Mame32. I run the Windows command line mame, but I will give the tab key a try tonight. Also, thanks for the tip on painting the corner protectors. I just looked at your Neon Mame control panel page and I noticed you have some buttons (blue, white, and black) mounted on your lower monitor bezel. What are those for?

Knievel · « **Reply #47 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:29:52 am »

No problem. The TAB key works with the commandline version as well.

Those are my 3 Mamewah admin buttons. Pause/Exit(esc)/Change Emulator, they are just repeated on the other side. The P2 Start button actually functions as the Change Emulator button when you're in Mamewah. I just found it's less confusing for people if it's up there with the other admin buttons.

Buddabing · « **Reply #48 on:** August 19, 2005, 12:53:04 pm »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 07, 2005, 08:54:45 am

I live on the northwest side (249 Louetta area).

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #49 on:** August 20, 2005, 12:17:35 am »

Howdy Neighbor

I drive through you area everyday to work. Well, today I wired up the coin door mechs and the coin door lights. I used a 15 pin Dsub type connector inside the control panel box, so I can disconnect it with one hand. I also used a molex connector where the front bottom door joins the cabinet, in case I want to take the door off (who knows why?) I am not sure this is the best way to run the wires from the CP and the back of the computer, but that is what I did. I am sure there are some better ideas out there as far as wire routing and bundling. I just used stick on tie wrap holders. It's ok, but I would prefer some type of enclosed conduit type stuff, so you wouldn't see the individual wires. Any ideas? I left the Happ C161 lights in the coin door rejects. I don't know if any of the LEDs actually look better, but I will experiment in the future. Tomorrow is the marquee light and retainer.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #50 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:19:35 pm »

Last night I got all my cutting and painting done on all the marquee parts. Then I had to take the speakers out so I could get a drill in there and try to drill pilot holes in the top to mount the light. This is one time when a small drill comes in handy, my old Craftsmen drill barely fit through the speaker hole so that I could drill straight up into the top. OK light was mounted without too much trouble.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #51 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:27:06 pm »

I'll explain the wooden strips in the last post. When I built my cabinet, I didn't extend the speaker panel out quite far enough. I noticed that when I was done with the cabinet, but at the time, the problems it would cause seemed so far away. Well now I get to deal with it.

Basically I had to cut some strips to extend the speaker panel out a little. I cut two of them each a different length so I could choose which one I preferred. The first picture here, shows how it looked while I was just holding it up with my hand. I wanted to have the marquee be as close to true vertical as I could, and if I didn't extend out this bottom speaker panel, my marquee would be leaning forward. The second photo shows how it looks after countersinking three screws into the strip and speaker panel. I didn't tighten this much because I knew that MDF would split easy, especially this thin. All seemed well.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #52 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:36:35 pm »

I took the strip back off and painted it the same color as the corner guards (gloss black). Once I mounted the strip back on, I just drilled holes into the corner guard through the strip. I was able to find some black drywall screws that worked in wood (BTW, it was hard to find any black screws at the hardware store). I could have bought silver ones and painted them, but as soon as I put a screwdriver to them, the paint would come off. So, with the bottom retainer in place, I tried to think of a good way to mount the top retainer in a way, that I could take it off easy if I needed. Velcro to the rescue. I cut a Velcro strip (see photo) and put one under the retainer, and the other one on the front edge of the cabinet above where the marquee goes. It works pretty well, the only thing I don't like is due to the thickness of the Velcro, it raises the retainer a little than if I had screwed it in. I wonder if they make larger corner guards (like 1 1/2 " wide strips instead of 3/4 ")

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #53 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:41:26 pm »

OK, I have a small problem that is bugging me. Even thought I measured the Lexan accurately, there is still a little gap at the end where light can be seen (see photo). Maybe, I could just put some weatherstriping behind it and seal up the light, but I thought someone here may have a few ideas.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #54 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:46:38 pm »

OK, now for the graphic. I still had a printout of my control panel that I made on HP glossy photo paper. I trimmed it up and put it between the two pieces of Lexan. The photo doesn't show it well, but it looks kinda washed out. The blacks are not really black. I remember in the book, Saint talks about printing out a second copy with just the dark areas, and the rest white. I think I will try that next. Oh, and I guess I need to sit down long enough to actually create a nice looking design for the marquee

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #55 on:** August 23, 2005, 08:10:46 am »

