FINISHED!: Mini Ms. Pac-Man (UPDATE: Galaga) machine (22" Tall) - PICS INSIDE

[melarky]

I have been toying with making a small arcade cabinet (smaller than a bartop, but bigger than the other "mini" arcades I've made found at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55628.0).

Yesterday I decided to finally cut one out on our CNC machine that is big enough to use a jakks game board and one of those 5" LCDs they make for consoles (I specifically used one made for Gamecube from Intec).

I also used a small joystick from P3America (http://www.p3america.com/pp/851.htm) and 2 regular happs arcade buttons.  The next one I build will just use the jakks joystick (I know they are cheap and flimsy, but I still think they are better than the ones from P3America, and their footprint, once removed from the big case, is not much bigger either).  I also lose the ability to play pole position without their stick since you have to twist the knob to steer.

It's going together really well, and I'm looking forward to finishing this one soon.  If it turns out well enough, we may sell kits of the cabinets (without the screen and jakks board, just the cut out wood and some assembly instructions).  A few people have mentioned that they would be interested.

[shardian]

Very cool. I might have to make one of these.

[melarky]

Yeah, it was super fun to put together, and quick too (once we got the tool paths created and it all cut on the CNC machine).  I programmed it to have grooves, so you can just fill the grooves with glue, stick the piece in, clamp together, and let it all dry.  The longest part about it was letting it dry.

Not sure how I'm going to do the artwork yet.  The printing places by me can't do a sticker paper that is big enough to cover the entire side (legal size paper is the biggest they do).  I was thinking of just getting it printed on non sticky paper (but the correct size), using 3M adhesive spray to stick it on, and then getting some spray laquer to protect the art...haven't decided yet.

Would get some from mamemarquees, but would think it would cost more than I want to spend on this little project (I could be wrong, since it's fairly small, it may be worth it, I'll have to check).  Come to think of it though, not sure if they'll even print that stuff since two-bits is so active in shutting down anyone else who prints pac art...

Any suggestions or ideas on the side art?

[Neilyboy]

Dang this is very cool. Great to see new ideas on building awesome cabs. I looked at the picture first and was like what in the heck.. those are huge pushbuttons then realized just how small this little guy is.

Very cool idea!!

Neil

[melarky]

I figure a kit this size (22" tall) would be easy to cut out on the CNC machine.  I still have to tweek the final tool paths (the back angle piece is about 1/8" too short because I miscalculated based on the grooves I made).  That's an easy fix though, the monitor/bezel area would need to be more generic (I cut mine specific to my LCD screen, but other may want to use something else, might be better to just put a piece of plexi in there or something).

[javeryh]

Wow this is sweet.  I can't wait to see it finished with the art and everything.  How thick is the material?   

[vrf]

Awesome work. I'm looking forward to to seeing it finished.

It must be like living in a dream to have your own CNC machine.... 

[leapinlew]

Sweet. I was thinking of building something like this as end tables for the game room with a glass top or something. I'd be interested in a kit instead of making my own though.

[MPTech]

That's pretty wild!  nice job.

Curious, what are you using for a PC / Game Box to fit in that cute little thing?
Yea, the buttons look HUGE, but the JS looks almost to scale.

keep us posted on the progress.

[shardian]

A ps1 lcd would work great in one of these.

MPtech: One of the Jakks tv games. They are easy to hack.

[MPTech]

"Jakks tv games" That's cool and inexpensive!  2 of my #1 criterion.

[melarky]

Wow this is sweet.  I can't wait to see it finished with the art and everything.  How thick is the material?   

The sides and control panel are 3/4" MDF and the rest is 1/4" MDF.  I used 3/4" so that I could use actual t-molding (I know they make t-molding in smaller sizes, but not with the same range of colors, and it's also better to have the sides a bit thicker because of the grooves I cut into them to make assembly easy.  Those grooes are nothing on these thick sides, but I tried this same cabinet with 1/2" sides, and the grooves were too deep for me to safely cut a t-molding slot).

I thought it would look weirder with the 3/4" sides, but after assembling it, I think it looks fine.  If I would have stuck with 1/2" (that was my original idea), seems like I can only get t-molding in that size in 3 colors (black, white, and blue).  I want to eventually make a pac-man machine this size too (only have the orange in 3/4").

[melarky]

Sweet. I was thinking of building something like this as end tables for the game room with a glass top or something. I'd be interested in a kit instead of making my own though.

This particular cabinet wouldn't work very well as an end table (the rounded top on the sides and the marquee top slopes down).  The nintendo cabinet would probably be really cool for that though (nice and flat up top).  You could put a piece of glass on that pretty easily.  I think these would still be too small though for that (only ~22" hight).

[melarky]

That's pretty wild!  nice job.

Curious, what are you using for a PC / Game Box to fit in that cute little thing?
Yea, the buttons look HUGE, but the JS looks almost to scale.

keep us posted on the progress.

