Author Topic: GamesMaster Bartop - Nearly finished! New pics (Read 13009 times)

jameth · « **on:** July 09, 2011, 08:03:56 pm »

Hello all!

Here are a few Sketchup and initial construction images of my bartop - any feedback is very welcome! Despite planning it for months a lot of the finer details are still up in the air! I'm using a 20.1" Dell 2001FP LCD monitor, mounted at quite a steep angle because it'll mostly be used on our coffee table, and also I want to able to sit back on the couch and use it with original nes/snes/megadrive/n64 gamepads (kind of defeating the point of an arcade machine I know, but I wanna!).

I'd originally planned on having a slide-out drawer underneath the control panel to accommodate the various gamepads, but I could foresee issues with cable management. I've now decided to have all of the USB adapter ports underneath the CP, and I'll keep the gamepads in a separate container (maybe a drawer underneath the coffee table)

I really like the idea of having a theme - it doesn't seem to have been done before (please let me know if I'm wrong). I would love to do the show justice with some decent artwork (the marquee in the first image is just a quick mockup)

jameth · « **Reply #1 on:** July 09, 2011, 08:17:28 pm »

And some more images...

BobA · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2011, 09:11:28 pm »

Looks like a really good start. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

empardopo · « **Reply #3 on:** July 10, 2011, 05:16:49 am »

Good project!

By the way, what stick are you using?

Greetings!

Termin8tor · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2011, 06:37:18 am »

Good Start, I like the Games Master theme not sure on the Patrick Moore aspect of the marquee. I'd stick to the logo only for the marquee. Good call on the game pads I also chose to use game pads for the emu's much better playing console games with the proper pads. Keep the updates coming.

jameth · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2011, 01:49:55 pm »

Thanks a lot guys!

I'm using a Mag-Stik Plus that I bought from Ultimarc, it feels like a really well made product and I love the top switching mechanism. Hopefully I won't be bothered by the short throw and slightly 'square' 8-way movement that others have mentioned. I bought the long length ball top handle too at the same time - having said that I'm not sure if it is the longer version though as it's still a fraction shorter than the bat-top currently fitted.

Termin8tor - I fully agree with removing Patrick Moore from the marquee, I think having the logo larger and centered looks much better. Maybe I can work him into the Hyperspin front end in some way. I've attached another mockup - very blurry because it's a screen grab of a youtube video

. Building a high res version will take some work but thankfully the early issues of GamesMaster magazine used the same font as the tv series so I've got the outlines that I can work from.

jameth · « **Reply #6 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:33:33 pm »

These are the controllers and usb adapters I'll be using. I got all of the adapters from eBay with the exception of the megadrive one which I bought from RetroZone.

Hopefully I will be able to mount the adapter ports into the front of the CP so that they can stay permanently connected to the motherboard. Fingers crossed this will stop the windows assigned controller ID's swapping around each time I start up

jameth · « **Reply #7 on:** July 10, 2011, 07:23:16 pm »

I got the speakers inserted earlier today, but not secured in place. I'm using Logitech V10 speakers, love the sound quality yet they were gathering dust so were ideal for this project. Before wrapping the speaker cloth around them I stuck black electrical tape around the edges to stop the silver bits showing through

comicsans · « **Reply #8 on:** July 11, 2011, 04:12:22 am »

Epic! i remember this on in the uk man i miss those days

jameth · « **Reply #9 on:** July 11, 2011, 11:23:39 am »

Haha yeah I have very fond memories of those days too, where devoid of the internet we depended on these sorts of tv shows to see games and hardware in action. I even enjoyed Bad Influence, god help my soul.

Knightlore · « **Reply #10 on:** July 11, 2011, 05:19:23 pm »

Fellow ex-games master fan here, will be watching this.

