My First Project! "Freakin' Sweet Arcade" updated w/ pics 2/11/10

[Charlie97L]

Hey guys!

Well, I've decided to bite the bullet and get started on my first MAME project (finally).  This is a bartop for my fiancee's home office, and I'm doing it as a test for a 2 or 4P upright in the basement that I would like to get going sometime before the end of the calendar year, depending on the money.

My fiancee grew up playing in bowling alley arcades in the 80s while her parents were bowling, so she has a great affinity for the classics.  I'm actually going to limit this machine to about 40 games, the big hits.  She also doesn't like trackball or spinner games, so those are out.

Her favorite is Pac-Man, so I'm loosely basing the art theme around that.  A few details on the project.

Getting a bartop kit preassembled from Cronin (www.ccarcades.com).  I looked at the mameroom one for a while, but i prefer the shape of Cronin's design.   It's going to be laminated bright blue with black t-moulding.

I'm using an LCD for this project, just so the cab won't be giant or heavy, but I do plan to snag an arcade monitor for the future upright, so don't worry, CRT lovers.    I have my eye on an Acer on newegg.  I've had good luck with those in the past.

I am going to order a U360 red balltop (when it's back in stock) with a circular restrictor and hard spring, based on the recommendations of this forum to get that 80s feel.  I went back and forth on the 4/8 way debate, but one of my fiancee's requests was TMNT and the Simpsons, so I wanted a stick that worked 8 way well, too.  Also snagged a minipac and a bunch of buttons.  Andy at Ultimarc has been awesome with responding to questions.  Great service.

The 6 P1 game buttons are going to be red, and the control buttons, black.  Went with 6 P1 because the original SFII is another favorite of my lady.

We are going with the classic arcade maze mamemarquees art for the CP overlay and the marquee.  Should end up looking very nice.

Now...

A few questions for you awesome BYOAC members...

I have a few old PC's laying around (4-5 years old, single core pentium 1.8-3.0 ghz ish).  Would that be good to run MAME if I'm not trying to do anything too current?  Would I have to roll back to an earlier version of mame?  Are there walkthroughs on how to do that?

Is there anywhere I can snag some generic Pacman side art?  I'm not looking for repros of the original cabs, more along the lines of the 25th anniversary art.

Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as the stuff I ordered arrives!  

Btw, thanks to the member who did the Glory Days and Rainy Days threads, he was a great inspiration!

Charles

[saleem]

yes a single core 2ghz+ is more than ample for your needs,try 512mb ram but,i would say get 1 gb to be safe.nice decent hdd and thats it.

my upright home build will just have an old 18" eizo i have,same deal as you,want to cut down on weight.so i would not recommend going all out and splashing big bucks on fancy lcd monitor.just an old one will suffice,as long as it dont have blemish's on it or dead pixels i am sure you could easily live with it.

[Charlie97L]

thanks, yeah i'm not getting a fancy one, but i don't have any old ones laying around.  i live in DC, and honestly, used stuff here is either beat to crap, or not that much cheaper than the original, so i might as well get a new one.

[brock.sampson]

The one problem I have seen with lcds is viewing angle.  I would double check the specs of your monitor and make sure it will work especially if you are turning it vertical.

[Charlie97L]

well the cab design is meant to have an LCD in it, so it's not at an extreme tilt or anything.

http://croninsarcade.com/Gallery.htm  the default pic is the cabinet i'm getting, but in blue.

this is the monitor i'm looking at getting -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009187&cm_re=19%22acer-_-24-009-187-_-Product

160 viewing angle, both ways.  it's pretty much straight on from the player position.  i'm not going to be turning it vertical, just not allowing the games to stretch.  behind smoked plexi, it'll be fine.

i would like to have a CRT, but i wouldn't want to use anything not an arcade monitor, and besides, i don't want a bartop that weighs 90 pounds... it's just not realistic for a machine that size, IMO.

[saleem]

the problem here is.it has a 19" lcd screen in the prebuilt one but,that might be the 19" screen and not the actual monitor.cos when you look at the specs for the size it says 19 1/2 " wide.so did you decide that you are decasing the monitor or are you leaving it whole?have you checked to find out if the screen will need decasing or if it can be used with the whole intact monitor with the place you are purchasing the bartop from?

cos i am sure you are wanting to buy a 19" monitor.

