The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: LeedsFan on February 20, 2011, 05:58:27 pm
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I maybe jumping the gun a bit here... so apologies for this. I have an embryo idea in my head for a Star Wars bartop. I just wondered if anyone had done this kind of thing before. I just lurve bartops! Last year at the R3play expo in Blackpool I won a bartop kit from Turnarcades in their King Of Kong tournament and I still haven't used it. Mainly because I was busy working on my Neo-Geo style Mame-in-a-box at the time.
I also bought a Star Wars yoke from RAM controls which I did intend to be used in a dedicated panel on the aforementioned Neo-Geo project. But now I've thought I may be best making a dedicated Atari yoke controlled bartop for Star Wars, Empire Strikes back etc. This project wouldn't be a scale replica or anything because the kit is not designed as such. It's designed for a TFT screen in landscape mode but I'm not too sure if a full size yoke would look good on a 19" screen bartop. I'd be worried about yanking back on the controls and pulling the bartop over! ;) Those yokes are quality, heavy duty controls. I dunno.... what you guys reckon?
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If it looks anything like your Donkey Kong Cab, then I'm 100% for it.
I would want to put some weight inside it or maybe latch it to a small table or that cheap desk you can get at Argos, as it is the perfect (no seriously) height to sit them on.
Counter top, I don't know as the yoke is a heavy controller. That Turnarcade bartop was a little light....
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One of the first things I've done is try to get Star Wars looking nice on the LCD monitor I intend to use. Now I'd always heard people say not to use LCDs for vector games, so I was a bit worried. But I got it looking pretty damn nice! I had to tweak some settings in Mame and made up a starwars.ini file just for this game. I set both Contrast and Gamma to 2 and set the Beam to 1.2. The beam setting just gave the lines a tad more thickness without straying from the original look. I tried it at higher settings but then it starts to not look like a vector game at all. :P
Before making these changes I have to say that vector games did look a bit poo. They were a bit dark. Everything now looks crisp and bright. How it compares to a genuine vector monitor I don't know as I know nothing about them to be honest. Do they have a "glow" about the vector lines?
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I have been toying with the idea for some time.
I've been keeping my eye out for a yoke, but so far no luck.
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Well I've been tossing ideas around in my head and decided what the hell... I will try to build a bartop half size replica of the stand up cabinet. All the artwork is available at Classicarcadegraphix but it is gonna be a bit more of an undertaking what with the plastic bezel shroud that was on the original. Here's a pic....
http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/108/1087339258.jpg (http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/108/1087339258.jpg)
Now I reckon with a bit of patience and time that bezel could be reproduced closely out of wood. Fabricating those turret style pieces on each side out of bits of wood seems the trickiest part. Would take some doing, but it should look pretty faithful. The rest of the cabinet seems pretty straight forward to build. Only thing I need though is some measurements to go on. If someone has an original stand up cabinet could they copy that image above and insert some measurements in? Other than that I may need to wait till R3play2 event and hope the Star Wars standup makes a return appearance. I dunno who owned it either.
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Well I've been tossing ideas around in my head and decided what the hell... I will try to build a bartop half size replica of the stand up cabinet. All the artwork is available at Classicarcadegraphix but it is gonna be a bit more of an undertaking what with the plastic bezel shroud that was on the original. Here's a pic....
http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/108/1087339258.jpg (http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/108/1087339258.jpg)
Now I reckon with a bit of patience and time that bezel could be reproduced closely out of wood. Fabricating those turret style pieces on each side out of bits of wood seems the trickiest part. Would take some doing, but it should look pretty faithful. The rest of the cabinet seems pretty straight forward to build. Only thing I need though is some measurements to go on. If someone has an original stand up cabinet could they copy that image above and insert some measurements in? Other than that I may need to wait till R3play2 event and hope the Star Wars standup makes a return appearance. I dunno who owned it either.
Agreed, the bezel will be a challenge. I've thought a good idea would be to build the cabinet around the bezel, but finding a bezel is more difficult than finding a yoke. I'd probably take some shortcuts on the bezel, and maybe go full artwork. If you do decide to build a bezel, shoot me a PM.
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Looking at that bezel image I'd say the bast way to go about it would be to make the "flat" base part first with the cutout for monitor etc. and just route the chamfered edges to get the slopes at the bottom. Then build up the back part of the bezel separately. The upper part of each turret section just rests against an upright flat part of stage 2. Then the turret parts just being glued in piece by piece after painting etc. (I call them "turrets" I just can't think of a better word... fluted bits lol). The other little bits can be added at the end. I don't think it's too difficult, just needs some patience. I can see myself in B&Q looking at all the beading and trim pieces etc. that they have there. :P
I've decided the best thing to do is get the artwork first. I dunno the exact dimensions of the original artwork so I would be relying on them to supply 50% sized pieces. Then I can build the cabinet around the art to ensure a perfect fit. I'm waiting on a reply from Classicarcadegraphix to see if they can supply what I need. I realise the yoke won't fit the CPO art correctly but this is obviously a compromise I'm forced to accept.
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Great idea. The bezel should be pretty easy to replicate. I would suggest using PVC pipe cut to size and modeling clay that can be baked to get the rounded edges. After getting the basic shape you could make a plastic resin mold of the bezel. I think that it would turn out great.
Jigenjuke
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Installing a full size yoke on half size artwork is gonna need more compromise in the design of the cab. The original cabinet CPO bends in three different places. Going from the front panel it bends twice to sit flat for a short bit before bending again at 45 degrees to go up the slope where the yoke sits.
On half size artwork I already knew the yoke would be larger than the square "aperture" provided in the CPO. But I also need to take into account that the yoke going through full travel in either direction needs about 28mm clearance below the mounting plate. On half size artwork that would mean it would hardly move before hitting the flat part of the CPO. So I think I'm gonna need to have the CPO (and the cabinet itself) bend just once at the front before entering its 45 degree slope. Doing this means I can mount the yoke lower down in the artwork and therefore be more central and allows full travel in each direction. It's another compromise which moves away from the original design, but I can't see any way round it.
(Mounted at 45 degrees the yoke needs 70mm vertical clearance directly below the base of the mounting plate to ensure the end mechanism of the yoke does not foul the cabinet base inside.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/starwars.jpg)
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Hmmmm.... I'm contemplating another change of plan now. A mate of mine suggested building the full cabinet at half size instead of just a bartop. At first I instantly dismissed the idea because I don't have room for a full cabinet... but it's growing on me now. The full side art would need cutting on a bartop and that would be a shame. At half size the cabinet would be just three feet tall, which means it's still pretty portable around the house (albeit on wheels) and could still sit on the back seat of the car if I needed to take it anywhere. Could sit on a stool to play it.
