The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Ryglore on November 06, 2009, 03:24:31 pm
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Table of Contents:
- Original Post Below
-A Little Prep Work (11-7-09) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1033524#msg1033524)
-Woodwork and Test assembly w/ Pics! (11-9-09) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1034071#msg1034071)
-Minor Update (11-11-09) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1034481#msg1034481)
-Planning Continues (12-17-09) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1044649.html#msg1044649)
-Real Life Mock Up (12-17-09) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1044782.html#msg1044782)
-Mini-Update (9-17-10) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1122422.html#msg1122422)
-Slowly Returning from Hiatus (9-20-10) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1125021.html#msg1125021)
-Control Panel Artwork... Finished? (10-6-10) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1127452.html#msg1127452)
-Pieces Parts... Arrived!! (10-8-10) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1127972.html#msg1127972)
-What's this? a real update? pssh (7-10-11) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1199776.html#msg1199776)
-Base problem solved, and Final CP artwork (7-11-11) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1200053.html#msg1200053)
-Control Panel Woes (7-19-11) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1201997#msg1201997)
-Control Panel Woes Continued (7-27-11) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1203658#msg1203658)
-Control Panel Fixed, and New Cone Buttons (7-28-11) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1204223#msg1204223)
-Side Art Complete & PC Acquired (4/23/14) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=97890.msg1435478#msg1435478)
- PC Work Starts (4/26/14) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1435956.html#msg1435956)
-Slow and Steady (5/3/14) (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,97890.msg1437365.html#msg1437365)
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Well, it's not been a week since I have finished SHMUP and I am posting the official announcement of my new project. Following in the vein of Yvan's MVS mini and retrofuture's Xevious bartop, I am in the process of designing a Centipede mini-bartop. This cab will be a dedicated machine for running Centipede and Millipede. (Though I may sneak in a couple extra trackball games)
The cab will use a PSOne LCD screen, Mini-ITX motherboard with an IDE flash card for storage. 2 1/4" happ trackball, a single button and 2 player buttons. Much like the original Centipede cab, I will be using micro pushbuttons for the player buttons and a single pushbutton for firing. The main goal is to recreate the look and feel of the Centipede cabinet, while making it small and portable.
I'm also planning to take my time with this one and I am debating on painting or laminating. I'm planning on making a metal control panel which will wrap around the front. This will allow me to forgo a trackball mounting plate, thus saving me about an extra inch of depth on the control panel. I also plan on having the bolt heads showing on the trackball, much like the original.
Out of all the artwork, I'll have to modify the side art and control panel area, which you'll see in the mock up. I may push my Illustrator skills and vector the side art. The Bezel and Marquee will be staying the same, though, slightly modified with extra black space for the edges. I will also be hiding Windows like I did on SHMUP using Instant Sheller and will be using MaLa along with a custom layout for choosing games. Though, Centipede will be set to run by default when the PC loads.
The sides will be made of 1/2" MDF, while some of the other parts will be made up of my extra 1/4" and 3/4" MDF from making SHMUP. I want there to be a little bit of weight to the cab and the 3/4" should do the trick. I'll be using it for the base and some of the internal structure. This cab will also be constructed using glue only.
Here is a rough mock up of what I am planning. The control panel art is no where near a completed idea.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CentipedeMock.jpg)
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Well, it's not been a week since I have finished SHMUP and I am posting the official announcement of my new project. Following in the vein of Yvan's MVS mini and retrofuture's Xevious bartop, I am in the process of designing a Centipede mini-bartop. This cab will be a dedicated machine for running Centipede and Millipede. (Though I may sneak in a couple extra trackball games)
The cab will use a PSOne LCD screen, Mini-ITX motherboard with an IDE flash card for storage. 2 1/4" happ trackball, a single button and 2 player buttons. Much like the original Centipede cab, I will be using micro pushbuttons for the player buttons and a single pushbutton for firing. The main goal is to recreate the look and feel of the Centipede cabinet, while making it small and portable.
I'm also planning to take my time with this one and I am debating on painting or laminating. I'm planning on making a metal control panel which will wrap around the front. This will allow me to forgo a trackball mounting plate, thus saving me about an extra inch of depth on the control panel. I also plan on having the bolt heads showing on the trackball, much like the original.
Out of all the artwork, I'll have to modify the side art and control panel area, which you'll see in the mock up. I may push my Illustrator skills and vector the side art. The Bezel and Marquee will be staying the same, though, slightly modified with extra black space for the edges. I will also be hiding Windows like I did on SHMUP using Instant Sheller and will be using MaLa along with a custom layout for choosing games. Though, Centipede will be set to run by default when the PC loads.
The sides will be made of 1/2" MDF, while some of the other parts will be made up of my extra 1/4" and 3/4" MDF from making SHMUP. I want there to be a little bit of weight to the cab and the 3/4" should do the trick. I'll be using it for the base and some of the internal structure. This cab will also be constructed using glue only.
Here is a rough mock up of what I am planning. The control panel art is no where near a completed idea.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CentipedeMock.jpg)
This looks on par with my mini-galaga size was. What are you thinking the height will be? I built mine out of 1/2" MDF. Nasty stuff. I wouldn't use it again. Maybe 1/2" plywood, but I'd use 3/4". The bartop tempest I made was out of 3/4" and was 24" tall. It's much more playable.
It looks like you might have room for a 15 or 17" LCD?
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One other thing - you might want to find Kaytrims centipede bartop he built for his dad. Might be some techniques you can "borrow"
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This looks on par with my mini-galaga size was. What are you thinking the height will be? I built mine out of 1/2" MDF. Nasty stuff. I wouldn't use it again. Maybe 1/2" plywood, but I'd use 3/4". The bartop tempest I made was out of 3/4" and was 24" tall. It's much more playable.
It looks like you might have room for a 15 or 17" LCD?
Oh, it will be roughly 16 inches deep x 17" tall and 11" wide. The screen is a 5" PSOne screen, mounted vertically. ;)
One other thing - you might want to find Kaytrims centipede bartop he built for his dad. Might be some techniques you can "borrow"
Oh cool, thanks! I'll look into it!
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This looks on par with my mini-galaga size was. What are you thinking the height will be? I built mine out of 1/2" MDF. Nasty stuff. I wouldn't use it again. Maybe 1/2" plywood, but I'd use 3/4". The bartop tempest I made was out of 3/4" and was 24" tall. It's much more playable.
It looks like you might have room for a 15 or 17" LCD?
Oh, it will be roughly 16 inches deep x 17" tall and 11" wide. The screen is a 5" PSOne screen, mounted vertically. ;)
One other thing - you might want to find Kaytrims centipede bartop he built for his dad. Might be some techniques you can "borrow"
Cool. I used a 10" CRT (same as the Xevious project). Good luck.
Oh cool, thanks! I'll look into it!
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Go for it! The Schmup was real nice. I've been thinking about a PS-One cab myself too, so I'll be following intently. Nice to see retrofuture's Xevious providing more inspiration - it's his fault my wife moaned at me for making my Dig Dug bartop.
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Lol, so that is where I knew the patter from you msg'd me but couldn't place...
That will be great...will make a great bartop for trackball games in general. Crystal castles would be a blast on that!
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Go for it! The Schmup was real nice. I've been thinking about a PS-One cab myself too, so I'll be following intently. Nice to see retrofuture's Xevious providing more inspiration - it's his fault my wife moaned at me for making my Dig Dug bartop.
Thanks! I hope it doesn't disappoint! I have my PSOne screen on order and plan on tinkering with it for while. I'm hoping I can use the speakers that come with it and hack them into usable set of speaker for the system. Also, since it's a trackball and 3 buttons on the CP I think I should be able to get away with using a 2 1/4" Happ USB/ PS/2 trackball and the 3 button connectors it comes with. This would mean I don't need to buy a keyboard encoder either.
Back on subject, I love Retrofuture's Xevious bartop. It's done so well, and I was actually debating on making Shmup a bartop before I went full Cab. But with the help of Yvan, I've been able to figure out a lot of the Mini cab stuff too. Originally I wanted to build a 1/4 scale replica of a Centipede cab, but after figuring what spaces I needed on the CP it wouldn't have worked at all.
Lol, so that is where I knew the patter from you msg'd me but couldn't place...
That will be great...will make a great bartop for trackball games in general. Crystal castles would be a blast on that!
Yup! Honestly, I figured you would have figured it out off the bat. Ya I think if I make a mini games list. It may look something like this:
Centipede
Millipede
Crystal Castles
World Championship Bowling
Golden Tee 2k
SegaSonic the Hedgehog
Marble Madness
Of couse, the plan is to have it boot up to Centipede off the bat, so I'll have to find a way to stash an exit button somewhere on the cab.... Actually, part of the planning is deciding how I want to power on and power down too. But for now, I'm focused on designing the cab and dimensions. I'll work out admin buttons a bit further down the line.
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Some of the games you mentioned will use a horizontal monitor orientation. That ought to be a sight on a 5" screen. :o
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Some of the games you mentioned will use a horizontal monitor orientation. That ought to be a sight on a 5" screen. :o
Hahaha, True. I guess it would be like playing a Gameboy Advance with a trackball. :D
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Rotating screen in a mini bar top! ;)
Nice project!
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Ah, there it is! That's another project I'll be following closely! The electronics parts of MVS-99-6 slow me down so much (not to mention this other thing called life) that your mini-Centipede will probably be finished before mini-MVS! :laugh:
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Rotating screen in a mini bar top! ;)
Nice project!