Yeah, like Shardian said, I'm just using a jakks game board.  I had to do it all over again, I would actually just use their joystick too (the joystick foot print isn't that much bigger than the mini joys I have in there, and they actually feel a little sturdier).  If I could find a better ball top for those joysticks, they would be ideal (have to chop the knob off to get it out, and the knob is also the cheapest feeling part about their joysticks).

Really though, I'm just getting the machine to work for novelty, it's never going to be really comfortable to play on.  The joystick is too small, the screen is at a funny angle, and it's only 5" (not to mention the jakks games are not perfect emulations of the original games).  It's neat and fun to see it working, but I don't see anyone trying to beet their high scores on it any time soon.

[melarky]

The more I think about it, it would definately be doable to offer these things as kits.  I can't imagine shipping would be too bad since we could stack it pretty flat, and it's not too heavy (I have no idea though).

For the kits, I would probably just leave the control panel blank (let the person putting it together decide what they wanted to use for controls), and maybe change up the bezel/screen area (possibly have the grooves go all the way back to the edge, and use 2 pieces of 1/8" plexi so people could sandwhich artwork between it and slide it in and out).

I will finish this cabinet before I offer it as a kit though.  Hope to finish soon, I'll update here when I get any more done on the cabinet...

[leapinlew]

The more I think about it, it would definately be doable to offer these things as kits for around $30 + shipping.  I can't imagine shipping would be too bad since we could stack it pretty flat, and it's not too heavy (I have no idea though).

For the kits, I would probably just leave the control panel blank (let the person putting it together decide what they wanted to use for controls), and maybe change up the bezel/screen area (possibly have the grooves go all the way back to the edge, and use 2 pieces of 1/8" plexi so people could sandwhich artwork between it and slide it in and out).

I will finish this cabinet before I offer it as a kit though.  Hope to finish soon, I'll update here when I get any more done on the cabinet...

Well hurry up! I'm interested...

[melarky]

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I actually did make some progress on this cabinet this past weekend, but not much.  I finished painting it, but now need to figure out what I'm going to do for artwork.

Any ideas on this?  If no ideas come in, I'll probably try what I wrote about above (printing the artwork on normal paper, sticking it to the cab with adhesive spray and then putting a clear coat on it to protect the artwork).

I'll try to grab some more pics when I get a chance.

[Kaytrim]

That is what I did for Dad's Bartop only I used photo paper.  You can see the results in my worklog.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=66082.msg683219#msg683219

[melarky]

Your project looks great (I had seen your build process, but missed the delivery photos and details, looks like it was a huge hit).

The only problem with doing it that way is I would have to get some blue paint to match the artwork.  I'm trying to avoid that.  All of the artwork will just be stickers ore some other type of paper applied to the cabinet.  I spray painted the cabinet mostly black, but only the edges of the sides (since it will be covered with the artwork).  The sides, front kick panel, control panel overlay, bezel area, and marquee will just sit on the black painted parts, so all of the color will come from them.

If the cabinet was just a bit shorter, I could use the legal size paper sticker that a printing place by me uses, but it's a little too short.

[Kaytrim]

Your project looks great (I had seen your build process, but missed the delivery photos and details, looks like it was a huge hit).

Thanks, every time I talk to Dad on the phone we talk about it for at least a little bit.  It has been well received.

If the cabinet was just a bit shorter, I could use the legal size paper sticker that a printing place by me uses, but it's a little too short.

Why not have it printed in two pieces then.  I am assuming that it is wide enough.  All you really need is the few short inches at the bottom.  That should be a solid color so the seam wouldn't bee too noticeable.  The way I did mine was printing the artwork so the art overlapped between sheets.  Then I trimmed one sheet to the art, lined it up with the other, and cut through both sheets at the same time.  I was then able to piece the sheets together with little difficulty.  Doable but not ideal.


TTFN

[melarky]

Ok, time for an update.  I had painted this mini cabinet black and was getting all of the artwork together to print.  I even had some of the ms pac-man artwork printed and I applied the front kick panel and the bezel/cpo artwork, and it looked horrible.

The artwork was fine, but I am apparently not capable of spraying on adhesive and sticking the artwork down, as I ripped and crinkled anything that could be ripped or crinkled, and it was just a mess.  I decided not to do the side art or marquee and think about how I could fix it.

I finally realized what I am going to do, I don't know why I didn't think of this before.  I am ditching the ms. pac-man art and I will make it a Galaga machine.  Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man had the same machine (steeper slope on the front etc...) and the galaga artwork is way easier to apply (not to mention more available).

I finally got around to taking off the old artwork I applied this past weekend (used a heat gun to try to unstick the glue, it worked ok, but I think I ultimately started baking it on).  I then finished it off with some goo-be-gone type stuff, and then re-sanded all the surfaces, and it's ready for a new coat of paint (just going to re-paint it all black again).

