"The Reactivator" a work in progress *Now with No-Need-To-Rotate Monitor*

[bfauska]

I found a free cabinet on Craigslist here in Seattle a while back and picked it up.  Since then I have been fiddling around with it and planing my attack.  I already had a 19" computer monitor and reasonably powerful computer sitting around earmarked for an emulation machine, and I had recently finished my desktop control panels so I decided that I would use some the computer in the cabinet and prototype the CP using the guts of my CP project.

Here's my progress so far:

This first picture shows the 19" computer monitor de-cased and mounted onto the boards used to mount the monitor in these HS-5 cabinets.  You can also see the "drawer" feature of these cabinets which I think makes them awesome candidates for emulation machines.


I ripped apart both the extra tower I had and the case my primary computer were in so that I could use the nicer of the two cases for my desktop computer and the parts from the other for mounting my components in the cabinet. The drawer in this HS-5 cabinet provides an excellent place to mount all my hardware and it slides back down into place very easily.  The drawer also gives a nice work surface when it is in the table orientation seen in the first picture.  I have not cleaned up any wires yet, but once I have the final CP constructed and hinged to the drawer I plan on routing everything much cleaner.  I also have so many cd drives sitting around that I may mount one in here to make any software installations more straight forward.  I am using my network for transferring large files and groups of files but I want to install You Don't Know Jack and some other games like that, which I think I'll have to install directly.


Here's a shot of the drawer back down inside, it is latched in with some barrel bolts and CP gets mounted on a hinge to the front lip of the drawer.  You can also see my sub woofer from the computer speakers I am using in the cabinet sitting at the back of the shelf below the monitor.


This is the underside of my mock-up CP.  The rats nest of wires and the pine boards are courtesy of my desktop cps, I will be replacing all that with a KeyWiz and some new terminal strips eventually, but this has worked out great to find out if the spacing of everything worked.  I have my hacked trackball mounted in the center, but unfortunately it only fit in rotated 180 degrees from where it should be.  I installed it thinking that it would be easy to find some software that would flip mouse travel, but apparently nobody with any programming ability has ever had this problem, because I can't seem to find a solution.  I think that I will be able to shift things around enough to get it in the right way on my finished CP, but I'm not quite sure yet.


Here's a picture of the cabinet with the CP in place and it is playable, it works fairly nice I just want to round over the leading edge of the CP since it can dig into your wrists a little bit.  I also find that it feels like I am going to get carpal tunnel syndrome while playing standing up.  I think the panel is mounted at the same height and angle as it would have been originally in these cabinets so I wonder if that was always like that.  I can't think of a good way to change the angle so I may just have to always play from a stool.  You can barely tell the coin buttons are lit in this picture but that is because of the flash, even with the room fully lit they glow really nice with the stock 6v bulbs running off of my 5v rail on the computer power supply.



The last two pictures of the cabinet show the rest of my progress on the modifications I have done so far.  I pulled out the one speaker that was mounted in the speaker panel and used zip ties to hold my Cambridge Soundworks speakers in place, these speakers have a really nice sound with their sub woofer and I hope that it will stay nice when I get the monitor bezel in place, you can't see the off-white speaker boxes through the slots in the speaker panel so I am not going to paint them.





The Name:

I had previously come up with several possible names but ruled many of them out because I plan on running NES emulation, Atari 2600 emulation, and PC games in addition to arcade emulation, so I didn't want the word arcade in my title.  I like the idea of the machine bringing old games back from the dead so I was fiddling around with the idea of "resurrection"  in various forms and another option was "Ghosts of the Machines" but "resurrection" seems to be widely used and "Ghosts..." was too long for a title.  I typed "resurrect" into a thesaurus and one of the words that came up was "reactivate"  That sounded cool and straight out of the era I remember playing games in. "The Reactivator" was born.  So that's the name for now, although I still like the idea of ghosts and I could work some old-school game characters into that title more easily maybe.

Here is my concept sketch for my Marquee:

I would love some comments on the Marquee since it is still very up in the air.  I am hoping to capture the idea of these old forgotten game machines being rejuvenated and sparked back to life.  I haven't played around with the idea yet but I was also thinking of the possibility of the title looking like a monitor that had just come back on, with sort of the dot and glow radiating from the center and the words glowing over the top of it.  I am going to post in the artwork forum too, but I am open to comments here as well.

My ToDo list is still quite long, but hopefully I can hammer it out in the next month or so.  I am going to Vegas in 2 days so I won't get any work done this week, but with a little luck I'll come home with the money to buy my encoder and maybe pay for some graphic printing.

