The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Jammin0 on September 10, 2011, 11:19:35 pm
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I've finally made some progress on my xbox 4-player pedestal. I'm waiting on a slot cutting blade in the mail so that I can put on the green t-molding. I got all my controls from groovygamegear.com and have 2 of the four controllers all hooked up with terminal blocks and ready to wire.
Here's some pictures of my progress so far. I thought it would look cool with the oldschool xbox logo.
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/IMG_0439.jpg)
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/IMG_0437.jpg)
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/IMG_0436.jpg)
Here's the color scheme for the top:
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/buttonlayout2.jpg)
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Looking good, keep the progress pics comming
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Looking good, keep the progress pics coming
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come on were not fools, this is an official xbox product right?... or it should be!
very nice work, looks great already. :applaud:
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Why are the buttons for player 3 and 4 so different in positioning? Player 4 looks like it is at a really severe angle.
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Joysticks are all placed evenly to allow the most room between each player. The whole panel is 49" wide and I didn't want to go any wider. After that the buttons get whatever space is left over. I will probably always be playing Player 1 so I don't care too much.:). This is my first attempt at a cab build / woodworking in general so it has been a fun learning experience.
My plan on the pedestal base is to match the angles on top but with the stand being smaller. Then I am going to try and create the xbox torn x. Like the mockup of the top of th CP cutting and bending the acrylic and then diffusing another layer of acrylic behind that. For the Xbox logo I used the diffuser plastic sheets from old and broken LCD monitor. I was pleased with how it turned out so I want to try and pimp out the base as well.
I wish I could match the tmolding color better, I bought the alien green color from groovygamegear but it is kind of darker than I was hoping.
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digging that glowing xbox logo :cheers:
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thanks SNAAKE,
Anyone ever do something like the torn X effect. I did this really quick with my circular saw tonight to see how it is going to work and then glued the crap out of it. I want this to be right on the front of the pedestal base.
Suggestions, any better ideas of how to achieve this effect? Well, besides the fact that I need to get some better tools. :) I don't know what is more classic on this mockup, the tennis ball underneath holding it up or the exercise bike that is weighing it down. :) I think this will turn out, it will be about twice as big on the final.
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/8cef7660.jpg)
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/007fdc3a.jpg)
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/b2a7b2f0.jpg)
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:dizzy: :notworthy: :applaud:
This is some serious stuff, right here. Kudos on the ripping X logo design. That is sheer mastery. Great idea, great execution, and great use of a tennis ball.
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hi there.what sort of paint have you used to get such a shiney black finish.
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Primed in gray and then sprayed with cans of rostoleum high gloss black. Did 5 or six coats. Sanded well before and then after the priming. Only had to do a tiny bit of sanding between coats of black but I did quite a few light coats. It got more glossy and smooth as I built up.
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I made a little bit of progress on my pedestal that I'm building. I'm still at a standstill on the control panel waiting for my router bits to arrive in the mail for the tmolding. Actually, now that I've waited a while on it I'm starting to rethink using the alien green tmolding that I got. I'm a little concerned the green won't match up well enough with my lighted parts and I'm only planning on having it around the top of the control panel. I'm wondering if I should just use black, any thoughts?
Here's a picture and then a quick photoshopped version to show the effect I'm trying for on the base when it's all done.
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/9c1b37f3.jpg)
(http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/melindalloyd_photo/9c1b37f3-1.jpg)
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Nice job man! that is gonna look awesome. I love the old school xbox logo mixed with the cabinet. :cheers:
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Nice job :applaud: :applaud: If the t molding in green is a poor match then I would go for the black.
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nice job......
Very impressive, makes my xbox cab look awful.... :cry:
congratulations... looking forward to the final item
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Thanks for the tips guys, I'm learning a ton on this project. I'll probably be all set when it comes time to do my second build. I am excited to do a true cab with monitor now, but this will be nice to move between my garage for casual play and into my family room under the 42" TV for parties. I really like the XBMC setup too, looks great in HD and has a pretty nice functionality as a jukebox. I can't believe how helpful this forum has been in trying to get into the hobby. I seriously didn't know anything from sources for parts to materials, tools, and inspiration. Scouring the forum has definitely been a huge help.
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Package with my router bits arrived from MLCS last night. I was excited to finally get those in so that I could keep working. Tear into the package only to find that they only sent half of my order.:( Needless to say I was pretty bummed. Oh well, at least they got me my slot cutting bit so that I can get back to work on the control panel. I guess I have to wait another week and a half for them to resend the rest of my order.
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Ok, made some progress on the CP. So far it is just resting on the base there. I decided to go with the green t-molding that I bought. I'm still not entirely convinced but I figure that it would be easy enough to switch out later if I really decide I don't like it. Actually, the whole top of the control panel is a work in progress, I'm not sure I will like the button layout but it fits on the small $10 1/4 sheet of MDF from Home Depot so I figure after I use it for a while it will be easy enough to tweak and redo if I don't like it. I also decided to put some tiny hidden coin buttons underneath the lip of the CP instead of using a button on top for P1 and P2 although I already drilled holes for them.
