Omega MAME: Revenge of Omega Race [COMPLETED! - Work on alt. CP's ongoing!]

[Necro]

After lurking, posting, and not having the space to build a cabinet for years, I've finally begun work on my own MAME cabinet project.  And now, after two weeks, I've started a project page. Because I am using an actual older game cab, I ask that people please try to keep the discussion semi on topic and avoid 'Necro's The Devil because of this project!!!' posts  .  What might have happened to the cab had I not purchased it was much worse then anything I will do to it.

Background
As I looked over other projects, I realized I wasn't interested in having a MAME cabinet that looks like all of the others - not a converted Dynamo or a BYO with black sides, etc.  I wanted something that looked like something people have seen in the arcade and looked like something straight out of the arcade.  A Retro-MAME cabinet, if you will.  Original cab artwork became a very important item for me in my cab search - and also made the search that much more difficult.  Because I didn't want to 'kill' a recoverable game, I tried to limit my search to empty or dead cabinets in good condition.  Rather quickly, I found an Omega Race cabinet in my local area that was in decent condition, had all the artwork and most of the components still inside - but wouldn't power on (even the lights) when plugged in and switched on.  So, for $100 I picked it up with a two-fold plan.  First, any salvageable parts that I didn't need I would sell so that people could restore other Omega Race's, and second, to rebuild the cab as close to original as I could so that I could play Omega Race on it through MAME as well as a whole host of other games.  Thus began...Omega MAME: Revenge of Omega Race.

The Cabinet
The cabinet was in decent condition when I received it.  All the artwork was 'intact', but some had severe dings or scuff marks. Also, because of the cab being build of a fiber/pressboard type material, there were some weird 'puffed out' damaged areas.  Overall though, the cab was in good condition.  Both marquees and the bezel were close to perfect and were exactly what I was looking for.

Progress
To date, I've stripped the cab and taken inventory of everything that I can use.  A big bonus was the mirror being intact and after a quick cleaning and demo run, I believe the cab is 100% workable with a mirror setup.

My biggest work thus far has been to clean and paint the inside of the cab.  Also, I needed to restore the front decal because of the damage/scuff marks on it.  See the attachments for before and after images of the art.  From 2 feet away, you can barely tell it's been touched up so extensively.  The flash reflects off the paint and decal differently, so the differences visible in the images is more extreme then normal.

Problems Identified So Far...
- The material the cabinet is made of is a complete   to work with.  Sanding it doesn't work, cutting it required a razor and being insanely careful or it makes a bunch of fibers come off and isn't a clean cut.  It has a horrible texture if not perfectly smooth and I'm not sure how well it's going to hold screws if I reuse the same screw hole.
- The entire cabinet is covered in a vinyl like material.  Makes sanding impossible and touching up even harder since I need to match that materials sheen as well.
- The CP is metal, and a strange design.  So I either need to find somewhere to make me blanks, or make up a wooden CP that's routed all kind of weird ways to fit.  (I don't want to modify this part of the cab because of the lower marquee.)



I'll be updating the post with images as I have time.  I've repainted the entire inside of the cab flat black to improve reflectivity off the mirror once I begin working on the 'guts' of the cab.  My next objective is to restore/repair the back door and repaint that so that I can actually close the cabinet up.

[RetroJames]

Not sure if you spotted this, I built one (and still have it) a couple years ago.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=16487.0

I am using the mirror setup, really nothing to it.

I even have an extra CPO if you want a similar layout.

Good luck!

[Necro]

I've definitely seen your cab - it's my inspiration and also why I didn't call the cab just OmegaMAME!    I sent you a PM when I saw your cab, maybe I missent.  I'd love to discuss how you got the CP made.  Is your's metal or some kind of wood/MDF custom built job?  Thinking about how to design the CP is giving me agida because of the front and back lips on the CP.