I have the artwork on order now (though I may need to add the front kick panel for full cabinet) and I've been very lucky to find that an arcade dealer near me has an upright Star Wars in their warehouse! They very kindly have allowed me to go and take pics/notes next week.
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Last year just before Christmas I bought the yoke and the artwork. That was the bulk of the expenditure. So now it's time to get on with this project and start the actual build.
Here are pics of the yoke and artwork:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0742.jpg)
And here's the first panel so far with the coin door/parts that I'm repainting:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0741.jpg)
I got the coin door for a tenner with working coin mechs (for old 10p coins!) but I'm not fussed about the coin mechs actually being fitted. I just want the door to look nice for that arcade look with perhaps the plastic coin entry buttons being illuminated. By the way... does anyone know where you can buy those new? I see Gremlin Solutions sell the full door sets with the exact red plastic inserts that I need so they must still be being manufactured.
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Last year just before Christmas I bought the yoke and the artwork. That was the bulk of the expenditure. So now it's time to get on with this project and start the actual build.
Here are pics of the yoke and artwork:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0742.jpg)
And here's the first panel so far with the coin door/parts that I'm repainting:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0741.jpg)
I got the coin door for a tenner with working coin mechs (for old 10p coins!) but I'm not fussed about the coin mechs actually being fitted. I just want the door to look nice for that arcade look with perhaps the plastic coin entry buttons being illuminated. By the way... does anyone know where you can buy those new? I see Gremlin Solutions sell the full door sets with the exact red plastic inserts that I need so they must still be being manufactured.
Looks good! I just won the control panel on eBay. Like you, slowly but surely!
And Lizard Lick sells the stuff you need for coin doors. I bought them from LL last fall and was very satisfied.
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Managed to get quite a bit done these last two days. Here is the finished control panel section...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0743.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0744.jpg)
It's looks a bit rough and ready I know. No matter how accurate and neat I try to work I can never get these sections to look as good as what other people on here manage to make. I just concentrated on making the 5mm aluminium plate sit flush after routing out the area. Then I filled in the little gaps with wood putty and sanded smooth. The yoke itself will be bolted directly to the plate as the welded bolt sections on the yoke are only about 12mm long. It is designed to sit in a metal panel in all fairness.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0745.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0746.jpg)
Here's test fitting the yoke for where it sits. It's not bolted in here at the moment.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0747.jpg)
I trimmed down one of the side art pieces and got ready to make the first side panel. I had no cabinet dimensions to work from so with this project I decided to get the 50% artwork first and then I could work from that using photos I get from Googling about. It may not be the most accurate way of doing things but it's the best I can do. It shouldn't be too far off though (I hope!)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0749.jpg)
Once I was happy with one side piece I then roughly cut the second just a few mm oversize. Then I squared off the bottom and sides (which matched anyway) and clamped them together. Then I ran my router round the other edges with a flush trim bit...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0750.jpg)
... which results in two perfectly matched side panels. I've since cut the small triangle sections from the bottom of each piece which you don't see in this pic. (Where the castor wheels sit when you tilt it to move it about)
I'm using marine ply here and you can see at the edges where there are some small areas that need attention with the wood putty. I've applied that already and tomorrow will sand all the little imperfections smooth. I've already cut the bottom panels and back panel and can start to assemble this together. I intend to put it together and them dismantle it so i can paint and apply artwork and then re-assemble. I've tried painting cabs before while assembled and I just hate trying to get into the edges and corners. I just want to paint flat surfaces and then assemble later. Of course if I need to fill any gaps with wood putty to hide my imperfect build techniques then I may need to reconsider this step. :P
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Looking good, I'll be following this one with interest.
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same here looks like its going to be a nice build good luck :cheers:
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Managed to get more done today.....
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0756.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0751.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0753.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0754.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0755.jpg)
I'm really pleased with how this is going so far. It took me all day to get this far because I was making sure everything was as square as possible and all the measurements were the same around the cab. My build techniques are sucky but there are no gaps between any of the panels. Well... there is one bad on at the rear of the cab where the lower back piece will sit (not on the cab yet) but I can hide it easily with a well glued in piece of black plastic. I will show this later on how to bodge and hide a bad mistake :angel:
I also got the castor wheels in place for test fitting and made sure it wheelded about fine. But then I removed them so I could paint the panel later.
Remember earlier when I said I wanted to assemble and then dis-assemble in order to paint the sections separately? Well bollocks to that now! This took me bloody ages and I'm not splitting it down now that I'm happy with it. I will just paint the edge sections with a foam pad or similar. (I hate brushes because I suck at painting too. I always leave brush marks and bristles behind).
Next part is to put in the power feed and power button and then work on the marquee section. I have an idea of how to confront that but not sure how it will turn out in practice.
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I love the size of this! It's looking awsome! :applaud:
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Remember earlier when I said I wanted to assemble and then dis-assemble in order to paint the sections separately? Well bollocks to that now! This took me bloody ages and I'm not splitting it down now that I'm happy with it. I will just paint the edge sections with a foam pad or similar. (I hate brushes because I suck at painting too. I always leave brush marks and bristles behind).
I painted my mini cab recently and got some good advice on these boards. Take a look at the link in my signature to see the results. Being a fellow Brit I bought my painting supplies from B&Q. Definately use a Mohair (or mohair substitute) roller, not a foam one. I rollered on 3 layers of Dulux trade multi surface primer, sanding with a wet 180 grit paper between coats, then 2 layers of outdoor black gloss sanding with a wet 320 grit between coats.
I don't know if you're planning on putting T-Moulding in. I used MDF for my build so I was scared to take a slot cutter to it after I had put it all together. Instead I painted over the black gloss on the t-mould sections with 3 coats of clear satin gloss. This made it look dull like plastic compared to the rest of the glossy paint.
Hope that helps you a bit!
By the way, who in the UK are you using to print your artwork?
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Remember earlier when I said I wanted to assemble and then dis-assemble in order to paint the sections separately? Well bollocks to that now! This took me bloody ages and I'm not splitting it down now that I'm happy with it. I will just paint the edge sections with a foam pad or similar. (I hate brushes because I suck at painting too. I always leave brush marks and bristles behind).
