Gamester's ARCADE GALAXY

[Gamester]

******************************************************************************
EDIT:
How it all began...
******************************************************************************
Hello All,

Let me just start by saying that I'm a (late) thirty-something guy who spent many quarters in the arcade back in the 80's.  I was absolutely intrigued by this whole "MAME" phenomenon when I was first introduced to it in the late '90s.  I played around with it on my computer some, and then put it away, deciding it was neat, but really just not the same experience as playing the games in the real arcade. 

Then a few years ago I stumbled upon a couple actual MAME-based cabinets on the internet that people had created.  I was totally amazed, and began researching how they built them.  That eventually led me to this terrific forum, where after researching more, I was hooked, and I knew that some day I would have to build a machine for myself.

For a couple years I gradually gathered a few odds and ends that I knew I would need for my cabinet.  I picked up a Happ high-lip Trackball and an over/under coin door on Ebay.  I also used an Amazon gift card I had lying around to get a Smart Strip power strip, which I had heard good things about around here.  In 2006, thinking I was ready to get started on my long-time dream project, I also had Knievel cut a control top for me.  But then, sadly, life got in the way and all of those parts sat on the shelf collecting dust for the past three years....

BUT now, after one false start, "some day" has finally arrived -- I'm going full steam ahead on building my cabinet, officially called "Arcade Galaxy." 

The basic cabinet shape will be roughly based on the long admired "Neon Mame" design that Knievel unleashed years ago.

I'm planning to use a 27" arcade monitor.  Controls will be Ultimarc U360 joys, 6 buttons per player layout (lighted buttons), spinner and an illuminated trackball.

I'll be chronicling the whole process here, so stay tuned....   

******************************************************************************

[leapinlew]

good luck

[Gamester]

Spent last weekend working on the box for the control panel.  Used some 5/8" MDF we had conveniently lying around.

Gotta love MDF... nasty stuff.

Safety first... 




This is a jig that my brother-in-law and I made to cut the angles for the sides.  Not pretty, but effective...






Woohoo, the angles all matched up...  It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the sides have a 1" slope, and the top-front and top-rear edges have a 5 degree bevel.  After lots of careful measuring and cutting (taking way longer than I care to admit), the pieces turned out perfect.






The assembled box.  We routed the outer corners and used a pocket joiner and glue for the joints.  It's very solid!

[Gamester]

My little furry companion helped me with the photo of the control panel...     Knievel cut the control panel for U360 joys, which at the time he was not familiar with.  He did a good job on the recesses, considering, and I just cleaned them up a bit using my dremel to achieve a perfect fit.  All ready for primer here...




And the perfectly matched acrylic top...




Got the primer going too.  This was after the second coat.  Have done some sanding and another coat since.  I'm hoping to do a really shiny finish like javeryh achieved on Bella's arcade.  I know it's going to take LOTS of elbow grease to get that perfect piano-like finish though...




These seams in the front are going to take some work to get perfect.  I'm almost there though...  (it looks better now than when this pic was taken)

[Gamester]

I also spent the past few weeks toiling over the theme for the cabinet and playing around with artwork.  Before I settled on the "Arcade Galaxy" theme, I thought I wanted to do a WWII theme  (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=94367.0).  After several iterations and much frustration with the lack of high quality *color* source images I decided to shelve that idea for now.  I may revisit it on a  future project.

Besides the reasoning above, I also found out that my wife wants to put the machine in our living room so I wanted to do a theme that was a little classier and more gender neutral.

Here's my first shot at the new theme.  I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I think it's at least close conceptually to what I'm looking to achieve.  It looks a little busy to me in the small picture, but I'm cautiously optimistic that when it's blown up to its final size (nearly 3 feet wide), it's going to look much less so.  I tried to incorporate as many of my favorite classics as I could, without going overboard.  It was hard to draw the line and quit adding more characters, but I know the less is more approach is best. 
The general idea of the design is that the arcade characters are kind of popping out of a stylized "space portal."

