Twist's POWcade: a Mario Bros.-themed MAME Bartop! *IT'S DONE!!*

[EndTwist]

POWcade
A Mario Bros.-themed bartop!

So I decided I need a bartop MAME project, but not from scratch. No, from an old, crappy bartop cab. I bought this off someone here on the forums:

 

It's only about 13" wide, a very small bartop (it had a 10" tube). It worked, too, some mixed-bag game which included "Brick-Break," "Entertainment Trivia," "Sex Trivia I and II," and various other card and trivia games. Not particularly great, definitely nothing worth saving.

Oh, and see that bottom right corner in picture 2? That corner was completely rebuilt using wood filler/bondo at some point. This should be interesting.

I've already begun on the project, but I figured I'd document what I've done so far, and the rest of it from here on in.

Cab, gutted (fitting the computer, as well):
 

Hey look, the control panel has...black under that (fairly ugly) overlay.


I'm having a friend with a woodshop help me rebuild the control panel from scratch, since he has all the high-end power tools you could ever dream of. Since I'm going to be replacing the controls with a Mag-Stik, 3 buttons, and a 1 player start & 2 player start button, it just didn't make sense to fill the existing holes. Should be a simple enough process, it's just 2 pieces of wood with a rounded edge.

Wood filler! Lots and lots of wood filler! (Fixing the back door)

[EndTwist]

So I decided to do the cab up in black vinyl, since it always looks nice, professional, and will easily hide all the crapped-up edges that this thing has (and that I've filled with copious amounts of wood filler).

Fixed back door:
 

That may only be a back door, but it looks quite a lot better, if I do say so myself. I don't have photos of it, but that hinge (and it's brother, on the control panel) was unbelievably rusty before I took some Lime-Away to it. I spent a good 2+ hours working on getting each hinge to a point that at least resembles metal, and not the wonderful burnt-sienna rust color. It worked, to an extent, but some of the rust is on there so strongly that I doubt I'll ever get it off. No one will ever see it anyway, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Removing side 1:


I'm removing each side (except the bottom), one at a time, to wood-fill, sand, and cover with black vinyl (on both sides). This seemed like the easiest way to handle it.

More wood filler! (This project is about 70% wood filler, 10% rust, 20% wood, but hey, if it stays together, that is what counts!)


At this point, I realized I ran out of black vinyl. More should be coming today so I can continue my progress. As well, I should be getting my Mag-Stik today.

I got my new power supply for the computer (this is an old computer, and the power supply had conked out) and my t-molding yesterday:

(hard drive size comparison, this thing is small!)



The t-molding is 5/8" black-chrome-black which should look particularly nice against the matte-black vinyl. It is about 1/16" too short for the sides, but I couldn't get this color in 11/16", so I'm just going to wrap the vinyl around the edges of the cab, and that should hide the fact that it is 1/32" short on each side. Not the best, but I didn't have many options when it came to finding non-black 11/16" t-molding!

I bought a 12" LCD off eBay, and that should be here later this week, along with my translucent LED-lit buttons (red) from GGG.

This is the LCD:

(from the eBay auction)

I'm going to decase it and mount it in the front, where the black mounting panel is (from the original tube...I should be able to get it to fit in there). This screen might be a touchscreen, after doing some research with Google, but I guess I'll find out Friday/Saturday when it arrives. Not that it matters that much if it is or not, since it'll be behind smoked plexi.

[EndTwist]

While waiting for the vinyl to arrive, I've been working on the artwork and frontend layout.

Control panel:


The bottom two buttons are 1 Player and 2 Player. They will be on the vertical side of the CP. I'm going to get this, and the hopefully the sideart, printed through MameMarquees.

Side art:


I'm not sure I have room to put this on both sides (the coin slot gets in the way). This will at least be going on the right side. Anyone have suggestions for the left side? (To work around the coin slot?)

