Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: blastAgain on September 30, 2010, 12:55:28 pm
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Hi! This is my first post! This place is Great site! :applaud:
Recently I'm doing small cabinet project.
Also this is my first whole arcade cabinet project using wood work.
I made ROBOTRON cabinet.
But there is one twist. The cabinet is one third the size of the actual one.
Monitor is 7inch and everything is tiny.
Inside based on Gamecube and Midway Arcade Treasures Vol.1.
If you are interested Please check the youtube video.
intro
My Robotron Upright (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_5QCaLaVHs#)
brief making photos
Inside Mini ROBOTRON UPRIGHT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epC5GqZ9ACM#)
Right now I'm making Multi Williams (and ATARI ;D) control panel.
http://twitpic.com/2t3i3u (http://twitpic.com/2t3i3u)
I will post the progress.
Thank you!
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Very impressive!
Love those tiny joysticks, how did you make those?
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Very nice.
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Oh WOW I love it! :applaud:
Nicely done! My favourite game, miniaturized!
Impressive that you used a Gamecube for driving the games. Was this a cost choice, or primarily for the size?
Very impressive!
Love those tiny joysticks, how did you make those?
+1
I too am interested in how you made those tiny joysticks. :)
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Looks great.
I give that game less than an hour to survive. Robotron has to be one of the hardest games on the controllers.
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leapinlew,javeryh, jimmy2x2x , opt2not
Thank you for the interest!
Actual small arcade is a rough than the video ;), but I got much fun working with it!
to jimmy2x2x, opt2not
Miniature Joystick is hand made. Actually it is a cap for gamecube joypad.
Red balls I bought from craft shop (assorted red beads which I selected
only sphere beads others I gave to my daughter ;D), and the shaft is 4mm diameter aluminum pipe.
Made a hole(around 5mm deep) to the beads and fixed with glue.
For the gamecube choice,
Yes, it is cost choice and also because I had one :P, and normally I use Wii for cube games,
so I can dedicate it to this project.
It is modified to run US games, and got Midway arcade from import shop.
Right now the used gamecubes are very cheap(around 15dollars here in tokyo), so if someone interested
can try easily.
The size is decided from the LCD monitor( 7inch ) I bought from shop around 20dollars.
The quality is not so spectacular, but the lcd is TFT, so quick enough and no blurs.
Just before this, I made 5inch screen (from same shop but it was junk STNT around 3dollars!!)
test version with cardboard but the quality was very bad :-[.
But I got many insight making cardboard version, so it was really nice!
By the way it is off topic, today is the opening of the PAC-MAN exhibition in tokyo( sorry only japanese )
http://pacman.com/ja/exhibition/index.html (http://pacman.com/ja/exhibition/index.html)
They show the 1-sixth mockup used deciding actual upright design at that time.
Please enjoy the photo!
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Love it!
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Thanks for the info, blastAgain!
I can't stop staring at the youtube video, but it's blurry.
You should post some nice photos of your cabinet for me to drool over! :)
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(a little off topic alert!)
I had a party with my miniROBOTRON at my friend's workshop :D
games: Major Havoc, Millipede, Stargate, Pinball2000, miniROBOTRON
Enjoyed a LOT!
Sorry for slow update :notworthy:
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Miniature Joystick is hand made. Actually it is a cap for gamecube joypad.
Red balls I bought from craft shop (assorted red beads which I selected
only sphere beads others I gave to my daughter ;D), and the shaft is 4mm diameter aluminum pipe.
Made a hole(around 5mm deep) to the beads and fixed with glue.
What is the actual controller that you glued the stick and bead to?
Encryptor
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Hi! Encryptor!
I disassembled the normal GAMECUBE controller.
I took off Left stick potentionmeter only, mounted on a small board, and extended the wires.
Also I took off Camera stick(yellow stick at bottom right) for Right stick and camera stick is already mounted
on a small board, so I just extended the cables to the board.
For the joystick, PS2 controller's potentionmeters can be also used. I used them for multi control panel.
Please see attached pictures.
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Thanks for the info. Very ingenious! Nice work.
Encryptor
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Hi!
I compiled some more photos.
I hope you have some fun!
START OF PART ONE
First is the artwork and wood details.
miniRobotron_wood.pdf
Now you can remake this cabinet! :D
Robotron_art.jpg
It is derived from the site
http://vectorlib.free.fr/ (http://vectorlib.free.fr/)
So I cant include actual illustrator file. Please make by yourself! ;)
In the LCD folder
The photos of Bezel.
7inch LCD is attached to the transparent acryl board with double sided tape,
and Bezel art is printed and pasted to the acryl.
On the back of the LCD sits video to LCD(maybe RGBHV 15khz) signal converter.
