The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: thijey on April 09, 2010, 12:22:40 pm
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Hi everyone !
A quick note : I'm from that northern, glacial and lifeless land called Quebec, in Canada (the city being Montreal, fiy), so I am not an anglophone at all. I grew up in a small, 100% francophone town, so my writing may seem weird at times. You are welcome to laugh you a** out, as long as you correct any grammar or syntax error you may find.
Since 2008 have I been thinking more or less seriously about building an arcade cab for myself, being a hopeless retro gaming afficionado (yet surprisingly well tolerated by my significant other, or so I suppose since she married me !), but somehow never did it due to lack of (insert whatever word : money, time, motivation, tools, etc.).
However, the last few months brought new circumstances. The wife and I are going on a 6 months trip to Peru to work in a shelter for young girls who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse (about 50 of them, between 3 and 15 years old). Having to leave my job, we are organizing fundraising events and selling anything useless in the house (which we will fortunetaly be able to keep). Of those things we wish to sell, there was a computer sleeping in the basement with a spare 19" LCD. Hmmmm... I'm sure you see me coming.
I decided to build a first cab with a few specs in mind.
1- Simple and light yet sturdy design
2- 2-player CP, strict minimum of buttons to play most games, no trackball, no spinner, no flightstick, no coin door (coin buttons though)
3- CP and marquee design 100% original, yet have to be simple too to stay in the same mindset.
I had not played with MAME or emulators for years, never touched front ends, I didn't know squat about electronics... THIS is where I started from this january (yes, 2010). After reading about the software, I took a lot of time understanding of the hardware works ("analog joystick, hmm ? how does it work ? 8-way, 4-way, restrictor plate... ah :censored: !!" this is where I discovered www.slagcoin.com (http://www.slagcoin.com) , a real treat for newbs like me), then I started draughting prototypes of cabs. Meanwhile, I also started the design of the CP and marquee. Here is what I ended up with :
This is the CP, give or take a few placement details I have to adjust :
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145556;image)
The marquee, with the same theme. I might replace the arms of the fake clock with real ones (I have a spare, still working small clock that would do the trick, and it actually ticks, which would be nice !)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145558;image)
EDIT : Well, my spelling aptitude has been tested and annihilated. Time (wasting) Machine indeed, not waisting. Thanks Burrito !
Overview of the cab. The actual color will be slightly lighter.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145560;image)
Sideview.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145564;image)
Internal view. Since I want to keep the whole thing light and moveable, I decided upon using 1/2" plywood for the shell and an internal structure of 2x4s. The skeleton itself is solid enough to absorb any abuse (field tested and approved with 3 different players, and one of them literally hammered the poor beast).
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145566;image)
Finally, a preview of what it would look like in my living room (yep, that's the actual color of the walls ! took 7 layers to cover that freaking dark green :soapbox:)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145562;image)
I'm attaching a final pic (blured, but still) of the preassembled TwM (without the shell). I'll be working on it this week-end. I'll post more pics next week.
There are 3 objectives I wanted to acheive with this project.
1- Make a first attempt at a cabinet so I can build one for myself that's more complete when I come back next january.
2- Sell an old worthless computer in a beautiful wrapping to make a few $ that will help finance our 6 months in Peru.
3- Testing the nerves of the wife. God do I love that woman ! ;D
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I think the shape is cool. The only thing that bothers me about the design is how far the monitor is set back. It just looks weird for some reason.
Good luck on your trip to Peru. Takes a special person to make such a big commitment to helping others. :applaud:
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And, while it may be a small nitpick, before you make your marquee, you might want to change that to "wasting" unless there's a hidden double meaning. :)
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@ Burrito : haha ! oups ! :laugh2: no double meaning here, and nobody spotted that one, thanks !
@ Gamester : The monitor may look too far, but it actually is not. The playtesting proved it ;) But thanks for the head's up.
And thanks for "commitment compliment" ;) I found it is actually a bigger move to decide going than to plan and do it. It takes a lot of energy to actually fight that frigging social inertia in which we live ! ;)
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Very cool. Monitor looks too small though.
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Have a great time in Peru! My fiance spent about a month out there working in an orphanage and she loved it. Man, I'm so jealous, I spent February in Nepal and now I'm back in England writing my dissertation for my nursing degree and all I really want be doing is travelling! :cheers:
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@Garwil : I know what you mean. When you start, it's like your dormant nomad genes emerge again. If you start travelling, you trigger something that pushes you... I've heard Nepal was a particularly poor country. How was it over there ?
