My first multi arcade cabinet (Update) Vertical Conversion

[Baldark]

-UPDATE- -- Converted cab into dedicated vertical machine Check it out.

I finally made the conversion to vertical.  I also made a video you can watch with me explaining what I did.  I'll also post good pictures of it because the quality of the video is just plain awful.



-Old news-
Hello everyone, this is my first post I believe.  I just about finished my own project that I have been working on for about a year now.  I'm pretty satisfied with it except that it doesn't have a 4-way stick.  I was thinking about adding one to the control panel, but I won't be doing that for a while.  I posted some videos of it on youtube that I'll link below.

I bought the cabinet from a guy locally for $50.  It was an old phoenix cabinet that had been gutted long ago that was missing it's coin door and control panel.  The sideart and marquee were in rough shape.  I made the mistake of buying an x-arcade tankstick instead of making the control panel myself, but I'm sure almost everyone makes some bad choices with their first project.  I had to cut into the cab in order to mount the panel to the cab.  This was another mistake of mine.

Despite my regrets, I'm still happy with what I got.  
You'll also notice I swapped out the x-arcade sticks with sanwa jlw sticks/square gates.  I left the buttons stock.
I bought an old coin door from Arcadeboneyard.  I removed 1 button from both players and ran the micro switch to the coin doors so that whenever the coin return button was pressed, it would add a credit to the game.
Since the panel is an x-arcade product, the adapters let me link the system up to both my ps2 and ps3.  Due to this fact, there are a lot of cables running inside.  I did my best with organizing the cables by strapping them together, but it's still a mess in there.

Tell me what you guys think of it.  Be sure to check out the final video for it's also my latest update.

Videos

[XNIF]

nice. Now you have learned from you mistakes you can do a scratch build 

[drventure]

Can't see much but it looks pretty decent, esp for  a first build.

It'll definitely give you something to play with while you're waiting for parts/paint to dry/etc while building your new cab 

[Baldark]

I have a question.  Is it possible to wire two different joysticks together so that they are both the first player?  I want to add another joystick to the control panel that is a dedicated 4 way stick.

[hockeyfreak186]

I have a question.  Is it possible to wire two different joysticks together so that they are both the first player?  I want to add another joystick to the control panel that is a dedicated 4 way stick.

Yes it is possible.  Im not quite sure how to do it on an x arcade stick as I have never owned one, but im sure it wouldn't be too hard, just wire up to the same up/down/left/right as the existing stick.  Just make sure no one starts messing with the other stick when your about to break your high score!

[Baldark]

Thanks for the reply.  Now I just have to find a decent spot to put it.

[Burn4Evr]

The way I setup dual sticks for the same player was simple, wire the UDLR to both but wire the ground to a toggle switch. Pretty much insures no one can mess with it while you are playing... plus its great when little kids want to "play" the game while you are playing.

[abispac]

I have a question.  Is it possible to wire two different joysticks together so that they are both the first player?  I want to add another joystick to the control panel that is a dedicated 4 way stick.

the way you can do this on mame its by hiting the tab key and setup the keys you want for player one, you can set multiple keys on one device, and the cool thing, you can even set keys only for the games you want or the whole collection

[Baldark]

nice. Now you have learned from you mistakes you can do a scratch build 

It's too bad that I don't have the skills or even the tools to make my own.  Whenever I start a new project, it'll probably be from another empty cabinet that someone on craigslist is selling/getting rid of.  I want to get a vertical cabinet.

[Baldark]

I decided to turn this cabinet into a dedicated vertical cabinet and dumping the tankstick all together.  The only problem I have now is trying to figure out the control panel.  I searched online for what the dimensions are for the Phoenix Cabinet and can only get pictures.  The centuri website said it was a type B control panel, but it doesn't offer the exact measurements.  Here is a picture.
http://www.centuri.net/data/phoenix/controlpanel.jpg

If I can't find one to buy, might might have to make one myself.
Do any of you guys know what the dimensions are?

[Baldark]

I finally build the control panel from scratch.  I got it mounted and covered with a thin black adhesive.  I'm going to buy a thicker vinyl that has some texture like the one I put on the tankstick. 

I used the Toodles Cthulhu for PC/PS3 for the control panel and it works great.  Since it was a shmup cab, I only put in 3 buttons with 1 button for the start.  I also put two switches behind the coin return buttons so that they add coins when pressed.  I also placed a menu exit switch that can be pressed through the coin retriever.

I replaced the huge tube tv that was in there with a 19 inch lcd.  I found that games like galaga look better on the lcd for some odd reason.

I'll post pictures soon and maybe even a video.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

@Baldark
I used the Cthulhu board as well for my mame cab. I also did a small mod for multi console, so I have my PS2 and dreamcast in my mame cab too through the cthulhu. Just a suggestion in case you ever get the urge to do some more work on your cab. Post those pics!

[BurgerKingDiamond]

hmmm, I just watched ur video and you said that you already have it set up for ps2. So my bad.

[Baldark]

I ended up taking out the ps2 altogether and just making it a dedicated mame vertical machine.  I plan on using the old x-arcade for a pedestal panel though.

[Baldark]

I finally made the conversion to vertical.  I also made a video you can watch with me explaining what I did.  I'll also post good pictures of it because the quality of the video is just plain awful.