It's a thought, I know Yvan is planning a rotating screen in his MVS. I'll have to keep an eye out to see how he does it. Then again, I don't think I have to mechanical/programming know-how to make it auto rotate. But really I think I'll keep it to Centipede and Millipede. I have SHMUP for all of the other trackball games, and the way you beat up the trackball in Golden Tee and Bowling I'd hate to see the mini go flying across the room. :-\
Ah, there it is! That's another project I'll be following closely! The electronics parts of MVS-99-6 slow me down so much (not to mention this other thing called life) that your mini-Centipede will probably be finished before mini-MVS! :laugh:
I wish I could figure out all of the electronics that you do! As for the build, I'd like to take my time working on this one. But after looking over my parts lists and planning everything... It looks like it's mostly just the saving up $$ for the Trackball and PC Components that will slow me down. Plus if I decide to paint, I'll need a warmer area to paint it in. But I could totally get away with painting it in my apartment. :laugh:
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I know Yvan is planning a rotating screen in his MVS. I'll have to keep an eye out to see how he does it. Then again, I don't think I have the mechanical/programming know-how to make it auto rotate.
I sure wish I knew how I'm going to rotate that screen too. I don't think I have the mechanical know-how to make it auto-rotate either! :laugh:
Plus if I decide to paint, I'll need a warmer area to paint it in. But I could totally get away with painting it in my apartment. :laugh:
That's one of the best aspect of the mini cabs... once the woodworking is done, you can simply work on it while sitting at a desk or the kitchen table. :cheers:
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That's one of the best aspect of the mini cabs... once the woodworking is done, you can simply work on it while sitting at a desk or the kitchen table. :cheers:
Yup, I hope to do most of the work in my apartment this time. I bought the 1/2" panel for the sides, I'm hoping I get a chance to layout my lines on it and perhaps cut the sides tomorrow. The awesome thing is I only had to buy a 2' x 4' panel, since I plan on using my left overs from the last build for the base and other sections. But I needed 1/2" so the side panels don't look odd.
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Yup, I hope to do most of the work in my apartment this time. I bought the 1/2" panel for the sides, I'm hoping I get a chance to layout my lines on it and perhaps cut the sides tomorrow. The awesome thing is I only had to buy a 2' x 4' panel, since I plan on using my left overs from the last build for the base and other sections. But I needed 1/2" so the side panels don't look odd.
You're going to have 1/2" sides? Sorry I missed that detail when you started the thread... do you have 1/2" T-molding in the right color? ???
I wanted to use 1/2" sides too, but 5/8" isn't that bad after all. It makes it easier to find T-molding in the color you want. I needed black T-molding for mine, but all I had in 1/2" was white. I see you're also going to need black T-molding. :P
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You're going to have 1/2" sides? Sorry I missed that detail when you started the thread... do you have 1/2" T-molding in the right color? ???
Ha yup it's right above the picture.
"The sides will be made of 1/2" MDF, while some of the other parts will be made up of my extra 1/4" and 3/4" MDF from making SHMUP. I want there to be a little bit of weight to the cab and the 3/4" should do the trick. I'll be using it for the base and some of the internal structure. This cab will also be constructed using glue only." :D
Nope I don't have 1/2" black t-molding, but TwistedQuarter.com has some, and I'll be ordering my trackball from them anyway, so I'll get some 1/2" black t-molding from them too. I was going to use my 3/4" molding and trim it once it was in place, but decided that for the price of the t-molding, it's really not worth the extra work. Plus it would look like rubbish. ;)
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why are you going with a mini-ITX??? i think this would be much better for your mini-cab...
(http://www.investireoggi.it/forum/attachments/pc-tecnologia-e-web-sicurezza-informatica/11129d1238093438-fit-pc2-il-piu-piccolo-pc-800px-hands.jpg)
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/ (http://www.fit-pc.com/web/)
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why are you going with a mini-ITX??? i think this would be much better for your mini-cab...
(http://www.investireoggi.it/forum/attachments/pc-tecnologia-e-web-sicurezza-informatica/11129d1238093438-fit-pc2-il-piu-piccolo-pc-800px-hands.jpg)
Depending on which mini-ITX board he chooses, the cost could be a lot lower (almost 50%). Why pay for a smaller computer if a mini-ITX board can fit in his cab? Not to mention that this thing only has HDMI/DVI for the video output, seriously limiting the options for the display. Unless you know of 100~200$ displays in the 6~8" size range with a 4:3 ratio with HDMI or DVI inputs, of course?
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Depending on which mini-ITX board he chooses, the cost could be a lot lower (almost 50%). Also, why pay for a smaller computer if mini-ITX can fit in his cab? Also, this thing only has HDMI/DVI for the video output, seriously limiting the options for the display. Unless you know of <100~200$ displays in the 6~8" size range with a 4:3 ratio with HDMI or DVI inputs, of course?
Exactly, The way this is being built I need a VGA connection and PS/2 ports. Plus with the configuration I am looking at I'll have a little PC built using a mini-ITX and IDE flash card, for less than $200. From what it looks like on the links from the fit-pc site, that looks to start around the $250 range and only has USB ports on it...
Nice suggestion, but I'll be sticking with the mini-ITX. :)
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Not much of a progress update, but I bought my 1/2" MDF today and have the 1st side laid out on it. Thanks to my trusty graph paper and protractor everything turned out exactly as I had it drawn out. Tomorrow I'll cut this out and lay it on top of the MDF to cut the other side. While it was drawn out I also used the life-size drawing to figure out all of the spacings I had originally drawn out on graphing paper.
I know I should learn sketchup for all of this stuff. rather than using a mix of Photoshop and graphing paper. I have been playing with it a little bit. But, at the moment I can't wrap my head around working in it. While I know how to draw up things in Photoshop and paper. :lol
Here is a picture of the sketch alongside my pad of paper.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Prepping.jpg)
The only part I have ordered so far is the PSOne screen. I decided that I need to have that in hand to tinker with and get proper measurements off of it. Since everything else in this project I can figure from online drawings, such as the trackball schematics on Happ's site, or The buttons and parts I already have on hand here at home.
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Last night I cut most of the boards I need. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home. But I'll get some pictures tonight for sure. For the CP front, Top and the sides I am using 1/2" as planned. The base is a 10x 10 section of 3/4", The plan is to leave the section under the CP open to make it easy to access the control panel wiring. The front angled section, the Bezel and the back panel is made of left over 1/4". I've also decided that I will be using my 1/4" MDF for the CP, rather than a using metal. I should be able to route a inset for the trackball into the CP top and it should be strong enough for playing Centipede.
Also I've decided that this cab will be a dedicated Centipede cabinet, rather than having multiple games. Since I have any other trackball game I'd want to play on SHMUP already, I don't see a reason to load this one up with multiple games. And I'll set up Windows to shutdown when the power button is pressed. Thus hiding any PC aspects even more than Shmup does.
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Also I've decided that this cab will be a dedicated Centipede cabinet, rather than having multiple games. Since I have any other trackball game I'd want to play on SHMUP already, I don't see a reason to load this one up with multiple games. And I'll set up Windows to shutdown when the power button is pressed. Thus hiding any PC aspects even more than Shmup does.
Since you're going to do a dedicated Centipede cabinet, why not use one of those 60-in-1 multigame board?
Or, since it's only Centipede, why not use the MS-DOS version of MAME? Would make the thing a whole lot faster to boot and shutdown.
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If you are going for a dedicated 'pede then have you considered booting right into it?
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If you are going for a dedicated 'pede then have you considered booting right into it?
Of couse, the plan is to have it boot up to Centipede off the bat, so I'll have to find a way to stash an exit button somewhere on the cab....
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Since you're going to do a dedicated Centipede cabinet, why not use one of those 60-in-1 multigame board?
Or, since it's only Centipede, why not use the MS-DOS version of MAME? Would make the thing a whole lot faster to boot and shutdown.
I figure I'd go with a PC running mame, since I already know how to work that set up. Ha, the same with running MaLa to launch mame, since I know what I did to Shmup to make it load up off the bat.
If you are going for a dedicated 'pede then have you considered booting right into it?
Yup it'll boot straight into Centipede. :)
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Do you have all the measurements and the artwork for the cab?
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Do you have all the measurements and the artwork for the cab?
The cab is 10" wide inside to inside of the side panels and it's a total of 16" deep. The marquee area is 2 1/2" x 10". The Control Panel area is 5" x 10", but that's not counting the front panel. I'll have to wait to see what the total size is once I add the rounded edge and front panel.
I'm working on the artwork. I'm working in Illustrator on the control panel overlay. Which I'm basically making my own design, while keeping it as close to authentic looking as possible. The marquee is a little small, it's around 2.5" x 10" which when you take the original and shrink it down to 10" wide, it's actually not that far off. The side art I will be printing off and seeing how it looks, if it doesn't look good, I'll take the challenge and vector it by hand in Illustrator.
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Today I ran to the store and picked up a set of rounding bits for the router. I ended up getting a 3 pack, with a 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 radius in it, I was amazed that it was actually cheaper for the 3 pack than it was for a single router bit. They wanted up to $40 for one and I got the 3 pack for $19.99 at Home Depot. After the trip to Home Depot, I got to work.
First, test fitted the cab together and decided which rounded edge would work best. I decided on the 3/8" radius. Next, I glued a pair of blocks to the Top panel to mount the 8" Fluorescent light to. While this was drying, I headed to the garage and after gauging depth I made a test cut to see if the depth of the bit was correct and amazingly I got it right on the first shot. So, since the board that I tested on was over 10" wide rather than make another routed cut I cut the board down to 3" x 10" for the CP front panel.
Ye Ol' Wood Pile
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/YeOlWoodPile.jpg)
Rounded CP panel (With my Chihuahua, Brutus, making a guest appearance).
