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Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:29:51 pm

Title: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:29:51 pm
The Saloon Arcade

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7551726/arcade/wip/New/Saloon.jpg)

Heya folks! I haven't been active here in ages, as I've had way too much work to do at home and .. at work. :)

My fiance and I moved into a new house this summer, which opened up the opportunity for me to finally get my own man-cave in the basement, which I have dreamed of for quite a while. :)

So, I got my hands on an empty, generic upright cabinet that was intended for a 1-player jamma setup and this was just a perfect cabinet for my liking, so I figured I'd give it a complete make-over and turn it into a 2-player upright cabinet with a 3" trackball. Custom artwork and all.

My basement will have a western saloon-ish theme, so I figured I'd do the same with the cabinet, hence why it is called "The Saloon". :)

The cabinet is using the following hardware:
_________________

Computer
----------
- MSI G41M-P25, Socket-775, mATX motherboard
- Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @ 3GHz
- 4GB Crucial DDR3 1066MHz RAM
- Chieftec Nitro 550W PSU
- ArcadeVGA 3000 PCI-Ex graphics card
- Windows XP Pro (nlite'd/minimalistic version, will boot directly into front-end and all OS elements will be hidden)

Monitor
----------
- 29" (27" visible) MakVision tri-mode arcade monitor (15-31khz)

Arcade hardware
----------
- iPac2 controller interface
- 3" U-TRAK trackball from Ultimarc
- Sanwa JLW-TM-8 joysticks
- Happ pushbuttons

As usual I have ordered all the arcade hardware from Andy @ Ultimarc. I bought the monitor from xgaming.com (they gave me the lowest shipping rate to Norway) and, as always, I get my artwork printed by GameonGrafix (mamemarquees.com).

Read on for the worklog pictures .. :)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:30:15 pm
Day 1 - Side art and t-molding
_____________________________________________

The very first day I added my custom side art and the gold (!) t-molding I ordered from t-molding.com.

I have made the "Saloon" logo and parts of the background myself, but the drawings and arcade characters are taken from different vector images I've found (and purchased) on the net.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:30:29 pm
Day 1 - Side art and t-molding (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:30:43 pm
Day 1 - Side art and t-molding (pictures continued)
_____________________________________________

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:30:56 pm
Day 2 - Kickplate art
_____________________________________________

Today I added custom kickplate art. I also had a look at what was behind the old marquee; two cheap speakers and a cathode light that I won't be using.

PS. I got so lucky when I did the kickplate art, placing the logo right in the middle of the coin door and the coin box. I only did a rough measure, hence why I wasn't sure if the logo would be overlapped or not. ;)

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:31:08 pm
Day 2 - Kickplate art (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 02, 2012, 03:31:24 pm
Day 3 - Turning aluminum into gold :)
_____________________________________________

As this will be a "saloon-ish" cabinet I thought it would be nice with some gold/brass trims on the sides and back of the cabinet. I visited my local tools/materials shack but they didn't have the brass trims I had visualized. So .. All I could do was to buy some aluminum trims instead and spray paint them with golden paint. :)

In the following pictures I'm cutting the trims to correct length, before I give them a golden shower (ehrm ..) .. ;)

PS. What do you think of my floor panels? :)

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: mgb on January 02, 2012, 11:39:26 pm
I'm looking forward to seeing the project progress. Your Rainy Days cabinet was also great.
I love the fact that you're using a Crt.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 08:41:52 am
Day 4 - Mounting my new gold trims
_____________________________________________

After the spray paint had dried for a couple of days I attached them to the cabinet. Honestly I think the result was pretty decent.

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 08:42:36 am
Day 4 - Mounting my new gold trims (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 08:48:14 am
Day 5 - Assembling computer, drilling front panel and mounting marquee lights
_____________________________________________

Since this is a pretty big cabinet I decided to assemble all my computer hardware in a chassis before putting it inside the cabinet. No need to mount the motherboard directly inside the cabinet (although I'm a huge fan of that :)).

I'm also mounting the marquee lights, where I'm using two cold cathode lights which should provide more than sufficient lighting. At the end I'm drilling holes for the 1P/2P buttons and coin buttons before I'm applying the artwork for the front panel.

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 08:48:51 am
Day 5 - Assembling computer, drilling front panel and mounting marquee lights (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 09:01:05 am
Day 6 - Monitor, speakers and marquee
_____________________________________________

So finally my 29" (27") Makvision tri-mode monitor arrived from Xgaming and it was time for what I think is the most troublesome part of all this; mounting this beast of a CRT monitor inside the cabinet!