Thanks for looking, please feel free to question, taunt, praise, or suggest.

[polaris]

hey brian
dunno if you know anyone who works in the theatre or anything but you can get some frost gel to diffuse the light behind your marquee for a nice soft glow, ill try and find you a link for a FULL swatchbook of samples for you to look through.
but on a serious note whats that font, i really like it, and i personally wouldnt add too much to the marquee if anything, i like it as it stands. 

[SodaPopinksi]

Looks cool, I bet a nice FE design to go with this could be something very mechanical looking with lots of crazy wires and such, and the selected game name in the game list could have a jolt of electricity going to it, maybe even animated, to show that you're reanimating that particular game. A crazy looking mechanical monitor could show the snaps when the game gets jolted

[DrumAnBass]

Those little Cambridge Soundworks speakers are great; hope you are driving them with enough power. I use a pair of those as my rear surround speakers in my 5.1 theater setup and they really sound good.

The artwork is a little hard to read; the glow idea might work better.

Cool project though! Looking good!

[theCoder]

The marquee makes me feel like Big Foot is lurking somewhere behind the text, waiting to jump out.  The font looks cool; kind of like 80's techno.  I don't think it goes with the green trees/ferns.  If you're going for the old school game look, Perhaps you could go with something a little more orange shag carpet and wood paneling. 

Great find on the cab.  I keep looking...

[bfauska]

Thanks for the comments.  I like the ideas about the FE.  I also would love to do a rotating monitor and if I find one that can degauss consistently well (mine won't work sideways at all) I could rig it up with the automation clearly visible, that would look very techy.

I think that if you could see the artwork in it's original size you would notice that it is not trees, it's a circuit board with rust on top of it, as I said though it is a WIP so I may try to make that more clear, thanks for pointing out how dangerously close to nature it looks.

The font is More than Human

I am running the speakers as they were originally meant to be run.  I am using the whole 2.1 set, the amp is built into the sub, which I have sitting below the monitor.

Thanks again for the comments, I will check back in about a week for more.  I'm off to Vegas in the morning.

[SpanishJoe]

Just a jump from my thread - your CP looks great! A word of advice from a fellow Dynamo owner; Get rid of the two lightbulbs up top behind the marquee. They get really hot when the marquee is in place because there's no venting up there. An expensive idea is to use a superbright 12V LED strip. A cheap idea is to use florescents....

As for the marquee design - I use canned designs, so certainly can't criticize! I am always envious of those who make their own designs, especially ones without donkey kong and pac man bitmaps grafted onto them.

Curious to see what progress was made since May... Keep the pictures coming!

-SJ.

[Chris G]

Ditto, let's see some updated 

Totally missed this thread originally.  Great find, Brian!

[severdhed]

looks like a good project.  i may have a solution for your mouse direction problem....

i made a mouse-hack spinner for my cabinet, but due to the way that i made it, turning it left moved the mouse right...

it took me a while to find anything that would invert the axis, but then i found an old version of the logitech mouseware. ( i dont remember the specific version, but i have it saved on my cabinet at home)  anyway, by installing this, and editing the registry to indicate you have a specific mouse, the software has an orientation feature.  it asks you to move your mouse UP, and it will reconfigure it to be the proper direction.   

the only downside is that it only works with PS2 mice. 

I have the software and instructions saved on my cabinet at home, so if you are interested, let me know and i will put them somewhere where you can get them.

[bfauska]

Very Late Update.

I rushed to make the cabinet more playable by July 4th and never managed to update the thread.  Now that it's looked like it does for about 1 month I figured I should share with y'all.

That July 4th deadline was because we were having company over for a BBQ and I thought this would be a good source of entertainment, and for the people who actually played it I was right.  Not as much interest as I had hoped, but successful none-the-less, and the deadline meant I got myself in gear. 

Here it is as it looks now:


As you can see it has a new (still prototype) CP, and smoked plex.

This is the top of the CP:


You may notice that there is currently no trackball mounted in the CP. I have however solved the space problem for the trackball by shifting everything else as far out as it can go, when I mount the TB I won't have to try to flip it's axis of travel anymore. 

