First Project: MegaTokyo MAME!!

[Aithos]

So first thing I'd like to point out in my edit/update is I've decided on a name for my project:  Welcome to MegaTokyo MAME!  I was having a really hard time deciding on a color set/theme since I don't want to base it on any dedicated game and wanted something unique.  I decided on MegaTokyo since I've been a big fan of the webcomic (shameless plug:  go to www.megatokya.com) basically since the beginning and I don't think it's been done before.  I haven't gotten any actual artwork nailed down but I think if I do sideart it will be tasteful and be something like this:

Player 1 Side: Junpei
Player 2 Side: Miho
Marquis:  Basic text with japanese wording below, like their website, maybe a small graphic
Bezel:  Nothing
CP:  Not sure yet, open to ideas

For colors you can see a neat colorpicker on W3Schools http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_colorpicker.asp?colorhex=696969
I'm thinking dark gray:  #454545 or a deep blue/green: #00293D as the base color and using complimentary colors for the rest of the cabinet.  I want the cabinet to look sleek and sexy, not bright and bold.  If I do the megatokyo art I'm going to have to incorporate black, purple and pink because of the characters, on top of white, gray and blue which are my staple colors.  I can work it out, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the button colors since I don't know yet if I'm going to be able to make the artwork happen for the sides.  I have basicly two or three posibilities with the 7 button per player layout I pick:

1)One color buttons per player - blue for player 1, either red pink or yellow for player 2 depending on artwork/cabinet color
2)Neo Geo colors for bottom 4 buttons on each side and different colors for the top 3 for each player
3)4 total colors - 2 colors for each player, 1 for top and 1 for bottom

I'm leaning more towards the first two options, but the reason I'm having a hard time is I don't have the cabinet colors or artwork set yet and I want the whole cabinet to have subtle, sleek colors.  I don't want to end up with a blue cabinet and pink and yellow buttons.  Likewise I don't want a grey cabinet with black buttons, etc.  I have the hardware picked out though:

2 Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT Joysticks with Octagon restrictors
2-4 Seimitsu 24mm screw in buttons for p1&2 start and menu/exit (I may hide these on the side or put them on the front like Bubble Bobble start buttons)
14 Seimitsu PS-14GN screw in buttons

For the control panel itself I am either going to need to buy, build or seriously modify the existing one.  The game was originally a Pit Fighter and was converted at some point to a Deer Hunting USA.  I have the cabinet in my garage but haven't been able to fully take it apart yet due to a lack of tools to remove certain components.  I'm in an APT and since it is in my garage I have little access to it atm.  I also have a bulging disc in my back as of yesterday so I've been in quite a bit of pain and can't currently move or disassemble anything.  Since I don't see any joystick or button holes I'm assuming they either plugged or covered them with artwork, I'm a little loathe to pull the CP apart and find a ton of holes in it.  I'm just hoping if I can modify it that I can just cut and route a replacement top piece and use most of the original since I don't want to have to completely make one myself.

Here are some better pictures of the cabinet in my garage, I'll get some more as I take the artwork off, strip the paint, take all the stuff out and start ripping wiring out.  Since I'm going to use a computer I know I need the monitor (25" K7000 series Wells Gardner) to have the isolated transformer, but I'm not very familiar with electrical, do I still need the actual Power supply?  I would ultimately like the coin doors to still operate the coin for P1 and P2 but if it makes the wiring much easier that wouldn't be a deal breaker.  I guess that is it for now, I'll update again soon and if anyone is interested in buying the Deer Hunting USA board, marquis and gun I don't want or need it, it was working when I purchased the game!    Thanks again guys.

[FrizzleFried]

I have a real easy way for you to hook up your PC to your arcade monitor... unfortunately for you it would require purchasing something from the very guy you attacked in your very first post on these forums... so I figure you're not interested...

[JustMichael]

The most confusing thing so far is going to be how to hook up my DVI 7800GTX nvidia card to the WG K7000 series monitor.  I've seen people wire up custom connectors but my area of expertise is not electrical, so if anyone has a guide or solution I would appreciate it.