Oh, and I have to throw in there that every one of the stars in the background was applied by hand to ensure that they had the suitable detail!  No blurry, blown up NASA photo backgrounds here...   

I'll probably do a full size mock up later today to see how it looks and fits on the panel.

Anyway, it's a work in progress.  I'll probably change it up several times until I get something I'm happy with.

Comments and/or suggestions are certainly appreciated.

[Franco B]

Its looking great so far. You seem like you are taking your time to do things right and not cutting corners which is great, you will end up with a much nicer end result if you carry on as you are. 

I have to say I'm not a big fan of the artwork though but if it works for you, great.

[spOOf]

Looking very nice!  Excluding the 6 buttons per joy, what are your plans for the top holes?

[Gamester]

Franco B: Yeah, I plan to do this right.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so the only concern I have is taking too long.     Oh, and I respect your opinion about the art.  It's definitely a work in progress, and now that I've slept on it, I have some ideas for changes.  I think I may try toning down the rays a bit and removing the red highlights on the edges.  I was trying to incorporate red and blue in the art because P1 will have red transluscent buttons and P2 will have blue ones (already have the buttons).  May be a case where I was trying too hard to incorporate both colors.  Since the characters already have red in them, that's probably enough.  In hindsight, I should have completed the artwork FIRST, then selected the button color(s) to match, instead of the other way around.

Spoof:  The top holes are P1 Coin, P1 Start, Escape, Spinner, two spinner buttons, then P2 Coin, P2 Start and Pause.  The exact order for the buttons has not been finalized, but that's their functions.

Thanks for the feedback guys...

[javeryh]

Looking really nice so far.  I'm going to agree with Franco though about the artwork.  I'm not a big fan of character art unless it is created specifically for a cabinet (in which case I love it).  You are going to spend countless hours building this thing - just be sure of what you want before committing because the nicest cab in the world can easily be spoiled by bad art.

I'm hoping to do a really shiny finish like javeryh achieved on Bella's arcade.  I know it's going to take LOTS of elbow grease to get that perfect piano-like finish though...

I'll be happy to help out if I can.  It takes a lot of work but if you are patient you can get great results.  It was the first time I ever tried a finish like that (and probably the last).  I had no idea what I was doing but following THIS GUY really helped.

Good luck!   

[Gamester]

javeryh:  Thanks.  I appreciate the feedback on the art, and I agree 100% that bad art can ruin the best of projects.  That's why I've already spent weeks messing around with the art, and I'll spend as much time as I need to get it right.  No rush jobs here...

I have a couple ideas for the art that don't include the characters, so I'll post my revisions as I generate them. 

I respect all of your opinions greatly, and you guys will no doubt have an influence on the final result, but I'll probably rely even more on my wife and kids' opinions since they all will have to look at it every day... 

More to come.

Thanks again...

[Donkey_Kong]

I like the artwork for the cp. What's wrong with the characters, I mean aren't the characters what this is all about? Maybe do some tweaking on the rays...try to make the red in them glow more or something. Other than that, I just don't know.

[Gamester]

Okay, so here's another try on the artwork.  I toned down the light rays, added a bit more glow to the characters, muted the color inside the control areas, and added a similar glow around the control areas to give it a more cohesive look.  Also fine tuned the positioning of the characters a bit.

I definitely like this one better than the last, but I'm going to keep tweaking.

I'm including the previous version in this post too, for easier comparison.

Let me know what you think...

[Ond]

I was waiting for your second go at it before commenting.  The second version is better, here's how I'd improve it further.  Lower the highlight in the background to be directly behind the characters, not in the middle...the highlight makes a second focus point in the image...marry the two togther,  I'd also increase the contrast on the dithering to the edges so that the edges  especially the top are darker, or at least darken the back/top edge of the CP.  If the characters are going to be the focus, then make them really pop - even make the central characters larger - lift them up a bit.  If was playing with the image I'd fade the milky way parts a little s well, a subtle but interesting background will strengthen your theme..not distract from it.  Ok that's my two cents worth...I've really got to get into the garage and make somthing..must...stop...reading...forum...arrrrrgggggg   

[Gamester]

Ond:  Thanks a lot for the input.  You make very good points, and I will definitely give some of those changes a try.  The only thing I'm struggling with a little -- and the reason the center of the image also has a glow -- is that the trackball will be RGB illuminated, so besides being an obvious light source, it will also be a focal point for the panel.  I thought it made sense for such a substantial light source to cast a glow around itself. 

