A Mame machine in an antique buffet - USB probs solved (I think!)

[drventure]

Thanks, guys. My metalworking isn't near a match for some of the other guys around hear (franco, nudge nudge  ), but it was fun. Never soldered stuff like this before.

However, I can say that without a power nibbler and a brake shear, messing with sheet metal is a right pain in the ass. The frame did come out reasonably nice though. There's a few things I'd have done different if I had better tools available, but, what can ya do 

[Ryglore]

ya sheet metal breaks and power nibblers are awesome... I know how to use our break, but I've yet to use the nibblers.... hmm.

[drventure]

I ended up picking up a hand nibbler are Harbor freight to try on some brass I was making a joystick mounting plate out of. It worked, but wow, it was tough on the hands. My fingers were cramping after I finished cutting it.

[Ryglore]

Oh ya totally, I've used hand nibblers to cut sheets of aluminum at work... total pain in the hands. 

[saurian333]

... Wasn't there a USB device some time ago that let games generate "smells" to "immerse you into the gaming world" or somesuch? 

Just what I want, my computer stinking things up on me!

Dude, I remember reading about that.  I'm pretty sure it was a rumor that sprouted from a joke, or vice versa.

There were specifics in it, though: gunpowder for ammo packs, bread for health packs, etc.

But talk about a niche market... If it was an actual device, it still would be a joke.

[drventure]

This isn't the one I was remembering, but, they're out there...




http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/06/forget-smell-o-vision-usb-aroma-geur-lets-you-smell-the-radio/

[saurian333]

This isn't the one I was remembering, but, they're out there...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/06/forget-smell-o-vision-usb-aroma-geur-lets-you-smell-the-radio/

Well, I'll be damned.  Aromatic radio.

Leave it to the Japanese, huh?

[drventure]

Benevolance was asking about how I did some of the metal work on this frame, so I thought I'd reply here just in case anyone else was interested.

Just keep in mind, this is all from a +completely+ clueless metal working guy  

what tools you needed/used to make that monitor casing?

Basically, I had some heavy gauge sheet copper (the kind you use for roofs) left over from a remodel I did several years back, so, being cheap, that's what got used.
I used various clamps, plus a few different jigs made from scrap wood to essentially jerry rig a break which is a metalworking tool that allows you to easily bend sheet metal to a crisp, sharp corner. But because it was all wood, the metal didn't bend completely true, that's how it got that ever so slight curve in the top (completely not intentional, btw).

For cutting, I used a set of, i think they're called horizontal shears. Essentially, imagine a pair of tin snips, but the snip part is angled 90' to the handles, so you can cut through metal without the body of the shears (and your hands!) having to be between the 2 cut edges.

The prob is they leave a VERY noticeable ding at each point in the cut, which is pretty unsightly.

To get rid of that, I used an anvil and hammer and just eyeballed it and pounded the hell out of it till I was reasonably happy it was straight. Then used a grinder to clean up the edge, and a foam sanding block to derazor it (otherwise, that sheet metal comes out ULTRA sharp!).

I used the snips to cut angles at the corners and bend them over to make "lips" and then clamped things together with wood blocks and clamps while I soldered the top 2 corners.  I mitered the front and back corners so that the frame rails would mate up and be flush. Could have overlapped them and just butt jointed them, but I think it fits a little better mitered. But the corners ended up not showing anyway because those corner brackets hide them.

The corners and braces I recognize as being regular hardware I can buy. Did you buy them in brass and antique them, or did you paint them up?

I bought all that hardware. The corner brackets are "trunk corners", then a bunch of brass corner angle brackets and lots of short #10 brass screws and washers.

The tough part about that was that one of the main reasons for using a metal frame was space. Once the buffet folds up, there's less than 1/4 inch at the top and bottom of clearance, between the monitor and flight stick on the bottom and between monitor and front doors of the cabinet on top.

So that ruled out any wide ornate wood frame (which was my first choice).

BTW All those brass corners and screws are +soldered+ on, the I used a grinder in the back to cut the screws off flush. This is because the copper sheets fits TIGHT up against the monitor itself. There just wasn't any room for nuts inside. (I'm leave the door wide open here   )

I also drilled a few small holes to mount some brass grommets to, just for effect (they kind of remind me of the exhaust vents on old thunderbirds or something like that). You can see that here:


Then, as I was fitting things together I realized that I couldn't fashion the frame as a single piece, cause I wouldn't be able to actually +put it on the monitor+ Doh!

Sooooo, the bottom rail with the control pod I soldered all together, and I soldered the screws holding the corner brackets to it, but for the screws holding it to the side rails, those i actually threaded the copper sheet, screwed the screws into place, then cut off the screws to fit flush from the inside. It means that those screens +could+ pull out relatively easily.

