Author Topic: 3/4 Scale Lusid style Cab for Kids - Finished!! (Read 42782 times)

AtomSmasher · « **on:** July 13, 2006, 06:55:27 pm »

I'm just starting on my second arcade project, which means its time to start this thread and get a little feedback. This cabinet will be a christmas present for my neice and nephew who are currently 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years old. I'm trying to keep costs down as much as I can, so I'll mainly be using left over wood and I have an old 15'' monitor and 400mhz computer to power this with. I've set my budget to $150, which shouldn't be too hard to pull off, and my mom has agreed to chip in some extra money for a trackball, so that won't be included in my budget.

I think I'm going to make the sides design similar to a pac-man machine, so I've already downloaded the plans from jakobud.com except that I'll be making it at 3/4 of the originals size. I'll also be adding a keyboard tray so when the kids get older they can use this as a computer station. Some other things I'm thinking of adding are a hinged front door (its a kids cab so its not supposed to be authentic) so they can easily access the computer and a master power switch inside along with a lock on the door, which will allow my sister to control when they use it, if needed.

It looks like I should be able to cut out both sides of the cabinet from 1 4'x8' sheet of mdf, which is nice because it keeps my cost down, and I'm pretty sure I have enough wood to make the rest of the cabinet (although I may make a few hidden pieces out of plywood since I have plenty of that laying around). I'm thinking of getting 5/8'' thick wood for the sides which will help reduce its weight, and since it is a small cab it should still be strong enough. If I can finalize my plan designs soon enough, then I'll go get the wood this weekend and get started on this thing.

So far I all I've done is format and install a copy of windows 98 onto the old computer, it only needs to run the older classic games so it should be enough to do that. I need to start going through all the roms and figure out which ones to include.

I think the kids favorite colors are yellow and orange (one like yellow, the other orange) which works out nicely for a pac-man style cab. I'll need to check and make sure those are their favority colors, I'll also need to find out how tall they are so I know I'm not making it too big.

I don't expect too many thoughts or comments on this project yet, but this thread had to start somewhere.

*edit*
The finished cabinet

Crafty · « **Reply #1 on:** July 13, 2006, 11:45:09 pm »

Sounds like fun...

Any kid would love their own personal arcade machine..

somunny · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2006, 01:23:06 am »

I'm in the middle of building a 3/4 scale cabinet for my kids, as well. I sorta winged it on the design though. Had an old computer and a 19" monitor laying around so I put them to use. If it turns out anything like your first project, it'll be a beaut! Good luck!

Steve

leapinlew · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2006, 11:17:58 am »

I have a couple thoughts!

1. Try that computer using actual controls. My old 450 could handle the mame games ok, but it didn't care for multiple inputs from the ipac. I don't mean like 8 inputs at once, just running and jumping would cause the machine to beep and the action to stutter onscreen.

2. Check out MarkVP's 3/4 pac-man cabinet. He did an awesome write up! He used a Jakks pcb and you might be able to do something similar as well. What he did that is really cool is he made a peice of furniture. You can see his thread here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36591.0

3. Make sure the T-molding is available in the size you want before you buy your MDF.

4. Last thing I can suggest is an add-in drawer that would bring the height to full size, so as the kids grow, the machine can to. Your call on this one.

I look forward to seeing your project progress!

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2006, 04:55:37 pm »

1. Hmm, thats odd about it not liking the IPac. I'll definately check that out before I buy any controls for this, thanks for the heads up.

2. I remember reading about that a while ago, but couldn't find it recently when I went looking for it again, thanks for putting up the link. I've been debating about going the Jakks route, but its so few games and there would be no trackball that I decided against it. If it turns out the computer can't handle an IPac then I may be going back to this.

3. I'm fairly certain 5/8'' t-molding is readily available, but I'll make sure to check before buying the wood.

4. Thats a cool idea, but I think I'll hold off on that one for now. Maybe someday in the future when they are older I'll build that drawer for another present, but for now I'm trying to keep this fairly simple.

javeryh · « **Reply #5 on:** July 14, 2006, 05:02:15 pm »

5/8" t-molding is readily available but your choices in color are limited. Check out here (I'm sure there are other places that carry different colors though): http://www.t-molding.com/cart/customer/home.php?cat=8 If you want any crazy colors you are better off going with 3/4" wood...

