BLACK'S MAGIC- 100% Structurally COMPLETE - PHOTO UPDATES 7-23-2010

[Kman-Sweden]

Nice job. Keep it up. 

[rablack97]

Epyx......Wow, finally a solid lead, can't wait to see those bad boys on the cab.

Kman....Thanks, just trying to keep up with you guys..

[Gamester]

$105 paint job...... but well worth it

If you manage to do it for that, you will have done a very efficient job.  I unfortunately kept finding ways to redo my work.

Looking forward to seeing the end result!

[rablack97]

Small update.....

Got my marquee done today from Fedex Kinkos....Will post photos later....

For some reason they gave me 3 copies of it for $30.00 on backlit film.

Can anybody tell me why they did that?  Is it for diffusing purposes?

Just wondering if anybody else has come across a print company providing 3 copies of a print for a backlit graphic....

 

[Gamester]

Just wondering if anybody else has come across a print company providing 3 copies of a print for a backlit graphic....

I don't know if it's customary for them to provide three, but it certainly affords you some flexibility.  With three of them, you can compensate for the brightness of your back light if needed.  For instance, if the image is too washed out with a single layer, you can add one (or both) of the extras to tone the brightness down some and gain more color detail.

[rablack97]

Hello All,

Few Updates to the Cab.

Painted the insides with a gloss.  Sorry for the dust


Here is the back showing the cooling vent cutouts, power plugin cutout, and the 3 fan cutouts to cool the TV, PC and power supplies.


Here are the sides, painted in the metallic and gloss black



Installed T-molding and test fitted Lumin Disc's and speaker ring setup.


Firing up the disc's and rings








This photo freaked me out, I guess this is where the machine got it's soul.



Finally, here is a shot of the final paint job, this was taken around 4 a.m, but I got my mirror finish.

[emphatic]

Nice work! 

[saurian333]

Whoa, that "soul" photo is freaky.

I like all of your ideas so far; it's turning out pretty well!

Just a thought, there was the comment about the CP fans blowing air in your face.  What if you turned those around and used them as intake instead, and use a cheap black one on the back (say a 180mm or so) for exhaust?  That way you wouldn't get the air in your face, and they'd still be functional.

[rablack97]

Whoa, that "soul" photo is freaky.

Just a thought, there was the comment about the CP fans blowing air in your face.  What if you turned those around and used them as intake instead, and use a cheap black one on the back (say a 180mm or so) for exhaust?  That way you wouldn't get the air in your face, and they'd still be functional.

Yeah it still baffles me how that clear everything else is in that photo and the lumin disk looked the way it did.  I was about to rent "paranormal activity" and watch it, think i'm gonna pass on that now.  I have to say that effect does authenticate my theme.

Yes I addressed that issue when it was first brought up, the fans are just 80mm, so if you think about they would have to blow pretty darn hard to generate the type of air flow to really get on your nerves.  Also, a hard blowing fan is really loud, and I didn't want the extra noise.  To really feel it your face would to be about 6-12 inches from the fan.  Average face will will be at least 3-4 feet from the fans.  The logic was to create a nice cool airflow between the player and the TV screen as LCD's do generate a bit of heat. 

Also, think about like a bowling alley hand dryer, if your hands start to get sweaty, crank up the fans, hold your hand over it and presto, instant dry hands....

But just in case it became an issue, I'm going to attach fan controllers to each fan with control knobs on the side of the CP.  So the player can either have the fan on blast, turn it down or completely turn it off.

Wow a 180 mm fan, those things are huge, CP might take of and fly away . I think that bad boy might take up too much real estate in the bottom of my CP and the back of the CP isnt tall enough to take on a fan that size.

Thanks for the ideas though.

 

[saurian333]

Yes I addressed that issue when it was first brought up, the fans are just 80mm, so if you think about they would have to blow pretty darn hard to generate the type of air flow to really get on your nerves.  Also, a hard blowing fan is really loud, and I didn't want the extra noise.  To really feel it your face would to be about 6-12 inches from the fan.  Average face will will be at least 3-4 feet from the fans.  The logic was to create a nice cool airflow between the player and the TV screen as LCD's do generate a bit of heat.

Oh, I see.  I did catch what you said about attaching speed controllers, but I was thinking you were using them for airflow inside the box, and just wanted the grills on the CP for looks.  I must have missed something in one of your original posts; didn't realize that having them blowing out at you was the whole point.    So nevermind; that is actually a pretty cool idea.

Also, think about like a bowling alley hand dryer, if your hands start to get sweaty, crank up the fans, hold your hand over it and presto, instant dry hands....