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/RoundedCPFront.jpg)
The 8" Fluorescent light fixture mounted on the top panel
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Light.jpg)
Test marquee, it's 2.5" x 10" and while I had to stink it down a little it was almost completely proportional.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/TestMarquee.jpg)
Front shot of the cab test assembled using clamps
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/TestAssembly2.jpg)
And an angled side view
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/TestAssembly1.jpg)
The screen should be arriving soon and then I may order out my T-molding and trackball in order to do the CP. But other than that, I'll be slowly picking away and getting the rest of the parts. Mostly because I need to save up money for parts, and I think I'll be doing most of the graphics in Illustrator. Mostly since I cut the side art in half and merged the top and bottom into one. And I have to do a custom CPO.
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Woah, you move fast! Looking good so far, I like how the proportions look overall. What's your plan for the bottom? Rubber casters?
I always wanted to do a bartop with a stiff turning lazy-susan, like in mountain's jukebox. Something that's stiff enough not to move around on you when you play, but able to turn when you want. Could be be pretty cool, especially if two people were passing the game back and forth for alternating play.
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Woah, you move fast! Looking good so far, I like how the proportions look overall. What's your plan for the bottom? Rubber casters?
Nah I'm just gonna put some plastic or rubber feet on it. Ha, the last thing I want is someone to get crazy and whack the trackball and send it flying off of the counter. :)
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Dang Ryglore, you gotta slow down a bit! You're going to have two projects finished in the time it's taking me to do one! ;)
This is really a blow to my self esteem. :P
Btw, nice work, and looking great so far! :cheers:
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Dang Ryglore, you gotta slow down a bit! You're going to have two projects finished in the time it's taking me to do one! ;)
This is really a blow to my self esteem. :P
Btw, nice work, and looking great so far! :cheers:
I excel at awesome. :D (I kid)
Ha, oh this project will slow down soon. I only have most of the woodworking done because a 2' x 4' sheet of 1/2" MDF was only $8. I'm looking to see if I can afford to buy the trackball and t-molding from Twisted Quarter so I can work on my CP. But after that I'll be most likely saving for the Holidays and such. ;) Luckily I have some Primer, Black and White left from Shmup though. :lol
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Dang Ryglore, you gotta slow down a bit! You're going to have two projects finished in the time it's taking me to do one! ;)
This is really a blow to my self esteem. :P
Btw, nice work, and looking great so far! :cheers:
I'm starting to think that Ryglore is actually building a real arcade, i.e. an army of cabinets to fill a small room. :lol
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I'm starting to think that Ryglore is actually building a real arcade, i.e. an army of cabinets to fill a small room. :lol
Think the film Toys.
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There's no stopping you now is there! :D
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There's no stopping you now is there! :D
Well, considering I have a small loft apartment. The only thing holding me back is space. :lol
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Yesterday the PSOne screen arrived. I ordered it used from Amazon and the seller had said in the description that it was "near mint with all packaging and booklets". Well, when I opened the box up, it had everything still in the original plastic bags and the screen still had the factory screen protector sheet on it! That's awesome, even though the plan is to gut it, it's nice that the screen is in pretty much perfect shape. :applaud:
I also printed off a test of the bezel art, which I had added a rectangle in the center to act as the screen. Everything looks like it lines up nicely. But other than that not much work was done on this project last night, as Iwas playing with RomLister on SHMUP finishing up a couple odds and ends with the game lists before my party on Saturday. :)
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PSOne screens are so cool! Not a bad idea to use as well, since you can probably get it for cheap now. I notice on ebay it ranges from $20-60...pretty good deal for a 5" LCD screen!
One thing I wanted to mention for your party: Try to make your FE for SHMUP as easy as possible, with accompanying instructions. I know that whenever I have a party and the mame machine is going, I tend to have to babysit it for my friends who somehow can't figure out how to get their game running, or know what buttons to use. I know, DUH! :dizzy:
I ended up putting an instructions card into the CP ("use this button to start game", "use this button to exit", etc...) as well as some custom loading screens through the FE with game instructions, just so people can figure it out on their own and I can enjoy getting drunk... :laugh:
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Yeah, I originally got the idea for using it from the book "Hacking Video Game Consoles" and they use it for making portable gaming systems. I also found a tutorial on how to hack the video into a VGA cable end (http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2004/07/07/psone_lcd/comments/4) and using it as a small secondary monitor on a PC. In my research I also found another thread on modding the screen for a PC (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=44865&page=5&pp=20) Using S-Video and connecting the screen to the PC's power supply.
So I think the route I am going to go is S-Video for sure. Since that will save me from accidentally frying something. Plus if I can connect the power to the 12v on the power supply, I won't need to stuff the case with the power cord. This also makes me want to rethink my marquee light using 12v lighting, thus running everything off of the power supply, rather than having a bunch of power connectors and surge protector/ smart strip..... Hmmmm.
I do believe it's time to get technical!
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Plus if I can connect the power to the 12v on the power supply, I won't need to stuff the case with the power cord. This also makes me want to rethink my marquee light using 12v lighting, thus running everything off of the power supply, rather than having a bunch of power connectors and surge protector/ smart strip..... Hmmmm.
I do believe it's time to get technical!
What do you mean, 12v marquee light? As opposed to what? You do know there is both +12v and +5v on the power connectors of computer power supplies?
Also, for a cab that small, may I suggest white LEDs instead? I burned the first two neon tubes in my first mini-cab because of the heat. Having a fragile glass tube with mercury inside a small, portable cabinet isn't a good idea in the first place anyway. :timebomb:
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Plus if I can connect the power to the 12v on the power supply, I won't need to stuff the case with the power cord. This also makes me want to rethink my marquee light using 12v lighting, thus running everything off of the power supply, rather than having a bunch of power connectors and surge protector/ smart strip..... Hmmmm.
I do believe it's time to get technical!
What do you mean, 12v marquee light? As opposed to what? You do know there is both +12v and +5v on the power connectors of computer power supplies?
Also, for a cab that small, may I suggest white LEDs instead? I burned the first two neon tubes in my first mini-cab because of the heat. Having a fragile glass tube with mercury inside a small, portable cabinet isn't a good idea in the first place anyway. :timebomb:
Oh a 12v light as opposed to a standard fluorescent light with a 110 house plug on it. So I'm Thinking of hacking my light that I have in the cab and putting a PCB inside with LEDs soldered in place and then wiring that directly to the power supply. I said 12v mostly because that is the kind of lighting I am around most often, since trailers use 12v power for either lighting systems. But what I meant was something I could wire into the power supply in general. I'd prefer to go with LEDs actually.
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So I'm Thinking of hacking my light that I have in the cab and putting a PCB inside with LEDs soldered in place and then wiring that directly to the power supply. I said 12v mostly because that is the kind of lighting I am around most often, since trailers use 12v power for either lighting systems. But what I meant was something I could wire into the power supply in general. I'd prefer to go with LEDs actually.
The +5 volts is probably going to be more than enough, given that most LEDs are typically between around 1.5 to 3.5 volts (varies by LED color, type, brightness, etc). Do check the maximum amps though, you can't request 10 amps from a PC power supply drive connector! :dizzy:
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The +5 volts is probably going to be more than enough, given that most LEDs are typically between around 1.5 to 3.5 volts (varies by LED color, type, brightness, etc). Do check the maximum amps though, you can't request 10 amps from a PC power supply drive connector! :dizzy:
Actually... now I am thinking something along the lines of this from groovy game gear. http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=307 (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=307)
Of course the length is 11.5" But if done correctly, I should be able to trim it down to fit inside the cab, which is 10" wide. Also, if mounted correctly it will light the marquee nicely.
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Ya, I think those are a great way to go. I'm going with something similar from a local source here:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37158&vpn=ML12WT&manufacture=Logisys%20Computer (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37158&vpn=ML12WT&manufacture=Logisys%20Computer)
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Ya, I think those are a great way to go. I'm going with something similar from a local source here:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37158&vpn=ML12WT&manufacture=Logisys%20Computer (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37158&vpn=ML12WT&manufacture=Logisys%20Computer)
Yup, The best part is that the GGG one is made to plug into a PC power supply. :D
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Yup, The best part is that the GGG one is made to plug into a PC power supply. :D
The one Epyx listed is also for a PC power supply (4PINS Molex Connector 12V DC).
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Yup, The best part is that the GGG one is made to plug into a PC power supply. :D
The one Epyx listed is also for a PC power supply (4PINS Molex Connector 12V DC).
Ok you got me... I clicked the link but didn't take the time to read the specs... :whap
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I don't see a reason to build the cabinet that large, given the dinky-ness of that monitor. I know which way I'd go.
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I don't see a reason to build the cabinet that large, given the dinky-ness of that monitor. I know which way I'd go.
I've test fitted everything and the cabinet isn't that big compared to the monitor at all.
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As I said before, this project was going to reach a stalling point. It would seem that this is it, ha. With the coming of the end of the year and the need to save money for holiday spending as well as general living expenses (Apparently you need food in order to live to be able to build arcade machines), This project is officially hitting stall status.
On one hand I can snag my dad's soldering iron and work on hacking the PSOne screen for the time being. But as far as buying the rest of the parts for it, that will have to wait. This is actually a bit of a blessing though, as it will give me time to tinker with ideas and I won't be rushing anything on it.
Plus I still need to figure out how I want a coin slot to work. and this will give me plenty of time to play with the unassembled cabinet to work on ideas for that.
Hope to continue progress soon. But in all likelihood, This will end up being finished sometime in 2010. ;)
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Ah well you have your awesome main cab to keep you occupied on the gaming front at least. Hopefully you are enjoying it!