Also, I see you used the transformer or whatever the heck was on that board in the cabinet.  I still have that (see attached pic).  What, exactly, are the parts on this board and can I use them without blowing myself up or burning down my house? (Since the pic I've cleaned it off somewhat, but I didn't know what was safe to touch.)  Also, the two LARGE battery looking things in the top corner (I believe they are capacitors)...any use for them?  I'm more wary of touching them...and not totally sure how to discharge (don't know what to ground it to).

[RetroJames]

I've definitely seen your cab - it's my inspiration and also why I didn't call the cab just OmegaMAME!    I sent you a PM when I saw your cab, maybe I missent.  I'd love to discuss how you got the CP made.  Is your's metal or some kind of wood/MDF custom built job?  Thinking about how to design the CP is giving me agida because of the front and back lips on the CP.

Also, I see you used the transformer or whatever the heck was on that board in the cabinet.  I still have that (see attached pic).  What, exactly, are the parts on this board and can I use them without blowing myself up or burning down my house? (Since the pic I've cleaned it off somewhat, but I didn't know what was safe to touch.)  Also, the two LARGE battery looking things in the top corner (I believe they are capacitors)...any use for them?  I'm more wary of touching them...and not totally sure how to discharge (don't know what to ground it to).

I used an original but trashed CP so the original metal.

From the guts, I used only the lights and speakers. Everything else was rewired. I had hoped to convert back to OR at some point but never found a set of boards that were reasonable and working.

[Necro]

Yeah, that was what made me using this cab not all that bad - the working board cost is more then people would normally pay for the entire cab sans boards. 

And I'm looking around trying to find somewhere to get replacement CPs made - my CP is still intact and doesn't look horrendous so I don't want to trash it.

And in one of your pictures it looks like the lights are still wired to the original transformer or something - did you just know how to do that or have a guide or something to assist?  I want to make sure I don't kill myself.

Also, what size monitor did you end up using?  Trying to decide what size PC monitor would be best...eyeing a 21" right now...but the weird reflective area dimensions make it hard to determine what size monitor I can get. 

[RetroJames]

Yeah, that was what made me using this cab not all that bad - the working board cost is more then people would normally pay for the entire cab sans boards. 

And I'm looking around trying to find somewhere to get replacement CPs made - my CP is still intact and doesn't look horrendous so I don't want to trash it.

And in one of your pictures it looks like the lights are still wired to the original transformer or something - did you just know how to do that or have a guide or something to assist?  I want to make sure I don't kill myself.

Also, what size monitor did you end up using?  Trying to decide what size PC monitor would be best...eyeing a 21" right now...but the weird reflective area dimensions make it hard to determine what size monitor I can get. 

The transformer is not from the OR, it was a spare part I had laying around. Sorry I don't have a guide, I figured I had it right when I stopped blowing lights and fuses and I wasn't getting shocked anymore. 

On the monitor I used a 19" arcade monitor from a different game. The trick with the monitor, if you plan to use the mirror, is that you are restricted by the neck .. you only have so much room in that cabinet and mine as it is resides very close to the inside of the coin door. I made a template of the profile of my monitor to make very sure I could install it without cracking the neck.

[Necro]

Hehe, ok.  I may need to get some new lights and items then.  Having some issues figuring out the transformer.

Good idea on the monitor...I'm leaning more and more towards an LCD...the widescreen being the only issue.

[RetroJames]

Hehe, ok.  I may need to get some new lights and items then.  Having some issues figuring out the transformer.

Good idea on the monitor...I'm leaning more and more towards an LCD...the widescreen being the only issue.

Just get a slightly older 19" or 20" LCD, the type that were mostly square.

[Necro]

Trying to find a  20.1" LCD at the moment actually.   It's not all that easy...people want to sell the for a lot - they think since they spent 500+ dollars on it a few years ago, it should be worth at least half that now...little do they know.

[Necro]

Project Update
Sorry for the lack of actual photos in this update, but I have some time and wanted to update on the status of the cab.  I'll add the pictures in later where appropriate.