I painted my mini cab recently and got some good advice on these boards. Take a look at the link in my signature to see the results. Being a fellow Brit I bought my painting supplies from B&Q. Definately use a Mohair (or mohair substitute) roller, not a foam one. I rollered on 3 layers of Dulux trade multi surface primer, sanding with a wet 180 grit paper between coats, then 2 layers of outdoor black gloss sanding with a wet 320 grit between coats.
I don't know if you're planning on putting T-Moulding in. I used MDF for my build so I was scared to take a slot cutter to it after I had put it all together. Instead I painted over the black gloss on the t-mould sections with 3 coats of clear satin gloss. This made it look dull like plastic compared to the rest of the glossy paint.
Hope that helps you a bit!
By the way, who in the UK are you using to print your artwork?
I will be using 11/16" black t-molding. That should be almost a perfect fit to this plywood. I already have the slot cutter.
There shouldn't be that much painting in all fairness. The top panels and of course the back panels and base will get most of it. Thanks for the tip on the roller. I will look out for that later at the painting stage. My intention was to only paint the outer edges of each side panel because the art covers 90% of it. But then I got thinking about how well the art would stick to the bare wood. Would it be better to prime the whole surface for a better adhesion?
The art was from Classicarcadegraffix in the States. They were very good with quick contacts and fast delivery. If only I knew a reputable art printer here in the UK. :dunno
Trouble with the Star Wars art is that it can be hard to come by. Gameongraffix (used to me Mame Marquees) and also EMD-Kay do not have it in their library. I'm really pleased with the art. I think the front kick panel is a little dark becasue it looks lighter on all the cabinets I see on the internet. But the marquee and side art in particular look excellent. I'm not sure how well the marquee will light up as it's not the traditional style of marqee. Star Wars had a permanent vinyl marquee that was rolled around part of the top panel. It doesn't look like light would shine easily through it. To get to the bulb inside you had to access the back panel I believe. The marquee itself is set in place and not removable like most other machines.
Oh and thank you Yotsuya for the info on LizardLick stocking those coin entry parts for the coin door. However, I did manage to find those new in the UK from a company called Swallow Amusements and they arrived yesterday.
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This is Awesome! :cheers: :cheers:
Can't wait to see it done
*whip,WHIP* back to work!
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Managed to complete the marquee section today. But this was a real pain to construct. I actually started to construct it and then half way through realised that the bezel artwork that sits on the inside would not fit... so I had to remove what I'd made and have a rethink.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0757.jpg)
I started by trimming the side art piece and loosely stuck it on the inside just about where it would finally be. Not having any measurements to go by I need to trust the art dimensions to get me by. Just wish I'd done this first before wasting lots of time.... oh well. ::)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0764.jpg)
From the back looking down.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0761.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0759.jpg)
And this is what it's ended up like. The angled lower piece of the marquee you see here is 5mm hardboard, but there will be some perforated metal sheet going over it just like the arcade original. I'm not sure exactly what diameter and pitch the original was though. I have found some that has 3mm holes with 5mm distances to each centre. How close is this?
I want to get 95% of the cabinet built before I decide what speakers I'm going to use. I want to use a 2.1 sound system in here as I reckon I will have room for a small sub. But I need to look at the speakers themselves and decide exactly where I'm going to mount them. I could sit them directly on the flat panel just above the monitor and then just have cutouts on the 5mm hardboard. Sound would easily get through then and would save having the speakers mounted directly to this board. It's only lightweight board and I want to be able to remove it easily anyway to have access to the marquee bulb.
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Good work.
For speakers consider the Logitech Z205 USB Speaker.
It's a great size, surprisingly good quality and if you put a T section behind the marquee you can just clip the speaker right in. I added a couple of cable ties just to make sure.
Only downside is that you won't get a sub with it, but they are really great without one. I picked some up for £16 on Ebay.
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Manged to get the top of the cabinet complete today. I tried to replicate the profile of the original cab at the top. The marquee artwork wraps around the rounded part and from there backwards it's normal black painted panels. The holes and screw heads will be puttied over and sanded prior to painting.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0766.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0765.jpg)
Here's the back door just wedged into place for test fitting. It's a large door yes, but I want to have full access to everything inside. You can see more areas here that need wood putty treatment.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0767.jpg)
Shot of the inside of the cab with the mains extension fitted. You can see the awful gap to the right which is the mistake I made earlier in the build. But it's easily hidden on the outside with a well placed straight piece of black adhesive floor tiling. :P
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0768.jpg)
Let there be light! But there's not much of it. :dunno
I'm wondering if I made the wrong choice of marquee light here. It's a pygmy fitting with 2x 15W bulbs. I'm not sure they are gonna be bright enough to penetrate the marquee artwork. The next size fitting up was a 6W fluorescent lamp but it was just too wide to fit in the cabinet. Can anyone suggest replacement bulbs for the pygmy fitting I bought?
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Oh boy oh boy oh boy, this is going to turn out so rad. :applaud: :applaud:
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Looking awesome, you're gonna need to clamp that down when you're hooning around with your yoke!
Maybe the marquee would be helped if you lined behind the lights with something reflective, like tin foil! Might be a cheap solution!
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Heh heh lately it looks like the mini cabinet makers are flooding the forum. ;D I would suggest something like the LED Strips that I am using for the marquee in my projects. They are really bright and more than enough to penetrate the marquee art. Here is a link, I think it is even the same seller that I bought from...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Flexible-Car-Strip-Bulb-Light-White-Waterproof-24-LED-N-/370387476918?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563cd061b6 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Flexible-Car-Strip-Bulb-Light-White-Waterproof-24-LED-N-/370387476918?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563cd061b6)
That should make your life easier.
Jigenjuke
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Small update for what's gone on over this last weekend....