I finally figured out how to do banner printing on my HP Photosmart printer. I wanted to try this printer first before sending out a graphic to be printed. The photos we print on this thing look awesome, so I was hoping for the same or similar quality on my marquee. To get this printer to print a banner, I had to not only tell the printer to do banner printing (in the printer settings) but also, I had to use CorelPhotoPaint 12. Corel has an option to tile the prints when they come out if they are larger than the sheet of paper. If you don't do both things (tell the software and the printer it's going to be large) then it won't work. At least with my setup. The printout looked almost as good as a photo, just the fact that I printed it on standard type paper lowered the output quality a little. Next, I'll see how it looks for real with a light behind it.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #56 on:** August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am »

Well, all I have to say is just because it looks good on paper, doesn't mean it will look good on the marquee. It doesn't show much in the photos but you can see the grain of the paper with the light shining through it. It gives it a ugly coarse look. The colors are not washed out which I like, just an ugly textured look and it could be brighter. Can you make it brighter without looking washed out? I guess I will try a few different types of paper or even transparency to see if I can get what I want. I know I could send it out to mame marquees, and I may end up doing that, but I like to be in control of the situation as much as possible. So, when I exhaust all possibilities of what I can do at home, I'll send the marquee and probably the CP graphic to mame marques. Besides I have plenty of time, with making high scores on Arkanoid and Tempest lately, I have some more serious game playing to do. Also, have to prepare to purchase an arcade monitor sometime between now and Christmas. I hope to get my smart strip tomorrow. It must be coming by pony express because I ordered it a week ago now, and I noticed it just now got to Dallas

Level42 · « **Reply #57 on:** August 24, 2005, 04:39:37 am »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am

Also, have to prepare to purchase an arcade monitor sometime between now and Christmas.

Phfewww, I almost thought you were actualy going to use that LCD screen after so much great work....which would have completely ruined your great cab IMHO.

Also, are you planing on side art ? The paint is a bit too shiny for my taste, but that could also be the flash of the camera...otherwise, I am very impressed, doubt I could do this... I went the "easy" way and bought an old (1991) Jamma cab...still plenty of work on that too....thanks for sharing and lots of pics, there's always something I learn by reading other stories. I was thinking of printing a marquee myself as well...I am on a shoe-string budget for my cab...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #58 on:** August 24, 2005, 08:26:25 am »

Every since I have had that Dell monitor there, my desktop computer has been turned off. I started playing games and haven't taken it back downstairs and hooked it back up to the original computer. Having to pay $450 for a monitor is going to hurt a little. It will be the biggest single purchase since I started building the thing. So far it has been like $70 here or $40 there. I used gloss black mainly so you could see a reflection when some object is next to it. It is shiny but normally you don't see the shine reflect back like you do with a flash. If I had my way I would have made it smoother, with auto paint or something but I have a new baby that will hitting the "terrible twos" soon and I thought about all the scratches it will be getting. I would like have a finish on it like the black acrylic aquariums you see in some stores. Yes, I plan to do some sideart and change the T-molding to match whatever color I go with. I want to keep the Mars theme but I am not to excited about my graphics. That's one area I lack in, is the "other side of the brain" stuff. The good thing is the graphics are all replaceable, control panel will be a pain with all the controls wired up. That will all come later on. As for the marquee, I think I am going to try vellum paper and see how that looks.

Knievel · « **Reply #59 on:** August 24, 2005, 10:00:29 am »

Looking good. I'm not sure about the shipping costs but this place gets rave reviews and their marquees are only $14.95 right now...http://www.emdkay.net/

Treat your cabs to one today!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #60 on:** August 24, 2005, 11:46:03 am »

Thanks, Knievel. I have lot of little loose ends to get done on it. Last night I got my smartstrip installed. One thing strange about it, is that when the computer is turned on, the marquee light and sound system turn on just fine. When I turn off the computer, it takes somewhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute for the marquee and sound system to turn off. I can only assume the power supply of the computer still consumes some power even after the computer is turned off, so the smartstrip doesn't shutdown other stuff immediately. Anyone seen this problem? Also last night I wired up all the admin buttons (yellow ones) on my CP Mainly, I wanted to play pinball, but while I was wiring up the flippers I went ahead and did them all. I used a 25 pin dsub connector for controls in the base of the control panel. This way the items that need to go down to the bottom of the cabinet use a different dsub (15 pin). I could just imagine plugging the wrong one in. I had to reprogram the Ipac to these buttons, and I couldn't use the WinIpac software, it wouldn't send the new key assignments, so I used the interact one which is simple but it works. I was able to play Microsoft Pinball after reassigning the flippers to where I wired them. I have seen people mention Virtual Pinball here, is it better than Microsoft Pinball. MS's is pretty cool. Tonight I hope I can find time to wire up a pushbutton to power the whole computer and extras. I am wrestling with where to put such a button. I don't want to put it where it's easy to push (kid magnet during important game play). I also don't want it to be visible. I may put it on the back of the cabinet, but if I ever have multiple cabinets (which I have read will happen) next to this one, it would be hard to get to. Any ideas?

