MAME Lightning Cab Project (22 pics added 4-1-07 + 18 more 4-2-07)

[Duake]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here on these forums, but I've been reading about many of the projects on here. Now that the login problem is fixed, I can post about my project that I started back in October.

I received a 1987 Black Tiger cab from a friend who bought it at an auction for $25. The cab itself isn't in too bad of shape, but I'm taking it apart to make a new MAME cab for my apartment. Once I get to the CP design and wiring, I'll definitely need some help from people here so I know I won't mess anything up.



It's pretty dirty on the outside, but I've cleaned it up a little. Below are pics of what I've done so far.

[_) (V) (-)]

1st Welcome to the forums Duake!

2nd, Cool side art!
You made that at work?
Awesome, let me know when you are taking orders for marqees...

[Duake]

1st Welcome to the forums Duake!

2nd, Cool side art!
You made that at work?
Awesome, let me know when you are taking orders for marqees...

Thanks!

Yeah, I made it at work. I can print out a marquee if you have one done. If you want the MAME logo in hi-res, I have it made in Photoshop CS2 so the detail is ridiculous. On the sideart, the lines are perfect and not stretched at all. The backgound has some effects done to it so its not the original image. It'd look really bad if it was the original.

[theCoder]

Regarding your CP, figure out what you want out of this machine.  That should drive your design.

...so I know I won't mess anything up.

Let me know how that works out for you.

Welcome & good luck with the build.

[Duake]

Regarding your CP, figure out what you want out of this machine.  That should drive your design.

...so I know I won't mess anything up.

Let me know how that works out for you.

Welcome & good luck with the build.

I was going to design the whole CP overlay with what the buttons do, etc. and print it out, but I think I'm going to do something different if I can get away with it. I'll make the place holders for the joysticks and have the lightning background. The plexiglas I'll be putting on top will be 1/8" and was going to be just plain. Now I'm thinking I'm going to lasercut the MAME logo, Player 1/2, Coin 1/2, Start onto it which will give it it's uniqueness. I have to double check to see if I can do a 30" lasercut job first. If not, then I'll have to just go with my first plan.

[theCoder]

Is the laser CNC machine yours, do you work at a shop, or have a friend?  Its nice to have access to cool toys.

[Duake]

Is the laser CNC machine yours, do you work at a shop, or have a friend?  Its nice to have access to cool toys.

My friend works at an architecture company who has one and Washington University has a larger one, which I'll need to use. I actually sort of finished the CP here at work, but I'll need to make the button placements look 3D.

[Harakiri]

Hi!

You got yourself a bargain there!

I'm assuming that you're going to disassemble the cabinet and since you're doing that don't throw anything away. Someone may need it for restoring purposes. You can do best by donating a scan of the artwork to http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/ for future community usage.

You're doing great btw! I wish i had the same luck...


Bye

[Duake]

SlikStik parts will be here next week. I got the steel competition joysticks with red and blue pear tops, 7 red buttons and 7 blue buttons for players 1 and 2, respectively. Also, start, coin, and "shift" buttons.

I was going to finish designing the control panel at work today while I was there, but when I was almost done, Photoshop decided to "not respond" on my Mac and I lost all the work I fixed. I'll have to finish it over the weekend or next week sometime. It looks really cool so far.

[theCoder]

oops.  double post, one here.  Sorry.

[Duake]

All good.

[Duake]

well, I got my buttons and competition joysticks. I'm at work still, but I hope I can get some pics and post them later tonight. I'm painting the buttons with car touch-up paint since it's the closest thing I could find to match the aluminum handle tops. Hope to finish the control panel design by next week.

[Duake]

Hey, everybody. I'm not sure why something like this isn't a sticky by now, so I thought I'd ask while I'm trying to make it work.

I have MAMEWAH, I made a custom layout, I have everything installed, and MAMEWAH runs. Here's the deal: my layout doesn't show up and still uses the default images for the logos. None of my games are being detected at all. I've changed the INI files already to what they need to be (ie. directory names).

