My 2nd Mame cabinet in the works...

[matt888]

Hey all!  Here's some pics on my 2nd cabinet.  My first was an aliens cab I converted, but I wanted to make one with 4 players and support for my WG9200- could someone please post the W x H dimensions for the 27" Happ monitor bezel please?  

When I get the control panel done (hopefully this weekend), I'll post it as I think you'll like it with the image I've had made earlier.  I'll be looking for black or a dark shade of it for the laminate shortly also.

The design is Lusids except I banked the arcade cabinet sides- not the control panel to ensure enough space for wires/controls etc...

Cheers!

[matt888]

Darn, I went to order the T-molding yesterday through T-molding.com and they don't sell 5/8" in grey.  I was hoping to go black laminate and grey T-molding, but now I've ordered black t-molding, so I may be looking for something different than black?  I do like the idea of a dark cabinet (vs yellow or red etc...)  
Suggestion guys/gals?  

[hulkster]

very cool cab dude.  have you put 4 people around the cp and tried it out for room?  my next cab will be a 4 player one, but im worried about elbow room and the players on the edge being able to see the screen.  your thoughts?

[SirPoonga]

Wow, you could double that control panel as a small boat

[matt888]

Thanks!
 

I've adjusted the layout by moving around the playing stations a bit to optimize it, but it's hard to tell until it's probably too late unless I build a test panel.  I'm going with the standard from left to right...player 3, player 1, 3' trackball, player 2, player 4.  Above those, spinner and 4-way(not sure what 4-way to go with??).  Of course, the coin/start buttons for each station and 4-5 black or white administrative buttons(what do I really need?  Keep in mind I'll be using Mamwah).

I believe the trackball takes care of players 1 and 2 spacing.  The angle of players 3 and 4 should take care of them!  Players 3 and 4 have 4 buttons a piece ...not the 7 like players 1 and 2

I had the "wifey" position herself around the panel with me next to her and it seemed good.  The panel is very large Sirpoonga!    I think the pics make it seem really overwhelming, but in-person it actually looks really good.  I hit the cp angle and standing height perfect!

Now I just need my bud to come by and get my 2 player mame cab outta my house!

I'll post some pics of the lamination job in a few days too.

 

[hulkster]

well you could easily do a cp mockup....just get some foam board and cut the holes and put he buttons and joysticks in and there you go!

[matt888]

speaking of the cp...

I've got the Oscar mouse interface with the buttons working with my trackball.  If I get a spinner, can I just splice into the mouse interface on the x-axis and go to the spinner also?  That way I can just use either one since I won't be using them at the same time.

[matt888]

Update all...

Spent the entire weekend getting this bad boy up and going.  It's still missing  T-molding, marquee, spinner, and a yellow joystick(back ordered out here in Vegas).

Buttons are a little mixed up, but working it out now.

The pics!

[Apollo]

That's a nice job but I think you will find you have too much slope on your panel and that your trackball is all but unusable with player 2's joystick right next to it.
Anyway looks nice  

[Brax]

Its a real shame you didn't put that trackball mounting plate under your artwork. It really is too bad you chose to showcase a black square as opposed to your artwork.

Very close to getting it right though. It looks fine except for that glaring point.  

[matt888]

I hope player 2's joystick doesn't get in the way either...guess I'll have to see.

By the way, how do I change or map the inputs for the players for mame in mamewah?  Buttons 1-8 are all mixed up!  when I'm in mamewah and I select control options, I just get button speed and double jump settings.  When i look in the mamewah config file it shows a list of numbers for the inputs but there's no way to tell which is which?  I've hit Tab during a game and configured the controls through mame, but they don't get loaded when playing mamewah.  I missing something here...please help!  

[matt888]

well, I can config the games individually, but not the "global" button configs with the Mame TAB key.  Better than nothing!  

[matt888]

REAL BAD NEWS folks -

The WG 9200 went grey/green after 4 days!  I will be calling American Gaming tomorrow.

I'll post results in the monitor section under another poor guy's same topic.  There seems to be a pattern here with these pieces of ****.  Part my fault for thinking that a refurbished one would be ok.  I'm really wishing I paid the extra 150-200 at this point now...I'll see what I can swing with the company.  

[SNAAAKE]

 
You forgot the mention who created the artwork ?  
Looks GREAT ! !.
EVERYTHING looks perfect !
Quick question,the cabinet is painted right?

[matt888]

I took the image with me to work and printed it off a 10,000 dollar printer!     It's not vector art but looks really sweet.....and it was free!

The cabinet is completely covered in charcoal laminate (except the back)

Laminate is awesome stuff...looks great and is very forgiving and tough!  

[SNAAAKE]

I took the image with me to work and printed it off a 10,000 dollar printer!     It's not vector art but looks really sweet.....and it was free!