The nice thing about the galaga artwork too is that the side art is not the fill thing, but just those medallion long skinny things that I should be able to print on one sheet to fit the arcade no problem (like I said above, I can get a local printer to print on sticky legal size paper, but that just too short for the full ms. pac-man art, but should be perfect for galaga).

I will take some more pics as I finish this up and update this topic when it's finished.  I had to keep putting this project on the back burner as I finished some other projects that needed more attention, but I would imagine, after I finish it I will be able to cut out some kits and sell them if anyone else wants to make one (again, will have to change the monitor and control panel area, but it should be quick to fix that).

[leapinlew]

awesome! 

I love this thing.

[jbensch]

This is fantastic!  I'm working on a scaled galaga set right now (quarter scale) using the bottoms of several 'Sauder' drawer bottoms.  So far, so good.  It's approximately 15" x 6". 

The plan is to use mini-itx and a PS1 LCD with mini HAPP buttons and controls.

I really like your cab, though.  Are you still thinking about selling kits?  I'm definitely interested.

The mdf I'm using is sturdy, but I'm concerned about the end product and it may end up being a DVR/MAME rig next to the tv...

Good luck - can't wait to see the finished product.

[melarky]

yeah, I still plan on doing kits.  I'm not sure how much it would cost to ship these, but when they are all packed flat, it shouldn't be too bad.  Once I finish the one I'm working on, I'll probably finalize the kit tool paths (will get it so the conrol panel is blank, and then maybe come up with something different for the bezel area instead of wood, like 2 sheets of 1/8" plexi or something, then people could sandwhich artwrok between it etc...).  I also have to throw together some assembly instructions, and really sit down and figure out how much it costs me to make these (I'm not looking and striking it rich selling these kits, but I also don't want to lose money doing it.)  

[melarky]

Ok, time for another update.  I have finished painting the little cabinet (got all the old art scraped off, resanded the surfaces that were previously already painted black, then resprayed the whole thing black again).  I am attaching some pics.

Also, I went to cut out a different project on our CNC machine, and when I was jogging the machine over to zero, the y-axis started binding.  This happened in the past, but we fixed it and it hasn't happened in a long time, but now it's doing it again.  It may take us a while to fix it again this time (too many other "real life" time requirements).  So this will push back the time for getting kits available.  I pretty much have it all programmed in (still need to make a few changes that I've already mentioned above), but once the machine is fixed, I should be able to get that done quickly and start getting some kits cut.

[leapinlew]

awesome!

[LeedsFan]

This kind of thing is awesome! I just saw Leapinlews mini Galaga bartop thread yesterday and it's inspired me to try one too. Although mine won't be Galaga but a different classic game.

The only thing I'm not sure about with your cab is the screen positioning. Will you be able to see the full screen properly? It's almost laying flat as I look at the first pic in your OP.
I know these Galaga/Ms.Pacman cabs were made like that though. Looks like you might need to poke your nose in there to see it properly. 

I really wanna see how this turns out. I love this kind of mini cabinet stuff. The woodworking so far is awesome. 

[melarky]

yeah, the position of the screen is not ideal, but that is how the commercial ones were oriented.  It's not impossible to see, but it's not the greatest either, but I am really only adding that screen adn jakks board as novelty, I don't think it's ever going to play perfectly, mostly just for show.

I haven't done anything with this lately, just too busy with real life, but hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get the artwork stuff worked out.  That's pretty much all I'm waiting on now.  It should be fun when it's all done.

[leapinlew]

yeah, the position of the screen is not ideal, but that is how the commercial ones were oriented.  It's not impossible to see, but it's not the greatest either, but I am really only adding that screen adn jakks board as novelty, I don't think it's ever going to play perfectly, mostly just for show.

I haven't done anything with this lately, just too busy with real life, but hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get the artwork stuff worked out.  That's pretty much all I'm waiting on now.  It should be fun when it's all done.

Yours is a replica of the original while mine was meant to be playable. As such - I was able to take some liberties that wouldn't be right on a replica such as yours. I don't know that I would even make mine playable... We'll never know since I can't buy kits yet. 

 

[bvicarious]

Lookin good, melarky (you're formerly stew_bidasso, right?)! Probably your best decision was sticking with 3/4" sides, I've also been working on a miniature arcade kit and let me tell you - finding 1/4" t-molding and shrinking everything else down isn't  cheap or easy! I see you're still using the p3america joystick, is it really worse than a jakks controller? I went for the joystick by ETI systems and it looks identical, except the hub looks more 'filled in', but it definitely needs gentle use. I wonder if the shaft on a regular happs joystick can be milled down to look more to scale, with a scaled down balltop. Hmm, I wonder..

How wide is your cab? If you were willing to fudge the dimensions of the bezel a little bit, there are some 5"-9" color TVs that might fit in there after being decased.

Anyway I can't wait to see how it all turns out, looks great so far.

[grabmyjoystick!]

heres my jakks beautie!