Pik4chu · « **Reply #61 on:** August 24, 2005, 12:32:47 pm »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am

Well, all I have to say is just because it looks good on paper, doesn't mean it will look good on the marquee.

Knievel · « **Reply #62 on:** August 24, 2005, 01:56:10 pm »

I find the top of the cabinet, above the marquee area, is the best spot. Kid-proof and you won't bump it accidentally. You can just wire a regular arcade button to your cpu power switch.

Visual Pinball rocks, I spend more time on it than mame these days. A little tricky to setup but it's well worth it. The tables are actual recreations of all the classic pinball machines, with all the bells and whistles.

Here's the site where you can grab everything..
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php
Check out the table screenshots here..
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/info/

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #63 on:** August 24, 2005, 11:36:43 pm »

Today I went to Kinkos and talked them out of a piece of backlit paper (about 36" x 36") I had to pay $7.50 for the whole piece. Normally it is $7.50 per sq. ft. But they were nice. BTW it's $15.00 to have them print it on the backlit paper. This backlit paper has a glossy side and a flat side. The guy told me to print my image mirrored on the flat side, because the glossy side would be facing out and the image would be on the insdie of the marquee (that's why it was suppose to be mirrored). I came home and printed one that way, and it did look good when the light was on in the marquee, but if I turned the light off, the marquee turned almost all white, since the image was printed on the other side. Not quite what I was looking for. I noticed the image was really clear on the back side and looked just like my photo paper prints from the HP Photosmart. I was curious to see what the marque would look like with the printed side on the outside of the marquee so I just flipped the Lexan around. Wow was I surprised, it looked great with the light on or off. So I printed another one with the image NOT mirrored and put the printed part on the outside (glossy side on the inside of the marquee). That's what I was looking for! It looked great. I don't know if it will show in the photos but they are below. One is a closeup so you can see how crisp the image is. I like it. That was it for today, I will connect up the power on button tomorrow.

drunkatuw · « **Reply #64 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:41:50 pm »

Regarding the smart strip not turning everything off right away. I had this problem when I upgraded to a new computer in my mame cabinet. To fix the problem, I just messed around with the sensitivity on the smart strip.

There is a small plastic white screw on the side of the smart strip. What I did was turn on the computer (everything turned on), then I shut down the computer and once it was off (and the marquee and monitor were still on), I adjusted the screw until the marquee turned off. Then I turned the screw a little bit more just to be safe. And since then, everything turns off as it should...couldn't be happier.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #65 on:** August 26, 2005, 08:56:13 am »

drunkatuw, That worked pretty good about the smart strip. I tried just what you said and now it takes about 3 or 4 seconds for the other stuff to turn off. I imagine I could fine tune it some more and get everything to turn off immediately, so the next time I am inside the cab, I will tune it some more. Thanks.

Last night, all I did was wire up a power (start/stop) button to power up the whole cabinet. I am still undecided where to put it, probably on the top of the cabinet, but for now it is just laying in the monitor cavity. I might also put it in the center at the bottom of the monitor bezel for the shorter people in the family....not mentioning any names...

Something else I need to do before kicking back and planing for the monitor, is mount the control panel box to the cabinet with those latching clamps that are mentioned in the book from Happs. I guess I could run to my Home Depot and see if they have something similar before ordering from Happs.

Skadar · « **Reply #66 on:** August 26, 2005, 04:10:50 pm »

RaggedEdge, thank you thank you thank you for posting so meticulously. I am about to embark on almost the exact same journey and your experiences have already shaped my planning. You have even inspired me in the realm of theming as well. I love the Mars Invasion theme and it has really given me some good ideas.

I'll soon be building a nearly identical cabinet (well I suppose all Lusid cabinets are nearly identical) with some slight differences...

1) I really want to use a SlikStik Classic as my control panel. As I understand it, building a clone will only save about $50-$70 and I'm certainly willing to pay that amount to have professionals do all the work.

2) I will probably be using a 27" television instead of a true arcade monitor (too expensive for me) or a 21" PC monitor (too small IMHO).

Except for the SlikStik, I am trying to minimize costs along the way. For instance, I have already picked up the following components:

1) Creative Inspire T3000 2.1 speakers $32 - as opposed to the Klipsch.

2) New HAPP over/under dual slot coin door $82 on eBay.