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Hope to continue progress soon. But in all likelihood, This will end up being finished sometime in 2010. ;)
Well that's understandable. Hopefully you'll still hang around here some in the mean time. ;)
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Hope to continue progress soon. But in all likelihood, This will end up being finished sometime in 2010. ;)
Well that's understandable. Hopefully you'll still hang around here some in the mean time. ;)
Nah, I don't like you people. :o
Ha, I kid. :angel:
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I hit that point once the snow hit the ground here. :angry: you Alberta! :cry:
I've got everything all done except basically repainting my cab and doing up some artwork... Still debating just making a mess in the basement to get it done...
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Ya, my main problem is funds. I am lacking in the monies department. :cry:
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I've been slowly planning the Centipede mini-bartop since I've been unable to do any actual work on the project. I've decided that this will be a dedicated Centipede cab, rather than having multiple games on it or even just Centipede/Millipede. Here the list of what I have planned thus far:
- 1 Fire button and 2 player buttons.
- USB 2 1/4" Happ Trackball
- GGG NovaGemCDR coin drop button mounted on the front of the CP for "tokens". I would love to use my tokens in this as well, but I've not got the engineering skills to work it out yet.
- mini-ITX based PC, with an IDE flash module for the "hard drive". For extra ventilation, I will be mounting a case fan on the back panel
- Windows will be trimmed down, using nLite to remove any unneeded programs from Windows XP.
- Using Mala and Instant Sheller, I will hide windows completely. Centipede will launch on start up and the power button on the back will shut everything down when pressed. This should lgive me a seamless load up and shutdown.
- The PSone LCD screen will be connected using S-Video. This way I don't need to worry about soldering and doing to much modding to the screen. (Read as: Destroying the screen)
- This cab will be laminated rather than painted. It will be a much better finish this way and will be a good testing ground for learning how to laminate.
- The Control Panel will be made out of metal, using the side panel of my old PC case. The trackball will be mounted to it with bolts and the heads will show. Just like the original.
- The Control Panel Overlay will be printed off by Mame Marquees and will be adhesive backed. So there will be no plexiglass on top of the CP. And it will roll down to the front of the CP.
- The CP art is a mix between the standard CPO and the Cocktal CPO. Though due to the size it does resemble the Cocktail CPO a lot more.
- The marquee will be printed using Photo paper, since it is only 10" wide. I will then use the thin plastic covers for presentation folders and sandwich it all into place.
- The side art will most likely be printed at a local print shop, only so I can explain in person what I need done and what they can or can't do.
And now... Pictures!
Here is the latest version of the CPO. It may change a bit more... maybe with coloring closer to the stand up cab's CPO.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CP.jpg)
And here is an updated Mock-up of the Mini-Centipede.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CentipedeMock-1.jpg)
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awesome work mano :)
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Thanks jeef! I hope it turns out half as good as the photoshop image... ;)
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Actually, I forgot to put the rectangle graphic on the front of the CP. Here is the newer mock-up now.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CentipedeMock2.jpg)
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Looking good. Millipede is a must.
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Using the laser printer at work, I printed off the CP art and brought it home so I could test it. The main purpose is so I can see where the placement of the rounded edge is as well as button placement etc. I have some SPST pushbuttons from Radio Shack that I'll be using for the player start buttons. These are quite a bit smaller than an arcade button and will work out well for the player start and power buttons. They have a bit stiffer feel to them and I wouldn't want to use them for gaming, but for these functions they are perfect. Luckily I have an extra White Happ Pushbutton left over from SHMUP, so I won't need to buy another one for this project... but I may order out a Micro-Leaf switch for it when I order out my KeyWiz...
Start button next to the Happ button for size comparision
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/buttons.jpg)
Close up of the Start button
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/PlayerButtons.jpg)
Complete Mock-up of the cab.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/TestingTheGraphics.jpg)
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mock-up? That looks like a complete build! :)
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mock-up? That looks like a complete build! :)
Ha, well it's a mock up as in... It doesn't have the screen, PC or controls and it's not laminated and glued together. :lol
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Looks good. :cheers: Can't fit a bit bigger screen in there somehow?
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From the top edge of the bezel to the bottom edge is 5 inches... so i guess I "could" fit a 6" monitor in there. But I already have to PSOne screen.
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I know I am new here but... I have to agree with every one else if you can get a larger screen and use the psone screen for something else I would. I think filling up the space with a bigger screen would make it look a little more like a original production build, especially since every thing else looks legit. The small screen just doesn't look right or even do the cab and art justice I think. Just my opinion. Other than that awesome. :applaud:
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The small screen just doesn't look right or even do the cab and art justice I think. Just my opinion. Other than that awesome. :applaud:
Yeah, I did some looking into screens last night and I may see if I can find a decently priced headrest monitor in 4:3.
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+2 on a bigger screen. Thats a fine looking cab you got going. I bet you would be disappointed with the psone screen after it's all said and done.
If you got a new screen thats a bit bigger, you could use the psone screen for a new project building a smaller cab to fit it too ;D
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+2 on a bigger screen. Thats a fine looking cab you got going. I bet you would be disappointed with the psone screen after it's all said and done.
If you got a new screen thats a bit bigger, you could use the psone screen for a new project building a smaller cab to fit it too ;D
Ya, I've been looking into Monitor options. I'll have to take some measurements, but I'm certainly thinking about what I can and can't get away with.
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I think the picture attached says it all.
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That would be 1000 words worth, yes.
I've been sold on the idea of a bigger screen for a day or so now. I just need to decide if I will go with a small vertical monitor, or squeeze a horizontal monitor in there and hide the "margins" around the game with the bezel.
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That would be 1000 words worth, yes.
I've been sold on the idea of a bigger screen for a day or so now. I just need to decide if I will go with a small vertical monitor, or squeeze a horizontal monitor in there and hide the "margins" around the game with the bezel.
The arcade had a 4:3 monitor installed vertically, so I would go for the same setup. If you are fine with a composite video connection, then there is a lot of choices in the headrest monitors department. Some even have S-Video, so it's not all bad. Be careful though, the viewing angles need to account for a vertical installation.
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Whats the viewing angle on that thing? Looks like you need to be directly in front of it?
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The arcade had a 4:3 monitor installed vertically, so I would go for the same setup. If you are fine with a composite video connection, then there is a lot of choices in the headrest monitors department. Some even have S-Video, so it's not all bad. Be careful though, the viewing angles need to account for a vertical installation.
Yup I've been looking into headrest monitors for a while now. I'm still having a hell of a time finding one in 4:3 though...
Whats the viewing angle on that thing? Looks like you need to be directly in front of it?
The cab is only 10 inches wide, so I would guess you would be in directly in front of it anyway?
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By viewing angle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_orientation#Rotation_of_LCD_monitors), I mean the "best" angle that is specified in the monitor specifications. Some monitors have their best viewing angle off-center, such as small monitor that are supposed to be viewed from above. Such a monitor would have a bad viewing angle when used vertically. I'm having this problem with the 7" LCD that I wanted to use to make a micro-pinball machine.
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The cab is only 10 inches wide, so I would guess you would be in directly in front of it anyway?
In a mock up as if your playing it, can you see the screen ok? I assume once your playing it, you would be standing above it and looking down. It looks like the marquee box would obscure the screen unless your standing eye level to the screen.
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The cab is only 10 inches wide, so I would guess you would be in directly in front of it anyway?
In a mock up as if your playing it, can you see the screen ok? I assume once your playing it, you would be standing above it and looking down. It looks like the marquee box would obscure the screen unless your standing eye level to the screen.
Good point. Luckily I got my own D-Cam for Christmas! So after I read your reply I set up the Centipede on the counter top as if it was done and stood roughly "playing distance" with the camera at eye level. Here is what I came up with.... I highlighted the monitor area w/ purple so you can see it better. Thoughts?
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/View.jpg)
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Looks good, assuming you don't go with a bigger screen, you should be able to see it.
On my multi-williams bartop, I didn't do so well with the viewing angle. I have to look down past the marquee to play. I think the marquee distracts some people (including me) when they play it. Because it's bright and busy. If you look at the tempest - it's perfect. By the way, you can see my bartops in my signature.
I assume your cutting a slot for the t-molding?
Looking like a nice project. Keep up the nice work.
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Looks good, assuming you don't go with a bigger screen, you should be able to see it.
On my multi-williams bartop, I didn't do so well with the viewing angle. I have to look down past the marquee to play. I think the marquee distracts some people (including me) when they play it. Because it's bright and busy. If you look at the tempest - it's perfect. By the way, you can see my bartops in my signature.
I assume your cutting a slot for the t-molding?
Looking like a nice project. Keep up the nice work.
Thanks, I'm leaning toward keeping the PSone screen instead of going with a bigger one, so the view should be about perfect.
And I am going to do T-molding, but I'm going to cut the slots after I get it laminated.
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No progress has been made, but that is mostly because I am in the midst of packing up my apartment and moving. Hopefully I can continue working on this once I'm settled in at the new place, but there will be a bunch of fixing up to do in the house. The good news is, all of my newly aquired woodworking and tool skills will be able to be used!
So really this is more or less a notice that I'm still pretty much on pause with the project. But, I will be moving forward with it, just as soon as moving and house expenses are taken care of. Luckliy, it's mostly just the upstairs bedrooms that need to be worked on, as the living room and kitchen area were redone before the house was sold.
And, I have a full basement to turn into a workshop, complete with preinstalled lighting and shelving! So I don't think getting time to tinker in the basement will be much of a problem. ::)
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Man, this looks great! :applaud: I love they way that the whole thing hangs together.
Any more news after your move?
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Man, this looks great! :applaud: I love they way that the whole thing hangs together.
Any more news after your move?
I was just thinking about posting an update on the status of this when I noticed email alert for your reply.
So here goes.