HOWEVER, 2 back screw on each side does have enough clearance for a nut, so I put one on, and, well, people aren't gonna be hanging from my monitor frame so it's not likely to get too much abuse.  


And finally, that control pod. It looks cooler than it is  

I took a short piece of copper pipe, drilled holes all the way through it, cut some 1" long pieces of copper tubing, drilled holes in THOSE, and soldered them in place in the holes. Then wired up leds to illuminate the buttons and fished them through the holes, running the wires out the end. Wired up all the resistors inline and bundled all that in the end part of the tube (so there's only a 5v line and ground required), fished that wire through the copper pipe, bent and shaped that tubing (it's old refrigerator tubing, amazing what some polishing compound and a bench polisher can do  

I used brass plumbing flare fittings and caps for the various end caps and such (spent a LOT of time in the plumbing section of Lowes for that stuff), and brass grommets I picked up at a sewing supply place

The buttons themselves are mother of pearl brass snaps I picked up at the same sewing supply place. They're translucent to the led's shine through nicely.

The tricky part was bending and twisting and cutting paperclip wire into little "dumbells" such that one end of the dumbbell sits just on each of the monitor's buttons, and the other sticks up just above the edge of the copper pipe.

Here's a shot of that in process (I posted this earlier in the thread too)


Then, I epoxied the pearl buttons on and viola! working buttons that are nothing more than straight mechanical links. No circuit board mods etc. The really nice thing about all that is that I can unscrew a few screws, take the frame off and the monitor is completely untouched. Stick the stand back on it and it's good to use as a monitor again.

Final step was to polish everything to within an inch of it's life, then Brasso everything, and finally slather it all with Future (floor polish). Dang that stuff is awesome for sealing stuff like this!

It took a while, but I think it came out pretty decent.

I plan on going back and some point and adding a little more brass embellishments, plus maybe some etching, and I'd like to mount several old steam engine oilers I found, and put a little methylene chloride in there, plus a small lamp and an led, and I'll have a mad scientist, bubbling glass beaker!

But, that'll have to wait for now.

[Benevolance]

Awesome, thanks Drventure!

It's going to take me a while to digest all that, but it gives me a good start. And I'll attest that the frame turned out beautifully. Von Slatt would be proud. I'm really looking forward to seeing the full buffet finished. Or, well, as finished as an arcade cabinet ever gets. There will always be tinkering to be done, I'm sure.

[drventure]

Von slatt's stuff is truly amazing, but thanks for the comparison!

Yeah, My wife's been bugging me that this little project has taken almost 3 years now 

But hey, that's when you know you've got a +good+ hobby!

[Ryglore]

Von slatt's stuff is truly amazing, but thanks for the comparison!

Yeah, My wife's been bugging me that this little project has taken almost 3 years now 

But hey, that's when you know you've got a +good+ hobby!

Hey, you said you're on the 7 year plan.

[drventure]

Almost halfway there!

And dang, you pay way too much attention   

[Ryglore]

Almost halfway there!

And dang, you pay way too much attention   

My brain is a steel trap for useless information. It's a curse. 

[Benevolance]

I went and checked out some break machines. Crap, those are expensive! But it gave me an idea of how it functions.

Did you cut the for the sides to size prior to using the break jig to bend the metal, or did you bend the metal sheets first, and then cut? I'm trying to visualize the process. It seems to me easier to do the former, but I could see where the jig might not be accurate enough, and the bends end up uneven across several pieces, so wanting to cut after would be desireable.

[drventure]

I cut everything first. Otherwise, I'd have been handling an 8' sheet of copper!

Sorry I didn't take any pics of the jig I fashioned. But it was basically clamping down the metal with bar clamps and wood blocks in such a way that I had a wood block underneath it that would put the bend in it. Getting the initial bend started was the tough part, once it started to bend, it was pretty easy.

[Benevolance]

Okay, that was pretty much how I envisioned the process. Do you think it would help to clamp the copper to the wood block start the initial bend with a mallet? Or would that make for an uncrisp line?

[Bender]

Damn!!!!
Haven't seen the thread in a while FANTASTIC work
That monitor case is just sick!

[drventure]

@benevolance

Yeah, actually, I did use a rubber mallet to start the bend. It worked great for short runs, but longer runs were a bit tougher to get the bend nice and crisp, but still straight.

If I had to do it over though, i think I might clamp to 45 degree blocks down and use a 90 degree block on top, then clamp the metal between it (but with the possibility of things sliding around, that might not work too well).

something like this (in wonderful ascii art!)