I'm watching your project come together with great interest. Thanks again!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #67 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:32:33 pm »

Skadar, Thanks. That has been the main reason I posted everything, because I knew it could help someone building nearly the same cabinet as mine. Yeah, the Klipsch speakers were about $149 when I bought mine, but they do sound good. You got a good price on the over/under coin door too.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #68 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:36:59 pm »

On the way home from work last night I stopped by home depot to see what alternative I could come up with for latching my control panel down to the main cabinet. I thought about just ordering the ones in the book from Happ, but I have a problem with their shipping pricing. So I bought two different types of latches thinking I could use part of each one with each other. Here is what I bought and how I plan to use them.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #69 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:47:51 pm »

The latch setup I created seems to work well. The only problem I had was that if I pulled up on the control panel enough, the latch would "un-latch". I realized it was because the upper hook was holding the latch from going fully closed. So, what I did was put some nuts under the top two screw holes on the lower piece, and this cause the latch to fully close and prevented any pulling force from popping it open. I also tried leaning down on the front of the control panel and it held. So, all in all, this method seems to work, but it probably is not as good as the Happ latches. I'll stay with it for now and see how it goes. The next item that I tend to will probably be a bit of a surprise for everyone. I haven't seen anyone do this to their arcade yet. It is something that i have done to many things around the house and this arcade is just begging for it as well. I'll keep everyone in suspense until the "part" that I ordered comes in. It's not that big of a deal but it's got a little bit of the "geek factor" to it. Oh, and yes, I know I do need to do some wire management inside the cab

later...

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #70 on:** August 29, 2005, 11:23:48 am »

RaggedEdge - please check your e-mail. Thanks!!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #71 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:20:04 pm »

Well, the "part" arrived and you can see it in the photo. It is an X-10 Universal module. If you are not familiar with X-10 Powerline technology, it is a way to automate your house using the existing power wiring as a way to send the commands from a computer or switchbox to a device. The X-10 Universal module acts like a pushbutton that can be control with an X-10 signal.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #72 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:25:32 pm »

So, now you've probably figured out what I am using it for on the Arcade. No, it is not used as a control on the CP (but it could). I am using to turn on the arcade the same as the pushbutton on the front of the computer. The only difference is that I can do it from anywhere in the house or from the internet (really important I know

) I use software called Misterhouse that runs on Linux and it controls most of the lights, garage, and digital picture frames in the house. Now it turns on and off the arcade. OK, I am done geeking out now. This could be a good way to have things locked out at certain times of the day on the CP, like the coin up buttons.

Skadar · « **Reply #73 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:36:38 pm »

Yep, that was pretty geeky.

If it were me, my geekiness would manifest itself through unnecessary cabinet lighting.... which I may actually move forward with. I've been thinking about some kind of fiber-optic lighting to create pinpoint stars on the cabinet... or more probably cold cathode or LED colored lighting behind the speaker grills, etc.

Cheers!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #74 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:57:47 pm »

Yeah, the lighting would actually be really nice. I would like to have a glow coming out from under the lip of the CP. There are so many case mod lighting gizmo's now that if I could just have a strike of creativity I would probably try to do some myself.

Elfman · « **Reply #75 on:** August 31, 2005, 12:25:26 pm »

If you got the IR command module, you could control it with you master remote. I may have to do this on my own cab and my Pronto remote. Thanks for the tip!

Speaking if geeky, I just noticed that you have a long since defunct 3COM Audrey on your kitchen counter. I know there is quite a little hack community for these things. But I never actually knew anyone who owned one. You still running original 3COM code on it or are you running some wierd Linux code and using it as a web server or something :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #76 on:** August 31, 2005, 12:50:54 pm »

I can't believe someone here knew what it was from just the bottom half. Yes, that is my Audrey, and it still runs QNX operating system, but It has been flashed with the Mr. Audrey image. The Mr. Audrey Image works with the Misterhouse automation system. It allows another way for someone to access the home automation system with a touchscreen. The graphics quality is not that great, but I only paid like $100 for it with wireless Enet added. When Misterhouse talks, it sends out the wav file over the home network and the Audrey also speaks. It has been overclocked (Geode CPU) from 300 to 333 mhz. I'll take a better photo tonight to show you what it looks like with the Misterhouse screen on it. Currently I am having trouble with the round knob on the bottom. Apparently 3Com did a poor job of soldering the connections, I just haven't had time to go in and fix it. It is actually on the bar counter right across from where the arcade is in our gameroom. The wife didn't like it in the kitchen, so it has been moved to several places in the house to try to appease her :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #77 on:** August 31, 2005, 10:10:44 pm »

OK, so here is Audrey in all her glory. The wife thinks she is ugly and bulky. OK, I know this is starting to get off topic, so I have to at least mention that I used Audrey to start the Arcade tonight. I gotta play some Shuuz you know :-)

So I am kinda at a standstill on the arcade. The next step is to buy a monitor, and I will either buy the Vision Pro 27" from the book, or the WG D9200. I already have the arcadeVGA card. I assume from what I have read that the D9200 is a better monitor, but why? I guess I could design some sideart too couldn't I?