How in the world do I get this to work? I've read the docs and I do what it says, but to no avail. I've seen other people's awesome custom MAMEWAH setups, so apparently it works really well. Any help would definitely be appreciated.

On another note: I'll be taking pictures here shortly of my buttons and handles.

[Duake]

Below are pics of the control panel's first concept and the steel sticks and painted buttons.

[Duake]

Here are my finished and FINAL artwork for my cab. I'll have to work on the marquee soon. The iPac2 is on its way and I'll be lasercutting the control panel with etched button names. It should be pretty neat. On to the images!

[Kronos]

nice work

[Duake]

Okay, I got my plex lasercut yesterday by my friend. It looks pretty sweet. Cutting holes for the buttons and sticks was never easier. I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow since I'm in the process of wiring it right now. With everything in, it looks so awesome!

[Duake]

Here's what the whole CP looks like:

[javeryh]

Here's what the whole CP looks like:

Woah, cool.  I like how you centered the trackball - if I make my eyes go out of focus to lose the lightning effect it almost looks like the trackball smashed into the CP and caused it to shatter...

[Duake]

Here's what the whole CP looks like:

Woah, cool.  I like how you centered the trackball - if I make my eyes go out of focus to lose the lightning effect it almost looks like the trackball smashed into the CP and caused it to shatter...

That would be a pretty neat design. I'll have to look into making a "broken" design. Also, that actually isn't a trackball. It'd be the place I would put it, but it's just a sphere I made in Photoshop to cover the not-so-good-looking one behind it.

I'm thinking of painting the green "Coin" buttons gold. They look a tad out of place being that dull of a green color. +1 for car touch-up paint!!

[Aurich]

The painted buttons look great, I hope they stand up to the abuse of fingers banging on them.

[psychotech]

Great looking project!

But, (h)ell .. am I missing something here?!?..

The painted buttons look great..

Well, ..all right  Should have paid attention..? You meant the "action" buttons already done ..and I was thinking about the "coin" buttons mentioned .. Heh, Well 

..then again, can't wait to actually see how they'll come out!

All the best 

[Duake]

The painted buttons look great, I hope they stand up to the abuse of fingers banging on them.

They should. The paint I used actually has a clear coat in it also. I thought I would have had to put it on afterward. Stuff dries in about 15 minutes and it takes about 3 minutes or less to paint each one. The black buttons will be painted metallic black eventually. I might pick all of this up this weekend and finish painting them.

Thanks again for all your comments, guys! More to come soon...

[Luigi]

Dude....this is awesome !!! 

This is really great design.....all....sideart and CP....the marquee is a little boring compared to the other stuff 


I can't wait to see a translucent white trackball there......half illuminated red, the other half blue 

[Duake]

Dude....this is awesome !!! 

This is really great design.....all....sideart and CP....the marquee is a little boring compared to the other stuff 


I can't wait to see a translucent white trackball there......half illuminated red, the other half blue 

Thanks, Luigi. I'm going to work on the marquee right now. I'll post it soon.

[Duake]

Here's the marquee:



It has a brick texture on the letters. Going to print it here soon at full size to see if it actually shows up. 300 DPI!! 

[Luigi]

Here's the marquee:
It has a brick texture on the letters. Going to print it here soon at full size to see if it actually shows up. 300 DPI!! 

hmmm....not bad.....but what about using such a more technical texture?



or other structures here: http://www.mutanox.de/

[Duake]

Here's the marquee:
It has a brick texture on the letters. Going to print it here soon at full size to see if it actually shows up. 300 DPI!! 

hmmm....not bad.....but what about using such a more technical texture?



or other structures here: http://www.mutanox.de/

I just tried that diamond plate, but it doesn't match up when tiled. It doesn't look bad, but I'd rather it tile well. I might just leave it solid like the rest of everything else.