I haven't really figured out a good way to make the trackball an integral element in the artwork (or if I should even try).

Thoughts?

[javeryh]

I haven't really figured out a good way to make the trackball an integral element in the artwork (or if I should even try).

Thoughts?

Maybe have the rays come from the trackball?

[Gamester]

Christmas in July...     (well it was still July when it arrived anyway...)



So, the control panel will consist of the following items pictured:

- 2 Ultimarc Ultrastik 360 balltops
- 2 "Hard" springs for the Ultrastiks
- Ultimarc IPAC2
- GGG LED Wiz
- 7 Blue LED lighted NovaGem Pushbuttons with MicroLeaf switches  (Player 1 & Spinner)
- 7 Red LED lighted NovaGem Pushbuttons with MicroLeaf switches (Player 2 & Spinner)
- 6 Clear LED lighted NovaGem Pushbuttons with "regular" microswitches  (Coins, Starts & Admin Buttons)
- 4 Black pushbuttons (pinball buttons for the sides of the CP)
- GGG Electric Ice translucent ball
- RGB LED trackball light
- Two GGG NovaMatrix LED Marquee Lights
- GGG TurboTwist 2 Spinner with "Premium" spinner knob
- GGG Harness to connect the Happ trackball to the TT2 spinner controller board
- Button Wrench
- Happ trackball mounting plate

Gotta say, all this definitely left a void in the wallet, but I know when I see it all installed and lit up like Clark Griswold's house in Christmas Vacation, it will be so worth it.  Hopefully I won't have as much trouble getting mine lit up as he did...  

[Gamester]

Here's my coin door.  Overall it's in pretty nice shape, but I'm picky, so I think I'm probably going to end up stripping it and refinishing it.  It also needs new coin drop inserts  (they don't match)...

[Gamester]

Just a few closeups for posterity.  I'm sure they've been posted on the forum many times before, but what the heck...


The Ultimarc IPAC2 controller.  No frills, but it's the heart of the control panel.




And here's the brains for the "bling"...




And the TurboTwist2 Spinner.  This thing really has a nice quality feel to it.  Very smooth and feels very solid in construction.  I got the premium spinner knob, but elected to delete the BYOAC token on the top.  I have some other plans for that spot, which I haven't finalized yet.




The RGB light for the trackball.  Can't wait to see that baby lit up!




These are the inserts for the coin, start & admin buttons from Groovy Game Gear.  They should look great lit from behind, and I like the fact that there's NO way they will wear since they are actually installed inside the buttons.




And this is one of the clear NovaGem buttons.  The button inserts above will be installed inside them...



That's all for now...

[Bender]

every thing is lookin great!

where did you get that trackall light?

[Gamester]

every thing is lookin great!

where did you get that trackall light?

Thanks Bender!  I got the trackball light from Groovy Game Gear.  It's part of his Electric Ice trackball lighting upgrade kit (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=273 )

Boy, maybe I should be hitting up RandyT for a commission check for all the press he's getting in my project thread!   

[Gamester]

Okay, here's another shot at the CPO artwork.  I decided to take a different angle with the characters, and place the focus on just a couple.

I still want to integrate characters from other games into the theme -- I don't want this to be just a Dragon's Lair cab --  but I will probably do that on the marquee art.

Let me know what you guys think...

[jholman76]

Thanks Bender!  I got the trackball light from Groovy Game Gear.  It's part of his Electric Ice trackball lighting upgrade kit (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=273 )

Boy, maybe I should be hitting up RandyT for a commission check for all the press he's getting in my project thread!   