The illuminated admin buttons were a last minute solution.  I had originally intended to use some Electric Ice buttons from GGG with the disk inserts also offered there but the results were not satisfying.  I thought I wanted the labels to be stealth when the lights were off so the standard translucent buttons or the NovaGems seemed wrong for the job and in MikeDeuces button disk thread there was a picture of an EI button with some fairly readable text inside it, but in my test the button does too good of a job diffusing the light for the text to be readable.  These admin buttons have a built-in light and diffuser, and allow for a printed graphic to be inserted under the clear cap on the top.  I like the versatility of using photo paper and graphics of my choosing, so I think I will keep these buttons.  I will be removing the credit buttons though in favor of rigged up coin return buttons, and I think I'll even make that an option that can be turned off with a switch inside the cab.

This is the underside of the CP where you can see that my wiring has been completely revamped:


I purchased a Keywiz from GGG so that I could return my GPWiz and all it's accompaning wires to the "DorkSticks."

I also used a Molex tool borrowed from work to create a custom harness from my PC power supply to the illuminated buttons and coin door.

My newest CP prototype has been properly mounted to the "Drawer" feature of the cab by a chunk of continuous hinge and a custom steel lower CP box that I bent up at work.  I think I like the shape of the new CP and when I replace it I will only move it a little closer to bezel so it closes a gap that is there currently and makes the ends of the front edge sit just behind the sides of the cabinet, right now it sticks out and leaves a sharp corner.

My current plans include:
Design some CP and Marquee art and have it printed
Drill a new CP to go with the art and include trackball
Wire Marquee light (maybe replace w/ Randy's new LED marquee light)
Get some of the LEDs that work in these admin buttons. (currently incandescent, too hot, too yellow)
Coin door locks
New T-Molding (colored according to art)
New art-appropriate colored buttons/joysticks
External USB port
Volume knob
Headphone jack
Frontend skin
Hide Windows start-up/shutdown
Power button
Coin box
Wire coin counter (not sure if I want to count coins only, or credits too)
Find and install Free 21" computer monitor
Make 21" monitor rotate (several ideas already, didn't do 19" monitor for degauss reasons)
Bezel

OK, now I've updated.

Questions, comments, ideas, ridicule?

[Green Giant]

One thing you should definitely add to your list is make a cheap bezel to hide the wood behind the smoked glass.  Will make the screen float there.  Just use some duct tape and black poster board.

[bfauska]

It's an important feature, and I did ALMOST leave it off the list, so I won't hold it against you that you missed it... it's the last thing on the list, and not what I edited the post for.  Thanks for looking out for me though, if I had forgotten it I definitely would have appreciated the reminder.

[superbigjay]

Hello bfauska,

would you mind telling me what are your admin button?

from what I can see on the pic it seems to be:

coin1 - - pause - exit - coin2

Jay

[Green Giant]

It's an important feature, and I did ALMOST leave it off the list, so I won't hold it against you that you missed it... it's the last thing on the list, and not what I edited the post for.  Thanks for looking out for me though, if I had forgotten it I definitely would have appreciated the reminder.

Thats what I get for staying up too late.

[theCoder]

would you mind telling me what are your admin button?

What he said.  I'm interested as well.

You can pick up the coin door locks at your local HomeDepot.  When I looked last, they appeared to stock pairs of locks with the same key.  I was searching for 3 locks (2 for coin door, 1 for back), but could only find two per key.  They had 2 sizes.  The 7/8" fit perfect on my front door.

[Chris G]

Nice progress, B!









But have you thought about doing a bezel at all?

[bfauska]

The missing admin is "Enter"  I chose to add that one simply for ease of use for outsiders.  I still have the player 1 and 2 buttons set to work for selection in both mamewah and mame, but the enter button keeps folks from asking.  I am not sure if it'll stay on for the final product.

Thanks for the info on the door locks, I actually know of several sources, I'm just too cheap to put them on a short list. 

[bfauska]

Here's a new marquee idea.  I think I like the simplicity, but I may add some faint background and/or play with the font.  The major problem now is that my wife saw the name and said it was dorky.  I asked if there was any name that would make a homemade arcade cabinet NOT be dorky (since I think it's just part of the hobby) and she seemed to think there were, but couldn't come up with anything.  I really don't think it would make a difference if it had the coolest name in the world and the pink joysticks she wants, she still wouldn't be excited about having it, she pretty much knows I enjoy it and leaves it at that.  Oh, well... Any cool name ideas? Or suggestions for the art?

[bfauska]

UMMMM, I am not sure what I wanted the name to be in the first place... I think I just realized I made this marquee wrong...oops.  Oh well, picture that marquee with "The Reactivator" in it's place.

