Completed 'cabinet'

[ArcadeDunce]

And I put cabinet in quotes, because it's not really your classic cabinet.  We're using JROk's RGB video converter, and hot wired the audio to an RCA cable, so you can plug it to any TV in the house...



Works rather well, and SUPER light, so you can carry it anywhere easily.  Unlike the old Wizards of Wor cabinet I tore apart and used to have....

Anyone ever build anything like this?

[Herk]

ArcadeDunce,

     What a great way to show a complete build over time.  Creativity is  .

Herk

[Encryptor]

It's a cool video and shows the progression nicely but never really shows a decent shot of the finished product. Got any pics?


Encryptor

[ArcadeDunce]

It's not totally 100% complete yet.  We've got to find some way to secure the second Jamma Board, since we ran out of the 'holders', or whatever they where called, that we used to secure the Simpsons with.    I've also decided to go ahead and make it a four player, so we've got to cut out 8 more holes. 
But I will when it's done ...

[Ginsu Victim]

Have you considered bottom mounting the joysticks?

The way you have them mounted currently could use some improvement.

[ArcadeDunce]

Toying around with the idea.......But I kind of like them better top mounted.   

The other thing I was wondering about, was how can I get a marquee on the front.  Is that easy enough to cut out?

[Ginsu Victim]

Toying around with the idea.......But I kind of like them better top mounted.

Then do you have access to a router so that you can recess them a bit? Also, have you considered making the buttons closer together? Those are pretty far apart.

The other thing I was wondering about, was how can I get a marquee on the front.  Is that easy enough to cut out?

Draw a rectangle and cut it out. Rig up a way of mounting the marquee, then have one printed at the link in my signature.

[XtraSmiley]

EDIT:  I'm changing my post so it's less mean and more helpful.  I appologize, what I really mean is, ah if you like it and enjoy it, great, that's the point, have fun.

I think you should really look at under mounting those joysticks though.

[Ginsu Victim]

Repeat after me...

constructive criticism.

[ArcadeDunce]

OK, am I going to be the   and say, uh, that cabnet looks terrible! It's a big black box with joysticks stuck on it...

Not sure what you were going for here?  I mean, if you didn't want to spend a lot of time, why not just buy a supergun?

Also, it's labeled, restoration, what are you restoring exactly?

Yep, I changed the label on the YT Page.  Nothing else really sounded right either.  Arcade Project didn't sound as 'good'.  

 I wanted that arcade 'feel',  but not a big bulky arcade cabinet.    So I built this halfway design.  So lightweight one person can pick it up, the hinged control panel for easy wire access and easily transportable should the need arise.  
I wasn't going for flashy, or accurate, just something that suited my needs.....


And to the other poster, Yeah, the buttons are rather far apart.....that was a mistake on my part.  It'll be rectified with players 1 and 4 when they get cut later.    But they aren't so far apart as to throw you off your game, or make gaming uncomfortable, so it'll work for now.

And keep in mind, this is a first try.    Should the need arise for an updated model, we can always improve it later on .

Repeat after me...

constructive criticism.

You should see the other page I posted it on.  nothing but super sarcasm over there .  the 'elitists' who don't believe in building their own .
 

[XtraSmiley]

Well, like I said man, sorry, as long as you enjoy it.

First effort?  Not terrible.  I think a lot of people on this board can give advice to help you (such as bottom mounting).

Hey, keep it up, you only get better with practise.  And again, I apologize if I came off as an a-hole, it looks 10x better than I can do!

[CheffoJeffo]

Several years back, I found that I had a box full of various Golden Tee boards, another box full of trackballs and some nice big conversion CPO artwork for GT. I also had the normal piles of power supplies, buttons and whatnot.

At the time, I was being approached to provide some arcade-related goodies for the silent auction at a fundraising gala supporting the school that two of my kids attended. So, I figured, why not build some GT pedestal superguns that guys could just plug in to their TVs.

I did some preliminary design work based on the pedestal of my Dynamo showcase cabinet, put together an attenuation design to keep from blowing up the audio (I figured that killing the audio on some nice person's TV or home theatre would be a bad thing). I was getting around to researching the RGB converters when I started doing the math (the idea was to donate these to the silent auction and then 100% of the proceeds would go to subsidizing my kids' tuition) and decided that it just wasn't enough bang for my buck/time as opposed to just, say, cleaning up a GT cab from auction ... or just spending the time working at my real job. So I never ended up building them.

You might want to look into modifiying the audio -- it is easy and probably better than just running amplified audio into RC jacks. There is a decent "Build Your Own Supergun" PDF somewhere out on the innertubes (can't find it right now) that had a simple circuit design for that.

I liked the video -- nice presentation.