THAT is an even better idea!  I like that a lot.  When I build an upright, I might try something like that, perhaps mounted somewhere else, though...

Wow a 180 mm fan, those things are huge, CP might take of and fly away . I think that bad boy might take up too much real estate in the bottom of my CP and the back of the CP isnt tall enough to take on a fan that size.

*Imagines a CP flying around like a hovercraft*   

I use 180mm fans on side panels (on PC cases) a lot; my current one has a 220 on the top.  They move a LOT of air and usually do it more quietly than smaller fans.

Anyway, like I said a minute ago, I was thinking you were using the CP fans for airflow, so my thought was to use them for intake, with a larger fan on the back of the cabinet itself for exhaust.  I do a lot of case modding, so I'm always under the impression that fans are for internal airflow and nothing else.    Depending on where the MoBo is inside the cab, that would be a pretty effective path, too.

But that's neither here nor there, since airflow was not actually your objective.

Again, great looking cab so far.  Every time I see a build going so well, I'm more inspired to do an upright!  Must...finish current project...first...

[rablack97]

Hello All,

Few updates to share, some good, some bad.

Start with the bad.  If you've followed the thread you know how much effort I put into the paint job on this thing.  Well I polished the last piece, and was ready to move the cab from the garage to my game room upstairs.  I enlisted my cousin to help me move it.  Now somehow I started with the intent of the cab being 34" wide, giving me enough room to get through my 35" doorway.  I think my MDF bowed cause it had expanded to a little over 34 3/4, leaving less than a 1/4 of an inch for me to play with.

I'm sure your thinking I jacked up the paint job moving it upstairs right.  Well it never made it out of the garage.  My table saw was set up in the center of the garage and we wheeled the cab around it towards the open garage door, me being all excited pushed it too close to the saw, and disaster hit me like a brick.





Yes, you are correct that is a permanent marker overlay that was done in my insanity.  It was was either that or let it roll on down the driveway and let a car make some more pretty marks on it.

After I cooled down we made it up the stairs to the game room.

So now for the good updates.

I found a set of 4 120 mm fans for $15.00 which i mounted into the 3 cooling holes in the back of the cab, the fourth will be mounted behind my amp which i will show later..



I also bought a few filtered grill covers to keep the dust out and to dress it up a bit.



Inside shot




Here are the vents permanently mounted





Turned out interesting as to how i mounted the disks with the lumin rings.  The speaker rings came with an assortment of springs. So I placed the larger ones behind the MDF, with the concept that the springs would push the MDF against the disk and the speaker rings without me having to over tighten the screwes.  The springs also kept me from screwing in too far and through my cab, once the srings were compressed, I knew it was far enough.  Ends result is a snug fit, no rattling no loose parts.




And here is the setup in action,  the lumins really pick up all the treble and the speaker rings add that extra glow on the heavy pieces of the music.  I chose techno as it has a little of both.

[Gamester]

Looking good!

That really stinks about the scratch on the side.  Unfortunately I can totally relate.  I had a similar disaster with mine.  I had balanced the CP box on the cab to take some measurements and instead of removing it when I was done, I left it there.  Well, I then proceeded to brush up against it while walking past and it came crashing to the ground.  Totally destroyed the paint job on one corner.

Question on the fans...  do all of those fans act as intake or does the one at the top exhaust?  I ask because you have filters on all three.  A filter on an exhaust fan would be counter-productive (if not pointless).  If they are all intake fans, you may consider flipping the top one to exhaust.  You'll likely get better circulation inside the cab that way.  Just my $0.02.

The speaker rings and lumindiscs look great.  Have you tried leaving the lumindisc on full time and only having the speaker ring react to sound, just to see how it looks?  That way there's still a light show even if there's no sound.

Coming along nicely...

[rablack97]

They are all intake, mainly just to pull cool air from the outside in.  I see your point only that each fan will be blocked off from the other.  The fans are in 3 sections of the cab. In a prior post you will see that there will be a board in between fans 1& 2 from the bottom, and the TV shelf totally blocks off the ventilation to what could be a an exhaust fan.  Also, these things don't blow super hard ($15.00 for 4) so the circulation effect wouldn't be as effective as I would like it to be.  So a little cool air intake is what I went with with vents up top for some of the warm air to escape.

Good idea I will try that tonight with the disks.

Yeah one day i might sand it down and repaint it, for now I'm tired of painting.  You were right, 15 cans of primer to do the cab.  Roughly about 30 can total.  I know you found your system, but fyi, Killz odorless spray primer covers really well, only thing is you dont get much in the can, hence 15 cans of primer.

Thanks for the ideas, I'm wiring the fans tonight....Wish me luck

[rablack97]

Hello All,

A few updates.

