Moe's Arcade - My First MAME Cabinet FINISHED!

[BradC]

I picked up an old cabinet last month and after some help from this board I am ready to begin creating my MAME cabinet. I ordered the Joysticks, buttons and encoder today so I thought I'd start my project thread, to chronicle my endeavour.

Here is the cabinet as of today:



I'll post a picture of the layout I chose when I get home. It's going to be 2 Happ Competitions with 6 buttons each, plus a ball-top 4-way in the middle. I have the computer I'm going to be using, I just haven't done anything with it yet as far as installing an OS and a FE. I'll start on that this week while I'm waiting for the parts to arrive.

I have ideas for side art and CP overlay, and a couple of little extras I have yet to see on any of the cabs here. I hope they turn out like I'm envisioning.

I'll post progress and pics as I make it. Thanks for the support I've already received, and the support I will most certainly need on my way. I'm excited!

[Havok]

Looks like a good base to start from. If I'm not mistaken, I think that was a Phoenix in a previous life, one of my personal favorites as a kid. Keep us posted!

[BradC]

Yep, the info I received said it was a design that was used in a few different games, Phoenix being one of them.

[philby85]

Hey Brad,

Good luck, take your time and most of all have fun. for me it's been one of the most engaging hobbies I've ever had Post plenty of pics.

cheers

Philby

[BradC]

Here is the tempalte I created (click for full size.)



Here is the template being assembled into the cardboard mockup.





And here is the template in place on the plywood control panel. I am 99% sure that I will eventually find a different material to make the CP out of, but this is what I have for now and I want to get it setup to see how I like the positioning.

[BradC]

Did some work on the conrol panel last night.

I drilled out all the holes with the spade bits I bought. It took me a bit to get used to the handling, between setting the torque high enough to dig through the wood and trying not to break my wrist, but I got it figured out and I think it came out OK. Here's the first joystick hole I drilled, the 4-way in the center (that screw is holding the CP in place on the cabinet for the moment).



Then I did the other two joysticks and finally the button holes.



I didn't think about putting a scrap piece of wood underneath the panel until it was too late. So I got some splintering under the right side button holes.



So I guess these piece turns out to be my practice piece rather than the final CP. I guess it's fine, I was planning on buying another piece of wood to use anyhow. Something a little better than plywood. I will check the cabinet building section at OSH for some suggestions.

[DaOld Man]

May I suggest you use MDF instead of plywood?
I think it works real good.
I used 3/4", but they also have 1/2" at lowes.
Check out my mis-adventures at
http://skennys-arcade.blogspot.com

[BradC]

I'll look into MDF, thanks for the tip.

Here is some preliminary artwork I've laid out in Illustrator (the images are scaled here so they look jagged. Click for a clearer image). I still haven't decided if I want to use a CP Overlay, or just make a nice, wood stained piece to go with the wood grain on the sides.

CPO



SideArt

[lanman31337]

that art looks fantastic, i vote go for it!

[BradC]

I picked up some new wood this weekend. I went to Lowe's and was looking around, and I found a nice piece of oak that was 1x8x2. Since I had foolishly forgotten to bring my tape measure with me, I just assumed that it meant 1" by 8" by 2'. I should have noticed that wasn't the case when I realized it was actually 3/4" thick, and not 1". But since that is what I was going for, I just went home with it. It turns out that it wasn't 8" wide, it was only about 7 1/4" wide. So Now I have a gap that I will have to fill in at some point, but that's a back-burner issue for now. (I still have not received the joysticks/buttons that I ordered two weeks ago!)

A couple weeks ago I had picked out a sample packet of wood stain that I figured would match the wood grain on the side and front of the cabinet. I applied the sample packet to the underside of the CP, and it is almost a dead-on match. I'm very pleased with how it looks, so I may just decide to go with the wood stain, and not do the CP overlay.

If I go with the stain, how should I prepare it? I've never worked with wood, but I thought I would sand it (coarse grit first, then a fine frit) stain it and then seal it? If that's correct, what do I seal it with?

I'm going to drill the holes tonight (clamping a piece of scrap to the back first so I don't splinter the underside again) and install the latches I bought to keep the CP closed.

[BradC]

My joysticks and buttons FINALLY arrived yesterday. If I had known the joysticks didn't come with the bolts I would have picked some up, but now I have to make another trip to the hardware store tonight. No big deal since there's a small one on the corner of my street, but I'm getting really anxious to make sure my template is good before I drill and cut the new CP.

I plan to work on this tomorrow afternoon (going car shopping in the morning) so I'll post some pics once I get these installed.