IG-88 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 14, 2006, 05:40:46 pm »

Quote from: AtomSmasher on July 13, 2006, 06:55:27 pm

So far I all I've done is format and install a copy of windows 98 onto the old computer, it only needs to run the older classic games so it should be enough to do that. I need to start going through all the roms and figure out which ones to include.

Definitely post some results on that IPAC thing I am curious as well. Also, what kinda software were you planning on running on it anyway? ie: Front End or just Mame gui or....?

And, I found that KLOV has nice lists of games to help a person decide what to put on a cab, top 10's top 100's ect. Helps when you might forgot a good one.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #7 on:** July 14, 2006, 06:02:32 pm »

Hmm, it does seem the color choices of 5/8'' molding is limited. Red might look good though, I'm going to find out for sure what their favorite colors are before I decide on a color scheme though.

I'm planning on using a front end to control mame, since this is for kids I need to make sure its very easy for them to use. I also need to make sure banging on the buttons won't cause the front end to exit or bring up menu's. The only front end I have experience with is Mamewah, but I'm open to ideas for other frontends.

As for the list of games, one my main cabinet I have a list of 150-200 games which I enjoy, so I'm just going to go through that and narrow down which ones this older machine should be able to play. I expect it will probably be around 75-100 games. The slow part of that process is picking out the rom files. I will check out KLOV's lists to make sure I haven't left any off my main cabs list though.

leapinlew · « **Reply #8 on:** July 14, 2006, 07:11:13 pm »

Quote from: AtomSmasher on July 14, 2006, 06:02:32 pm

Hmm, it does seem the color choices of 5/8'' molding is limited. Red might look good though, I'm going to find out for sure what their favorite colors are before I decide on a color scheme though.

I'm planning on using a front end to control mame, since this is for kids I need to make sure its very easy for them to use. I also need to make sure banging on the buttons won't cause the front end to exit or bring up menu's. The only front end I have experience with is Mamewah, but I'm open to ideas for other frontends.

Check out Mala. It's amazing.

I wouldn't let the t-molding thing slow you down. I would just go 3/4 and be done with it. Any reason why your thinking 5/8? Is 5/8 available where you are? I hear some people have a hard time finding it.

IG-88 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 14, 2006, 07:51:47 pm »

Quote from: AtomSmasher on July 14, 2006, 06:02:32 pm

I'm planning on using a front end to control mame, since this is for kids I need to make sure its very easy for them to use. I also need to make sure banging on the buttons won't cause the front end to exit or bring up menu's. The only front end I have experience with is Mamewah, but I'm open to ideas for other frontends.

Thats just it. Trying to find a current FE to run on your system is tuff. You will probably have to stick with Mamewah. In my experience it's the only one that'll run on older equipment that still has support/updates ect. BUT, it isn't the easiest for little-ones to operate IMHO.

Quote from: AtomSmasher on July 14, 2006, 06:02:32 pm

Check out Mala. It's amazing.

Will it run on a 400mhz machine? With less than 512mb (I assume) ram?

theCoder · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2006, 08:39:03 pm »

Somewhere on this forum I remember someone commented that they made it so the control panel was at a comfortable height for anyone sitting in a chair. This way it is good for small kids, and good for everyone large than that. In the blink off an eye, they will be taller than you.

Regarding Mala, I've been playing with it and I really like it so far. It has some very cool graphical features the Mamewah does not have. I got a menu with a couple of different lists of games configured in about 2 hours. There is practically no documentation, but the interface is fairly easy to figure out. The author provides editors for all configuration. Nice.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #11 on:** July 14, 2006, 09:51:01 pm »

Instead of buying the wood and starting the actual construction, I'll just tinker with the computer this weekend and test out various roms and the IPac. It'll be over 100 degrees this weekend anyways, not exactly the perfect environment for working in the sweatbox I call the garage.

I'll probably just end up going with 3/4'' wood. I was trying to keep the weight as low as possible, but its going to be heavy regardless of what size wood I use so it doesn't really matter.

I found out their favorite colors are yellow and red, so I'll plan my color scheme around that.

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #12 on:** July 14, 2006, 10:04:18 pm »

So I guess Mini Cabs must be the in thing right now... as I too have started my Mini Pac Man project...

