Mame With No Name! - now with more pictures (It's alive!!)

[toff74]

 

Just lost all my text after my first session timed out  (First post too).

Anyways.. after weeks of trying to better my pacman score on the Xbox360 and failing miserably i had no choice but to look  for a decent d-pad (IT SUCKS BALLS) and the only way i could do that was to either buy a Hori Arcade stick or make one.. I'd never even looked at stuff like this before and after just a few minutes searching the internet i came across this site..WOW  .. Within not minutes, but seconds i was hooked and got me dreaming about all those hours stood in front of arcade machines when i was younger during my school trips so Blackpool. Then like a bolt from the blue it came to me SOD THE DPAD.. IM BUILDING AN ARCADE CAB!!!

I'm a caddie by trade (not the golfing kind ) so i just used my lunches and quite a lot of 'productive time' and rustled up a quick CP design...

I knew i had a spare telly at home. A huge 29" sony (KV29F1) and caddied that up too.. Within no time i had it sorted. Must admit.. this place is like a treasure trove of ideas and without it i'd have come up with something too low with my eye level 2 foot above the screen and a control panel with only 3 buttons.

Attached you will see the plans for the CP... then the final CP all made up.

The bits were from Gremlin Solutions - What a great bunch of people and really on the ball 

The 12mm MDF was cut to size from B&Q in Leeds

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You can also see the design of the Cab... and the frame the telly will sit on.. the front of the cab is recessed at both sides with a the middle protruding.. Dont ask why i did it like this, just thoght it would be a little different.. Needless to say the frame needed to be really bulky.. (please don't laugh)

More to follow (including more blood, sweat and plenty of tears)

Any questions, feel free to ask. Any insults, feel free also.. I'm quite thick skinned and still got a lot to learn! 

[toff74]

Ok… Maybe a little design brief.

Firstly the whole cabinet had to be designed around the TV. It’s a huge, big deep beast and I had to be able see it from both a seating and stood position (more on that later). Also in no way was it to have wings (big CP a no no) so it can be integrated into a living area. Here in the UK living areas are quite small .

The TV is 665 wide and more or less the same deep.. if I had the screen flat the cabinet would be at its shallowest, but that also meant that it would be difficult to see the screen when playing games (wouldn’t be able to see the bottom of it). In order for me to work out a decent angle for the sreeen I downloaded a lovely lady (I wish) for CAD, put a camera in her eye (Yuck!), stood her where I and a buddy would be stood and slowly rotated the screen… I had to settle for around 7 degrees. This made the cabinet not too deep and made seeing the screen a hell of a lot easier. The inside width of the cabinet was to be just 10mm wider than the screen at 675. Also after some reading here I placed the height of the CP at around 920 on a 5 degree slant. I just placed a marquee on the top and started on the bottom area.

For some reason I’m not a big fan of large, flat fronts so I decided for on bit of a different design. Have a kickboard, and have a centre protrusion, where I might add a Coin door later. In the next mail you can see what I came up with.

[toff74]

Next, for the wood work I bought a router, a jigsaw and a circular saw and a set of files (for those inevitable mistakes).. Nothing too expensive.

Another trip to B&Q it was.

Again, I got the wood cut to size.

2400x1200x18mm 2off

2400x1200x12mm 1off

And loads of long bits for the frame.

Off to my garage I went.

With a dimensioned drawing I drew out the profile and instead of struggling with exact rads on the corners, my dad came up with the genius idea of using Paint pots and drawing wound them  brilliant!. On to the cutting: The jigsaw blades were poo Just bent really badly leaving quite a big chunks of MDF to be filed down just where the screen and CP meet (See pic).. 

Bloody hell it looked even bigger than the huge I thought it was going to be. Both my father (without him I would’ve been lost to be honest) and I stood at the front of it just like we were playing a game…. OUCH.. we both hit our head on the marquee.. A few mods later and marquee was cut back. Perfect

Next the frame. I didn’t really stick to my drawing. I just made something that would be strong enough to hold the monitor. The wood I bought for this was cheap, rough and not quite straight, so getting this thing square was a PITA.. I did manage it though with the help of a rubber mallet and long wood screws.. Then I attached the base.  From there I added the panelling and the uprights to give it it’s distinctive shape at the front.


That’s where I’m up to… think it’ll be a week or 2 before I can carry on with this..

The internals and description will come next.. If it seems like I’m winging it, I AM.. Got a load of ideas and as this project evolves you’ll hopefully see them coming into fruition..