On the software side, I've been loading the emulators and roms onto the PC. I bought a 300GB hard drive for it last weekend and installed XP and the emus. I finally managed to get MAMEWah to recognize all of my roms for the different emulators. Now I just need to figure out which graphic layouts I want for each of the emulators. Also I still need to figure out how to install and configure Daphne. I've got copies of Dragon's Lair 1 & 2 and Space Ace that already come with thier own emulators on the disc, so maybe I'll just configure them as separate Emulators within MAMEWah and scrap Daphne altogether. That way I won't have to configure all the pointers for each game and what-not.

I had the brilliant idea to install LEGO Star Wars (since it runs full screen and would be fun to play with the joystick and buttons) but the video card I have in there won't support it. It's just a cheapie I bought from eBay. The machine is a Dell desktop (sideways, not a tower config) so it REQUIRES a half-height APG card and mounting bracket. I may go with the Radeon 9250 (which I used to own in another machine) as I know that will run it. Or I could just remove the top half of the casing, but either way that will likely be a later upgrade.

[BradC]

Spent a little bit of time this weekend drilling out the new Oak CP and making sure I can fit everything on it. I bought a 1/2" countersink bit but the botls I bought ended up having a 3/4" head. So I'm going to need to go pick up a bigger countersink bit, then I can lower the bolt heads and try to make them flush.



Took me a bit to get everything right, but it all fits. Next I will remove everything and sand down the CP. If I can get it looking nice then I'll stain it. I sanded a piece of the back and it doesn't look very good. It looks like however they treated it at the factory was probably to sand it and then coat it with something. If I can't get it all stripped and looking good sanded then I will prime it and order the CP overlay.

After that, I'll finish configuring the PC and then make a backup image of the base configuration in case I need to reload it at some point.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Oak is really, really stinky when it's being burned by a spade bit.

[solid187]

It's gonna be sharp.  That's a tough call between the oak CP and the Simpson's overlay.  I love that Simpson's artwork you have there.  Can't wait to see more pics. 

[8way]

A problem you will run in to if you decide to stain it is, the wood putty or whatever you use the fill the holes from countersinking the bolts will show up after staining. And that’s really too many holes for it not to be noticeable. If you really want the wood grain, then just use some wood grain laminate. Personally I would get rid of all that wood grain and go with some color and artwork. But that’s just me. Good luck and looking forward to seeing the progress.

[BradC]

I hadn't thought about the countersink holes if I went with stain. I guess I could leave them uncovered, but then I'd have 12 bolt heads showing through on top. Tough decision, I'll have to mull it over.

[Kaytrim]

You could have used wood screws from below and they would have held nicely.  Another option would have been screw in nuts and short bolts from below.

Kaytrim

[Stobe]

Good job so far.

Next time you go to drill a CP, look into a Forstner bit.  They carry individual ones at both Lowes and Home Depot, but IIRC, only one of them carries the 1 1/8" bit.

You can also get them cheaply at MLCS (7.95).

I like this bits a lot more than spades, and you won't have the splinter problem.  (It is quite messy though, so be aware of that and wear a mask).

-Stobe

[fjl]

I still got splinter problems when I used a Forstner bit. Maybe I should use it on my router or make the hole on a scrap piece of wood then use pattern bit to  make the hole on the cp. Guess that's kind of overkill though.

[danny_galaga]

should turn out nicely (",) im hoping some of that wood panelling will remain untouched, will sort of add to the moes tavern feel...

[BradC]

After creating a mockup of what the CPO will look like in Photoshop, I've decided I'm going to order it.



I'm also going to order a Marquee, and I have a great idea on something special to do for it. I'll post a mockup of that later (or maybe just wait until I get it.)

[leapinlew]

Looking good - keep up the good work. I'm watching this one.

[theCoder]

Good choice, going with a conversion on your first project.  It looks like you are well on your way.

Just a couple of comments, most of which have already been said. 

Next time you go to drill a CP, look into a Forstner bit...

I borrowed Forstner bits from my friend on my first two projects.  I have since purchased a complete set.  They are great for getting clean, controlled holes in thick wood.  The 1 1/8" is the primary one you will need for buttons. 

Clamping a piece of wood underneath when drilling significantly reduces the tear out on the back side. 

You could have used wood screws from below and they would have held nicely. 

I used large diameter 3/4 inch wood screws from the bottom to mount the joysticks on my first project.  Still holding strong.

Great progress.  Good luck with the build.

[BradC]

I ordered my CPO and Marquee today. Here are the designs:






The gap on the left is intentional. I will be mounting a Duff beer can to that part of the Marquee, so it will stick out in 3D.

[NightGod]

A simple way to avoid the shredding of the bottom of the wood with a spade bit is to drill until the point of the bit comes through the back, then flip the board over and finish the drilling from the back. Worked great when I was building my CP.