I used an LCD monitor in my first cabinet (bartop cabinet), but after I used a real arcade monitor in my previous cab (Rainy Days) I will never go back to LCD. Never. :)

I know a lot of you guys are LCD fans, which I can understand due to easy mounting and setup, but I will stick to CRT as long as I can get my hands on them (which won't be for much longer I'm afraid).

Anyways, in the following pictures I am mounting the monitor. The cabinet was originally intended for a vertical mounted monitor so I had to rip out the old monitor mounting bracket and make a new one out of wood. I had to get some help from my father on this one as it was impossible to hold the monitor inside the chassis while measuring at the same time.

It took us around 2-3 hours of messing around before the monitor was sturdy in place. Sorry for not taking pictures during the process.

I also mounted a set of stereo PC speakers and the marquee artwork (sandwiching it between two layers of plexi glass).
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 09:01:56 am
Day 6 - Monitor, speakers and marquee (pictures continued)
_____________________________________________

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 09:05:31 am
I'm looking forward to seeing the project progress. Your Rainy Days cabinet was also great.
I love the fact that you're using a Crt.

Thanks man, I appreciate that! :)

Yes, I'm a huge fan of CRT monitors. I think they should be used if possible to give the authentic look and feel. :)

BTW, just posted day 1-6 (loads of pictures). Enjoy! :)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: drventure on January 03, 2012, 09:06:37 am
Nice job. I love the artwork and logo!
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: wp34 on January 03, 2012, 09:17:22 am
Love the artwork.  You improved that cabinet 100% very quickly.   :cheers:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 03, 2012, 09:19:59 am
Thanks guys! Appreciate your kind words! :)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: gbeef on January 03, 2012, 01:10:40 pm
Very nice work on the artwork :applaud:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: Hi-TEK on January 03, 2012, 03:52:34 pm
What a great transformation, I'm in agreement with the others about the artwork and overall execution. The cabinet also looks about that size that I would want not to big and not to intrusive.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: Le Chuck on January 04, 2012, 10:05:59 am
Holy hell man, you take the art to the next level.  Love this build  :applaud: :applaud:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 04, 2012, 10:08:50 am
Thanks again guys!

I did some more work on it today, so I will post another update very soon.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: BobA on January 04, 2012, 10:46:33 am
Great looking artwork and a very nice cab.  :applaud: :applaud:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: Woodshop Flunky on January 04, 2012, 12:59:36 pm
Nice cab!  Your artwork is great, and I like all the metal accents.  :applaud:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 05, 2012, 05:32:45 am
I just hooked up the 29" Makvision tri-mode monitor and I gotta say it blows me away. The picture quality looks excellent so far!

Attaching a few pics taken with my iPhone (the screen looks scratched in one of the close-ups, but it's only because I haven't removed the plastic cover yet :))



Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: Well Fed Games on January 05, 2012, 08:32:10 am
Really is a great build- nice monitor!
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: emphatic on January 06, 2012, 08:05:45 am
Wow, that's some seriously great artwork!  :applaud: Really looking forward to see how this progresses.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 06, 2012, 04:50:18 pm
Day 7 - Some inside work
_____________________________________________

Today I have mostly been doing stuff inside the cabinet. Hooked up the computer, smart power strip, organizing cables etc.

It still looks like a mess on the pictures, but I will tidy things up a bit more before the cabinet is 100% done. Also, the back side of the cabinet needs to be polished up quite a bit, I will take care of that also very soon. :)

Enjoy the pics!

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/03/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 06, 2012, 04:51:27 pm
Day 7 - Some inside work (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/06/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 15, 2012, 02:44:17 pm
Day 8 - The control panel
_____________________________________________

Today I have finished up the control panel. I got it custom cut from North Coast Customs (thanks a lot to Gerry for taking my measurements/design and cutting me a perfect panel :)).

Nothing new to see here. Applied artwork, attached the buttons, 3" U-Trak, Sanwa JLW's and the iPac2. I attached the iPac2 to the U-TRAK's chassis for convenience (there weren't much room elsewhere on the panel). Also notice that player 2 only has 4 buttons. It was either that or a small trackball. I love trackball games, so player 2 had to cut down on the buttons instead. :)

Anyways .. Enjoy the pictures!