Currently, the Centipede is sitting in pieces on my new work bench. covered in pieces parts of home improvement and snowboard waxing tools. Unfortunately for the project, I've been busy w/ house work and fixing up the house. Most of my spare money has gone toward fixing things up, such as painting my room, buying a garbage disposal, flooring, etc... it may be a little while longer before I can give my attention to the Centipede fully. Also, From playing the Shmup and reworking the connection for the CP, I'm tempted to build a swappable CP for it too.
Over the months I've kinda/sorta planned things out. I'm still going to use my radio shack push buttons for P1 and P2 starts, I'm only putting 1 button on the CP and the 2.5" trackball to keep it authentic looking. I have the PC parts mostly decided on as well as how to wire everything.
I hit 2 snags though. I can't seem to wrap my head around the PSone screen. I'm not sure about wiring it now, even though I have plenty of soldering experience. Plus having to worry about having a graphics card that can read the signal it puts out after it's wired for VGA input is a headache. Not to mention, I can use a S-Video feed, but I can't find a S-Video cable for it anywhere. So any help on that would be awesome.
The second snag, comes from the idea of credits. Originally I wanted to run tokens in it, just like Shmup. But the size makes it difficult, and I was thinking of doing a sort of coin shoot idea into a full size Happ coin mech. But I need to play with that a little more.While the other idea was to just install either another mini push button on the top for credits, or one of GGG's coin drop return leds. I may bite the bullet and just do the credit button...
Anyway, I hope I can figure it all out and get started on the Centipede again soon. That is, after my home improvement projects are completed...
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I know, only too well, how 'real life' can get in the way ;)
I think that the coin mech etc shouldn't interfere with the concept of making a 'realistic' bartop. My idea was to create a gaming machine that was for use outside of a coinop enviroment. Something that can be enjoyed without the need to pump coins in. I think that yours looks great without the need for credit button, that would really mess the design up :)
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Ya I like the idea of not using coins, especially since it will be tight for space inside anyway. Actually, you asking about the project kinda has me a little back on the ball. So after I finish tiling the kitchen floor, I'll go in the basement and organize everything so I can continue progress... though as a snails pace, if need be. :laugh:
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Ya I like the idea of not using coins, especially since it will be tight for space inside anyway. Actually, you asking about the project kinda has me a little back on the ball. So after I finish tiling the kitchen floor, I'll go in the basement and organize everything so I can continue progress... though as a snails pace, if need be. :laugh:
That's the kind of kick up the **** I needed!
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Weather is gettin' nicer here my man! Good time for project work.
Got any updates? This and the Xevious bartop is really inspiring me to make one myself!
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Weather is gettin' nicer here my man! Good time for project work.
Got any updates? This and the Xevious bartop is really inspiring me to make one myself!
The weather's rather poor here dear chap :'( but I'm hoping to get some more done soon.
I do rather like this cab, I think that a Millipede may be built at some point (just because I have a black trackball lying around). It will obviously take as long as the Xevious cab!
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Weather is gettin' nicer here my man! Good time for project work.
Got any updates? This and the Xevious bartop is really inspiring me to make one myself!
The weather here hasn't been so hot either. But maybe this week will be better. I really can't wait to test out my new router table! That will make the T-molding slots much easier, considering that the sides are so small.
I'm glad to hear that even due to a lack of progress, this has inspired you to try your hand at a bartop! :cheers:
Weather is gettin' nicer here my man! Good time for project work.
Got any updates? This and the Xevious bartop is really inspiring me to make one myself!
The weather's rather poor here dear chap :'( but I'm hoping to get some more done soon.
I do rather like this cab, I think that a Millipede may be built at some point (just because I have a black trackball lying around). It will obviously take as long as the Xevious cab!
I thought about a Millipede, but really if this works out, I may have to build a Mini-Robotron 2084... =)
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I thought about a Millipede, but really if this works out, I may have to build a Mini-Robotron 2084... =)
Wait, a bartop Robotron? or a cabaret?
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I thought about a Millipede, but really if this works out, I may have to build a Mini-Robotron 2084... =)
Wait, a bartop Robotron? or a cabaret?
Bartop. =)
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A bartop Robotron. Nice :)
I really fancy building a Star Wars bartop...
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A bartop Robotron. Nice :badmood:
I really fancy building a Star Wars bartop...
One thing at a time though... I need to actually complete this one first! :)
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Yeah, one thing at a time... it's taken me a year to nearly complete the first two ;D Still, it's best to keep dreaming!
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Bartop. =)
That's awesome! I love me some Robotron action!
Though, I'd be worried about flinging that thing around while playing. Robotron tends to make you jerk the cabinet around...
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Bartop. =)
That's awesome! I love me some Robotron action!
Though, I'd be worried about flinging that thing around while playing. Robotron tends to make you jerk the cabinet around...
Yeah, I thought about that w/ Centipede too. But I guess that If I was going to do robotron, I would possible go with a full size bartop rather than a mini-bartop...
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If it weighs anywhere near what my bartops do, then I think that you'll have no difficulty. I can hardly lift the damn things with the monitors in. How much does your current monitor weigh?
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Keep in mind, the Centipede is a mini-bartop and the monitor is going to be (maybe) a PSOne screen, which is maybe 2 lbs if that.. prolly less. But as far as materials go, I'd have to weigh it all, and once I get the Laminate on there it will be a little heavier. It shouldn't be a problem as far as getting flung around, and I plan on putting rubber feet on the bottom to keep it from sliding too. :lol
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The rubber feet keep mine pretty steady. Get some big ones they work really well.
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Hey all. The bartop project has been on hold for awhile, as you prolly all noticed... since I am strapped for extra cash. But I would like to point out a sweet little 8" 4:3 LCD monitor that Opt2Not mentioned to me. Check this baby out! (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32019)
With the revelation of this monitor, I may have found the solution to my display problem. Which means, once I can afford the parts, I can continue the project! I'm actually planning on going into the basement tonight and doing some note taking and organizing. Maybe I can make up a little shopping list of parts. And then it's just a matter of saving up the money to start... :-\
Here is a quick question. Does anyone know where to find the coned 1 and 2 player buttons that are on the original Centipede CP?
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Yay!! :applaud: Good stuff dude, glad to hear i helped spark your motivation to get this baby done!
I'm going to order one of these lcd's soon... I'll give you a review of it if I receive it before you purchase.
As for the atari buttons, I know that Arcade shop (http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm) has the cones alone (tall and short - and in black)...didn't see any buttons there though.
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That would be the place I found them before! haha Not sure if I should go w/ them or not though. I could just use 2 small buttons in place of them...
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Here is a quick question. Does anyone know where to find the coned 1 and 2 player buttons that are on the original Centipede CP?
A day late and $15 short...
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1331854 (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1331854)
Seriously though, you can get used/working ones here:
http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/8112 (http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/8112) with the cone bezels found at the arcade shop in the previous reply.
HTH,
Evan
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for the cone buttons + switch check ram controls: http://www.ram-controls.com/order-cones.html (http://www.ram-controls.com/order-cones.html)
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Awesome! Thanks guys. These would really make the CP pop.
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Over the weekend, I began writing up parts and pricing of everything I'd need. In keeping with the theme of taking forever, I've decided to paint again, rather than laminate. Going with a nice smooth coat and really getting it to shine with a gloss coat.
Maybe, if I can swing some cash for paint, I'll start doing that while I wait for money for parts. ha. Not sure.
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Little bit of work was done this weekend.
Turns out, I still have some black paint and white left over from SHMUP, and it was just sitting at the parent's garage. So while I was at Home Depot picking up dryer vent parts, I snagged some 60, 100 and 150 grit sand paper. After I was done moving our dryer, I went to work sanding down the wood glue I had mistakenly put on the side of the cab.
If all turns out well. I should be able to paint the parts w/ the black and white and start the process of wet sanding everything to a mirror shine. haha, that'll give me a little project to work on until I can afford the parts. :lol
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Slowly working on the cab. I now have a router table and I'll be able to work on the smaller pieces with it. Though I apparently don't own a large enough wrench to tighten the slot cutter into place. So I wasn't able to cut it and get started on painting.
I did sand the glue off of the good side of the cab. I've gotten the metal for my control panel, we happened to have some scrap at work... yoink.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/AluminumSheet.jpg)
Shopping lists continue to be written and refined. I'll need to get the buttons and trackball soon-ish. So I can plot out my CP layout, etc.
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I broke down and ordered 2 of the cones and buttons from RAM Controls last night. I decided to go with short cones and non-led buttons. Also I ordered a leaf switch button and assembly from Lizard Lick for the fire button. Having these on hand along with the 2 1/4" trackball diagram, will help me design the modified control panel artwork and layout. For sure.
Also, I'm going to head out and pick up a set of wrenches so I can tighten down the arbor for the slot cutter and get that stuff taken care of. After that's done, I'll be able to stir up the pain and get to work on painting the interior sections black.
Today is the start of a good project weekend, me thinks.
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Not much work was done this weekend. I did cut the slots for the t-molding. But no painting happened.
My leaf-switch button came from Lizard Lick and the cone buttons are hopefully on the way from RAM as well. Also I ordered the 1/2" t-molding and 2 1/4" trackball from Twisted Quarter. This means all the parts for the control panel are on their way. This will give me all the pieces I need to continue putting together the body of the cabinet.
I'll post pictures once I have all the parts in hand. I've decided to hold off painting anything until after I get the metal for the CP worked out. No point in rushing anything and having to redo my paint job. Plus I might have a slick idea on how I want to mount the metal to the cab, without having surface bolts.
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Today I found myself hooked on working out the design for the control panel. here is what I came up with, since the CP will be much smaller and the mushroom design on the original sized CP wouldn't work properly. I did a mash up of the cocktail cab and upright styles.
Keep in mind this is all in photoshop, I still will need to drop it into illustrator to clean it up and vectorize it.