Well since the monitor requires a 15Khz horizontal frequency I was going to recommend you take a look at the ArcadeVGA 3000 but since you said

Why are people paying money for an outdated video card with some non-authentic drivers that have custom resolutions punched in?  I guess it must
be a convenience thing since people are lazy and don't want to figure out all the resolutions, refresh rates, color depths, etc.  I think I'll just do it myself
though and then upgrade to a much better card for the same price if I want to play SFIV.  Hell of a sales tactic though, bravo.

You obviously don't want to be "lazy" and clearly you want to do it all by yourself.  I have no idea on how to do it and I wish you luck on figuring out all the resolutions, refresh rates, color depths, etc. by yourself.

[Aithos]

I have a real easy way for you to hook up your PC to your arcade monitor... unfortunately for you it would require purchasing something from the very guy you attacked in your very first post on these forums... so I figure you're not interested...

I have actually purchased things from him already, and as my response on his thread says I don't have a problem with him, his products, his prices or anything.  I didn't mean for it to come off as an attack, I was rather upset by other things when I made the post and I worded it very poorly.  It is upsetting to me when people try to take credit for something that isn't their work, when they say something is something that it isn't, or when information can be construed as misleading and deceitful.  That card is named something that it isn't, he doesn't give credit to the manufacturor, he makes it sound on his website like it is a specially made card FOR arcade monitors when it is not and people can flame me all they want it is my opinion and belief and I have seen nothing to the contrary.

All it would take for me to be happy is the actual brand, model and modifications listed in plain english on the webpage.  in Nvidia terms if it's a:  BFG Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX with a modded rom chip and custom bios then that is what I want to see on the webpage, it is accurate and truthful.  He isn't soldering these parts together himself, he isn't making custom drivers from scratch (meaning every line of code).  It's a nice thing he is doing, and it is very convenient for those who don't have the time or knowledge to do it themselves.  I just don't like the wording.  And the fact people jump up like good little fanboys and put me down for being "new" or "stupid" only pisses me off.  I've been a reader
here for a good deal longer than I've had an account, I only registered to PM a guy about his artwork downloads and decided to go ahead and start a thread.  After what I've seen thus far I think I just won't post and go back to reading only.

[Donkbaca]

I find most people on here to be frienfly, honest and helpful.  The reason we stick up for guys like Randy and Andy and others is that if it weren't for them this hobby would die or not nearly be as big.  These guys cant make that much money because this hobby just isnt that big and if you have read any of the threads about the pains they go through to get new products produced, and if you have ever received their support for ine of their products, you might be a little more understanding.  Also, on your point, so what if the card isn't built from scratch.  Are you saying that keyboard encoders are ripoffs and we should all just havk keyboards?  His card works and he is the only one that sells it. The reason you are getting smacked around is that you basically called him out as a fraud and said he was ripping people off. You also kind of back handedly called anyone that has bought his card dumb and lazy. Now you need his product for your build and it's basically time to put your money where your mouth is and either apologize and buy the card it show us how smart you are and hook things up without it.
Do one of those two things and people will get off your back

[Aithos]

lol, I had this thread posted for days before I posted in his thread.  And what I meant in this thread is I need a physical cable to hook from my video card to the monitor.  I'd rather not spend the time making one myself since it isn't something I enjoy.  I don't like doing physical electrical work, same reason I'm not going to do a cap kit on my monitor after I yank it out of there, I don't solder stuff.  I wasn't referring to settings, I have two options for software: soft 15khz or I can plug in custom resolutions through the nvidia control panel (which I have full listings of thanks to various websites).  At any rate, I already deleted my other posts and I apologized for the way I worded my post.  It wasn't how I wanted it to come off but I'm not changing my opinion.  I still don't like the way it is worded and nothing short of it being changed will change my mind.  I stated several times previous to deleting my other posts: I don't have a problem with Andy, his products, his prices or anything else.  I actually have a lot of respect for him in other regards, I just HATE the way his card is presented/marketed.  I can't say it any more clearly than that, if people have a problem with that then it is just too bad.  I do find it amusing though that people who agree with me send me PMs and the people who defend him post in the thread, lol.

