New here, starting a build

[whoozwah]

Hey folks. First post. I've lurked for a few weeks before signing up and read the main site pretty extensively. Great stuff. My project is not a full cab. It's not a bartop and it's not a cocktail table. It's sort of a hybrid. Here's the idea.



Basically it's going to be a half cab. My game room has 6 consoles in it all hooked to a 30" widescreen TV. I want to build a cabinet to put it on that will raise it up off the ground and will have the control panel on the front.

The art style is going to be taken from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I've named the project "The Quad Laser"



I've got the layout of the control panel pretty much the way I want it. It's going to be a 2 player panel with the 7 button layout but I'm putting the buttons in a bit different locations than a lot of the ones I've seen in the Control Panel pr0n thread.



I wanna have a coin door but they're not within my budget so what I wanna do is get that sticker from GGG, attach it to the front of the cab. Then I'll cut out the coin insert part and glue it to some buttons mounted behind where they're at so that you can push that part of the sticker and have it press the button to feed the credit in mame. It achieves the same effect for about 100 bucks cheaper.

I'll be posting other updates as I have them. I'm still kinda working out my design at this point but something is better than nothing!

Later

[DaOld Man]

Welcome to the forum!
I like your idea.. be sure to keep us posted.

[whoozwah]

thanks. I will! Right now I've got the cuts measured and drawn out. Just have to buy some wood and get to building. I'm also trying to get my control panel design perfected, not really the art but just the layout. I've got the idea the way I want it but I'm trying to do a vector layout with exact measurements but I'm not so great at it.

[Green Giant]

Hey folks. First post. I've lurked for a few weeks before signing up and read the main site pretty extensively. Great stuff. My project is not a full cab. It's not a bartop and it's not a cocktail table. It's sort of a hybrid. Here's the idea.



Basically it's going to be a half cab. My game room has 6 consoles in it all hooked to a 30" widescreen TV. I want to build a cabinet to put it on that will raise it up off the ground and will have the control panel on the front.

The art style is going to be taken from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I've named the project "The Quad Laser"



I've got the layout of the control panel pretty much the way I want it. It's going to be a 2 player panel with the 7 button layout but I'm putting the buttons in a bit different locations than a lot of the ones I've seen in the Control Panel pr0n thread.



I wanna have a coin door but they're not within my budget so what I wanna do is get that sticker from GGG, attach it to the front of the cab. Then I'll cut out the coin insert part and glue it to some buttons mounted behind where they're at so that you can push that part of the sticker and have it press the button to feed the credit in mame. It achieves the same effect for about 100 bucks cheaper.

I'll be posting other updates as I have them. I'm still kinda working out my design at this point but something is better than nothing!

Later

Did you know GGG sold these as well.  You can have the coin door sticker and have these for the coin buttons.

Also, if this is going in your gameroom on your main tv, have you thought about a pedestal instead.  It could have drawers inside to store the other consoles, and also be removable if you want.  Might be a better option and still look like an arcade.

[Goshen]

Coin door sticker? ....

how about this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Arcade-COIN-DOOR_W0QQitemZ320220339775QQihZ011QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It closes in 5 hours and top bid is $10 and it comes with coin mechs.

[whoozwah]

It's been a while since I've logged in. Those are some nice suggestions for the coin button but I've actually decided to go against the coin button altogether. Reason being, I'm going to be storing other game equipment like controllers and such inside of it since my box is so big and it would be a PITA to run wires that long back to the door as it's a BIG door that swings outwards. It's kinda hard to describe so I'll just give you my progress pics up to this point. Here we go:







and finally, the control panel art



Like I said in the first post, I'm basing the entire art style off Aqua Teen Hunger Force all the way down to a customized version of the maximus arcade skin that mirrors the look of the cab.

I'm using a keywhiz for my keyboard controller, 2 perfect 360 joysticks and your standard happ pushbuttons. Cherry switches for player start, coin and admin, micro leaf switches for the action buttons all of which I already have. I'm just waiting on the CP overlay to arrive from Scott over @ mamemarquees and then I'll be able to pop holes in the CP and get to wiring.

If I get the CP overlay on wednesday, I've got 2 off days to get the wiring done and I should be finished with it by saturday, or at least, it will be semi functional so I can start programming the keys and such for different games.

Sorry for not posting is such a long time but I really haven't had any questions. I found a neat little button at the top of the forum that says "search" on it which has pretty much kept me from needing to ask anything, really.

Let me know what you think.

Later,
Dave

[whoozwah]

Got an update on the Quad Laser for ya. I've mounted a shelf insde the box so I can put stuff on it. It has an empty space underneath the shelf so that when the subwoofer sits on it, it will create a nice boomy effect. Also, I've got the bottom of the control panel mounted and I'll probably be putting the door on it tomorrow. Then I can sand it down and repaint it.



And here's another pic from the side



Also, I got some really nice high resolution printouts from some of the other characters on the show. I've got the Mooninites ship, Master Shake, Carl, Frylock and Meatwad printed on semi-gloss crack n peel material. These will all go on the front when I get it mounted and painted.





