Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab  (Read 120097 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #240 on: May 11, 2007, 07:52:17 pm »
Today I got in some quality time on the smaller speakers.  There are two midrange’s and two tweeters.  The mids go in the dashboard, and the tweeters in a strip of wood that holds the top of the glass in place. 

When I bought the speakers I did not notice that one of the mids had a 2” tare along the edge and a small hole poked in the paper cone.  I tried to find a replacement, but no luck, so I decided to repair it.  I dug around the web, and many people recommend using white glue with paper from a brown paper bag.  Another site recommended just covering the hole with silicon.  I combined the two approaches, and coated both sides of a piece of brown paper bag in silicone.  It stuck right where I put it, and it is holding well.  It sounds good also.

The tweeters will be mounted in piece of wood that will be screwed into the roof, and top/front glass back-plate.  It will be pointing down at a 45-degree angle.  The tweeters were just a bit too wide to fit so I had to sink them into the wood a little.  There was also a metal lip that had to be removed so the wood would fit flush when mounted. 

I’ll be making covers for these speakers soon, but just had to plug them in to for a quick listen.  I'm not one to brag, but...OH, MAN!!!!!  Better than I had expected.  I had to adjust the base & treble a bit, turn down the base shaker as well.  After that, I listened to a couple Led Zeppelin songs cranked way up.  Very crisp and clean (and loud).  I went upstairs, and you could barely make out the base line.  And I wish I could describe the stereo effect you experience when scraping your car on a wall on your left, while being passed on your right.

Timoe

  • Trade Count: (+2)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1662
  • Last login:July 14, 2009, 09:50:12 am
  • Team-Oh-tAy-Oh
    • Rattlin' Trash
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #241 on: May 11, 2007, 11:26:36 pm »
I gotta see the front of that dashboard.  Thats one nice piece of lumber.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #242 on: May 11, 2007, 11:58:06 pm »
I gotta see the front of that dashboard.  That's one nice piece of lumber.
Thanks.  It is Bolivian Rosewood.  In this picture, the top piece is down low just testing out the sound.  It will eventually be mounted towards the top.  I've got a cool idea for the control cluster.  Stay tuned...

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #243 on: May 13, 2007, 12:02:40 am »
Quieting the Fans
I picked up a couple of new fans for the cab exhaust last week.  They are big, efficient, and make a lot of noise.  The fan on the Buttkicker amp also makes a lot of noise.  To quiet them, you need to make them spin less.  Fans can be slowed down by lowering the voltage.  Someone on the web recommended putting a 20-50 ohm resistor in series.  I picked up a pack of 20’s and gave it a try on one of the exhaust fans.  The fan slowed down a little with one resistor, but it got extremely hot!  Oh, yea, these things are rated for the watts they can handle.  The ones I picked up were ¼ watt.  I’ve long since forgot the equations, but I looked it up, and watts = volts * amps.  The back of the fan package mentioned they draw .17 amps.  It’s hooked up to 12 volts.  That puts the watts at around 2.  2 watt resistors are hard to find (and more expensive).  But if you use same value resistors in parallel, the current (amps) is divided into each, and the total resistance equals the base value / # resistors.  I played around with a large variable resistor and determined that 20 ohms was way too little.  The fans would barely work with about 100 ohms, and were still too loud at around 40 ohms.  Your mileage may vary.  Anyway, I wired 4, ½ watt, 330 ohm resistors together in parallel, providing around 80 ohms (330/4) and putting about ½  watt through each resistor (2 watts / 4 resistors).  The fans work at a fairly slow speed, you can barely hear them, and the resistors do not get hot.

The fans came with a cool little quick disconnect, that I wired in.  This allows me to take the top cover “completely” off and set it way to the side if needed.

With the noise of the exhaust fans practically gone, the sound from the Buttkicker fan was very noticeable.  I did the same and you could barely hear it.  Unfortunately it was too slow, and the heat sink the fan was blowing over got hot.  I soldered two more resistors in parallel (bringing the resistance to around 55 ohms).  It got a little louder, but the heat sink is nice and cool now.  With the covers on you can barely hear the fans, and with a game playing, you can’t hear it at all.  It was a well spent couple of hours.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #244 on: May 13, 2007, 12:08:47 am »
Some Progress & Headaches
In addition to quieting down the fans today, I got a few other things taken care of.

