Scratch Build Custom Street Fighter Arcade Cabinet (upd.7-Jul-09 SF IV READY)

[Martijn]

if i just put the sub inside the cab, the whole cab made a whoop and shacked and vibrated. now because its in its own box , all the sound outputs directly to the outside.

[Franco B]

I must say I love everything about your cab, there isnt one thing I would change

[Visitor Q]

Ahhh... Ok. I saw that picture in the other thread but now that I see the actual picture, I get the idea.

I guess I would have to heard the before and after.

Looks nice and clean.

[Martijn]

yes try, and dont go the easy way out, i know it takes time and costs money.

[Martijn]

I must say I love everything about your cab, there isnt one thing I would change

Shall i make a list 

[Martijn]

Little before sleep update..

i finished the back panel for the cab.

 

You can see the grill now installed for the subwoofer box output.











worked out pretty well for something you wont see..

Also received my buttons for the control panel. Ordered sunday from ultimarc in uk !!
 i already wired (soldered) everything up.
I choose for soldering because i think a good solder joint is more stable and better currentflow then a connector.

here's a little sneak pic of the wiring on the bottom side.

Its a wire going under laminate.....



  

ill post more when the control panel is 100% done.

[Gatsu]

damn man. Now I really really wanna build my cabinet.

[Martijn]

Update.

The Control Panel is done

Features

- 2 x ultra 360 sticks with wires to 7 action buttons + 1 player select button, so all 8 buttons are used for games and shift functions if i need more buttons for console emulators

- Mini pac wired to 3 ps2 connectors and 3 action buttons

Every ps2 connector has 4 button output for future need

There is on everyside one ps2 connector for the pinball buttons connector
and one in the middle for going down to the coin box

in the top right corner are 2 x usb connectors for the 2x u360 sticks and 1 ps2 connector for going to the pc usb from the ipac mini.

The ipac mini is hidden underneath the laminate. I wanted a clean look for the panel.

Lets do some pics.

First the backside build.

Mini pac wired up



Routed wires



I used way overkill thick wires to be sure i don't need to maintain it

Wiring up the ps2 sockets



Almost done wiring



I tested everything first many times before i laminated the top piece.

And the result after creating a top laminate piece with the correct holes cut ( that was a pain to make, i made it 3 times to get it right) 

I soldered every connection.













ps2 socket hole





I glued and screwed the clamps for the mounting of the control panel.

Top side pics..









3 admin buttons connected to the ipac mini , the 2 player select buttons are connected to the u360





Close up of ken vectored



The artwork was created by waveryder and printed at mamemarquees.com

The print is covered with Polycarbinate laminate (also used for bullet proof glass!) which offers a very tough, scratch resistant and textured surfaces.

[thatitalian]

Let me be the first to say WELL DONE! 

This thing kicks some serious ass! It actually looks like it was made by Capcom as an anniversary cab!

Love the idea of having the wiring underneath the laminate, never thought of that! Might have to take that route when I'm doing mine! 

[Martijn]

Thanks Thatitalian

I am almost there

Still to do

- Tinted plexi mounting, although it hangs ok by itself

- flipper button, i already made the holes , but i need flipper buttons with leave switches because i don't have enough room for normal action pushbuttons on the inside.

- cleaning up some internal wiring and other small things

and configuring all the software   

[ivwshane]

I hate you!!

You made my project look like crap:(

[Martijn]

I think i will buy some sanwa buttons for the flippers, even Leaf Switch Buttons dont fit 

I made a miscalculation on the flipper button part.

Now i will order some Seimitsu PS-15



And just router out some wood from the inside to make them fit.

[redtapemedia]

Wow. I'm blown away by this cabinet. In fact I registered with this forum just to comment on it. Did you take dimensions off an arcade classics cab or work them out yourself? I'd really love to build something along these lines, but probably with an LCD screen and obviously with different artwork.

Truly amazing work anyway.

[Martijn]

Hi and thank that you like it 

what i really did was first read many projects then look at things i liked to do the same and use.
then stumbled upon Valiant's topic http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=78496.0

I loved the global arcade classic look, with a few different measurements i wanted it to look like that.

I used his sideart picture and started making measurement by myself. all from head, just measure the standing height and off you go. Oh and also i made the measurements around the TV i got first. The TV angle and dept and width without the casing gave me the maximum cab dept and width

[redtapemedia]

Thanks for the information 

what i really did was first read many projects then look at things i liked to do the same and use.
then stumbled upon Valiant's topic http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=78496.0

That's the stage I'm at at the moment. Been doing a lot of lurking at the moment, reading and looking at the projects of others, deciding what I want. I just love the incredible attention to detail you have taken with this cab, as well as the overall shape and design. The artwork is amazing too. If I can actually build one of these things I'll definitely be drawing some major inspiration from your cab. I'm actually thinking of doing some sort of side-art based around Space Invaders. Anyway, look forward to seeing how this progresses and I'll be sure to let you know how I get on if I ever get round to building my own.

