I've been putting off doing my project announcement for awhile since I wanted to get moving on the project while I had some time, but now that I've got a few days, I guess its time to start writing, so here goes. This might get a little long and boring, but I dont have a blog or a webpage of my own, so I'm going to put everything here.
I have wanted to build a MAME cab for awhile. I'm sure my story is the same as most everyone else's, growing up playing classic games and loving it. We had a pinball machine in the house most of my childhood (Cyclone!), and made regular trips to the arcade when I got good grades. When I finally got out on my own and got enough money, I bought an old SFII cab from a buddy and played that for hours. I got married, had a kid and eventually the machine moved on to another loving owner due to space constraints. I always wanted to get something similar back.
Fast forward to two years ago, we moved from Southern California to the Detroit area. The SoCal real estate market had been good to me, so we were able to afford a nice house just north of Detroit with a huge basement. The basement has become my playground, with a pool table, air hockey table, big screen (not HD though - maybe next year!), bar and a poker table. I wanted to get a few games for it, and settled on Star Wars pinball (great game - affordable unlike Addams Family) and a Ms Pacman/Galaga reunion cabaret. I got the cabaret before I had heard about MAME and seen the great work that everyone here has done. After a bit, I got a little bored with the game and stopped playing (though I still play pinball nearly every day). Then a buddy of mine told me about MAME, and I happened across this site. I've been lurking forever, but just registered. I'm now in between jobs, and figured that it would be a great time to build my own cab with all the games I grew up on, so I have begun the process.
Considering that I have no woodworking skills whatsoever (you dont learn how to use a router sitting behind a desk), my first step was decide how to build the cabinet, or whether to get a predesigned cab. In the end I decided that I needed to learn a few new skills and maybe acquire some new tools along the way, so I would build my own. Fortunately my wife's uncle is a very good woodworker, and he agreed to assist me in the project so that I dont accidentally remove any appendages.
My design is based off the LuSiD design, with a few modifications here and there. Mainly I've shortened the front base of the cab from 38" to 32" to allow for barstools and also just for looks, since I think the LuSiD design is maybe a little too boxy. I have also narrowed the CP top by an inch on each side to 32" total so that I can play virtual pinball by using side buttons without the overhang getting in the way. Neither of these changes are major, but I think will help the project look a little sleeker while still allowing for a large CP that I can play most of the games I cherish.
Due to my wife's uncle's schedule, I had to put the cabinet building on the back burner until this upcoming weekend, so I spent much of the first couple of weeks checking out everyone else's cabs and deciding which games I wanted to have. I had an old computer (Dell Pentium 4) that was collecting dust that I fired up and got configured with MaLa. I plan on running MAME, Daphne, FCEUltra (NES), Stella (Atari 2600) and maybe something for Sega Genesis (how can I not have NHL 94 on this?). The computer works well, and needed a wireless card and a new graphics card (ATI 9550), but otherwise suited my needs. A clean install of XP and its running very well. I struggled alot with the monitor choice. I had a 17" monitor that wasnt being used, but I thought it was too small. I had an old 27 inch TV, but it only had composite connections. Most of the arcade monitor choices were priced outside the budget, and getting a large enough CRT monitor either proved to be impossible or really expensive. In the end, I decided to go with a TV, and bought the 27" Insignia from Best Buy that is the subject of a large thread in the main forum. I had a BB gift card from Christmas, so it wasnt too expensive. I just need to get my DVI-> component adapter and I should be in good shape. S-Video is a little muddy on the older games right now, so hopefully the switch to component will work a little better.
After I got the computer configuration and monitor worked out, I needed to figure out what controls to put on the CP. Since I loved Street Fighter, I really wanted a 2 player, 6 button layout. I also am a huge Golden Tee freak, so a trackball was a must. And I loved Arkanoid and Tempest, so a spinner also needed to be in the cards. I really went back and forth on the joysticks, and decided to get the switchable 4/8 way Mag Stick plus sticks from Ultimarc. I had considered getting a dedicated 4 way, but I didnt want too much clutter on the CP and wanted it east enough for people to play when they came over, and thought a 3rd joystick might be confusing. I also have a big follow through on Golden Tee, so I didnt want any controls in front of the the trackball. The Mag Sticks allow for easy switching without lifting the CP, and since I would be playing a good mix of SF and classic games, these seemed like the best option. I got a Happ 3" highball trackball for my Golden Tee addiction, and a TurboTwist 2 spinner since it was compact and seems like a great product. With the exception of the TT2, I got everything from Ultimarc (including an iPac, Optipac and buttons and wiring kit).