Coin Door Restore
(See before, after, and 'hanging sprayer setup' below)
The coin door has been restored.  I did a light sanding with some steel wool to remove a bit of the paint and flatten out the few gashes in the paint that were present.  For paint, I used a Black Satin Finish Krylon Enamel.  I hung the door from a coat hanger on a plant hanger, which I covered/protected with some trash bags.  Total number of coats is approximately 8-10, and I spent the better portion of last Saturday applying the paint to the door, a few misc. bolts, and handles for the back door of the cab.

Overall, I'm extremely happy withe the results and I hope that the paint doesn't scratch/nick/etc. easily.  I'm not clear coating it as there's a good number of paint layers and it's enamel so it should dry hard.  Hopefully.

Cab Back Door
I used some wood filler to level/fill in small holes in the back door.  The holes were no more than 1/4inch, so Bondo seemed overkill.  I also used a bit to fill smaller nicks on the side/corners of the back door.  Using a Random Orbital Sander I then sanded down the door (it had a weird bumpy texture) and spray painted it.  Here's where things got interesting.  I tried a satin finish, and it looked way too shiney.  I then went back and redid it with a flat paint (spray paint) of the same finish/type that I used for inside the cab. Looks much better and allows me to do touch-ups (which has become very important) and retain the exact same finish. 

Once the door was painted on both sides and looking decent, I started working on how to have the door attached.  I wanted something that would eliminate the need for a lock on the back door, since I think it's unnecessary for a home cab and just makes things more difficult.  So, I picked up two types of cabinet 'catches' hoping one would work.  The first was a friction catch.  I installed one, and it seemed to work well.  I then installed the second - and it didn't catch at all.  The retention was minimal and the door actually fell off the back (to my horror) when I tapped on it from the front of the cab.  (This induced my wife to come in saying 'That sounded like a disaster just happened').  If nothing else, I know that tilting the door forward until it falls out of the cab won't rip apart the tongue/groove on the bottom of the door. 

So, with this failing, I went to my backup plan.  I also purchased double magnet catches (similar to the normal magnetic catches in cabinets, but two of them in one housing and two metal plates).  Originally I was going to use the friction catches at the top of the door and then the magnets in the middle as I figured the friction catches would hold better than the magnetic ones.  I removed the friction catches completely, and installed the magnet catches in their place.  The magnets were placed on the cab, the plates on the door.  Testing this out, even just ONE magnet catch (one side of the cab) held better than both friction catches.  I knocked the cab around a bit trying to make the door fall off, but it didn't budge. 

I then went on and installed two smaller size trunk type handles onto the back of the door.  I wanted recessed handles originally, but the ones I saw looked a bit crappy or too 'industrial' and I didn't want to pay something nuts online for handles that were just there to make it easier to remove the back door and would never be seen.  So, I painted these black as well (when I did the coin door) and installed them at about the same level as the magnetic catches.  (I actually installed the handles first - it would have been hard to remove the door without them once the magnets were in place).  I put the lock (which I have no key to) back in for aesthetics and put the door on and am very happy with how it looks.  I'm now doing some touchup and coverup of the magnets units with black paint just to make everything uniform.  If I end up being able to use the Omega Race back art (planets), this won't matter but I'd still rather have it all painted up and nice and completed when everythings accessible than wait until later.


Lighting
So, the Omega Race cabinet has two marquees and three 'lights'.  The top marquee is lit by a series of 7 bulbs in 194 type bases.  The bottom marquee & the blacklight in the cabinet itself are 18" T8 flourescent fixtures.  There's also the coin door lights, two bayonet style fixtures.  I wanted to use as much of the original hardware as possible, so I decided to replace/get working all of these items as they were all there and looking decent. 

For the top marquee, I picked up a bunch of the WLED-W's from here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/bulb_specs.htm .  They are 120 angle and fit into the 194 housing, so I was hoping they would be perfect replacements.  I've since installed them and tested them by running them off a PC PSU.  They look good, and light up the marquee if I hold it in front of them...but I think they may end up being a bit too dim.  I may have to find some kind of brighter replacements...but I'm going to get everything connected and back together first and see how it looks on the rebuilt cab before I do that.  To help with light reflection, I also painted the entire fixture in metallic silver - which hopefully will help more light be directed to the marquee itself.  (See picture of 'silvered' LED holder/marquee light below.)

