The Shmup! Arcade (Final Move 4-26-13)

[Ryglore]

Good luck Ryglore. Tell your buddies if they do a good job that they get 1 free credit. After that its $0.25 a play.

I already bribed one of them with as much R-Type as he wants and beer. 

[Ryglore]

Tomorrow is the last day I'll have access to my folk's digi cam, since they are taking it with them on vacation.  But I'll be using it to document the move as much as possible. In total there will be 4 guys there and my dad is only driving the truck and (maybe) a trailer to move it in. So I'll see if I can get him to take pictures of us man handling the thing up the stairs.

I double checked everything today too. The door opening is your standard house door, and there is plenty of room for the 27.5" cab to fit. The troublesome part was the staircase, but I double checked the width tonight and it's 38 inches wide. So there should be no issues as far as maneuvering goes.

Tonight I also did some cleaning and rearranging of the apartment. I moved my bookcases around and got everything ready. So, once I get the cab into the apartment it's just a matter of moving it into place and I won't have to add rearranging to my list of things to do tomorrow.

I'm hoping this weekend I can get away and take my CPO to the printer... maybe a quick stop during lunch is in order.

[Epyx]

You have a lot of depth on that cab though...enough room to rotate at the top of the stairs into the door?

[Ryglore]

You have a lot of depth on that cab though...enough room to rotate at the top of the stairs into the door?

Oh ya, I have a 6-7 foot patio balcony outside the door. So there should be no problem. Worst case, we tilt it inward and drop it on the front wheels inside then heft it into the doorway until it's back wheels are in.

[Epyx]

Nice 

[blackwatchplad]

I'm really late in commenting on this.. but that side art looks damn good.  And done with just paint and tape? I love it

Also, Ive seen several intro videos for cabs but yours has to be one of the better ones that I've seen.
It's the perfect amount of simplicity, but it still grabs your attention, and not to mention it looks like something you would really see in the arcades.

Ive been keeping tabs on this cab since it started and it has came a long way and i think its awesome.

[Ryglore]

I'm really late in commenting on this.. but that side art looks damn good.  And done with just paint and tape? I love it

Also, Ive seen several intro videos for cabs but yours has to be one of the better ones that I've seen.
It's the perfect amount of simplicity, but it still grabs your attention, and not to mention it looks like something you would really see in the arcades.

Ive been keeping tabs on this cab since it started and it has came a long way and i think its awesome.

Thanks! Yeah, painting the side art on is the only way I could guarantee that it would turn out exactly how I wanted it to look. Though, I'm leaving it as is and have decided I won't be putting the crosshairs or the logo on the sides.

I love how the video turned out and can finally leave it be, I especially dig the static and turning off section with the flickering P1 icon.  The only odd thing is, the video is a lot louder than the sound of games in Mame. But really, it doesn't matter, since it'll only play once a day, lol.

[Ryglore]

This morning I got an email notification from Mamemarquees that my marquee has been shipped! 20 minutes ago I recieved an email from UPS telling me the tracking number and that expected delivery is 10-30-09.... DANG! That's fast! I was really expecting to the the marquee sometime next week, but hey, I'll take tomorrow. 

Also, according to USPS tracking, the Sanwa balltops for my custom joysticks are in Detroit! So I'm hoping those arrive in the mail tomorrow too. Once they get here I can start working lathe magic and make up the custom shafts for them.

[Ryglore]

Today we moved the SHMUP to it's place in my apartment. It was a bit heavier than I expected and getting it up the stairs was a treat in of it self. We met up at my place and drove over to my parents house. I then unhooked the Control Panel and the PC and put them in the trunk of my car and we laid the cab on it's back on a blanket in the back of my dad's truck.

I wanted to get a bunch of pictures of the move, but by the time we got over to pick it up it was already dark out (damn you Fall daylight!). So all I have is this single picture of the SHMUP in it's rightful place.



Also, It's a "for sure" that my marquee will be arriving tomorrow. Apparently Mame Marquees is in Detroit, and even with the standard UPS shipping it's almost like Next Day shipping, which is awesome. I had to turn my header light off while we were playing it tonight since it was so bright. I may look into adding some extra paper behind the marquee and sanding the rear piece of plexi to "frost" it if the light shines through too much. I'm also thinking I'll try Yvan's "Black backer" idea.