I set out to build a prototype control panel to make sure that I liked the layout. I took 3 sheets of cardboard and glued them together with wood glue (that wood glue is really strong). This left me with a 3/4" sheet of thick cardboard that I though would give me a good approximation of what my CP will end up like (I plan on using 3/4" MDF). I designed a layout in Adobe Pagemaker (thanks for the 30 day free trial Adobe!) and overlaid it onto the cardboard. I cut holes for the joysticks and trackball with a box cutter, and drilled button holes with a 1 1/8 speedbor bit. The drilling worked OK, but it chewed up the cardboard and I had to keep stopping to remove debris. It also made a little bit of a mess of the 6 button layouts since the cardboard got a little chewed up, but I fixed it up with some tape. I cut the top layer only of the cardboard to sink the trackball mounting plate and top mount the joysticks, which actually worked pretty well. Both are a little below flush, but its fine for the template. I got everything wired up and hooked it to the computer, and holy cow it worked. Here's a picture of my CP. The black outline is just some duct tape that I used to hold the base on the CP (and also used to hold the paper template, which I ripped off when I was done with the cutting). Here's a picture of what the final template ended up looking like.
I hadnt added the spinner when I took this picture, but its now above the 2P controls. I tried it on both sides, but I liked it above the 2P side so that I could use the 1P fire controls. Plus then it was out of the way from the trackball. I didnt end up making any significant changes to the design after playing a bunch of games. My only concern is the screen on the TV getting in the way when playing Golden Tee, but I am going to angle the TV a bit in the cabinet, so that should help a little bit. If not, I may just have to live with permanently broken fingers.
After getting everything wired and seeing people's cabs with lighted buttons, I started to really want to bling out my cab too (man this hobby is getting expensive). RandyT just announced his NovaGem buttons, so I ordered some blue ones for the player controls and red ones for the admin buttons, along with a LEDwiz. I thought about getting the Electric ICE buttons with the RGB drives for multicolors, but then I would have needed a second LEDwiz, and I think that the NovaGems should be enough. They should be here before the weekend, so hopefully I can get those added to the CP soon. I also ordered an LED to light the trackball (translucent blue). I ordered the Glowire 4 LED that Retroblast did in their writeup. Although I havent gotten it yet, I'm wondering if the TBLite that Whammoed offers would have been as good a solution at a quarter of the price. I thought about sending it back, but when I figure in the shipping to order it, return it and get the TBLite, I'm pretty sure I'm just as well off keeping it. I'll see how I like it when it arrives and make my final decision then. For speakers, I have an old set of Harmon Kardon computer speakers that I hacked up and will mount those under the marquee. I got a SmartSTRIP from Bits Ltd and set that up, and it works fine. My only problem so far with it is wiring everything so that I can use a one button on feature, but I'll post that in the main forum later.
I'm going with the standard black cabinet with blue t-molding. I know its played out a bit here, but I think it will actually look good in my basement. I struggled with the artwork of the cab a fair amount. I'm totally art-deficient, and would never be able to design anything myself for the marquee/CPO/sideart. I'm much more into more understated designs on the cabinet, and I dont want the art to take anything away from the cab itself. I also didnt want to have to explain to everyone that comes over what MAME is, so I didnt want that too prominently displayed. I found a cool marquee at MAMEmarquees.com, and have asked Scott to make it into a full CPO. He's working on it now, so hopefully it turns out cool. I think it should look sweet when its done. I'll post pictures of that once I get something back from him. That along with the marquee and side art should finish off everything pretty well (at least it does in my head).
We're building the cabinet this weekend, and I'll post some more pictures as we progress through that.
Thanks for listening and sorry for the long and rambling post.
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Topic: Brad's First Cab - FINISHED!!!!! (Read 5706 times)