For the fluorescent fixtures, I had to locate some new starters...which was fun.  15W starters (T2 I believe they are called...or F2 or whatever) were nearly impossible to find.  The fourth hardware store I went to finally had them - 2 for $2.  Prob. ended up costing me more in gas then it did for the actual starters.  I tested both fixtures, running them off the AC section of the cabs original power supply, and found out both the original bulbs still work (which is great...and leaves me with two bulbs I need to return! ).  I'm going to do a comparison of the old vs. new bulbs to see which work better before returning however.

I ordered a few bayonet style bulbs (white) from SuperBrightLeds as well.  They both looked good when run off a PC PSU, but I'm not sure if they'll light the coin door sufficiently.  I may need to make some kind of 'reflector' from them out of foil or other shiney material...or order red versions of them.  I won't be able to tell until I get the coin door back together (which I'm waiting on two new acrylic 25 cent signs and the metal Midway front plate for before reassembling). 

New Issues
The biggest new issue is that I just realized I either need an amp or I need replacement speakers for the speakers in the cab.  This wasn't something I'd considered before and realized it last night when I tested them.  Also, the cab PSU is something I don't think I'm going to be able to use for a few reasons.  First, it's freakin' huge.  Second, it goes through a number of steps to get clean DC power, which I shouldn't need since I'm already putting a PC PSU into the cab.  I have more than one PC PSU available, so I can even toss two of them into the cab - one for DC lighting/LEDs and one for the actual computer.  The only other thing is that I'm going to need to do the actual AC wiring of the fluorescent lights to a plug now.  While not hard, I've never done it and it freaks me out a bit because of the possible danger.  I've wired up new lights/fixtures, but this just makes me a bit wary since I'm putting a switch inline (on the hot wire, as I now know!).  I picked up a wiring book from Home Depot for $10, so hopefully that'll keep me from killing myself, burning down the house, etc.  And it's a useful reference for other house wiring anyway.

[Necro]

Internal Refinish
This was actually done before most of the work in the previous post.  I removed everything from the cab and stripped it down bare.  Repainted (or primed and then painted) the inside black using a Krylon Crafters Paint (took about half a pint...that is the medium-ish can size right?) in Black with a Flat finish.  Intent here is to limit the amount of light bouncing around inside the cabinet once I get it back together, which will be important because of the mirror setup.  Less ambient light bouncing around means I can better control how transparent/reflective the mirror is just by turning on/off the blacklight.

Monitor Mounting
I'm trying to build a monitor mount, now that I got my 20.1" 4:3 monitor (see pic below) - the biggest problem I'm having now is finding screws that match the VESA mounts on the back of the monitor.  Tried normal 'bolts' (8's I think), they didn't fit.  Found out they are normally M4 70% thread bolts.  That didn't fit.  Going to grab a few more random ones to try to get something to fit.  Kind of annoying since it's nearly impossible to match this up (thread and size) even though I have the stinking screws that fit originally and just need longer ones. 

One thing that was nice - the monitor fit PERFECTLY in the original shelf for the cabinet without having to hack up the shelf at all.  I'll just put two additional holes per side, run 3/8's inch lag bolts (fully threaded) through those holes and down into a retainer piece of wood (a 1x6) that the monitor will be mounted to.  This should let me vary the height of the monitor (within reason) relative to the shelf in case I find something doesn't work perfectly or I need to adjust it for use with the mirror without having to completely remake a mount.

[Necro]

So, the monitor has been mounted and placed into the cab for demoing.  Worked perfectly with the mirror in place and should be no problem playing the game.

Next item up is getting the controls (controller in particular) and begining the wiring of the cabinet as I begin to replace the internals I still want in there (the lights) and begin building the control panels. 