Mounted marquee retainer, marquee and backlighting.




I am no electrician, but this is my attempt at using a terminal to bring 12v from the PS to the marquee lighting, cooling fan and the neon speaker rings.  Miraculously it works.




In order to get USB ports to the outside, I found these feed through adaptors.






Same concept for headphones, there are two as I decided to add a DJ feature to the cab as well, so you can cue music before playing it through the main speakers.




I couldn't get the whole photo to show but there is another port to the far right of the headphone jacks.



I hadn't planned on doing this part, but a brainstorm lead me to do it. I decide to add neon lighting to the hidden keyboard drawer beneath the CP.  I found a flexible neon tube at the local autozone and routed out a with my dremel.  I then superglued the tube inside of the groove.  I will have a switch wired to the stop point of the drawer that will activate the light when its open and deactivate the light when its closed.




I attached a layer of plexiglass over it and the finished product looks like this, the keyboard will sit in the center.



I caught a great deal on this smart strip $20.00, there happened to be guy who was liquidating his inventory.  He had about 20 of these and was selling via eBay.  He so happened to live 20 mins from me, so i met up with him and he gave me 1 brand new for 20 bucks.



I mounted it inside the cab and cut the plug to wire it to a more appropriate arcade cab switch.










Finally decased my PC



More terminals to run 12v power to the rest of the fans and the neon lighting (more on that later.)



Here are the blue tubes that will light up the decased computer.



Here is another little gem I came across at a great deal.  This bad boy will power my 600 watt amp.  It's a cascade audio 600 watt 45 amp power supply, same used in car audio stores to demo products..  Retail $250.  EBay $80.00




Finished the see through cover for the decased PC, turned out really nice.




I will post pics of the full installation at a later date.

Here is the back of the amplifier panel, yes more terminals this will power the fan (for amp cooling) and all the lighting around the crossovers and the amp.  Which will be triggered upon opening the front door of the cab.  The same trigger will also activate the neon tubes to light up the decase PC, when the door closes all lighting will shut down but the fan will remain on.



Got a chance to wire up the locking DC power plugs, these will bring ground, 12v, 5v into my control panel.  The DB25 terminal will connect the admin buttons to the ipac, I'll post more on that when I get around to completing the CP.





That's all for now, comments, critiques are always welcome.

[Kurt]

Nice job with the wiring, I wish we could get them smart power strips in australia.

[Silas (son of Silas)]

I just read through the whole thread. Nice looking cab.

I really felt your pain when I read you gashed your paint. That's the kind of thing that to anyone else is minor, but when you've put so much effort into something it really stings.

Thanks to your video clip of your Lumin Disc I am now listening to Sandstorm by Darude (took me forever to find it / remember what it was called) . I hadn't heard that track for ages. 

[drventure]

Great idea with the keyboard tray. I also love those USB passthrus and the db25 breakout. Wish I'd known about those earlier <sigh>

[rablack97]

Thanks guys,

Nice job with the wiring, I wish we could get them smart power strips in australia.

I take it there's a power voltage difference between the US and Australia.  If not, check EBay, look for RedTex1967 as the seller and see if he will ship to Australia.  He's really cool and is really trying to get rid of these things.  They retail for like USD 55, he has the latest version.

As for the wiring, I used molex for quick disconnect purposes, but if you dont get the crimp right you spend hours trying to figure out why your application for the connection wont work. It's a PITA, but worth it if you get it going.

I just read through the whole thread. Nice looking cab.

I really felt your pain when I read you gashed your paint. That's the kind of thing that to anyone else is minor, but when you've put so much effort into something it really stings.

Thanks to your video clip of your Lumin Disc I am now listening to Sandstorm by Darude (took me forever to find it / remember what it was called) . I hadn't heard that track for ages. 

Yeah you see how I tried to fix it, temporary insanity.  I stopped work on it a few days just to cool down.  LOL, yeah the cab will be a jukebox too, so I have plenty of techno.  I remembered it from my Dance Dance Revolution days.  So the title stuck.

Great idea with the keyboard tray. I also love those USB passthrus and the db25 breakout. Wish I'd known about those earlier <sigh>

Yeah I thought it would look cool, but i didnt know how to get it done.  Turned out nice though.

Check out mouser.com, it has pretty much any gadget you can think of.  The headphone jacks i got from altex.com

The db25 breakout was an idea i got from the Robert downey arcade odyssey project, he's been sorta my mentor.  I created a start up video for him, so he gives me direction when i get stuck and we trade ideas.

Thanks for the comments..... 

[Kman-Sweden]

Nice job with the wiring, I wish we could get them smart power strips in australia.

