-VENDOR- Turnarcades Custom-built Arcades

[Ummon]

Looks good. Has a more inviting slant to it.

[Turnarcades]

Been absolutely ages since I added to this thread due to a lack of unique cabinet orders and a massive Christmas schedule, however the new year is here and I'm kicking off with a biggie - the first order for a 'Supreme' cabinet was taken just after Christmas and is well under way!

The 'Supreme' cabinet is the largest set-design in our range, featuring a multi-box construction, huge LCD display, 4-player control panel and a powerful 2.1 speaker system. Since my original concept picture (see website) the design has been completely overhauled, borrowing the simple lines from the majority of our range and the slanting panels from our slimline cabinets to maintain a good centre of gravity for both the control panel pedestal and the monitor pedestal sections. Here are the first few photos showing it's initial construction phase, with a height comparison to my 6'2" lead builder to show how the proportions work in reality:



Forgive any construction gaps/misalignments at this stage as they have now been adjusted accordingly. The major factor in the re-design was customer input, some further thoughts on wiring demands, aesthetics and practicality. For example, this customer was unsure about his size requirements so I decided to do away with the central 'joining box', instead having the control panel pedestal with two fixed castors at the front and feet with stoppers at the rear. This makes the control panel moveable when tipped towards you (so can be set at the exact distance you want) but held steady by the grippy stoppers when placed level. The completely re-designed monitor box and pedestal have the mids and tweeters relocated to just underneath the monitor, pointing towards the players instead of at the sides of the screen as on a lot of showcase cabinets. This keeps the overall width down and allows less wiring to be fed from the monitor box section into the pedestal below. The two sections will have a generous amount of wiring slack between them that can be fed back inside the pedestals once the ideal distance is found, and all wiring will be bound/wrapped into one hose section to keep it tidy.

Hopefully having photo documentation of this as a completed machine will encourage others to consider ordering this cabinet, just as it did with our 'King' cabinet. I am currently working on a modified range of 2-player cabinets too, replicating some popular 'American-style' dedicated cabinets but acknowledging the need for compact cabinets in the UK. They will be somewhat akin to the two-piece design of the 'King' cabinet but with slightly different profiles and control panel options, with prices somewhere between those of the 'Master' and 'King' models.

Once again any feedback is welcome....

[thatitalian]

Can't see the pic bud!

[Turnarcades]

Try again - it's definitely working...

Here is a picture of the control panel box, part assembled and drilled. The trackball used is as always a U-trak from Ultimarc, which without the trim ring sits flush with the surface of the panel with no raised edges, ugly mounting plate or raised bolt heads:

[Turnarcades]

Some further progress, with the control panel in place and most sanding+filling completed...

[Turnarcades]

'Supreme' build update - most panels in various stages of painting and shown here pretty much assembled as it will stand when finished. Looks enormous in this tiny kitchen but is perfectly in proportion with the monitor section being at head-height for a 6-footer.

[Turnarcades]

'Supreme' build update - The cabinet is nearing completion now with the shell work on the control panel, cp pedestal and monitor pedestal complete. The speaker system is installed in the monitor pedestal with the plug bank, and the PC components will be mounted inside the cp pedestal over the next few days. The LCD screen is next to be fitted and braced into the monitor box, when the sides will be prepped and the final painting done. TThe perspex and artwork will arrive shortly so in the meantime the cables will all be adjusted to length and a trial run made.

[Turnarcades]

Here is the first finished 'Supreme' cabinet we have built. We are quite pleased with the results and the machine's proportions are as expected. Building the first of a kind or a one-off is always a learning experience as the dimensions may seem fine on paper but not in reality. Luckily we have not had to play around with the dimensions too much as we go along on this one and it's all worked out into a design we are happy to replicate for future orders.

[HarumaN]

Are the player 3 & 4 joys mounted on an angle?

[Turnarcades]

Are the player 3 & 4 joys mounted on an angle?

Yes. A lot of people critique this layout based on a lot of original 4-player cabinets having sticks that were aligned with the screen, however the trials I did had people saying they felt no disorientation with angled sticks and we have stuck with this layout ever since. If you think about it, you don't look at your controls while you play so why should anyone experience difficulty? We've all played multi-player console games and it's rare you will all be sat square on with the TV with your joypad (at least not in homes I've lived in) so it's really no different.

If the customer had specified a preference for forward-facing sticks we would do that, but quite often the 3rd and 4th players are a rarity so most people would not bother. Keeping the regular layout for those player's buttons and bringing them square with the monitor would also mean making the control panel much wider and ungainly anyway so no-one has ever asked for that.