MaLa Layout:


The left will show a video preview of the game, with the manufacturer/year below it, and the marquee at the top. On the right, of course, will be the game list, in a rounded format.

[EndTwist]

Well, my Mag-Stik Plus and green balltop stick arrived from Ultimarc today, except I got the Mag-Stik Plus, but not the green balltop stick. Whoops!

So, what did I get? I got a screw-on green balltop:


I definitely ordered correctly:


What gives?   I've emailed Andy, so I'm sure this will be resolved.

Micro-Update: Andy is sending the proper balltop stick for the Mag-Stik. Yay!

[EndTwist]

Finally got the new roll of black vinyl from PartsExpress, which allowed me to finish up my first side:


and put it back on:


Nope...still doesn't look like a whole lot yet.

Now onto the other side! Let's take a look at that bad corner, shall we?


Yuck. This should be fun to fix, eh?



Is that cake icing on my cab? Nope, just a lot of wood putty. Yum.

Not sure yet what I'm going to do with that hole. I plan on only using the coin mech, so I may just attempt to fill it in with wood putty. Kind of a large area to fill, but I can do it (Plus, it'll be sandwiched between the two pieces of vinyl when it's complete.)

Update: Just filled in the hole with wood putty...hope that works.

[leapinlew]

Looks good. I think your control panel could use some brightening up. Maybe incorporate a brick pattern into the background. I did a mario bros themed marquee for someone once. Let me see if I can find it.

[leapinlew]

Here it is:



I know you don't have a marquee, but perhaps this can serve as some inspiration. As for the 12 inch LCD. I have quite a few of those. It does a decent job of displaying. You may have to force resolution of some of your games. The LCD's I use only handle 640x480 or 800x600.

For the side thats all messed up - I would probably cut a new side to match.

Keep up the good work.

[phishpac]

cool project! can't wait for more updates.

[EndTwist]

Took about an hour and came up with a new, more exciting, control panel based on leapinlew's suggestion:


That is definitely far more lively! I'll probably give the same treatment to the sideart.

As for that side: I'm going to see if the wood filler works and holds up, as I don't really have the tools here to recut a new side. I think I should be fine once I apply the vinyl and t-molding.

[leapinlew]

Wow! That looks great - you work fast.

A couple suggestions.

1. The size of the crab on the wall in relation to Mario, the size of the pipe and to the crab underneath
2. The sun threw me off. It took a minute to figure out what it was.

lookin good. I'm anxious to see how it all turns out.

[EndTwist]

CPO Revision #3:

[leapinlew]

CPO Revision #3:

 
It's awesome just as it is. The only thing you might want to consider is a button halo around the cluster of buttons. I personally would leave it as is. Actually, I'd probably put my signature on it somewhere. 

How's the side art looking?

[EndTwist]

Side Art Rev #2:

[leapinlew]

Maybe a little busy?

Do you have a name for this thing that you could put on it? Also, the pipework is just sort of floating. If I remember correctly, most Mario artwork has the pipes coming in from one side or another. I could be wrong, but thats how I remember it and it kind of looks odd with the pipes floating in the air.

Which makes me think.  Instead of a traditional marquee, you could put the name of the game on the front of the cabinet. Where your player 1 and player 2 buttons are if your looking to name it.

[EndTwist]

Side Art Rev #3:


I think the fact that it's busy (I've reduced the cluttered-ness in this revision though) will be alright since it is such a small machine, and most of it will be black vinyl. I'm going to keep the bottom pipe only because it is unusual and brings a nice symmetry to the artwork. Scratch that, this looks better:

(Side Art Rev #4:)


I would put a name on it...except I don't know what to call it! (See the top of my first post) I need some suggestions from the BYOAC community  

[Donkey_Kong]

Looks great. Cool project, awesome game. I don't consider myself to ever really have good artistic advice, but since you have two crabs on the sideart...maybe you could have one of them in their angrier state of blue or purple?

[leapinlew]

very nice. Much more grounded.