[melarky]

I have actually finished this, it looks great, and I just need to take some pics of it and post them here.  My wife made a galaga shirt for my son so he can wear it and "model" in some of the pics to help show a size comparison on this machine (he's just over 1 year old now).

I will probably try to take the pics tonight or tomorrow and get them posted.  If I have time, I'll try to get the CNC machine fixed this weekend, then I can start cutting out kits.  I have to wait for my brother-in-law on the CNC machine though, if he is working this Saturday, we probably won't have time to fix it.

The artwork turned out really nice, it all looks good.  As stated before, the screen angle is horrible for an LCD game.  It's playable, but it's almost like looking at a negative of the screen (i.e. in Galaga, the background is white instead of black).  But like I've said so many times before, it's just for fun, the fact that it plays galaga at all is just a bonus, no one will be playing it very seriously I'm sure (especially with my mame machine sitting next to it, much better to play on that).

Honestly, once I finish taking all the pictures of this little cabinet, I will most likely sell the machine.  If I had a dedicated Galaga machine, I would probably hold onto it, but I don't so it was just a fun project, but I'm more interested in making models of games I actually own (like donkey kong, pac-man, crystal castles, star wars, etc...).  It'll be nice to have pics of it though to show how the kits can be finished out, hopefully I can get some kits cut out soon.

[melarky]

Lookin good, melarky (you're formerly stew_bidasso, right?)! Probably your best decision was sticking with 3/4" sides, I've also been working on a miniature arcade kit and let me tell you - finding 1/4" t-molding and shrinking everything else down isn't  cheap or easy! I see you're still using the p3america joystick, is it really worse than a jakks controller? I went for the joystick by ETI systems and it looks identical, except the hub looks more 'filled in', but it definitely needs gentle use. I wonder if the shaft on a regular happs joystick can be milled down to look more to scale, with a scaled down balltop. Hmm, I wonder..

How wide is your cab? If you were willing to fudge the dimensions of the bezel a little bit, there are some 5"-9" color TVs that might fit in there after being decased.

Anyway I can't wait to see how it all turns out, looks great so far.

Yeah, my username used to be stew_bidasso, that used to be my standard username for forums and such.  I switched it though after my wife got her blog going (she chose the name melarky because it's a mix of our names, MELanie + mARKY).  I'm suprised anyone remembers my old username

I was really worried the 3/4" sides would look "off", but I think it looks fine with the wider sides, and it will be nice to have the wide variety of t-molding options for other cabinets.  I actually bought some 1/2" t-molding a while back in preperation for this project, but now will probably never use it.  I guess it's not a bad thing to have on hand in case I have make a project in the future with 1/2" that needs some t-molding.

I did stick the p3america joystick in there, and I still think the jakks ones are better.  Well, maybe not better, but I would definately say at the very least, they are equal quality joysticks (never thought I would say that about jakks joysticks ).  The problems with using the p3america joystick is I lost the "spinner" shaft for pole position steering.  The footprint of the actual Jakks joystick (once you take the plastic casing off) is about the same as the p3america (it's more of a rectangle though, so it's a bit taller than it is wide, but not by much, would have been just as easy to cut out control panel for it).  I'm not sure what to do for the ball top though, you pretty much have to destroy the ball top to get the joystick out, and then to be able to mount it on a control panel, again, you would have to remove it some how.  We opted to just cut the shaft, but there is probably a better way.

I can't remember off the top of my head how wide the machine is exactly, I can measure that when I get home.  I think it's probably like 5" - 6" wide.  I could be wrong on that though, better wait till I actually measure.

It would be cool to have a little decased 5" tv in the cab, but I don't know how well it would fit.  I also don't know how much a little color tv would cost.  I had the LCD screen on hand from a previous project (once I started this project, I actually made much of the cabinet to fit around that screen), but it's definately one of the weaker links in the project.  If I were going to make it really playable, I would probably just change the angle the screen lays at.  It would be fine with this screen if it was angled up a bit.

[bvicarious]

I made a ball top for my ETI joystick by taking a 3/4" acrylic sphere and spraypainting it black with a clear lacquer coat on top. I drilled a slightly undersized hole into it and tapped it onto the shaft. It looks pretty good and I can't wait to try another one with red instead of black. I'll also probably thread the shaft and tap the sphere so they can be interchangeable. I don't have to remove the ball to take the joystick out either, its the same size as the joystick hole, which is covered by a black plastic disc with the rubber dust seal thing underneath the panel.


5" color TVs are hard to come by but I know they're still out there somewhere, second hand and thrift stores are your best bet. A year or two ago I saw them new in the box for around $50, it seemed like every place was liquidating them so they're hard to find now. I know I can get a 5" black and white TV for about $15 at CVS, and I'm dying to make a dedicated mini asteroids cab with one. Or any other mono color game for that matter.

[melarky]

Ok, I have some pics of the finished mini galaga cabinet, this project was a lot of fun to finish.