Installed front door latches (made from scrap wood from the dash). 
Replaced bad ignition switch with new one.
Re-routed a speaker wires and others and tidied up the wire bundles.
Epoxied a quarter over the TV on switch, making it power on/off with the strip.

In addition, I ATTEMPTED to install the top glass retainer.  I’m using the same brass screw inserts that I used on the front of the dash.  This install is a bit trickier because the holes are at a 45 degree angle, and the ones on the top, are in the painted and polished top piece.  I had to be really careful not to drill too deep.  I had drilled the holes for the screws in the retainer months ago.  Between being cautious & not drilling too deep, and the angles on the holes, some of the inserts do not line up with the holes in the retainer.  I got one to go by drilling the screw hole a bit bigger, but messed up another trying the same.  Another stripped out and tore up the wood around the insert.  It is in a very awkward position and was killing my back.  It had been a long day, and I didn’t want to mess up this piece any more.  I’ll take it up again tomorrow.

In the last picture is a shot of my son (not quite a small boy any more) taking it for a spin.

stephenp1983

  • Trade Count: (+3)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 691
  • Last login:March 24, 2024, 11:26:39 am
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #245 on: May 13, 2007, 07:49:26 pm »
You may have already said this, but do you have any clue on the approximate weight on it.  I was thinking of building one based of the pole position plans that are around and wanted some idea.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #246 on: May 14, 2007, 04:04:06 pm »

Dude tape off those solder joints!  You don't want them to short and do something funky.   ;D

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #247 on: May 14, 2007, 07:04:29 pm »

Dude tape off those solder joints!  You don't want them to short and do something funky.   ;D
Done.  These pictures were taken in-progress.  The joints are taped off and the wires are tacked down along the seams of the frame.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #248 on: May 14, 2007, 10:31:20 pm »
You may have already said this, but do you have any clue on the approximate weight on it.  I was thinking of building one based of the pole position plans that are around and wanted some idea.
I put one bathroom scale under the front end and one under the back end.  The back end (the one I lift from to move it) weighed in at 175.  The front end (with the TV and other electronics) weighs 234 pounds.  Talk about a swing in projects;  The Partybox weighted 29 pounds.  This puppy weighs 409 pounds (185 Kilograms). 

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #249 on: May 14, 2007, 11:56:50 pm »
Dashboard Speaker Covers
Today I made and installed the covers for the midrange and tweeter speakers.  My wife had some heavy plastic embroidery stuff that worked out well.  At first I covered one in the cloth that came with original speakers.  It made them look like dull, flat-black circles.  Instead, I just painted them black, exposing the mesh.  A couple of dabs of silicone around the edges and they’re in.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #250 on: May 15, 2007, 09:21:17 am »

Needlepoint grid!  I remember that stuff.

isamu

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 807
  • Last login:March 18, 2024, 02:38:32 am
  • I'm a llama!
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #251 on: May 15, 2007, 10:50:36 am »
Looking good Coder!  :cheers: :notworthy:

whatzcrackn

  • Trade Count: (+2)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 848
  • Last login:January 19, 2019, 12:14:02 pm
  • U just won tickets to da 'GUN SHOW'
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #252 on: May 15, 2007, 04:45:35 pm »
So when are you going to ship the Xcelerator to me  :o

Looking super man!!  I love it  :cheers:

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #253 on: May 15, 2007, 05:53:15 pm »
Looking good Coder!  :cheers: :notworthy:

So when are you going to ship the Xcelerator to me  :o

Looking super man!!  I love it  :cheers:

Thanks guys.  I'd hate to imagine what it would cost to ship a 400 pound arcade machine.  I'll pass on shipping it to you, but you're welcome to come drive it anytime.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #254 on: May 15, 2007, 08:27:20 pm »
Glass & Bezel Installed
Today the glass and bezel went on.  I was dreading this part because of the nightmare I had a few days ago setting the inserts for the top retainer.