If you have 220v down under and really want one I could buy one for you here in Sweden and send it to you.
No clue how much it would set you back with shipping but I could do some investigations. Changing the plug to fit you outlets shouldn't be a problem.

[rablack97]

Hello All,

A few minor updates.

Mounted the neon lighting bars inside the cab.


Back to my see through project, here it is placed inside the cab....


Here it is lit up




Here are the amp and crossovers mounted...



Lit up (As stated in a previous post, there will be a switch to shut all of this down when the front door is shut and on when it's opened.)



Next i tackled the keyboard drawer front.

Matching paint job.


Then i attached a spare piece of mdf to the back and painted it flat black.



Then i attached one side of some folding hinges to the front edge of the drawer.



The i attached the other side of the hinges to the bottom of the flat black mdf piece.



I then mounted two magnets to the inside of the cab.


The drawer pushes in, the front lift up and attaches to the magnets.


There's alot going on in this photo so might as well fill in the blanks.  

First ignore the ugly mouse its gonna get replaced.
That's my unfinished CP base ready for final buffing.
Above that is my admin panel minus the buttons and the tweeters.
That little switch on the floor is what will shut the leds off, when the door is shut.
The 3 cords to the right on th couch are my 12v 5v and ground DC plugs that will plug into the back of the CP.


Ok back to the drawer, now closed.


I also got around to painting my front door, here it is with the coin door and speaker holes cut out, yesssss, matching paint job.


Here are the focal speakers, i added some weather stripping so there would be no speaker to wood contact, so no rattle.  The 10" woofers in this thing thump.




This is my most prized purchase so far, a Happs over/under coin door with mechs for $20.00, I love Ebay.

I switched out the ugly yellow coin rejects for blue, and rewired the lights and the switches.  I am going to replace the lights with LED's at some point.




I was all happy and ready to mount it and guess what no freakin mounting screws and tabs.  This is my first build so I didnt kow what was missing.  I went back to the ebay guy, and he tried to stiff me since i got the door for so cheap, 1.50 per tab an screw.  I ended up convincing him to send me 15 tabs and screws for 5 bucks and free shipping.  Here is the end result, I'm loving it.



Well, thats it for now, feel free to bash , congratulate, or comment.....All are welcome...

[Gamester]

Looking good!

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but hopefully those speakers are well above knee level.  Otherwise I could easily see the grills getting bent during some spirited game play...

[Epyx]

I love the mods Rablack97!

Those speakers should pound out some nice sound too!  Ah...makes me wish mine was done for some bass filled Black Tiger

[rablack97]

Thanks Gamester,

I actually have two stools that will be used for seating.  If someone wants to stand then with the CP top attached there is plenty of knee space.  The door is pretty far back for that exact reason.  I've already had paint disasters, I would be livid if I came home and the speakers were dented.

You got me to upgrade my PC as well, I tried SF4 with my setup, and got a whopping 12 FPS.

Here is my wish list, what do you think?

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

Patriot Gamer Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220410

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490

MSI 770-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130250

Thanks Epyx,

Oh yeah, 2 10" woofers, 2 6" midrange above the monitor, 2 6" mini woofers in the door, and 2 tweeters in the admin panel = 600 watts.  I only have the big woofers and the midrange hooked up now, and it sounds awesome.  No rattles anywhere, nice and clear.

The only thing now is a slight echo cause i have hooked up channels 3 & 4 yet to fill in that range of void.

Had to go old school , was jamming some BEE GEE's in the photos  

[rablack97]

In the midst of waiting on parts and configuring the system, I updated my intro video.  I'm a Mortal Kombat Raiden fan so I integrated the theme with the character.  I chopped up one of my favorite movies "Big Trouble in Little China" and threw in some added sound fx and graphics.  The movie clips at the end were created by Delusional, so the addition really finished off the project.

Yes, I already know I'm gonna get the it's too long speech, and after the 50th time is gonna suck.  Well, I like it, it's my cab, and my self-torture, besides that's what the ESC button is for.  Let me know what you think minus the fact that it may be too long for a majority of the forums taste.


Long Version                                                                                                               


Short Version (advice from Kurt)

Dd just have it from 1:12 mark to 1:20 if it got to annoying after awhile as it looks sweet when the lighting bolt is thrown then mame appears.

[Kurt]

Dd just have it from 1:12 mark to 1:20 if it got to annoying after awhile as it looks sweet when the lighting bolt is thrown then mame appears.

I dont mind it besides as you said esc fixes it 

[Gamester]

I agree with Kurt, the short version is much better, IMO.

Props for the creative use of the movie footage.   