The cabinet is completely covered in charcoal laminate (except the back)

Laminate is awesome stuff...looks great and is very forgiving and tough!  

 .....

  LOL
WHO did the photoshop work ? ?  
Good to know the cab is laminated.I was slighty confused but now I know...
LAMINATE RULES ! !

[matt888]

Latest pic!  Monitor situation resolved (when working with power tools near the WG9200, be prepared to have to fix your colors due to electromagnetic interference!  Anyways,  it's just missing the spinner and a little bit of grey seamfill.  Yhe terrible digital picture sure doesn't do it justice - she came out perfect for me!  My buds and I have been pounding away on it for days.  Trackball location is great...haven't hit P2 joystick at all...just got to be careful not to bring the hand through the monitor on Golden Tee    
I absolutely love the Competition Joys!  I had Ultimates before and couldn't hit diagonals worth Sheeeet!  Hit em all the time now!  I've got 2 orders in for this cabinet and will be making them in VERY small quantities for friends, but word has spread fast!  I really don't have time to make these, but it's hard to pass up the money!  
Oh yes, it only happened once (1 too many times) , but how do you disable the windows quick keys?  Like when you hit shift or ctrl and another button that corresponds to making a window minimize or maximize etc...  Few days ago the XP tool bar showed up on the bottom while playing because of this I think!  Thanks!   Also, why does Mamwah save individual game cfg's but not a "global" cgf so you don't have to config each game (like all the buttons in every fighting game).  I remember Arcade at Home letting you set the keys once and it remembered them for every single game!   Cheers!  



 

[JoeB]

To disable the windows shift key, you get either click the shift key 5 times, click on settings, and go through the menus..

or go to the control pannel, click on acesability, and it's the same settings.

You have to disable it or else it will bother you forever.

[pathdoc2]

Great job.  Looks very professional.

[tmasman]

It sounds like you might have hit Ctrl+Esc... That's the short-cut to bring up the start menu...
Hm... I don't know if you can disable that one... I'll look around.

Mamwah configs???
I just use the tab key in MAME to set my configurations... You get 2 options... Global & this game.

By the way...
How much are you charge/asking for the ones you're making for others? (I'm looking to build a couple for friends & others as well)

[Dartful Dodger]

Playing Golden Tee makes Rayden a happy warrior.

Your cabinet looks great, thanks for the inspiration.

[matt888]

Thanks guys.  I'm really pleased with it too.  It's funny how much you learn from doing 1 cabinet and then realize what you REALLY want in cabinet 2.  I couldn't handle it anymore and this was the result.

tmasman - deciding on a price was a bit difficult and there's alot of factors...your quality of parts, craftsmanship, to name a few, but I built it with all of the best components I could buy and it came to around $1300 in materials.  Obviously, building your own PC like I did through www.newegg.com is alot of bang for the buck and be sure to put a large arcade monitor like the 9200 series.  There's 2 companies on the internet that ask between $4-5,000 depending on if it's 2 or 4 players and 27 or 33" monitor equiped.  In my mind, making additional units would be where you'd make a killing because your costs go down and you really could knock out all of the steps at the same time (cut all the same pieces for all the arcades at once).  One of my buds at work agreed for $3400 and I'm looking into setting up a booth at a local home improvement place in Vegas.  I would probably ask $3600 or so and you would be able to put any image you wanted on top or CP and have a choice of any color combination in controls...and of course, choice of 240 laminate styles.   Obviously, no roms would be included.

It's still alot of work to make one of these things as most on here know....especially to really finish one off nicely because it's all the little things that take the time (not just cutting the wood!)    I would prefer to only make maybe 1-2 a month and give them that "special touch" ya know, plus I need other time to work on my other hobbies!!!
 
Cheers to the whole Arcade Controls community!

[matt888]

Well, I've been forced by friends and family to make them available.  We'll initially take on 1-2 orders a month to ensure quality.  I'd rather have 1 or 2 folks a month very happy than 10 wanting to kill me!  

It'll take a few days to get the site full up.  We're already working on a cab ordered this week.

www.competitivegaming.com

Cheers to this awesome community!   Matt

[Sprucemoose]

Matt888,

What is your "500 point inspection?"

[matt888]

Since we're not using "computer controlled routers" like others claim and are not just going to slap everything together, our quality control has to be alot more strict.  Basically comes down to every last screw, angle, software, and hardware check.  Absolutely nothing will be assumed to work.  This is exactly why production will be very limited - just too time consuming.  

I sense a bit of sarcasm Sprucemoose, but it's all good!  

[Salellron]

Definately a very professional looking piece of art. Great job!

Sal

[matt888]

Thank you Sal!  I honestly did not intend to make any more... I just wanted a machine for my buddies and I to play with 4 stations and great components! I guess it was how "clean" it came out that others pushed me to put some up for sell.  I really do enjoy working with wood, electrons, and software all at once!