YAAM - Yet Another Arcade Machine, is now Xmas Arcade

[jeef]

That's 4.75mm MDF. Thinnest I could find. I think it would look better on a flat screen. Not sure about the mix of curved screen and flat looking bezel like what I have. But it is a simple enough solution that looks good enough I think. The preferrable option would be to get one of those Happ monitor bezels, but too much $$$

[Bender]

Are you using 2 different button layouts for P1 and P2, or are you just testing different ones out?

[Ryglore]

That's 4.75mm MDF. Thinnest I could find. I think it would look better on a flat screen. Not sure about the mix of curved screen and flat looking bezel like what I have. But it is a simple enough solution that looks good enough I think. The preferrable option would be to get one of those Happ monitor bezels, but too much $$$

Cool, I think it looks fine. Are you keeping it white? or painting it black or a darker color? If I do that, I'll be painting it black like my monitor mount board. I think once you put the glass/acrylic sheet on it won't look as bad as you think it does right now.

[jeef]

@Bender Yeah, I was skeptical at first, but after putting them down there like that it's actually really comfortable! Sega astrocity player 1 and player 2 layouts, with the 2 right most buttons dropped.

@Ryglore I see a white bezel and i want to paint it black. Yeah that (grey) is just the primer/undercoat, will be going over it with black. Current plan is whole thing black, red trim, and then hopefully some full size stickers/decals/artwork for the sides, control panel and marquee.

[jeef]

Just a really quick update; I've drilled all the holes for my buttons, just need to do the routing for the joysticks. I've ordered the acrylic and I've gone for polycarbonate for the control panel. So with any luck I will have that next weekend, but maybe weekend after.

Things I still have to do:

• Put toe-kick in
• glue speaker board in place
• size up the back panel
• • route groove for t-molding
  • paint
  • finish graphics!
  
  So not too much left to do really!

[jeef]

Alright, got a bit done this weekend. I fixed the route in the speaker panel as it was too thin for the bezel + acrylic, and then glued it in place. I cut the lengths of aluminum that will be my marquee retainers and I flush trimmed my polycarbonate control panel top and drilled all the holes for it. And I routed the top-mounts for the joysticks. Oh, and I used the old mans planer thicknesser to thin the control panel from 18mm to 15mm so that when I put 3mm polycarbonate on top the panel is still only 18mm.

The polycarbonate was incredibly easy to work with. It was quite tricky though making sure it never moved from the MDF part of the CP so that all the holes would line up.

Polycarbonate with holes drilled


And SmugMug is on a go slow, so I will attach the other photos in a moment.

[jeef]

Okay, they're back up. Here's the rest of the photos from the weekend:

Polycarbonate sitting in place, joystick holes drilled:


Top mount routing for the joystick


routing complete


I know I will be disassembling this later (to get the graphics in) but I wanted to start putting it together now to make sure it will fit.


And got a teeny bit of wiring done

[Ryglore]

Nice! That CPO looks awesome, nice job cutting the round bits. 

[Kman-Sweden]

Looking Sweet!

[Ryglore]

One question though. The joystick holes look rather small. I know that when I made my Control panel I had to make the holes for the stick 1 1/8", just like the Button holes. Of course I also mounted my Joys underneath.

[jeef]

@Kman-Sweden Cheers

@Ryglore Thanks. I just used the flush trim and followed the MDF. The polycarbonate cut like butter, no probs at all Drilling the button holes with my spade bit was scary at first. Thought everything was going to snap, but it turned out fine.

I used 28mm for the button holes and 19mm for the joystick hole. I wanted to use 20mm but my 20mm spade bit is bent and wobbles
Don't know how to accurately convert those to inches with fractions, but according to Google:
28mm = 1.102362 inches
19mm = 0.748031496 inches

It is a very small hole for the joystick. I might make it bigger. At the moment it works, just. Which is what I was shooting for.

[Ryglore]

Nice. I know when I was getting ready to drill my holes. I was scared to use a Spade, so I went with the Forstner bit instead. Love the progress Jeef, keep it up!

[jeef]

Okay, I've spent a little time on some graphical ideas. Originally this was going to be a Mortal Kombat themed machine but to be honest, the games I remember actually playing on an arcade machine are Simpsons and TMNT. MK was console for me.

So here's a very rough concept I've put together and it's very open to suggestions. I'm currently worried about the choice of red t-mold. I haven't ordered any t-mold yet so that could easily change, but red controls are already in.

[jeef]

Oh, and don't mind that the marquee is stretched, i just really quickly did that and made it fit. Also don't mind the funny pink/green bits. Couldn't be bothered applying materials to them etc etc.

[emphatic]

Really nice artwork! Wasn't there a cabinet in the Springfield bowling alley called "Time Waster"? I always thought that would be really cool name for a cab.

[Ryglore]

Dang, nice! I would almost like to see it with Yellow t-molding and a blue finish...

[jeef]

@Ryglore To finish of the Simpsons look? I would concur, but I for side art I was hoping to do a collage including tmnt. I guess without showing a render with side art on it would be quite hard to visualise. I'll see if I get time over the weekend, will play with some other t-mold and paint colours

[Gatsu]

as much as I love the simpsons arcade game....you got a 2-player setup home skillet. I'd go with MK or some other fighter for sure. But thats just me.

