PCP w/artwork (My Portable Control Panel)

[jmike]

Hi there,
    This is my first post so any help would be appreciated. After building my first cab (which wasn't too impressive but the did job) Ive decided to build my own control panel. My first cabinet was a very simple design that first used 2 street fighter anniversary controllers and later was upgraded to a two player x-arcade control panel.

That was a couple of years ago and I've decided to try building my own CP. I ran across this

http://retrocadia.com/retrocadia_gamemachine

but after looking at the price, I decided to try and build it my self. I'm not too far into the project but I did manage to cut most of it the wood:

I just ordered the t-molding which is chrome/just like the outer part of the buttons which light up (hope I can make that work).

Not sure how to cut angles but I don't think I'll be adding the steering wheels, especially since that slant is a bit too advance for me to cut. I'll keep try add another post later this week, after I buy my router.

[jmike]

  sorry it's taken so long to update my post. Well I haven't given up on this project. Had a little trouble with the angles but luckily for wood filler I think it won't be too noticeable. I cut the wood for the tmolding and added the wheels. Not sure what I'm going to do with the artwork yet (suggestions?). As you can tell I made some changes compared to the retrocadia original idea.

[gonzo90017]

Interesting project. Good luck. 

[facesmiths]

yes looks like a really good first keep us posted I would like to see how your progress of learning as well as the project go. I dont think the lights in the buttons will be any harder than the wireing of the actual joys and buttons to the encoder board for them so you should get it working and I have seen a lot of very knowledgable guys be extremly helpfull when asked so I would definetly ask but ask specific questions. If you don't just blurt out "HELP ME!" but put up what you are having difficulty with I am pretty sure it will make it easier to know if we have the knowledge you seek.

[jmike]

Thanks for the words of wisdom guys.
I was able to do a little more work on my CP. Here are the pics. Originally I wasn't going to use the trackball plate but the router decided to stray a bit so.... The only hole left to drill is for the spinner.

[jmike]

  Well I managed to work on my CP some more. Here are the pics (sorry for the poor quality, I'm actually using my cell phone to take the pics).
For the walls of the unit I didn't want to add more weight so I used thin panel wood. I will paint them white until I decide if I'm going to put some artwork on them. Also since I have someone working on the CP artwork I decided to bevel the trackball plate so everything is level (which I know is the right way to do it.) My router decided to cooperate this time   

[Epyx]

Ill be interested to see this develop as well!

[jmike]

  Had a little more time to work on my Portable Control Panel. All the wall panels are up and painted, As for the 2nd and 3rd pic below  yes, it looks weird but let me explain. The original idea was to be able to roll out my PCP in front of a 32" TV I have inside a closet(which will have shelves of collectible street fighters, Mortal Kombat and other figures). And when the 32 inch screen won't do, that weird white shelf is for my Projector. I'll try to take some more pics this week to give you a better idea.

[jmike]

  Sorry for the delay. Well sad to say my artwork for the CP never made it in time. I decided to start wiring without any for now. Well it really wasn't as bad as I thought of course I haven't plugged it in yet to see if it works so  we'll see what happens. Here's what I've been working on.
The only problem I might have is that the pause and escape buttons are above the trackball which I might hit by accident when setting a new driving record on the golf course . Also I still have to do the wiring for the LED lights in the buttons. Will keep you posted.

[stephenp1983]

Looks great so far.  How do you like the ultralux buttons.  I just got mine in, but haven't started wiring them up.  The definately feel different that the happs on my other mame machine, but they seem pretty simple to wire.

[jmike]

Thanks  I have someone working on some artwork for the bottom of the control panel and hopefully I'll finish wiring up the LEDs for the buttons this weekend and post some more pics.

Yeah the buttons are great, easy to wire. The only thing I would say is that when inserting the LED harness into the button housing you really  have to give it a push and twist to get it to lock. At first I was afraid it would break but after doing some research online I found out that this was the only way to get it to lock.

Good luck.