SNAAKE · « **Reply #78 on:** September 01, 2005, 04:14:02 am »

Very nicely done,congrats !
Where did you get those speaker grills ??

drunkatuw · « **Reply #79 on:** September 01, 2005, 05:18:53 pm »

That's pretty cool that you use Misterhouse. I've never heard of anybody using it before...except the guy that started it. I work with him and he gave us a tour of his house, it was pretty cool...he definitely must have a very understanding wife!

Skadar · « **Reply #80 on:** September 06, 2005, 12:22:54 am »

Ragged, I'm doing a virtually identical build as your right now... except that I am only about half as far as long as yourself. I've been reviewing your posts and I have a few questions for you.

1) In post #4 you provide a shot of your cabinet and mention a problem with your speaker panel. I'm confused by your pictures and your speaker panel problem.

According to the plans, your cabinet back top and bottom sections should be identically sized. Your back top section is clearly much larger than your bottom. Was this just a modification that you made midstream? (obviously it's a modification of little consequence... I'm just curious)

2) Your finished speaker panel looks like it's about 6 inches shorter than it's supposed to be in the plans. You mention a problem with it being too long, but then it appears on your cabinet photos as being too short. This is what confused me. Once again... of little consequence.

3) I'm about to install my speaker panel right now and I've been toying with the idea of mitering the front edge of the panel so that it matches the surface of the top panel in order to give the marquee a nice flat mounting surface. I see that you didn't do this. In retrospect, would you have? Or was the marquee unaffected by the angled front edge of the speaker panel?

*** Okay I just realized that you actually handled the marquee issue via your improvised strips. I see that you cut the bottom one as a wedge in order to give the marquee a flat surface. I'm going to miter the front edge of my speaker panel.

Thanks for any info!
Skadar

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #81 on:** September 06, 2005, 03:24:35 pm »

Skadar,

1) Yes, I accidentally put what was suppose to be the speaker panel, on the back top.

2) I used the wrong piece for the speaker panel, I actually accidentally used what was suppose to be the back top piece. I guess you are correct, my speaker panel is shorter than it is suppose to be, hopefully not too short for the monitor.

3) Yes, I would miter the end of the wood. Even with the strips I made, it isn't as nice as a perpendicular surface to mount the marque retainer.

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #82 on:** September 25, 2005, 11:07:46 am »

RaggedEdge,

Have you made any choice on the monitor for your cabinet? I know the last time we talked you were looking at the WG vs. a few other options - just curious how you are coming along.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #83 on:** September 27, 2005, 09:01:33 pm »

I think I have pretty much decided on the VisionPro that was used in the book. Mainly because it can go to 800 x 600. I think it will give me more options as to what I can play. I haven't ordered it yet, hopefully by Christmas I can get one. I have been occupied with work lately and then the we had the Rita fiasco here in Houston last week. I live on the northwest side so I didn't have any damage at all. I was out of town (Pennsylvania) when it hit, and I had visions of the roof blowing off, and the arcade machine going with it :-) Luckily that didn't happen.

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #84 on:** September 27, 2005, 09:30:57 pm »

Yeah, you are defintely in the area of the strike zone for sure. Glad to hear all is well, though!

I'm getting closed to being finished with the construction on my cabinet (I need to start a project thread), and I'm looking forward to seeing how the VisionPro does. I sit here and look at it from time to time, and I get really anxious to see it in action.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #85 on:** October 27, 2005, 03:18:32 pm »

OK everybody. I know I have disappeared for a while, that is mainly due to not much going on.....that is until now.....It was my wife and I's 9th anniversary and she ordered the VisionPro 27" Monitor and a bezel from Happs. Wow, I was really surprised. I knew she was looking around in my copy of Saints book, but I was just thinking she was having fun playing the games (which she was) and was curious about it. I had mentioned to her that if I got one it would be between the D9200 and the VisionPro. I like the idea of the 800x600 and the normal frequencies. Plus right now, until October 30, Happs has it on sale for $395. Warning though, the shipping will be $150.00 from Chicago to Houston Tx. (yeah I know, we lost last night...) anyway I'll be having some stuff to post whenever the monitor arrives. She ordered the bezel too, so I will have to cut that mount the monitor and cover it all with Lexan. I plan on having the start/stop button and the volume and bass controls sticking out at the bottom of the bezel. Right now I have an older 128 Rage Pro card by ATI in the computer (was using the dell LCD) I have an arcade VGA that I bought during the summer. Should I use the Arcade VGA or the older ATI card?

