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It's back again!
SNAAKE:
u probably want more buttons. everything else is looking good so far.
where can I order those db25 pin connectors ? I need to rewire my control panel as I want xbox360 support in my cabinet since sf4 and HD remix will be on 360 soon.
M.Lanza:
--- Quote from: SNAAKE on July 12, 2008, 12:08:55 pm ---u probably want more buttons. everything else is looking good so far.
where can I order those db25 pin connectors ? I need to rewire my control panel as I want xbox360 support in my cabinet since sf4 and HD remix will be on 360 soon.
--- End quote ---
I don't remember where I got the connector from. I just found it in my junk box.
I checked out the company name on the pcb and found the manufacturer's site.
http://www.weco.ca/1_0/1_1/1_1_show_product.asp?type=B&id=547
I found some other sites selling these, but the average price seems to be about $35.00 each.
Two action buttons per player seems like enough. I don't remember seeing any vertical games that had more than two.
Would I be missing out on anything good?
I started building the box around the base of the cabinet.
I'm just waiting for the tempreture outside to drop a bit before I start cutting more wood.
I used the smallest bit I have to drill pilot holes in the back panel, but the screws wern't much larger
than the pilot holes and didn't hold well enough, so I just drilled the screws straight into the wood
without drilling pilot holes and now the board is holding strong.
It would take a good sized crowbar to remove those boards from the cabinet, so I think i'm off to a good start.
I am leaving a space on the bottom of the cabinet open for ventilation purposes, but it's impact on the overall
strength of the base once it's completed should be minimal.
M.Lanza:
I've finished constructing the new cabinet base.
This was the bottom at about 8:A.M. but it has changed since then.
I had to cut out small sections of the cabinet side panels that the t-molding runs along
in order to attach one of the planks onto the front of the cabinet.
The section that had to be removed is visable in the background of this pic.
I then attached the front plank.
I think it turned out all right. The plank is just about flush with the t-molding so it doesn't look too bad right now.
I then started attaching the side planks and discovered that I didn't have enough wood to finish the base,
so I removed a plank from the bottom of the cab and used it along with another to finish the left side of the cabinet.
Some of my measurements were a bit off and I went a little overboard with the screws,
but it's nothing I can't fix with a can of bondo and a bit of sanding.
This is the finished bottom with the body planks attached.
I'm still trying to decide on wether to use leg levelers or castors.
The cabinet standing upright on it's new base.
It kind of looks like a shorter cabinet sitting on a pedestal.
The new base only adds about 1 1/2" to the width of the cabinet, so I don't think it will
look too unnatural once everything is filled, sanded, and painted.
M.Lanza:
I got more stuff done today, with more still to do before I sleep.
I'll start off with the monitor mounting.
The weight of the monitor will be supported by the front section behind the monitor glass
as well as the cabinet sides which now have the aluminum rails attached with a bracket
system made up of plywood, L brackets, carrage bolts, nuts, and washers.
The first thing I did was to modify some carrage bolts to fit in the grooves of the aluminum rails.
This required a few minutes with the bench grinder before the carrage bolts would fit.
I then had to modify the L brackets.
First, I used some bolt cutters to trim the brackets down to a reasonable size and then
drilled out the holes to allow the carrage bolts to fit.
A carrage bolt was inserted into each end of both aluminum rails and the rails were attached
to the front of the cabinet with screws, then washers, the L brackets, and nuts were assembled
onto the carrage bolts in the rails then I cut off the excess bolt with bolt cutters.
I then used peices of plywood to push foward against the aluminum rails, slid the bracket
assemblies against the plywood and drilled holes from the hole in the bracket straight through
the plywood and cabinet side.
Then I inserted carrage bolts through the holes in the cabinet sides and the brackets and attached them
with more nuts and washers and was left with a nice adjustable method for mounting the monitor.
Then it was disassembled because I had some bondo work and painting work to do.
This is the top of the cabinet with some large holes that needed to be patched.
When I first got the cabinet. one of the holes had an audio jack attached to a plate
which I assume was used for a set of external speakers.