[Turnarcades]

We are currently working on a couple of slimline versions of our 'Master' cabinet. These slimline designs pretty much follow the same height/width proportions of our regular models, but (as with our other slimline designs) are around half the depth of the regular 'fat' cabinet at their deepest point (the base). Here is a picture of the bare shell of one of them as it currently stands;



One of these cabinets will have a 19" LCD and the other a 22" widescreen LCD. Although many are not in favour of using LCD screens in their own cabs I have never seen any problems with display or longevity on flat panels. However, I do always advise customers of the best options to get the most out of their cabinets and try to encourage a 4:3 screen in most cases. It seems many are not bothered by a slightly stretched display and no-one is put off by LCD displays so about 50% of our orders are now for slimline models. This is good for everyone as it makes the machines much lighter, easier to build and due to our designs do not require major changes to the plans/dimensions. This makes customising them easy and from the front they remain virtually identical to our regular machines, so people still get the same look and feel that first drew them to that model.

[Turnarcades]

The slimline 'Master' cabinets are coming along nicely and it's great that they can be stood in the same space that 1 regular 'Master' cabinet usually occupies. Alongside these two machine builds we are also building a 'Cocktail' cabinet for a customer. We don't have many requests for cocktail builds and the photo documentation of the few builds we had done was lost in a hard-drive failure a while back. Many people have been curious about seeing a completed cabinet as our design is very unique among cocktail designs, instead focusing on horizontal games and side-by-side play to offer the same 2-player experience as our other designs. As vertical games can be played fine on a horizontal screen anyway, our design can be appealing to both classic enthusiasts as well as the casual gamer. Here are the few pics we have so far, with a 17" monitor just dropped in temporarily to give an idea of proportion. The finished item will have a 19" monitor fitted in it's place:

[gonzo90017]

Looks very nice but not too much leg room.

[Turnarcades]

Alhough it doesn't have an overhanging control panel like many seen on these forums, the playing position is still fairly comfortable and the design means that each player can put one leg at the side of the cabinet if necessary. The inward-angled front also gives foot room at the base so you don't have to tuck your feet right back as you would if the front was completely vertical. The steeper-angled control panel also helps as it stops you having to reach so far forward to reach the upper row of buttons or push up on the joystick.

[Turnarcades]

Progress rapidly made with the 2 slimline 'Master' cabinets means they are not far from finished:



and this pic with mock-up side-art illustrates the shallow side profile well...



This design is growing on me so I hope to have more orders for this design. Being lighter and easier to work around they are a pleasure to build, and I am even considering building an upright racing cabinet for myself using this shell design - primarily for the Crazy Taxi series.

[Turnarcades]

The first of the two slimline 'Master' cabinets is complete. The cabinet has turned out well and the customer is very pleased with the result. I've found from building these that the machines could easily go much slimmer but to retain sturdiness and a good overall look it will stay at 16" deep.

[Turnarcades]

Finally found time to post a completed picture of the 'Cocktail' we were recently working on. Looks great with the smoked, shaped and polished acrylic surface;

[Turnarcades]

It's been a long time in coming but the Turnarcades website is now undergoing a complete re-design by one of our very own BYOAC members and should be ready in the next month or so.

The new website will include:

• Our complete new product line-up, with more models, options and upgrades and our 2009 prices
• New pictures of older cabinet designs and more examples for inspiration
• A completely redesigned page layout and navigation system
• An instant, simple 'quote generator' to give a quick idea of what your custom cabinet will cost
• Full terms and conditions, payment instructions and delivery options
• Links to third-party software documentation and Turnarcades' instruction and support files

The development website is currently found at the following link;

Turnarcades development website

but please bear in mind the site is still in development and will change frequently in the coming weeks. Any queries should continue to be e-mailed direct to me or sent by PM in the BYOAC forum.

Craig

[Blanka]

See you have the site live allready.
1 hint:
Try to keep the menu open when you browse the products. Now you have unfold the menu every time again from the collapsed state.

[Turnarcades]

See you have the site live allready.
1 hint:
Try to keep the menu open when you browse the products. Now you have unfold the menu every time again from the collapsed state.

Live yes, complete no. It's taking much longer than I'd like but the author has many projects ongoing. A big part is being done now with the quote builder page, and that collapsing issue with the products is being taken care of.

[megrog2]

Hey Turnerarcades I really like your pedestal, since you probably can't ship a kit of that size to the states would you be willing to sell your plans for it.

[HarumaN]

Now complete with cigarette smoke pre-installed for that authentic arcade experience!

[Ummon]

Now complete with cigarette smoke pre-installed for that authentic arcade experience!

Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah. Brutal. But honest.

[Turnarcades]

Would be even more hilarious if it were actually as it appears - but this fella doesn't even smoke! That's actually a pencil you see there.