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Final Fantasy 3 Piece (Bartop or assembles into Mini) COMPLETE (Aug 17 09)
Epyx:
EDIT: FINAL PICS
I realize now that I have completely lost my mind with this hobby and I love it...
While waiting for some CP parts to arrive for my main Project I decided I would start building a bartop. Gaming night at my place is awesome with the full size and I wanted a portable bartop for those nights I am not hosting.
I have several requirements that the bartop design must address:
- Shouldn't weigh more than ~50lbs
- DB25 modular plug in controllers
- 4:3 17" LCD for decent vertical (No rotating on this project!)
- External USB connections for Frets on Fire and UltraStar Deluxe peripherals and of course keyboard mouse
- Front panel DVD drive/USB/DB25
- Sufficiently geekish Fantasy theme
Hardware will be some additional spare parts I had lying around:
- P4 2.8GHZ from HP DC5000 PC
- 10" square Motherboard
- 17" LCD Monitor
- Cyber Accoustics 2.1 Speaker Set
- 200GB HD
- 1GB Ram
The TAXI CAB project from DMWorking247 is design that potentially addresses all these requirements. I drafted up some plans that were a little taller/wider (and easier for a noob like me to cut!).
Here are some pics after the inital cuts from yesterday:
Epyx:
Today I made quite a bit of progress thanks to my understanding wife (well the shopping for a new dress helped...)
Here is a picture of the sides joined to bottom and top:
The front panel is a quick mockup to test proof of design and includes most of the requirements above (Power button, 2 USB, Headphone/Speaker Jack/DVD Drive/3 Port DB 25 Panel (For up to 3 CPs).
Outside Panels are 3/4" MDF and top/back/bottom are 1/2" MDF. Pine is used for the bracing. Four magnetic hinges hold the back panel in place and a 7/8" paddle bit hole to is on the back to easily remove it with a finger (again ala the TAXI CAB design!)
I am hacking an old Printer box as the face plate is already fabricated. I cut the rest out with my jigsaw. I will wire this to an IPAC 4 on order. The HP has a perfect USB/Speaker panel that is removable from the case that I can easily cut a hole for in the MDF and then screw in from the inside. The color scheme will be black with Red Trim as I still have leftover black paint and ordered several colors of T Molding. Side Art and Marquee will be fantasy art themed but exactly what is still up in the air.
The very bottom of the inside behind the front Panel will contain the Power Supply/DVD Drive/HD and DB25 IPAC4 Hack. I have a removable 1/2" MDF insert tray that will house the monitor and MB. The monitor will rest against the slanted 1/2" Pine panel via holes I have drilled that line up with the 4 VESA mounting holes.
I then filled the external screw holes and sanded and this picture shows a 2nd filling as I want a smooth finish. Each CP will be approximately the same size as the X arcade solo and I hope to start on those as I build my main project CP this week.
gonzo90017:
Looking good.
Hopefully you can post your plans when you're done.
IG-88:
I second the plans thing. I'd like to see the measurements on this also.
What kinda games are you looking at putting on here? Are we talking PC type RPG's or console or maybe even arcade (tho there isn't really many of those). I was looking at doing the same sort of project (along with 17 others I have in the works :). Mainly playing Diablo style games or maybe Baldurs Gate types. The issue I was having is how to incorporate all the different type of button layouts. I never considered a modular CP. Thats a good idea. Will you have to remap keys too?
Epyx:
I will post the plans tonight. While the theme is RPG (Ultima/Bard's Tale etc) the bartop will still be an all purpose emulator cabinet. MAME and console emus will be the mainstay.
While I started out with CRPGs (Might and Magic/Bard's Tale/Phantasie/Ultima/Wizardry) I also appreciate JRPGs like the Final Fantasy Series. The console RPGs will all be straightforward as each emulator can be configured directly for the appropriate button/joy mappings (Zsnes/EPSXE etc).
As for Computer RPGs like Ultima or Bard's Tale that require multiple keystrokes they likely won't be that doable with how I am going about the modular panel. (Of course i can always plug in a USB keyboard but then I might as well play on my computer!)
Here is the plan and tonight Ill highlight it in more detail when I get home:
Bartop Side
DB25 Female Panel (old Printer switch I hacked). I have removed all the sodder points on the switch side so will simply re-route them to terminal strips. From the terminal strips I will go into the IPAC4. This will allow up to 3 CPs to be attached.
CP Side
Joystick and Button modular CPs will be configured as follows:
A male DB25 cable will connect the CP to the Bartop. Each CP will have a DB25 female port so the cables just hook between the bartop and modular CP. Inside the CP the buttons and joystick will be connected via quick disconnects and a terminal strip. The terminal strip in turn to the pinouts on the DB25. Ground will be daisy chained to the GND pin.
Trackball/Spinner controller will simply connect via USB to the external USB ports (2 of them) on the front panel of the bartop.
Having tested all the equipment it will be a tight fit but I should be able to fit my Cyber Accoustics sub inside the bartop to add a bit of oomf to ultrastar and Frets on Fire.
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