The biggest delay right now for me has been 3 things.  One, Fallout 3 came out.  Two, figuring out what controllers to order.  Three, debating the cost of the controllers.

As it is, I'm trying to decide on the following:
- Lit buttons with U360's.  (~$300)
- Unlit buttons with U360's. (~$240)
- Lit, Sanwa's (~$185)
- Lit, Magstick balltops (~$240)

The other big option I'm trying to decide on is using or not using my X-arcade 'guts' for the new CPs.  I can use the X-arcade control board if I wanted, and save $45 on an Ipac2, but is it worth losing the ability to use the X-Arcade on my HDTV and HTPC in the future...not 100% sure as of now...but I need to make a damn decision or this project isn't moving anywhere.

One thing I really want my 'main' CP to not have to be swapped out for every minor game change and to handle a large number of games.  For this reason, it's going to be the standard fighter setup (2p, 6 buttons each).   I'm eventually going to make a 'classic' panel along the lines of the Multi-Williams panel, but that's a future project at this point. 

Regarding the CP - I've managed to obtain two additional OmegaRace CPs to use as the bases for my custom CPs.  This should make things easier, even if I need to drill through the metal and repair a few holes in it once I've done that.

[Necro]

And everything has been purchased (except the trackball).  So...what we have going into this as of right now is the following:

In Cabinet

• Ipac2
• PacDrive
• OptiWiz
• DB Based Connector Panels (3 DB cables - 1 for IPac, 1 for Optiwiz, 1 for PacDrive)
• USB Hub or Connector Panel
• 21" 4:3 LCD Monitor
• As of yet undetermined computer
• 'Pinball Buttons' (2 per side) built into Cab itself
• Microswitch (momentary buttons) panel inside coin door for admin controls

Main Control Panel

• 2 U360's
• Happ Translucent Buttons (6 per player)
• 2 or 4 admin buttons (the Omega Race Start buttons).

Spinner Control Panel

• Oscar Spinner
• Arkanoid Spinner
• Trackball? (to be determined based on space)
• Happ Translucent Buttons (3 per spinner)
• 2 or 4 admin buttons (the Omega Race Start buttons).

Retro Control Panel
To be designed later.




...this all came with a realization of how expensive this is actually going to be.

[Necro]

Well, with the wife being pregnant and having to turn a room into a nursery, things have been difficult to move forward on.  But it's progressing.

So far I've wired up all of the fluorescent lights (2 of them) and the upper marquee lights (a series of LEDs).  The coin door is wires up and ready to go (mostly, need to add in the tilt sensor and the coin counter). 

A huge step occured yesterday though (pics coming soon hopefully) - I did the AC wiring for the cab.  At least the basics.  I ripped the AC input port out of an old computer power supply, rewired it to an 'handy box' (metal junction box) with an outlet wired into it.  Also, I replaced the push button switch on the cab (rated for 3 amps) with a toggle/flip switch rated at 20 amps to make sure there won't be any issues in those regards.  It's wired in line with the power outlets so it's a 'total cab' switch and is right at the top where the normal switch is.

So far, I've gotten everything very clean and am ready to begin the rest of the power wiring.  I'm using a 12V power block (wall wart) to substitute for the computer at this point and to power the upper marquee in testing so I can get everything wired up, then get the wires routed properly, then get working on the computer installation itself.  I'm doing a bare board install, with stand offs placed into a removable board that will hold the motherboard.

Still haven't worked much on the first CP.  I started stripping the decal off one of the OmegaRace panels I have, but I think I'm going to have to sand the sucker down because only half the decal came off and the rest is a gooky mess still on the panel.

[IG-88]

A huge step occured yesterday though (pics coming soon hopefully) - I did the AC wiring for the cab.  At least the basics.  I ripped the AC input port out of an old computer power supply, rewired it to an 'handy box' (metal junction box) with an outlet wired into it.  Also, I replaced the push button switch on the cab (rated for 3 amps) with a toggle/flip switch rated at 20 amps to make sure there won't be any issues in those regards.  It's wired in line with the power outlets so it's a 'total cab' switch and is right at the top where the normal switch is.