[stephenp1983]

Yeah I was messing around with one last night and thought I was going to break it.  I finally got it to snap in. 

I went with clear buttons with white inserts and blue led's.  Not sure how its going to look but hopefully it will turn out ok.

What kind of theme are you thinking about for the artwork

[jmike]

I'm sure that combination of lighting will look good. You can't go wrong with these buttons. Send me the link when you upload some pics. 

As for theme, I have someone working on two different themes. Not sure which one will look right, but I'll upload the pics when I get them.

Just finish wiring the led on the buttons here are the pics. The only problem I'm having now is programming the spinner in mame. For some reason it's not reading it.

[stephenp1983]

Man those look great lite up, nice and bright.  Can't help you with your spinner problem as I've never had one in my cabs.

Here a picture of the cabinet I'm going to put them in, Cronin built it for me and I should have it by Monday.  I figured the white inserts would match up well with the white tmolding I have. 

Are you powering them just through a led-wiz or a pc power supply?  I opted for a pac drive since its just a few buttons, and will probably configure them with the led plugin for gameex:

http://img296.imageshack.us/my.php?image=50001217lg2.jpg

[slasherman]

Can you give me the exact hole sizes in mm(from Norway) to the pushbuttons hole and the joystick hole and how did you get the round black plate on the joystick where it is...do I have to screw off the scew on the bottom of the joystick ?

[jmike]

There are different size buttons so check the size first. My buttons are 1 1/8 inches (which I believe is 28 mm). But check yours to make sure.

As many people have suggested use a scrap piece of wood to make sure of the size. I used the same size for the joystick holes.

What kind of joysticks are you using? Happ joysticks always come with a diagram of how everything is installed. Not sure what screws you're talking about. 

[slasherman]

What kind of joysticks are you using? Happ joysticks always come with a diagram of how everything is installed. Not sure what screws you're talking about. 

Mag stick plus...Think I found the answer in this picture..

[jmike]

  I've been waiting a while for the artwork but it was definitely worth the wait, well you be the judge. Many thanks to "TCK" The Colorado Kid aka Denver T.  When I first saw his sketches I thought wow this is going to look great.
The theme for my arcade is "Mugen" which I'm sure many of you have come across on the web. All are original drawings by the KID himself. The last pic shows his mark.
I also included some MUGEN pics and yes the CP will also have artwork, "TCK" is working on it as we speak.

[jmike]

Forgot one angle. see pic (6). Also if you look closely at pic 10 you'll see "EL Fuerte" from SFIV.  I asked for him at the last second.

[SNAAKE]

you had someone draw all these pictures from scratch?

wow..looks good.

[jmike]

I gave him some ideas but yeah, he did everything from scratch, even the coloring. The KID's got talent. This is one of the sketches...

[Malenko]

that thing is super bobby bad ass, Im impressed!
however the name PCP needs some work.

[jmike]

Yeah, I'm not too happy with it either. When I did my first post I didn't know what to call it.  but I knew that it would eventually have wheels and could roll in front of a TV and also have a projector inside, which would make it portable. Suggestions for a new name are welcomed.

One of these days I'm taking this bad boy outside (with the projector mounted) and see what it looks like on the side of the house.
 

[drventure]

Very cool idea. You know, make a box cover for the top, have nice woodworked panels for the sides and you could put that in the living room as a sofa table with likely no complaints from the wife

The artwork is definitely impressive!

[jmike]

Thought about it, but there's too much traffic up there. I think it's better off in the man cave (where it's too cold for the women).

Here are some more pics. Again when I came up with the idea I didn't want to be stuck in one place playing my favorite game, so I wanted everything to be portable. The first pic shows the shelf for the projector in case I don't want to play in front of the 32 inch TV. Second pic shows the control panel removed and placed in front of the couch ( I better get a coffee table before this damn thing falls off.) The third pic shows the projector above the couch which makes the image 5 feet by 7 feet  .  As you can see by the last picture the quality of the image is pretty good.