[Epyx]

Congrats on a successful move, I bet that is a sigh of relief...soon, very soon you will be getting hours of pleasure on that cab.  Btw...have you got the PC version of Raiden IV? If not GET IT...fantastic shooter.

[Ryglore]

soon, very soon you will be getting hours of pleasure on that cab.

Oh, I've been playing it all night! But I can't wait until it's 100%, then it will be amazing. And no I don't have the Raiden IV, I'm going to have to look into it for sure.

[Ryglore]

Also I love not having an "insert coin" button. 

[drventure]

Very nice. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. Guess when you see it "in place", the scale is more evident.

Nice job, though. And fast too!

I'm building my cab like it did my degree, the 7 year plan 

[Ryglore]

I'm building my cab like it did my degree, the 7 year plan  

Ha, ya. But your cab is way more intricate than this one. Doesn't help that I was using my folk's garage and I couldn't spend a year building it.  

[Chicken McNobody]

It must feel great to finally have it home, I know it isn't done, but it will be easy to work on the fine details with more comfort and ease now.

I would do all the messy work in the basement, and when it was done enough, upstairs it went.  The little things would get done after the cabinet was moved upstairs.  It not only made the work go smoother, but it felt nice to be back amongst the living rather than in an unfinished mostly empty basement/work area.

[Ryglore]

It must feel great to finally have it home, I know it isn't done, but it will be easy to work on the fine details with more comfort and ease now.

Yup, it's a great feeling! The only thing I need a workshop for now are the custom joystick shafts. Which I'll be doing that at work on our metal lathe. Hopefully when I go home for lunch the mail will be in and I can start working on the joysticks tonight.

[emphatic]

Congrats on a successful move, I bet that is a sigh of relief...soon, very soon you will be getting hours of pleasure on that cab.  Btw...have you got the PC version of Raiden IV? If not GET IT...fantastic shooter.

Don't you mean Raiden III? AFAIK, IV is only ported to 360 as of now.

[Ryglore]

IV is only ported to 360 as of now.

What? how did I miss this? Looks like I'm going to the games store!

[Ryglore]

Today was a pretty exciting day, at lunch the mail came and the Sanwa balltops arrived! I took them back to work with me and since we were dead slow I started working on them. I tapped the screw holes in them to 1/4" and then cut my two new shafts for the Joysticks.

The balltops!


The shafts are 1/2" aluminum round bar and I cut them to 6" lengths, though I will likely make them a little shorter than the standard bat handles that are on the CP currently... but not by much.  I lathed the end of the new sticks down to 1/4" and then used my die to thread them to 1/4-20. Next I have to lathe the other end down to 10mm, this will allow all the pieces for the actuator to fit the shaft. I am doing away with the black tube that is usually under the bat handle and will polish the sticks, though the top will be given a little bevel to make the join at the ball a little nicer looking, this will be done last, so I don't have to change tooling on the lathe multiple times.

The beginnings of the custom stick project.


While I was at work, I received a notification that my marquee had been delivered. So, on the way home I stopped to pick it up. I haven't got any retainer pieces yet, I was waiting to see how thick everything was going to be before I bent up the aluminum I will be using for it. I did hold it up to the light to see how bright it looked and I think I may either try Yvan's idea with the black background on thicker paper, or I may just cut a piece of my drawing paper and fit it behind the marquee to diffuse the light a little more.

Marquee fresh out of the packing


Testing it on the cab without the Flash. (It's way brighter in person)


Tonight, the plan is to pull the P2 joystick from the CP and begin figuring where I need to start the 10mm section of the stick and where to put the slot for the E-clip. This should be pretty easy, since All I really need to do is figure out the length of the black tube and then add a bit extra for the bottom half of the bat handle. The E clip may be a bit trickier, as I need to figure out the placement of that and then the depth of the cut in order to get the clip to fit snuggly.

[Ryglore]

Oh, I forgot to add. Given the quality of the marquee and how fast it got here, I'm totally going to be sending Mame Marquees my CPO artwork to print off.  

[drventure]

Nice work on the joysticks. Do you work in brass? 

[Ryglore]

Nice work on the joysticks. Do you work in brass? 

I could give it a shot. 

[Epyx]

Don't you mean Raiden III? AFAIK, IV is only ported to 360 as of now.

Yep thanks.