That's it for this update. I'll keep you posted when new stuff happens.

Later,
Dave

[whoozwah]

More updates, more pics.







I've got the front of the CP and the top of the CP on now and I've got my sweet CPO here. It's currently sitting inbetween two boards to make it nice n flat. I'm going to get the holes cut in the top of the CP to mount the hw in now. I'll post more pics soon.

[AcidArmitage]

No one can defeat it!

[psychotech]

Your height/weight?

 

[whoozwah]

None of these measurements are standard. They were all derived based on the desired location of it, the height of the barstools that will be in front of it and the TV that will be on top of it but here you go;

height - 39 1/2"
width - 38"
depth - 41"
depth of the CP section - 12"
height of the CP section - 4"

[psychotech]

It's not a bartop and it's not a cocktail table. It's sort of a hybrid.

So. in essence you're building a sitdown cabinet?

Kool!!!

Looks really good!

Keep up the great work 

[whoozwah]

It's not a bartop and it's not a cocktail table. It's sort of a hybrid.

So. in essence you're building a sitdown cabinet?

Kool!!!

Looks really good!

Keep up the great work 

Thanks! To kinda explain it a little better, I took another picture:



In my last post, I gave a total height of 39.5". This comes to about my midsection. I've designed it to be either a standup OR a sitdown cab as the barstool in the pic (I have a pair of them) is also the perfect height for it. It's a take your pick kinda deal. If you wanna stand up, it's the perfect height. If you wanna sit in the stools, you'll still be at the perfect height.

[whoozwah]

Another lil update:

I drilled holes in the CP top for the buttons and joysticks. Didn't take too long. I took some pictures. Here you go:









I'm done with the wood working. I'm done with everything software side minus button mapping. I've just got to finish the wood (sand and paint) and wire it up. Then it'll be done.

Later,
Dave

[MonkeyFracas]

The Aqua Teen theme is great - excellent use of the images.

What sort of setup do you use to switch between all those consoles? If it's not an automatic type of switch it would be cool to integrate the pushbuttons or whatever into the cabinet with some related art.

[whoozwah]

I use a combination of 2 input switchers. I'm running my 3 component consoles (Wii, PS2, Xbox) through a component input switcher. I'm running my 3 RCA consoles (Dreamcast, Saturn, Genesis) through an RCA input switcher. I just change the channel on my TV from input 1 for the SEGA systems, component 3 for the new consoles and HDMI for the PC as I'm running DVI out to HDMI in on my TV.

[whoozwah]

Got some progress pics for anyone who might be following this project. These are of the control panel. Pretty soon I'll be able to post some of these in the control panel pr0n thread 





Later,
Dave

[whoozwah]

for those of you who've been following or are otherwise interested, externally it's finished. I got it resanded, repainted, applied the artwork (very very nerve-wracking process) moved it into the game room and mounted the hardware. I've taken the advice of many people on here and left the wiring until the end otherwise I wouldn't have finished it externally. Here are some pics for ya:







I'll probably go back and paint the corners of the front artwork to make it blend in better. You'll notice the absence of a top frame for the TV and some T-molding. This inherently make the machine look much more home made than most of you guys' stuff but I followed my original concept pretty closely to completion:



Thanks for looking.

Later,
Dave

[Games001]

Ya know, that's not a bad machine for something that was nearly first developed on a napkin.

[Malenko]

Its not always how it looks compared to how it functions.  Cake is always more important then the icing.

I like the sonic the hedgehog 2 poster too

[whoozwah]

Ya know, htat's not a bad machine for something that was nearly first developed on a napkin.

you know, you're right. I designed the whole thing independent of the readily available information on here. As a result of that, it's not fancy but it still plays like an arcade machine and that's what's important.

Its not always how it looks compared to how it functions.  Cake is always more important then the icing.

I like the sonic the hedgehog 2 poster too

very true. Thanks about the Sonic poster. I'm looking to expand on that type of deco for the game room and my fave Genesis game of all time is a good place to start.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Later,
Dave

[whoozwah]

I spent the last 2 days doing the wiring for the machine. I had to run hot wires to the keyboard controller and run a common ground along all the buttons in order for it to work. It was a time consuming process that I was worried wouldn't work fully the first time...I was wrong. My expectations regarding my wiring skills were exceeded and now the Quad Laser is finished. Now on to the pics of the wiring job:





Thanks to everyone that I've gathered info from, saint for making the site and you guys who followed my progress and gave me encouragement.

Now I'm gonna go play it!

Later,
Dave

[Games001]

Just wondering, what's the wood thickness you used and what type of wood was it.  Sanding issues or cutting issues you might have run into?

[whoozwah]

3/4" sandeply. was $30 for a 4x8 sheet. Had the dude @ home depot make the main square cuts for me for free. I didn't really run into any sanding issues. I went over the painted areas with a palm sander 100 grit, then 150 then 220. Came out okay for me.

[Vash]

Cake is always more important then the icing.

Metaphor aside...that is just NOT true! =p