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0772.jpg)
I decided to change the marquee lights to this pair of Akasa cold cathode white light tubes. They are powered with 12V from the PC supply. I saw a pic of these tubes lit up in Vast's bartop thread... http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110343.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110343.0)
I was so impressed with that pic that I decided that they just had to be better than the 15W pygmy lamps I'd bought. I've not been able to test them out yet as I still need to get a PC in there to hook them up. Only problem I had with them is that the packaging clearly states that these are 300mm lamps. But that's bollocks! The gap between my side walls is exactly 301mm and yet I had to chisel out a good 10-12mm in one side to get these to fit. Even if you took the clear plastic blocks off each end (which you're not supposed to) the bulb itself is easily still over 300mm. That's annoying! :angry:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0771.jpg)
I finally decided on the speakers for this project. I went with the Logitech Z313 2.1 channel setup.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/5872 (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/5872)
They are 25W RMS so they should provide a decent sound. The speakers and subwoofer fit nicely in the spaces I have but the speakers were an awkward shape to get a grip of. You see in the pic I basically strapped them down to a piece of hardboard with tie-wraps and then screwed the board to the shelf behind the marquee lights. It doesn't look that great workmanship really but it's solid and you won't see any of this when it's completed of course. The volume control module will be screwed to the back of the cabinet somewhere to allow easy volume setting and use of headphones if required.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0773.jpg)
Here is the coin door put back together after the parts were painted. I'm waiting on new door locks to arrive (one for the back door).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0774.jpg)
Here is a close up of the micro-switch setup I made at the rear of the coin door. I basically need two buttons on this cabinet... one for inputting credits and one to exit a game back to the front end. The original cabinet had no buttons at all except for what's on the yoke ofc. So I decided to use the coin reject buttons to act as credit and exit buttons. A small nudge on each reject button actuates the microswitch. But now I need to hack an old keyboard (something I've tried and failed at in the past) as buying an I-PAC for just two inputs is a bit overkill.
EDIT: I just had a thought. I could hack an old mouse for the left and right buttons. The Windows mouse settings shouldn't be affected by the Yoke plugged in should it?
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A few more updates....
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0782.jpg)
Got the marquee plexi glued in place and putty sanded down around the curved edges. It's really starting to take shape now. But one of the tubes was not working when I plugged it into my PC. I didn't test these bulbs prior to installing them in the cab so I don't know if it was faulty out of the box or if I damaged it squeezing it into it's tight spot. Either way I will get a replacement soon as they are cheap enough. It's definitely the bulb as I swapped the plugs around in the little black box thingy and the same bulb didn't work.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0775-1.jpg)
Got the PC installed. It's just built out of spare bits I had lying around. I had to buy a CPU cooler and fan and I've still to get a stick of RAM (I whipped out the RAM from my DK bartop to get this going). Specs are: Windows XP Athlon XP3200+ 80GB drive Radeon 9800 Pro 512Mb RAM
Wiring will get tidied up later on when things get finalised. I just wanna make sure everyhting works and fits into place first.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0780.jpg)
Here's a shot through the coin door. I put a shelf in over the top of the sub-woofer and mounted the PSU and hard drive onto that. I've made sure there is clearance to close the coin door properly with the coin mech installations hanging of the back of the door. Sub-woofer is also screwed to the base.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0783.jpg)
Here we have the game running on the Xerox monitor. The monitor sits flush with the front control panel so that the bezel can slide into place later on as a one-piece fitting. Eagle eye spotters can see that I cut out the speaker holes.... and made a bit of a bollocks of it! :-[ How I got those holes mis-aligned I do not know. But you won't see them anyway when the grille goes over them. I'm running an older version of Mame here and need a more up to date one that has the slider controls in the TAB settings. Then I can shrink the screen a little and manoeuvre it into position to fit the bezel aperture.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0781.jpg)
And here we have the start of the bezel. All I've done so far is cut out the bit around the top of the CPO and bevelled the edges off 45 degrees. This bezel isn't gonna be a 100% accurate replica. But I will do my best to get it as close as I possibly can. Slight compromises will have to be made here or there, but we shall see how this goes.
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Looking good! :)
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nice job... really coming along!
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Looks great.
Did you try running it using the onboard VGA port rather than the Radeon? I can't imagine StarWars needs a dedicated GPU to run, and it could be one less part/heat generator in your cab.
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Yeah, pretty nice. I like this project. :)
How does the game look on that display vs a real 6100?
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Yeah, pretty nice. I like this project. :)
How does the game look on that display vs a real 6100?
Do you mean the original Amplifone vector monitor? Well in all honesty you cannot beat those. But you just can't hold of them. I believe they did do a 13" colour vector monitor but they are like rocking horse ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. Standard Mame settings are really poor for vector games. You gotta tweak stuff. Off the top of my head (I would need to check and confirm this) I think I set gamma to 2 or 3 and had the Beam setting at 1.2. It just brightens the whole thing up in mame for vector games.
I was messing with Mala frontend and setting up a small list with videos. The standard videos look really bad. You can't see anything because they've been recorded on standard settings. I might just make a simple three title list you scroll through without any graphics or videos at all. Just keep it as simple as possible. The original frontend I wanted to use simply will not work in portrait mode. I keep getting a VPU error and Windows locks up. So I've had to bin that idea.
@ Corbo I may try this to be honest. This PC is made from bits I had from a desktop box that went wonky on me. I had graphical artifacts all over the screen and ended up buying a new PC. I've put this back together with some other new bits and it seems OK so far... except I still get graphical artifacts on the Windows logo boot up screen. But when the desktop loads up everytrhing is fine and mame displays fine etc. I've got 2x Radeon 9800 Pro and the first one was really bad. Then I swapped it out and it's got better as I say, but not perfect on the boot up. It could be a MB fault as I can't see both 9800 Pros being faulty. For now it runs OK but it's niggling away at the back of my mind that it could just go wrong again.
I'm all for recycling old computer stuff that's been lying around as we all know Mame doesn't need anything special to run classics. But when I think of the time and effort it's taken to get the cab as it is so far and the money spent on the artwork and yoke... I start thinking that anything even remotely unreliable on the PC front needs to be booted out.
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Do you mean the original Amplifone vector monitor?
Often you'll find the WG6100 in a Star Wars upright. There are only so many of them with the Amplifones in them and yeah the Amp is the gold standard. That's why I didn't even ask about that one. ;D I have a whole row of Atari vector games and none of them have an Amplifone.
I'm looking forward to a couple videos of this thing in action when it's done. One of the only Atari vectors I have left to get is Star Wars but honestly I'm sort of thinking of going this route at least in the interim.
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Looking forward to the next stages of this. I think I'll have to steal your recessed metal plate idea to secure my yoke...
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Progress has slowed somewhat due to working on the bezel while I await the delivery of my T-molding. I also had a problem with the original PC I installed as I was getting graphical artifacts on the screen. I tried swapping out the Radeon 9800 Pro for another but it was exactly the same. I wasn't gonna bother wasting loads of time trying to pinpoint the problem so I whipped out the motherboard and processor and replaced it with another, this time a Sempron 1.99 GHz. It meant another install of Windows XP to make sure all the drivers were good etc. but now the PC is flawless and the game runs great even with the onboard Radeon Xpress 200 graphics. No sound stutters on the Death Star sequence.