Here is my design:
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CP_wipcopy.jpg)
And here are comparisions of reproduction work from GameOnGrafix:
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/comparision.jpg)
Oh... and here it is in my mock up:
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/CentipedeMockcopy.jpg)
What do you think?
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Looks awesome to me.
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Thank. I think I am happy with it. The added color of the "rainbow" stripe from the upright cab makes the cab pop, imho.
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Today was like Christmas on my doorstep! My order from RAM and Twisted Quarter both arrived and I now have the Atari Cones, the 2 1/4" Trackball and the 1/2" T-molding in my workshop. Which means I can begin work on the control panel layout and slowly start assembly and paint. I had previously cut the T-molding slot but it wasn't until after I had cut both sides that I noticed my router was slightly tilted... So there are some parts of the line that are centered and others that are a bit off. So I've decided I will have to paint the edge of the side panels black to hide any slight deviations... sigh... luckily, it's not really that bad at all.
T-Molding Slotted
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/SlotCut.jpg)
Leaf Switch Button
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/LeafSwitchButton.jpg)
Atari Cones w/ a Penny for Reference
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/AtariCones.jpg)
I'm really glad I picked up the leaf switch button. It really brings me back, especially since I was able to hit up the arcade at Cedar Point during the Summer that had 2 working Centipedes, Galaga, Galaxian and more. The feel and the silent function of it will make it so much closer to the "real thing". Also, the short cones were a good idea, they are already a tad bigger than I remember from earlier this Summer. They are 1" wide and about 1/2" tall. But they'll work much better than the Tall ones, which I'm sure are about 1" tall.
2 1/4" Trackball
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/2-25Trackball.jpg)
I opened up the trackball and totally had deja vu. Felt like I was working on the SHMUP again. This one isn't USB though, it's a normal plain-jane trackball unit, since I've decided to use a 60 in 1 board and the Jamma Harness. Also, since I am going w/ a metal control panel, I'm going to bolt right through it, like the original was, rather than the flush mount kit. That in mind, I also snagged some black carriage bolts for mounting it. The only thing I am missing is an off white ball. Oh well.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/steelPlate.jpg)
Speaking of metal control panels. I also found a piece of scrap metal laying around work, which looks to be the proper thickness. I'm going to play with both the steel sheet and the aluminum sheet to see which works better. Not sure, I still might go with the aluminum sheet, just because of ease of working with it.
Time to take some measurements and play with button placements! Woo!
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Ha the project is on hold until after Halloween. all my creative energy is going toward crafting a sweet Umbrella Corporation Scientist costume for a halloween party. :laugh:
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this is so awesome...i love centipede
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Thanks severdhed. Same here, I really want to do it justice. Which is one of the reasons I am taking things slowly. I don't want to cut corners in any way, thus the hunt for cones and the leaf button. :laugh:
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Spring is around the corner and I'm movie forward. Looking to paint this week. Watch this space. :afro:
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Hey.... looks like I actually got off my butt and started working on things again! I've been shuffling the body parts of the Centipede around the basement, I decided to get things built and painted and the controls mounted, so I don't end up losing something. Though I can't afford the guts for it yet.
The plan is to build the cab and get it all set to go, so when I can get the screen, guts and graphics I just have to install them, and we'll be ready to rock and roll. So here we go... build pictures! I'm doing 100% glue on this one, no screws, and it seems like a lot less of a pain in the ass. Yay little-to-no Wood filler garbage!
The gluing begins! Gluing the base onto the sides, the top and back panel are dry fitted to help keep things square.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Gluing_begins.jpg)
Gluing the Top panel in place, rear view
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Gluing_TopPanel2.jpg)
Top panel installation, front view
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Gluing_TopPanel1.jpg)
Mounting the front panel.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Gluing_FrontPanel.jpg)
I going to spring for a speaker of some kind and working on the speaker panel, soonish. As for other things I'm working on for it are a complete vectorization of the Side Artwork and I restarted the Illustrator file for the Control Panel art, getting all my spacing measurements correct and making sure I am using the same colors on everything. I'm also working on how I want to mount the metal panel into place for the control panel.
Anyway, there is a little progress happening. :applaud:
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Annndd... I just realized I glued the base into place in the wrong location. :banghead: It was supposed to go to the back and would give me an open space access to the controls to mount them and service the control panel properly, thus not needing to remove the metal panel. I when I was putting it together I thought it seemed odd that the back panel kinda just floated along the bottom edge, but I thought nothing of it... :cry: ... Well, if I need to, I'll just jig saw the gap I was originally going to have there and cut a piece of mdf to fill the gap in the back.
You can see the proper gap in this picture, ha
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/TestAssembly1.jpg)
This kids, is the problem with picking a project back up after a year lag, and not consulting your notes before picking it back up. (Also it makes me 2 for 2 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95293.msg1005830#msg1005830) on screwing up bases on projects, haha at least I'm consistant.)
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Spent the slow times at work devising a way to safely fix the base problem. Originally I was going to leave it in place and Jigsaw the gap I needed, but instead I got crafty with my pocket knife and a paint can opener. After some gentle persuasion with my pocket knife I was able to slowly pry the two pieces apart with the lid opener and viola! Fixed problem!
That's how it should have been...
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Repairing_TheBase.jpg)
and another view.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Repairing_TheBase2.jpg)
Also, I finished up the Control Panel artwork in Illustrator this afternoon. Now all the spacings are figured out properly and I'll be able to print a copy to use as my hole template for the CP top.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/ControlPanelArtcopy.jpg)
What's this? 3 days of work in a row.... crazyness. :laugh:
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Craziness indeed!
Nice mulligan on the initial gluing. Lucky you were able to get it off before the glue solidified.
The artwork is looking sharp too!
Glad you got the motivation to continue. Maybe seeing your progress will help get me motivates to finish a few projects. Maybe. ;)
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Lucky you were able to get it off before the glue solidified.
Oh the glue was quite solid, it sat for a little over a day before I realized I screwed up. It pulled some bits of mdf from the side, but nothing crazy though. Thanks on the art, I'm still dreading the vector job for the side art.... :cry:
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This project is coming along very nicely indeed! I'm loving the controls with the cone buttons. The finished article with all the artwork is gonna be excellent.
I also have problems rectifying mistakes on my projects. Something goes slightly wrong or isn't quite right and it bugs you a bit. Then during some quiet moments at work or wherever and you get to thinking about how to fix said problem that you were originally going to live with. But you can't live with it because you KNOW it will bug the hell out of you if you leave it. :P
Anyway keep up the good work. I wanna see how this turns out.
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This project is coming along very nicely indeed! I'm loving the controls with the cone buttons. The finished article with all the artwork is gonna be excellent.
Thanks, for awhile I'd look at the parts and sigh because I never moved forward with it. I'm really getting back into the swing of things now and I hope to keep the up the steam. I was originally going to go with the red lighted cones found here (http://ram-controls.com/order-cones.html), since that was what was on the real CP. On a real Centipede machine they only light up after you insert your coin, but since I'm going free-play now I don't see the reason to spring for the lighted ones.
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On a real Centipede machine they only light up after you insert your coin, but since I'm going free-play now I don't see the reason to spring for the lighted ones.
They also light up when in free-play. Actually, they blink in free-play.
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On a real Centipede machine they only light up after you insert your coin, but since I'm going free-play now I don't see the reason to spring for the lighted ones.
They also light up when in free-play. Actually, they blink in free-play.
Oh do they? I've never played on a free-play cab, so I wouldn't know. You think the 60-in-1 would emulate either of these?
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Oh do they? I've never played on a free-play cab, so I wouldn't know. You think the 60-in-1 would emulate either of these?
If you have them, use them! I think always-on buttons would look great, especially if the real cab also had them. If you need a small blinking circuit for the lights, I'm sure someone will be able to help you.
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I'm not so sure about blinking lights. Wouldn't that get on your nerves after a while? I would deffo go for the always on mode myself. If the original had lighted buttons when playing then I don't see why you should not go that route. How difficult would it be to get them to light only after a credit has been input in mame? Is that not possible? Perhaps somehow wire in the credit input button with the earth to the lights?
EDIT: Wait a minute... that may work but the hard part is getting the lights to go out on Game Over. :-[
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I can't remember if the player lights stayed on the whole time you were playing or not. Kinda wishing I knew a local place where I could check out a real Centipede cab.
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Yeah, the player light (P1 or P2, depending on who's turn it is) stays on during gameplay.
edit: found a good video on it.
Original Centipede Arcade Machine in Play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BOQis8Ei80#)
Lights blink when credit is inserted (or in freeplay). Player 1 light is lit while in gameplay.
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Yeah, the player light (P1 or P2, depending on who's turn it is) stays on during gameplay.
Interesting. I'll have to figure out how to get that to work for sure...
Actually I just found out, there is an arcade 3 blocks from my house (!), I'm going to go there soon and see what they have on the floor. If they have a Centipede I'll be doing some research for sure. If not, looks like a trip to Cedar Point is in the future, I know for certain, they have 2 working cabs.
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Just realized something...those boards are Jamma.
If you're going with a 60-in-1 board, you'll have to wire your cabinet up to the Jamma standard (which isn't really that hard, but it is an extra wiring step).
(http://www.dirtcheaptrading.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/60_in_1_Icade_Ja_4ba7993e24c53.jpg)
Here's a Jamma pinout:
(http://image.pinout.net/pinout_3_pin_files/jamma-pinout.gif)
On atari boards, the start button outputs supply enough power to the button lights...I wonder how it would be done through a jamma connection? There are jamma converters for centipede boards out there, but I wonder if those converters have the 1P/2P Start connections supply power to the button lighting?
The the question remains, do these 60-in-1 boards power up the lights through the 1P/2P Start jamma connections? And does mame emulate that (since they run an older version of mame....)