Regards,
Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #13 on:** July 15, 2006, 12:35:43 am »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on July 14, 2006, 10:04:18 pm

So I guess Mini Cabs must be the in thing right now... as I too have started my Mini Pac Man project...

Regards,
Jamie

Nice. Do you happen to have the plans and or dimensions of the one your building? I haven't gotten around to figuring out the specifics of what size to build this thing at.

theCoder · « **Reply #14 on:** July 15, 2006, 02:44:25 am »

They may be smaller, but they hit your pocketbook just as hard. I'm into my current project (bartop cab - PartyBox) for about $150 more than my full sized cab.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #15 on:** July 15, 2006, 07:26:33 pm »

I loaded Mame v.55 onto the computer along with a few roms and tested it out with my control panel from my main arcade machine. Everything seemed to work perfectly, no problems from the IPac or trackball. I played a few levels of 1941, Alien vs Predator, and Burgertime and I didn't notice any problems. I was surprised that Alien vs Predator was able to run smoothly since its a newer game (compared to the real classics), but it did. I guess thats the benefit of using an older version of mame.

MinerAl · « **Reply #16 on:** July 15, 2006, 09:13:35 pm »

If you go with authentic 3/4 Pac dimensions, you can easilly straddle an 18" wide cab from a chair or short stool.

If you're going to make it 3/4 high but wide enough for 2 players and a trackball, you might want to consider a riser. Make, paint and t-mould the riser at the same time so it'll match perfectly. Check out mine linked from MarkRVP's thread. It's not as detailed as his, but might give you some ideas.

Good luck.

Lots of pictures!

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #17 on:** July 16, 2006, 09:59:40 pm »

My MiniPacMan is pretty much on the mark at 70% of scale. I used jakobud's measurements and then just divided by 70%. I am still on the fence on using a 15" CRT or trying to use a 15" LCD to save cabinet space. As you all know... when building a MAME reproduction cabinet... some measurements are often changed to help in construction or to add different features. I am basically building this to fit in a certain place in my office so my 4 year old and 7 year old can play while I .... um surf...

Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #18 on:** July 16, 2006, 10:18:15 pm »

I've been thinking about it and I think I might just make a mini Lusid design cab (Project Arcade cab). Since I've already made one and have detailed plans for it, construction would probably go a lot faster and easier. Its also set up for a larger control panel so I wouldn't have a hard time squeezing 2 joysticks and a trackball onto it, like I would with a pacman cab. I only hesitate changing because a mini-pacman cab would probably look cooler.

Also, since red t-molding is available, I'm going to use 5/8'' thick wood. Margenly lighter is still lighter.

IG-88 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 17, 2006, 06:06:50 am »

Have you chosen an FE yet? Arcade.exe may be one to consider. Definitely easy to set up, and its kind to the older systems. I haven't messed with it much yet tho....

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #20 on:** July 22, 2006, 08:41:27 pm »

Well I am tired. I worked all day today in the 110 degree heat, but I got just about all the parts cut out. The only parts left are the cabinet front coin door and a keyboard tray, but I want to wait till the cab is together so I can just measure and figure out exactly what size to make them.

Its amazing how much faster and cleaner I can make my cuts now that I'm more experienced at this. I remember when I built my first cab I think it took me two weekends to do all the cutting, and I had to recut a number of the pieces. Now one day of cutting, and I'm done, granted the pieces are a lot smaller, but still.

Anyways, I went with a 5/8'' sheet of mdf, and I also used a lot of other scrap wood I had laying around. All of the cabinet back pieces and much of the control panel is actually made out of 1/2'' plywood, and the monitor shelf is made out of 3/4'' mdf. I think the plywood will help a lot with the weight, even though this is 3/4 the size of a full cab, it will probably be close to half the weight.

The control panel is going to be around 2 1/2 feet high, which is a bit tall for kids who are a little over 3 feet tall, but they should still be able to barely use it, plus I think its going to be a good height for an adult to be able to sit in a chair and play it. I figure the kids are growing so fast right now, and they're not getting it until christmas anyways, that building it a little tall was the best thing to do.