[melarky]

here are a few more...

[surface tension]

That's fantastic. Even your kid looks HUGE playing it!

[patrickl]

That's just too cool. I didn't realise it was that small. The clothes the people in your pictures are wearing are cool too 

If I were going to make it really playable, I would probably just change the angle the screen lays at.  It would be fine with this screen if it was angled up a bit.

I had to change the angle of the screen in my PocketGalaga too. I had to make it more vertical. Both to make it playable and of course to make sure the PocketPC would fit in. Looks like less of an issue in your case though.

[leapinlew]

awesome awesome!

 

[danny_galaga]

excellent work! do you, er, um have a better pic of galaga5? maybe a bit more to the right?

[Malenko]

excellent work! do you, er, um have a better pic of galaga5? maybe a bit more to the right?

I was waiting to see how long till somethign like that was posted.....

HAHA


so whats the progress on the kit? Im super interested, esp if you can make the slightly more visible

[melarky]

I'm hoping to have some time tomorrow to take a look at the CNC machine and see if I can fix it, if so, I can start cutting kits out pretty soon and then start selling them.  I'll update this thread when I make any progress on it, I'm hoping soon.

[ratzz]

Ok, I have some pics of the finished mini galaga cabinet, this project was a lot of fun to finish.

I don't think you've built a mini-galaga at all. I think you have a giant son! 

Really nice -- love it.

 

[leapinlew]

I'm hoping to have some time tomorrow to take a look at the CNC machine and see if I can fix it, if so, I can start cutting kits out pretty soon and then start selling them.  I'll update this thread when I make any progress on it, I'm hoping soon.

Sign me up for a couple.

[newbee]

Sign me up for two.

[melarky]

I am selling the finished Galaga cabinet, I have the details in the buy sell trade forums:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=75936.0

[melarky]

Just thought I would mention that we got our CNC machine fixed over the weekend.  It ended up being not as bad as we thought.  There was just a bunch of crud and dust that got crammed into one of the bearing, so we took it apart, cleaned everything, shot some more lube into it, and then wiped down all of the other rods and ball screws.

It's actually pretty amazing that it lasted as long as it did without needing to be cleaned out (this is the first time we've had to do that).  We don't realy have any covers over the rods/ball screws, since the gantry has to be able to move back and forth unhindered, there really is no way to make some too, so we'll have to figure out something else to keep the dust etc... off the ball screws in the future (we will probably just have to clean them semi regularly by hand for now until we figure out a more permanent solution).

Anyways, this means I should be able to cut some kits soon.  I took the tool paths and started to edit them (fixed a few problems, and made the control panel and bezel area more generic) and am now trying to figure out how to fit 2 kits on each sheet of wood (I use 2 different thicknesses of wood, the sides and control panel are cut from 3/4", so it was really easy to get 4 sides and 2 control panels from one 24" x 48" of wood, but the middle parts are all cut on 1/4" wood, so fitting 2 sets of middle pieces on one 24" x 48" sheet is kind of tricky.  I am close, but I have to allow enough room between the pieces to fit my endmill that actually cuts the wood.  I would prefer to use my 1/4" endmill, but may have to use the 1/8" so the cuts are smaller...

So, once I finalize those plans, I'll cut one out (2 actually, since I am trying to get 2 kits out of one set of boards), and then I'll probably throw one of them together and document the assembly process, and then start selling them if all goes well.  I bought the wood for the tests, just need to finish the tool paths now.

[Fozzy The Bear]

Anyways, this means I should be able to cut some kits soon.  I took the tool paths and started to edit them (fixed a few problems, and made the control panel and bezel area more generic) and am now trying to figure out how to fit 2 kits on each sheet of wood

Awesome!!!!  I hope the shipping cost to the UK doesn't kill this  I really wanted one of those.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[melarky]

Just thought I would let everyone know that I was able to cut a kit out today after tweaking the tool paths.  I haven't been able to dry fit it to make sure the parts all fit (just had time to cut, and then sand off the tabs and rough edges).

I still think I need to change a few things (on the sides, I think I made the grooves too deep this time, I couldn't remember how deep I made them on my Galaga machine, so I guessed .3", but that is too deep I think.  It will work, but I think it's unnecessary.)

I'll try to grab some pics, and then then I'll try to dry fit it so I can make sure all the pieces fit.  I also need to still cut the plexi for the bezel area, but I thought I would just update this thread with the news.  Should hopefully have this all sorted soon, and start cutting out enough of these to sell them properly.

[Kaytrim]

Nice finished product.  The best way to take care of saw dust is at the source.  Do you have any kind of dust collection around the router portion of the CNC machine?  If not see about making an upside down bowl with a hose going to a cyclone separator with filters.  Make sure to add a few holes in the top of th bowl to improve air flow.  You will also need some kind of collector under the table to catch any dust that falls through.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[billpa]

30 bucks for a kit...definitely interested!