 

[bfauska]

Some new artwork ideas, as posted in the artwork section too.  The name's right this time, so that's good.

What do you think?:

[leapinlew]

Some new artwork ideas, as posted in the artwork section too.  The name's right this time, so that's good.

What do you think?:

Thats pretty good. I can read it. Simple but elegantly creepy.

[bfauska]

I've come up with another option for the artwork.  I think I like this one the best so far, but the colors (color) may be a little boring.  I can easily play with them and I may want to change the font, but I think that the LCD font works out OK.  I'm going to post in the artwork section of the forum too, but this way I have twice as many options for advice and for the sake of future onlookers it will be available here in the project thread too.

What do yall think?

[SodaPopinksi]

The new one looks pretty sharp, like you said, maybe changing the reactivator font to something different yet equally "mechanical" looking might be cool. I like the text further explaining the name.

[dmworking247]

I remember a movie called "The Reanimator" (bringing dead people back to life with a fluro green syrum in a syringe), the title was written in a similar green.

Perhaps you could use that as a theme but change the context to games?

[stace]

Looking good,

Any chance you can post pix of how your illuminated buttons are connected to the PC power supply?

Thanks
Stace

[polaris]

i like it brian, anyway you can animate the blippy bit with  scrolling leds or something, that would be awesome

[bfauska]

i like it brian, anyway you can animate the blippy bit with  scrolling leds or something, that would be awesome

Damn you, damn you and your more work creating ideas. 
Way too cool of an idea, I'm sure I could do it somehow, I've been wanting to look into some basic LED circuits like what TheCoder is doing anyway.

Looking good,

Any chance you can post pix of how your illuminated buttons are connected to the PC power supply?

Thanks

Stace

I'll see what I have as far as pictures go, I may have to take something new, but It's just a custom power connector I made to hook up the illuminated buttons and the coin door lights.

[polaris]

haha i knew once that seed was planted

avolites do a baby pearl called a tiger, only about £4000 im sure, bound to be small enough to pop in a cab , then you just need the dimmers and some dmx, quick little chase in there and youre laughing

[superbigjay]

Like someone I know, I posted in you artwork thread 

Looking good.

Jay 

[bfauska]

Like someone I know, I posted in you artwork thread 

Looking good.

Jay 

It's OK, I thought of you when I double posted it.

haha i knew once that seed was planted

avolites do a baby pearl called a tiger, only about £4000 im sure, bound to be small enough to pop in a cab , then you just need the dimmers and some dmx, quick little chase in there and youre laughing

Yeah, I'll just put a full dimmer system and run it from an Obsesion or something like that, it wouldn't be overkill or anything. 

[polaris]

Yeah, I'll just put a full dimmer system and run it from an Obsesion or something like that, it wouldn't be overkill or anything. 

 

im gonna get thinking on it though, but im sure you'll suss it before me.

it must be done though. if i say so myself , way too cool an idea to let pass

[bfauska]

I have a fairly simple fiber-optic electro/mechanical solution in mind.  My only concern is that the image would stay the whole time and the light would just cycle through it.  I want the image to stay the whole time, more than I want the cycling dot, but both may be cool.

[polaris]

im thinking put the led strip in  small 'guttering' that lines the blip line so its shielded from the marquee light, does that make sense?

[bfauska]

I think so.  So the only time the line gets any light is when the LEDs behind it are lit up?  That sounds like it would do the job, but it may be tough to get the accurate little trough (gutter).

I was just going to make the source out of something that wouldn't cast much shadow so that the line is always lit and then the line would get brighter at the illuminated point as the chase worked it's way across.  I'd be interested in doing a test of both options, but it's likely my lazy ass will never finish either.  I may have to play around with it a bit. 

Even as I type I'm picturing ways to do what I think you are describing.  Doing a chase circuit for the LEDs would be a bit of work in it's self since I think it would take more than 30 LEDs and most of the simple chase circuits I've seen have been for about 10 LEDs.  My first thought was that I could use a single source of light for Fiber-optics and then use a wheel (similar to a flicker wheel in a fiber-optic illuminator for a star curtain) that wiped across the fibers creating a physical chase.  I'm more experienced with little motors than circuitry, so making a little illuminator would be simple for me compared to making the chaser.  I also would only need one light source and the fibers would allow a standard marquee set-up to work for the rest of the marquee.  I could probably do a combo of the two ideas fairly easily (relatively speaking.)

I do have fairly free access to marquee sized pieces of acrylic so I can do several tests.