You might wonder why I put so many buttons for P3 and P4, basically I'm really excited for a few Xbox games that will take advantage of those buttons. TMNT, Blitz, Fuzion Frenzy.
I apologize for the photo quality I shot it with my ipad whose cameras suck.
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working on the circuit that will drive my 1W LEDs right now. These things get really hot when you run them close to their max current so I went way overkill with some big CPU heatsinks I got off of an old xbox. Don't really know the correct way to do this but I always mix equal parts of jbweld quick drying and thermal grease. Glues down and holds tight and seems to transfer heat pretty well. The heatsinks weren't noticeably warm to the touch until after a few hours. These things are incredibly bright. They put out 80 or so lumens each and I will be using a total of 10 of them in my project.
I realize there are probably better and more traditional ways to pull some of this off but I am going for cheap. So far I am only about $200 on this project and I don't have to buy too many more things for it.
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Still needs one more application of bondo, some sanding and paint but here's a test run with the X all lit up. I think it is going to turn out cool. I am using the power and eject buttons from an xbox that will be placed right above the X logo. I accidentally screwed through my control panel when mounting a joystick so I have been starting over on that one. Oh well, I decided to remove the credit buttons and will put them hidden underneath the lip in the front so more than anything it is just taking more time, cost for the quarter sheet is only $10 from home depot.
Anyway, excited to almost be done.
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Made some more progress on the lighting and putting the pedestal base with the control panel.
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Wow, Really Nice!
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looks real good !! :notworthy: :notworthy: :applaud:
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Thanks guys, there's still a lot of things that I would do differently about it and I'm not super sold on the CP layout yet but I figure it will be good enough for a first project.
I probably should have done a little bit more research before I started but it's been a fun and positive experience. I'll post a video of it in action once I get the CP all wired up.
Maybe I'll sell it and do another one. I kind of want to do a full cabinet next time.
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Pretty dang sweet for not doing much planning. That thing is so friggin' awesome I gotta show my kids this one as they of course love the 'box.
Inspiring!
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Thanks for the encouragement. I haven't found a good way to finish off the back panel yet. For the time being I am going to leave it open because I need to get some cooling fans in there if I close it all the way off. The Xbox fits in pretty tightly and there is not a ton of space left for air flow in order to cool it. I might just duct the fan from the back of the xbox outside of the box and then put another intake fan to keep a good circulation. Xboxes get kind of warm and at least the xbox 1 seemed to fair pretty well but I like things nice and cool.
My son is definitely excited for me to be done with it. He's 4 years old and most of the reason that I'm doing the project, technically he's helping me. :) I grew up on video games starting with NES and want him to have some fun too without having to resort to a lot of the more graphic games that kids play now days. I also have twin 2-year-old daughters, who knows, you're never too young to start playing video games. They already play stuff on the iphone and ipad so I'm sure if I can get them up high enough they can play the arcade controls. Maybe their high chairs . . .?
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Great lighting work. I love black on green and can't wait to see the green t-molding on it.
I really don't care for the X-Box but I love the mini cab you make. Keep it up... .
MM
out
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Alright, I didn't want to post again until I was done but it is taking me a while. I finally got all 4 controllers hacked. I had 7 different controllers to work with and found out that only 3 of them had common ground. Of those 3 one was an original fatty xbox controller with little tiny traces and tons of some kind of mask applied to the board so that when I tried to solder I couldn't, instead of copper contacts it had some kind of weird graphite or something that was solderable either. Well, after ruining that controller I slept on it and realized that the smaller 3rd party controllers didn't have common ground but the ground was just spit over 2 circuits, 1 for the D-Pad, select, and start, and then another ground for all the other buttons. Anyway, I don't know why I'm telling except to document my story.
I got my constant current driver in the mail from Hong Kong and wired it up and it works great. Just need to build the relay circuit and then hook that all up through my xbox power supply.
Here's a couple of pictures including my not so pretty wiring job. I have a hard time spending too much time on any part that I know isn't going to be seen by anyone but me. I decided to go with black tmolding instead of the green. Didn't match very well. Sorry about the blurry ipad pictures, the next post I will show the whole thing all done with an HD video.
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Of those 3 one was an original fatty xbox controller with little tiny traces and tons of some kind of mask applied to the board so that when I tried to solder I couldn't, instead of copper contacts it had some kind of weird graphite or something that was solderable either.
Yeah, you have to take the black paint off (it's a conductive paint). A Dremel and wire wheel is what I use, clean with alcohol after removing the paint.