@emphatic : It's certainly not the best I could've had, but this is what I had at hand (and "freely" available in my basement), so I went with it. It does the job perfectly for all those vintage and highly pixelated games. Mario and Mister Pac would not see the difference anyway ;) Still, I know 19" is pretty small by todays arcade standards.
Back on topic. My brother-in-law and I worked a few hours on the shell this week-end and it's taking form rapidly.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145801;image)
I had to split the sides in 2 parts because the hardware stores near my home didn't have two-sided-finish 4x8' 1/2" plywood. So I went with 2 5x5' sheets that provided me with everything I needed. Ultimately, I really like the 2 section sides. More to come later this week. I must admit having a full time job, planning a 6-month trip, keeping social life at an acceptable minimum ad building a cab altogether is quite a challenge... :dizzy:
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Great side cabinet shape there thijey, but if I could echo other comments... the monitor looks too far back.
It cries out to me that you should get one of those vogel monitor mounts (or similar) to not only bring it
forward a bit but also give you the option to rotate/tilt it etc. Hell, turn it 90 degrees, sit back on the couch
and watch a movie! Bet a 24" could fit. :cheers:
Cheers
Ps. This forum will not save you money btw.
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Very cool shape! I like the profile view especially. Building a cab is such a fun experience . Enjoy it and take lots of pictures. ( I always forget to do that).
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Hahahaha, no way! I was actually designing a slim cab based on the UAII (i.e. having a separate top and bottom).
Glad to see it looks awesome! Well done!
I take it you are using a LCD? What one are you using?
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@wilno : Maybe I'll try something like that, but the distance between the eye and the screen is merely 18 inches and while playing, it even felt a little close. I'll see with the final assembly, but thanks for the advice.
@JZSlenker : thanks ! I try to take as many pics as I can, but I tend to want it completed asap and forget the camera. Still, not too bad 'til now ;)
@thatitalian : yes, what was a bummer at first (no 4x8 available, so had to use 5x5' instead) turned out to be a good thing to spice up a design that was a little too simple. For my personal culture, what's an UAII ? (what means the acronym ?)
I'M using a 19" Philips Brilliance 190P. Maximum resolution is 1280x1024, but it has proven reliable and colors are still very crisp. Plus it has 2 USB slots on the side in case one would want to plug 1 or 2 controllers for 4-player action.
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Didn't have much time these last few days to work on the cab, but at least I could find a few minutes (yeah right, a "few"...) to make the adjustments on the CP and marquee. Turns out resizing the whole thing and changing a few disposition details wasn't enough for my tight schedule, so I came out with these instead.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145968;image)
There will be a real clock in there, to remind the player that while the girlfriend is waiting, the clock is ticking...
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90051.0;attach=145970;image)
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You don't speak English, you just read and write it? You do a good job!
BTW the idiom is "laugh your a** off" not "laugh your a** out". "A** out" is another bit of slang meaning "in deep trouble".
Good luck with your project!
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C'est Bon! Nice to see yet another Canuck builder on here (I'm outside of Toronto).
You've done a long in 3+ months. I just hit the 2 year mark and am almost done :)
This board will be able to answer any and ever question you've got about the hobby.
Looks great so far, keep us posted with pics!
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You don't speak English, you just read and write it? You do a good job!
BTW the idiom is "laugh your a** off" not "laugh your a** out". "A** out" is another bit of slang meaning "in deep trouble".
Good luck with your project!
Subtle difference, I'll try remembering this one. ANd thanks for the english, and although I speak it, I still have that damn french canadian accent I could never get rid of. My written english is better, thanks to all those authors I've read (many thanks to Asimov, Baxter and, shame on me, Rowling ...)
C'est Bon! Nice to see yet another Canuck builder on here (I'm outside of Toronto).
You've done a long in 3+ months. I just hit the 2 year mark and am almost done :)
This board will be able to answer any and ever question you've got about the hobby.
Looks great so far, keep us posted with pics!
I must say all the people on this forum are so creative and generous in their comments and contributions, it's amazing. No way such a hobby could exist without all you guys sharing ideas. One that blew me off last week is The no18 Arqadium Engine by drventure. You guys are all inspirations and because of you, I'm becoming a hero among my friends as being "the one who dares do that". If they knew all the help you can get... Anyway, thank you BYOAC Forum for existing !