I won’t be winning any awards here for the bezel, but it looks pretty good.  It is made from a flat piece of picture frame mat material on the face, and formed black foam rubber for the transition to the TV.  I was hoping to use a piece of $1.00 card stock available at most stores.  Unfortunately the standard size is 30” wide, and the cab needs 32”.  So instead of a $1.00 piece of cardstock, I’m using a $10.00 framing mat.  But hey, what’s another $10 (this stuff is adding up !!!!).  I wanted to make one of the custom 4 piece, 3D type bezels someone did a nice tutorial for, but at $10.00 per try, I figured I better go with a different approach.  The foam is cut to size and wedged between the TV and back of the bezel mat material.  Once positioned, I hit it with some hot glue to keep it aligned and to keep the joints nice and tight.  Initially I tried cutting the foam with a large pair of scissors but this approach left jagged edges.  To get a better surface I tried using an old fashion single sided razor blade.  Works great. 

The bezel was held on to the glass with a little electrical tape.  This kept it in place until the retainer wood could be screwed in.

The top retainer continued to give me problems, but it’s in.  Three of the eight screws did not and will never line up.  As much as I hate doing this… they are now just ¼” long, and held in place with a little dab of silicone.  Yep, fake screw heads.  At least it is in and I didn’t mess up the wood.  The good news is the retainer is in tight and doesn’t rattle. 

Before installing the glass I cleaned it, then cleaned it some more.  I used the razor blade to scrape a few bits of stubborn crud.  And the very final step was wiping it down with a lint free piece of cloth.  With the foam making a seal with the bezel, the inside shouldn’t need to be dusted for quite some time.  Man, I’m so relieved that this part of the project is complete.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #255 on: May 16, 2007, 08:56:29 am »
Thanks guys.  I'd hate to imagine what it would cost to ship a 400 pound arcade machine.  I'll pass on shipping it to you, but you're welcome to come drive it anytime.

Pretty much the same as it would cost to ship one regular game.  People use NAVL to ship cabs and they do a freight rate of something like "up to 500lb" on games.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #256 on: May 16, 2007, 10:41:22 am »
Thanks guys.  I'd hate to imagine what it would cost to ship a 400 pound arcade machine.  I'll pass on shipping it to you, but you're welcome to come drive it anytime.

Pretty much the same as it would cost to ship one regular game.  People use NAVL to ship cabs and they do a freight rate of something like "up to 500lb" on games.
Ouch!  According to their website, if less than 300 pounds and within 1200 miles, $675.  More than 1200 miles, $875.  They don't list how much $$ if more than 300 pounds. 

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #257 on: May 16, 2007, 10:48:54 am »

Wow, rates have changed... or else they have a sort of side deal going for cab shippers.  Probably a little of both.

horseboy

  • Only Saint has those powers.
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1562
  • Last login:March 07, 2021, 02:19:14 pm
  • With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg!
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #258 on: May 16, 2007, 10:57:16 am »
Thanks guys.  I'd hate to imagine what it would cost to ship a 400 pound arcade machine.  I'll pass on shipping it to you, but you're welcome to come drive it anytime.

Pretty much the same as it would cost to ship one regular game.  People use NAVL to ship cabs and they do a freight rate of something like "up to 500lb" on games.
Ouch!  According to their website, if less than 300 pounds and within 1200 miles, $675.  More than 1200 miles, $875.  They don't list how much $$ if more than 300 pounds. 

There is one specific lady that works at NAVL that deals with the shipping of arcades. If you speak directly to her the rates are supposedly much cheaper. I found her name and phone number somewhere, but I can't remember. It shouldn't be too hard to find.

Also, I read a few weeks back about someone that had a Red Baron cockpit shipped to him for between $300 and $400.


Quote from: saint
saint is all powerful.

Apparently he is.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #259 on: May 16, 2007, 11:03:42 am »

Michelle.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #260 on: May 17, 2007, 10:26:44 am »

Just had a thought... are you going to set up an Xbox anywhere else in the house and link it up for multiplayer racing?