[WikiWiki]

I saw this in the current issue of GameRoom Magazine and had to join the forums here because of it.  Nice project!  I'd love a kit, if you could modify the screen angle so that it would be more playable (albeit less correct from a replica standpoint). 

Also, it seemed from this post that you had trouble getting the graphics printed and your local printer had some size limitations.  Well, I work in advertising & marketing and deal with vendors that can print almost anything any size.  Your best bet would be to contact a sign company and ask them about inkjetted adhesive vinyl.  Someone like a Fast Signs or Signs Now would be able to do it.  Four color process, just like a desktop inkjet printer, but onto white adhesive backed vinyl.  They will also have a plotter than can cut the vinyl to a shape if required for side art.  For long term durablity, ask about UV stable inks that should be very fade resistent if the cabinent is ever in the sun.  And for a marquee, a full service sign shop should be able to handle this as well.  You'll want to ask them for a duratrans or backlit translucent/transparent sign.  These are typically produced on the same machine your side art would be printed on, but printed onto a different material substrate that is then applied to a piece of plexi or lexan.  Same holds true for a control panel, though this you'd want to specify a crystal or lustre laminate be applied over the printed graphic.  It you tell the sales person at the sign shop what you are trying to do, they should be able to lead you in the right direction.  Make sure you get a price quote first, and ask to see a sample of each material before you give the go ahead to have your piece produced.  It would also be best to have your artwork ready to go in a vector format or high-resolution bitmap format.

Anyway, awesome project, sign me up for a kit, and if anyone has a question about graphics, let me know!

[melarky]

I saw this in the current issue of GameRoom Magazine and had to join the forums here because of it.  Nice project!  I'd love a kit, if you could modify the screen angle so that it would be more playable (albeit less correct from a replica standpoint). 

Also, it seemed from this post that you had trouble getting the graphics printed and your local printer had some size limitations.  Well, I work in advertising & marketing and deal with vendors that can print almost anything any size.  Your best bet would be to contact a sign company and ask them about inkjetted adhesive vinyl.  Someone like a Fast Signs or Signs Now would be able to do it.  Four color process, just like a desktop inkjet printer, but onto white adhesive backed vinyl.  They will also have a plotter than can cut the vinyl to a shape if required for side art.  For long term durablity, ask about UV stable inks that should be very fade resistent if the cabinent is ever in the sun.  And for a marquee, a full service sign shop should be able to handle this as well.  You'll want to ask them for a duratrans or backlit translucent/transparent sign.  These are typically produced on the same machine your side art would be printed on, but printed onto a different material substrate that is then applied to a piece of plexi or lexan.  Same holds true for a control panel, though this you'd want to specify a crystal or lustre laminate be applied over the printed graphic.  It you tell the sales person at the sign shop what you are trying to do, they should be able to lead you in the right direction.  Make sure you get a price quote first, and ask to see a sample of each material before you give the go ahead to have your piece produced.  It would also be best to have your artwork ready to go in a vector format or high-resolution bitmap format.

Anyway, awesome project, sign me up for a kit, and if anyone has a question about graphics, let me know!

Thanks for the info, I'll keep it tucked away, but to be clear, the kits will not have any artwork provided (just the wood kit, the buyer will be responsible for painting and artwork).

Also, as an update on this, I was cutting out a few tests a while back (probably about a month ago) and half way through the second side cutout, my machine lost power (I think I tried the circuit it was on by running the vacuum along with the CNC motors, router, and computer etc...).  I was planning on taking the final cut pieces, and making a little assembly guide before I started selling them.  It's gotten pretty busy here the last little while though, so I haven't had a chance to finish any of that up.  I'm also not sure about the $30 price anymore, I may have to bump that $10 or so to make it worth my time, and I don't know if there would still be interest for the kits at a higher price.

I guess I should just ask, would people here still be interested in kits if they were more like $40 - $50 + shipping?  I was hoping to get more kits out of each piece of wood, but as it stands, each kit takes 2 pieces of wood (different thicknesses) and the middle pieces are hard to get multiple kits out of one sheet (the side and control panel fit great on one piece allowing 2 sets out of one piece).  I also hate cutting this MDF, but it's the best for these kits (the stuff turns to fine powder and gets everywhere, not to mention the health hazzard of the glue in that stuff...)

Let me know if there is still interest in these kits.

P.S.  I was suprised to see my son in GameRoom magazine too.  I did the comic and crossword puzzle in last months issue, so I opened this month to see if he used another comic I submitted (he didn't), and stumbled upon that picture of my son playing galaga .

[WikiWiki]

I'd still be interested in the kit at the higher price.  I've not built anything myself yet, and I think a kit would be a good way for me to start. 

[mcfreak]

Yup, I would be in for a kit, and I could probably get 3 others in my office to buy.

[newbee]

 Absolutely be interested in a kit. Would you have an idea, when the kits would be available?