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UAII is the the Ultimate Arcade II seen here (http://www.mameroom.com/ProductDetail.asp?ID=UAIICAB27E1).
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Great design for the marquee and CP.
Have you tried to leave the "( )" out around wasting?
I think it will look better without.
Keep up the good work, and when are you going to Peru btw?
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Great design for the marquee and CP.
Have you tried to leave the "( )" out around wasting?
I think it will look better without.
Keep up the good work, and when are you going to Peru btw?
Thanks !
I will leave the parenthesis, as it implies the double meaning I wanted it to have.
We arrive in Lima on the 8th of july. That leaves us (my wife and I) less than 3 months to finish planning everything and gather all the money we can. I'm really looking forward to this 6 month trip, even though I must admit I was a little reluctant at first (insecure might be a better word ? :P). I ultimately chose to get out of my confort zone, learn spanish for good (no es muy dificil para mi, porque frances es similar a espanol) and go. I know I'll be glad I decided to go ;)
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Toronto is a fun city. once you learn spanish, you will practically be learning some italian to. grammer structure is the same but dialect is different.
The profile really is sick (that is a good thing). You gave me an idea for my top section.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
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Toronto is a fun city. once you learn spanish, you will practically be learning some italian to. grammer structure is the same but dialect is different.
The profile really is sick (that is a good thing). You gave me an idea for my top section.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Yes, italian and sapnish a very similar, to the point it gets confusing. I went in Italy last year, and now I can't stop mixing words and numbers ! There is even an italian girl in my class, it looks so easy to her, it should be considered cheating :P
Thanks for the profile. I like it very much too, espacially considering it was an almost all improvised on-the-go hand-drawned sketch-right-on -plywood-and-hope-for-the-best profile. Turned out pretty good I think ;) The building will restart next week, I'm a little short on sleep now. As soon as I have something new, you can be sure I'll post it (pictures included indeed) !
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Update : I've been quite busy these last 2 weeks, but I still found some time to put on the TwMachine. It is now 90% completed, with all the main panels tinted in a Dark Mercury color, varnished and put back on the frame. The effect is really nice, you get that "classic black arcade" look, but still can see the woodgrain. I'll post a picture a.s.a.p.
I was also very pleased with the cutting of the plexisglas. To be honest, I was really scared to screw up and crack or chip it, but somehow I managed to do neither. Thanks to all the folks here who tested different tools before me ! I will assemble the CP tomorrow.
The only minor drawback is that I printed the CP and marquee designs at a local office supply store (Staples, who also print posters in a glossy finish, very neet), but I forgot that even though the poster is officially 20x30", the actual size of the image on that is a bit smaller. Result : they shrinked both the marquee and CP designs byt a 5-8% factor. No big deal in itself, but enough to be obvious. They told me there is no way for them to print "actual size". So, next time, I'll go to a professionnal printing company and have it printed in real size. Meanwhile, I had to work some design solutions to accomodate the shrinked images. It turned out alright, but I learned my lesson.
There's something else I wanted to point out. I was able to use only freeware/open source programs for everything in the design process, so no pirating needed. SketchUp, which needs no introduction, and a combination of The GIMP and Inkscape for the marquee and CP. They are not perfect, but you get some powerful tools for no money, as well as huge communities to help. I just thought I'd share about them ;)
And while I'm sharing, I should had this : while punching holes through plexisglas, I found that a very sharpened spade drill bit (or a brand new one in my case) with a press drill will do extremely well. No chipping, no cracking, and a fluffy cloud of scrapped plastic for every hole (looks almost like sugar candy, but a little harder).
Pics to come soon !
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Well, only 2 weeks before I leave and I was able to complete the cabinet last week-end. Yeeeeaaah ! Better still, since we were able to accumulate enough money for our trip, I didn't need selling it anymore. Soooo...
...I gave it as a birthday present to the brother in law ! He honestly deserved it, and that way I still have my first aracde creation at hand's reach (i.e. at a 4-minute walk range). He's not home today, but as soon as I can in the next few days and before I leave for Peru, I'll make sure to take a few pictures and post them here.
By the way, the ticking clock in the marquee really adds something !
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Wow man, lol, you went from wood and unprinted CP pics to "I'm finsished!". I really want to see the finished product. I'm diggin' that shape. :cheers:
cg