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My arcade cabinet (unorigional title)
romshark:
Like many that dwell within these forums, I have long dreamed of owning my own arcade machine. I've owned the Project Arcade book for nearly four years, pouring over all the information lots of times. I've collected some odds and ends, like a trackball, with no real intent. I have a Hotrod joystick. I even bought a TMNT jamma board, and aside from a little testing with what I have, it gathered dust in my closet (figuratively speaking, since it was in a protective box.)
Finally, the opportunity presented itself. With vacation time that had to be taken (if I didn't, I'd lose that vacation time!) but nowhere to really go, I decided the time was right to plan and build one. I once again studied the Project Arcade book. I studied the Crap Mame web site. I studied real arcade machines (I'm lucky enough to live about 10 minutes from a good arcade. Flipper McCoys for those familiar with the Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA area.)
I used the Hotrod, along with a table, boxes, and books to determine the perfect hight for my control panel for comfortable gaming. Same thing with my LCD monitor, once it arrived.
Finally, construction began back in February. I never really followed any plans, but still used tips from the Project Arcade book. For example, before, I would have tried screwing one panel directly into another, like some sort of DIY furniture kit. After reading, I used wood glue, and both pieces are actually screwed/glued to another inside piece of wood. I feel better knowing my cabinet won't collapse in on itself.
I posted this on sega-naomi.com before, so maybe some of you have seen it. Post is here.
This cabinet is based on...I'm not sure. I guess a generic cabinet. Is this called a Dynamo cabinet? Someone tell me what I built. :dunno
Notice I never referred to it as a MAME cabinet. While it does have a PC with MAME and other various emulators and programs, it also features:
-A JAMMA connector and power supply. A CGA to VGA circuit board makes the video possible.
-Sega NAOMI. Marvel VS Capcom 2, Guilty Gear X, and a few others. All without emulation!
- S-Video and component. I can play any of my console systems easily. I wired the input selector on the monitor to a switch on the back of the cabinet, so I don't need to remove the plexiglass and the bezel to change it.
-Wii Sensor bar built in. Because some Wii games work better standing up. And it's easier to play games standing up if the screen is actually at eye level (unlike my console setup).
Power is controlled by a PC power switcher (not sure what they're really called). Video is selected via VGA switchbox I got for cheap from eBay, and audio is selected by pushbutton AV switchbox (from my Console setup, before I bought automatic switches).
In the end, I'm pretty happy about how it turned out. There are some issues with the control panel (plexiglass not really lined up with edges and sits above some of the T-Molding, odd start putton placement, found out when I play Golden Tee, my hand hits the pause button), and the top half is not a perfect rectangle (spent a good deal of time with a mototool shaping various edges of the plexiglass), and the front cabinet door still doesn't fit correctly. I might build a new control panel eventually, but I think I can live with the rest.
I'll post more as I think of what else to say (and get some sleep), and as I take and upload more pictures, including my recent upgrades and rewiring.
GaryMcT:
Good job!!
dungbeetle46:
well done, looks good
javeryh:
Nice job! You can't go wrong with a 2P-7 button/trackball layout.
romshark:
Thanks for the good words!
--- Quote from: javeryh on August 26, 2009, 12:35:44 pm ---Nice job! You can't go wrong with a 2P-7 button/trackball layout.
--- End quote ---
I modeled it after my Hotrod joystick, except with room for the trackball in the middle. Perfect for Street Fighter style games, and the Neo-Geo button arrangement too.
Anywho, some more on the building process.
The results of day 1 of the build. Pretty solid, and with castors on the bottom. In fact, I even sat inside and rolled around the garage floor! (Video NOT coming to youtube.)
A good nights sleep, and back to cabinet work. Actually, I think this is a couple days of work later. Testing my monitor angle using the NAOMI (no controls just yet!) I designed it so the monitor can be installed horizontally or vertically. I know that I can rotate MAME, but I want to be ready in case I ever score a Ms. Pacman PCB or Ikaruga for the NAOMI. Plus, being an LCD screen, I can easily pick it up to rotate it.
Also, this is where it started to feel like an arcade machine. A wonderful feeling I'm sure many have had on their first build.
My control panel, contruction. I don't know why, but plexiglass gave me the hardest time. I cracked a few pieces while drilling, and when I cut it (with the plexiglass-cutting tool I bought), it didn't come off clean. I had to use a moto-tool to smooth it up. A friend of mine said he had the same problem, and that was when he worked for an actual arcade!
Here's the top half, during the painting phase. This was actually a month or so later. I was spending most of the time setting up software and playing games!
There were some holes below the monitor area, and another set above. These were for the NAOMI gun IO Sensors (really, just IR emmiters.) These were for the gun games like House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission. I never could get it to work even halfway right, though. So I plugged up the holes with Quickwood and painted over them. I'll have to build a dedicated cab to play those games. ;)
In some of the pictures, you may have noticed two holes in the front below the control panel. Those were origionally going to be for the NAOMI guns. I'm still deciding if I should close them up, try installing my LCD Topgun for MAME and use one of the holes, or something else.
On the PC end of things, I bought an eMachines for cheap. Flushed Vista and put on XP. Tweaked a few things, and now it boots to the front end in less that 30 seconds! That's about as fast as the NAOMI carts.
My front-ends are MALA and 3D-Arcade. Wait, two front-ends? MALA is the primary front-end, and 3D-Arcade is actually launched from a list in MALA. I also have other programs, like WinCab, and even stuff like the old DOS game Jazz Jackrabbit! I still have to set up MUGEN eventually, once I figure out my desired character list. Of course, I have emulators, too. Mame Plus, Fusion, NEStopia, and ZSNES.
I'll take some more pics, and post more info. Even thinking of making a Youtube video.