Main > Project Announcements
Cocktail Dream (First Build) [Done, basically]
saurian333:
UPDATE: Calling it done; see 7/31 posts.
UPDATE: My cab finally has a name! (Click the image for info/more)
-------------------------------
So, I discovered this site years ago when I first toyed with the idea of building a cabinet, though I never actually started one. I've been lurking on and off ever since. I finally signed up for the forums recently when I decided it was time to build. There is a wealth of great information here, even if the main site's content is a little outdated. ;) I'm very grateful to the site, and as such, it will be the primary outlet for posting my progress!
I recently acquired a bunch of old laptops from my mom's workplace, and to my delight, aside from most having worthless batteries, 4 out of the 5 worked perfectly (actually, the 5th works too, but it's a ThinkPad and has a master password set that can't be cracked). I decided that one of these would be a great candidate for the cocktail cabinet I've been wanting to build for several years, but never really had the space and a spare PC at the same time.
I have a difficult time doing in-progress pictures for projects like this, but I'm currently at a stopping point, so I thought this would be a good time. My stopping point is due to the fact that it's f-ing cold in Iowa, and I can't open the basement windows to paint (the furnace is on the fritz at the moment, and I need all the heat I can get).
The cabinet is completely of my own design, with aspects drawn from multiple cabinets I've seen on the net. This is my first attempt at building a Mame cabinet, as well as at getting a solid Mame configuration running for a particular set of games. I've been using Mame on and off since about 2000, but never on a dedicated machine.
The most major problem with the software I've run into thus far is that the system I'm installing on is from 2001, and is pretty underpowered. Since most of the games I want on a cocktail cabinet don't require much, it's quite adequate. However, I'm using Debian as the OS, and the current build of SDLMame in the repositories is too new to run smoothly on it. Tried version 119 and still had problems. Xmame-sdl 106 works much better on it. The only problem I had with xmame was (I believe) due to the existence of PulseAudio when I first tried it with Ubuntu. It was causing a serious audio lag even on a Core 2 Duo system. Now that I'm running a slimmed down Debian Etch with ALSA and no PulseAudio, it's running just fine.
I'll post a list of games later when I've tested them all (just got everything working properly last night)! I'm starting with a list of games that were included in a 60-in-1 cocktail cabinet I saw posted on Craigslist, and I'm adding a few more that I think are well-suited.
By the way, I made myself a sawboard before starting to build, as described here by DrewKaree. I used 1/8” hardboard and a 1x4. It's been INDISPENSABLE. Thanks for posting that here, Drew! :cheers:
saurian333:
So, without further ado, here are the pics so far! Sorry some of them are kind of crappy; when I start making real progress, I'll take good ones.
The panels are all 1/2” MDF. I would have gone 3/4”, but I'm more interested in keeping it easily movable.
Now, the box itself is only about 24” tall. I realized before even starting that this probably isn't going to be tall enough, but I really wanted the “near-cube” shape, and I can't fit bigger than a 2x4' sheet of MDF in my car! So my plan there is to add legs/feet of some kind later if necessary.
I'm rather proud of the cab itself. It's pretty much just a cube, using chunks of 2x4 as braces on the inside, but I'm very satisfied with how the corners turned out. I used 1/2” 1/4-round base trim and filled the gaps with wood filler. I also filled all the screw holes and sanded everything smooth as a baby's bottom. Should look great with paint.
You'll note the top piece has a cut-out for the controls on the long side. My control box is going to be a 2-player side-by-side; I don't plan on running 2-player alternating games that rely on screen rotation. Most of the games are vertically oriented, so I'm still trying to decide if I should keep the monitor permanently rotated 90 degrees. The monitor, by the way, is just an old 17-inch Dell, standard ratio.
Speaking of, note that the monitor cut-out is huge. That's because I thought I might upgrade the monitor at some point; however, the current monitor rotated 90 degrees will only just fit, so I'm not sure about that anymore. I don't think I would gain anything for these games with a widescreen monitor. Since that plan involved using monitor bezels anyway, no harm done.
The top piece will have T-molding around the edge. No access to a router at the moment, so I'm not in a hurry to get that yet. Does anyone know of a reliable way to cut the groove without a router, just out of curiosity?