I think I'm going to work on my CPO artwork and let this idea simmer in the back of my mind for a while.

[polaris]

yep, you've sussed what im picturing, ill see what i can find to acheive it too , i really want to see it 'come alive' in the reactivator, bear with me my minds racing on this too

[bfauska]

Another try at the Marquee.  I didn't really like the version with so much green and I made a few other changes too.

[unclet]

I like it except that the blue used for the "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text does not seem to fit in with the rest of the color scheme of the marquee.   I like the text though, just not the bright blue color.   Basically, when I look at your marquee, my eyes go right to the "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text and it should focus on the "Reactivator" text instead.

Couple of suggestions which you could try (not necessarily at the same time).  Keep in mind I am not an artist at all .....

- The "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text is surrounded by a white circle outline.  How about not having this white circle for that text, but instead put the white circle around the "Reactivator" text instead.   

or

- Another possibility is to outline the "Reactivator" text characters with a brighter color so each letter is defined better.  It seems like you are using gray/white to outline the letters ..... how about just making that brighter a bit.

Hope that made sense ...

[XyloSesame]

I like it except that the blue used for the "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text does not seem to fit in with the rest of the color scheme of the marquee.   I like the text though, just not the bright blue color.   Basically, when I look at your marquee, my eyes go right to the "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text and it should focus on the "Reactivator" text instead.

Couple of suggestions which you could try (not necessarily at the same time).  Keep in mind I am not an artist at all .....

- The "Bringing arcade classics back to life" text is surrounded by a white circle outline.  How about not having this white circle for that text, but instead put the white circle around the "Reactivator" text instead.   

or

- Another possibility is to outline the "Reactivator" text characters with a brighter color so each letter is defined better.  It seems like you are using gray/white to outline the letters ..... how about just making that brighter a bit.

Hope that made sense ...

For me, the tagline competes with the title and my eyes don't know where to go. The motion of the image flows nicely off of the flatline, but the tag is so prominent, my eyes aren't sure whether to focus on it first or on the title.

FWIW, I'm with Lew. I like the green LCD design as well, though I've been sitting back watching the evolution overall.

[unclet]

Possibly having the ""Bringing arcade classics back to life" text in RED to match the heartbeat line and then brighten up the "Reactivator" blue color a bit ..... that might look good as well.

[bfauska]

Good suggestions guys, you've got me thinking.  It's hard sometimes when designing something to look at it with a "first look."  I always end up making a change and then fixating on that change instead of the overall appearance.  I will try to keep the flow in mind as I progress.  Thanks for the input, I truly value it.

[bfauska]

I've tried to address some of the suggestions from the last version in a modified version.  I made the title brighter, and moved the tag line away from the title and darkened it up a bit.

I think it makes a big difference and makes my so-far-favorite marquee concept closer to being ready to print.

[polaris]

much better, the main title definitely stands out the most now

[polaris]

been looking for led driver ideas, in kits ive only seen about ten circuits, so not enough, the luxury version of two ledwiz or pacdrives has been staring me in the face, not a cheap option though.

[bfauska]

Here's the first attempt at a CPO, the top buttons are p1 start, 3 admins & p2 start.  There is a TB in the center.  I am thinking about making some kind of panel to swap in the TB or a spinner as needed, but for now just the TB.

I don't imagine that this CPO will make the cut w/o any modifications.  I am sure that the balance and flow of the graphics can use some tuning, I just don't know exactly what yet.  But that's what you guys are for.

[metahacker]

i like where the cpo is headed and the whole dark medical electronic feel of stuff and how it reinforces the re-animation from the dead thing

palette and execution definitely has me thinking EKG


this is a cool project.  the tray in that thing is especially neat.

how about changing the type face to something a bit more 'sharp' maybe thinner maybe wirey, but main change being trying to integrate the life pulse reading into the logo type.  i.e. taking advantange of the the shape of the letters A's and V's

[theCoder]

Here's the first attempt at a CPO, the top buttons are p1 start, 3 admins & p2 start.  There is a TB in the center.  I am thinking about making some kind of panel to swap in the TB or a spinner as needed, but for now just the TB.

I don't imagine that this CPO will make the cut w/o any modifications.  I am sure that the balance and flow of the graphics can use some tuning, I just don't know exactly what yet.  But that's what you guys are for.

It looks a bit too symmetrical.  I'd move the text to the upper right , and the two major red blips over to the left.  Also, the red line looks a little thin.  Ignore as you see fit.