[Todd H]

Can we go ahead and nominate this for some kind of award? 

My poor little Dynamo cabinet is still in the garage needing some more sanding done.  I've got one more panel to go and some bondo work to finish and I can finally either paint or laminate this sucker.

[thatitalian]

Its all about the laminate! I have been playing around with it in between studying and it really is the way to go!

Just a quick question, what happens if your board goes? Isn't it under the laminate?

Also, where did you get your mounting accessories from to mount all your PC components? The motherboard was probably just PCB feet, no? But the HDD and the PSU?

[Martijn]

IF it will fail then i need to rout out the laminate, i know where it is and i can easily remove the laminate top part without damaging the rest.

But it wont

Or i could buy another and just wire it up normally like a nice Little frankenpanelbottomside

motherboard and usb board are placed on these feet



only 1 euro for 4 pieces (1.30 usd)

the hdd has 2 hdd silencers on the side



and then simple L brackets to hold the hdd , i made extra holes for mounting.

also L brackets on the DVD drive
and the psu is fastened with bolt screw from the bottom and up

[Martijn]

little trick on the DVD drive mounting, first secure the L brackets, i secured them so the bottom part was underneath the dvd drive.  then be sure where you want the drive, draw it out if you have to, then put tape on the bottom holes of the bracket, and i put a little drop of paint on the holes, and place the DVD drive with 1 firm press on the board, then you got marks where to drill holes for the bolts to hold the drive.

[thatitalian]

NICE ONE! The silencers are a sweet touch. Will be getting some of those me thinks!

I was just going to use a tipex pen to mark out the holes. That way it is white on the black laminate and can be removed if it is wrong.

[Martijn]

your gonna laminate the shelf for the pc?   

[pinballwizard79]

I just sharted myself, thats awesome!

[thatitalian]

your gonna laminate the shelf for the PC?   

Yep! I am gonna laminate the entire thing! Why, you ask? Well, really because of the dust that mdf causes. Laminate makes it easier to clean... well.... for my girlfriend to clean!

I plan on making it on a shelf with runners so that I can remove the "PC" part of it to maintain it.

I just sharted myself, thats awesome!

 

[maniac e]

That looks great man!
Can I ask you where you got the marque thing done? and the sticker for the side of the cabinet?

I am starting with my cabinet the upcoming week.

[Martijn]

hi and thx, i mentiond this many times in my topic already.

i came up with the idea and colors, waveryder (guy on this forum) created it and printed @ mamemarquees

[thatitalian]

hi and thx, i mentiond this many times in my topic already.

i came up with the idea and colors, waveryder (guy on this forum) created it and printed @ mamemarquees

Remember the name waveryder! Official artistic legend! And British too! And remember the name mamemarquees! The guy there (Scott) is equally a legend!

I am actually tempted to employ the service of Wave just to see what he comes up with, and then give me an excuse to make another cab.....

But seriously, wave is very good at what he does and his customer service is equally amazing! It is well worth using him to produce awesome artwork. For me, it is probably the most important thing as it separates a nice cab from an AMAZING cab!

If you ask most non gamers "why did you pick that cab to play" they will say "because that cab looks the ---Cleveland steamer---!" As in this case, my girlfriend said "will your cab look like that, because that one looks like it was made by a professional!" I aptly replied "My dear, Martijn is a professional!"

[waveryder]

Official artistic legend!

Oh crap dont they die pennyless and alone 
Although I love it when people say my name (usually I gotta pay for that kind of thing  or at least spring for dinner) Martijn has mentioned so many times that i did the artwork for this cab, for which I am most grateful, as so many projects that feature my work go by without a mention. The artwork thread is a great place to ask the why's and wheres about the cab artwork. Martijn doesn't take credit for the fact that the design and ideas were a joint effort. Only seeing the finished product gives the impression that this artwork was just pulled out of the air and believe it took 72 emails and more draft ideas than I can count to get to this stage. Yes artwork makes a cab look polished, but its the attention to detail an inovation that makes it stand out. I mean did no one see the "hidden wire" control panel? I am so stealing that idea for my scratch build!

[thatitalian]

I mean did no one see the "hidden wire" control panel? I am so stealing that idea for my scratch build!

You'll have to beat me first!

[Martijn]

lol, i wish   Its funny, my girlfriend said same thing when i was browsing.

She was mostly impressed by the mountain juke and project mame http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/index.htm

Artwork isnt cheap, but well worth it. what i got cost me about 600usd all in

i got the tinted glas on, its truly the missing effect, its so pretty now  

The cab is 100% done hardware wise now

This weekend ill make some professional pictures outside.