[JustMichael]

It is upsetting to me when people try to take credit for something that isn't their work, when they say something is something that it isn't, or when information can be construed as misleading and deceitful.

You really have absolutely NO clue as to the amount of work that AndyWarne put into his video cards.  Exactly what information is misleading or deceitful?  All the information looks fine to me.  If any of the information is inaccurate I am sure AndyWarne would correct it just as soon as he is notified of the inaccuracy.

That card is named something that it isn't

The name "ArcadeVGA" makes me think I can output a vga image to a arcade monitor.  The card seems to do this just fine.  I supposed you would complain that all the Chevy Nova's don't explode like a sun at the end of their life?  Speaking of exploding, the Ford Pinto's were known for an exploding gas tank.  Should they have been named Ford Nova's instead?

he doesn't give credit to the manufacturor,

I would think that the big ATI sticker in the middle of the fan on the picture of the card would tell you it is based on a ATI chipset card?  Also right above the picture he states: "Performance Enhanced RV630 512Mb Version"
Both of these things tells me that this is a modified ATI RV630 reference card.

he makes it sound on his website like it is a specially made card FOR arcade monitors when it is not and people can flame me all they want it is my opinion and belief and I have seen nothing to the contrary.

Considering the differences Andy outlines on the FAQ page for his card, it sure makes it sound like he took a standard ATI chipset and created "a specially made card FOR arcade monitors".  Can the card only be used with arcade monitors?  No, thankfully.  It is sure a lot easier to do most of the setup and testing of the frontend and Mame on a pc monitor.

All it would take for me to be happy is the actual brand, model and modifications listed in plain english on the webpage.  in Nvidia terms if it's a:  BFG Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX with a modded rom chip and custom bios then that is what I want to see on the webpage, it is accurate and truthful.

Why not ask BFG to list on their webpage what modifications they did on their version of the Nvidia 7800 GTX compared to the reference Nvidia 7800 GTX card?  Andy tells more on his FAQ page for his card than BFG ever will.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of the stuff you want to know is covered under a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).

He isn't soldering these parts together himself,

So? BFG didn't solder the parts themselves (it was outsourced to factories in China).

he isn't making custom drivers from scratch (meaning every line of code).

So? BFG didn't make custom drivers from scratch, they took the Nvidia reference drivers and modified them to fit their card.

Honestly to me it sounds like Andy produces these cards the same way as other manufacturers of video cards do, as a joint venture with the chipset maker (which is probably full of Non-Disclosure Agreements).

I just don't like the wording.

Tough!  Trust me this won't be the only thing you don't like in life.

And the fact people jump up like good little fanboys and put me down for being "new" or "stupid" only pisses me off.

Well when your words insult AndyWarne, a respected vendor here, people will step in to defend him.  Also slamming a product that would work in your own situation doesn't really make much sense to me.

Looking at the 2 replies before this comment of yours was made, I don't see anyone putting you down for being new or stupid.  Both posts just brought your own words back to haunt you.  The internet is good for that kind of stuff.  Now if you feel new or stupid, I can't help with that.

And what I meant in this thread is I need a physical cable to hook from my video card to the monitor.  I'd rather not spend the time making one myself since it isn't something I enjoy.  I don't like doing physical electrical work, same reason I'm not going to do a cap kit on my monitor after I yank it out of there, I don't solder stuff.

And here I thought wiring stuff up was a large part of making a Mame cabinet especially when the cabinet is already built.
Since your going to yank the monitor out, why not just replace it with a lcd pc monitor? Or even a small lcd tv that has an rgb video input?

I just HATE the way his card is presented/marketed.  I can't say it any more clearly than that, if people have a problem with that then it is just too bad.