[bfauska]

this is a cool project.  the tray in that thing is especially neat.

Thanks, the tray is a standard feature on these Dynamo cabinets, I really think if I ever did a cab from scratch I would try to incorporate something similar, the fact that it works like a table in the extended position is great for working on the boards, or in this case the computer.

I think I like this font and the size of it allows me to work some color interest into the design that just wasn't working for me on some thinner fonts I tried.  I do like the idea of working the ekg line into the text but I think I'll stick with this font for now.

It looks a bit too symmetrical.  I'd move the text to the upper right , and the two major red blips over to the left.  Also, the red line looks a little thin.  Ignore as you see fit.

I gave the less symmetrical thing a shot and I think I like the results.  I took the blip idea back toward where it is in the marquee while keeping it centered, the growth of it makes the weight shift to the right though, which makes up for the moved title.  I debated removing the title from the CPO all together, but it seemed nicer with it, I can have asymmetry and still be balanced.

Thanks for the input guys, here's the latest (and I think my favorite so far)

[theCoder]

There you go.  Nice.

[rockin_rick]

Latest CPO looks cool.  I like the theme/style.  I vote for the sequenced marquee, too - what's your latest plans/thoughts regarding this?

Is the circle representing the trackball actual size/scaled properly?  And thus will the trackball hole be big enough to cut into the trace?  If that's a 3", then it seems like it may be a bit small.


Rick

[bfauska]

Thanks for the comments.

I am still pondering the chase.  We're doing a fiber-optic star curtain at work in the next week or so and I may be able to snatch some scraps to try some of my ideas out.

The trackball I'm currently going to use is a computer trackball that I've opened up and mounted the board to the underside of my test CP.  It's like 1 3/4 or 2 inch and if I remember correctly I measured it to do the CP layout in AutoCAD that I used for the artwork in Inkscape.  I also don't plan on printing the button and TB holes on the finished art, I'm using them now for visualization, but on the printout if I leave them blank I have a little more flexibility and room for error.

[bfauska]

Here's the newest CPO.  I know that the responses to the last one were mostly positive, but I thought I'd give a try to the dot at the end of the EKG line like the marquee has.  If I don't do the dot then it's back to a flat-line as it finishes the image and that doesn't work with the theme (anal much?)

I also changed the buttons to the colors I'm envisioning.  I think I want to do NovaGems for the admin, either clear w/tri-color LEDS or appropriate color buttons for the admin task.  I am also thinking about EE buttons for the action buttons w/tri-color LEDS and the 1 and 2up buttons are standard white 1 and 2up buttons.  In addition to the buttons, I'd be thrilled to light the joys and TB.  I think I can arrange custom bat-top handles for illumination and find an acrylic ball the right size for my TB.  All this stuff drives up the cost of what was until now a cabinet that only cost me about the cost of the encoder, but I guess eventually I'd have to buy something right?  Might as well make it some bling, and I like the idea of lighting the buttons needed for each game in MAME.

[theCoder]

As long as you're being anal...

The red line on the right just before the dot looks a tad long (or short).  Almost like it just went flatline.  Recommend either shortening it up to remove the flatline, or lengthening it a bit more to accentuating the flatline.

The center yellow admin button adds yet another color to the CP.  I'd recommend making it blue, white, or black; reducing the number of different colors by one. 

[superbigjay]

Basically the same comment as Coder...

The red line needs to follow the pattern...
you don't want to have to rename your cab the flatliner 

Also, I would go all red for the admins...

Jay 

[bfauska]

Thanks for pointing out the dot issue, I probably wouldn't have noticed it until I finally ordered and received the print.  I'll play around with a few sizes and options for the dot placement, probably just end up shortening it.

The button color problem stems from the fact that I thought green was an excellent start/enter/shift button color and red was a nice exit button.  While green exists nowhere else in the art I don't think it looks too bad.  I didn't want 2 of one color and 1 of another and if you are using green for enter/start and red for exit/stop the natural choice for pause is amber.  I think the best solution may be to use clear buttons w/labels and RGB LEDs, then I can decide at the last minute, and the attract mode will be really versatile. 

I did a print of the new artwork and, in addition to the problems you guys pointed out, I think the area around tagline isn't quite blue enough, and the title text could be a little bigger.  I've got some adjustments to make and I'll post an update sometime.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:
I just had an idea for my power button.  I could do an arrangement with a relay that would allow one of the buttons to light when the computer is turned off and become the power light, when the power comes on, the relay will connect the button to the encoder and LED-Wiz and disconnect it from the mother board and transformer.  It sounds screwy but I'm sure I could make it.  It would mean that I'd have to shut down from software but that's nothing difficult.  I really think I'm going to go this way.