(sorry below is reference only because only japanese :notworthy:)
http://www.aitendo.co.jp/product/1382 (http://www.aitendo.co.jp/product/1382)
http://www.aitendo.co.jp/product/1166 (http://www.aitendo.co.jp/product/1166)
http://aitendo2.sakura.ne.jp/aitendo_data/product_img2/product_img/panel/LQ070A3AG01/LQ070A3AG01.pdf (http://aitendo2.sakura.ne.jp/aitendo_data/product_img2/product_img/panel/LQ070A3AG01/LQ070A3AG01.pdf)
In the marqee folder
I pasted printed marqee to white acryl(3mm), and cut small ditch with precision knife.( thanks to MDF!)
It is illuminated with white fluorescent light (15W).
END OF PART ONE
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START OF PART TWO
Backside folder
In the back, you see a box opening ( not in the actual ROBOTRON cab).
I planed and the thickness is not enough to put in gamecube, so I made it a little fat.
Still everything is too tight to fit in, I cut cable fixtures and also cut memory card and controller cable.
I put small speaker and headphone amp. Speaker is mounted with its magnetic power to the L shaped
steel parts. ;D
Back panel can be taken off easily.
Gamecube in Japan cannot run Midway Arcade Treasures Vol.1, so I made a switch to change region code.
http://www.superufo.com/review_html/Gamecube_Modification.html (http://www.superufo.com/review_html/Gamecube_Modification.html)
In the Front folder
You see the bezel, marqee, control panel dismantled and also you see the cutting of the memorycard.
The game can run without memory card, but it is needed to save highscores.
Current highscore is sub 690000points, very sad! :-\
END OF PART TWO
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FINAL PART THREE
In the controlpanel folder
I opend gamecube controller and wired Leftstick, Camerastick, joypad, start, A,B,X,Y,Z,L and R.
I didn't connect L an R potentiometer, because the game didn't use it.
I made a connector with pin header (arduino style ;)) and panel can be changed easily.
I made another control panel for playing the other games (Defender, Stargate, Blaster etc.)
You can chage as in the real arcade conversion kit.
It is needed because I made for ROBOTRON the movement is adjusted with silicone heat shrink tube
not to tilt the joystick too much. Also not much buttons are not on the front panel in ROBOTRON.
The panel has a trackball. I put the ball from the mouse which has trackball on top.
sort of like this and it is not same one, but the trackball unit itself maybe the same.
http://salestores.com/tapadumonomo.html (http://salestores.com/tapadumonomo.html)
I previously made trackball to XBOX360 joypad converter circuit, so I put the circuit to the panel.
The circuit is old ATARI VCS thing.
http://atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics/Schematic_2600_CX22_Low.html (http://atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics/Schematic_2600_CX22_Low.html)
I succeeded to make it work, but it is not good.
Only trackball game is MarbleMadness, and it supports joypad, but it is not speedy enough.
I'm not really sure it is the cause from circuit or not, maybe I need to make trackball to Leftstick
converter circuit.
You can see the test version. But it is terrible :dizzy:.
http://www.twitvid.com/N18DN (http://www.twitvid.com/N18DN)
Thats all for now!
I hope you have a patience to read all :laugh:
Thank you!
END OF FINAL PART THREE
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Amazing how you got all that stuff into such a small cabinet. :applaud: :applaud:
Your custom mini joysticks just make the cab look great. :notworthy: :notworthy:
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Hey there nice job man, welcome to the forum. It's nice to see there are folks from Japan beside me here. 岡崎に住んでいるよ。 :cheers: Hope to see more from you.
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Thank you, BobA!
The mini joystick seems to have a impact, many people mentions about it :D
A little difficulty is that it should rotate and not easily pull out.
Now it is not great, but it is almost good for people taking care.
Maybe better using sort of like wheel parts of LEGO or something.
Hi! Jigenjuke,
I',m glad you live in Okazaki Japan! :cheers: Have you been to Pacman exhibition?
I live in Tokyo, we may meet somewhere :laugh:
I'm glad to know there is Japanese forum veteran!
Cheers!
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Cool, the joysticks remind me of my Astro Vader game:
(http://bit.ly/aCf89F)
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Zorg, unfortunately, I am not sure where you could find such scans. Most of the puckman machines here in Japan were cocktail cabinets made for the coffee shops. Maybe you could con blastagain into going back the the 30th anniversary exibition and taking some high quality pics, you could vecter it from those.
Blast again, no I have not yet been to the show, I want to go but I rarely get to Tokyo. Nice trackball mod, where did you pull the track ball from? You might want to look into building you next mini arcade machine using a ITX PC. I have about 10 Via EPIA m10000s that I am going to be using for mini replica machines I will be building for a gallery show early next year. The prices have really come down here in Japan.