And Ryglore  

That Marquee looks wicked!  Damn nice! When you have it mounted with your retainer (when its done) I want pics!!!

Can't wait to see the balltop sticks done either!

[Epyx]

Oh and out of curiosity what are the dimensions of your Marquee?

[Ryglore]

Don't you mean Raiden III? AFAIK, IV is only ported to 360 as of now.

Yep thanks.

And Ryglore  

That Marquee looks wicked!  Damn nice! When you have it mounted with your retainer (when its done) I want pics!!!

Can't wait to see the balltop sticks done either!

You'll get pics! I'm super excited about it, tomorrow I'm going to bend up the aluminum for the retainer and install it. Actually about an hour ago I ordered up my CP art, just because I am so hyped about how the marquee turned out.

Oh and I plan on working on the sticks and making them as nice as possible. I just hope I can get them to look like I picture them in my head.

and  

[Ryglore]

8" x 26" total, but w/ the 3/4 MDF on the top and bottom it's more like 6.5" x 26 visible area. 

[Gamester]

Ryglore,

Looking at your lighted marquee, am I seeing correctly that the marquee covers your wood edges, and they are casting a "shadow line" on the top and bottom?

I've been debating whether to size my marquee to fit in between the wood edges, or have it cover them.  With the marquee covering the edges, I was concerned about shadows.  I hoped maybe the marquee would diffuse the light enough that you wouldn't see the shadows across the top and bottom.  Guess that's not the case (unless the photo makes it look worse than it really is).

I know some people use pretty wide marquee holders, which would probably cover most of that area anyway, but I was planning to use something fairly thin for mine.  I may have to rethink my strategy.

[Ryglore]

Oh, they really do look that dark, but for my plan it's not a problem. My retainers are going to be a full 3/4" wide for the top and bottom. Originally, my plan was to make the marquee fit over half of the top and bottom and hold it in with T-molding (hence the slotting in those boards). I decided against it, because I would have to pull that T mold off in order to change the bulb in the light when it came time to do that.

Another idea I had at one point was to slot the top and groove the bottom and drop the marquee into it. But I changed that idea because I didn't want to have light shining upwards out of the slot.

If I remember, marquee retainers on real cabs from when I was young were pretty wide. So since my cab is supposed to have the 80's, early 90's feel, I guess I figured a wider retainer isn't a big deal. 

[Gamester]

So what are you using for your retainers? 

I could probably do the same thing, but I will likely need to readjust my artwork to make sure it isn't covered by the retainers.

[Ryglore]

Oh, I have some aluminum sheeting that's black. We have scraps laying around all over at work, so I'll just get a few pieces 26" long and cut them about 2" wide, then I'll bend it in the sheet metal break to get the proper angles. breaking it will likely scratch the aluminum, but I think I may get a flat black can of spray paint and paint it anyway so it's not shiny.

[Epyx]

My retainers are going to be a full 3/4" wide for the top and bottom

Ya same here, that's a good size, particularly for your cab imo. 

So what are you using for your retainers? 

Gamester, Home Depot has angled aluminum in black or chrome that is 3/4" and about $9 for a 10' long piece...you can almost cut 4 retainers from one piece.

[Gamester]

Gamester, Home Depot has angled aluminum in black or chrome that is 3/4" and about $9 for a 10' long piece...you can almost cut 4 retainers from one piece.

Thanks, that's good info.  I'll look into that.

[Malenko]

Testing it on the cab without the Flash. (It's way brighter in person)

throwin up the horns? .\m/   ?

lovin the build cant wait for the end results!

[Ryglore]

throwin up the horns? .\m/   ?

lovin the build cant wait for the end results!

Thanks! It's very near complete!

Ha, not intentionally. It just happened to be the most comfortable way to hold the marquee and take the picture at the same time. 

[Ryglore]

Today I spent most of the day lathing the shafts for the new joysticks. Unfortunately, Out of all the work that was done, I only ended up with one (near finished) stick. While working, i snapped 3 potential sticks in half by being out too far and trying to take bigger bites than I should have. Of course today is also the first time I've ever used the lathe in my life too, so I guess it's not so bad, it was a learning experience. ha

I broke the first one while I was trying to lathe down the 10mm section and I took too big of a bite on the bit... the shaft caught on the lathe tool and rolled up on it, snapping the aluminum. The second was broken in much the same manner as the first, and now I have learned from that mistake.