[Martijn]

I mean did no one see the "hidden wire" control panel? I am so stealing that idea for my scratch build!

You'll have to beat me first!

I sure wanna see that its not very easy. i created the bottom laminate piece 3 times to get more tight holes and joystick port.

[leapinlew]

Looking very good.

I don't know if anyone said this, but I'd go for black t-molding. The cabinet has enough flash already. Keep up the good work.

[Martijn]

Official artistic legend!

Oh crap dont they die pennyless and alone 
Although I love it when people say my name (usually I gotta pay for that kind of thing  or at least spring for dinner) Martijn has mentioned so many times that i did the artwork for this cab, for which I am most grateful, as so many projects that feature my work go by without a mention. The artwork thread is a great place to ask the why's and wheres about the cab artwork. Martijn doesn't take credit for the fact that the design and ideas were a joint effort. Only seeing the finished product gives the impression that this artwork was just pulled out of the air and believe it took 72 emails and more draft ideas than I can count to get to this stage. Yes artwork makes a cab look polished, but its the attention to detail an inovation that makes it stand out. I mean did no one see the "hidden wire" control panel? I am so stealing that idea for my scratch build!

He thanks Wave! I appreciate it, we had our ups and downs  But we made it trough!

As for the molding, to late, its red and looks great. The cab is nice and slim and doesn't really give a busy feeling.

As that is the main thing around the build Slim and small, just enough for everything to fit.
TV dept = dept cab
TV width = cab width + cp layout measurements
then know your standing height with the cp
and TV height + speaker angle + marquee = maximum hight cab

and slice off some from the back and font

[thatitalian]

Just out of curiosity, is there any plans to release cab plans?

Not many plans out there for this shape of cab!

[marius]

I just had register to say this post rocks! This cab rocks. I'm building one myself! Ordered the hardware... just need to workout the details for myself. But yeah plans would be great... even a scanned crumpled peice of paper.

[DaOld Man]

Man martijn!

I love this panel.
I like the idea of routering out channels for the wire to run in. It looks very neat.

Excellent work!
 

[Martijn]

Thanks everybody !

Maybe ill measure up everything someday 

Tip for routering wire, you need second quick glue, draw out the lines to route and then route it out, then route every wire, and put a drop of second glue after some cm to keep the wires clean and straight, slow job but works great, then the wires stay in their place all the time. I used all sorts of items to hold the wires in their place while drying. 

What i would NOT do next time is route a wire for the usb, as the u360 have a socket of their own. Its a bit overkill to create 2 new usb ports for them.
And keep in mind where you will place ps2 sockets, i barley got everything fitted. I didn't think of the length of the ps2 connectors and pinball buttons.
That's why i needed to buy new small flipper action buttons.

But it worked out well , pinball is great fun!
I can reach the 2 blue action buttons of the u360 while i play flipper games, i use them as nudge buttons 

Is it me or do many tables have bugs that the ball just hangs still 
And strange about many pinball tables that they don't start normally, they just turn off or on when i press the start button like normal. 

[jeffhlewis]

That art is killer, it totally makes the cabinet.

You gotta get a video of this thing in action when you're done!

[Martijn]

Little update.

I installed the t-molding. Its 19mm molding (mdf is 18 mm and the laminate is 0,9mm) it fits perfect.
I ordered it from http://www.starcab.net/

and installed tinted plexi, 45% light passtrough 4mm thick
http://www.plexiglas-shop.com
i ordered 21% 45% and 70 % The 45 was the best.
Colors come out great. its not to dark. Also helps a lot with 640x480. Its much more calm.

Didn't take a picture of the plexi holder yet. But its the same i used for the marquee holder.
Ill make it this week.

i made the plexi flush with a router by placing it on the bezel and using a flush cut bit the guide was tracking the laminate and made a perfect copy.

The control panel is fastened and working 100%, so is the coin box, and the push return coin buttons act as insert coin buttons. Inserting a coin also works. And 2 flipper buttons on the side.

some pics.





















Enough of the picture flood.

The cab is 99% done in my eyes. Just more game configuring and settings.
Finally i could clean up all of my tools and balcony, just before the real cold comes 

I will make a sort of final review of my build with specs and measurements and total cost.
And maybe some pro pictures. these are taking with a crappy camera in bad lighting.

 

[waveryder]

My god that is the most beautiful thing I have seen since........kylie minogue 

[thatitalian]

DUDE! Seriously, you should be really proud, that thing is awesome! A typical example of what you can achieve with hard work and some imagination!

I have loved watching this thing from start to finish and am really astonished of how this has progressed!

Love the MA custom skin too!