Supercade inspired MAME cabinet

[Torc]

(changed subject to make this my project thread)

I've been doing a lot of thinking bout putting the trackball on the lower level and I think i've come up with a solution.

I was inspired by the Supercade design and I modeled mine after it as well.  My CP is HUMUNGOUS, its 48" across and 17" deep.

I also constructed the cabinet in a way so It is bolted together with allen bolts. It added around 50 bucks to the total cost of constructing the cabinet, but I'll be able to totally disassemble it down to individual panels so I can put it anywhere.

aside from the grossly oversized CP, whacha think?

[ChicagoDave]

It seems like a clever idea that might actually work.

 

[Lutus]

Is that ramp for the trackball? 

Or is the control panel so big that building code required you to make it handicap accessible!!!     

I hope that wasn't in bad taste.

[MustardTent]

I think it's an excellent idea.  I really like the 1UP-style CPs, and it looks like you found a way to make the trackball usable.

Excellent start.   

[Torc]

Thanks for the constructive compliments. Lutus, i opt out on this one. 

[theCoder]

Are you planning on using T-Molding on your project?  I noticed you have not routed slots yet?

Cool layout.

[Lutus]

 

no, seriously, is the ramp for the trackball?

If so that is very cool.  The only other control panel I have ever seen (and played) where the trackball was that slanted was a game called "Wacko"

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=W&game_id=10390

I bring it up to tell you that playing a trackball at that much of a slant was actually not that bad, and a slant upward rather than to the side would actually work out quite well.

How's that for constructive.   

[Torc]

Yes the ramp is for the trackball. I'll be able to fling my trackball as hard as i can without any fear of jamming my fingers on the step to the top level.

Yes I'm going to be using t molding. I have the routing bit but I've opted not to do it till I actually purchase the T molding and am ready to start finishing the cabinet. Routing the slots will weaken the MDF and the fact that I have a lot of work to do on the cabinet still i'm lowering my chances of breaking/chipping the edges.

The cabinet construction is obviously far from complete, and the bottom top and ramp sections aren't even attached together yet. I just ordered the buttons and sticks. I still need to order the spinner/trackball.

My only concern about the ramp is that I'll be knocking my fingers with the sticks that are close to it on either side (i'll be adding an additional stick for the 1p 2p positions for SmashTV/Total Carnage.

[Lutus]

Which keyboard encoder, trackball, and spinner are you planning on ordering?

[Torc]

I am going to order the happ 3" trackball, possibly the highball. I haven't decided yet.
I'm going to give the groovygamegear spinner a try.

I ordered 5 happ supers and 1 happ 49 way directly from happ

from groovygamegear I ordered the following:
1 x 49-way Joystick Centering Grommet Upgrade
1 x Control Panel Clamp Set
1 x 49-Way Joystick Cable for GP-Wiz49 Eco "No-Solder"
1 x GP-Wiz MAX 32 Input USB Controls Interface 
1 x GP-Wiz49 Eco 49-Way Joystick USB Interface  - Connection Method: No-Solder Version

Any suggestions on where I should purchase the wiring, fittings, zip ties and heat shrink tubing?

[Lutus]

As far as wiring goes, you will need quite a bit for that large of a control panel. 

By fittings I am assuming you mean the female quick-disconnects. 

All of these can be found at most hardware stores.  The money you would save over the internet probably would come back up in the shipping.  (I am also impatient)


I assume you already know that with the Turbo Twist spinner (which I also have) you can hook up a trackball to it.  (I have the 3" highball happs as well)  This combo (trackball hooked to spinner) will run into one USB input into the computer. 

Also with the spinner, you can have a couple buttons.  Doing this you could use the trackball as the mouse and the buttons as the left and right click.  (You do have the control panel room.   )

[bishmasterb]

torc,

Aesthetically, I think that's an excellent solution to the 2 tier trackball problem (I wasn't even aware there was a "2 tier trackball problem" until I saw your solution to it!).

It'll be interesting to see how well it feels with the upward slant, but it seems like it may not be that big of a deal.

[Torc]

From what i've gathered, the fatal flaw with the 2 tier design with a TB on the lower lvl is that you cant zing the trackball forward in a long sweeping motion, a popular motion for many types of games. so popular in fact, that losing the ability to do this makes the original 2 tier design unfeasable.

The ramp seems to eliminate this issue provided the slope does not cause any serious side effects to gameplay. I can't think of any offhand, in fact i think it will be a very comfortable playing position. I'll post more pictures as I progress.

