Author Topic: Vewlix Bandwagon (Read 7878 times)

bgspot · « **on:** December 25, 2009, 07:09:15 pm »

First off Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! I don't post very often, I usually just cruise thru and admire the great works of art here on this forum, and man there are a ton. I was reluctant to post at first as I'm not really bringing anything new to the table, but what the heck. Up until a few months ago I was searching for a cab design that would take advantage or make use of newer games and lcd displays. Back in september i decided on the vewlix design. Of course my inspirations come from Donovan Myers, Gatsu and Spacehedgehog. Progress has been slow as i work two jobs, am a weekend warrior in the army reserves and a full-time student. The following is what I've scraped together over the last 3 months. Inside is a mame setup and a ps2 & ps3. The lcd is a sony bravia 32".You can probably guess that this is pretty much a fighter cab. Almost everything from the original street fighter to tekken 6. Still need to pick up VF5 & KOFXII. My mame/pc setup displays at 4:3 as i don't like how it looks stretched. Still need to add a coin mechanism and access door then do some more sanding and wood pudding before i begin the finish process. Of course comments and critiques are welcome, just don't be too harsh.

Nacimroc · « **Reply #1 on:** December 25, 2009, 07:29:34 pm »

Looks great! You did the unspeakable and made it playable before it was finished! I like the way you didn't frankenpanel it out seeing as you had enough room! The curves at the top look like alot of hard work too! Looking at this photo it would be handy if you could make the CP to fold up out of the way? (just an idea)

elvis · « **Reply #2 on:** December 26, 2009, 01:31:28 am »

Brilliant work. I've been considering making a home-made VewLix myself, and this is great inspiration.

The 32" Bravia means your cab goes to 1080p, whereas a standard VewLix only goes to 720p, so it's an improvement!

Can't wait to see this one finished.

emphatic · « **Reply #3 on:** December 26, 2009, 12:21:51 pm »

You shouldn't have made it playable though.

bgspot · « **Reply #4 on:** December 26, 2009, 12:45:36 pm »

Thank you for the compliments. Yes I made it playable and yes that was a mistake, but I'll definitely finish. Luckily there are other things to keep me busy when this thing comes apart to be finished (COD4 MW2).

Quote from: Nacimroc on December 25, 2009, 07:29:34 pm

Looking at this photo it would be handy if you could make the CP to fold up out of the way? (just an idea)

I wish, but I don't have Ond's skill set to pull off anything like that. If i did the control panel would flip and the monitor would rotate. But the cp does detach from the base.

saurian333 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 28, 2009, 05:52:11 am »

Nice! I do like the Vewlix style.

Quote from: bgspot on December 26, 2009, 12:45:36 pm

I wish, but I don't have Ond's skill set to pull off anything like that. If i did the control panel would flip and the monitor would rotate. But the cp does detach from the base.

Can I ask precisely how you achieved that? I'm curious as I intend to make the CP on my cocktail detachable, but I haven't quite worked out how to mount it that way. I'd love to see a pic or two of your mechanism if you can manage it.

evitagen · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2009, 12:16:50 am »

Awesome work! I have a question for you... How are the side panels secured? I noticed a clamp, so are you using glue? If so, how would you remove the TV(since it slides into the routed portion of the side panels)? If not, how are the sides secured and how would you remove the TV?

I wanna see more work done on this... I agree with the others shouldn't have made it playable yet!

May have a question or 2 also about the control panel but I'll only ask one thing at a time! I'm working on a Vewlix myself and hope to start a thread very soon... I even made a metal base!

I'm not hijacking this one... I just love the Vewlix design for some reason and I'm glad to see so many people jumping on board to make one. I think at the pace I'm building I'll be the LAST person finished, though. I have more questions but like I said I won't bog you down with them all at once. Very nice, though.

bgspot · « **Reply #7 on:** December 30, 2009, 01:33:54 am »

Quote from: saurian333 on December 28, 2009, 05:52:11 am

Can I ask precisely how you achieved that? I'm curious as I intend to make the CP on my cocktail detachable, but I haven't quite worked out how to mount it that way. I'd love to see a pic or two of your mechanism if you can manage it.

The panel is simply bolted to the cab. There is no mechanism, i lift the cp top and unscrew the nuts from the bolts thats holding the cp in place and lift the entire panel. Here are a couple pics.

