Bartop Donkey Kong-Themed MAME

[tiktock]

Hello,
This post is to kick off my project thread.  I am nearly done completing this cabinet but I wanted to document the build for others. 

A little history of my arcade skills:  Until this point the only arcade building experience I have is with converting a broken Atart Breakout into a mame machine.  This was a very sinple conversion, swapping in a 19" vertical monitor and X-arcade sticks.  This bartop is a much more involved project as I'll be fabricating everything from scratch.  I am lucky to have a full machine shop in my basement as I make custom knives.  This means I have bandsaws, table saws, Jigsaws, routers, a lathe, a bridgeport milling machine, and every grinder, buffer and hand tool imaginable at my disposal.  Most of my tools are way overkill for this project but have already come in handy.

My goal for this is as follows:
Build a single-player bartop arcade

• Fabricate everything from scratch
• Donkey-Kong Theme
• Switchable 4/8 way joystick
• Vertical Orientation (90% of the games I love are vertical)

Initial Harware:
Computer:

• P4 1.8Ghz Processor
• ITX-form motherboard
• 1 Gb RAM

Monitor:

• Haans-G 19" Widescreen
• Will be mounted vertically

Other Specs:

• Construction will be 1/2" and 3/4" MDF
• I will be using an I-PAC encoder
• I will be using a Mag-Stik Plus with the optional Ball top and because its 4/8 way switchable from above the control panel

Next post will detail some of the initial construction....

[tiktock]

Here are a few pics of the inital construction.  After doing some initial layout/design on paper, I quickly cut the uprights out of 3/4" MDF.  I used 3/4" as I planned to do t-molding and wanted to be able to easilly source molding to fit.  I also went ahead and cut the t-molding slots at this stage.  Rather than much around with the router, I put the t-slot cutter into my milling machine, adjusted for height, and then simply moved the boards into the spinning cutter.  This seemed much less error prone than moving the router around the board.  The slot is dead center to about .001 tolerance, which should be plenty accurate for this project.

Once the uprights were cut out, I screwed/glued slices of wood which are what all attachment will connect through.  This also allows me to 100% avoid any screws visible from the outside of the machine:




Here it is with the bottom attached:


Next post will document the construction of lighting and speakers.

[tiktock]

I took a pair of computer speakers and went to won on them with my bandsaw, cutting everything away except the speakers themselves.  I also disconnected the volume knob and set that aside for later integration.  I will eventually have the volume knob avaialable from the outside of the cab.

I also hacked up an old under cabinet light and trimmed away excess housing to make it fit above the speakers.  This is not pretty inside but works great!

Here are some pics of the mess inside as well as a quick mock-up of the marquee.  I fabricated the brackets to hold the plexi out of aluminum:

Here you can see my volume knob now mounted outside the cab:

[BobA]

Nice start.  Looking forward to more of your build. 

[leapinlew]

Is that the permanent marquee? It seems to be a bit short.

[tiktock]

Is that the permanent marquee? It seems to be a bit short.

That is not the permanent marquee, its just printed on a regular sized sheet of paper.  I've since printed the real one on the correct size paper.

[tiktock]

I next found a post of someone who had taken a chunk of their original DK where it hadn't faded and color matched it.  My local store had this exact shade...its close enough for me!


Everything got a few coats of primer, then insides were done matte black and the outside was painted DK blue.

I did up a basic control panel.  This is where the milling machine came in handy.  I was able to recess the joystick for no-screw-showing mounting while at the same time not sacrificing balltop height.  I also recessed a slot for the monitor to drop into.  I went with red buttons but may switch later to DK orange.

White T-molding came in and that was installed, as well.  Went so much easier than I expected.

Here's everything without the monitor installed yet.  Next up is doing the bezel before I really get into the guts of the electronics.

[leapinlew]

Where are your player1, player2, and coin up button going to be?

[tiktock]

Where are your player1, player2, and coin up button going to be?

I had not drilled them at that time.  I wanted them in the front, totally out of the way and I think it looks cleaner.  Its a tight fit with the other buttons, though.  Here are a few pictures:

Here's the control panel before wiring:

The calm before the storm...wiring is next:

[tiktock]

Here is my first attempt at wiring.  All the microswitches use .25 connectors.  I got the wrong size daisy chain so I had to make my own.  Everything is way, way too tight.  I cut everything about 4 inches shorter than i'd like it.  It all fits but maybe someday I'll rewire it....

Here is what I start with:


I first crimped up all my main connections:


Then attached them:


Here it all is ready to go:


Here it is with the CP closed.  The velcro attachment makes it a less clean than if I permanently attached it but it doesnt bother me.


Here she is all put together, booted up and running!


I may add sideart later....

I'll add some detail pictures tomorrow!

[taylormadelv]

Very nice! Just a small suggestion; when you insert your stripped wire into your disconnects, make sure there is no bare wire showing under the crip point. Then crimp towards the connector, not the wire. Your wires look like they could get yanked out of your disconnects, if they encountered any pull/tug unexpectedly.

[BobA]

Nice build.