    V     top block
------- (sheet of copper)
  ^  ^  2 bottom angle blocks

I'm just guessing on that though.


@ Bender

Thanks! I really appreciate that. After wiring up those panel lamps, I have a much deeper admiration of your benderama wiring job with all the buttons wired with rgb leds!



On a somewhat related, I finally succumbed to a bit of "steampunk-gear-itis" 



I'm putting together a cable junction point/cover and decided that a little scrap-clock-parts action was in order here, plus maybe a few vacuum tubes, more red taffeta, some brocade, and some left over brass bits. In this case, it's going at the bottom of the cab, way in the back, so you really won't be able to see it very well, hence I can go a little nuts and use up some of these random parts I've been collecting for 2+ years!

I'll post pics once the idea's gelled a little more.

[painterinfo]

drventure I really like your work. I would like to make something like this one day but it seems to need a long term plan.

Stuff made these days is designed to only last a couple of years, Granted you will need to replace it's electronics at some time but it looks like it will last a 100 years, long enough to become a real antique.

This is one of my favorite threads.

[Ryglore]

Agreed, his daughter is going to have some fond memories of Daddy working on his big 'puter. ha

[saurian333]

   Wondermark is one of my favorites!

drventure I really like your work. I would like to make something like this one day but it seems to need a long term plan.

Steampunk projects can go either way.  They've either been planned out with excruciating detail, or they do sort of like drventure here and just add stuff that looks cool as they go along; it really depends on the project.  Either way can have very impressive results.  Doc has a big cabinet with lots of space to work with, and lots of necessary parts ripe for the dressing-up, so he can build his organically like that, and still end up with a great final product.

The best thing about such projects is that gaudiness is actually a feature, so there's nothing wrong with excess!

[drventure]

Thanks for all the kind words! It really does help keep the ball rolling on this project!

Doc has a big cabinet with lots of space to work with

You know, that's what I thought as I was picking up various pieces that I thought might work in this thing. But it turns out, there's not near as much space as I thought there would be. One of the biggest tricks with this has been making sure that when it folds up, there's still space and clearance for everything.

Agreed, his daughter is going to have some fond memories of Daddy working on his big 'puter

I hope so. It's a big reason I started the project. Get here comfortable with computer bits and parts! This

This has definitely been an organic project. My original plan didn't even have anything to do with steampunk! Only thing I can say on that is, if you want to do something like this, surf the net, collecting as many photos as possible of stuff that might look good, cruise antique shops and Van Dykes Restoration Hardware, plus the brass fastener isle at the hardware store and collect as much as you can, cause you never know where the inspiration will come from (I never thought I'd be using macrame cord in a Mame cab, for instance!)

Stuff made these days is designed to only last a couple of years, Granted you will need to replace it's electronics at some time but it looks like it will last a 100 years, long enough to become a real antique.

Thanks, PainterInfo. I'm hoping it'll last that long. Yeah, the electronics will be replaced at some point (after all, I'd love to run cubequest or some of the other 3'd games that are just too dang slow on this particular machine), but since they're all in a "computer case of a fashion", they should be easy to swap out (assume computer components stay the same size or shrink 

and yeah, the gaudiness factor definitely makes it more fun. I've got a filecabinet full of parts and bits that I've picked up intending to use that there may just not be space for.

Maybe a portable like the Benderama that folds up into a steamer trunk! (Ack no, not another project!)

[Ryglore]

Maybe a portable like the Benderama that folds up into a steamer trunk! (Ack no, not another project!)

That would be pretty need actually....

(Joe Versus the Volcano quote incoming)

Luggage Salesman: This is our premier steamer trunk, it's all handmade, only the finest materials. It's even watertight, tight as a drum. If I had the need, and the wherewithal, Mr. Banks, this would be my trunk of choice.

Joe Banks: I'll take four of them.

Luggage Salesman: May you live to be a thousand years old, sir.

[drventure]

I had a little free time today, so I decided to tackle a long standing problem, how to wire up both an MP3 player AND the main PC audio to my cab speakers, so I can get instant "power up" sound while the PC boots, but then have normal sound in Mame, etc when it finally finishes booting.

I started with a plain audio splitter path cord.



these work great for splitting an OUTPUT signal, but not so great for splitting input signals...

After a little digging, i turned up this simple circuit to do the job



The guy's page is here http://www.shed.com/tutor/mixer/linelevelmixer.html

This circuit simply mixes two input signals, no vol adjustment, etc, but that's fine for my purposes. Granted, there's plenty of little 30$ mixers for dj's and whatnot out there, but, I already had the splitter cord and resistors, so why not?