[BobA]

Remember monitors are measured on the diagonal for size not the horizontal.  Should fit OK

[Charlie97L]

it will fit without decasing, I have checked the measurements.  the mounting plate sort of requires you keep the case on, so that was factored in.

thanks! 

[Charlie97L]

woo!  got in my shipment from ultimarc... all the buttons, minipac, and the mods for the u360 that i finally got to order today.

very excited.  I'll get some pics up tomorrow.

[Charlie97L]

well, i can't find my camera's interface USB, so the pics are being delayed. 

been messing around with MaLa, I think that's the frontend i'm going to use.  It's pretty lightweight, which is great, as this is going to be a pretty simple cab.

u360 is on the way, finally, and i'm ordering the art from Mamemarquees and some stuff from newegg next week, I believe.

i'm excited that it's finally coming together!

[Charlie97L]

annd i found an 8ms 19" sony lcd at my dad's that we forgot we still had.  no dead pixels, but it will need to be partiall decased at least, as it's got a weird swoopy case.  i tested it out and it looks great.

very excited though   disassembled the pc today, found a new laptop HDD (also at my dad's) that i forgot we never used... he has a closet of electronics junk.  thank god.  too bad i'm trapped in by a blizzard.

i found my usb camera plug, so i'll get some pics up tonight.

[Charlie97L]

ok so here are some pics!  thanks again to andy at ultimarc for his great service.

buttons!


misc parts


ultrastick 360 with hard spring and circular restricting plate (long handle is in the mail)


pc parts, with 160gb laptop hard drive, 3.0ghz, 1gb ram.  i'm just going to run sound off of the mobo.  all i need are some new fans.

[Charlie97L]

19" lcd that i'm using.

this screen looks amazing, but i'm trying to figure out how to decase it.  i think it'll need to be, because of the feet.  at worst, i can cut off the legs, but that seems like a sloppy solution to me.


it's a sony sdm-hs95p if anyone is interested or has tips on how to get it apart... it's maybe 5 years old, but it was $$ as crap when my father got it for his desktop.  he's since moved on to bigger monitors, and donated this to the cause.  i tested it out and the lag/ghosting is barely noticeable.  the fiancee was more than happy with the picture, so that's good enough for me!

[Charlie97L]

can anyone recommend a quiet fan that's 80mm, that's not ridiculously expensive?

[mn_big_dog]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999071&cm_re=80mm-_-11-999-071-_-Product

I use these all the time.  Work great, and almost silent.

[Charlie97L]

thanks  man!

[HaRuMaN]

Or you can buy this one, and get free shipping (save you around 5 bucks over that other fan):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103025

[Charlie97L]

thanks for the suggestions guys!

to update, i'm in talks about getting some custom art done, Erin changed her mind to a Family Guy theme... So i'm going to get at minimum a CPO, marquee. and custom MaLa theme.  Side art is iffy right now.

also, hopefully jason will be able to start on the cab this week!  very excited.

[Charlie97L]

PROBLEM

well, unfortunately, my bartop with cronin fell through.  his CNC contractor was just not being cooperative.

so, is my only option for an LCD based bartop mameroom then?  i just don't have the tools or space to do this on my own from scratch.

charlie

[HaRuMaN]

I think emdkay (member here) offers bartop kits as well. 

[Charlie97L]

yeah but he doesn't have an LCD specific one, does he.

[bigpete405]

   I'm not sure when, but I took my cabinet to a cnc shop yesterday to get 10 replica's cut out perfect... so now I'm just waiting to here back. I have a bunch of people on youtube that want them, so if your interested and like the design let me know. I have no idea how much it will cost yet, but I can tell you that it will look just like the one I built, and every panel will be 3/4" black melamine, laminated black on both sides, so there is no painting required, you just need to put your choice of t-molding on. Just something to think about if you can't find a design you like anywhere else. 

[Charlie97L]

thanks for the offer!

i decided that i'm probably just going to go with the mameroom kit.  not ideal, but i'm on a deadline, so.  yeah.

[bigpete405]

I hear ya, I'm just as impatient when it comes to projects. If you change your mind, or if you don't like your cab let me know. 

[Charlie97L]

it's not so much impatience as it is needing to be done by the fiancee's birthday, which is rapidly approaching. 

[bigpete405]

Lol, women can't live with em can't live without em. Out to dinner with the Chick now.