[abefroman]

I just read the article in gameroom magazine and  I WANT ONE !!!!  I'll definately buy a kit from you.  Please let me know if/when you're going to make some and how I can pay you.

cheers !!!

[melarky]

Sounds like there is still sufficient interest (got some PMs from people too who were still interested).  I am not sure when I will have time to cut some more, hopefully a weekend soon.  I'll probably try to cu out 10 or so kits to start and see how they sell.  I may just set up a quick online store on one of my sites to make it easier to sell and track availability etc... (I have never set up my own shopping cart, but have set up some for others in my line of work, so I don't think it would be too hard to throw a quick oscommerce site together or something).

I'll make sure to keep these forums updated with any news on this.

[melarky]

I think I may try to cut some of these out over this nice long weekend.  I have a quick question for the general populace:

Should I cut a t-molding slot for the kits?

I won't be including any t-molding with the kits, and I figured it's possible some people aren't going to want to order t-molding and would rather just paint the edges or something.  If I leave it uncut though, people who would want to put t-molding in theirs would have to track down a slot cutter and a router.  I'm not interested in adding it as an option either, the only way to really make this work for me is to do it assembly line style.  Cut out a few kits at a time all the same and not have to do any custom things to some and not all.  So it's either they all get routed for t-molding or none of them get routed...

[billpa]

T-molding slot already cut for me please....at least that is my vote

[mcfreak]

T-molding slot already cut for me please....at least that is my vote

My vote as well. If you are going to set up a store you could have the option of either.

[bvicarious]

It would be easier for those who don't want t-molding to fill in the slot with putty, than for those who do want t-molding to cut their own slot. So I vote yes to pre-cut slot.

[melarky]

Just a quick update on this for those that are following this.  I planned on getting some of these cut this past long weekend, but wasn't able to.  I bought all of the wood, and got it all down to my CNC machine, but then I couldn't find the tools to switch bits in our router (I tried with 2 pliers, but felt like I was striping the collet).  I will just have to either find the 2 wrenches or go buy some new ones, but when I finally get them we should be aple to cut some out fairly quickly.

I did do some other stuff this weekend instead though, so it wasn't a total waste.  I was able to take one of the test kits I cut that had a few problems with it (but still good enough to test with) and assemble it on camera so that I can post a video on how to put these kits together.  We have most of the editing done on that, will just need to find a video site that allows us to upload it (it's around 20 minutes and youtube has a cap at 10 minutes.  Haven't checked google yet, but I'm sure there is something out there that will let us post it).  Once we have it posted, I'm sure I'll list it here so you guys can see what goes into putting the kits together.

I also started putting the site together for it.  I figured I would use osCommerce as the guts of the site which will also allow us to sell any other items we might have now or in the future.  I have it installed and a new template applied, but there are some problems that are cropping up (from the little research I did, the template I have doesn't seem to like PHP5 or something, so it's throwing errors, I think there is code available that will fix it, I just have to dig into it).  Once I get the error codes fixed, I'll start on getting the images updated and the store populated so I can actually sell kits on it   So far I like osCommerce, seems pretty good and has tons of support and stuff available since it's open source.

I will update this thread with any news...

[mcfreak]

You could split it into Part1/Part2 for youtube since you are already editing...  We can also Paypal you directly while you are working on the site. 

[melarky]

I found the 2 wrenches, so I'll probably cut some of these this weekend (I was going to try to cut one last night, but I would really rather do it assembly line style and get them all cut at the same time, but I will need to wait until a weekend when I have more time to cut them all out).

I think I will probably have the site up and running by the time the kits are cut and ready to send.  If not, then yes, I'll just sell them through these forums and klov or something and accept paypal directly.

[bvicarious]

Just wondering, are you pre-cutting the holes for the control panel, or leaving it up to us? have you decided about the t-molding slot?

[melarky]

Just wondering, are you pre-cutting the holes for the control panel, or leaving it up to us? have you decided about the t-molding slot?

I'm leaving the control panel blank (up to you guys to drill it out for whatever buttons you may or may not want).  It seemed like everyone wanted the t-molding slots routed, so I'll do that for the kits (I don't think I got one person in favor of no slots in the forums or PM).

[melarky]

Just another update on this project.  I was able to cut out all of the middle pieces for 10 kits, and I cut out the side pieces for 2 kits (so 4 sides total) but think I need to figure out a better solution for cutting out the rest of the sides.  The sides I have already cut will work, but I need to redo my tool paths to make it more efficient, and make some sort of jig to make the table exactly even all throughout the cutting (my table is a bit off so the farther right you go on the table, the lower the table is, it's a very small amount and barely noticeable, but it bugs me, so I want to fix it on future kits because I'm anal).

