Author Topic: Mars Invasion - Upright following Saints Book (Read 61486 times)

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


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