 

[ArcadeDunce]

Modifying audio.  That's what I Was worried about as well, the audio setup blowing out an expensive TV.  Which is why I always plan to hook it up just to DVD recorders for now, untill I can do some more research on it

[ahofle]

The thing I'm most impressed with is that RGB to composite video converter.  That picture quality looks about 100 times better than the S-Video/TV-out circuitry of your average video card. 

[ArcadeDunce]

remaining joysticks got here today...along with remaining buttons..

How would you guys recommend we secure the remaining jamma boards to the cabinet?  We had these metal/plastic 'tubes' that hold up the simpsons board, you can vaugley see them later in the video during the picture slide show, but they don't make them anymore, apparently.  What would be a good substitute?

thanks

[CheffoJeffo]

http://www.happcontrols.com/accessories/49045100.htm

 

[DJ_Izumi]

The thing I'm most impressed with is that RGB to composite video converter.  That picture quality looks about 100 times better than the S-Video/TV-out circuitry of your average video card. 

Well, I wouldn't bank on that.  Namely cause you're looking at composite video on an SDTV through a camera that's then encoded on YouTube.  A lot of the blurryness and image loss will be masked by all that.  Honestly, composite video isn't very good, and it's more noticable the larger the TV is, no matter how good the hardware is, composite video is still composite video.

[ArcadeDunce]

Just a bit of an update...

Cut out the holes for the remaining joysticks and buttons.  Gave it an extra coat of paint... Just need to get something to secure the Jamma's in place

[Ginsu Victim]

Just need to get something to secure the Jamma's in place

http://www.happcontrols.com/accessories/49045100.htm

 

[ArcadeDunce]

Heya

Yep, saw the previous post.  Just running down the list of things left .  Anyone have pictures of how these things are installed? 

[ArcadeDunce]

Just a quick add on......the extra controllers for Konami games.   3 and 4 player.  One of the wires broke off.....the 3 player 'free life/start' wire.  How can I get that little connector out so I can re-wire it?

I spent 2 hours wiring the thing this morning.  All those annoying ground wires are a pain in the ass .

Thanks

[Ginsu Victim]

The quick disconnect? If that's what you mean, you can buy them at Ace hardware, Radio Shack, and other places that carry electrical or stereo wiring. Probably need size .187

[ArcadeDunce]

Dunno if we are thinking of the same thing, but I looked it up and I think it's called a 'sub' harness...  Just a mini version of the same thing.  I found a way to get the pin out, but now I need the proper wire for it....

BTW, we completed it today.  This is the finished product..  http://tweetphoto.com/6996369  It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it works for what I need it for .

[HanoiBoi]

Not sure if I missed this, but is this a MAME 'cabinet', playing 1000's of games, or just playing The Simpsons?

I also don't want to come off as harsh, but really, I don't quite get it.  

You wanted the arcade feel, but not a big bulky cabinet?  That is the arcade feel, isn't it?

It's lightweight so that one person can move it, yet it looks to be about 4ft wide and 3ft tall?  Did you consider a table top version of similar, versus the pedestal/podium style?  

You said it can plug into any TV, but did you also say that you only use sound when plugged into a DVD Recorder?   Is that what I read?  And do you really have the need to move it from TV to TV?

You agree that the buttons are poorly spaced and yet you'd rather paint another coat than to simply cut another piece of wood?

Are you really considering slapping a Marquee into that?  You might want to save that for your next build.

I do appreciate that you posted this, I assume for criticism, but you still really don't have any 'final pics' out there.  Plus, can you post the pics in the thread rather than sticking one or two on a linked thread?  I can't seem to find a final pick among the pics of cars, a desert, a coke glass and Ellio's pizza.
  

[SavannahLion]

+1

Yeah. I don't really know what to say on top of what HanoiBoi wrote. Other than what's the burnt pretzel about?

The video is thoughtful but when dealing with builds, I prefer picture highlights instead of Youtube videos (what retarded ass thought it was a good idea to do code samples on youtube needs to have his ass dragged out into the street and forced to program in Atari BASIC as cars aim for his head.)

Photos are nice, but a little effort put forth to sort them or somesuch would do wonders for the constructive criticism.

In any case, it's an interesting design, but I'm at a bit of a loss on what your goal is exactly. It seems a shade too bulky to be considered truly portable, but it's a shade too small to call it full blown cabinet. Is this part of a much larger project? Like a wall mounted big screen?

[ArcadeDunce]

As Requested. 

I dunno how else to explain what I was looking for than what I already said.   The SuperGun's that I Have seen seem to be sit down floor type units.  Place it on the floor in front of the TV, head on over to the couch with the remote and your good to go.  That's no better than a console.   What I was looking for was a sort of halfway deal.  Not the full size of a cabinet, but a sort of midway  one.     I wanted the hinged access for easy control panel maintenance, a door for easy board access, and be able to lift up and carry it if if need be.

That's all I Really needed it for, since it would only house three boards.  It didn't really need to be a full cabinet, just give you that arcade 'feel'...