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #86 on:** October 29, 2005, 01:27:28 pm »

Glad to know you went w/ the Happ Controls monitor (awesome gift)!

Would you mind to take a look at my post in the following thread and comment on the cords that came w/ your VisionPro? All I received with mine was a VGA signal cable and am missing the power cord...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=45081.msg427788#msg427788

Many thanks!

Bones · « **Reply #87 on:** November 01, 2005, 07:50:22 am »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on October 27, 2005, 03:18:32 pm

and she ordered the VisionPro 27" Monitor and a bezel from Happs.

What a woman!

markrvp · « **Reply #88 on:** November 01, 2005, 10:33:04 am »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on October 27, 2005, 03:18:32 pm

Should I use the Arcade VGA or the older ATI card?

That's a great question and I wish I knew the answer. I use an ArcadeVGA with a Betson Multisync. Their are Trisync drivers that allow the AVGA to output 800x600 at 31 Khz which I think would work, but Andy's site says don't use the Trisync unless you are using the multisync monitors (Betson, WG D9200).

Please ask Andy @ Ultimarc this question and post the answer so others (like me) will know.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #89 on:** November 05, 2005, 09:57:55 am »

I received the monitor on Wednesday and set it on the monitor shelf and hooked it up. I decided to leave the older ATI video card in the computer since I read in the manual that the Vision Pro would handle the normal frequencies. It worked. The only problem I can see is when I try to play tempest, the monitor says something like "Unsupported scan rate". I don't remember the exact message, but I thought it was strange that only Tempest would cause it. I imagine other vector type games will do the same things, like Gravitar, and Asteroids, but I haven't had time to try it yet. I am in Austin for work this weekend, so no further research will be done until later this coming week. Here are a few pics. I need to center the monitor a little (raise it about 1 inch) and then cut the bezel. Instead of glass could I use Lexan to cover the front of the monitor/bezel?

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #90 on:** November 05, 2005, 10:01:10 am »

a few more...

Oh, BTW, the monitor just has a standard VGA (15 pin) connector, so it was easy to connect to the PC. This thing really is just a (BIG) computer monitor with low resolution and scan rates.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #91 on:** May 18, 2006, 08:50:55 am »

Well, here it is almost 7 months later and I thought I would post the current pics of the arcade machine. Since the last post, I installed the bezel and put the full collection (5000+) mame games on it. I decided to put the power button at the center on the bottom of the bezel. also, I drilled some small holes for the volume and bass knobs to stick through. The monitor comes with a small circuit board with 4 pushbuttons on it for adjusting the picture, and I Velcroed that to the back of the bezel with small holes for a toothpick or small screwdriver to go through to make adjustments. The only thing I may consider doing is putting some strips of wood behind the vertical and top edges of the bezel and use Velcro strips to keep the bezel in place (right now the bezel rests on the monitor. I have not put any glass on front of the bezel yet, but that would be something I would like to do as well. Here are some pics:

IG-88 · « **Reply #92 on:** May 18, 2006, 07:54:21 pm »

Wow. I had forgotten about this. It looks great!

mlyday · « **Reply #93 on:** May 19, 2006, 09:06:46 am »

Hey what is the name of the game on the screen, I remember playing that. By the way the cab looks great.

Mark

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #94 on:** May 19, 2006, 08:36:30 pm »

The name of that game is called Attaxx. Thanks

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #95 on:** May 19, 2006, 08:44:00 pm »

OK I have some bad news to report. I went to turn on the arcade tonight to play some games, and the monitor (Happs Vision Pro 27") has a problem. It keeps flickering the screen image on the upper half of the screen for just a fraction of a second, then goes black, then flickers the image again. It was working fine when I turned it off last night. I checked all the connections and have not adjusted any resolutions. I also hear a little crackling noise as it heats up that I don't remember before. I just can't believe something is already wrong with the monitor because last night it was working fine, and I have hardly turned it on for the time I have had this thing. I have not used it for the last month or so, and the monitor really only as less than 50 hours use on it. The Vision Pro manual says it has a 2 year warranty on parts and labor so I guess I am covered. I just bought it Oct. 05. What a way to start the weekend :-(

Any ideas or thoughts?

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #96 on:** May 22, 2006, 04:22:42 pm »

Just to give everyone an update. I called Happs today and they don't pay for shipping to return my monitor. That means I am stuck with $300.00 round trip shipping on a monitor I paid $395.00 for last October. That sucks! I may have to void the warranty and get it fixed here in Houston (provided I can find a place). I certainly don't want to buy another one if it is going to fail in the next few months. Anyone having any trouble with the Happs 27" Vision Pro monitors?