When you've completed let me know if you wanna sell a kit version

lettuce · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2011, 05:44:29 pm »

Great Memories of GamesMaster.........

jameth · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2011, 06:57:37 pm »

I'm afraid I'm not making much progress at the moment, life's getting in the way! And my girlfriend's 30th birthday party is coming up this weekend so that'll be even more time WASTED lol. I did manage to find an hour this eve to paint my glass monitor bezel. I used masking tape and two thin coats of black spray paint. I'm very pleased with the results, although I have concerns about the paint scratching off the back during assembly/maintenance

jameth · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2011, 06:19:28 pm »

Glass bezel and speakers fitted into place. Everything is a little dusty at the moment.

jameth · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2011, 06:49:28 pm »

The way I've attached the speakers is a tad unorthodox - it was partly due to their awkward shape and that I wanted them to stand proud by only a couple of mm, and partly because I couldnt be bothered with any more planning at that particular point in time (always a mistake). The holes that I'd cut for them were a close fit already so with the speaker cloth they are a nice tight fit. I stapled the speaker cloth to the inside of the wood surrounding each hole, then also added (metallic!) masking tape for good measure

The wood brace on top should stop the speakers getting poked into the cabinet. I then cut a small hole for the USB cable. OK this was all super-convoluted and not my best day, but I'm happy with what's visible from the outside. I also whacked in the marquee light (two LED strips) that I may have to reposition if the lighting is uneven.

jameth · « **Reply #15 on:** July 22, 2011, 07:05:00 pm »

Next was getting the back panel sorted so I screwed a length of wood into each side panel. I then cut some MDF to size and attached it. It had to be made up of two pieces as most of the wood I'm using is recovered and supplies are getting low! I'll be painting the back panels and top lid black , but I'll probably hold off on that until after I've cut holes for the fans and power inlet socket

jameth · « **Reply #16 on:** August 14, 2011, 07:08:32 pm »

Mounting the first of two 120mm case fans - this one will sit at the top of the cabinet and vent hot air outwards

Fan guard attached

Here's the top fan/panel screwed into place, and also I've now mounted the PSU to the side of case.
I spent some time debating where to attach the psu and in what orientation. I settled on the current setup as the heat exhaust is pointing upwards and the kettle lead switch/socket is easily accessible. The PSU's air intake fan is also nicely positioned as I'm going to have a second case fan centred on the back of the cabinet, pulling in cold air from outside. I had to mount it a couple of inches off the 'floor' to allow some space for the large bundle of cables

After making all my cuts for the fans (and the power socket) I took everything apart and spray painted the panels matt black. Here they are re-assembled and ready to fit

jameth · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2011, 07:06:27 am »

I got some work done on my retro ports panel on Saturday. It's going to fit into the front piece of wood underneath the control panel, possibly hidden by some sort of flap/cover. I'm trying to keep the panel reasonably easy to remove in case I want to add additional ports in the future. Right now its got 1x NES, 2x SNES, 2x N64, 1x Gamecube, 1x Megadrive and a USB port for good measure

A GC/PS2/Xbox USB 3 in 1 "Magic Joy Box adapter" with the outer casing removed.

SNES adapter

N64 adapter

I de-soldered each of the ports (making a note of what goes where), then soldered wires on to each pin. I quickly learnt that the heat of the soldering iron can soften/melt the plastic and the pins will move if you let this happen. As a safety measure I kept a controller plugged in to each port to keep the pins in line

Making use of new favourite toy - my hot glue gun (all of my future projects will be built entirely out of hot glue)

All ports ready to be fitted

Starting to come together! I'm going to get all the cuts done, spray paint and then hot glue everything in place

Martijn · « **Reply #18 on:** August 15, 2011, 11:07:12 am »

God i love sexy i/o panels

how will you make the exact gap for each socket? My guess is router out a large piece, then dremmel the rest and hope the bezel will cover any mistake?

I see the nes plugg doenst have a bezel around it. good luck wit that one

jameth · « **Reply #19 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:07:18 pm »

Thanks Martijn! I'm not very experienced with my router yet so I drilled some small holes in each corner and attacked it with a jigsaw! I've brushed some glue/water mix into the exposed edges of the MDF and once its had time to dry I'll neaten up the edges with a small file. But yeah I'm not looking forward to fitting the NES and megadrive sockets! It's either going to involve a lot of wood filler or maybe I can make some sort of makeshift bezel out of a thin piece of plastic or rubber. Anyway, here's a pic as it stands:

Martijn · « **Reply #20 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:17:28 pm »

Hmmm i have been looking at it for some time.