Could I see a pic of how you did all that?

[Necro]

No problem.  I'm going to take some tonight (or later this week...I'm coming down with something nasty and just trying to hang in there today as it is...).

The short description is that I ripped out the port from the PSU unit, desoldered everything from it and soldered new wires to it.  Made sure that it was rated for 15 amps also.  I cut a hole into the back of the cab, the put the 'port' into the cab and screwed it into the back wall.  The hot wire (black) I ran to the switch, then to the plug.  The other wires (neutral/white and the ground/green) I ran directly to the plug. 

It's very straight forward and I think the simplest way to wire an AC 'main' into the cab while keeping things as adaptable as possible.  The one issue I'm facing now is if I want the marquee lights on a separate switch from the computer (so I can turn that on or off separate from the monitor/PC).  This would prob. involve a switch inside the coin door for each of them...somehow.  Prob. a powerstrip switch and something inlined with the 12V adapter if I use that for the actual power to the LEDS.

[Necro]

Ok, attached are images of the work I described earlier.

IG-88, in regards to your questions on how I did the switch look at the junction box picture and it should help.  The green wire is ground, the white wire is neutral, and the black wire is hot.  The hot wire goes from the 'plug' connector to the switch, then to the junction box.  The other wires go straight to the junction box.  I'm going to clean up the wires once I get the rest of the wiring in - which now is only the speaker wires as I need a set of speakers to rip apart to drive the cab speakers.  It's fairly straight forward to wire this kind of box.  I'm going to up the complexity of this, however, to add in more switches at the front of the cab (inside the coin door area) to let me control the lights and computer separately.  I'll most likely do this by inlining switches to the power strips/cords I use to attach the lights and the computer.  I'm envisioning 2 power strips - one for lights, one for the PC/Monitor.  The main thing is I'm going to need to put a switch on the cabs blacklight as well, as I won't always want that on.

I'm going with a get the basics down first, then build up.  I can always rewire this junction box if necessary, and split each socket in the box into a separate circuit. 

[Necro]

Someone asked back before I disappeared why people don't finish cabs.  Reason?  Pregnant wife and a baby being born in this case.

I'm back on the scene and trying to finish this cab now.  Considering I have a few hundred dollars of parts sitting in my workroom...I feel the fiscal imperative to get it done.

So...speaker addition and cab rebuilding will be occuring (with new pics) over the next few weeks.  Barring the new baby keeping me from working...more.

[Necro]

...hrm.  I have absolutely NO freaking idea how to put the artwork back into this cabinet now...

(The artwork behind the mirror...)

[Paladin]

Because you forgot how it went in, or because you've altered the cab and need to figure out a new way?  Here's a picture of the back of my cab if you just need to see how it originally went in.

[Necro]

Because I removed it all and thought I didn't take pictures.  It ended up I did   - of ALL steps of art removal.  Thank you for that post though, now I'm positive I put the back piece on right. 

The main issue I was having is I forgot some art went on the front of the cab (between the front window and the mirror).  That was causing no end of headache's until I saw the pictures I took.

I've modified the art so that it can easily be removed - which involved a few feed of velcro placed on the art and on the cab.  It eliminates the need for tacks and lets me remove/put on the art at will to determine if things will fit right, how to run wires, etc.  Working out very nicely so far.

I picked up the last set of switches I need for re-wiring the cab last night and determined that I can drill through a piece of metal I took from the cab power supply and am going to use as a 'control panel' right inside coin door.  The switches were two high current (10A/120V) micro switches for the two fluorescent lights and a low voltage switch for the upper marquee lights.  I'm thinking of adding in a third fluorescent light since the black light really doesn't work well on the front art if the room isn't pitch black.