One thing that I've found while working more and more on this project that I definitely can't sell these for the original $30 I thought.  With the rising cost of materials and all the time I have to put into  these kits, it looks like it's going to be $50 + shipping for these kits, hopefully there is still some interest at that price, but even at $50 this is more of a labor of love than a really profitable venture (I know I mentioned this earlier, but this was just reaffirmed while I was working on it this past weekend).  The 2 sides that I already cut are still fine, and I will probably sell them (maybe like $10 cheaper than the final kits).  These kits aren't finished completely yet though, so I probably shouldn't even mention selling them yet (I still need to cut the t-molding slot in the sides and control panel, cut the plexi for the bezel area, and throw together some basic instructions on how to assemble these kits + upload video of assembling...).

I'm hoping I'll have more time next week to work on these some more, we're so close and I'm excited to get some of these shipped and see what you guys do with these (they are really fun to put together and I'm sure you guys will do some awesome and creative things with these kits).

As always, I'll keep this thread updated with news.

[ratzz]

Fantastic -- I'd love to see a full acade of those!

[melarky]

Well, I have another question for the group.  Would people here rather have the kits come with the screen/bezel area laying more flat (horizontal) like a real ms. pac/galaga, thus leaving the LCD that most people will use at a less than ideal viewing angle, or would people want me to edit the kits to use a more upright (vertical) screen/bezel area so that the game is much more playable (albeit much less "authentic" when it comes to the look of the ms. pac/galaga machines)?

I opted for the more authentic in my kit, but others have contacted me and asked if I could make it more viewable/playable by changing the angle.  what are everyones thoughts on this?  Just want to make what the majority wants, and figured I better ask before I cut out any more of the sides (the side pieces are the ones that would need to be changed as it won't affect the middle pieces).

[billpa]

I would vote for more upright as I actually want my kid to play the games. I agree, not authentic...but playable is always good!

[leapinlew]

Well, I have another question for the group.  Would people here rather have the kits come with the screen/bezel area laying more flat (horizontal) like a real ms. pac/galaga, thus leaving the LCD that most people will use at a less than ideal viewing angle, or would people want me to edit the kits to use a more upright (vertical) screen/bezel area so that the game is much more playable (albeit much less "authentic" when it comes to the look of the ms. pac/galaga machines)?

I opted for the more authentic in my kit, but others have contacted me and asked if I could make it more viewable/playable by changing the angle.  what are everyones thoughts on this?  Just want to make what the majority wants, and figured I better ask before I cut out any more of the sides (the side pieces are the ones that would need to be changed as it won't affect the middle pieces).

I'd vote for authentic. It would be easy enough for anyone to modify it to fit more horizontal.

[mcfreak]

authentic. 

[JeepMonkey]

melarky, how did you cut the slots for the speaker on your 2/3 size donkey kong?

Edit: I misread your other thread.  You used a CNC machine.

[Encryptor]

Just found this thread linked from another. Is there any news on these kits?


Encryptor

[melarky]

Oh man, I feel like a major slacker on this, as is always the case, real life got in the way.  Long story short, I have switched jobs and have had a baby in the mean time, and that has held up any work on these.  I still have a few of those test kits just sitting in a tote in my garage, ready for the t-molding slot cut out and then ready to ship (no plexi cut for it, and the screen angle is the flatter more horizontal one, will update it on future ones).

I probably just need to sell these kits off and see how they do before I spend any more time on any other kit cutting etc... I've just been slammed with other stuff I have to do.  My wife found the video we recorded for the assembly the other day and asked if I still wanted it or if she could delete it to make room on our computer  . I asked her to finish editing it when she has some time and stick it up on youtube in 2 parts like was suggested above.

I also have the little cabinet put together that we used in the video just sitting on my dining room floor (has been for a long time).  I kind of wanted to finish it up as a galaga and get more video of how I did that (paint and artwork, and then the wiring of the jakks game etc..., but I wouldn't hold your breath, realisticly I won't be able to do that for a while, too many other projects in the queue).  I started making a new mame machine for the new baby (I made a donkey kong for my last child, so I started making a Joust for this one, and it's close to finished, I just need to find the time, and my wife is pushing me on that for now).  It seems like I haven't even been able to log on here much anymore, I used to be on at least once a day, not the case any more.  I'll try to get these kits going again and will update here with andy news.

[CalixPapi]

Hello I first want to say you made a great looking cabinet. I joined the forums just to try to contact you. Do you happen to still make these kits? I am a college student that has been wanting to make a mame cabinet for a long time and don't have the resources to build my own and no space (two kids, small house). I love the idea of having a mini and wanted to inquire about purchasing one of your kits, if you still have them.

[Malenko]

Hello I first want to say you made a great looking cabinet. I joined the forums just to try to contact you. Do you happen to still make these kits? I am a college student that has been wanting to make a mame cabinet for a long time and don't have the resources to build my own and no space (two kids, small house). I love the idea of having a mini and wanted to inquire about purchasing one of your kits, if you still have them.

check the buy/sell/trade section, there are at least 2 people selling "weecade" type kits.