Its looking really good though man. Keep it up. You're almost there!

[jeef]

@Gatsu Thanks! It does seem a shame to have 2-player cabinet themed towards two 4-player games eh! It started out as MK themed, but as I've built through I want something with a bit more colour. Maybe if I throw MK and SF in the mix...?

[Gatsu]

Street Fighter or one of the VS titles like Marvel vs. Capcom is pretty colorful. hehe.

[Ryglore]

Lol, you could do a mash up of Homer and Bart dresses like Ryu and Ken squaring off vs Mr Burns and Smithers dressed as Leonardo and Donatello. 

[jeef]

@Ryglore haha, an interesting thought!

[jeef]

I know I've been pretty quiet here lately, got a pile of gardening to do and finally getting some good weather to do it in. But the arcade machine has not been forgotten. I've only got a few woodworking this left to do and then it will be ready for prep and paint!

I've been working on my artwork a bit, taking a page from Ryglore's last message. But then my partner said she had already suggested the same thing... woops. Anyway, see if you can guess who this guy is:

[Ryglore]

Nice! I don't know too much about MK, but that mash up is awesome. =)

[Ryglore]

So um, Jeef. Any updates?

[jeef]

@Ryglore Heya, congrats on getting yours finished!

I've been pretty bogged down (with work and gardening) lately, but I haven't stopped completley. I've still been working on the artwork here and there but haven't got a great deal done to be honest. I'm still saving pennies for a few things such as paint and t-molding. I've only got a couple of woodworking things to finish and then I can prep and paint (once I can afford the paint).

But seeings you've been waiting patiently, here's the latest (still in draft of course) artwork:



I'm going to go ahead and wire it all up over the next couple of weekends as I want it running for an upcoming party, but it will be minus paint/t-mold and graphics

[Ryglore]

Nice, what are you naming it now? Springfield Beatdown? 

[jeef]

---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I don't have a name for it now :|
But that's actually quite a good one!

[Ryglore]

---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I don't have a name for it now :|
But that's actually quite a good one!

Ha, you're more than welcome to use it. 

[DCsegaDH]

Nice job! I like the bezel idea

[jeef]

steaming pile of meadow muffin

Haha, is that the censorship at work?

@DCsegaDH Thanks, hopefully it works out okay.

I've started painting! My missus got onto me and said that I should start painting it, so that when it goes inside it can stay there. She said I can use tinsel instead of t-molding for now...
I've gone through 3 cans of spray paint thus far for the undercoat/primer. I think the top coat will be out of a bucket and with the air-compressor. Will try and take some photos of my makeshift spray booth tonight

[jeef]

Alrighty, just to prove that I am actually still active, here's my makeshift spray booth:


Underside of control panel:


And the rest:


That's the undercoat of course, will need to look at top coat options this weekend. I also need to prep the control panel box and start undercoating that and the toe-kick.

[Chicken McNobody]

In keeping with the Simpsons theme.  You could call it Slugfest, like the arcade game in the Noiseland Arcade.  I know there is a Baseball game for the home consoles called that, but it's keeping with the theme. . .

[jeef]

@Chicken McNobody haha, neat idea, cheers!

[Ryglore]

You do know, if you do a mash up of Simpsons and Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat, that you totally need to do Apu as Dhalsim... 

[jeef]

@Ryglore haha! challenge accepted!

[jeef]

I've made a start on Dhalsim Nahasapeemapetilon but I won't show you that just yet. Instead here is the finished paint job. You'll have to forgive the visible plaster etc on the sides, I've only painted the sides as a temp measure until I finish the side-art which will be full size decals. Also, there's a bit of dust visible in the shots.

Here's the full body shot. As you can see I still haven't got a toe-kick:


And a close up of the Admin Panel. You can see the smoked acrylic does a good job of hiding the bezel and everything that was visible behind the bezel:

[Ryglore]

Lookin good! I like the look of the smoked monitor glass. After jacking up the brightness and contrast of the monitor on mine, the screen looks really nice and you don't even notice the panel behind the glass or the thickness of the bezel itself.

Can't wait to see that Dhalsim Nahasapeemapetilon. 

[jeef]

@Ryglore cheers, and yeah, he's getting there

Updates:
I got the CP hinges on and fixed up the tight squeeze for one of the joysticks. Haven't wired the TV up yet, hopefully this weekend. But I've started wiring up the CP:

[jeef]

Things are progress according to plan. All I have left to do (in this phase) is finish the wiring of the Control Panel (just need more spade connectors) and build the PC (need a new video card, mine's AGP and my motherboard only has pci-e)

So, picys!

Wiring thus far:


Monitor on, but no marquee:


Full thing:


Oh, and here's a close up of those lovely xmas CP graphics!




Yes, those graphics are temp, and yes they a wrinkly. It's just xmas wrapping paper. I just wanted something in there for our xmas party this weekend. Plus, this way I'm more likely to finish my actual artwork. Of which I haven't had much time to work on lately, will hopefully bring a shot of Dhalsim next weekend.