Must be some way to give it a name based on it's small size and theme.

I need a mushroom
Pint Sized Pwnage (waha, seriously, thats crap)
Luigi's Arcade

[EndTwist]

Couple of naming ideas:




Donkey_Kong: I tried one of the crabs in blue and it was interesting, but didn't quite fit in. Thanks, though.

[leapinlew]

I like POW. Very cool.

[Blanka]

You made such nice vector artwork? Why do you put the name with the scattering look then? Keep it clean as well.

Names suggestions:
Barfitter
Le Moustache
Snorcade (dutch joke)
Spagetti arcade

[ablizno]

You made such nice vector artwork? Why do you put the name with the scattering look then? Keep it clean as well.

Names suggestions:
Barfitter
Le Moustache
Snorcade (dutch joke)
Spagetti arcade

Um i seriously don't understand where Spaghetti came from?

Edit: oh cuz he is italian..... i don't like.


My name suggestion:

Instead of Mushroom Arcade how about Arcade Kingdom?

[bvicarious]

name suggestion:

The Pipedream
Pipedream Arcade



or something like that

[mcfreak]

+1 for POWcade.  The artwork looks amazing.

[EndTwist]

So I'm going to stick with POWcade. I really like the name and it fits perfectly with the theme.

Final artwork:




I also got my NovaGem buttons from GGG today! I got the clear buttons with red LEDs. They were brighter than I expected, so I'm playing with the idea of making my own diffusers, by creating hot glue "discs" that I can insert (either that, or small plastic discs cut from a takeout tray). They're easy to make, quick, and don't cost me $4.50 + shipping. If anyone has a better suggestion for a diffuser discs, let me know.

Here is a pic of one of the buttons with a hot glue diffuser in it:

[Bender]

that artwork looks great! seems like you made a lot of changes really quickly

What are you using to create that? Programs and source images? If you don't mind sharing

[EndTwist]

that artwork looks great! seems like you made a lot of changes really quickly

What are you using to create that? Programs and source images? If you don't mind sharing

I'm using both Illustrator and Photoshop. I got the original Mario artwork from LocalArcade (http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/) in vector format, and used Illustrator to crop out and slightly edit (recolor, change line thicknesses) the parts of the art I wanted (characters, pipes). Then, I'd copy each object to Photoshop as a "Smart Object" (works as a vector object, but in Photoshop). Once I had it the way I'd want it, or if I needed to crop parts of it (as per the case of the pipes), I'd rasterize the element and work from there.

I do all my work in 300 dpi (print quality), and since I have the vectors of each element at my disposal, it is really easy to make quick edits or replace elements. I also have a few years of experience with Photoshop (and Illustrator, but mostly PS), so I've managed to get fairly quick at handling elements.

[leapinlew]

For your button diffuser discs, they could have 1 letter on each of them. P O W

 

[ablizno]

In the past i have used wax paper to defuse led's it should be easy to cut into circles.

[Bender]

EndTwist,

Thanks for the info on your art process it's very usefull!!

[leapinlew]

How about supply the buttons with less volts?

[ablizno]

I think the side art looks nicer without the POWcade logo, but the CPO looks nice with it..

[EndTwist]

leapinlew: I did just that, using a 1k ohm resistor:


and now it looks great:


It's more like a soft glow instead of a bright red flashlight. Way better than before; it was unbearably bright.

I came up with a method to diffuse it that allows it to be softened, but without having the diffuser right against the top (so you don't really see it and the "glassy" effect remains consistent).



Basically, I just used a folded-over piece of tape on a few of the springs, then cut it to size. It doesn't affect the spring at all, doesn't make any noise, and you don't see it unless you look for it. It's basically perfect.

I finished up the wood puttying on the botched up side:


And put on the vinyl and t-molding:




That botched up edge looks alright, not amazing (you can see that the wood is expanded there), but no one will notice it. It's the bottom right corner, who will look there?