Dang... I wish they sold just the LED kit seperately. a superwhite LED would be nice to light up my translucent blue trackball rather than the hot bulb.

[Epyx]

Gamester,

I really like this round of CP art drafts.

[Franco B]

Gamester,

I really like this round of CP art drafts.

Agreed 

[Gamester]

Dang... I wish they sold just the LED kit seperately. a superwhite LED would be nice to light up my translucent blue trackball rather than the hot bulb.

jholman76:  Some have successfully used these for the trackball:  http://www.glowire.com/Lazer%20LEDs.htm

Look at the "4 LED Cluster LEDs" about half way down...

The arcade paradise site talks about it here: http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap3/lighting.html

[jholman76]

jholman76:  Some have successfully used these for the trackball:  http://www.glowire.com/Lazer%20LEDs.htm

Look at the "4 LED Cluster LEDs" about half way down...

The arcade paradise site talks about it here: http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap3/lighting.html

Wow, good to see there is another option. Thanks!

[javeryh]

I also think the artwork is improving but is there any way you can have the rays in the background appear as though they are coming out of the trackball hole?  My mind's eye keeps being drawn to the where the rays would come together and then there is a point directly above there (the trackball hole) which throws everything off...  just a thought.   

[Bender]

I also think the artwork is improving but is there any way you can have the rays in the background appear as though they are coming out of the trackball hole?  My mind's eye keeps being drawn to the where the rays would come together and then there is a point directly above there (the trackball hole) which throws everything off...  just a thought.  

+1

[Gamester]

I also think the artwork is improving but is there any way you can have the rays in the background appear as though they are coming out of the trackball hole?  My mind's eye keeps being drawn to the where the rays would come together and then there is a point directly above there (the trackball hole) which throws everything off...  just a thought.   

Point taken, and I agree.  Here's what is *hopefully* the final revision.  I moved the rays so they originate behind the trackball, fixed a gap that was showing on the dragon's stomach, added a slight glow to its eyes to make it look a bit more sinister, and added a bit of an easter egg to the image.

I'm planning to print out a mockup tomorrow to see how everything looks at full size, and to make sure everything lines up with the CP the way it should.  If it checks out, I'm probably going to move forward.  I could probably analyze and tweak the thing 'til I'm blue in the face.  At some point I've got to draw the line and say it's good enough.  So far everyone I've shown the most recent version to really liked it, so that's encouraging.

Thanks for all the feedback guys...

[javeryh]

Looks GREAT!   

[Epyx]

Ya, much better with the rays emanating from the trackball

[Gamester]

Looks GREAT!   

Thanks for the compliments.

So I learned something during this process...  the printed art NEVER looks as bright and vivid as it does on the computer screen.  When I printed the mock up of what I thought would be the final revision (above), it turned out too muted, and all of the stars behind the light rays were way too obscured.  Once I brightened some things up and moved the star layer forward, it turned out really nice.  What looked too bright and busy on the computer screen actually looked fantastic when printed.

The moral of the story is that you cannot accurately judge CPO art by looking at it on the computer screen alone.  What may look too bright or busy on a relatively small screen may look much different at 3 feet wide.  If you have the means, print out a mockup and see what it looks like at full size.  If I had not done so, and tweaked things along the way, I'm certain I would be disappointed with the final printed overlay.

[Gamester]

Also, for anyone who might be curious as to exactly how I did the art mockups, I basically generated an PDF file from Photoshop, and actually printed it from Acrobat.  The full version of Acrobat has a feature that allows one to print an oversized image in "tiles" so that it can be printed on normal paper and then assembled afterward.  I know Acrobat is not the only software that has this ability, but since I already had it, that's what I used.

I basically just cut off any excess and taped the pieces together from behind.  Worked great and was really helpful in not only seeing what the image looked like at full size, but also for verifying the alignment of the CPO elements with the actual control panel.  I was fortunate enough to have a printer that does 11x17 prints, so it only took me 6 sheets to do, but the principal is obviously the same no matter what size paper you use.