Heres a pic of the side compared to my full size one. Unfortunately other stuff was getting in the way, so it didn't turn out too good.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #21 on:** July 22, 2006, 08:48:40 pm »

I should probably also mention that the depth of the CP is not at 3/4 scale because I didn't think I could get a trackball to fit if I did make it that small. I cut the front part to be 2 3/4'' and the back to be 4 3/4'', and using 1/2'' thick wood for the bottom of the box will give an extra 1/4'' room instead of the 3/4'' wood the standard box size uses. I adjusted the hieght of where the CP sits on the rest of the cab, so it will still be the same height as if it was entirely 3/4 scale. I hope that makes sense, if not, well, too bad

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #22 on:** July 22, 2006, 10:27:42 pm »

What size monitor are you going to use?

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #23 on:** July 22, 2006, 11:50:16 pm »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on July 22, 2006, 10:27:42 pm

What size monitor are you going to use?

an old 15'' monitor I have lying around.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #24 on:** July 23, 2006, 09:37:49 pm »

Another day and another progress report. I was able to put most of the cab together today. I still need to put in the monitor shelf, and finish the CP, but the cab is mostly done. The front edge of the control panel is 2' 3'' high, which I think will be perfect. This project is screaming along a lot faster then anticipated, I guess I should start planning the contol panel and artwork already.

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #25 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:09:09 pm »

Man, that is looking awesome!!

I worked on my MiniPac again tonight. First time in like 2 weeks... funny how work and family just seem to take all my time these days... Guess I could live without one of them... hum... which to pick... which to pick!

Jamie

Crafty · « **Reply #26 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:10:00 pm »

Looking good..

Maybe you should just continue with the scaling effort and keep the artwork the same as the full size cabinet.

Like a Mini-Me so to speak...

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #27 on:** July 29, 2006, 09:33:44 pm »

I'm so glad the temperature has gone down, it's so much easier to work now (it went from 112 last weekend to 88 this weekend, huge difference).

Anyways, the basic cabinet is now complete and ready for wood putty and painting. On with the slideshow.

The keyboard tray flap is held up with a magnetic plate thingamabob if your wondering.

Here it is with the monitor I'll be using

One problem I noticed is the top of the middle of the monitor is sticking out too far. I haven't decided how I'm going to correct this yet, the options I see are either decase for modify the case of the monitor, cut out part of the back of the cab so the monitor hangs out a bit, or make the plexi bend out around it.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #28 on:** July 29, 2006, 09:39:09 pm »

I'm going to hold off on painting it until I figure out and cut out the CP and get the t-molding so I can route it out with confidence that its dead center. So that means the construction of this cab is on hold for a little while. Remember, its going to be a Christmas present, so theres no rush and I'm way ahead of schedule anyways.

Timoe · « **Reply #29 on:** July 29, 2006, 11:16:47 pm »

Its looking really good Atom. I am currently working on my first cab. I'd like to make a smaller cab, maybe a coctail or a bartop but definitely something small.

I've made sure to make my first cab the big one though. I'll make sure I finish it before my wife realizes I could have made it smaller.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #30 on:** July 30, 2006, 04:01:47 pm »

I've been tinkering around with a CP layout today. I couldn't find a 2 1/4'' trackball mounting plate template so I shrunk the 3'' trackball template by 1/2'' since thats the difference in siaze of the mounting plates. May not be perfect, but its close enough for my purposes. Heres what I've come up with so far:

any thoughts or comments? My only worry is that the buttons may be too close to the joysticks, which might make it uncomfortable.

*edit* also, ignore the measurement numbers of the control panel box. I shrunk the original file to 75% so the numbers are wrong.

versapak · « **Reply #31 on:** July 30, 2006, 04:21:17 pm »

That button/joystick spacing looks exactly like the Hypersports=>SF2 conversion I have, and it is plenty comfortable to play on, so I wouldn't worry as far as that is concerned.

camsauce · « **Reply #32 on:** July 30, 2006, 11:32:07 pm »

Just a thought on the artwork. With yellow and orange I think it would be sweet to have a big sunshine ray burst for the side art, almost like some sort of crazy anime fighting sequence background with a pacman in the middle and or something similar.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #33 on:** July 31, 2006, 12:07:13 am »

Thanks Versapak, I'm glad someones made the buttons that close before and that its comfortable, 1 less thing to worry about

Quote from: camsauce on July 30, 2006, 11:32:07 pm

Just a thought on the artwork. With yellow and orange I think it would be sweet to have a big sunshine ray burst for the side art, almost like some sort of crazy anime fighting sequence background with a pacman in the middle and or something similar.