[Luigi]

You are right...not a tile.....hold the line....I will crawl through my Corel Library

hmm...no tile there. But if you google for "metal texture tile" you will find a lot of stuff

[Duake]

You are right...it's not tiles.....hold the line....I will crawl through my Corel Library

That'd be great if you had one that was tiled. Thanks!

[Luigi]

OK, what about this one:

http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal002&ext=jpg

You can even change the colour and it is tiled.

More:

http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal004&ext=jpg
http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal013&ext=jpg

[Donkey_Kong]

That has to be one of the coolest CP's EVER!! WOW!


and I was going to remind you to post it in the CP database...but you already did!

[Duake]

OK, what about this one:

http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal002&ext=jpg

You can even change the colour and it is tiled.

More:

http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal004&ext=jpg
http://www.grsites.com/exec/public/tile.cgi?dir=metal&fn=metal013&ext=jpg

The last one might work. The others are too small and don't think it'd show up very well because I turn them into grayscale and then use them as a texture. I'll have to try that when I get home tonight.

That has to be one of the coolest CP's EVER!! WOW!


and I was going to remind you to post it in the CP database...but you already did!

Doh! I forgot I posted there! I'll have to check that out again.

On another note: I'm going to check out some color LED strips to put on the sides and can be turned on with a switch on the CP. That way the laser cut words and stuff will actually show up. The strips are only $10 at the auto parts store.

[Duake]

High hopes today!!

I moved my cab from my living room to my mom's garage so I can work on it since I don't have one. Control panel is wired and done and I hope to make the rest of it today. I'll also be pulling apart the whole cab so I can make new stands for the monitor I have and for the CP itself.

My goals today are:

1) Finish the entire Control Panel
2) Successfully tear down the cabinet
3) Install the new Monitor shelf
4) Get the speakers installed
5) Mount computer in bottom of cab with subwoofer

I'll write up what I'm doing after I've done it so I have pictures to go with it. I don't know how much of this I'll get done today because I think I'll only make it to #2. 
Oh, I also have to the paint the coin buttons gold. Hope they have that at the auto parts place... 

I'm sure I'll be doing this a lot:    I know I have in the past and everyone here has done the same, I'm sure. Off to gather tools and junk and off to attempt to know what I'm doing. 

[Duake]

Wow... Just wow. I accomplished a lot today in 8 hours.

I managed to get #1-3 done on my little list. Get ready for some pictures!! I'll also be doing a play-by-play... 



1.) This is what I started with. All I did was take the CP off and the bezel along with a crappy piece of plexi.



2.) This is the aftermath of me taking the guts out and figuring out how everything was pieced together inside. Used the hammer and a screwdriver for mostly everything in there. It had those really long skinny staples and glue holding everything in.



3.) The insides along with the t-molding on the outside. Some pieces of the side are also there. In the back leaning up is the entire back and the top with the light.



4.) The monitor, JAMMA board, etc. from the inside.



5.) I unwired everything I wired the other day. I think I found out that I didn't really need to do that. Here's the    part...



6.) The underside of the CP with no wires.



7.) Grommet hole for wires coming out of the CP. It's actually off-center. Apparently I didn't care. Heh. That piece of plastic is actually from an A/V rack in my basement.



8.) Cut the holder for the Klipsch volume control in the front of the CP. Once I was done, I saw that it looks horrendous. I'm not really too worried about what the outside looks like right now. I have something up my sleeve to fix all of that. 



9.) The CP laying on top of the bottom. I still need to finish the attachments. I didn't have them with me so I couldn't do it today.



10.) This Dell keyboard is the smallest keyboard I could find. There's enough room for it and a mouse. It's leaning up for a reason. The volume control needs some room in front of it.



11.) Ah, the Midas Touch on the coin buttons. If THOSE aren't cool, I don't know what is. 



12.) The black buttons are now painted a very dark gray metallic color.



13.) Everything wired back up. No wire ties amazingly enough!



14.) The top of the CP. Do those Coin buttons look freakin' sweet or what???!!!