Anyway... here's where I'm at with the bezel...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0784.jpg)
It's not finished yet but it's almost there. I'm really pleased with how this has turned out as I wasn't sure how accurate I could get it. I had to compromise with the side flutings or pipes or whatever you wanna call them. On the original arcade they are more semi-circular but I had to go with more flat looking ones. They are actually sections of "D" beading from my local B&Q. I had to go with this because I only had 8mm clearance at the front where the top/front of the bezel meets underside of the lower marquee panel. Anything more than 8mm would have stuck out under the speaker panel and looked a bit iffy.
This will eventually get a few coats of primer to try and hide any small imperfections (though I've spent ages rubbing wood putty down to get things looking as nice as possible) and then it will get painted in satin black. Although you can't tell from the pic I've also routed out the underside to take 3mm plexi which will sit over the glass of the monitor. I was gonna use smoked plexi just like the original but decided to stick with clear as I want the graphics to look as bright and clear as possible.
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Great work with the bezel my man. I'm kinda sorry I didn't go down the same route for mine, as I would have enjoyed (endured?) making it.
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I couldn't see it before, but now that you have the bezel, its clear what you are doing with the monitor.
This is going to look so slick. Good job! :applaud:
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I couldn't see it before, but now that you have the bezel, its clear what you are doing with the monitor.
I did have a small problem with the monitor though. As I was moving the image around with the TAB settings I found that I could only move the image down so far before it began to disappear from the screen. There's a limit to how far you can go. So I had to set it to as far as I could and then use the actual monitor settings to get it to move a bit further. Even now the aperture is set a little higher than I would have liked, but needs must. When you go on the Windows desktop now the "Start" button is half off the screen with a black bar down the right hand side. But the game is positioned exactly where I want it now when Mame fires up.
I did think about buying one of those 10.2" touchscreen monitors that are on eBay for around £125.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Touch-Screen-PC-monitor-10-4inch-Monitor-VGA-XGA-USB-TF-/320657709376?pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP&hash=item4aa8b05940 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Touch-Screen-PC-monitor-10-4inch-Monitor-VGA-XGA-USB-TF-/320657709376?pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP&hash=item4aa8b05940)
But the seller is in Hong Kong and I can find no reviews about them what-so-ever. Also that resolution spec confuses me. Monitors like that from UK sources are around double that price. With a monitor such as that I could just place it in there normally and then use the excellent frontend by Urbaninteractive.com. But I don't want to take a chance on paying that much to find that the image isn't as nice as how I have it now. Unfortunately the frontend from Urbaninteractive will not work for me in portrait mode. It crashes and freezes every time so I've had to go with Mala. If I ever find a monitor that physically fits in landscape mode with a decent enough resolution and viewing angle then I will pull this one in a heartbeat.
The original aperture measures 420 x 350mm (ignoring the angled corners) which isn't a 4:3 ratio. So I was unsure how they placed the 19" monitor in there. I decided to place the screen image so that when you move the cross-hairs around to their limits the gap between the cross-hairs and the aperture edge is the same up/down and left/right. So in a way it looks like it's bang in the centre even though in reality it isn't. You can tell this when you play Retrun of the Jedi (raster game) as the screen image it set more to the top, but I cannot bring it any lower down or I start to cut off the bottom of the image. :-\ Not sure if that game will get much play anyway.
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Great work on the bezel. If you can afford to try it it's worth getting some 10% plexi to compare with a clear plexi/glass. The smoking can bring out the contrast in the picture rather than hamper it.
Also I bought a monitor from here with no problems: http://www.securitycamera2000.com/categories/CCTV-Monitors/Middle-Screen-Size-%288%22-to-15%22%29/ (http://www.securitycamera2000.com/categories/CCTV-Monitors/Middle-Screen-Size-%288%22-to-15%22%29/)
Worth a browse.
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I've bought a few 8" screen from what appears to be the manufacturer (different seller) and they are decent quality
I'm pretty happy with them
I set the os to a 4:3 resolution (600x800) and check the preserve aspect ratio and they look great!
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Update time. :D
First of all trhank you Corbo for the link to those small TFT monitors. One or two do look very useable and are much cheaper than what I originally found. I'd still like to see a monitor actually running though or at least read some kind of a review before I put money down for one. So for now I'm sticking with what I have but I will be monitoring (sic) that situation for a future change.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0786.jpg)
Back panel now done with hole cutout for the speaker volume control and a handle to hold for when wheeling the little thing around. :P
Original machine had a rectangular vent I believe in the position the handle is in, so it kinda follows the design.
Cabinet build is now 98% finished prior to painting the awkward edges and adding any artwork. Only things left to do are cut the T-molding slot and position the new fixed castor wheels I got to replace the swivel ones I had at first. Pics.....
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0785.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0789.jpg)
This pic looks strange as it looks as though the whole cabinet is lopsided... but it's not.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0787.jpg)
and yes.. those speaker holes ARE lopsided... whaaaaaaaaaaa!! :hissy:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0788.jpg)
So next thing to think about is the painting and trimming. I've decided to trim the top and back panels in black satin vinyl instead of painting them. Each panel will be trimmed individually and the joints/gaps will be covered with some well placed black plastic strip. The panels will then be able to be removed individually should I ever need to get inside for repairs/upadates etc.
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Looking good my man, nice to see that bezel in situ.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0789.jpg)
This pic looks strange as it looks as though the whole cabinet is lopsided... but it's not.
WELL IT WAS!!! :banghead:
I couldn't quite put my finger on it but when I returned to work on it after seeing that pic I posted I kept looking... and looking... and it definitely looked a bit skew-wiff. Then I realised that the plexi in the marquee wasn't sloping at the same angle on each side. The bottom right corner was in effect sticking out more than the left bottom corner. Kinda hard to explain but I just spent most of the afternoon fixing it. :dizzy:
So not much progress except I'm happy I've solved a problem that would have bugged the hell out of me if I hadn't seen it till after it was finished.
T-molding slot cut, bezel primed but still plenty of rubbing down to go with 400 grit paper. Not much worthy of new pics.
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Looks to be coming along nicely, youre doing a great job. Cant wait to see it finished.
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This is looking GREAT! I can't wait to see the finished product. :applaud:
My cab was slightly twisted when I put it together. I couldn't tell at the bottom (which is where I was doing all my initial construction), but by the time I got to the top it was off nearly 1/8th inch! I was able to fix it, but it would have really chapped my :censored: if I hadn't noticed it so soon.