Ray of sunshine with an anime character fighting pacman......I think that has to be one of the most original ideas I've heard in a while. To put it lightly, I'm not a fan of anime, so I don't think I'll be going that route. Thanks for the idea though. I've been debating what to do for the artwork for a while, but I think I'm going to go with the standard pac-man side art,
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=129&mode=search

and go with this for the marquee
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=255&mode=search

and I'm going to make a custom control panel artwork based on the original pac-man CP art, kind of like I did with the galaga art for the CP on my main cab.

I'm debating whether or not to put artwork on the kickplate, maybe this:
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=952&mode=search

or this:
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=819&mode=search

I'm also considering using this for the sideart, but I think I'm going to stick with a pac man theme
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=293

edit*the images didn't seem to be loading for me for some reason, so I added direct links.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #34 on:** July 31, 2006, 11:27:22 pm »

Well I worked on the CP for an hour or so today and heres what I've come up with for the overlay

Heres the CP with everything lined up

and here they are on top of each other so you can see how they line up

You may notice I labeled every button, I figure since its for kids, it will be a lot easier to tell them to press the #2 button or "L" button then it will be to tell them to press the top middle button.

Anyways, let me know what you think. I'll post these in the art section to get some opinions from there as well

n3rrd · « **Reply #35 on:** August 01, 2006, 12:56:35 am »

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but the monitor is still on it's stand, so couldn't you angle it upwards a little more? That would move the top edge back a bit... you might be able to even it out. The only thing giving you a problem is the bezel, really.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #36 on:** August 01, 2006, 02:00:10 am »

Quote from: n3rrd on August 01, 2006, 12:56:35 am

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but the monitor is still on it's stand, so couldn't you angle it upwards a little more? That would move the top edge back a bit... you might be able to even it out. The only thing giving you a problem is the bezel, really.

Its already angled so that the bottom of the monitor is flush with the edge of the cabinet, any more of an angle would push the bottom out making it no better then the top part. Unfortunately theres really no way to get the monitor completely in the cab without modifying with the cab or the monitor case. Its not sticking out too far so I'm hoping a curve in the plexi won't look to bad, but I'll figure that out when the time comes.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #37 on:** August 02, 2006, 02:14:31 am »

With the help of the people in the artwork forum, I've made a number of minor changes to my control panel artwork. Heres my thread in the artwork forum: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56325.0

And heres the current state of my control panel:

I think it will works well with the pac-man theme, but let me know if you have any suggestions for it. Also, I've decided to try and cut part of the monitor case to make it a better fit, I'll probably use a dremel to cut it and obviously I'll take the case off before I cut it. I also just got the speakers and keyboard for this machine from newegg so this weekend I'll also be cutting out the speaker holes. I'll actually be using the same exact speakers that I used for my full size cab so I already know how to install them and I know they're decent speakers for the money.
Heres a link to the speakers I got: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16836150037

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #38 on:** August 02, 2006, 05:23:56 pm »

One more update to the artwork:

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #39 on:** August 02, 2006, 07:40:14 pm »

Very Sweet AtomSmasher! I think I might build something like this next time. Something with a horizontal screen.

I think you might beat me on getting yours complete! But hopefully I won't be too far behind!

Again, very nice work!

What are your plans for side art?

Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #40 on:** August 02, 2006, 07:58:24 pm »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on August 02, 2006, 07:40:14 pm

What are your plans for side art?

I'm thinking the standard pac man sideart will work well
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=129&mode=search

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #41 on:** August 13, 2006, 07:29:34 pm »

I didn't get too much done this weekend due to other big news taking up my time, but I did work on it a little bit.

I used a dremel to cut off the top-back corner of the monitor, making this cut also allowed me to angle the monitor shelf a little bit more then before. The monitor now sits well inside the cab.

and don't worry, I took the monitor case off before cutting it.

I also ordered 11 dollar speakers and a 6 dollar keyboard from newegg.

So far my total cost, including tax and shipping, has been $117.78, which means I still have $132.22 left to buy the plexiglass, controls, and paint. It'll be close, but I think its going to stay within my original budget ($150 of my money + $100 from my mom = $250 total).