His card seems to be marketed as a drop in solution to connect a pc to an arcade monitor.  The card does this function just fine.  Why would you hate something that works as it is supposed to?  Ohhhh I understand why now... because you don't have one in your pc....

I do find it amusing though that people who agree with me send me PMs and the people who defend him post in the thread, lol.

I find that the truth stands up to the light of day way better than any old lie does.

[Aithos]

I think you need to go read my other posts in the other thread, most of what I was saying was in response to what was over there.  On top of that I've already apologized
and admitted I was wrong.  I didn't realize that he developed them in conjunction with ATI since there is no information that would lead me to that conclusion on his website
at all.  I'm only pulling the monitor out so that I can strip and paint inside and out.  It isn't painted inside at all and I would like to at least spray it black, I sure can't do that
without yanking the monitor out.  It also makes the cabinet less heavy so I can get it up from my garage and into my apartment, I don't live in a house and I have stairs to go
up to make this work.  I don't want to make a cable, I don't mind wiring, I am going to wire my cabinet for power and wire my CP, I don't want to fabricate a cable to physically
connect my video card to the monitor if I don't have to.  If I have to then I'd like a guide since I don't have time to figure it all out on my own when I have no background in cables.

[Lo_Wire]

Find another hobby dude...

Dont be hassling Andy, Ipacs' are top notch.

[crip102468]

I've been lurking here for a while and decided it was time to start my own topic.  To give you a bit of background:  I'm 30 years old, live in and grew up in the middle of nowhere Iowa.  I'm a computer programmer working as a contractor for a local company partnered with the Army.  I grew up playing games and no console or pc game has ever quite captured the thrill of playing games like Double Dragon, Bubble Bobble, Final Fight, etc in the arcade in the late 80s and early 90s.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I've been reading and doing research on various forums for literally months now.  I have come to quite a few decisions but am still working out some details so this is going to be my thread with pictures and questions throughout this process.

This weekend I picked up a Deer Hunting USA cabinet in good structural condition, fully working with a 25" wells gardner k7000 monitor in it.  I would have preferred to do a dedicated Bubble Bobble build in a Taito cabinet for my first project, but since original Taito boards aren't super easy to get I'm going to do a MAME build using one of my many custom built computers for the internals.  I don't have it yet since I am waiting for delivery from the local amusements company I don't have pictures yet but I'll add those as soon as I get it in my possession.  I'm going to gut the cabinet, I'll probably sell the PCB if anyone is interested (it definitely works but I'll test the controls when I get it).  I'm planning on either hiring someone or doing a cap kit on the monitor while I have it out to do case work.  I am going to use oil based primer/paint for the cabinet but haven't decided if I want simple sides, custom artwork or vinyl.

I am going to have to remove and either custom build or modify the CP since Deer Hunting USA only has a Gun and no joystick to speak of.  I'll take a closer look at it once I get it home and decide from there.  I know I want Sanwa Joysticks and Buttons but I'm having a hard time deciding between a couple sets:  The JLF Joysticks sound great for 8 way games, but I'm a bit concerned that 4 way or 2 way games like Bubble Bobble won't play as accurately.  The second option is the JLW but I'm not sure I'd want to continuously have to switch the restrictor so I'm having a hard time deciding.  The buttons seem to be an easy choice, I'm going to get screw style OBSN 30 buttons.  However, I'm wanting the OBSN-30RG version and the only place I have found them wants like 650 yen (roughly 8.00) per button and ships out of Japan.  If anyone knows where to get these a bit more reasonably or if they are always 3x the cost let me know cause at this point I can't tell if that's normal or not.

The most confusing thing so far is going to be how to hook up my DVI 7800GTX nvidia card to the WG K7000 series monitor.  I've seen people wire up custom connectors but my area of expertise is not electrical, so if anyone has a guide or solution I would appreciate it.  I'll post some more details and pictures later this week as I get stuff figured out.  I'm really excited about getting this started, I think the worst thing is going to be waiting to start the work once I start ordering parts.  Thanks in advance for any advice and answers!