[BradC]

I now have the marquee and control panel art installed. I decided to hold off on the side art for now, perhaps later I can spend the money on it but it was just too much for now. I still need to get the monitor. For now there is a temporary 17" CRT but I will be going with a 20" LCD (non-widescreen). I also need to install the bezel and there is a gap on the control panel that I will close off somehow. So here are some more shots.

The cabinet as it stands now:


Control Panel with art installed. I realize now that I used bolts with too big of heads on them, as I couldn't make a countersink hole big enough to hide them. I don't think they look too terribly out of place, and anyhow I've already cut holes in the CPO, so it will stay this way:


Here are my cabinet latches to hold the CP closed. There is one on each side:


and the catch:


Here is the wiring job I did. Not too bad if I do say so myself:


I installed a USB port in the front of the cabinet below the CP, so that I don't have to open up the cabinet when I want to copy files from a flash drive, portable hard drive, wireless USB device, etc.



Here is the Marquee. I either need a longer flourescent light, or I will put some reflective metal in there so that the edges light up properly. As of right now, there is a bit of a dark spot on each edge.


And finally, the way I mounted the Duff beer can. Just used some thin bolts through both layers of plexi and the artowk, with some plastic spacers in front.

[Lakersfan]

Looking good, Brad.  The control panel looks nice. One quick question, is the 4-way joystick sunkin all the way down just in the pics?

Oh, and BTW, GREAT job on the marquee. i love the 3D beer can. Can't wait to see the side art.

[Austin.Wolff]

Man, that design is one of the coolest I've ever seen.  Might I suggest using a built in USB keystone port?

http://www.lashen.com/vendors/calrad/keystone.asp

[ARTIFACT]

VERY cool!

Where did you get the CPO and Marquee printed?

[BradC]

Mamemarquees.com of course! Scott was awesome, he did the job quickly and even contacted me before printing when he thought I left the blank space on the Marquee on accident.

Yes the 4-way is sunk all the way down, the shaft wasn't as tall on that controller as it was on the 8-ways. It still has full range of movement, it's just a tad annoying.

[Kangum]

I was just thinking that arcade shop amusements sells the gold bar that went across the bottom of the beer tapper machine. it would fit this theme so perfect. you could put your foot up like a real bar as you play.

[Malenko]

Yes the 4-way is sunk all the way down, the shaft wasn't as tall on that controller as it was on the 8-ways.

cant you just use a router and cut an inset so that the bottom of the 4 way is closer to the top of CP so the shaft sticks out a little further. Man I cant think of a better way to say it then that, some one else wanna clarify for me, I'm tired and sunstroked

[Donkey_Kong]

Loving the artwork man! The 3-D Duff beer is really cool, nice touch. 

[Apollo]

Love the artwork, very slick

[The 80s Man]

I love that theem. Very nice work.

It would be cool if someone could hack the game, Beer Tapper to have Simpsons graphics in it.

[testicle187]

They do make a Rom Set for Tapper with the Simpsons characters on it.

[BradC]

It's been a while since I've posted an update. I didn't make any more progress for a while until the last few weekends when I was able to get moving on it again. I saved up enough to buy the monitor I wanted, which is a 20" non-widescreen LCD. It's a Westinghouse, which I got on sale at Best Buy for $199. The bezel was made from a piece of black on black matting (like what they use to matte photos with) attached to a piece of foamboard.

Not counting the couple of minor cosmetic pieces to add (front area between controls and bottom of monitor, and plexiglass over the whole front) I am finished! So here are some pics of what it looks like now. Thanks to everyone on this board for making this possible! I could not have done it without this place and its people! Please enjoy the pics.





It's running Mamewah, and I have setup the following emus/games:

• MAME
• Dragon's Lair I
• Space Ace
• Super Nintendo
• Genesis
• Nintendo Entertainment System
• Game Boy/Game Boy Color
• Game Boy Advance
• Arcade Music Box
• LEGO Star Wars I
• LEGO Star Wars II

The LEGO Star Wars games are awesome fun on this machine! They are perfectly built for this type of control setup and the two-player co-operative mode.

I plan to eventually add coin mechs, but that's later. Right now it provides great access to my DVD Rom drive.



Here's a view of the back. (Notice that I've put the speaker back here instead of behind the marquee.)




The cabinet used to be a Centuri Phoenix. Here is the label that's still on the back of the machine:


and with red text that's easier to read the numbers:

[Jetson]

I love it

[shardian]

FYI, tornado terry sells a replacement joystick shaft for the reunion stick meant for wood panels. He charges $8.95 and in your case, it is VERY worth the price.
http://www.tornadoterrys.com/surplus.htm

[BradC]

Thanks for the link shardian, I will have to order one of those because the one curently in there is difficult to use (obviously).

[shardian]

No problem. Love the artwork by the way. The Duff can is a great accessory. None of the 7/11's got that stuff near me.