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #42 on:** August 13, 2006, 11:46:25 pm »

My question was more around how were you going to get the side art printed to scale?

I am tying to figure out how I am going to get my side art printed for my 70% pacman.

Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #43 on:** August 14, 2006, 12:26:07 am »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on August 13, 2006, 11:46:25 pm

My question was more around how were you going to get the side art printed to scale?

I am tying to figure out how I am going to get my side art printed for my 70% pacman.

Jamie

ah ok. Well my plan is to rescale it in photoshop, not a lot to it. Since I'm trying to save money on this one, I'm going to print the sideart out myself onto self adhesive paper. I'll probably print out a couple draft copies first to test the size and rescale if necessary.

I'll probably do the same thing with the CP art. Its not as nice as getting it printed on one sheet since there will be seams, but hopefully I'll be able to line it up close enough that you'll barely be able to notice.

I'll print it on something like this: http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?prodCatType=0&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&productId=29939&cmArea=SEARCH

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #44 on:** August 14, 2006, 09:21:14 am »

Great, that's what I was thinking of doing as well. Will you coat this with a clear acrylic or something like that?

I had also thought of just printing on regular glossy photo paper and then using a 3m adhesive to stick it to the cab. Guess I need to experiment and see what sticks the best.

The bad thing is that you have to print the yellow as well and so I will need to get paint to match the yellow as close as possable to the printed sheets...

Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #45 on:** August 14, 2006, 11:02:47 am »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on August 14, 2006, 09:21:14 am

The bad thing is that you have to print the yellow as well and so I will need to get paint to match the yellow as close as possable to the printed sheets...

Jamie

Ya, I've been thinking about that. I actually already have a piece of yellow from the sideart printed out, so when I choose my paint I'm going to color match it to that. Then once the cab is painted I still may have to adjust the color of the sideart slightly to get it to match, but that just means printing out a test version, then adjusting it in photoshop. It'll probably be a PITA, but it should be worth it.

melarky · « **Reply #46 on:** August 14, 2006, 01:57:12 pm »

My brother-in-law made a similar cabinet to yours, it turned out really nice (his kids love it, and it works nicely for adults with a standard kitchen table pulled up to it, perfect sitting height).

He also went with a pac-man theme, but he modified the control panel so that it didn't overhang (but the design was still based off the lusid design).

I have this pic that we took after we finished construction and painting, but before we got all of the artwork on it (still need to go grab a pic with all the artwork done). It really looks nice.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #47 on:** August 26, 2006, 09:12:27 pm »

I haven't posted an update in a while, but I am still working on this cab. Yesterday I printed out a small square of yellow from the pacman sideart, took it down to Home Depot and had them color match it. I think painted the cab. Today I brought the cab inside, installed the t-molding, the speakers, and the marquee light. Nothing really complicated in what I did, and its all done exactly the same way I did my first cab, so I'm not going to go into more detail unless asked. Anyways, on with the slideshow.

I should also point out the the CP is not finished. I still have to cut out the trackball, print the artwork, cut the plexi, and install the t-molding. I'm currently bidding on a used trackball on ebay, so I'm going to wait for that to come until I finish the CP. Other things that need to be finished are the bezel, marquee, and securing the monitor and computer, all of which I'm going to try and finish tommorrow. Next weekend I'll be moving into a new house, and after that I won't have much free time to work on this project for a few weeks, thats why I'm trying to get it mostly done this weekend.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #48 on:** August 27, 2006, 12:14:05 am »

Looking at the pics again, it looks kinda crappy with the flash taking away the color and the crappily painted CP (remember, I'm putting artwork over it) and having not painted the back of the monitor section.

Let me assure you that its actually turning out quite nice, I'll make sure to take some better pics after I get the bezel and marquee done tommorrow.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #49 on:** August 27, 2006, 09:39:50 pm »

I lied, I got virtually nothing done on the cab today. The only thing I worked on today is the side art. I picked up some adhesive paper from the local Office Max and printed the sideart onto 4 sheets of it. Unfortunately I also decided to pick up some of Office Max's store brand ink. Oh man was that a mistake. The printer heads get clogged after 1/2 page and the ink smudges like crazy. I'll be going back there tommorrow to return it, complain, and buy some real epson ink.