Rory

Edit:  Remembered I had two pictures taken with my crappy camera phone, here they are.  Better ones to come when I have it here and can use my digital camera


[/quote] No one cares  

[Aithos]

Find another hobby dude...

Dont be hassling Andy, Ipacs' are top notch.

[Aithos]

No one cares  

You apparently did.

[Aithos]

from the other thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=100074.msg1133311#msg1133311

Apology fully accepted, thanks..

Andy

move along please.

[JustMichael]

I'm only pulling the monitor out so that I can strip and paint inside and out.  It isn't painted inside at all and I would like to at least spray it black, I sure can't do that
without yanking the monitor out.  It also makes the cabinet less heavy so I can get it up from my garage and into my apartment, I don't live in a house and I have stairs to go
up to make this work.

I am glad you are going to paint the inside of the cabinet.  People seem to forget that paint helps protect and stabilize the wood. Yes, removing as much as you can from the cabinet will make it lighter but I would still recommend an appliance dolly and at least one big strong friend.  If you don't have the dolly they can be rented for the day for around $10.

[MikeyMerse]

It's not in the nature of the hobby or the culture of BYOAC members to turn people away.  He has already admitted he was mistaken, apologized, and it has been accepted by many. It also takes a big man to do that and then remain here after the incident.

On topic: I like the Sanwa JLF's. I customized it with nylon washers around the screws in the restrictor plate so I could rotate them on the fly in 2 seconds.  Just make sure your control panel is hinged or you can reach them through the coin door.  Good luck with the project, I'll be watching.

[Aithos]

Thanks Mikey.  I'm updating my top post at the moment since I've got some new pictures and
made some decisions since I created it.  Check it out and I'll definitely ask for more opinions once
I've got some basic work done and am getting ready to order the rest of the parts I need.

[Aithos]

I have also noticed that Andy has a breakout VGA cable on his website that hooks up directly to the Wells Gardner monitors, so I'm going to be purchasing one of those to go with my Ipac2.  So now I'm wondering if I should get one of the amplifiers or just let it run at 1v instead of 5v since Wells Gardner can do that.  The way I understand it is that it will be much dimmer and I will have to crank the brightness to make it look decent.  I would prefer to use 5v if it has a better picture, but I am very inexperienced when it comes to soldering stuff and want to stay within my own ability here.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I don't want to do shoddy work, and I realize this thing won't ever be as nice looking as my 50" pioneer elite plasma but I'd like it to be as good as I can make it.  Opinions?

I'm currently set to be using an AMD x2 4400+ 2.36ghz cpu, it will be running a 750 watt PSU, initially an EVGA GeForce 7800gtx and 4gb of high performance mushkin ram.  I'll also have a raptor 74gb HDD and be running windows 7 64bit with all of the performance tweaks done.  I'm going to try both sofk 15khz and making custom resolutions through the nvidia control panel since I'm pretty familiar with software tweaking.  Eventually I'll be rebuilding my current machine (possibly even before this project is done) and then I'll have a i7860, EVGA P55 FTW motherboard, EVGA GeForce 260 FTW, the 750 watt PSU (I'll be reusing my corsair 1000 watt in my next build) and possibly an 80gb SSD depending on price.  I'm going to be running Wolfmame .106 so that I can record and submit for twingalaxies (recently submitted a new WR, I'll announce after it is verified) and haven't decided on a frontend yet.  I have played with Mala a bit but I'm open to suggestions here too.  I don't need a ton of bells and whistles, just smooth operation.  I'm not going to have 2000 games or anything, I'll probably have 50-100 tops.  I'm more interested in stuff I'm going to play than having everything.  I own pretty much every one of the games that will be on here for one console or another, now I want the arcade feel and authenticity instead of a nintendo or ps3 controller. 

[Donkbaca]

 Good luck! Keep us posted!

[LeedsFan]

I think some of you guys are being way too hard on the OP. He's apologised and it's been accepted by Andy. Plus he's still bought stuff from Ultimarc.