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 01/06/12]
Post by: dekar24k on January 15, 2012, 02:45:12 pm
Day 8 - The control panel (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: dekar24k on February 01, 2012, 07:09:06 am
Day 9 - The finishing touch
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This "day" I started out by programming the iPac2, finished configuring the front-end/emulators and tweaked WinXP so it's completely hidden from the second the machine boots (custom boot logo, hide mouse pointer and windows, replace explorer shell with Maximus Arcade etc.). After everything was working the way I wanted I started adding the finishing touch to the cabinet; I made a wooden bracket for the smoked glass bezel (hardened smoked glass, not using plexi this time) and spray painted the bezel on the smoked glass. I also made a nice brass trim transition between the control panel/smoked glass and applied the remaining pieces of t-molding.

In the last picture you can see a shot of the cabinet in action. It's a grainy picture because of poor lighting, but I will take some proper pictures and a demo video that I will post very soon.

I'd like to say that the cabinet is 99.99% finished, because in the nearest future I will light up the trackball and replace the coin door with a nicer one.

Enjoy! :)

Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: dekar24k on February 01, 2012, 07:10:48 am
Day 9 - The finishing touch (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: dekar24k on February 01, 2012, 07:11:34 am
Day 9 - The finishing touch (pictures continued)
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Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: mgb on February 01, 2012, 08:26:03 am
awesome job.  :applaud:
This cabinet looks great.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: elkameleon on February 01, 2012, 08:33:13 am
I love the artwork on this cab! :applaud:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: Green Giant on February 01, 2012, 10:39:56 am
Couple things.

Your artwork work is insane.  I can only assume you were able to afford the artwork since the cab was essentially free.

Second thing, where did you get the smoked glass?  I keep telling myself I will buy some smoked glass, but 5 years later and I still get crap from the wife about buying some.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: dekar24k on February 01, 2012, 10:54:17 am
Couple things.

Your artwork work is insane.  I can only assume you were able to afford the artwork since the cab was essentially free.

Second thing, where did you get the smoked glass?  I keep telling myself I will buy some smoked glass, but 5 years later and I still get crap from the wife about buying some.

1. Thanks for the artwork feedback. I've done the logo myself and all the Photoshop work myself, so I didn't pay anything for the artwork (except I bought the western background and the skelly character off istockphoto. I got the arcade character vectors I've put around the scenes for free). On the other hand, it is very expensive to have all that artwork printed on vinyl and shipped to Norway from the US. :)

2. A brand new smoked glass was already attached to the cabinet when I got it, but I believe most glass/window retailers can sell you that (it might have to be ordered though and custom cut). What would perhaps be cheaper would be to buy a regular piece of glass and laminate it yourself.

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the feedback! :) Working on a video now and some better photos.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12]
Post by: elkameleon on February 01, 2012, 10:54:46 am
Find a local glass company, I priced out a piece that was like 2'x2' for roughly 30 bucks. They will even cut it for you to your size. I'm going with a bronzed glass on my upright.
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: dekar24k on February 01, 2012, 11:11:04 am
Took some nicer pics:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7551726/arcade/wip/New/Saloon.jpg)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: Woodshop Flunky on February 02, 2012, 10:46:51 am
Wow... this cab is tip-top!   :applaud:

Very nice indeed; love the art, and the metal trim.

Clean, and very pro looking.   :cheers:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: dekar24k on February 02, 2012, 10:47:44 am
Thanks a lot for the nice feedback guys! Appreciate it. :)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: wivelden on February 03, 2012, 06:31:10 am
Nice cabinet and great artwork theme. Can I ask what fonts you used?
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: jackiabu on February 03, 2012, 09:29:50 am
Day 6 - Monitor, speakers and marquee
_____________________________________________

So finally my 29" (27") Makvision tri-mode monitor arrived from Xgaming and it was time for what I think is the most troublesome part of all this; mounting this beast of a CRT monitor inside the cabinet!

I used an LCD monitor in my first cabinet (bartop cabinet), but after I used a real arcade monitor in my previous cab (Rainy Days) I will never go back to LCD. Never. :)

I know a lot of you guys are LCD fans, which I can understand due to easy mounting and setup, but I will stick to CRT as long as I can get my hands on them (which won't be for much longer I'm afraid).

Anyways, in the following pictures I am mounting the monitor. The cabinet was originally intended for a vertical mounted monitor so I had to rip out the old monitor mounting bracket and make a new one out of wood. I had to get some help from my father on this one as it was impossible to hold the monitor inside the chassis while measuring at the same time.