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #97 on:** May 22, 2006, 06:01:34 pm »

Wow that sucks, hope you get it fixed. Great looking cab though, I remember when I built my cab I got a lot of help from this thread since I also followed Saints book.

ChicagoDave · « **Reply #98 on:** May 24, 2006, 09:47:23 am »

Your cabinet looks great! Please keep us posted on the progress of getting your monitor fixed. I have been thinking about getting the same monitor and I would like to note your progress when making my decision. Thanks.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #99 on:** May 24, 2006, 10:13:50 am »

Thanks, I will keep everyone posted. As it currently stands, it is under warranty but Happs will not cover the shipping (around $300.00 round trip from Houston to Chicago). I have made contact with someone in the Dallas area that may be able to help me out.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #100 on:** February 03, 2007, 01:50:05 am »

Finally an update. I ended up sending my monitor to Happs in Chicago for repair. Apparently it was a diode that failed and when that happened, all the negative side voltage electronics got damaged also. I thought it might be due to heat, but the guy that repaired it at Happs said it was just a random failure, and heat should not be that much of a problem if it's within reason. Should I put in some computer case fans, or some vents around the monitor area? I remember the day that it failed, it was kinda warm in the monitor cavity behind the bezel. I received the monitor this weekend and immediately installed it again. It sure is better than having my 21 Dell LCD in there :-)

saint · « **Reply #101 on:** May 16, 2007, 10:15:48 pm »

Gonna drag this thread back up -- How's the monitor working now? The one in Project Arcade is still going strong though it gets played probably about once a week or so these days....

SirPeale · « **Reply #102 on:** May 17, 2007, 02:41:59 am »

Instead of pulling the entire monitor you could have sent just the chassis. Would have saved you some big bucks on shipping.

Firefly · « **Reply #103 on:** July 18, 2007, 07:50:34 pm »

This project looks fantastic. Thanks for the step by step walkthrough, it really is insightful and inspiring to read.

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #104 on:** July 23, 2007, 11:58:18 pm »

RaggedEdge,

Thanks a lot for posting updates to the thread and keeping it alive. Your cabinet looks great, and you should be very proud of it. It's really clean and you did a good job of factoring in the volume and power controls.

I, too, have the Happ monitor, and it's good to know how you turned out.

Thanks again!

BTW, what's next on the project list?

Regards,
Whitney

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #105 on:** July 25, 2007, 08:47:01 am »

Wow, I had not checked back here until I noticed a reply to my post in my spammed fill email. The monitor is still working OK after the repair. Every once in a while, it flickers, but seems to go away. When it flickers, I can hear a little electronic pop, but it sometimes doesn't happen for weeks. I don't know if it's something that will degrade and fail, or just continue every once in a while. It's good to know others with the Happs monitor are having success, because after October I will be out of the warranty period and rather than fix this one (if it needs it) I might buy another one. I use the arcade about once per week also, but my 2 year old daughter is starting to show more interesting in it. It could be turned on every day in the near future.

As for future projects, I might make another arcade for another location we sometimes go on the weekends. I would have to get those plans past the significant other which might not fly too well. But you never know.

Thanks for replying everyone,

Trebeck · « **Reply #106 on:** August 02, 2007, 01:17:23 pm »

awesome job Ragged. Isn't having your own cab just the best??

Beck

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #107 on:** August 03, 2007, 01:20:04 am »

Trebeck,

Yes, I really love having the arcade cabinet. I toss around the idea of building another one, but I wonder what I would do for another spinner. The vortex spinner is such a top notch control, I don't know if I would be happy with another one. Since I haven't been reading the messages much lately, what are people using to substitute for the oscar controls vortex?

RaggedEdge

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #108 on:** August 11, 2007, 07:03:13 pm »

For a while I have been having the idea to make little 4 x 6 cards (photos) of instructions for each game. This came to mind over time as people would come over and want to play the arcade and I wasn't here. My wife didn't know what all the buttons do on the control panel, so it was hard for anyone to play without me here. Since I didn't want to have the names of the buttons on the control panel, I am trying to come up with cards for each game that I laminate, and put on a large keyring so anyone who walks up to the machine knows how to navigate the Mamewah menu and how each game is played. Here is my first one for Galaga '88. Anyone else done anything like this?

hulkster · « **Reply #109 on:** August 13, 2007, 04:47:03 pm »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 11, 2007, 07:03:13 pm

For a while I have been having the idea to make little 4 x 6 cards (photos) of instructions for each game. This came to mind over time as people would come over and want to play the arcade and I wasn't here. My wife didn't know what all the buttons do on the control panel, so it was hard for anyone to play without me here. Since I didn't want to have the names of the buttons on the control panel, I am trying to come up with cards for each game that I laminate, and put on a large keyring so anyone who walks up to the machine knows how to navigate the Mamewah menu and how each game is played. Here is my first one for Galaga '88. Anyone else done anything like this?

why not just config and enable cpviewer?