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This is looking GREAT! I can't wait to see the finished product. :applaud:
My cab was slightly twisted when I put it together. I couldn't tell at the bottom (which is where I was doing all my initial construction), but by the time I got to the top it was off nearly 1/8th inch! I was able to fix it, but it would have really chapped my :censored: if I hadn't noticed it so soon.
Yeah it's strange because I started out with 2x identical side panels. I know this because I used a flush trim bit to make the second one and the two panels sat on top of each other perfectly. So you would think if you made sure all the gaps around the edges (marquee section for example) were the same both sides then you couldn't really go wrong. But somewhere it still does! :angry:
Anyway... here a small update....
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0791.jpg)
Bezel and speaker panel primed. I've spent all week for an hour or so after work sanding and priming that bezel bit by bit. It's looks OK in this pic but when you sit in front of it you can tell it's home made. I know I wasn't going to get it perfect but I didn't want it to look too amateurish. I guess model making is not my strong point. It might look better when it's painted black because the imperfections look obvious to me in a light coloured primer.
I did take a pic of the cabinet primed also, but for some reason it just will not upload to Photobucket. I'll try a new pic of that tomorrow.
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The bezel looks amazing. Good work.
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Bezel looks great from here mate, must've been twice as hard to make considering it's a lot smaller than the original :applaud:
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Dude, that looks great! I can't seen any mistakes from the photo, and I'm sure no one else will. It's only your eye that's picking it up because you built it. :)
After it's fully painted, yoke installed, this is really going to ramp up quick. Keep going, and don't worry about the small imperfections (that no one but you are going to notice). :lol
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0793.jpg)
Cabinet primed. I will rub this down a bit before painting the edges black. I primed the whole of both sides though just so the artwork might adhere better than to unpainted wood. I dunno though.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0794.jpg)
Here's the little mouse hack I recently did. It's just the board out of a Logitech mouse and I soldered wires to the "live" pins of the left and right mouse buttons. Power for the bulbs is taken from the 12V molex supply. I've not had a chance to test this mouse hack yet, but it should work (fingers crossed). USB cable is missing in this pic. It just plugs into the board on the right hand side.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0795.jpg)
Bezel and speaker grille now black.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0797.jpg)
And here's the first bit of the artwork applied. I was worried about getting the image in the marquee straight and central. I managed to get it just about spot on. But there is a small issue where the bottom curve to the speaker panel isn't quite right, though you may not see it in this pic. It's not massive but there's no going back now. At least the art is straight which is the main thing I was concerned with.
I also had a go at painting the top and back panels. I wasn't too happy with the results so I trimmed those panels with black satin vinyl. Again it's not turned out brilliant but it's better than the painting. Trouble with the vinyl I have is that it's thin enough to show any imperfections or small specks of dirt that might get in there. Quite difficult to apply, but as I say, it beats painting. I find applying artwork to be the most stressful part of any build. Not so bad if you print your own as you can always run off a few more. But when it's expensive and came all the way over the Atlantic you get a bit jittery at how it might turn out. :scared
I want to get the software side of things finalised next so that when the bezel goes in it will stay in. I can remove the bezel if I wish for modifications, but I don't want to be taking it in and out all the time. I'm thinking of dropping RotJ and just having the two vector games... so that I might "borrow" Shrunkenmaster's excellent art for Mala frontend. :drool
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The paint job is really bringing this together my man. I've used the self-adhesive vinyl before, you really need to watch the dust to get it smooth.
By all means use the MALA images, let me know if you want any other resolutions, or anything changed, I'm quite happy to edit them for a fellow SW builder.
I would agree that dropping ROTJ is a good move, I never play the game anyway!
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The paint job is really bringing this together my man. I've used the self-adhesive vinyl before, you really need to watch the dust to get it smooth.
By all means use the MALA images, let me know if you want any other resolutions, or anything changed, I'm quite happy to edit them for a fellow SW builder.
I would agree that dropping ROTJ is a good move, I never play the game anyway!
Thank you! :notworthy: I didn't just want to go ahead and use them without giving you props.
I will need to play around with them in Paint anyway as I'm using a smaller screen area. I take it you just replaced the marquee images with these? How do you get the screen to stop "flashing" as you select the other game?
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I used snaps, not marquee, to display the image:
In MALA Layout, I created a new layout, then unchecked everything that is on display by default. Then I checked the 'snaps' box, and made this full-size, so it will only display each full-screen image. I set MALA to NOT wrap the gamelist.
Also set the background to black with no image. Not sure what you mean about the flashing though?
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OK I been playing around with Mala on my desktop and I've got it running just how you have. :cheers:
I also got the .avi files to play in the background as each game is selected, just by making the video window so small you don't see it. I had to turn off the video delay though to get the sounds to start asap. I also trimmed the first couple of seconds off the Starwars.avi in Windows Moviemaker because it had a strange glitchy sound at the start. I wanted it to kick right into the music it has after a couple of seconds or so.
Thanks again!!! :applaud:
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Glad it's all working for you. I did the same thing with the videos too.
Still waiting for my artwork so I can throw mine together at last...
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Managed to get in a full day today and made plenty of progress. I really feel I'm on the home straight now as most of the niggly/difficult problems have been overcome. However today wasn't all plain sailing....
I started off by trying to get the software side of things finalised so I could place the bezel in. Once it's in I don't get full Windows desktop so today was the day to get that sorted. However this morning I discover that for some reason the on board sound has totally decided to go on strike. I dunno how or why because it was working perfectly well a few weeks back in the house. But now in the garage it was a no-go. I tried all I knew in Windows and three different headsets/sound systems. Eventually I gave in and threw in a spare Sounblaster Audigy I had with updated driver... and voila! Normal service was resumed. Still don't know how or why the Realtek onboard stopped. But no matter now. :w00t
So I now got Mala shelled to boot straight into Shrunkenmaster's excellent Snaps with everything positioned nicely within the bezel aperture.
I also got to work "repairing" the little glitch I had at the bottom of the marquee. It was bugging me (I think I might be OCD) and it had to be fixed. This was done on and off throughout the day as I added bits of wood putty in and sanded appropriately.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0798.jpg)
Upper back panel trimmed and sound volume control installed. The sound of the 2.1 system is excellent! No distortion at full volume.... but ofc it won't run at that in the house. :-X
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0799.jpg)
This is where I got to at the end of the day. I ran out of terminals to finish this bit off but will get more tomorrow.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0800.jpg)
I'm nuch more happy with this marquee now. The problem was the bend towards the speaker panel was starting earlier on the left than on the right.. even though the panel underneath was straight. It meant that in the light the reflection on the bend made it look like the left side was shorter than the right. Yeah... I'm OCD! :-* In fact in this pic you can still see it's very slightly off. But it was much more pronounced than this before so I'm a happy bunny with it.