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #261 on: May 17, 2007, 03:57:09 pm »
Just had a thought... are you going to set up an Xbox anywhere else in the house and link it up for multiplayer racing?
Done.  We've got two mod'd XBoxes on the wire.  My son beats me at the first person shooters, and I beat him on the driving sims and Texas Hold'm Poker.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #262 on: May 17, 2007, 03:58:54 pm »

Dude, don't play poker on the Xbox with someone actually in the house.   :laugh2:  Play with actual cards.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #263 on: May 30, 2007, 01:12:15 am »
Wheel Mounting Plate
A long time ago, in a previous life, I studied CNC programming and briefly worked as a CNC machinist.  You can make some pretty cool parts with a CNC machine.  I was extremely pleased when my friend Jim recently decided to buy a CNC machine for his shop.  He picked up a very nice CAM software program also, making it very easy to get fancy.  Monday night together we made the trickiest piece in the whole project, the mounting plate for the steering wheel. 

Rather than doing elaborate work on the dash wood, I decided to make a plate, then bolt it onto the dash.  This way, if something went wrong, I just lose a $3 piece of aluminum, instead of a $30 piece of hardwood.  The plate could just as easily been made square, with rounded corners.  But hey, we have a CNC machine to play with.  I decided to add some bevel features and an oval profile.

The plate is made from ¼” aluminum stock.  The center hole is a slip fit for the original plastic piece that went onto the housing.  The wheel gear assembly has 4 screws and some other features that needed to be 1/8” from the front surface.  After the main hole, we machined a pocket in the back for the wheel gear assembly.  The mounting holes for the gear assembly and the dash mounting holes were drilled next.  No CNC program necessary for these holes.  The machine has a pretty good coordinate system that allowed me to dial in the hole locations manually within less than a thousands of an inch.  The four gear assembly holes would be used to help fixture the part for the next step, the oval profile and blank cut-out.

We needed to make a fixture to hold the part.  In one of these pictures, you can see a screen shot of the tool profile as generated by the CAM software.  This program was used to cut away the surface of fixture wood, leaving a mirror image feature of the pocket in the back of the aluminum.  This feature was a tight press fit into the part.  The press fit, 4 long wood screws, and some C clamps held it in place for the profiling cuts.

There are 4 steps, 1/32” deep, and 1/8” wide around the perimeter.  It took about 25 minutes to run this program.  The white knuckle part of the process was the very last pass, where you cut through the last of the material, the stuff held down by the C clamps, putting all the force on the smaller screws in the center.  This is typically where things can rip loose and really mess up your part.  About 5 seconds from the end, the shop air compressor kicked on, making a loud sound.  That was really bad timing, for my nerves anyway, the part turned out fine.

Next comes cutting a hole in the wood for the wheel gear assembly to pass through, mounting the plate to the dash, then wiring it up, then the artwork, then, then, then. 


theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #264 on: May 30, 2007, 01:13:58 am »
I’m guilty of not following my own advice regarding getting a cab functional then playing it.  Aside from recent business trips, family outings, and spring yard work, most of my time on the project has been spent inside the project…driving.  I hate to admit it, but I was never late to work in the morning playing Defender or Donkey Kong.  I’ll probably get fired soon after I get the wheel assembly mounted, wired, and operational. 

>> more Wheel Mounting Plate pics <<

javeryh

  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7901
  • Last login:Today at 10:28:40 am
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #265 on: May 30, 2007, 11:35:42 am »
Sick.  Awesome work as usual Coder!  I've never even seen a CNC machine but from what I understand you can make some really cool stuff.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #266 on: June 04, 2007, 01:46:02 am »
Thanks javeryh, just having fun...

Unsuccessful Hack
I wanted to provide a way to quit the current game and return to the dashboard without rebooting the Xbox.  My BIOS supports an in-game-reset and is activated by pressing the left & right triggers, while holding down the start & back buttons.  That is not the most convenient arrangement, especially inside a dark cab.  I decided to provide this functionality with one button on the dash using a hacked controller. 

I picked up a cheap Xbox wheel controller at a garage sale last summer.  I tried to short the wires going to the left and right pots, but got an error message, something like the controller was not connected correctly.  I decided then to just leave the pots in-line, setting them in the “on” position and tape them up.  I soldered the Start and Back inputs together, then soldered one wire to these inputs and one to ground.  Being optimistic, I wired on a push button.  To my surprise, it worked first try.  I fired up a game, got past the intro screen, then pressed the button.  The console did a soft boot and returned to the menu screen within about 5 seconds.  This worked for the first 5 or 10 tries, but then stopped working all together.  On the last few tries, it really slowed down responding the 8-way pad while navigating the menu using my primary controller (currently a hand held – soon to be wheel). 