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Hmm, this is getting super technical very quickly, but the added detail would be worth it 10 fold.
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JAMMA is pretty easy stuff. You can buy a working harness and just attach the wires for controls, power, audio and video (unless you're using the VGA on the PCB).
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Found this on KLOV.
There is a specific pin-out record on file for Centipede:
Centipede
---------
--------------------------------|-----------------------------------
GND | A | 1 | Ground
+ 5 V | B | 2 | + 5 V
+ 12 V | C | 3 | + 22 V DC
- 5 V | D | 4 | - 22 V DC
| E | 5 | Center Coin Counter
Left Coin Counter | F | 6 | Right Coin Counter
| H | 7 |
Start 1 LED | J | 8 |
| K | 9 | Fire Button 2
Start 2 | L | 10| Fire Button
Start 1 | M | 11| Tball Horiz Clock 2
Tball Horiz. Clock | N | 12| Tball Vert. Clock 2
Tball Vert. Clock | P | 13| Self Test *
Left Coin Slot | R | 14| Right Coin Slot *
Start 2 LED | S | 15| Cocktail (Tie to GND)
Center Coin Slot | T | 16| Horiz. Dir. 2
Tball Horiz. Dir. | U | 17| Vert. Dir. 2
Reset (N. C.) | V | 18| Tball Vert. Dir.
| W | 19|
Ground (Coin Door) | X | 20|
+ 5 V (Controls) | Y | 21| + Sense
| Z | 22| - Sense
------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice the P1 and P2 LEDs are their own output, and the LED pushbuttons are a 5 wire button, according to the PDF file of the service manual. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it.
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I'm guessing converting a centipede board to Jamma loses the lighting output, since that separate line isn't on the Jamma pinout. That being said, going Jamma won't give you the lit buttons, but it does help support with installing that 60-in-1 board. Which is less hardware than a mini-itx PC.
But if you wanted to have them constantly lit, you could tap the 5v line off the Jamma connection.
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I'm guessing converting a centipede board to Jamma loses the lighting output, since that separate line isn't on the Jamma pinout. That being said, going Jamma won't give you the lit buttons, but it does help support with installing that 60-in-1 board. Which is less hardware than a mini-itx PC.
I would figure that would happen when you convert it, since they have a unique wiring scheme. and it seems like a random wire.. actually I kind of doubt there is going to be a way to get the lights to react properly even running a PC w/ mame. I don't think there is a signal that would be getting sent via the ROM that would indicate when to blink, go solid and then switch between players.
Unless, of course, I cut a real Centipede pcb to pieces and shrink it down to fit in the box. ;)
But if you wanted to have them constantly lit, you could tap the 5v line off the Jamma connection.
Ya, which is prolly the easiest solution. Unless some of our circuit building friends have any other suggestions.
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I vote a 555 timer circuit, with varistors. Make the LEDs blink at whatever speed you want, based on the varistor. Either that or try to find a circuit that can make them blink at random intervals, for random durations.
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I vote a 555 timer circuit, with varistors. Make the LEDs blink at whatever speed you want, based on the varistor. Either that or try to find a circuit that can make them blink at random intervals, for random durations.
A 555 timer circuit? Too complex, too big... I vote Atmel ATtiny25. :D
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Great to see your project on the right path again. Keep the momentum going. :applaud: :applaud:
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I vote a 555 timer circuit, with varistors. Make the LEDs blink at whatever speed you want, based on the varistor. Either that or try to find a circuit that can make them blink at random intervals, for random durations.
A 555 timer circuit? Too complex, too big... I vote Atmel ATtiny25. :D
I know nothing about circuitry, but totally willing to learn. I'm wondering if it would even be possible to replicate the real thing. As in, Blinking, then solid for P1, swap to P2 and back with turns and back to blinking on game over. Though I don't know if there is even a way to let it know when those factors happen.
Great to see your project on the right path again. Keep the momentum going. :applaud: :applaud:
Thanks! I hope to get as much done as possible, at least until I get to the point where I need to save for hardware components.
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I really don't think you'll be able to recover that as a feature, and if you do it'd likely only ever work on one game. If MAME even does the outputs, you'll need to build a custom interface (LPT likely?), and even then it would be good for one game, and one game only.
The random on/off lights has my vote.
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Actually it was decided awhile back to either be Only Centipede or Centipede/Millipede. So having only work for a single game isn't a big deal, as this project is all about novelty anyway. I've got my full size SHMUP cab for playing everything else I would want.
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After spending a few days trying, unsuccessfully, to wrap my head around the lit player 1 and 2 buttons. I may just go the solid light route, or leave them unlit. I finally decided to put it aside for the time being and get back to work on the body itself.
I'm currently working on the control panel area, since I now have the exact measurements figured out, thanks to finishing my artwork. Working with the metal control panel has provided it's own interesting obstacles. All ideas I have come up with up to today have been subpar. All day I was tempted to ditch the idea of the metal control panel top, though I doubt the 1/4" mdf would handle the stress well, especially if routed out to accept the buttons and the trackball.
Tonight while looking over everything I took the piece of wood I had cut earlier and was laying pieces on top of it, testing things. Noticed that there is plenty of space around the edges to allow for 4 carriage bolts in the corners to hold the CP in place, I just need to build up an frame underneath for the CP to sit on and bolt to, simple.
Hopefully I'll have some new progress pics soonish.
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Kind of a long update ahead.
Work continues on the Control Panel. Finally got back to work on it after last week's heat wave, which left me completely drained of energy. Ordered a few buttons on ebay while I was doing planning, though originally I had thought they were lighted buttons... turns out they are just red capped push buttons, with extremely shallow cones. Nice condition for being used stock, I'll save them for something, or maybe sell them off. I have since ordered a set of lighted Atari buttons from a dude on ebay, double checking to make sure they were legit. They were NOS and 1/4 of the price of ordering lighted buttons from RAM.
Red-Capped Non-Lit buttons w/ Shallow cones.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/RedCappedPushbuttons.jpg)
Anyway, today was a metal work day, and I spent it cutting and drilling the (3rd) piece of scrap metal for the panel. I printed off the CPO and used it as the drill guide. I was able to use all the tools at work to get it all drilled and cut out, except I was missing an 1 1/8" hole saw for the Fire button. Luckily, I was sent on an errand later and was able to pick one up while I waited for a parts order to get filled.
All holes, Except the Fire button are drilled.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Drilled_withTemplete.jpg)
Fire Button cut out.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Drilled_FireButton.jpg)
Everything was looking great seemed to be 100% in my favor, until I got home that is. Sadly, I was a work when I did all the drilling and did not have my parts with me to double check everything. As soon as I got home, I set everything on the table and started test fitting parts.
Player Buttons, With the Red Capped push buttons in place of my original black ones.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/ButtonTest_PlayerButtons.jpg)
Fire Button test fit.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/ButtonTest_FireButton.jpg)
Trackball Test fit, notice the single carriage bolt holding it in place.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/ButtonTest_Trackball.jpg)
When it came to this point I realized something was very wrong. The holes for the carriage bolts didn't line up. At first I wasn't sure how this happened and I knew my measurements on the Control Panel Art were correct, they had to be. Originally I was thinking of drilling them out to make them "work", but I'm not half-assing this project. So another (4th) CP will need to be made. Yay for scrap metal in abundance!
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Drilled_Whoops1.jpg)
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Drilled_Whoops2.jpg)
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/Drilled_Whoops3.jpg)
I left things set and went out to dinner with some friends and forgot about it for a few hours. After returning, I remembered I had taken the printed CPO and laid it out on top of my MDF test piece, marking the hole locations with a Sharpie. Went to the basement and found it, drilled all the holes in it. These holes in the MDF all line up with the trackball perfectly, unlike the crappy metal CP. So the only thing I can guess, is, the paper warped or moved enough to throw things off while I was drilling, thus giving me issues with my hole locations. Even though it was secured in place.
This MDF Template is right.... the metal one... not-so-much.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/MDFTemplate.jpg)
So, there we go, tomorrow I will take this piece of MDF to work and make and new-new CP. hopefully from there I can get it test fit into the cab and I can move on to the light box and speaker panel. There are quite a few more things I need to do before I can start painting yet. But, like I said, I'm not going to cut corners just to rush things.
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After a day of sickness, I was able to knock out a new control panel at work today. This time I took my MDF test piece and used it as a guide. All cuts were made at work, except the Fire button (forgot my hole saw at home). Afterwards I double checked my measurements against Happ's online templates and everything looked spot on.
When I got home, I had a present waiting in the mail... lighted Atari cones from ebay! So I cracked them open and started test fitting everything again. The cones themselves were plastic, so I'll be using my aluminum cones from RAM Controls in place of them. The trackball fits nicely now that all the measurements are correct. Tomorrow I'll cut the hole for the fire button and clean any sharp edges off of it. Finally I'll paint it black and work on mounting it into the cab.
Lighted buttons
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/LightedAtariCones.jpg)
Test fitting the new cones and the Trackball into the panel.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/FinalCPPanel.jpg)
I don't like how high the buttons stand above the cones, so I'm prolly going to toss a few washers underneath them to bring them down a bit. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the way it's finally come together. I'm hoping this is the last super annoying snag I hit in this build.
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Love how its looking! Where did you find the plans for this style can, its exactly what i was looking for.
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The measurements are based off of Carlos' Centipede (http://"http://www.retrospieler.de/")'s measurements. Everything was shrunk down to as close to scale as possible. As for actual construction, layout and the build goes, much like the SHMUP, I am doing all of that from scratch as I go.
I've not been able to get much work done on this lately, I hope to post some new pics and progress soon. Unfortunately after I get the control panel mounted in place, I am at a stand still until I can afford the monitor and build the monitor mount/bezel area.