After cutting the cord, stripping the wire ends and a lot of CAREFUL soldering (the little wires in those patch cords are THIN!), I ended up with this.



and a little electrical tape later, it's all nice and, well, it's not pretty, but it'll get the job done 



One step closer to having my instant on startup sounds!

[Aceldamor]

WoW......really man...incredible work.

My fear for you Dr. V is that you have had such fun building the thing, by the time you are finished, you won't want to play 

Very inspiring piece. SP is one of my favorite Genres and I must say you have accomplished your goal sir, above and beyond.   

Please tell me you are going to incorporate the working gear system that you can see into a rotating monitor, that would be the topper!

[drventure]

@Aceldamor

Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback!

I'm definitely going to make the monitor rotate. Exactly how, I'm still not sure. Originally, I was thinking lots of interconnected gears, but I'm not sure how I'd hook em all up, and I wasn't even sure where I'd find something suitable. However, I think that motorcycle transmission gears might work quite nicely, If I could figure some reasonable way to mount them to some sort of bearings.

Any ideas there would be much appreciated!

Then, I figured I might be able to use a brass wire and pulley system. You can get brass wire and largish ornate brass pulleys for old grandfather clocks somewhat readily, and for not a lot of money, so that might be another option.

About the playing, yeah, I've already wondered about "When it's done, what then?" I think I bit off a whole lot more project that I thought I was getting into, but I've really had fun doing it.

And there's still a lot of ideas floating around in the back of my head (and on this thread!) 

[saurian333]

About the playing, yeah, I've already wondered about "When it's done, what then?" I think I bit off a whole lot more project that I thought I was getting into, but I've really had fun doing it.

And there's still a lot of ideas floating around in the back of my head (and on this thread!) 

On the other hand, this is the type of project that never really has to be "done," isn't it?

[drventure]

On the other hand, this is the type of project that never really has to be "done," isn't it?

Hehe. Yeah, but my wife would kill you if she read that.
Or rather, she'd kill me. 

[saurian333]

On the other hand, this is the type of project that never really has to be "done," isn't it?

Hehe. Yeah, but my wife would kill you if she read that.
Or rather, she'd kill me. 

@ Mrs. drventure:  Um...j/k! 

[Benevolance]

With any luck, you could convince her not to kill you until after you were finished...

[drventure]

Well, I +tried+ to get video of this, but 3 tries and I still can't get it to come out so I'm giving up on that.

I was playing with my ELWire (I've got several feet left over) and thought it'd be cool to light my cp with it (to a degree anyway).

I rewired up my photocoupler circuit on a spare breadboard (I'd wired all this up once before but never actually hooked it up to me LEDWiz), and hooked it all up to my cab's LEDWiz.

Edit the animation and layout a tad, and lo and behold, I have ELWire that can pulse, flick on and off and animate exactly like any other LED on my cabinet, all controlled via my LEDWiz! It's really pretty cool to watch the ELWire fade in and out. Wish I could have gotten the video to work.

I think it'll make for a really slick looking downlight on the control panel. And now, I know I can completely control the "Nixie tube" letters that will hopefully make up my marquee. I could be very cool to make them animate in time with buttons or music in the game....

Hopefully, I can get a video of it once it's installed.

I'd sure love to see some sideart done with EL Wire. Seems like I recall someone talking about it around here, but never seen any pics...

[saurian333]

Edit the animation and layout a tad, and lo and behold, I have ELWire that can pulse, flick on and off and animate exactly like any other LED on my cabinet, all controlled via my LEDWiz! It's really pretty cool to watch the ELWire fade in and out. Wish I could have gotten the video to work.

Sounds cool; hope you can get a vid to work at some point.   That stuff looks like fun to play with.

Sideart would be interesting, if done right.  I have a feeling it would be a fine line between looking very cool and just being a fugly mess.  Maybe if one carved into the side of the cab, and set the ELWire into the grooves?

[drventure]

Yeah, I'm seeing it as an inlay of some sort. one of those small one hand trim routers would probably work great for that.

I'm going to try my hand at some inlay myself. My dad has said I'm crazy to even try with this formica. I've got some left over so I can use it as a test (won't even think of touch my CP till I'm fairly sure I can pull it off).

I've got a brass plate I fashioned up to trim out my flight stick, but it would REALLY look best inlaid into the CP surface.

If that works, I may just have to strip off the stamped compass points I put on and do em in real brass   

[saurian333]

Yeah, I'm seeing it as an inlay of some sort. one of those small one hand trim routers would probably work great for that.

I'm going to try my hand at some inlay myself. My dad has said I'm crazy to even try with this formica. I've got some left over so I can use it as a test (won't even think of touch my CP till I'm fairly sure I can pull it off).