[theCoder]

I just had an idea for my power button.  I could do an arrangement with a relay that would allow one of the buttons to light when the computer is turned off and become the power light, when the power comes on, the relay will connect the button to the encoder and LED-Wiz and disconnect it from the mother board and transformer.  It sounds screwy but I'm sure I could make it.  It would mean that I'd have to shut down from software but that's nothing difficult.  I really think I'm going to go this way.

Sounds like a cool puzzle.  I look forward to hearing about your solution.

[SodaPopinksi]

CP looks cool, what color trackball? Blue, or Red? Or Electronic Ice? Just curious

[bfauska]

Right now the TB is lame-ass computer beige.  I am going to try to find an acrylic replacement so it'll be clear or frosted w/ an RGB LED.

I have the relay circuit for the switch figured out, I think I'll do a basic schematic of it to show how it works.  It will actually serve double duty to power on any cabinet components not run off of the computer PSU.

[SodaPopinksi]

Ah I had forgotten the part about your custom trackball, I remember a "Black Box" bar top project that had a small, clear translucent trackball (maybe the compusa 2" crystal trackball to be exact) that looked pretty nice.

[bfauska]

Here's a brief update and progress report on my super-slick-power-on-button.

First a picture with some mock-up artwork installed. I printed these out on a color laser printer on plain paper so they don't back light well or hold up to CPO abuse, but they gave me an idea about the look, I think after a few minor touch-ups I'm ready for printing.


Second is a picture to try to explain how I hooked up my "Enter" button on the CP to power up the cabinet and then return to it's mild-mannered-life as a lowly "Enter" button.



This same task could be accomplished easily if your MB supported power-up from password, but since mine doesn't I had to wire the power-on header to an arcade button (nothing new I know) and then I wanted it to become the enter button when in the frontend (that's the new part.) In the future I will also use this relay to power on the speakers and marquee. As for now, it's wired as shown in the picture. When the relay is off (no power to the coil) the MB power is connected to the button on the CP, when the button on the CP is pressed it turns on the computer and the coil of the relay is powered up from the PSU, switching the connection to the button over to the encoder instead of the MB. I initially hooked it up to only use one leg of the switch and leave the ground hooked up the whole time but that didn't seem to work, so I switched both legs. I should be able to switch one leg of the power for the marquee and speakers later and still have one pole of the relay left so that I can illuminate the power button from a wall-wort or battery when the computer is off and then connect it up to an LEDwiz when I power it up. I shut the computer down using a shifted key combination and windows shutdown, so I don't need the power button while the computer is running. I did leave the originally PC power button wired before the relay so that I can always use it if the computer locks up.

[metahacker]

what a wonderful and elegant hack.  cheers to you, sir.

[bfauska]

OUCH. It hurts a little when you go to add to your project post and realize that you've been inactive so long that you get the warning about it being an old topic and maybe you should start a new one. 

I've resolved the need for a rotating monitor in my cabinet...  I picked up a 27" multisync monitor for free on CraigsList several months ago (Model 4PG) and now that I've installed it when I run vertical games I have about a 20" image and the full 27" on horizontal. If I had rigged a rotating monitor into my cab I think I would have been lucky to fit a 20" monitor without if having it to stick out the sides as it rotated. This monitor is supposed to support arcade refresh rates so I think I'll do some tinkering around to see how good of an image I can get, but so far I'm plenty happy.

If anybody has any information on this monitor I'd love to see it. I got the monitor and a remote, but no documentation and there is nothing online (or my GoogleFoo is weaker than I think.)

The first picture shows my cabinets in their new home in my new home, they also have a new friend (that Coke machine came with the house) and you can see my homebrew keg-fridge on the right.

[Malenko]

looks good, I'd call it the Electro Kardio Game 

[bfauska]

Personal Thread Necro...
So, after several years sitting dormant in my basement I've actually hauled my cabinet into the office at work to keep us busy on breaks and during long hours of being here to be available. The tagline for "The Reactivator" is "bringing arcade classics back to life" and now it looks like it's time to breath some new life into "The Reactivator".
The first thing I realized is that the standard width CP just isn't going to cut it if I want to add a trackball and spinner (I know, too many controls, I also don't care) so I'm going to use the 4 player CP box that came with the cabinet when I picked it up 8 years ago.
Here's my progress so far...
Since I said some time ago when someone was looking for a 4 player Dynamo HS5 CP box that I'd measure mine I decided to make a 3d model of it in the computer. I still don't have a dimensioned drawing but if anyone wants the 3d model let me know, I still plan to make the drawing from which a metal shop could easily duplicate the box but I just haven't yet.


