Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: jace055 on July 23, 2012, 02:31:27 am

Title: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on July 23, 2012, 02:31:27 am

Hello world!


I have been around these parts for over 8 years now and I have been building my cabinet for almost all of that time. I have taken a few breaks during that time and I have had a few set backs as well (cabinet survived 2 floods!) I'm now at a point in my life where I have the time, money and drive to finish.

This was taken after the big flood over 2 years ago.  Luckily I had the plastic shelving under the cabinet with a plastic drop cloth to start painting.  It's the only thing that saved it.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/2603671f.jpg)

Here it is as of about 2 months ago.  I had just finished painting.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/a8ccec2d.jpg)

Now has come the time to finish the control panel.  As you can see, I did a "mock up" of the panel about 8 years ago to see if I liked the layout.  After YEARS of intense testing, this is the layout.  Now it's time to finish everything.  

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/2d5fd82f.jpg)

Side note.... Don't EVER get the cabinet playable before its ready.

I am converting all of the existing controls over to full RGB controllable lighting including the joysticks.  I also have to recut the top in 3/4" MDF vs the 1/2" it is now.

Here is a paradisearcadeshop.com RGB ball top mounted in a magstick plus base.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/5a5f93ab.jpg)

Here is a sample of the buttons I have ordered to decide from.  

Left to right

Hoku w/ IL illumination module; Hoku w/ Pele ring;Electric Ice 2

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/1349bd8a.jpg)

I'm waiting for the ClassicRGB from Ultimarc before I make a final decision.  I will post a comparison up once I'm done.

Here is a list of parts I'm using or will use that otherwise has not been covered.

Electric ICE trackball v1 with upgraded ball
Groovy Game Gear no-plate super high mounting kit
4 magstick plus sticks with RGB balltops and shafts
Betabrite message display for marquee
Mala frontend
Dual core Athlon processor and motherboard.
RCA 25" tv

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on July 24, 2012, 10:03:45 pm

About 80% done on the top today. I need to decide how I want to mount the trackball and route out the joystick mounts on the bottom to raise the ball top height.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/18c87440.jpg)

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: AGarv on July 25, 2012, 11:41:28 pm

Any more info on the betabrite?  Looks like an interesting multi-marquee...

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on July 26, 2012, 12:20:22 am

I picked 2 of them up on eBay about 5 or 6 years ago for 120 for the pair. Back then, there were numerous people using them in their cabs. I use Mala because of the wonderful plug in written by loadman to drive the display.

Hyperspin says they have support baked in to ver2.0 if it ever happens. It works in the current version with the help of some scrips but the display only runs the animation about every 10 seconds.

I have the serial version that's red/orange/yellow/green. It shows the current game playing and cycles through some built in animations like swipe and fade. The MUCH more expensive USB version has a few you tube videos if you search for betabrite arcade.

Anything else you want to know?

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: yotsuya on July 26, 2012, 12:27:52 am

I have a BetaBrite I'm going to build into a sign to serve as a high-score display, but I like your idea of using one as a marquee! Great idea!

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on July 26, 2012, 01:08:27 am

Here is a video I had on my phone of the display running with Hyperspin.  The lag between transitions was more than I could take.  unfortunately, I don't have any videos of it running Mala.  I will post one when I get things put back together in a week or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na3B9-vtsEw

I know the video is portrait but that is as far back as I could get at the time and still have the screen and display in the same frame.   

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on July 29, 2012, 01:10:30 am

I made a little more progress over the past 2 days. I'm spending 3 or 4 hours a day on this to get it finished. I have the last of the single RGB buttons in the mail for review before I plop a huge chunk of change for all 34 of them. I will also be ordering an led controller in the next day of so.

I have decided to use a groovy game gear high mount for the trackball. I own 3 of these mount because they were cheap and I couldn't decide on the color I wanted. I did a practice mount one a spare panel before I attempted this on the panel shown. It was super easy and the instructions included were laid out perfect. I think this was easier to mount then the traditional plate types and if I change my mind later, I can always use the plate. It will cover up all of the holes I made with this mount.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/bce2d3fc.jpg)

I was having problems getting the radius of the control panel correct with a pencil tied to a piece of string so I came up with a better solution. This is a dowel rod I had laying around secured with screws into the scrap part of the panel then bent to the outer diameter of the arc.

The time between the first and second pictures was almost an hour trying to get that  :censored: arc right with string and a pencil. (One handed, nighttime, blurry, phone pic)

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/d5134738.jpg)

Here is what the panel looked like after all of the cuts were made, the t-nuts installed and the trackball set to check for alignment.  I put the blue ring on just for show.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/6a154f5d.jpg)

Right now I'm waiting for the laminate to "relax" a little.  It has been coiled up in a box for about 4 years. I need for it to lay flat before I glue it down.  I'm not going to use plexiglas or artwork for the top just black laminate. I found when the panel was being "tested" for all those years, my friends and I were real hard of the surface.  There were cigarette burns and moisture rings from glasses and bottles set on the panel.

Title: Re: UAII cabinet (Now converting CP to full RGB lighting)
Post by: jace055 on August 10, 2012, 10:52:21 pm

I put the laminate down and trimmed it up.  I ordered the wrong t molding so now I'm at a standstill until I get the replacement in.

(http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/Jace055/186e4180.jpg)

I also made a video of the betabrite with mala to show how it should look.  To be honest, my power supply went out in the PC but the data was still loaded in the memory of the betabrite when I turned it on so I made a quick video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpV3d6g9gOY&sns=em