I've got a brass plate I fashioned up to trim out my flight stick, but it would REALLY look best inlaid into the CP surface.

If that works, I may just have to strip off the stamped compass points I put on and do em in real brass    

I haven't worked much with formica myself, but I imagine it's a ---smurfette--- to keep from chipping and such.  I wonder if you'd be better off hand-carving it somehow (not sure what tool would be best for that).

If you're referring to a "laminate trimmer," I just got one myself.  $22 at Menards, works just as well as a router on smaller jobs.  I used it to flush-trim my plexi to the lid of my cab, and it was PERFECT.  (I'll be posting pics of that soon; getting close to the final stretch before I get my controls and computer.)

EDIT:  I feel like I've been pimping out that trimmer a lot.  I guess I really like it.

[drventure]

Ok, finally got some decent video of the ELWire controller.

First a couple of shots of the board (yeah, I decided to be somewhat professional about it and actually solder things down vs just using a proto board   )

Top of the board


The LEDWiz outputs (that would normally go to an ACTUAL led) go in the top connectors.

The ELWire AC voltage (from the transformer), goes in the side).

And the switched ELWire voltage comes out the bottom.

There are circuits to control 2 elwire segments, via 2 LEDWiz outputs on this one board.

Here's the back (no laughing at my soldering job  



And here's a little vid of it in action (hopefully, I've got the embed right)

All I've done with this is set it to the LEDWiz built in ramp up/down animation.



Not a huge deal, I suppose, but it's been fun working out the circuit. Technically, this circuit should be good to control any kind of ELWire or ELTape/panel you want.

I'm wiring up a few "Power coils" like the above, plus some downlight effects on the control panel itself, that'll all be controlled along with all the LED's via the LEDWiz.

Believe it or not, it's bright enough to see the pulsing even during the day, though it's definitely more impressive with the room darkened  

[thatpurplestuff]

Holy crap that is awesome!  Honestly that looks really slick, and the "small" (in size, not in coolness) details like this are really going to make your cab shine.  This thing is already looking great and it just keeps getting better.

As a side note, thank you very much for your electrical input for the skeeball build.  I've had to take a short build break since we've been having to pay deposits for various wedding services and money is pretty tight right now, but I plan on resuming work shortly.  Thanks again!

[painterinfo]

That ELWire looks like interesting stuff and the way you have it curled and pulsing like an old fashioned light bulb fits in well with the theme. I bet not even the ELWire people have it do that. 

[drventure]

Thanks, guys

Yeah, I've seen some blinking ELWire, that kind of thing, but only in tshirts or backpacks. The really cool thing is, once you hook it up to a controller like the LEDWiz and an app like LEDBlinky (Thanks Arzoo!), effects like that are childs play.  Unfortunately, the controller circuit isn't particularly cheap.
At frys, I spent approx
2.50 for the optoisolator
2.50 for the triac
4 for 2 small breadboards (so 2 for the one).
3.50 for 6 screw down molex connectors
probably .05 a piece for the resistors

so about 9$ to control one ELwire segment. Granted, there's places online that sell these components for MUCH cheaper esp in bulk, but still.

Next up (when I get a few bucks) is to pick up one of those Ambi light sets. It'd be utterly fantastic to have all the cab lights dance in time (and color) to what's going on onscreen.

And if I can ever get DirectShow filters figured out, I might just be able to put a first release of Engine18 up.

[saurian333]

WOW, that is really slick.  I love the coil.  How much does the LEDWiz software allow you to customize the pulsing?  Could you make it, say, slower/more gradual or even randomized?  That would be exceedingly cool.  I'm going to have to pick one of those up when I have the cash to spare, just to play around with.

Where did you get your ELWire from?  (My apologies if you've said so; I'm obviously too lazy to search through the thread.)  I'd like to experiment with that stuff as well, time/$ permitting.

As always, excellent work, Doc.  I'll almost be sad when you decide this thing is finished!

[drventure]

I'll almost be sad when you decide this thing is finished

  That's assuming it ever gets "finished" 

I got mine here
http://stores.ebay.com/GlowinWire

But there's lots of places to get it on ebay. Thing is, i could never find a stateside seller. Oh well. I tried.

I also picked up one of these usb EL Wire inverters. Works great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-inverter-for-3Meters-el-wire_W0QQitemZ120384615603QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c077b74b3

They also sell el sheets you can cut any which way you want.

I haven't played much with LEDBlinky (just enough to make sure I could control the wire through it). I'm pretty sure you can set up animations just about any way you want to with it though.

I'll definitely post more on that once I get to that point.