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Outer Heaven: Metal Gear Solid themed MAME cab *99% done - art, TV & controls*
Timstuff:
BTW, here's my CP design if anyone's interested.
SNAAKE:
nice >:D
Timstuff:
Not much of an update for today, I'm afraid, but I do have some news on the project: I finally got a chance to actually test the Ajax frankencab today, and the hardware seems to be in perfect condition, so I'll probably be selling the PCB once I've gutted the cab. The monitor appears to have some contrast problems, but I'm hoping I can fix them with some adjustments in the back and a clean power source ($90 for an Arcade VGA is a heckuvalot cheaper than $250 for a 20" LCD, after all).
Also, tonight I started the rather dubious process of accounting the finances necessary for the project, via a list of supplies necessary with prices and vendors attached to each item. There's still a lot of details I need to hammer out, but what I will say is this: it's a darned good thing I'm working more hours this summer. I'm going to go the "pay as you go" route, and try not to rush into buying things too far in advance. That already got me into some trouble in the past, so I'm hoping not to repeat that again.
Timstuff:
Yay, I began control panel construction today! I was able to get the top piece mostly cut out before I had to go to work.
I temporarily put a blue button from the old Terminator 2 CP I bougth ages ago in one of the holes to make sure that they fit nicely in the holes I cut.
Also, the other night I poured through a bunch of pics of arcade cabinets, and I think I can confirm that my Ajax machine began life as a generic cab. That would certainly explain why it has a JAMMA harness on a drawer beneath the coin door-- this thing was likely designed to be quick and easy to convert, although the JAMMA harness in the drawer is not connected to anything since the Ajax PCB is too big to fit in it. At any rate, I don't think I should feel guilty MAMEing this thing.
I think that I'm going to have to stop at Home Depot tomorrow because I underestimated how much MDF I was gonna need. I still need to cut out the hole for the trackball and take care of all of the routing/countersinking necessary, so I'm going to be borrowing my Grandpa's router this week (I'm too cheap to buy one yet).
I'm glad to finally move forward with my project, although there's a bit of a decision I have to make regarding the monitor. The monitor that came with the cabinet doesn't work properly, and for me it wouldn't be worth fixing it, so I'm probably going to sell it (as I intend to do with the Ajax PCB, which is in immaculate condition). That leaves me with two options for the monitor:
The first option is that I can spend $150 on a 20" RCA TV from Wal-Mart, which will give me that arcade-authentic image quality at a very reasonable price. The downside, however, is that this thing is huge and heavy. It weighs 45 pounds, and I need to make some measurements to find out if it will actually physically fit in my cab without taking it out of the case (which is something I have no interest in attempting, since real arcade montiors are dangerous and hard enough to mount as it is).
The second option is to order a 20" Samsung LCD monitor from the internet. It would cost me $198 plus $25 shipping, which isn't bad but still more pricey than the TV. It would also have a somewhat less "arcade authentic" look to it since MAME would look basically the way it does on my PC. However, the big advantages are that it would be easy to mount since it's so small, and it's so light that it would put the cab's center of gravity a lot lower, which means there'd be little risk of it tipping over.
So, what do you think-- considering the pros and cons, should I go with a TV, or LCD monitor? That is, assuming that the descision isn't made for me if I find out that the TV won't even fit in the cab...
Timstuff:
I'm making good progress on my control panel. I'm not much of a carpenter, so there was a lot of tweaking I had to do to get everything to fit together correctly, and it involved some very sore limbs afterwards. There are a few gaps here and there where the pieces didn't sit 100% straight on the bottom panel, but once I fill them in with putty it should be fine. I currently only have glue holding the box together, so I need to go to Home Depot and pick up some 1x1s and carriage bolts. Aside from that, I need to cut the hole for the trakc ball mount and do all the necessary routing. I think I'm in pretty good shape overall though.
Oh yeah, and after measuring my cab's interior and weighing the pros and cons of a TV vs. an LCD monitor, I've decided to go with a TV. It's cheaper and gives a more authentic picture, so I think I can put up with the hefty weight and more involved mounting process.