[Epyx]

I agree with Kurt, the short version is much better, IMO.

+3 

[Veeb0rg]

Did you bypass the fuse for a reason?

[rablack97]

You could wire it to include the fuse if you wanted, but the switch was used more for its function and looks more than protection.  If your wiring your source through the switch say directly to your PC power supply the I wouldn't have by-passed the fuse.  I figured the actual smart strip would give me all the protection I would need.  In fact I was wiring last night I accidentally touched 2 wires together and it tripped the smart strip and shut the machine down, no issues.  I just re-started and it was fine.

[Eddie_Brock]

Firing up the disc's and rings

Resistance is Futile!

The resemblence is uncanny 
Great job, it truly looks amazing. 

[rablack97]

Ok I need help deciding which CP art to use......

I just removed the wizard and replaced with a nice Raiden Graphic.....

Sucks that I already have the wizard CP printed.....Oh well, not the first redo in this whole project...

Original



Updated

[Gamester]

Personally, I like the wizard one better...

Nice progress!

[Epyx]

Personally, I like the wizard one better...

+1

[kop]

Focal splits in an arcade cabinet.   I'm very impressed.  Should sound awesome when done.  Very cool project you have going here.

FWIW I think the wizard looks better.

[rablack97]

I wanted to get some input on j-sticks.

Should I go with JLW or JLF.

The difference is in the microswitches, JLW is older uses authentic lever switches and look to have a bigger mounting plate, JLF uses a PCB board and is the new model and seems to be used more for standalone CP's.

Any pros and cons on either.

I was looking at the U360's but I want the lighted ball tops and after research seems thats not gonna happen due to the modifications it needs to make that happen.  Plus I cant see myself tearing up and expensive stick like that only to screw up the functionality so i can see pretty lights.

So i'm torn between JLF/JLW, any comments would be appreciated.
 

[Epyx]

@Rablack97

Let me just say this right now...I *LOVE* my JLWs...for me it blows every other stick I have tried out of the water. I still like my Comps...but I think these sneak by even those for overall versatility.  I keep one at 4 way and the other at 8 way and man...during *testing* last night (read playing) they just felt fantastic.

While I can't comment on the JLFs (only other stick I haven't tried of the common ones) here are the pros of the JLW:

Pros

- Fantastic throw...just the right distance...not too long not too short
- Non mechanical centering feel (IE opposite of Magstick Plus)
- Great for fighting and 8 way
- Fantastic for 4 ways
- Easy to top mount on top of wood without anything other than FrancoBs mod
- Easy to mod with LEDs
- Not crazy Clicky (again unlike Magstick Plus)
- Awesome switch contact

Cons

- I honestly haven't come across a negative...if anything just the fact I have to put my hand under the CP to switch between 4 and 8 way...everything else just plain kicks arse

[opt2not]

The only difference is the space they take up  and the ability to replace your microswitches down the line. In terms of feel they're pretty similar.

With the JLF, because the switches are mounted to the PCB, if they were to fail from use later on, it'll be hard to replace them. I personally would go with the JLW, since CP space isn't an issue for you, and the maintenance ability would come in handy down the line.

Also, I like the wizard CP art better too. 

[rablack97]

Ok good this is what i needed to hear.  Some feedback from someone who has had some play time and a reassurance on maint.

Easy to top mount on top of wood without anything other than FrancoBs mod

Do you have to top mount?  What's the pro's cons here? Ultimarc has a kit to mount underneath.

Easy to mod with LEDs

I've been emailing thorsten and he has the JLW shafts, I think he fell asleep on me, cause he just stopped emailing. LOL

Also, I like the wizard CP art better too

Seems thats the majority wizard it is............

Thank you Epyx & Opt2not

[opt2not]

I've been emailing thorsten and he has the JLW shafts, I think he fell asleep on me, cause he just stopped emailing. LOL

I know that HarumaN was looking to get rid of a few hollowed shafts. They're JLF shafts, so I'm not sure if they're interchangeable with the JLW's. I think he still has them.

[Epyx]

Do you have to top mount?  What's the pro's cons here? Ultimarc has a kit to mount underneath.

You don't have to but if you are using plexiglass or laminate why not? It's no harder than bottom mounting. If you are painting then ya put them underneath using the Ultimarc kit.

Pros of top mounting are stick length...take a look at the shot of the JLWs on my CP and note how my shafts stick out above the laminate.  I like a long shaft above the wood (don't go there!).  Placing my hand vertical beside the stick the ball just fits into the groove between my thumb and index finger...perfect


As for Thorsten, he does superb work and may just not be around the last few days but his communication is usually bang on.