I'm not sure about the control box. Maybe it should be wider. Also, anyone have an idea for how I can mount that in a solid but temporary fashion? I want to be able to remove it fairly easily, for occasional use on another PC. I don't know about the shape of the CP itself either. What I've got is probably adequate functionally, but I want to be sure I'll be happy with my CP, which means no compromise on anything but space (it's no good if it won't fit on the cab, after all)! My CP layout will have 1 stick and 6 (+ start) buttons per player. I plan to use all Happ controls, including Super 8 joysticks.
The machine is an IBM ThinkPad T21, with a P3 800MHz and 384MB RAM. As I mentioned, it's running Debian “Etch.” I use Fluxbox for my window manager since it's so lightweight. Mame is implemented using xmame-sdl 106 with the Wahcade frontend. A great interface, by the way. There are a few things that I'd have done differently if I'd written my own frontend (which I briefly considered), but I am quite happy with Wahcade overall. Next to the machine is my Playstation 2 Shadowblade stick connected to a cheap USB adapter. Temporary stick for “testing” purposes. ;-) Actually, it's been handy to have a USB stick to help configure the Linux joystick utilities.
On this cab, I think I'm going to go cheap on the coin door/frame and get one just for looks. If I decide to build an upright one of these days, that one will definitely have a functional coin mech. Anyway, that will probably go on the right-hand side. Still contemplating positioning of speaker holes and such.
Please post any comments/ideas/concerns/criticisms/questions you might have! I'm still very new to this type of project, and I'll take any help offered! All constructive criticism will be taken seriously!
saurian333:
Mostly just keeping notes for myself here. Things to do next:
1) Sort out computer situation.
The ThinkPad may not be the best solution. It's working OK for the games I want (mostly older ones...Galaga, Centipede, Pacman, etc.), but I seem to be having a RAM crisis. I've got all these RAM modules lying around and nearly all of them seem to be bad. I'm down to 2x128MB in that machine, and one of them does have a bad address, though it doesn't seem to be locking it up anymore. Thinking I might go with something more powerful anyway to satisfy my craving for some of the newer games (Simpsons and MK mostly) until I can build my upright. I'd also be able to run the more current SDLMame and other software options. If I buy a replacement, I have to keep it cheap, so I'm keeping my eyes open for deals.
2) Title/theme.
I'd like to name the cab, but I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps I should settle on my color scheme/theme first. I was originally going to just do basic black, but then thought, "why?" I'd like to decide on some CP and top artwork, and the rest of the cab will be a solid color to match.
3) Need a router.
I'm going to have to buy a router fairly soon to cut the groove for the T-molding and the recesses for the joysticks.
4) Controls.
This is really the next step as far as building. I need to buy my controls so I can determine whether my layout is going to work and get started on cutting into the CP. Again, need the router for part of that, but there's no reason I can't start drilling button holes and such.
5) Paint or vinyl?
Anyone have thoughts on this? marstc1 used an adhesive vinyl on his SF cab, and I think it looks really good. That might be the way for me to go since it's much cleaner, easier, and probably nicer-looking than paint. It does limit my color selection, though, and is more costly. Can anyone else say this stuff is worth it compared to paint? Best price I can find on eBay is $18 (shipped) for 10 feet, and that won't be enough for my whole cab. Two cans of paint is $10 at the most.
I think that's it for now. Comments? Anyone?
saurian333:
I think I've decided to paint my cab. I like the idea of having more freedom with color. If it doesn't turn out well, I can always sand it smooth and put vinyl over it later.
I'm bored at work, so I tinkered with creating a temporary CP overlay. I plan to use plexi and keep the overlay fairly easy to change. I used the Gimp to create this image, following parts of this tutorial as a guide. I couldn't get the final "glow" effect of the curves to come out quite right, but I like the way it turned out overall.
EDIT: I intend to use a deep blue or purple on the cab, like the darker part of the CP (just before it fades into black). Maybe I'll try a gradient on the cab, too, if I feel particularly masochistic at the time.
Here it is, size reduced:
saurian333:
Played with CP concept some more and got a mockup done. I think I'm happy with this layout, at least in theory. Any suggestions?
Again, the artwork is meant to be replaceable; I like this one for now, though.