if i would do it here some options, my guess you will be paintint the cabinet

- remove the 7 holed plug from the nes plug, make a hole big enough for the 7 holed socket, paint that hole black. inset the nes part through it, cut out some bezel same lengt as the nes plug sticking through the wood and glue that to the wood and nes plug inside, make sure you keep enough space to connect the controller. This way it will stick out a log, most beautifull it will be if all connectors will stick out same lengt.

but the best option is still , place nes plug on wood, follow its exact shape and drill most part out, then by hand remove a hair of mdf and keep trying till it first perfect

Good luck

jameth · « **Reply #21 on:** August 16, 2011, 04:51:56 pm »

Thanks for the suggestions, its definitely got me thinking - I reckon I'll end up doing something along the lines of your first option (I've already failed at option 2

) . Yeah most of the connectors with bezels stick out about 2 or 3 mm, so I think I'll try to match that with the NES socket rather than making it flush

jameth · « **Reply #22 on:** August 27, 2011, 06:56:09 pm »

All retro port holes on the I/O panel are now cut and sanded down. The awkward NES and MegaDrive ports have been fitted before I start painting (so that I could use filler around any gaps). I have masked off the sticky-out part of the megadrive port and just the top face of the NES port.

I routed a recess in this length of wood to accommodate the i/o panel

The length of wood containing the I/O panel will be re-attached to the cabinet as the front wall of the control panel

Lower of the two back panels fitted

Rest of computer installed including motherboard and hard drive

jameth · « **Reply #23 on:** August 28, 2011, 07:49:55 pm »

I finally got my i/o panel painted and assembled today! All that's left to do on this section is soldering each port's wires to their respective usb circuit boards. Here are a few pics; please excuse the mess!

I'm pleased with the overall finish - if you examine it up close there are flaws but it looks fine from a small distance. I won't post a picture of the back because it is an embarassing mountain of hot glue! This is because I had concerns that when connecting a controller, the N64 and NES ports could get pushed into the cabinet due to their lack of a front bezel. I used the hot glue to beef up the support at the back as much as possible.

BobA · « **Reply #24 on:** August 28, 2011, 07:52:37 pm »

Looks good. Thank god for hot glue and duct tape.

mgb · « **Reply #25 on:** August 28, 2011, 09:03:41 pm »

this projects looking good. nice work on the ports panel.

Martijn · « **Reply #26 on:** August 29, 2011, 10:29:08 am »

Great job on the panel, all connectors look great, in line and not crooked. Also nice idea to have the panel a bit inside so its kind of flush. Did you paint half the com port connector? then also do outside of the tip, leave the inside chroom.

You should test the hotglue power, because if you (or more important someone else) push it in a drunken pirate if should not break.

I always use some super glue instant tack. it fills and after a few hours already strong (if you fill big holes) and rockhard in a few days depending on the used amount

jameth · « **Reply #27 on:** August 30, 2011, 07:09:49 am »

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I have to confess the NES port is a bit out of line, but not so much that I'll lose sleep over it.

Martijn thanks for the good advice, you're right about the com port connector - it would look a lot better if it was all black like the rest of the ports. I originally thought it would be better to keep the painted area set back a little so that there was no chance of it getting scraped off, but really the controller should never touch the outside of the com port. I've added it to my (growing) list of paint touch-ups!

Yesterday was a bank holiday here in the UK so I took advantage of the extra free time to get the i/o panel soldered and mounted in place. I also fitted the t-molding which went on quite nicely. It was also a significant moment for me as I moved the big lump out of my diy room and into the living area - much to my girlfriend's disgust

emphatic · « **Reply #28 on:** August 30, 2011, 02:48:00 pm »

Such a lovely panel.

bandit721 · « **Reply #29 on:** September 02, 2011, 05:45:21 pm »

Awesome job jameth! I was thinking about doing a similar panel for my upcoming project and you've given me much inspiration with how yours came out. Looking forward to hearing how those USB adapters play with the OEM controllers in an upcoming post

jameth · « **Reply #30 on:** January 06, 2012, 11:35:54 am »

Bandit721 and Emphatic - thank you for your kind comments! Sorry for the lack of a reply/update; this project stalled badly when it came to me creating the artwork! But its a new year and I decided I had to get my act together - this is what I’ve sent for printing:

Yeah its not as GamesMaster-y as it could have been but I like it! I’m using GameOnGrafix for printing, so far I’m impressed with the online ordering/upload system. Now I’m just hoping it doesn’t take too long to arrive and praying that it fits! I really can’t wait to get on to the final stages of assembly - I’ve been staring at it for so long in its half complete form it’ll be awesome to see it with joystick and buttons attached! Not quite as excited about all the software configuration I’ll have to do at some point!

jameth · « **Reply #31 on:** January 31, 2012, 05:08:23 pm »

Nearly finished! The artwork finally arrived (it got stuck in customs) and looks fantastic, GameOnGrafix did an excellent job - can't fault it all! I installed it this weekend and wired up the buttons last night, everything's coming together really quickly now! Here's a few quick pics..

Green Giant · « **Reply #32 on:** January 31, 2012, 05:45:23 pm »

That thing looks great.

I think I will take 2 of those port panels. Let me know when they are ready to ship.

mgb · « **Reply #33 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:24:08 pm »

Looking Good!!!

jameth · « **Reply #34 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:38:26 pm »

Thanks! Haha I don't see myself attempting that panel again, I'd have to charge a small fortune to cover the time it takes!

404 · « **Reply #35 on:** January 31, 2012, 08:47:36 pm »

Looks great. As Green Giant said, I'll take one too. The whole bartop that is.

emphatic · « **Reply #36 on:** February 01, 2012, 01:51:47 am »

Very nice. Have you considered adding some kind of dust shield/door in front of the front panel?

nordemoniac · « **Reply #37 on:** February 01, 2012, 04:33:51 am »

NICE!

I have been thinking to do the same as you did with the N64 and SNES adapters. I bought both of these + a couple of fake N64 and fake SNES controllers as well. All tested and working!

One question; As I know that the N64 input is rather hard to plug/unplug (or maybe it's just the fake controllers) you must really make sure it sits tight.
~~How did you fasten the connectors? Can you post a pic on the backside of the I/O panel?~~
Edit:
Saw it:

Quote

I won't post a picture of the back because it is an embarassing mountain of hot glue!

You could maybe create a steel bracket pushing the N64 brackets towards the front, as they only have a rear bezel.
Maybe some clamps on the SNES ones which are mounted from the front?

Also, a tip on the harddrive: You might want to flip it around. It has venting holes on the top. "Do not cover these holes". It's better for it to have these facing up, and also you will protect the chips.

firedance · « **Reply #38 on:** February 01, 2012, 12:14:14 pm »

great work on the bartop, good idea on all the joypad ports

jameth · « **Reply #39 on:** February 02, 2012, 02:28:03 pm »

Thanks a lot guys! I'm really pleased with this thing, its been a long slog getting to this stage but now its built fingers crossed it'll last many many years. There's still some work to be done - right now the control panel isn't fixed in place, its just wedged in between the side panels. I don't really have the option of putting a hinge in there (everything's too tightly packed underneath so it has to be lowered in vertically!) but I was imagining having two long bolts (or something) underneath that you could unscrew by hand - has anyone done anything similar or have any ideas of how I could go about this?

emphatic: I did think about a ports dust cover but reckoned I'd keep it simple and just hoover it more often! However if I was doing it again I'd definitely want to find a way of hiding them out of sight completely, partly for the dust and also just so it looks more like an arcade machine and less like a multi-emulation monster! I wouldn't want visible hinges or seams in case it started it to look like a letterbox, maybe there'd be a way of hinging that whole front panel..

nordemoniac: yeah the N64 ports were one of the most difficult to fit - I made sure the holes I cut for them were going to be a tight fit, put a little glue on the side of the ports (not too near the front) as I pushed them in, and finally covered the back of it in mountains of hot glue! The steel bracket is a very good idea and I imagine it would hold up a lot longer than my hot glue will! I just tried my official controllers and they're a little stiff to push in, but they go in fine and feel 'right'...perhaps the fake ones are worse, any way you can try out an official one? or i guess it could be the adapter - If it helps, this is the one I bought: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350371803552#ht_2794wt_1270


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