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The Led buttons can be lit with 5v DC with a resistor in line, otherwise they POP with stright 5v. The 2 connectors that run parallel to the button housing are 5v and ground, the 3 connections that run perpendicular are your button ground, nc and no connections. You could run 5v from your power supply to the jamma board or even hack 5v out of your PC, which will work fine.
The multiboard version of Millipede has serious sound issues, in fact, I find it unplayable and I run Millipede in mame perfectly. Centipede on the multi is OK.
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Good news on the Centipede front. I've recently paid off my car, so now I'll have a bit of extra cash each month. If that's the case I may be able to explore monitor and game board options soon!
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Did this project ever come to fruition? It looked awesome!
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Not yet. I'd like to return to it soon though, just was showing it to the girlfriend last night. I may need to look into monitor and PC options soon. If I can come up with an estimate on parts, I may drop the money on it come tax return time.
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Hey All. Long Time. VGCollect has been growing and growing, and taking up a lot of my free time. But I thought I'd post a small update on this project's status, since I have had a few things come up lately regarding it and with Spring here, I'm getting that good ol' project bug again.
First of all, a big hurdle has been leaped as I've acquired a old desktop PC that looks like it will be perfect. In December, my Dad gave me one of the old work PCs that he didn't need any more. It's an old XP machine and the motherboard is rather small inside. It should be no problem getting it into the Bartop at all. I've not torn it down yet to see if it'll all fit, but some quick eyeballing and measuring makes me feel pretty positive about it. I plan on doing some tests with it and hopefully get it all set up this weekend.
I still need to paint the cabinet, but I can't really do anything with it until I solve the screen issue. I've been eyeing a couple of LCD screen solutions, but the money isn't there currently. I've found some 8" 4:3 ration USB monitors, which would be excellent since I wouldn't need to plug it into a power port, saving space inside. Hopefully once Summer gets here I'll have some extra expendable income (Winter destroyed me).
Another big move forward is that I finally completed the side artwork. The complex nature of the Centipede's artwork was really really intimidating and as such I had trouble focusing on it. After I got the PC in hand and realized that the board would work for the Bartop, I got hyped and over the course of a couple of nights I was able to knock out the side art. This means that all the artwork should be good to go! The artwork, like the Control Panel and all my other arcade art was done in Illustrator.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21697512/Centipede_Side_PDF-page-001.jpg)
So, there we go. I'm hoping that the Centipede can get finished this year, finally. I have another empty upright cabinet sitting in my Shed right now too. But I'm not touching it until I get this one done. I have some cool ideas for that one too.
My To-Do list for the weekend looks something like this:
- Double check the measurements and see how it fits
- Clean up PC to bare essentials
- Install MAME and get it running
- Hide Windows
- Check ROM and see if it'll allow for Free Play mode
- Wire the 2.25 Trackball to the Opti-Wiz and Test
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Not really a huge amount of progress happened last night. But at this point, any progress I make is good progress.
Here's the PC, it's an old HP. It's a little on the weak side of things. But I'm hoping that if it's only running something as simple as Centipede, that it should work no problem.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140424_112840_zpsbdxkspbs.jpg)
Before I hooked it all up, I cracked the case open to check out the board again. Using a tape measure I reached in and took a couple dimensions from it and found that it came out to be 9" x 7.5". I had done a quick measurement before, but that was months ago... So I grabbed a sheet of paper and cut it down to size for a test fit template.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140424_113109_zpsxvd1a7wn.jpg)
With the paper in hand, I pulled out the ol' Centipede and put all the parts back into place. So I could see how the inside should look. Having it all sitting there dry fit together totally built up the hype level too. It just screams "finish me"!
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140425_205236_zpsr5d9eppd.jpg)
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140425_205115_zpseisxvbhs.jpg)
After that was all done, I set to work on the PC. I set it up on my painting table in my spare bedroom. That way the whole set up was out of the way and not taking up space in the kitchen/dining room. But I didn't get very far with it. There was a ton of stuff on it that needed to go and I decided that it really needed a good defrag. So after about an hour of deleting programs and cleaning up the unneeded files. I set it to defrag and let it simmer for the rest of the night.
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140425_194856_zps4zex1eyy.jpg)
I had to laugh after it was all set up. Cause it really reminds me of my old bedroom at my folk's house. Covered in PC and painting stuff.
I work until 3pm today and after that I'm going to get back to work on it. The plan for tonight is to finish setting up the PC and toss all my arcade files onto it. Then before I get to work hiding any UIs or anything, I'll do some test runs of MAME and Centipede to make sure that it'll all run nice.
By the end of the weekend, I hope to have the PC all ready to go. Then it's only a matter of wiring up the trackball and finding a screen.
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After work I started transferring my arcade files to the PC. I monkeyed with Mala for about 45 mins without being able to get my file to work. After troubleshooting for awhile, I said to hell with it and I downloaded the newest version of Mala. That got that up and running with no more problems. But, I couldn't seem to get my rom files for Centipede to agree though. I don't get why, I've been using the same rom set and version of MAME for every project thus far. I had copied the files to their own folder years back and I'm not sure if they just bad files or what.
So instead I decided to drop the files from the SHMUP into the PC for the Centipede, since I know that ROM works on SHMUP no problem. I've been letting the PC idle over the last few hours while they copy over to the "new" PC. With the SHMUP's roms being transferred to the HDD that way I can run through everything and find a file that works. As of right now, it still says it's got a while to go before it's finished copying, so I guess I won't be getting any more work done tonight.
Kinda a bummer... :-[
But I did some fooling around with the Centipede rom on SHMUP and started playing with the game settings. After looking up the options menu for the game, I found that there is indeed a freeplay setting for it! That's a bonus. Cause I can set the game to freeplay and do away with needing a coin up option. That should mean that I can stick with the Opti-Wiz's 3 mouse buttons and won't need to come up with a secondary encoder to handle extra buttons. :D
Tomorrow looks like there are some family plans happening. So I doubt I'll be getting any work done on the PC tomorrow at all. But Monday looks like a possibility. Hopefully the PC stuff starts to agree with me and I can get to work wiring the Opti-Wiz to the 2.25" trackball next.
The hype train keeps on a rollin'. :cheers:
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Quickie Update:
Sunday morning before I started doing family stuff, I loaded the PC back up and looked into the MAME issue. Turns out that the reason the MAME wouldn't load was because my display output is not compatible... Which basically means I need to pick up a video card for this thing. :angry:
So I'll need to look at the board and see what kind of socket I have in there and start looking for cheap video card solutions. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a old style PCI port, pre-PCI express.
sigh.
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Quickie Update:
Sunday morning before I started doing family stuff, I loaded the PC back up and looked into the MAME issue. Turns out that the reason the MAME wouldn't load was because my display output is not compatible... Which basically means I need to pick up a video card for this thing. :angry:
So I'll need to look at the board and see what kind of socket I have in there and start looking for cheap video card solutions. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a old style PCI port, pre-PCI express.
sigh.
The good thing is, older PCI cards with various video outputs such as composite or S-Video are relatively easy to find on eBay. You don't need a powerful card either, as long as it's VGA.
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Yeah, or you can have a good buddy like Opt2not tell you he's got an extra PCI card laying around that he'd be willing to donate to my cause! Thanks bud!
Now I just need to check and make sure it's a PCI slot for certain. Possible? !
EDIT: It's got PCI slots for certain. Yay!
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I'm currently at a stand still with the PC. So I started working on the cabinet again. So far this weekend not really done a lot of work. But, I did order a a part and began the work on how I want start filling the cabinet.
The part I ordered was a inlet plug with a power switch. It's a standard PC cable 3 prong job. I'll mount this low on the back panel and run a cord into it. This will keep things nice and clean, by having a removable cord, in case I want to transport it some where. I'm planning on wiring either a 3 way extention cord plug or the smallest surge protector known to man into the back of it. Plus the built in switch will act as a main power switch for the entire cabinet, much like the switch I have mounted on top of the SHMUP to cut power to everything. Next to this, I'll take one of my original Radio Shack black pushbuttons and use that for the power up button for the actual PC.
Power Inlet
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/61XSyjXGfoL_SL1500__zpsae9b2db1.jpg)
Also, before I left today to hang out with some friends and play board games all night, I mounted a new-ish LED light in the marquee box. It's actually an LED licence plate light from my work. It's only 3 LEDs, but I'm thinking it should be fine. I want the marquee lit for sure, but I don't want it to be overwhelming either. So I tested it out with a marquee I had printed off on some brochure paper, and it looked pretty solid. I might paint the inside white though to help the light bounce a bit better.
Mounted LED light (the darkness on the right side of the light tube is actually black paint overspray from another project)
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140503_230547_zpsqdworuh0.jpg)
Unlit Marquee
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140503_152846_zpsqylyag02.jpg)
Lit Marquee
(http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/LOPWyrm/IMG_20140503_152836_zpseh1a6uj6.jpg)
Next up I plan on wiring my Trackball to the Opti-Wiz and running tests on that. I have some wire left over from the other arcade builds, so I will be able to wire in the 3 buttons on the CP as well and test those. I still need to decide how I want to secure the control panel into place and I'm thinking of a few viable options. And once I figure out what that plan is I can decide where I need to bend the metal panel to allow the bezel art to slide behind it and keep the art and plexi in place. I think I've solved the screen issue too and now it's just a matter of paying for it.
So far this project is looking like it could be falling together nicely, which is nice. Especially since it's taken this long to get here. :)
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Looks really good !
Are you still going to go with a rotating system for the screen ?
(sorry, I didn't read the thread through.. :-\
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Thanks!
And nope on the rotating screen. I had never planned on doing that, it was only suggested by a few folks here. But in the years of build time I've decided that keeping it dedicated to only Centipede is the way to go.