On a side note, I've been doing some research into alternatives to laminates and one i've come up with is using a material similar to Rhino Liner on the non playing surfaces. I may give it a shot just to see how it comes out. You can get it in textured or smooth finish, It is waterproof and extremely durable, and comes in a variety of colors. one site i've come across that carries it is http://www.durabakcompany.com/google-durabak.htm
I may buy a gallon and see how it comes out. again, i'll post some updates as I progress.

[NightGod]

I have a very similar layout to what you have (I have a few more buttons, since I want to do console emulation). Almost finished wiring things up now, when all is said and done, it will have about 300 feet of wire in it. You'll also likely want more than one panel clamp to hold it all together. I started out with one and added two more because it tended to lift a bit on the corners.

I ordered everything except trackball and spinner from Divemaster here on the boards-it's nice having a one-stop shopping solution and being able to avoid the insane Happ shipping charges. I got a wiring kit from him (same one Ultimark sells), but, honestly, in retrospect I wouldn't do it again-the connectors are of the .250 variety and Happs parts use .187. That said, he does sell the connectors in packs of 100 for $10 and those are the .187 size. Get two boxes, you'll end up using just about all of them. Heatshrink is pointless-if you do even a half-assed job of crimping there won't be any exposed wiring, anyway.

[Xiaou2]

 Nice idea.   

  Just a thought..    that if for any reason the trackball doesnt operate well at that angle..
You could just make that 2nd level extened so that it forms a "T" shape.   Thus the ramp part
where the trackball is, will instead be a flat box that is the same height  as the
2nd level section.   You could even use a circle as the boxes top, for a different look and no
corners to worry about.



 

[arzoo]

Torc,
A word of caution about the 49-way joystick. The throw on the 49 is longer than the supers and it will rub against the top edge of the cp assuming you use the standard 1-1/8" hole. Here's the thing, the 49 has a tapered sleeve around the top of the shaft - I'm not sure if it's hard plastic or metal, but the surface of my cp covered in Formica laminate cut into this sleeve. The resulting lip would catch on the plastic skirt (the disk that covers the hole). In my case, the solution was to use a 1/8" round-over router bit and re-route the edge of the laminate. Another solution would be to drill a larger hole for the 49.

By the way, your track ball solution looks good. Is there any way you can temporarily mount the tb and test it out to make sure that the slope doesn't bother your wrists?

[Torc]

Thanks for the tip on the 49 way stick. I can't do anything with it yet though because its backordered

I will finalize the layout and stick position for the other sticks in the meantime. I will just drill holes in the plywood and not permmantly mount or screw any of the boards together until i'm confortable with the layout. Worst case I have to cut a new lower lvl, which will take 2 hrs.

Once I get the trackball and some of the sticks and buttons mounted I will post pictures. I'm really looking forward to starting the next stage of the project.

[Torc]

I thought I'd add some updated pictures of this. I just cut the slots this evening and put in the T molding on the control panel to see how it looks. So far so good

I did a ton of work on the control panel from those inital pics I posted. It was mostly just pieces of wood lying on each other, its fairly complete now aside from being painted or laminated, I dunno what I'm doing yet.

[Torc]

more pics

[Timoe]

thats furgen awesome.  good job.

[Chris]

You know, if you could make that ramp a module, it would be perfect for a steering wheel module or even a Star Wars yoke...

[Bones]

That's pretty bloody impressive.

[Torc]

Thank you for the feedback

I really like the idea of making the ramp a module, that way I can make a Spy Hunter addon, very easily. I'll just need to replace the supports for the ramp with real hardwood. I already had to change em from the MDF to some scrap plywood I had lying around because the MDF is far too delicate for that. It will take me an hour to make it modular so I'll take the time to do that. Also, after working with that 3/4 MDF from Lowes I would NEVER build a cabinet out of it again. it sucks.

I have all the rest of the hardware ordered and it should be arriving over the next few days. I have some questions in regards to the following:

What are my best options for finishing the CP surface? I'm already planning on using plexi or lexan over the MDF. I'll paint the entire CP and fill the holes with wood filler. Should I bother to use any laminate on the CP itself?

Should I laminate the exterior of the entire cabinet? I really don't mind spending the extra $$, I want it to look perfect.

I've aleady sent an Email to MameMarquees requesting assistance designing artwork for the panel, marquee and side art. I think i'm going with a "FrankenMame" theme. but I am open to suggestions for a good one. If you have any themes in mind please throw em my way!

What do you suggest I do in regards to control buttons? should i put a set of buttons for ESC ENTER and whatever else I need somewhere on the panel? should I try and hide them? What kind of buttons should I use. 
I want to make it authentic as possible, I plan on buying  a 4 slot coin box. Should I add a coin button for each player or just wire up the box?