It is behaving as though I fried something in the controller.  I've tried different ports, unplugged everything, etc.  The solder joints appear to still be good.  It won’t even respond to the up & down buttons on the 8-way pad of the hacked controller.  At least I didn’t fry the input ports on my console (yea!!)  I guess I'll pick up another controller and try again.  Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might have screwed up?

Kaytrim

  • I'm too nice a guy
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2095
  • Last login:September 22, 2015, 04:11:30 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #267 on: June 04, 2007, 09:26:28 am »
Nice job on the mounting plate coder.  I like the little detail around the edge.

TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim

Generic Eric

  • Trade Count: (+2)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4520
  • Last login:March 05, 2024, 09:02:23 am
  • Restore! Don't maim for MAME, build from scratch!
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,143226.0.html
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #268 on: June 07, 2007, 12:57:37 am »
... I also have something like this that I wanted to use...
snipped

I NEED YOUR INPUT
We're a creative bunch of people.  What other systems might I put into this thing to increase the driving experience?  Lets think crazy, laughable, grossly impractical.  Or maybe even cool and functional.

How about a tape deck?  I didn't see it posted here.  http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20061217/pc-cassette-deck/

brack

  • TIGHTEN YOUR BITS!
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 29
  • Last login:March 26, 2012, 09:05:31 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #269 on: June 07, 2007, 05:46:02 am »

It is behaving as though I fried something in the controller.  I've tried different ports, unplugged everything, etc.  The solder joints appear to still be good.  It won’t even respond to the up & down buttons on the 8-way pad of the hacked controller.  At least I didn’t fry the input ports on my console (yea!!)  I guess I'll pick up another controller and try again.  Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might have screwed up?


I have fried a couple of xbox controller hacks myself and it seems to always be related to the triggers.  I'm not quite sure why.  As a matter of fact, one of the ones I am using right now has a trigger that I thought was fried but in fact was just reversed into a normally open status vs a normally closed.  I just used the normally open on the microswitch and it works just fine.  It's probably not a bad idea to skip right to the tape option for the triggers in your next hack.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38211
  • Last login:October 19, 2022, 12:01:54 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #270 on: June 07, 2007, 01:02:56 pm »

Make the bucket seat cloth 500 degrees every now and then.  Make everyone wear shorts.

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #271 on: June 07, 2007, 04:24:52 pm »

It is behaving as though I fried something in the controller.  I've tried different ports, unplugged everything, etc.  The solder joints appear to still be good.  It won’t even respond to the up & down buttons on the 8-way pad of the hacked controller.  At least I didn’t fry the input ports on my console (yea!!)  I guess I'll pick up another controller and try again.  Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might have screwed up?


I have fried a couple of xbox controller hacks myself and it seems to always be related to the triggers.  I'm not quite sure why.  As a matter of fact, one of the ones I am using right now has a trigger that I thought was fried but in fact was just reversed into a normally open status vs a normally closed.  I just used the normally open on the microswitch and it works just fine.  It's probably not a bad idea to skip right to the tape option for the triggers in your next hack.

Thanks.  On one try I did tape the triggers in place.  I think I'll try one relay per button/switch next time.  I'll share the results...


Make the bucket seat cloth 500 degrees every now and then.  Make everyone wear shorts.

Born and raised Phoenix Arizona, I really know what that's like.  I'll stick with cool cloth, thanks.

meequalgreat

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25
  • Last login:July 04, 2008, 02:17:49 pm
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #272 on: June 08, 2007, 12:24:25 pm »

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #273 on: June 17, 2007, 12:44:09 am »
Successful Hack
Well, three controllers later, I finally got it.  To save a few seconds for each game reset, I hacked a controller to do an in game reset (IGR).  On a modified Xbox it does a soft reset when you press the start + back + left trigger + right trigger buttons at the same time.  Other attempts involving bringing the different leads to ground through a switch failed.  I finally just gave each button their own set of contacts using 4 relays.  The dashboard button runs 5vdc to the four relays wired in parallel.  I picked up the relays at an online components place for $0.78 each.  Much cheaper than the $2.99 Radio Shack was asking.  The relays for the two buttons just short out wires soldered to the pad under each button.  For the relays, I experimented and found which two (of three) leads on the pot needed to be shorted together to invoke “full on”.  I soldered these terminals to the relay contacts.  Works like a champ.  8 hours of hacking time and $45 later, I’ve now saved 6 seconds on each game reset.  Woo-hoo.  It was probably not worth it, but I learned a bit and had some fun.