Regarding the joysticks I'd really like to see more details from MikeyMerse regarding his mod of the JLFs. There are two things that put me off those sticks. The fact that swapping between 4-way and 8-way didn't look quick/easy and also that in 4-way you can still hit the diagonals.

I don't think Soft 15KHz works at all with Windows 7. I've been trying to find this out for certain. I've yet to see anyone post here to say that that they've had it working on Win7. I could be wrong of course, and I hope I am because I'd like to give it a go on my next project too.

[Aithos]

I didn't get to do much of anything this weekend because of some real life drama.  But I can get you an answer about the windows 7 thing, I got my mame machine up and running after I figured out my power supply was dead.  I have a new one on order so as soon as it comes in I already have the operating system, mame and front ends all installed from when I had my main PSU in it for diagnosis (aka swapping random known working parts, lol).  I thought I saw someone had it working, but if not I'll be doing custom resolutions with the base nvidia drivers.  My back is getting better slowly so I should be able to get this in the apt and get started by next weekend.  I'd be curious about mods for the JLF, I just decided the few games I'm interested in that aren't 8 way I'll have to deal with since I want the precise control for fighters.  I'm a big fan of the oldschool street fighter games and I happen to like some of the Neo Geo ones, so that's a big thing for me.  It's bed for me now though, 6am comes far too soon!

[Aithos]

Got the cabinet all taken apart today, had to get a security bit set to remove the control panel and it took some fancy ratcheting to get the monitor bolts out since it was a pretty tight fit.  But I got all the wires undone, just a few more bolts to remove the coin bucket area.  I also still need to remove a bit of wiring from the marquis area, the speaker and the power for the cabinet then I'm going to heat the sideart off and see what I have to do as far as stripping/sanding to get the old paint off.  I'll get some pics taken before the weekend is up. 

I found that I need to make a new top piece for the CP, the current one isn't going to work so I'm going to just sell it with the PCB, marquis.  Although it's a single piece so I should be able to route a new top and plexi really easily.  I've decided on my layout, going to use a 7 button layout with 3 on top 4 on bottom so I can use the bottom 4 for neo geo games and the right 6 for normal fighting games.  I'll get a pic up with a design as soon as I have it made, I'm still working on artwork for the CP and haven't found a good program besides photoshop for making a drilling diagram.  This is just a quick update since I've had a busy week, have a couple 4 day weekends coming up this month so hoping to really hammer out some work then!

[Aithos]

So I did some color testing for my control panel and I've somewhat narrowed it down to two types of color schemes.  I'm using Navy and Pink Buttons because of the Megatokyo theme, Junpei is the navy blue and since there aren't purple seimitsu buttons Miho is pink.  I don't have the artwork for the CP yet and that is going to help determine which button set I go with but I wanted to get some opinions on whether I should go with Neo-Geo colors for the bottom four or not.  I like both styles so I'm having a hard time deciding.  Also I have to use snap in buttons, since I'm going to have a wood CP with plexi over the overlay is that going to be an issue?  I am going to route the button holes so I figured it wouldn't make a difference but I want something very durable, I don't plan on changing buttons if I don't have to.  Thanks guys!

[BurgerKingDiamond]

your computer power supply has +12V and +5V in it. There should be some wires with connectors that you can daisy chain off to get whatever power you need. There will be sets of black, yellow, and red wires. Black is of course ground, but I can't remember if yellow is +5V and red is +12V (it might be the other way around, just test it with a multimeter). I don't know exactly what this breakout cable looks like, but it should be pretty easy to supply +5V to it.

[Donkbaca]

I don't like the neo-geo button colors.  Too many colors.

Also, from what i gather, snap in buttons won't work on a wood control panel, they are just too short.

[Donkbaca]

Of course, one solution to the button color issue would be to go clear buttons with RGB's that way you could have one scheme up for regular games and then you could change the colors for NEO Geo games.