I'm going to be wiring this all up tonight/tomorrow and will be able to put everything back together and have a functioning cabinet...from an electrical standpoint.  Then I just need to do the control panel/computer wiring...which should be the real fun part.

[Necro]

As of tonight, all of the main electrical wiring and audio for the cabinet is complete.  Each of the two individual fluorescents (lower marquee and black light) are hooked into mini toggle switches (6-7A each @ 100V) and the upper marquee LEDS are tied into a 3A switch that looks the exact same as the other two.  Also, I stripped down an old pair of Altec Lansing speakers someone got me from a computer that was being trashed and took the circuit board from that and installed it next to the switches in my 'control box'.  So, I now have a knob to control volume and a knob for treble/bass.

One issue that popped up was the cabinets speakers kind of sucked.  A lot.  A WHOLE lot.  So, after installing everything, I took apart the speaker portion of the cabinet again, took some hard board, and build a 'panel' that lays behind the holes the speakers used to be in and has holes cut into it and the Altec Lansing speakers mounted in.  There 3 inch speakers, but sound 100x better than the original POS ones from the original cab.  AND, because I didn't mod the cab to do it, it's reversible! Although I'm highly doubting I'm going to hold onto two piece of crap speakers for very long.  If it were ever to be retrofitted, the cab would need a new set of speakers that size.

Next step - wire up the admin/config button and switch the coin door (to quick connects) and get that refinished coin door back into the machine. 

THEN comes the real fun - the computer and control panel.  Already have a MB tray made from the cab's original power supply 'board' (i.e. piece of wood) and just need a mounting mechanism for a HDD and I'll be good to go. I'll most likely use 3 1/4 to 5 1/2 bay converter rails and 1x2's. (Airflow above and below the HDD and just easier to mount.

[Necro]

Ok...I need some advice on how to freaking finish this cab.  It's still being worked on and in my 'garage room' (back room in my basement - I live in a townhouse so no garage). 

Obviously, the coordination of my wife getting pregnant (and then...the gall...having the baby) with me starting this project hasn't made it get completed in the fastest manner (I'm over a year now.. :/)

Anyway...the cab itself is COMPLETELY together.  Electrical and lighting is wired.  The monitor is in.  The computer tray is built and put together.  The control boards for the mouse/buttons are in. 

So...where am I stuck?  The control panel.  How in the heck to I demo a whole CP without spending 10 hours wiring up a demo CP?  Basically, every time I go to work on the cab I realize this is where I am and go 'I'll do it later....this is too much for now'. 

I HAVE to demo because I'm using actual OmegaRace metal CP's, redrilled and modded to new layouts for the final cab....so...any advice (i.e. if people found that just putting controls into MDF and seeing how they 'feel' works) would be great.  I want to finish this thing before my kid is asking what the arcade cabinet is doing in the basement .

(and I don't know how people finish these so fast...with work, new baby, and just life...I only have like an hour or two to put into this every once and awhile...)


OH - I also have 6-8 hardboard 'demos' I can use to make layouts before I drill the final metal CPs. Just in case that influences your advice.

[Necro]

Major updates have occurred. 

• All non-CP internal wiring is complete, including coin door and extra admin buttons added under lower marquee.
• Computer has been installed and has Win7+MAME+DAPHNE on it and functioning.
• Bezel for monitor was made from thick black artboard (about 1mm thick) and installed.
• Mock CP on hardboard has been fabricated and half populated (1 player) using the U360 and it's inputs to test layout.
• Maximus Arcade installed to demo a FE for the 'mirror' setup.  Evaluation of it and Atomic are ongoing.

The current to do list is as follows:

• Design artwork for 'Fighter' CP.
• Order LEDs/Diffusers for CPs
• Cut/drill/make the first metal CP (this is actually going to be the hardest item...)

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting at this point...but things are going well.  The inability to 100% mirror my video output was a major setback, but I'm overcoming it.  Also, pictures look like crap since they require a flash to come out - and the cab looks best in low light.  Trying to do a video but just haven't had the time/chance with work and the baby. 