I don't know what the other hole was used for.
This was where I first started sanding. Appearently, a large section of the cabinet side
was damaged and filled in with bondo, but this section was left with large pits that needed to be filled
along with large gouges in both cabinet sides.
I spent a good deal of the day occupied with sanding. I'm pretty sore right now.
Once I finished sanding, I filled in the holes in the top of the cabinet, the pits and gouges
in the sides of the cabinet, and the screw holes in the front of the cabinet.
Then I sanded some more.
Once I was satisfied that everything was nice and smooth ( for the most part ),
I removed most of the sanding dust with a dry rag, and then finished up with a damp sponge.
I then waited a few minutes and started painting.
I started off with two cans of flat black as my base coat, then finished up with three cans of semi-flat black.
It started getting dark, so I brought the cabinet back inside.
In the morning, I will take some polishing compound and give the cabinet a good rubbing.
Currently, I'm working on the cabinet base.
I'm covering it with aluminum flashing that is normally used in roofing applications.
So far, it's proving to be very difficult to work with, so the end result will probably be far from perfect.
On the brighter side, this stuff is wide enough for me to attempt to cover my control panel with.
It should look pretty sweet.
On different but related matters, I've managed to aquire a couple more capacitive proximity switches from ebay
http://www.ifmefector.com/ifmus/web/dsfs!KI5208.html
These can be supplied with 10 to 36 VDC, so they will work with my power source, with the
benefit of switching between a normally open and normally closed circuit with a jumper wire.
I've decided to scrap the street fighter controller hack for somthing a bit more advanced.
I was reading the FAQ and came across the console interface section which had a link
to a 49-way to analog circuit diagram.
http://www.arcadecollecting.com/info/49way_to_Hall.gif
Well, a vertical oriented cabinet is pretty much worthless if it can't play sinistar, so I decided to try my luck.
I contacted tim from arcadecollecting.com who developed the circuit to find out where I could
find the necessary component's for the circuit, because I didn't know what the heck to look for.
He has been of great assistance and I can't thank him enough.
So far, I've ordered the IC's and 49-way joysticks as well as a couple of xbox s controllers.
I'm still waiting for everything to be delivered.
I have hope that I can make this work, because it would be so awesome.
If by chance, my lack of skill prevents me from making this work, I'll concede defeat and
buy a gpwiz 49 and install a pc instead of an xbox.
I'll just have to wait and see.
M.Lanza:
I'm done covering the base boards.
It turned out to be much more difficult than I thought and it didn't turn out that great.
I guess I'm stuck with it for now since I'll be moving in about 6 weeks, but I can always
rip it off and start over later if it bothers me that much. Meh.
I was considering covering my control panel with this stuff, but I need to practice on somthing else
before I even think about trying it.
I got the monitor mounted along with the proximity switches.
It took a while to finally get the monitor mounted, but it's nice and secure.
I still have some measuring to do to ensure that it is properly centered,
but it should take no more than a couple of minutes at the most.
The switches were installed after I attached quick connectors to the wires,
The switches should be flush with the back of the monitor glass and are far
enough from the controll panel that that won't be accidently activated during game play.
I'm not sure how they will do behind tinted glass, but i'll find out later once I adjust
their sensitivity settings.
Most of the hard stuff is done.
Now I just have to clean up the cabinet and start installing the electronic components.
I can also move onto my living room reclaimation project. :)
The smart strip was delivered last night while I was at work, I found it
on my front porch this morning when I came home from work.
I'm glad no one stole it.
I kind of find it hard to believe that my UPS packages don't get delivered untill about 8:00 P.M.
even though there is a terminal a couple of blocks from my house.
I got my package from happ today also.
Somehow, I kind of expected the 49-way joysticks to come with the connector harnesses
but I was wrong.
Anyway, I guess it's going to take me a bit longer than expected to see if I can interface these
with the xbox controllers since I won't have the cash to buy the harnesses untill next friday.
Oh well, I got plenty of work to do on the cabinet still, so I can wait.