The picture “controller_hack” is attempt #2 that involved using diodes.  This approach did not work either, but the thought was that the diodes would isolate each signal.  At work we have 40 conductor ribbon cable.  The stuff is great.  I think it is around 28 gauge.  Each colored wire has a corresponding tan wire.  It is good for when you need, say, 3 or maybe 6 sets of wires in a bundle.  I could have used an old ribbon cable, but this stuff is much easier to work with.  I also use twisted pair phone wire on occasion.  I’ve got a spool that an electrician friend gave me years ago. 

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #274 on: June 17, 2007, 12:46:29 am »
Dashboard Complete - Almost
The other night I mounted the steering wheel to the dash.  This involved some tricky pocketing in both the dash and the mating surface on the cab.  Before mounting everything, I gave the wood a couple of treatments of Tung oil.  Oh, man.  Talk about bringing out the richness of a piece of wood.  The pictures do not do it justice.  It looks like the polished wood grain finish in a very expensive car (not that I own one mind you).  I put the ignition switch on the right.  In the “on” position, it powers a relay, that powers the power strip.  In the “start” position, it does a hard reset on the Xbox (shorts out the little power button on front).  The soft reset button is on the left.  I’m using an Electric Ice button and will be putting in a red led.  Beside that is the volume control knob.  No cool scrolling artwork or backlit inlays, just simple controls on a good looking piece of wood.

I mentioned “Almost Complete” because the wheel is not yet functional.  When I went to reassemble all the boards and cables, I was missing a few pieces.  I’m not sure if it is another small board, or what, but I’m missing 3 small wire bundles.  That’s what you get I guess when 7 months pass between initial hack and reconstruction.  Before I took it all apart, I took a few pictures.  This helped a lot.  They showed which colored bundles went where.  It did not however, show which of the 3 red-black-green bundles went to which of the 3 sockets, and where the missing cables went to.  It also had a number of spots where you could not see everything.  If you go about hacking something like this (wheel with lots of cables/boards) I strongly recommend taking LOTS of pictures, from lots of different angles.  Move the wires around and take a few more.  Move the camera back a foot or so and take a few more.  I’ve searched high and low and can’t find the missing cables.  So off to Ebay I went.  $50 delivered…Ouch.  But hey, I’m so close, and I’m way over budget at this point.  What’s another $50.

Remaining work….
1)  Install “new” steering wheel
2)  Design and install side art
3)  Design and configure matching menu front-end skin artwork
4)  Other loose ends ?
5)  Stop playing this darn thing and get it done !  I put in another 2 hours today playing Rally Sport Challenge 2.  Volume cranked, rumblers rumbling, seat vibrating.  Very exhilarating.  It was so intense, I needed a break.


javeryh

  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7901
  • Last login:Today at 10:28:40 am
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #275 on: June 17, 2007, 07:18:29 am »
Oh. My. God.  I think I speak for everyone when I say "Hall of Fame" - this thing continues to impress!!   :cheers:

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #276 on: June 30, 2007, 11:44:41 pm »
My new Fanatec Speedster 3 wheel showed up last week.  Unfortunately it arrived the day before we were off for a 4 day vacation to Disneyland.  I figured it would be a bad call to start on mounting the new wheel while my wife was preparing for the trip.  Better to not start a vacation like this on a bad note.  We had a great time and I got in about midnight last night.  In the mean time…

I set out to document the snot out of this wheel so I would not have the same problem as last time (lost cable(s), where do they go again?).  If anyone runs into a problem with this make of wheel, PM me. I took lots of pictures.  I needed to hack into the controller to route wires to my custom IGR reset circuit/button and get the rumbler signals to the extra rumblers mounted in the back of the seat.  The great news is that all the button contacts are connected to the PCB with good-ol wire.  This made it very easy to do what I needed, just soldering wires inline, instead of onto the PCB.  For the record, coming out of the wheel, there are two large ribbon cables for button signals, one for the programmable flapper buttons, and two small ones for the rumblers. 