Anyways, I did manage to get one side printed out to look good. Only took about 2 hours to print out the 4 good looking sheets that I could use. I'm giving up on the other side until I get better ink.

JamieMcShan · « **Reply #50 on:** August 27, 2006, 10:20:08 pm »

Look'n sweet dude!

It looks like we are running pretty close on both being done with our mini cabs! All I am waiting on is the eletronics! (the easy part!)

Great work, can't wait to see it all complete!

Jamie

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #51 on:** August 27, 2006, 10:25:17 pm »

Quote from: JamieMcShan on August 27, 2006, 10:20:08 pm

Look'n sweet dude! It looks like we are running pretty close on both being done with our mini cabs! All I am waiting on is the eletronics! (the easy part!)

Great work, can't wait to see it all complete!

Jamie

Thanks. The only things I'm waiting for now are also the electronics, but they're on the way.

The auction just ended, and I'm now the owner of a used betson trackball for $9.99 + 10 shipping. If it doesn't work, then I have an extra Happ trackball harness from a previous project that I can put into it, which should get it working (assuming the ball can spin).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270019731844

I also picked up a bunch of joysticks and buttons for real cheap from dream arcades. I just hope they're nicer then X-Arcade joysticks and buttons, but if not, I don't think the kids will mind too much.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110024754733

After buying a keywiz Eco 2 and an Opti-wiz for $45 shipped, I've now spent a total of $285.28 on this project, which means I went over budget by $35. That sucks, but is not the end of the world and is much closer to my target budget then most people are able to do. I'm pretty sure I now have everything I need to finish this project, which means I won't be going any further over budget.

As I mentioned before, I'm moving next weekend, so my time for the next few weeks will be devoted to that, which means no more updates for a while.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #52 on:** October 01, 2006, 05:53:27 pm »

Well after a month or so delay caused from my move to a new house, I finally had a chance to work on this project again today. The control panel is now completely together and now just needs its wiring done. Everything is bottom mounted, and since its just 1/2'' thick wood and 1/8'' thick plexi, I didn't need to route anything, its all just attached to the buttom of the wood. I decided to get the CP art done correctly and took it to kinkos and had it printed onto poster paper for $30, which turned out very nice. I guess I moved the final budget limit to $300 because thats just aboutwhat I've spent now.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #53 on:** December 03, 2006, 08:19:15 pm »

Well, once again I wasn't working on the project much in the past few months, but the deadline (Christmas) is coming up quick, so past two weekends I've been doing quite a bit of work on it.

The control panel is now completely wired and everything works great. Wiring the keywiz Eco 2 and an Opti-wiz were much more complicated then my last project, but then the last project I bought the IPac 2 (w/screws for each wire) and the mouse wiring harness from happ, which were a lot more expensive. Since this is a budget progect, I had to hack an IDE cable, floppy cable, and cd-rom audio cable to connect to the keywiz and optiwiz, all of which worked great, just really time consuming.

I also have put a lot of work into getting the computer itself ready. I now have mame v55 loaded with about 100 games and mamewah as the front end. I found out the hard way that I had to convert the screenshot files to bmp format since win98 doesn't natively support png format, and finding v55 rom files became quite difficult. I later found out about the rollback rom set which lets you convert your rom set to any previous rom set, unfortunately I found out about it after searching for 4-5 hours for the missing files needed in the roms.

Mamewah is now fully configured and running great. I now have it set up to exit to windows only if both esc and P (pause in mame) are pressed together, and to shut down the system if esc and a mouse button are pressed together. This makes it difficult to accidently exit mame.

I also have now secured the computer and control panel onto the cabinet, which means all that is left to do is securing the monitor and the plexiglass. I should be able to get to that next weekend, which means I should easily finish this before christmas

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #54 on:** December 14, 2006, 01:11:17 am »

Woohoo!!! The project is finished.

Last weekend I secured the monitor using 2x4's and some metal plates I found at home depot. It is completely wedged in there and can not budge at all.

I then cut and painted the plexiglass, then installed the marquee and viola, its finished.

I should take some shots in the day time so the colored don't get washed out from the flash, but I probably won't. I will make sure to take some pics with the kids when I give it to them on Christmas

edit* I should also mention that the CP is at a perfect height for an adult to sit in a chair and play it. I should know because I've "tested" the games quite a bit


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