I took a look at the web site you posted about the monitors you are using. I am really looking for a cheap source for 7-8 inch monitors that can be plugged directly into the onboard d-sub 15 output from a motherboard. If you could direct me to someplace like that It would help. Any way I will let you know when we are going to be starting our build for next years gallery. I think that two of the replicas that I am going to be building are replica cocktail cabinets. I have not decided on the others. You are welcome to stop by. Give me a call anytime 080-6912-9201 アダムです 宜しく。
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Jigenjuke, actual model of the trackball is this(sorry in japanese)
http://www.murauchi.com/store/peri/sigma/sigma_gorone/index.html (http://www.murauchi.com/store/peri/sigma/sigma_gorone/index.html)
For the monitors, I only look at 4:3 aspect. It is getting less :cry:
If I found some good one (and cheap :D) I will post here.
Sadly Pacman exhibition finished last monday. It was reallhy good exhibition. I really enjoyed very much.
ITXPC, I thought outting in my laptop, but I always use my machine so I chose GAMECUBE.
I'm looking forward to playing on your gallery project!
My job is getting busy thesedays, so next major thing may be need some time.. ;)
I want to fix trackball though.
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Cool, the joysticks remind me of my Astro Vader game:
Blanka,
Cool! Super tiny joystick! It seems a little difficult to maneuver isn't it? ;)
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Heh heh, that track ball is pretty cool. I don't think that it would be so tough to fix, it may just take a little time.
The ITX motherboards are recently very cheap on the Japanese yahoo auction site. I have seen them for about 2700 yen with 512 megs of ram. That would be more than enough to make a micro mame machine. You might also be able to make that trackball work even better within windows. Just slap a micro PSU into the unit, plug it in and away you go!
Anyway, man you are welcome here anytime. I am a pretty busy guy as I teach at a Jr. High School here in Okazaki but weekends are mine as much as my family allows. ;D
Anyway keep up the good work and maybe the next project could be a steering wheel or even better mini starwars yoke controls. Check ya later.
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Hey there blastAgain!
I was thinking about other motherboards that might be good for your micro arcade machines and after looking around I came up with this.
http://www1.pcdepot.co.jp/webshop/commerce/CSfEcLastGenGoodsPage_001.jsp?GOODS_NO=46706&IMG_ROOT=/webshop (http://www1.pcdepot.co.jp/webshop/commerce/CSfEcLastGenGoodsPage_001.jsp?GOODS_NO=46706&IMG_ROOT=/webshop)
At 50 bucks US, you can't beat it. Slap in a cheap used Hard Drive and Memory which you can pick up pretty cheap in one of the Akihabara used shops and it would be a pretty kickin' little mini replica.
Hope to hear from ya soon with more updates on your projects.
Jigenjuke
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Hi!Jigenjuke!
Thank you for the info about ITX!
It looks great, and maybe I consider using it for my job too ;D
Now I'm sortof like playing mode, and do small adjustment to the controller :D
My current aiming points is 1 million!(now still 690thousand)
Now my miniROBOTRON is in the Steel CAGE, oh, no, in the manga shelf :D
I filled sponge between joystick rod and panel, then the averall feeling got much
better, a little heavy feeling.
I'm suprised the sponge is very sparse one, but changes feeling a lot,
so miniature world is very different than normal size world! ;D
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Heh heh, mo problem blastAgain. If you check out yahoo auction and do a search for "m10000" minus the quotation marks of course, you will find quite a few Via Epia motherboards in cases with PSU, HDD, Memory and even a few with 8 inch touch panel monitors for about 4,000 yen. I have six of these so far and plan to buy four more, so don't take them all ;D I still need to stock up for our gallery show early next year. These ITX boards are awsome, granted 1ghz C3 processor but they come with a horizantal PCI slot adapter so I modified the back of all the cases so that they would take old 64meg GeForce cards. They really kick as*.
On another note, the mini Robotron looks awsome. You did a great job, but you are missing something. You need to take your skills and make a mini replica coin door. The wood that they sell at the 100 yen shops here in Japan would be good enough and it would be cool. :cheers:
The next cabinet you should make is a mini replica marble madness with two trackballs like you posted earlier.
http://www.coinop.org/features/coinopmuseum/images/mmm.jpg (http://www.coinop.org/features/coinopmuseum/images/mmm.jpg)
That would be a blast to build.
Jijenjuke
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I didn't see how you modified the GameCube Joystick, but you might be able to use four small springs mounted underneath the control panel to make it feel even better.
Looks like you have a great workshop. What do you do for work?
Jigenjuke
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Hi! Jigenjuke,
m10000 sounds nice (and CHEAP!) but a little bit weak cpu C3 :-[
This time I will pass and you can get them all! ;)
Yeah, I want to do coin slot and make some small coins(forgely!! :laugh:).