The marquee doesn't seem to light up at all in normal ambient light. I pulled down the garage door to make it darker and you can definitely see it glow. But it's nothing like a normal marquee would be. I suppose the original must have been similar, no?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0801.jpg)
Bezel sits nicely in there now. The acrylic is just taped in there on the underside with masking tape. But it can't drop out because it's flush with the base of the bezel and so rests against the glass of the monitor. I didn't want to glue it in just in case I ever want to change it if ever it gets scratched or something.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0802.jpg)
Got the CPO art installed too. This was much easier than I thought... I just hope the side art goes as smoothly. :droid
There's dust everywhere in these pics. I try to keep stuff clean in the garage but it's a futile cause most of the time. The dust is just on the surface and isn't set in the paint or anything. A thorough clean is due when it's finally finished.
I also had a play with the yoke loosely installed when I was finalising the software. I did have a problem with this though as I couldn't get the yoke calibrated in windows. Basically button 4 was shorting out all the time which made calibration impossible (you have to press a button to move on to the next step). You could see the red button flashing on and off in the Windows property box for button 4 as I moved the yoke about. I eventually took off the handle of the yoke (after buying imperial hex keys) to find a little spring had got caught on a wire leading from the button and lodged itself in a perfect manner to short out the contact with the mounting screw! It was a spare spring that had dropped in there on assembly because all the other springs were intact. I'm just glad it was an easy fix 'cos it had me concerned as I was dismantling the handle.
I also found that on testing I had to tweak a few more settings in Mame. At first I was getting what seemed like lag on moving the yoke in the game. I did a bit of a search on here and Google and someone suggested that reducing the joystick deadzone from 0.3 to 0.1 would help. Well it did! So I repeat it here in case it helps someone else. I also had to reduce all the sensitivity settings in the game to 1. There were originally at something like 30, 50 and 70 (which seems like a huge reduction). Basically I could not hold the crosshairs steady in certain areas of the screen. It was jittering about all over the place at times. But now with the deadzone and sensitivities tweaked it's smooth as silk. ;D
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Impresive! The force is strong with this one!
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Looking nice dude!
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Fantastic progress my man, and you answered my question on hex keys - I'd tried all the metric ones I had to undo my yoke! Where'd you get imperial ones from???
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[Insert bad joke about The Galactic Empire here]
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If you have a hard time getting imperial hex keys we can just ship them out from the US for ya.
Just don't tell Palpatine or Vader, lol.
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Fantastic progress my man, and you answered my question on hex keys - I'd tried all the metric ones I had to undo my yoke! Where'd you get imperial ones from???
My local Motosave has plenty of them in stock in different size packs. But be warned... the Star Wars yoke manual from Ram Controls clearly states to use a 5/64" hex key for the handles. But that doesn't fit either! I still didn't get a proper fitting key but I managed to get them undone by holding a smaller one in at an angle. Luckily the hex nuts weren't too tight in there so I got them out. I would advise taking the yoke to a Motosave (if there's one near you) and ask them to try the keys in a pack. Staff at my local one are very helpful and would no doubt let me do this.
On an update note tonight I got the back panels trimmed with vinyl and back door installed and finished wiring up the power socket and power button. I trimmed and tidied up all the wiring in the cab (no more rats nest of cables as in previous pic :P) and got the castor wheels on. Then I fell asleep in the garage on the sofa bed so no pics as I had to rush to the shop for beer and crisps. :cheers:
Things left to do.... trim the base panel and install little feet for cab to rest on. Stick on front panel art and install coin door. (Got some LED lights for the coin door buttons today from Motosave). Add side art and T-molding. Oh yeah... and bolt in the yoke. Should be done by this weekend.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0804.jpg)
Wiring tidied up inside the cabinet. Hard drive removed prior to moving the cab on it's back/front etc. as it wasn't fixed in yet.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0803.jpg)
Back panels and door trimmed and castor wheels installed. There will be some finishing to do where I cover up the screw heads with those little plastic covers, paint touchups and fitting some profiles over where the panels meet. That will hide the gap just above the wheels on the left hand side. :P
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0807.jpg)
Base trimmed and some self adhesive feet added. Although I also screwed them in as well because they have a tendency to become "un-adhesive" if a bit of sideways pressure is applied.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0808.jpg)
Front panel artwork applied prior to cutting out the hole for the coin door. This art I feel is a little darker than the original but it still looks OK.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0809.jpg)
Coin door installed. Tomorrow I will do a final test to make sure everything is OK and then do some touch ups and clean ups before I attempt the final stages. (Side art and T-molding)
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Another day, another step forward my man. Look forward to seeing this fired up! :applaud:
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Another day, another step forward my man. Look forward to seeing this fired up! :applaud:
I'm just looking forward to seeing the yoke installed!
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Another day, another step forward my man. Look forward to seeing this fired up! :applaud:
I'm just looking forward to seeing the yoke installed!
Well I'm getting closer to that. I got the art installed on the yoke today. But it was a real pita to get the security hex screws out of the font panel cover. They take a 1/8" security bit which is really hard to find here in the UK. I ended up getting them out but it took way longer than I thought it would. I could have just made the holes in the art large enough to go over the hex nuts completely without needing to remove them, but that wouldn't have looked as neat.
I still have some little touch up bits to do but the sideart and T-molding will be applied over this weekend, and then it's all done. (If they are ever really "finished")
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Well this project is now 99.9% finished. I still have one or two areas to touch up tomorrow but the next pics will be finished pics. The sideart went on very nicely. The t-molding was a bit awkward in some areas mainly due to the fact that the barb wasn't very tight. I had to fold over some masking tape round the barb in some spots to make it hold in the slot. I also hope to get some videos uploaded of this plus the other bartops I've built.
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After a few minor tweaks and touch-ups this project is now officially complete! Just had to fix some light leakage and recalibrate the yoke to get it dead centre together with some paint and details finishes.