Took off the top and started on that as well:


And my LCD came! (Not a touchscreen, but it doesn't matter.)






The monitor actually has an on-off switch instead of a momentary-contact button, which is fantastic! I just leave it in "on" mode and it'll always turn on when I turn the machine on. On top of that, it turns itself off within seconds of not having a signal...pretty convenient.

I've had to decase it due to the fact that the metal bezel (what the PCBs are currently screwed to) was too wide. I'm going to be remounting the PCBs on a new metal board and will probably have to extend a few wires so I can mount it properly. Once I manage to do all that, it should fit in perfectly. I know decasing it as much as I have isn't the best idea, but there really isn't any other way to get it to fit. It should be fine once mounted, anyway.

[BUCKETHEAD]

This is looking excellent!

Great job !

[EndTwist]

Nothing too exciting today, but I got the LCD remounted onto my custom "matteboard sandwich." Basically, 3 sheets of matteboard, with a sheet of aluminum foil in between each (but not on the outside). Mainly, that was for the sake of grounding, as well as giving the matteboard a little extra strength between layers.

Mounting was a fairly easy task and it works great!

[EndTwist]

So, my updates have been lacking the past couple days. What have I been up to?

Well, before mounting the LCD, I positioned the computer inside:


On the left is the coinbox, which I created from a hacked-apart power supply case. I needed something skinnier than the original one from this machine, but I wanted to keep the metal "clink" that you hear when a coin drops in (doesn't seem quite right without it), and the PSU casing was perfect for the job.

The power supply is mounted onto the coinbox using some L-brackets joined together to create U-brackets (with the help of my father, who came up with the idea).

Finally, I screwed everything in, mounted the LCD, put the top back on, and wired everything up:


That is a tight squeeze!

It looks like a bartop now (finally!):


(This shot doesn't show it, but I've also mounted the coin slot and wired it up.)

Today, I mounted the powered speaker PCB (amplifier) to the right side, making it an even tighter fit, and using up my last empty side. Fortunately, I can still reach the speaker controls if I ever need to adjust them.



I get a bit of static due to the hard drive being so close, but nothing that'll be too irritating. There really isn't any way for me to shield anything in there, so it is what it is.

It's ALIVE!


What's left?
- Control panel
- Cam Locks (ordered)
- Side Art and CPO (out for printing at MameMarquees.com, should be here soon)
- Finishing up the software setup (change the shell to MaLa, alter the skin a bit, test all my games, etc)

[EndTwist]

Minor update today.

Finally got my artwork from MameMarquees -- looks and feels fantastic!

(Pardon the phone & book on the left and right, needed to hold it open)

I had to trim it out myself because I got them both printed onto the smallest CPO MameMarquees had available, but that wasn't anything a sharp exacto knife couldn't handle.

I also got my new cam locks:


and installed one in the back door:


I got that handle from the Illinois Lock Company, as the door is a little "sticky". Works great and doesn't interrupt the look of it at all (plus, it's the back...).

Also built a small AutoHotkey application that does play and coin counting. I don't plan on making money on this machine (as that would obviously be immoral), but I wanted to be able to insert coins while in MaLa, as well as have coins transfer from game to game.

The implementation is pretty simple, but it lets me drop in coins during any part of play/selection and it will be recorded and carry over into any other game.

Just for the record, I won't be distributing this application, so don't ask me. I'm aware that the community looks down on apps like this because they can be used for illicit commercial purposes, and I understand that.

[lettuce]

Looking good, one issue you may have is with the Mag-Stick, if there too close to a display the magnet in the joystick may cause problems with your display, just giving you a heads up

[Paladin]

Magnets shouldn't effect an LCD monitor.

Great job!

[DaOld Man]

Thats a beautiful piece of work!!
That app to keep track of credits would be great for my non-commercial mame arcade..
(Not that Im asking for it )

[Timstuff]

Looking good! I can't wait to see it with the art applied.