Quote from: evitagen on December 30, 2009, 12:16:50 am

Awesome work! I have a question for you... How are the side panels secured? I noticed a clamp, so are you using glue? If so, how would you remove the TV(since it slides into the routed portion of the side panels)? If not, how are the sides secured and how would you remove the TV?

Holy crap! Looks like yours is gonna be an actual replica. Very nice.

The sides are screwed to the base from the inside. The clamp was to hold the sides to the base while I screwed them in place. If i wanna take it apart, first i remove the two speaker panels then i would remove the back panel of the base and undo all the screws that are on the inside. Then secure the tv while another person slides off the side pieces. Not sure if that makes sense. It's very sturdy with no wobble.

saurian333 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 30, 2009, 06:50:03 am »

Quote from: bgspot on December 30, 2009, 01:33:54 am

The panel is simply bolted to the cab. There is no mechanism, i lift the cp top and unscrew the nuts from the bolts thats holding the cp in place and lift the entire panel. Here are a couple pics.

Ah, I see. For mine, I was hoping for something even less permanent. I'd like to be able to remove it relatively quickly and use it at my PC. Major problem is that I don't want latches or anything sticking out of the bottom, which is so far the best way I can think of to hold it tight to the cab. Maybe I'll have to give up on that idea and bolt it on similar to the way you have. I guess that would be good enough; I didn't have particular plans for using it on the desktop, just thought it would be a nice option.

evitagen · « **Reply #9 on:** December 30, 2009, 07:16:51 am »

Quote from: bgspot on December 30, 2009, 01:33:54 am

The sides are screwed to the base from the inside. The clamp was to hold the sides to the base while I screwed them in place. If i wanna take it apart, first i remove the two speaker panels then i would remove the back panel of the base and undo all the screws that are on the inside. Then secure the tv while another person slides off the side pieces. Not sure if that makes sense. It's very sturdy with no wobble.

Ah, so the screws aren't going all the way through to the outside so nothing shows at all? Would you mind taking a few pics of this?

One more question and it is about the CP... I'm building my CP currently and I've been scratching my head with it. How exactly is your top piece held in place since you said to remove the CP you just take the top piece off? Maybe some pics or something to explain? It looks like mine is already slightly different than yours is but I still want to see how you're doing it. It'd be nice to have access to the guts of the CP fairly easily.

Thanks for your help!

mwong168 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:15:38 am »

How did you do the curve on top?

evitagen · « **Reply #11 on:** December 30, 2009, 11:21:01 am »

Quote from: mwong168 on December 30, 2009, 10:15:38 am

How did you do the curve on top?

Looks like about 4 pieces of MDF stacked on top of each other. Draw it out, cut it out, repeat then stack and glue them.

bgspot · « **Reply #12 on:** December 31, 2009, 02:18:31 am »

Quote from: evitagen on December 30, 2009, 07:16:51 am

Ah, so the screws aren't going all the way through to the outside so nothing shows at all? Would you mind taking a few pics of this?

Yes, you are correct.

bgspot · « **Reply #13 on:** December 31, 2009, 02:42:08 am »

Quote from: evitagen on December 30, 2009, 07:16:51 am

How exactly is your top piece held in place since you said to remove the CP you just take the top piece off?

As for the top, it too is screwed on. I'll try and explain. With the cp I started out by cutting out the bottom piece from 1/2" mdf. The front side of the bottom piece is cut at a 45 degree angle. Next i cut out two smaller pieces of 1/2" mdf for the front of the cp that are also cut at 45 degree angles. Next I cut out a piece of 3/4" mdf that is NOT angled. I then stacked and glued the two smaller 1/2" pieces on top of the bottom piece and the 3/4" on top of those. The 1st pic should clarify this. Then i cut out three pieces equal to the height of the two 1/2" and 3/4" pieces (1 3/4") when glued together. These three pieces make up the sides and rear and are glued to the bottom piece (note these side pieces are NOT the beveled side pieces that are added later). Pic 2 should clarify this. Next I filled all gaps and cracks with puddy and sanded so everything is flush and appears to be one piece. At this point I basically have a box with no top. I cut out the top piece and cut the front of it at a 45 degree angle. Four screws hold it to the rest of the cp to make a complete box. Next is where i begin the beveled side pieces. I simply took a 3/4" piece of mdf and cut it to the height of the cp but made it 1/2" longer and cut one end at an angle.Then clamped it to one of the sides of the cp and took a router and flush trim bit and trimmed the front to match the angles of the front of the cp. I then took this perfect side piece and copied it three times with the flush trim bit for a total of four. Next i glued two of the pieces together and the other two pieces together and beveled one side for each. Each piece is then held to the cp by three screws from the inside as seen in pics 3, 4, & 5. So to sum it up my cp is made up of four pieces (the main box, the top & the two beveled side pieces) that simply screw together to make a complete cp.