I only have 1 working mini trackball, so it is a little difficult make 2player marblemadness ;D
I also think full size is better for that game because the athletic aspect is
the most attraction of that game.
And the workshop, my workshop is very very tiny, one-third of the size of the
4.5tatami room! So big project is very difficult and made 1/3
Robotron!! ;D
I normally work for exhibition. Sometimes make some system or work between artist, curator, spacedesigner and other people involved in the exhibition, and
make exhibition. Its a fun job. I love it. :laugh:
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just wanted to say kudos, blastAgain. Good job with that little cab! :applaud:
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That mini cabinet is awesome. Great, great work! One of my favorite games that I plan to add to my growing collection eventually. :-)
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small small announcement
I uploaded better quality play movie in Youtube.
miniROBOTRON PLAYTEST (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4gp82NGhEg#)
around 400000points! Oh my!
Also I opened blog, but only in japanese. Sorry!
http://paradise2086.seesaa.net/ (http://paradise2086.seesaa.net/)
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what a cool little machine. even tho my hands are way to big to enjoy such a cool item. thanks for sharing.
chris.
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hey BLAST,..are you lookin to sell it?... id buy it. :cheers:
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Wow. Just found this thread. I love this thing. Nice job!
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Thank you, THE POKER BRAT, Dervacumen,
POKER, now I don'ta have any plan to sell sorry! :laugh:
A little off topic, I translated my blog http://paradise2086.seesaa.net/ (http://paradise2086.seesaa.net/)
Now it is bilingual! ;D Please check! ;)
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Hi! ALL! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Another small small update!
This time, 2-year old son of my friend played my mini ROBOTRON!
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/122601-thumbnail2.png)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/122602-thumbnail2.png)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/122603-thumbnail2.png)
He looked really addicted too much, so I stopped him after this :laugh:
He may become next great ROBOTRON player!! ;D
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Small update,
Recently I bought 5inch(105mmx80mm screen) 15khz RGB Junk Tube monitor.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8449.JPG)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/5inchmon01.jpg)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/5inchmon_2.jpg)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/5inchmon_3.jpg)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8456.JPG)
This is really cool piece of junk ;), around 7dollars.
I bought 3, 2 are OK and 1 can not sync with clicking sound from tube :o
I decided to replace the 7inch LCD of the mini ROBOTRON with this monitor.
3 Robotrons (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t62dSNbrIy8#)
I made shelf for the monitor and fixed.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8447.JPG)
On the monitor is a Video>RGBS converter that is used for the previous LCD monitor.
After some tweeking to the monitor and converter side, end result is humiliatingly GOOD! >:D
not good pic though :'(
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8438.JPG)
Now I want to make cover and the result is below.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8457.JPG)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8459.JPG)
One additional thing,
I also want to run DEFENDER as well, so I changed CP with many buttons,
and run it.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8443.JPG)
With video,
mini ROBTRON's LCD replaced to Tube monitor and meets DEFENDER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tk3zc-0neQ#)
This video is not meant showing play, but I played DEFENDER with this setup and scored 60000, so I think it is small ;) but playable.
That's all, friends. :laugh: I hope you enjoy this report.
Thank you!
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Awesome work!!!
-Jason
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Thanks, jasonbar!
Today I made another small update for the miniROBOTRON multi CP.
My new STARWARS CAB!??? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_TOpOFxqK8#)
This time STARWARS!
I read the great thread http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=109842.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=109842.0)
and want to add my take for mini STARWARS cabinet. :D
The base system is the same GAMECUBE, software is based on emulation in ROGUE SQUADRON III: REVEl STRIKE.
Added bonus are Empire Strikes back and Jedi also can be played. ;)
I made cotrol panel for mini ROBOTRON.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8513.JPG)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8515.JPG)
The finish is very very rough, I must remake yoke grip. :notworthy:
I used emptied cube grips cut and glued 4 buttons(A B X Y).
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8516.JPG)
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8517.JPG)
I made cover for the yoke and fixed with belcro.
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8518.JPG)
Inside the yoke is volume for X axis and the shaft is the same as the control shaft.
Y axis is also same design potentiometer's shaft is the same shaft for moving.
As you noticed, this yoke Y axis is right grip only move design (blastAgain DESIGN :D ).
(http://paradise2086.up.seesaa.net/image/CIMG8519.JPG)
It sounds a little odd, but the play feel is good, and far better fun than using stick or mouse! ;D
The potentiometer range is very wide if used normally, so I made small opamp circuit to narrow it,
so only portion of the volume is used.
That's all for now, I hope you enjoy video and report.
Thank you!
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wow that's amazing! sugoi!
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Thank you, stevedevo!
Still I'm tweaking controller. :D The yoke spring is rubberband, so I used 2 rubberband to strengthen center spring. :D
I also want to clear 9th wave or more! (currently 7th wave trench) :'(