The third was a near complete stick and I broke that one while trying to cut the slot for the e-clip. The lathing tool caught on the higher shoulders of the cut and it too rolled up and snapped. The E-clip slot has me a bit perplexed... I called it quits on trying to cut that section until I can think of a better way to do it.

The last and only surviving stick is pretty much completely finished. I beveled the top where it joins with the ball top too. Though I need to sand it down a little on the bottom so it will slide into the Super's mounting. I think there is a burr or something keeping it from going into the actual joystick mech. but the shaft slides onto all the other pieces....

I still need to polish this stick as well, but I'll wait until after all the cuts are made. It would be super crappy if the thing looks amazing and then i also broke it while working on the E-clip.

Another idea I have is threading the end and putting a nut on the bottom. perhaps with a keeper pin to keep it from unscrewing... but the e-clip would look so much nicer.

Our ancient lathe at work. The thing is a beast and takes up a whole wall.


Lathing the 10mm section


Before and after.


All that's missing is the e-clip slot and polishing.


Checking the beveled area w/ the Balltop


Not really sure when I'll be able to get back to work on it. Hopefully Monday. I can't wait to get these finished!

[opt2not]

I'm so jealous you have access to a lathe. When I get the space for a proper workshop, I definitely want to have one for future projects.
Just be careful with those things, they're no joke, make sure you roll up your sleeves nice and tight! I've seen accidents where the lathe ripped guy's shirts clean off their backs by getting it caught.

btw, love the marquee. You should throw some foil behind the lamp to get all the illumination pointing forward as much as possible. Keep up the good work!

[Ryglore]

I'm so jealous you have access to a lathe. When I get the space for a proper workshop, I definitely want to have one for future projects.
Just be careful with those things, they're no joke, make sure you roll up your sleeves nice and tight! I've seen accidents where the lathe ripped guy's shirts clean off their backs by getting it caught.

Ya I used to run a printing press, so I make sure to keep any loose sleeves/ clothing away from all moving parts. At first the lathe was pretty intimidating, Ive never used it before and had only seen my brother and Dad use it. Niether of them were at work today, so I had to wing it. Which is prolly why I broke 3 shafts, but it's all practice, I suppose.

I love havign it, and I knew when I started that it would be cool to make up some custom joysticks. It wasn't until I found the green sanwa balltops and showed them to Epyx that I knew I was going to actually go ahead and add them to the design. 

btw, love the marquee. You should throw some foil behind the lamp to get all the illumination pointing forward as much as possible. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Right now I still have the white plastic diffuser on the fluorescent light inside the marquee area. I'm not sure if I'll keep it that way or not. I was so busy working on the joysticks that I forgot to bend up my marquee retainers.. So I guess I can still play with that a bit more. ha

 

[Ryglore]

Today I spent most of the day working on the joysticks and lathing the second one. No potential sticks were broken today! Apparently I have actually learned proper lathing skills, ha.

After I was finished cutting the second joystick shaft, I took both sticks to the drill press and mounted each in the chuck. This allowed me to keep the stick spinning and get an even sanding job on them both. Sanding was done with a mix of dish soap and water with 100 grit black sandpaper, followed by 400 grit w/ water and finally a coat of Gel Gloss brand wax / cleaner. I repeated sanding and polishing three times on each stick and it came out to a really nice glossy metallic finish.

The stick after wet sanding with 100 grit paper.


The stick after wet sanding with 400 grit paper.


Polishing the shaft.


Before and after comparison of the sticks.


Like I had mentioned the other day, it took a few tries to learn how to finesse cutting with the lathe. Unfortunately, what was meant to be a foot of material turned into 3 ft worth of material. But hey, I now have a new skill under my belt. Here is a pic of the finished sticks next to their fallen comrades....


And finally, I mounted one of the sticks into the player one side of the cab. I'm going to hold off on mounted the other one until after i get the CP art installed, just so I don't have to take it all apart again.

[Gamester]

Nice work on the handles!

[Ryglore]

Thanks! The only real problem I had in making them was figuring out how to cut the slots in the bottom for the E-Clip. After testing and failing at rigging up a safe and decent cutter for the lathe, I just marked the location on the bottom of the stick and grabbed a fine cut jigsaw blade for metal and sawed them by hand.