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hmmm, I should have taken pictures. This stuff was weird, the contacts that go underneath the buttons sanded right off, there wasn't anything behind them. All the traces and the grounded areas around sanded down to the copper but all that was left were the tiny traces and not the larger contacts that were underneath the button pads. I used 120 grit sandpaper and went really slowly. I started by soldering to the tiny traces but pulled up one of them and just got mad. Since I had other controllers already torn down I just scrapped it. I will admit that my soldering skills aren't anything crazy, I'm 29 now and only picked up a soldering iron for the first time about 2 years ago. Some of the 3rd party controllers were a breeze though, they have these nice big testing pads for each button that you can solder straight to without cleaning anything.
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hmmm, I should have taken pictures. This stuff was weird, the contacts that go underneath the buttons sanded right off, there wasn't anything behind them.
Then you sanded too far. That's why I use the wire wheel, with a gentle pressure. I assure you, there's copper beneath the paint. :D
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Maybe you're right. ;D Oh well. I picked up 3 controllers the other day at a goodwill outlet down the street from where I live. They charge you by the pound so the 3 controllers cost under $3. I would be really mad if it was a 360 controller or else if I had paid a lot of money for it.
I'll try the wire wheel next time.
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;D
Yeah, I use a variable speed Dremel on the lowest speed, with light pressure. Works like a charm.
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I'll try the wire wheel next time.
Or, you could get HaRuMaN to hack up some controllers for you... ...and yes, I get a commission on recommending his work.
;)
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I just appreciate the tips, I know he doesn't have to be so helpful, I would definitely pass his info along before trying to hack controllers for anyone else besides myself.
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:afro:
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So I finally got the lighting situation worked out. Here's a quick video of it turning on. I ended up making a simple relay circuit that used 5V from the xbox to switch on my power to the LEDs so that when the xbox is turned on, everything fires up. I tested and had it all working using my LED constant current driver that I ordered from DealExtreme and was so excited. Then. . .I hooked it up to the TV only to find out that the LED driver was giving off some wicked EMI and the video signal would cut out almost entirely. I think that it must have been picking up through my hacked controllers and then being amplified through the wiring. Anyway, I messed around with it forever trying to get better shielding on the transformer etc and then finally gave up, grabbed a wall wart that was about the right specs and through a huge 10W 10 ohm resistor on the sucker. Now it works fine with no interference whatsoever. I'll try and get a better video in the light tomorrow of the whole thing up and running. I don't have the back cover on so it has a ton of ambient light coming out of the back.
Untitled (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlTg7ZfjrY#ws)
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I don't have the back cover on so it has a ton of ambient light coming out of the back.
Which in my humble opinion looks kinda cool 8) 8)
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can you list led parts you ordered. I understand all that light is from 5+ source??
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No, I decided to power them from an external source. The 5V now just passes through a relay which turns on the 18V source to the LEDs. Originally I was going to try and power them from the 12V xbox source but I was worried that the power draw would be too high. I'm drawing 5 watts. I considered just unhooking the DVD drive because it has to draw close to that and then I would be safe but I wasn't sure if it would still boot without the drive and I decided I didn't want to screw with it because I didn't want to burn out my V1.0 power supply.
Anyway, here's the link to the lights, I'm using 5 of them.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1w-60-70lm-525nm-green-led-light-bulbs-3-2-3-4v-10-piece-pack-65217 (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1w-60-70lm-525nm-green-led-light-bulbs-3-2-3-4v-10-piece-pack-65217)
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Ok, finally got everything wired up and working great. Just in time I might add because my son had his 5th birthday party today. It was a big hit and still works after a bunch of 5 year olds whammed on it which is probably a pretty good burn in test. I'm finding out that the gloss paint picks up a lot of finger prints and oil though. My son smoked everyone at Fuzion Frenzy so I know I must be doing something right as a dad.
Don't know how familiar everyone is with coinops 2 on the xbox but I thought I'd get in a few shots of the UI, I'm a huge fan of the work that has been done and is still going on with an extinct system.
XBOX arcade pedestal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1QnshnCGaw#ws)
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Awesome to see all those kids glued to it!
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Awesome. :cheers: May I ask what type of modifications your XBox has had done to it to run CoinOps 2 properly?
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It's a V1.0. Xbox that I picked up from the 2nd hand store. Softmodded using the ancient 007 hack. Once it was softmodded I added an 80gig hard drive that I had laying around. Used Hexen tools to update the softmod and add shadow C protection so that the soft mod wouldn't be undone accidentally. Anyway that's it. I'm amazed at how well most games work under Coinops. Thanks to the guys at xbox-scene.com who are keeping things alive.
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very nice.. the design and lighting came together. An excellent job on the modded xbox
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Awesome to see all those kids glued to it!
instead of call of duty 932405920340
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true that
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This looks great! Should add CO4 to it. Love this
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This looks great! Should add CO4 to it. Love this
Thanks, unfortunately I sold it about 4 or 5 months back to fund my current project. Sold it cheap to a buddy of mine so that I could still use it whenever I go over to his place.