My First MAME Build

[NeoFlynn]

Hey all I have been looking at this site off and on for a few years now and finally joined up since I just purchesd my cabinet, I will link to the my website where my info is My plan is to convert a Golden Tee Clubhouse Edition (basically a home version of Golden Tee) into a MAME cab, the nice thing is it already has a trackball that I think I can plug right into a Mini-Pac take a look at let me know what you guys think

http://neoflynn.blogspot.com (Music on blog site possible NSFW - Moderator)
didnt think to put a warning about the NSFW music....my bad

[JustMichael]

I went to your blog and was greeted with the song "The Internet is for Porn" by "Avenue Q".  I never heard it before. Love the song now...   

[BobA]

Good deal on the cab, it is a home edition but since you paid less than a trackball costs you are definately ahead.  Is that a computer monitor in the cab? It does not look like a TV like some of the home cabs have.

[NeoFlynn]

I went to your blog and was greeted with the song "The Internet is for Porn" by "Avenue Q".  I never heard it before. Love the song now...   

The whole "avenue q" musical is hilarious I def. recomend checking it out if you get the chance

Good deal on the cab, it is a home edition but since you paid less than a trackball costs you are definately ahead.  Is that a computer monitor in the cab? It does not look like a TV like some of the home cabs have.

Yes it is a monitor but the one in the can is currently not working but it shouldn't be to difficult to drop a new monitor in there, I can decided if I should mock everything up first or disassemble and repaint first any recomendations?

[BobA]

My recommendation would be disassemble and paint.  If you get it running before it is finished you might fall into the the never got it finished group because it is playable and things seem to slide.

[NeoFlynn]

thats what I am thinking too, any idea what the best way to remove the vinyl decals on the cab would be??

[BobA]

I think that some people use a hair dryer to heat and lift the vinyl.

[NeoFlynn]

def. a good idea i will have to try that thanks for the advice

[NeoFlynn]

The first build day on the project which is really an unbuild day (lol). I havn't totally decided on what I want the theme to be but I think I am going to go with a Nebraska Huskers theme as I think a red cabinet is going to look really nice. So in preparation for repainting all the pieces I started by disassembling the cabinet and here are all the various pieces


The Control Panel


The Marquee box and control panel box


The Sides


Bezel and front door


So luckily it broke down pretty easy, I did discover that the monitor may in fact still work I havn't plugged it into something to test it but when I removed it there was a power button hidden by the monitor bezel and I plugged in the power cord and pushed the button just see if anything would happen and wouldn't you know the power light started blinking as a monitor does when it doesn't detect an input so that may be a bonus though I dont know if I want to use it or put something bigger in the cab and redo the bezel, but nice to know I have an easy fall back if I decide to go that route. So the next project is locking down the theme i want and then removing the decals that are plasterd on every piece of this thing, I got a tip to try heating them with a hair dryer to loosen the adheisive and I have a bottle of Goo Gone at the ready so that will be the next days project.


I found some templates of an actaul Street Fighter II button layout (Thanks BYOAC) so I printed out a couple to test out on the control panel, as you can see from the pic. the two layouts take up almost the whole width of the panel so I think I may extend the width a little bit wich shouldn't be too hard the other option would be to mount the trackball slightly higher up on the panel but I am not sure how comfy that will be for actual playing will have to do some mock ups and see




Also in looking closer at the PCB board it appears all the inputs are held on by some sort of aheiseve so when I do the vinyl i will also try to heat this up as well and see what happens, hopefully its not to tough to remove as I would like to keep the PCB intact

 

[NeoFlynn]

I am posting everything to my blog but thought I would transfer stuff to this thread as well for those that want to follow or offer advice