Quote from: mwong168 on December 30, 2009, 10:15:38 am

How did you do the curve on top?

Like evitagen said, i cut one curved piece out of 3/4" mdf. The curves i simply free handed with a jigsaw. From there i sanded til i was satisfied with the overall shape and then copied it four more times with a flush trim bit for a total of five pieces. The original piece was then beveled with a 45 degree angle bit and another bit was used to cut a groove out the middle (for the plexi). I then stacked and glued the pieces together (with the original at the front) and wood puddied and sanded to give the appearance of one piece.

evitagen · « **Reply #14 on:** December 31, 2009, 09:34:25 am »

Nice! Thanks for the pics.

So the top piece of the CP... it just lays in? Nothing is glued or anything? You can just lift it up at any given time?

I'm pretty sure I am building mine in a similiar fashion but still a little bit different... Hrm... I know that I will just need to be able to access the buttons/wires with ease and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that.

What all are you going to be running in the thing? Mame? PS3?

bgspot · « **Reply #15 on:** December 31, 2009, 11:07:02 am »

Like you said it just lays in, but in the last pic you can see once it lays in, there are four bolts/screws one in each corner that hold it in place. No glue. You could set yours up like mine, but use european door hinges to flip the top up.

Under the hood i have a mame setup, phat ps2 with 100gb hdd, & slim ps3. Here's a game list for each system.

mwong168 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 31, 2009, 11:30:33 am »

Do you have the plans for this cabinet that you could share? I might try to make this one for my next project.

bgspot · « **Reply #17 on:** December 31, 2009, 12:22:36 pm »

Sadly no, I used Donovan Meyers plans as a base. I cut the side pieces exactly to his plan except I added 2" to the bottom to make it taller. I cut the base and all other pieces according to my new adjustments of the sides and made the cab wider (don't know how much off the top of my head) to better accommodate two players.

evitagen · « **Reply #18 on:** December 31, 2009, 02:20:03 pm »

Thanks for the explanation. I think I may try hidden hinges because I don't want anything to show on top... plus I'm routing out the CP for some 1/8" plexi.

Got time for another question?

How exactly are you switching between MAME and PS3 and which interface are you using? Cthulu? I've been pondering this one for a while now... I'm unsure of how exactly I'm going to swap between mame and ps3(and exactly how i'm going to wire it)... All I'm going to have in mine is PS3 and a PC for MAME. Any help would be greatly appreciated man. Thank you!

evitagen · « **Reply #19 on:** December 31, 2009, 02:28:03 pm »

Also it looks like you made your CP based off of the "Vewlix slim" just from looking at it... I probably should have done that too, considering the original plans have much wider angles in some spots and it's kind of a pain. In the end I do like the look now that I've made the side pieces to the CP, though. Can't wait to see you put some paint on this thing.

bgspot · « **Reply #20 on:** December 31, 2009, 05:18:42 pm »

Control wise, i took the guts from an old dual x-arcade stick i had lying around. My pc, ps2 & ps3 all have their own appropriate adapter connections to connect to the cp. As I'm sure you know theres a hole in the bottom of the cp and top of the base for the cp cable to go thru. The big opening in the front of my base is for an access door (part # 40-0057-00 on the Happ website). I open that and unhook the cp cable from any one of my three systems to another in less than five seconds. I looked up cthulu, if you're just using mame & ps3 that should be perfect for you but I've never actually used it.

As for paint i'm torn between the original white vewlix and the blazblue edition. I'm leaning towards blue to be different from all the other vewlix cabs.

evitagen · « **Reply #21 on:** December 31, 2009, 07:21:03 pm »

BLUE. I'm doing mine blue... except I'm going a different route instead of using Vewlix logos... I'm a diehard MMA fan and I love the old organization called Pride FC so I'm going to basically have a "Pride FC" cabinet... which works because black and blue are the colors from Pride. I'm thinking of doing the base in a satin black instead of a glossy black... what are you going to do? I'm going to make the sides nice and shiny looking though.