[Necro]

...and...I finished the first control panel (Fighter) with LEDs, 2 U360's, Midway/Atari cone buttons for P1/P2, Front End (Maximus), MAME, and LEDBlinky all working.

So....almost three years working on this (very intermittently) and I now have a working cab.  Need to just finish up a few things (final mounting of the control panel connectors, lock down a few addon cards to the MB, etc.) and I'm good to go.  Oh, and finish the two other, much less wiring intensive, control panels.

Pictures to come soon...went to bed at 1am after working on this for 5 hrs last night and didn't have a chance to get photos.

[Rick]

Way to necro the thread... Err...  Necro.

[Necro]

Hey, it's my project update thread.  I can necro it however I want.  Especially when I finish the project!  Somewhat. 

[Necro]

Oh, hey, look, the cab and the first CP are done.  Also, as far as I know, this is the ONLY mirror MAME cabinet as of right now that's not just using MAME to replicate a single game.  Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing - and based on a few factors I may still mod the cab so the monitor is vertically along the back so I can use any FE and Emu I want to.  I'm restricted to GameEx, MaxArcade, MESS, and MAME as of now.

[Rick]

 

SWEEEET machine, sir!

[Necro]

Thanks.  It's been a surprising hit on FaceBook as well...considering I've been talking about making a MAME cab since college (and I'm 33 now. ).

Can't wait to get the other CP's finished up...but want to play with this for a bit before I start working again.  That, and the new CP's are, theoretically, the 'easy part'.  Fingers crossed on that.

[Nephasth]

Even though you MAME'd a classic, you did a great job keeping it looking close to original. I love how your CP art is similiar to the original. Beautiful machine!

Got any video of the mirror in action?

[Necro]

Neph - it's difficult as f#$! to film - it basically has to be dark around you and results in heavy light going into the camera from the screen.  I'll try tonight/tomorrow and see what i can get.  Because of some mods I had to make, the only difference between how it looks and a real OmegaRace when the blacklight is on is that the back art is a BIT closer than it normally is and it's not a vector monitor. 

Also, the other CP's all look the same and the aesthetic of the cab is very uniform.  Even the front end has a similar look/feel.  I was going to do a vector-style FE but...the mirror got in the way. I seriously can't say how much I recommend NOT doing a mirror cab to anyone else .

I'm so freaking psyched about this thing it's unbelievable.  I'm trying to get all the software tweaked out now so it works and I can move from my work room into my basement/rec room area...

So, main features are as follows right now:
- Buttons light up based on the controls of the game you're playing.
- Swappable Control Panels (plan is for a Classic CP (tempest spinner, 2 joys, multiwilliams setup) and a 'other' setup (arkanoid spinner, flight stick, trackball)
- Coin door works.
- Fully functioning 'admin' button setup, with 'switch' admin button for games that require it be held, right inside the coin door.
- Can be used as a near 100% replica of OmegaRace, if desired. (Will need the spinner CP to be finished)
- Pause a game while playing and get a screenshot of the game controls, the game history, high scores, etc. (Woot, CPWizard)
- All internal lights are controllable (there's a panel inside with 3 swithes independently controlling the 2 marquees and blacklight for the artwork to show through the mirror).
- Computer power switch mounted on top of cabinet within reach.  It's a button from an arkanoid CP, so it actually fits into the aesthetic if anyone ever sees it.
- Three hidden control buttons under the front marquee (escape, coin, and pause)
- 'Universal' power switch for the cab - original power switch, with one of those computer power cable 'ports' put into the cab (see earlier posts). 
- Just generally awesome. 

So so psyched to have people over to play. Biggest thing is I'm hoping I can get somewhere near 'done' with the software so I'm comfortable moving it into my basement...it's a complete ---smurfette--- not being able to work on the cab easily without being behind it or using a mirror and I want it working damn near perfect before I move it somewhere it's a hassle to get behind.  (again, mirror cabs = PITA)