Hi all
After having anonymously lurked in this forum for years, I finally decided to write you something
I am a 37yo computer programer from Belgium which enjoys, io, handworking and electronics.
My cabinet is coming to an end, and this was a one year project, from brainstorming to playing.
This forum has been a huge source of inspiration, I have carefully read hundred of your threads and I followed a lot of different projects with enthusiasm, gathering ideas and knowledge, and always thinking that my turn will come one day... and this day has arrived :p
So I will take the time here to introduce my personal project and go in details through all the building steps like many of you have done. I wish this thread might inspire another generation of arcade addicts and that it will be a tiny contribution to this great forum.
The cabinet It is not finished, it is dirty and the pictures are of bad quality purposely
This is just to give a small glimpse on it before detailing the building process step by step..
The conceptThe shape is largely inspired from
Retro Space.
Since the cabinet will be placed in the living room, I needed something small and modern to accommodate with the wife's repulsive nature against that kind of things
I loved RetroSpace design and decided to slightly reproduce it's shape.
I have first drawn a mock up in Sketchup to have dimensions to start with
As you can see, I initially thought to make a large cP with an additional 4 way joystick and a spinner. I changed my mind later when I build the wood structure, I found the cp way too large and shortened it.
I also changed my mind regarding the screen. I initially thought to install a 20" 4:3 rotating monitor using a polulu motor. I abandoned the idea during the wood working for several reasons:
- I could not find a 20" 4/3 monitor
- A 27" monitor could fit in the space and its vertical size is alsmost the same as a 19" 4:3 in portrait mode.
- It was a lot of worries for not the best looking thing (a lot of wasted space on screen sides) and only a great feature to have for mostly the pinball functionality a very limited number of games.
At that point, the shape was very clear, and also the colors : ALL BLAcK with blue lighting everywhere and a nice touch of highly polished metal for the cp. I have a friend which is a metal structure designer and who has access to the latest high-end technology for crafting metal pieces so I took advantage of that.
Other things I was sure at that point:
- I wanted a kickass audio system to turn the cabinet into a complete media station including karaoke, Jukebox, DJing.
- I needed a drawer for a keyboard which was also a nice way of letting the bottom of the cp accessible for repairs or switching the joysticks 4W/8W
OrderingI ordered most of the hardware at those sites:
Joysticks and PCB @
http://www.arcadeshop.de/Buttons @
http://www.starcab.net/IT Hardware @
http://www.materiel.net/Arcade controlsJoysticks: 2x Ultimarc T-Stick
16 x
chromed and illuminated buttons :
12 blue for the 2 players
3 white for 1P 2P and Enter/Pause
1 red Exit button on top of the CP
Plus
4 x small chromed buttons for mouse and coins
4 x normal buttons for the sides (pinball), 2 red and 2 black.
Trackball: 2" illuminated. It was originally a green one (turning red when the mouse buttons are pressed) as I couldnt not find a blue when I ordered. I changed the LEDs myself later.
And finally I've got a
Pacdrive for the 16 illuminated buttons and an
I-PAC 2 IT HardwareCPU Intel Dualcore 3.1Ghz + MotherBoard MSI H81M-P33 + 4Go G-Skill RAMPSU Corsair CX430 Bronze - 430WSSD Kingston SSDNow V300 - 240 Gocooling
CPU FAN Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.22 X
Fans Antec TwoCool 120 (for the back of the cabinet)
2 x Fans
Aerocool Lightning LED Blue - 120 mm2 x Fans
Silverstone Grille et filtre ventilateur 120 mm Lighting fancy things
Revoltec Kit 2 Néons PC - Bleu 30 cmLamptron FlexLight Pro - 60 cm - Bleu Handy thing to fix and remove the screen easily
Ergotron Kit Extracteur express LCD - 60-589-060 Frontpanel entries
Icy Box Lecteur multicartes / USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 - IB-868-B Silverstone Façade 3,5" USB, audio, Firewire - FP32B A lot of other stuff to come...