Thanks for your input.

[NightGod]

I did four buttons. Pause, Tab (Shifts to F2), 1 (I know Player 1 does the same, but I wanted it easy to understand-shifts to Enter) and Esc.

Any other less used keys I have as shift functions of other buttons.

[Chris]

What do you suggest I do in regards to control buttons? should i put a set of buttons for ESC ENTER and whatever else I need somewhere on the panel? should I try and hide them? What kind of buttons should I use. 
I want to make it authentic as possible, I plan on buying  a 4 slot coin box. Should I add a coin button for each player or just wire up the box?

I have three admin buttons: PAUSE, EXIT, and a shift button to access everything else (Shift-Pause brings up the MAME menu, Shift-Exit is Reset, Shift-Left Flipper is Save State, Shift-Right Flipper is Load State, etc.).  Also, the keys I mapped to buttons are selected to have the most utility in PC games: player 1 button 1 is Keypad-Enter, p2b1 is Enter, p1b2 is Space, p1b4 is Left-CTRL (which is often the Fire button in older PC games) p2 joystick up and down is Y and N (for answering Yes and No questions), the p1 joystick is the arrows on the numeric keypad (giving me cursor movement in regular PC stuff since NumLock is off at boot), etc.

As far as coins, I mounted coin switches behind the coin reject buttons, so pushing those in adds a credit.  I also have a switch inside the coin door to turn these buttons off.

[waldo]

love the idea about putting a switch behind the coin reject button

[theCoder]

FrankenMame, nothing, what you've got on your hands is a land based space station control center!  What, 7 joysticks!  You're sure going to be busy when it comes time to wire this puppy. 

That's a great idea of making the center section modular.

Advice on the admin buttons...If you do hide the buttons with the player 1 start + <other button>, label them somewhere and somehow.  On my first cab I only had three buttons with about 6 additional shifted values.  But my kids could never remember what the key combinations were.  On my second cab I labeled the buttons on the graphic underlay in a color slightly lighter (or darker) than the background color.   A copy of what I'm talking about is about 1/5 the way down the page at:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53486.80   <<small blue picture towards left >>
They are there, but you don't notice them unless you're looking for them.  On both cabs I used the small buttons (about 3/8" post diam.) from Radio Shack.

[Lewis Black]

I like the ramp concept.  The workmanship looks great too.

[Torc]

I just installed the spinner and trackball to see how'd they look

I still need to get a control stick for the upper right side, I want something solid and cheap to throw in there.

[Taborious]

Cutting MDF INSIDE! with little ventilization...!!!??? That's not good, MDF is VERY nasty stuff if you start inhaling the dust/powder that it throws out when you're cutting it. I hope you're taking precautions...

On a lighter note, CP is looking nice, I like it...

[Torc]

Thats actually my garage, the door is at my back. Most of the time i open the door when I'm routing the MDF but not always.

I do take precautions when cutting mdf, i squint and hold my breath 

[quarterback]

Looks cool.  And Chris' suggestion for modular ramp is brilliant 

Sooooo..... did I miss the discussion on why the joysticks shouldn't be angled like that?

[Torc]

no, why shouldn't they be angled like that? lol

[nullb0y]

the trackball slant is an awesome idea i might just kidnap it if i had somewhere to put it lol
looks so nice

[Torc]

Here are some updated pictures.

I used a spray on truckbed liner as the finish, it gives almost the exact same finish as the Happ controls bezel if you are familiar with that. It also did not require any primer on 3/4 MDF, which I kinda liked. I used 9 cans (7.50 a can)  for the entire cabinet and CP. about the same price as 1 sheet of laminate from Home Depot ( i would have needed 3 or 4 ) to complete the entire thing.

[Torc]

more pics

i know its blurry but i added the glowy trackball pic

[Santoro]

Looks very good! 

I'd be interested to see if you have wrist problems after using the t-ball at that angle for extended periods of time.    My carpal-tunnel wrist hurts thinking about it, but I might be overly sensitive.

[Torc]

Looks very good! 

I'd be interested to see if you have wrist problems after using the t-ball at that angle for extended periods of time.    My carpal-tunnel wrist hurts thinking about it, but I might be overly sensitive.

The angle difference between a Golden Tee cabinet, which is considered one of the most playable Trackball games, and my cabinet is almost the same. In fact its far closer than a flat CP.

And on a side note, The trackball playability is superb, its a little bit of a reach to play on the top deck where the spinner and 49 way stick are located, but it's not bad at all. I need to find a very high barstool, the current one i'm using isn't high enough.

[Torc]

Here is a Marble Madness case as well.