Next I figured out what I think I want my CP layout to be. I've chosen the 7 button layout based on having a 4 button row available, the Mortal Kombat 5 buton setup nearly replicated and a standard 6 button as well.

I think the 4 player panel has provided plenty of room to allow the controls to not be too tight.
Anyway that's my update for now.

[wp34]

Looks nice. Plenty of room but not too much.

You going to CNC it?

[bfauska]

Looks nice. Plenty of room but not too much.

You going to CNC it?

I will be CNC cutting it for sure. Since building the CNC I seem to have gotten pretty rusty at good old fashioned wood butchery. I'm also planning on doing some things that, while possible, would be absolutely silly for someone with a CNC to do manually.
One example is the way I'm mounting the trackball. Other than WP34's Tron Legacy I haven't seen any glowing rings around trackballs that I really like or that would work with a HAPP trackball, and I want RGB so I can't do EL sheet and doing it without the mounting plate is going to help make that possible, it is also cheaper to do it without the mounting plate and I'm a cheap skate so here is one reason I'm using the CNC to do this panel.




I'm also planning on doing glowing rings around the spinner and joysticks which will benefit from access to the CNC as well.

[wp34]

That trackball mount is off the hook.   

I many times wished I had a CNC when I was cutting the top for mine. 

[bfauska]

That trackball mount is off the hook.   

I many times wished I had a CNC when I was cutting the top for mine.

Thanks.
Your work with the laminate routing for your cp was amazing. The ONLY way I have the patience to do work as nice as this is using the CNC.

[Malenko]

7 years later and I still like my name for the cab

Based on your model, I dont think its too many controls, but if you add a 4way or a flight stick it will be.

[bfauska]

7 years later and I still like my name for the cab

Based on your model, I dont think its too many controls, but if you add a 4way or a flight stick it will be.

It's one of those funny things where the version of the name that would look most like electrocardiogram is electrocardiogame, but then the sound of electrocardiocab rolls off the tongue just a little closer sounding I think. Since I can't choose between the two I'll stick with my original name.

[Malenko]

naw, wasnt saying mines better just still funny. I think its from breathing in all the bondo fumes.

[bfauska]

Yeah, those'll get to you. We can't even use bondo in the shop at work because the painters' pulmonary toxicity reacts horribly to it. Sadly, as with most toxic products, the reason it still exists and we all want to use it all the time is because it does the job so much better than all the healthy alternatives.

[bfauska]

Started on my RGB buttons...

So my goal with the recent CNC offer to the community was that I could fund my hobby with my hobby and it's working out pretty well. In the past couple months I've managed to get a IPAC Ultimate and a pile of buttons to use in the updated CP. Since the building part of this hobby is actually the one I think I like the best I don't mind finding cheap ways to do things even if it means a bit more work so I've come up with a really low cost solution for folks looking to run RGB LEDs off their constant current drivers (I wouldn't like this system as much if it also required adding resisters to each setup).

On Ebay I found some really affordable 4pin jumper cables at about 25" long that when cut to whatever length you need give you 2 cables to run to an RGB LED. I picked up 50 common anode 5mm RGB LEDs, 20 "jumpers", and 100' of heat shrink for less than $23 shipped. The image below basically summarizes the steps to make 40 wired RGB LEDs with custom length wiring that work wonderfully with illuminated HAPP or IL buttons.


I did about 20 buttons yesterday in a couple hours including the drilling for the wires and LED. I'm a little disappointed in the brightness but I think for $0.50 each it's pretty effin good. In the pictures below they are mounted with the IPAC U and a U360 in my fightstick that I'm using to get the software set up on the new (old) PC before I migrate all the updates into the cabinet. I can't have the cabinet not work for much more than a couple days because it sits by my desk at work and if it didn't work my co-workers and I would have to. In some testing I did with the brightness I found that white paper or tape around the clear button shafts helps the light make it to the bezel before it gets wasted elsewhere and the backpainted clear plexiglas that I used for the CP on my fightstick kind of has the opposite effect. I think once I've got them in a wood panel with some light color wraps to mask the light leak and aid the diffusion I'll be even happier.

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