White thru Purple (9) Cable:
white = common
blue = B
purple = A
green = X
yellow = Y
black = right trigger
brown = left trigger
red = White
orange = Black

Black thru Gray (9) Cable:
black = up
brown = down
red = left
orange = right
yellow = start
green = back
blue = setup
purple = tuning
gray = common

Red / Black (2) Cable:
Large rumbler power & ground

Green / Blue (2) Cable:
Small rumbler power & ground

Green thru Red (4) Cable:
green/yellow = right flapper
red/orange = left flapper

I had a few problems getting everything in.  First, I broke one of the wires off the wheel pot and had to re-solder it back on.  To get the main wheel retainer screw to thread in, I had to use a Dremel tool to hog out a little bit of plastic.  The plastic plate under the wheel stuck out just a bit, keeping the holes from lining up.  All in all, it took a couple of hours to get the new wheel installed and up-and-running.  But all is not good.

At first, when the system powers up, it automatically launches the last game run, bypassing the menu.  I figured out that if I press the gas pedal just a little on start-up, it boots to the menu.   What’s up with that?  Some games play great with the wheel/pedals, but many do not.  On at least three games, it would act as if it would not go into gear.  I could drive in reverse (pressing the break), but nothing happens when I press the gas.  It would not drive backwards by itself, but for the games that don’t work, they do start out in reverse, as if the break is pressed ever so slightly.  I also noticed that I can do a reset if I press the start+back+gas (right trigger), indicating that the break pedal (left trigger) is “pressed”.  Oh, shoot, the break pot needs adjusting!!!!! To get the pedals and mounting hardware off, I’ve got a lot of disassembly to do.  Man, I was so close.  :banghead:

Does anyone know if there is an Xbox trigger tuning utility out there?

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #277 on: July 05, 2007, 09:43:19 pm »
Finally Driving With The Wheel & Pedals
Yesterday, after doing a lot of chores around the house, I got around to fixing the break pedal.  Apparently it was sending a slight “on” signal to the CPU, causing all kinds of havoc.  I could not get to the mechanisms as mounted, so the pedal assembly had to be removed.  What a pain!  Half of the components in the front part of the cab had to be removed, exposing the large lag bolts that hold the pedals in place.  Unfortunately, I used a lot of wood glue in addition to the bolts.  It was painful to do, but I had to take a chisel, block of wood & hammer, and whack it a bunch of times to get it off.  Ouch, a bunch of dings and scratches!  Once it was out the adjustment was very easy to make.  All I had to do was remove the square rack gear, rotate the pinion a couple of teeth, then put the square gear back on.  The pedal assembly is back on and the problems is solved.  I'll patch it up with a little bondo to cover the dings and then hit it with a quick coat of black paint.

I used the opportunity to clean up some of my wiring, gave it one last vacuuming, and now it’s fully functional.  I took a couple of short video of my son getting into a game of Burnout.  One from the side looking into the door, and the other looking from behind, through the smoked glass.  It plays MUCH better with a wheel & pedals vs. a hand held controller. 

All that remains is the artwork for the side and front-end skin.  But with it running now, I can’t seem to find the time…

vrf

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 355
  • Last login:October 13, 2017, 10:11:54 pm
    • Pixelbox
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #278 on: July 05, 2007, 10:27:33 pm »
This is such an awesome project. Wish I had more to say...

theCoder

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1035
  • Last login:September 20, 2010, 10:48:47 pm
  • I'll clean up my mess, Honey, when I'm done...
Re: Xcelerator - Xbox driving cab
« Reply #279 on: July 05, 2007, 10:40:34 pm »
This is such an awesome project. Wish I had more to say...
Thanks.  It has been quite a ride (no pun intended).  What is the state of your bartop?  Did you ever finish that thing?