15.) Time to modify the cab by cutting the excess off of the sides where the CP is going. Jigsaw is awesome!



16.) Line marking where I need to shave the front. Coin door no longer there. I have something in mind for that hole. Yet another thing to wait for...



17.) Seeing how the CP looks. At that height, it doesn't cramp your wrists. That was my main focus.



18.) Seeing how much hangs out on the sides. It's BARELY 2 inches on each side. Granted that's just the base and the CP will hang out another 1/2 inch.



19.) Monitor: LaCie 22 Blue. 22" monitor instead of 19". This thing weighs a TON!!



20.) Making the monitor shelf out of spare parts from the inside of the machine. This worked out REALLY well. I didn't have to cut everything under the sun for what I needed.



21.) The brackets that will go inside on the sides to hold the monitor shelf.



22.) Monitor shelf in place. The angle is perfect, but I actually have a problem. The back of the monitor goes past the back of the cabinet. I swear I measured everything and the stupid thing would fit. Another  moment. After thinking and looking at it, I decided to cut a hole out of the back of the cab just for the monitor and seal it in place. The bottom part of the back I'll use to get to the computer for whatever reason.

Tomorrow (April 2) I hope to get this thing finished. All that's left is putting the speakers in, mounting the computer, and modifying the back of the cab for the monitor. Oh, and attach the CP to the thing as well. Heh.

More pictures tomorrow night!!

[Duake]

Another long day today, but at least I got the thing to where I wanted to get it! 



1.) Drew holes for the speakers and ready to cut them out.



2.) Holes cut and speakers fit perfectly.



3.) Getting ready to re-paint the lower back cover a high gloss black. Oil based paint sucks by the way. If the surface isn't primered, it won't stick or look good at all. I just sanded over the whole piece before I started.



4.) Drawing out dimensions to cut a hole for the back of the monitor.



5.) Did a test fitment to see how it works.



6.) Monitor sticks out about 3" at the farthest point. Works for me!



7.) Taller back panel painted gloss black.



8.) Put mesh where the old mesh was. Used spare parts to make a subwoofer "lift" to keep it off the bottom of the cabinet.



9.) Speaker shelf mounted with speakers.



10.) Top view of sub.



11.) Getting ready to put on the side art for both sides.



12.) I'm sorry, but that's just $%&*-ing cool!!!! 



13.) Yet again, but this time in red!!



14.) Shot with CP on.



15.)  Other side.



16.) The back totally painted. That makes a hell of a difference. Almost looks new.



17.) Ghetto-rigged guts. This is just temporary for now. I just wanted to get everything inside the cab and test it out.



18.) Top view of the inside.

I apparently forgot to take pictures of it completely together and running. I'll get some more tomorrow.

Things left to do:

 - Make plexiglas cover for monitor. I have a HUGE sheet of 1/4" bronzed plexi that we had laying around at work. I'll see how that looks instead of clear.

 - Cover up wood on CP.

 - Do something with big coin door hole in front.

 - Add marquee light and marquee.

 - And, of course, t-molding! Classic black methinks.

That's it for now and probably this week. If anyone wants to see any of these pictures at a higher resolution, let me know.

Time for a break... 

[leapinlew]

Looking good. I have a few questions for you -

1. What material is the sideart?

2. Do the buttons work well still?

Keep your eyes out for a keyboard with trackball like this one -
http://www.ioffer.com/i/USB-mini-KEYBOARD-w-TRACKBALL-mouse-20112291

[leapinlew]

For super cool coin buttons - check out MikeDeuces work. He's hard to get a hold of - but these are really slick. I've ordered 6 of them and love'em.

[theCoder]

Once you confirm the CPU will power up, make sure to unplug it and move on to EVERYTHING else.  Otherwise you will start playing it and take 6 months to finish the remaining 3 weeks of work.

Looks great!

[Anubis_au]

Has anyone seen MikeDeuce on here lately or know if he is still making these disc inserts? Would be interested in getting some...