It took us around 2-3 hours of messing around before the monitor was sturdy in place. Sorry for not taking pictures during the process.

I also mounted a set of stereo PC speakers and the marquee artwork (sandwiching it between two layers of plexi glass).

very nice work men :applaud: 


By the way I loved that thing that you would rather use an arcade monitor.
 No LCD screen. I do not want to hurt anyone, but anyone who builds an arcade machine and would prefer arcade LCD screen inside. He's just retarded! Or who had never seen a real arcade machine.
 Unless you're running games on HD.














Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: Le Chuck on February 03, 2012, 09:48:38 am
No LCD screen. I do not want to hurt anyone, but anyone who builds an arcade machine and would prefer arcade LCD screen inside. He's just retarded! Or who had never seen a real arcade machine.
 Unless you're running games on HD.

Nice cab... I'M SO ANGRY I NEED TO GET ON MY :soapbox: AND RANT... and then caveat when it's okay

  :applaud: slowclap.














[/quote]
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: elkameleon on February 03, 2012, 10:38:53 am
No LCD screen. I do not want to hurt anyone, but anyone who builds an arcade machine and would prefer arcade LCD screen inside. He's just retarded! Or who had never seen a real arcade machine.
 Unless you're running games on HD.

Nice cab... I'M SO ANGRY I NEED TO GET ON MY :soapbox: AND RANT... and then caveat when it's okay

  :applaud: slowclap.

 :laugh2:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project
Post by: jackiabu on February 03, 2012, 10:47:09 am
No LCD screen. I do not want to hurt anyone, but anyone who builds an arcade machine and would prefer arcade LCD screen inside. He's just retarded! Or who had never seen a real arcade machine.
 Unless you're running games on HD.

Nice cab... I'M SO ANGRY I NEED TO GET ON MY :soapbox: AND RANT... and then caveat when it's okay

  :applaud: slowclap.

 :laugh2:


Hhhhhhh you are so funny...  :laugh2:
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: elkameleon on February 03, 2012, 12:02:39 pm
(http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr68/josefrigginreyes/HHNNNGG-1.jpg?t=1258865046)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: jackiabu on February 03, 2012, 12:22:27 pm
(http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr68/josefrigginreyes/HHNNNGG-1.jpg?t=1258865046)


Careful not to choke ... I know someone who died from it!
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: dekar24k on February 04, 2012, 02:48:45 am
Nice cabinet and great artwork theme. Can I ask what fonts you used?

Thanks! I used a font called 'Grobold'. You can find it here: http://www.dafont.com/grobold.font (http://www.dafont.com/grobold.font)
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: AceRockolla on February 06, 2012, 12:34:37 am
Great looking project/cab! Love the art work and all the fine detail work.

I am currently restoring an old gutted konami 4p x-men cab into a MAME machine and have found a guy selling the monitor you used locally for $250. Seems like a pretty good deal if the thing works. I have an arcade vga 3000 so wanted to hear your thoughts/experience on using that card/monitor combination. Does it work pretty well? It looks like I would need to download Andy's multisync utility to ensure things worked the best. My alternative monitor until I found a suitable CRT is a 28" 16x10 LCD monitor but I think I would be happier in the long run with a more authentic viewing experience. Thanks for any advice  ;D
Title: Re: "The Saloon" Arcade - Upright arcade cab project - [Updated 02/01/12] - COMPLETE
Post by: dekar24k on April 03, 2012, 06:10:35 am
Great looking project/cab! Love the art work and all the fine detail work.

I am currently restoring an old gutted konami 4p x-men cab into a MAME machine and have found a guy selling the monitor you used locally for $250. Seems like a pretty good deal if the thing works. I have an arcade vga 3000 so wanted to hear your thoughts/experience on using that card/monitor combination. Does it work pretty well? It looks like I would need to download Andy's multisync utility to ensure things worked the best. My alternative monitor until I found a suitable CRT is a 28" 16x10 LCD monitor but I think I would be happier in the long run with a more authentic viewing experience. Thanks for any advice  ;D

It's a good monitor. Obviously, since it's not digital, you will have to compromise a bit, either adjusting it each time you switch resolutions or find a "sweet spot" where you don't have to adjust it (which usually means that you will have to settle for a smaller playing field). I'd trade it in for a WG D9800 in a second, but it's definitely good for being analog. The colors are vibrant and the geometry is flawless (at least on mine).

I definitely recommend it over a TV or LCD monitor. :)