I changed the coin door bulbs (again!) from the LEDs to 5W normal bulbs. The LEDs were bright but only gave good light right at the end of the bulb, whereas the 5W bulbs spread it out more. The reject buttons look better than ever now. I can keep the LEDs spare for the car anyway. I may need to add a fan in the rear door as the CPU fan keeps cranking up to higher speeds when the cab has been on for some time. Eventaully it runs at the higher speed all the time and the sound increase is quite noticeable. Adding a fan may not make much difference though as it's not hot inside the cab... just a little warm.
Anyway... the finished pics.... (still hope to get a video made soon)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0812.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0815.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0819.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0818.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0817.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0820.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0823.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0821.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/DBrown67/DSCN0824.jpg)
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Awesome. Just awesome.
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Excelent job! :applaud:
Those 3 machines look great together!
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Gorgeous! This project really turned out great!
Good job, and I can't wait to see the video!
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Amazing!
Congratulations :cheers:
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Looks good, my friend! :cheers:
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:o That Yoke looks HUGE. A very awesome result, pleased you must be. :applaud:
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Looks great, my man! :applaud:
Although you already have it pictured next to your other machines, can we get a pic of a human next to them for scale?
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Great work! Now Yoda can play it :angel:
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Looks great. Excellent attention to detail and custom work. :applaud: :applaud:
Do you have to be 4 ft high to play it?
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Sir Charles Barkley was once known as the "Living Legend From Leeds" (Alabama, in his case).
Chaz can go ahead and hand over the title. Awesome job! :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
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Very nice! Excellent work. :applaud:
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Man this is a really cool build. Congrats on such a great result! All three of those cabs look fantastic. :applaud:
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Very nice, perfect size for sitting at the sofa and playing by the looks of it. Can we get a video of you playing it!?
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Thank you for all the nice comments guys. :)
I will try to get a video up very soon. I may have to do it myself so it won't turn out great with me probably playing one handed :P But it will give a better overall view of the cab anyway.
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Awesome job man, Love the pics next to the other 2 cabs. :applaud:
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Amazing woodworking skills
A+ from me
Great job
:cheers:
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That looks awesome! And now that we see it in your livingroom, we can get a real sense of scale. That thing is SMALL! Do you play it on your knees or in a chair or are you just real short? hehe ;)
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Yeah, that's very cool. Looks great.
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You have inspired me for yet another project even though I have 3 on the go atm! I just love the scale of your cabs especialy the SW one. Looks great for pulling up to a 3 piece and blasting away then sticking back in the corner I've made 3 bar tops for this purpose albeit using a coffee table, but they don't quite look the part somehow. well done
col
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OK yes this is a bit of a shameless necro of one of my build threads. But I never did get round to making a video of this little machine. However, I did attend Replay 2011 in Blackpool over this last weekend where my machines did get some nice attention. Here is are a couple of videos of my stand including the Star Wars cab: (First video at about 1:30 he moves over to Turnarcades stand with their excellent cabinets and minis :applaud:)
Replay Expo 2011: GamerDads Volg -Modding. Mini Working Arcade machines! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeYNs1ObwYU#ws)
Star Wars miniature Atari arcade machine! Replay Expo 2011 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWX9mY-EvwY#ws)
I did get some really useful feedback there too from some very experienced Star Wars players. Remember I never had an original cabinet to compare gameplay with so at Blackpool I was hoping some good players could say whether it was right or not. Well the results are in.... and it was close but no cigar! :-\
I got the same sort of messages from quite a few people. Namely that there was a bit of a deadzone on the crosshair which stopped players from following tie-fighters smoothly. Plus there was a really annoying jittering of the crosshair when it was in the bottom 20% of the screen. This wasn't so noticeable in game but it was clearly visible when players went to put their initials on the high score table. It was practically impossible to select those letters accurately on the bottom line. This is something I never really noticed before but it was clearly there. This is the kind of constructive criticism I really wanted though. No point building this thing if it doesn't play correctly.
Well I finally solved all those issues today! The deadzone is set at 0.3 by default in Mame and I thought I'd already tweaked it. But I forgot I had a separate vector.ini which overrides the main Mame.ini and that was still set at 0.3! Setting it to zero cured the deadzone issue.
I also learned today that with any analogue device such as this you need to set all the digital setting in the TAB menu to zero or else they can conflict with the true analogue settings. Once I did this the jitteryness of the cursor completely disappeared.
I still need to get some feedback on the actual speed of the cursor. I currently have the sensitivity set at 50 for both X and Y co-ordinates. Some players said it did seem a little sluggish to get from one side of the screen to the other which was more noticeable on the tower stages. That may still need tweaking but again I need an experienced player to advise... that or get it side by side an original cabinet. But it certainly is playing better overall than it was before.
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Next up: Mass production! ;D
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Next up: Mass production! ;D
lol Yeah try getting those yokes in any sort of numbers. ;) Plus I also just found out today that Classicarcadegraffix (where I got all the artwork from) have now stopped priniting arcade art. Dunno why but there you go. It was the only place I found that had all the upright cabinet art. :'(
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@Leedsfan
Awesome job on the Star Wars, great build indeed. You must of had lots of people inquire on buying one at Replay? Do you sell them?
Thats weird about Classicarcadegrafix, do you think it was a copyright issue maybe?
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@Leedsfan
Awesome job on the Star Wars, great build indeed. You must of had lots of people inquire on buying one at Replay? Do you sell them?
Thats weird about Classicarcadegrafix, do you think it was a copyright issue maybe?
No I don't sell them. It's just a fun hobby for me and my builds are strictly one-offs. Yes I did get loads of people asking about buying one. One guy was basically asking me to name my price for taking this one away with him. I could have sold it many times over but that's not what this hobby is about for me. Some would say I'm mad.... but I only had one to sell after all. ;)
I emailed the guy who did the art and he came back to me. Basically he doesn't make much money out of it for the time invested. I suppose it's fair enough if his time is better spent in other ventures. At least he isn't getting dragged through the courts which was my first concern.
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Great Work!
I have seen youtube video and super amazed!
Starwars is one of my superfavorite machines!
I live in Japan and many friends also amazed and envy the machine. :D
I also made mini ROBOTRON http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=7f0496b979ab47479e3885f36be2eec9&topic=106245.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=7f0496b979ab47479e3885f36be2eec9&topic=106245.0)
there is some magical attraction with those mini things. :D
Hope big show with full of small machines in Japan! ;D
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Did you go to Replay in Blackpool? If so, you got a mention in the December issue of RetroGamer :) Nice work!
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It looks official man... Great work!
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Been away for a while (no not in the slammer ;D), and come back to see this... superb :applaud:
Got to get on and use my SW Yoke now I guess..