Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: menace on December 14, 2013, 07:34:15 am
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I recently picked up 2 cabinets with plans on mameing them (do people still say mameing..). the first on the chopping block was a lethal enforcers cabinet with screen issues, no control panel and untested guns. The cabinet was solid but holy crap was it heavy--I could almost feel my stainless steel stitches from the last hernia operation popping :o
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131107_081525_zpse8fa0f78.jpg)
I pulled the monitor, recapped it and sold it as I really wanted to go LCD on this one.
I stripped off the 90's artwork that really was pretty craptastic and then shaved the back 8.5" off the cabinet to reduce the weight, making it easier to manhandle and slim it up a bit. I think it came out pretty decent..
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131118_121831_zps2becec01.jpg)
The guy who plans on buying it requested a trackball layout so you can see my roughed in control panel and the mounted 26" widescreen lcd here:
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131117_164508_zps1a7f6755.jpg)
The lcd was mounted using its built in VESA mounts and a 3/4" thick piece that was cut off from the sides of the cabinet--gotta love recycling. that board was then secured with #12 3/4" screws into the side of the cabinet. Ironically any of the wiggly movement comes from the tv's mounts and not mine but its not going anywhere...
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Next up was some body work--had to fill in all those holes! I used hardwood dowels to plug the holes, glued them in and then sanded them down. Any minor imperfections were mudded over with drywall compound--This worked very well to fill fine scratches since it could be sanded away with low grit paper in very small increments--there were still a few imperfections but after 5 coats of paint they aren't that obvious..
I bought a new coin door miraculously of off kijiji--I got lucky on that one as I couldn't find anything in the local community.
I made a new backdoor from some left over ikea material and the cabinet was complete...
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I don't have many progress pics but here is a finished shot:
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/DSCN4262_zps233532bb.jpg)
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/DSCN4265_zps1c269c36.jpg)
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/DSCN4266_zps7eed1612.jpg)
And finally if you can't play TMNT on it then what good is it??
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131213_162439_zps9f1cceb2.jpg)
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Oh before I forget...
The plexi I had was a smoked 27" wide piece that was the exact right size but had a MASSIVE scratch through the middle. (wish I had a picture of that..) Figuring what the heck have I got to loose, I started with some wet 400 grit and sanded it down, then went to a wet 600 and got it down further--then used a Novus #2 to polish and to my unending joy, the scratch was gone! I was so proud of myself... :cheers: Its a shame the wife can't appreciate the fine art of arcade building...but she did let me do the whole project in the front room which shocked the he** out of me :o
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131214_075140_zpsd3197de6.jpg)
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This was my first attempt with MALA as well (being a diehard mamewah user) but other than a few hiccups on the layout (like how to do it) I think it turned out really well. I bought a 1 year subscription to emumovies to get all the artwork/vids etc. and having the video thumbnail really makes it pop!
In case I forget later (like 10 years from now) all the emumovies come as mp4's which MALA doesn't like. I renamed them all through the DOS console to .avi (rename *.mp4 *.avi), installed the community codecs pack and they showed up just fine after that.
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131214_075810_zps5c165957.jpg)
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One of the requests the guy had was can we make it so his kids can't turn it one whenever they want since it was going into a bedroom. I came up with what I thought was a very elegant solution: I put the start button (yellow) inside the coin door and installed new locks front and back--now no key, no game. The yellow button turns on the pc which, through a relay then kicks in 120V to a power bar that everything else is plugged into--the TV doesn't have an auto power on, so its controls were extended to the coin door as well.
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131214_075632_zps79ddace4.jpg)
The speakers are the original cabinet speakers--the box you see in there is just a convenient way to hold the small amp, volume and on/off controls--again another request. I also added a USB dongle in there for plugging in a keyboard or mouse for admin stuff should it be needed later.
I also love using the coin rejects as coin in buttons so they were altered to hold the microswitches:
(http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/menace6983/20131214_075647_zps9c3746f5.jpg)
My first messup though was plugging in the lightbulbs to the pc power supply (12VDC) turns out a 555 bulb is only rated for 6.3 VDC :P they were really bright for the short time they ran ;D
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I like the artwork :applaud: I got mine from the same guy
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looks pretty good, needs side art or something to break up all that red. Maybe a black diamond plate kickplate ?
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Nice job restoring that cabinet. I just picked up the same cabinet (Area 51 was the game though) and you're not kidding about it being heavy! Crazy heavy!
Mines really damaged though, so its probably going to be a scrapper. I wanted the parts more than the cabinet.
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Very nicely done. Control panel looks great.
Those big furniture sliders have to go though. You can get smaller round ones that wont stick out.