[CheffoJeffo]

Not sure if I missed this, but is this a MAME 'cabinet', playing 1000's of games, or just playing The Simpsons?

No MAME at all. He's running genuine boards.

It's lightweight so that one person can move it, yet it looks to be about 4ft wide and 3ft tall?  Did you consider a table top version of similar, versus the pedestal/podium style?  

I have never understood the appeal of the table top unit for multiple players, unless you happen to have a tall table or a passel of really short friends.  

One person hunched over a coffee table is not terrible. Two people hunched over a coffee table is terrible. 3 or more would be a disaster.

I totally understand the desire for a podium-style supergun.

You said it can plug into any TV, but did you also say that you only use sound when plugged into a DVD Recorder?   Is that what I read?  And do you really have the need to move it from TV to TV?

As he pointed out in response to my comments about audio attenuation -- he plugs into the DVD recorder to keep from blowing the audio. Since these are JAMMA boards, the audio is already amplified and should be adjusted as opposed to just plugging some RCA jacks in.

[bkenobi]

After looking at the final picture, it looks like you might have a problem with stability.  It appears that the "cabinet"/pedestal is not very deep (front to back) which would make it rock (not in a good way) during game play.  Maybe I don't see the part that keeps that from happening, dunno.

I personally like the idea of a pedestal system linked with a LCD/Plasma on the wall.  That way you can have a huge screen with real controls and yet not take up so much freakin' room!  It would also make moving it SOOOOO much easier!  And, if you need to get it out of the room for whatever reason, you can just unplug a couple cords and take it to the garage/laundry/wherever room.

[Ginsu Victim]

After looking at the final picture, it looks like you might have a problem with stability.  It appears that the "cabinet"/pedestal is not very deep (front to back) which would make it rock (not in a good way) during game play.  Maybe I don't see the part that keeps that from happening, dunno.

This has been my concern since the video was first posted. I don't see anything to keep it from falling over.

[ArcadeDunce]

After looking at the final picture, it looks like you might have a problem with stability.  It appears that the "cabinet"/pedestal is not very deep (front to back) which would make it rock (not in a good way) during game play.  Maybe I don't see the part that keeps that from happening, dunno.

This has been my concern since the video was first posted. I don't see anything to keep it from falling over.

Yep, sadly, that is a problem.    I haven't yet found a way to make it shake free, although if you stand on the front base board, it reduces the problem with one player.  Two or more there will be enough weight on it to keep it stable.   This could be considered a prototype....an un-tested idea seen through completion.  If anyone wants measurements to try their own, I'll be more than happy to post 'em .

[HanoiBoi]

ArcadeDunce, I absolutely love your honesty!  It is a prototype and you've got no where to go but up! 

Decide what features are most important before creating your next cab/control panel.  AND, sift through the numerous threads out here.  There's stuff spread out beyond belief, but the more you browse, the more you'll see things you like and things you don't.  What works, and what's doesn't.

Happy Holidays and enjoy your build!

[tommyinajar]

For the sound if you don't want to mount some speakers in the podium it self, can't you just use a High Level To RCA Line Level Converter. That should solve the -blow-up-my-plasma-speakers-problem, correct ?

[bkenobi]

Add a T-bar like they have on parade floats and strap the players in.  That way, when they push forward on the stick, their body moving backwards will keep the 'cab' stationary.  jk

The problem is the moment you are applying to the top of the cab.  Because it's relatively tall and narrow (front to back), it doesn't take much force to cause it to tip.  There are only 3 solutions I can think of at the moment:

1) Add an extension on the base so that its front to back dimension is extended.  I'm thinking something that rotates out sorta like the feet on some PCs.  Or, redesign the profile of the 'cab' so it's deeper front to back.

2) Add a bunch of weight in the base of the 'cab' so it takes more force to tip.  You mentioned having people standing on a board if I understand correctly.  That would more or less combine 1 & 2 in a pretty effective way.

3) Tell people to knock that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- off!  Ok, not really a solution.

Btw, pedestals are not a new as they've been used in showcase style cabs forever.  How do they keep the CP from tipping?

[Ginsu Victim]

Btw, pedestals are not a new as they've been used in showcase style cabs forever.  How do they keep the CP from tipping?

It attaches to the monitor cabinet or some of them have a large base.

[saurian333]

I like the idea.  With not very much modification, it could be a really nice "slim" showcase-style alternative.  It would work quite well for anyone with [more money than me] a big widescreen on the wall.

As for people criticizing it, I really don't understand that.  It doesn't seem to me that a first build needs to be much more than functional.  Also, the relatively small size and high mobility is (I presume) a bit more "wife-friendly" than a full cab, which seems to be a concern for many would-be cab builders. 

[ArcadeDunce]

Just a quick add on.  I had it on the family room rug during  Christmas, and if you have a thick enough rug, it's pretty stable and seems to fix the problem at least for players two and three.