Toff74

[rberger3]

Looks like a nice start, keep up the good work and take lots of pictures!

[_) (V) (-)]

Wow, that's a big un! You'll be suprised how many times you 'deviate from the plan' before you are done.
Have you thought of any names yet?
How about Gigantor!
Hope I don't have to help you move, lol.

 

[DaOld Man]

Looking real good!!
I had the same problem cuting a radius with a jig saw.
I think on my next cabinet I am going to use my router circle cutting jig to cut the radius.
Also, I found out the hard way that its always a good idea to copy your text, just in case it times out or the picture is too big, you can paste it back in the new window, saves a ton of typing.

[valiant]

Had the same problem with my timber - even though I asked for craft grade, the 2x4 stock on some pieces was warped which gave me the 5mm out on my frame.  Nothing a ratchet strap couldn't sort though.

Same telly as mine (Sony KV29F1U) - looks great when you run an ArcadeVGA signal through it.  True Arcade!!

Bloody heavy though - wise choice on the frame.

[toff74]

Right then!
It's been a while since i updated, life got in the way.. I'll never let that happen again 
So, what’s new? Well, both my father and I really wanted to see results this weekend, so we just set to it. Putting the back on and the top on within minutes. This was thanks to the B&Q man cutting the MDF to size.

Next was the under the CP 'slopey' bit. Just set the router to cut an angle and screw in where it looked best. A few measurements were taken, but not many. Then the bottom slopey bit. Again that was routed at an angle and screwed in, along with the platform above it.

The marquee section still hadn't been completed. This was because we weren't sure exactly where the 29" was going to go and after reading Valiants thread (who's using te same telly) it'd been decided that the back was coming off to get a better viewing/playing angle. See the picture to see it in the cabinet the WRONG way!).

We set the height at the back by putting 2 long sections underneath the telly and slowly tipped it back, keeping a watchful eye at the back of the cab, making sure it didn’t touch it. Once the angle was right another piece of wood was wedged under so the height was fixed. A few lines were drawn on the side of the cab which would be used as our template. These were cut and screwed on. Another reason it was done this wat was so if the cab was to be moved the telly could be removed easily.

Telly in marquee bit marked up and screwed in and with only 15 minutes left of our allotted work time left i couldnt help myself.. I HAD TO FIRE IT UP!!!!
At the moment its using and Xbox and running MameoX with an advanced Scart in to the RGB socket into the back of the telly.
What do you think?

Any questions/criticisms (like why did I make it too big to fit through a door?    ) Please let me know. Also anyone think of any names? Gigantor was a great idea.. Super Size Mame is one of mine, but it doesn't quite have 'that' ring to it.

Thanks for reading.

More soon.. (including fittings, priming and painting and t-molding).

[toff74]

A few more pictures!

[toff74]

One thing i will say is that as this is a scratch built cab, eventhough i did mega detailed CAD drawings for just about every thing, i'm amazed how little i actually stuck to them.  _) (V) (-)  was right  . Even the profile had to be modified and that was something i though was just perfect 

Also, no matter how much time you think you'll need to complate your project, times that by at least 2.

Still a long way to go!

[valiant]

How easy was it to take the back off the TV?  That's my next job!

[toff74]

Hi Valiant..

Pretty easy actually. Was just 6 'cross headed' (thats a technical term) screws in the back and with a bit of a wiggle it was off.

One thing i will mention is that the TV becomes very unstable without the back. Be very careful when tipping/lifting. It could quite easily end in  Definitely a 2 man job.

I dont know if you can see in the pictures, we secured both the front (screw through the front inputs)  and back base plate to a thick sheet to stop this. 

Toff74

[toff74]

Valiant

Here is what i meant... Just a screw through the front inputs section. This, as well as some through the back plate.

Toff74

[taternutz]

What are you using for the controller interface?? Just curioos because i have the Ipac and was going to buy the ultimarc adapter..
 

[toff74]

Hello

Taternutz:

I'm using a minipac, see here:

http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/minipackit.htm

the 4 way in the middle is commoned up with player 1 as are the buttons (1 & 2), i also have a player 1 credit and start and a player 2 credit and start. Admin functions use the shift button (player 1 start + another).

The trackball is an x-arcade model. I know x-arcade dont have the greatest rep around here, but it has a really good action, is smooth and comes with a load of buttons and uses USB. It's just a glorified mouse. The 2 buttons on the inside of the player 1 and 2 start are the left and right mouse button.

No problems at all to report..

Oh, and i've now fitted speakers to the cab and its getting painted.. pictures tomorrow.

Toff74