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #110 on:** September 30, 2007, 07:28:51 am »

Thanks Hulkster, I had never heard of CPViewer. I'll definitely be trying it out.

The monitor is still working so I guess it will survive it's earlier problems. Now that the weather has cooled a little bit and the house is a little cooler, I noticed the few random jitters that it has have gone away.

One thing that I have never done is mount my monitor to the cabinet. It has always been sitting on a few pieces of wood that were laying on the monitor shelf. If time permits today, I want to finally mount it properly and give it some kind of adjustment so I can get the angle and height that I want. I am thinking to assemble a bracket that can be adjusted with nuts on threaded bolts.

Another thing I have never done is fasten the bezel to anything. Like the monitor, it has been just pressed inside the cabinet and snug against the front of the monitor. I want to put a few strips of wood on the inside of the monitor cavity and stick some velcro on them that will match up with velcro on the back of the bezel.

One last thing that seems to make other machines look really good is a final piece of Lexan or Glass on the outside of the bezel.

Off to do some measuring...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #111 on:** December 18, 2008, 11:10:44 pm »

Just thought I would update my project postings. Mars Invasion is still working great, and I have not had any problems with the monitor. The other day I noticed the right direction on the left joystick (player one) was not working, so I lifted up the control panel and noticed when I plugged in the Ipac4 with the PS2 cable it flashed an error code. It was something like 12 or 13 flashes, which were hard to count. I immediately ordered another Ipac4 and just got done installing it tonight. Thanks to Andy at Ultimarc for getting it her so fast. Everything is working again and now I am pondering on how I can fix the old one. As far as I can tell, only the right direction for the player one joystick is not working. I wonder if it's as simple as replacing the IC chip on the left (the one with the flashing LED) side of the Ipac with a new chip, or is it some board level component that is failing. Would be nice to have a spare laying around in case this happens again.

IG-88 · « **Reply #112 on:** December 19, 2008, 12:24:27 pm »

AND HE'S BACK!

Couldn't you just "re-assign" joystick right to another key in mame?

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #113 on:** December 19, 2008, 12:42:41 pm »

yes, I could have, and I thought about that. What changed my mind was how many other keys were going to fail in the future? Now I have the new encoder and the old one. I want to see if I can determine what's wrong with the old one, and see if I can fix it. Maybe a chip replacement on the Ipac board.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #114 on:** July 05, 2009, 11:17:15 pm »

Hello all, I thought I would post a few pictures of some work I did on Mars Invasion. I little bit of history. I built this arcade right around the time my daughter was born and once she learned to walk, my free time went to zero. She is now 4 years old and is showing an interest in playing the games on it. That has been a nice surprise, so now it gives me some more incentive to work on a few things that had been bothering me that I left unfinished. Ever since I got the 27" monitor, I had not mounted it. I just stuck it in the monitor cavity and positioned it well enough to put the bezel on it. Finally, this past week I permanently mounted the monitor and put some strips of wood with Velcro to fasten the bezel to. Anyway here are a few photos of the recent work I did on it.

yo1dog · « **Reply #115 on:** December 25, 2009, 02:09:10 pm »

Where did you get your monitor?

Gamester · « **Reply #116 on:** December 26, 2009, 01:36:29 am »

According to the info above in the thread, he got it directly from Happ Controls...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #117 on:** December 30, 2009, 12:08:14 pm »

That is correct. I bought it from Happ Controls two years ago. They have since stopped selling most of their CRT monitors.

PhoenixGG · « **Reply #118 on:** September 01, 2014, 08:53:40 am »

Incredible build. I just had to post how much I enjoyed reading it.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #119 on:** September 02, 2014, 09:09:04 am »

Thanks,

I am glad people still browse through it. The machine is still working just fine. I have had to replace several of the iPac 4s. For some reason they stop registering a button press after a while. I can move the wire to another input and reprogram the game to use the new input, but it's a hassle to change all my games. I still worry about when the monitor might go out on me, but so far it's still working. It survived our move from Houston to the Dallas area.

RaggedEdge

Verthe · « **Reply #120 on:** August 17, 2022, 09:32:45 am »

Hello,

Nice World.
Can tour provide the template
Of the control panel ?
Thank you.


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