[Gamester]

Well, been undertaking the not so fun task of painting and sanding on the control panel top and box.  Luckily the top doesn't have to be perfect since nobody will see it...     For painting, I ran some really long screws half way through the joystick mounting holes so that it would be elevated off the table surface.  This allowed me to flip it over while the paint was still wet, without having to worry about anything touching it.




The box on the other hand is definitely an exercise in patience, since I want it to have a nice smooth finish.  Nothing more depressing than taking a shiny, freshly painted surface and completely wrecking it with a sander.  Evening things out took some small areas back down to the primer.  Always feels like taking a big step backward, but I know it's a necessary evil, and the final finish will be much better for it.  Just not a very fun process right now...

[Gamester]

Received a package today... the printed overlay!  I'm happy to report, it turned out beautiful!  The attached picture certainly does not do it justice. 

Cutting the button and trackball holes out of this thing is going to be nerve-wracking! 

Anyway, hoping to start assembling the control panel this weekend...

[padstack]

Thanks Bender!  I got the trackball light from Groovy Game Gear.  It's part of his Electric Ice trackball lighting upgrade kit (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=273 )

Boy, maybe I should be hitting up RandyT for a commission check for all the press he's getting in my project thread!   

Dang... I wish they sold just the LED kit seperately. a superwhite LED would be nice to light up my translucent blue trackball rather than the hot bulb.

Not to hijack, but there is an option.  I forget the name, but I have one with a blue LED for my blue trackball. Was under $10.

[saleem]

i know what you feel like when you got to sand your paint down to get it smooth.nothing looks worse than a cab or cp that looks like its just been sprayed or painted.to get something special takes time,patience and work as you know yourself.

hell,i am still on my cab after weeks,enamel paint and i am wet sanding.

the trick i found is to get a couple layers on,then sand with wet and dry,get it smooth,even if you see primer,then get a couple more coats and repeat.

hoping eventualy it wont sand down to the primer.

just gotta be carefull not to think about putting too many layers of paint on cos if you do and theres roller marks etc,you wont be able to get them out without sanding down,so each layer needs a delicate sand down to get rid of blemishs if they exist.

good luck.
 

[Gamester]

Been working on the control panel on and off for the past few days.  I got the CP art overlay cut out without incident.  The approach I took was to sandwich the overlay between the CP and the acrylic, adjust it to the correct position, then choose one of the far left button holes and carefully cut it out.  As soon as that hole was complete, I simply stuffed a button into it so the rest of the CPO couldn't move laterally.  I then moved to one of the top left admin buttons, which then locked everything into place so it could not pivot either direction.  I then just carefully worked my way from left to right cutting out holes and stuffing buttons in them to maintain correct alignment.  Worked like a champ.

Also had the task of replacing the springs on the U360s (I ordered the optional "hard" springs).  Was slightly intimidating at first, but once I got it pulled apart, I was amazed at how simple the device really is, and reassembly was a snap.

Also, since I'm top mounting the U360s, I had to countersink the mounting holes so the screws would be flush.  Had to hunt around for a countersink bit that could be used on steel, but once I found one, I made quick work of it.





For mounting the joys, I got some 1 1/4" 8-32 flat top machine screws and attached them on the other side of the CP with flat washers, lock washers and nuts.

[Gamester]

Painting the CP box has been on hold for the past few days, but I made some progress on the panel.  Got the buttons, joys, spinner and trackball mounted.  I had an unfortunate problem with the GGG Electric Ice ball...  For some reason it would not roll smoothly in the Happ Trackball housing.  At first I suspected that I might have tightened the screws too much, causing it to bind, but alas, it happens even if I completely remove the screws.  Works just fine with the original ball, so I reinstalled it for now, and have sent RandyT a note to see what he makes of it.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming together.  Need to start wiring now.

[pinballwizard79]

Thats a good looking control panel, makes me want to put it in a cheerleader uniform &...................nevermind.