About the controls: Yeah, I currently have a stick with a cthulu in it and it works great... but I've never used one for MAME before. Do you or anyone else have any experience with using the Cthulu for MAME? As far as I know it doesn't work like a KeyWiz or Ipac but when hooked up it is recognized as a joystick.

So the X-arcade controls use converters for PS2 and PS3 I assume?

Erik · « **Reply #22 on:** December 31, 2009, 11:16:55 pm »

A Pride cab would be cool. You should slip in a logo from Wanderlei's brand

bgspot · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2009, 11:54:47 pm »

Ya I've been trying to come up with something unique other than the vewlix logo also. No ideas yet. I plan to have the top, sides & cp sides a glossy blue finish. All black areas will be covered in black pica vinyl. I used it on my last cab and it has a nice finish. It will also help the glossy blue to stand out more.

Quote from: evitagen on December 31, 2009, 07:21:03 pm

So the X-arcade controls use converters for PS2 and PS3 I assume?

You are correct.

evitagen · « **Reply #24 on:** January 01, 2010, 02:58:53 am »

You're even doing the base with vinyl? Sounds neat but i've never messed with the stuff before... Where are you buying it and is it difficult to apply? I was thinking of stealing some ideas from the "vewlix slim" and using vinyl on the small wood strips that help conceal the TV, but I never thought to do the whole thing that way.

Here is a picture of my Pride arcade stick I made:

I really think that Pride logo would look great in place of the Vewlix logo. Since you like fighting games so much, ever think of doing a logo like that? Maybe from your favorite fighting game? Or really just a custom logo would be neat. I'm glad you're doing blue instead... I don't think I've seen a custom one painted blue yet.

Edit: I also just noticed you said you made the cab wider... I also did that. Reasoning for me was so that the side panels wouldn't have to be routed out completely for the TV to fit and you could simply route out a slot for them and the outsides of the side panels would look perfectly normal. Donovans plans had some kind of weird plate to cover up the exposed TV jutting out of the side panels and I didn't really dig that. Also... more room for 2 players. I think I measured out the TV and ended up only having to make it 1 or 1.5" wider, can't remember off the top of my head though. Pretty cool... I just realized in your pics your side panels are untouched on the outside, which is great looking.

SNAAKE · « **Reply #25 on:** January 18, 2010, 12:41:58 pm »

Quote from: elvis on December 26, 2009, 01:31:28 am

Brilliant work. I've been considering making a home-made VewLix myself, and this is great inspiration.

The 32" Bravia means your cab goes to 1080p, whereas a standard VewLix only goes to 720p, so it's an improvement!

Can't wait to see this one finished.

most games including sf4 runs at 720p. not necessarily an "improvement". in fact sf4 looks bad in 1080p(id expect jaggy/blocky sprites).

cabinet looks good so far though. vewlix bandwagon ftw. I am making one too but mine is somewhat "Americanized"

bgspot · « **Reply #26 on:** January 28, 2010, 01:56:51 pm »

Small update. have added black pica vinyl yesterday. will most likely begin painting the weekend after the superbowl. Go SAINTS

saurian333 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 29, 2010, 11:27:37 am »

Quote from: bgspot on January 28, 2010, 01:56:51 pm

Small update. have added black pica vinyl yesterday. will most likely begin painting the weekend after the superbowl. Go SAINTS

Nice. Can't wait to see those edges done.

I'm a Packer fan, but I'll be rooting for the Saints this year as well.

Gatsu · « **Reply #28 on:** January 30, 2010, 06:47:44 pm »

thats a really great idea....one that will save a considerable amount of pain and suffering.

are you in the U.S.? If so...where did you get the vinyl from?

danny_galaga · « **Reply #29 on:** January 30, 2010, 08:13:41 pm »

bgspot · « **Reply #30 on:** January 31, 2010, 02:44:07 am »

Quote from: Gatsu on January 30, 2010, 06:47:44 pm

are you in the U.S.? If so...where did you get the vinyl from?

Yep, stay in shreveport louisiana. I ordered the vinyl from happ. They have several types of textures but only black.

Santoro · « **Reply #31 on:** January 31, 2010, 11:39:15 am »

I really like the looks of that design. Nice craftsmanship too.

I can't wait to see it finished!


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