[Aithos]

Yeah, I've been asking people I know and I think I've decided to nix the neo-geo coloring.  If neo-geo were going to be most of what I was going to play I might do it, but those games will just be secondary.  I like the idea of having the four buttons in a row so that when I do play them it is more authentic but the coloring just isn't as important to me.  As for the snap-in buttons, I was thinking I could route out the underside of the top panel of my CP and have it be thin enough with the plexi to accomodate snap in buttons.  I just really don't like the screw in blue color of Seimitsu buttons, I like the navy ones and as stupid as that sounds it will really bother me if I'm not ok with the color. 

I also found today after messing with the cabinet that it was laminated on the sides and not painted (yay!) so I peeled off the side laminate after work and will finish the front over my long weekend.  I think I've also narrowed the primary color of the cabinet down to two shades which I'll see if I can get pictures up (I don't have codes yet since I haven't chosen a paint brand).  I'm thinking that I will have to rent an HVLP sprayer so I'm wondering if I can use a roller for the primer coats and first coat of paint and then spray the last coat so I don't have to buy a sprayer (and I can do the first several coats inside).  I am planning on sanding between coats so I'm not worried about orange peel or anything, but I want the final coat to be as good as possible.  I'm also wondering if it would be worth sanding with a really high grit paper and using some kind of finishing cream after the last coat to get a really smooth finish.  I'm not doing black so I don't want the piano black glossy mirror type finish, I just want it really well done and smooth.  Any ideas?  Still waiting on pics, I'll hopefully get them up tommorrow or thursday (battery is kaput)

[Donkbaca]

The snap in buttons are made to go in panels that are 1.5 to 4.5mm thick, so really the thickest you could go in terms of CP material is 1/8th of an inch, so if you are putting plexi on top, there is pretty much no way you can have wood underneath, assuming that you use 1/8th inch plexi, your wood would have to be less than 1/16th of an inch thick.

[Aithos]

I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying.  I'm talking about drilling out holes for the buttons in both the wood and the plexi, then routing out the bottom side of the wood, notching the sides and calling it good.  I don't need a layer of wood for the buttons to hold to, that's what the plexi is going to do, and I'm going to have artwork between.  I just want to make sure that is an ok long term solution or if I should just get a metal top (I would rather not).

[mgb]

I see what you're saying about routing out the wood and clicking the buttons into the plexi. I'm not so sure that would be the most stable setup over time. You may want to first try it out on some scrap. What about the idea of using a metal overlay and cutting out the wood below as needed.
I may have missed it somewhere in there, but why not use longer nut type buttons made for wood. Hve you already bought the snap ins?
The Ice buttons with RGBs are sweet.

I like the Sanwa JLF's. I customized it with nylon washers around the screws in the restrictor plate so I could rotate them on the fly in 2 seconds.  Just make sure your control panel is hinged or you can reach them through the coin door.  Good luck with the project, I'll be watching.

It sounds like your talking about JLWs. To me, the JLFs and JLWs are two very different sticks. I think the JLW is the best stick for 8-way and 4-way alike. The JLF will also do 4-way by rotating the restrictor, but you have to unclip it. and to me it just doesn't feel very sturdy and it seems to still allow diaginal hits sometime. The JLW is a great solid joystick however and it switches easy by rotating the restrictor plate.

[BobA]

your computer power supply has +12V and +5V in it. There should be some wires with connectors that you can daisy chain off to get whatever power you need. There will be sets of black, yellow, and red wires. Black is of course ground, but I can't remember if yellow is +5V and red is +12V (it might be the other way around, just test it with a multimeter). I don't know exactly what this breakout cable looks like, but it should be pretty easy to supply +5V to it.

Red is 5V and Yellow is 12V.  This is for the PS wires only.  Alot of fans have their +12V wire colored RED for some unknown reason. Read the label on the fan to see what voltage it needs.  It is usually 12V.

[Aithos]

I see what you're saying about routing out the wood and clicking the buttons into the plexi. I'm not so sure that would be the most stable setup over time. You may want to first try it out on some scrap. What about the idea of using a metal overlay and cutting out the wood below as needed.
I may have missed it somewhere in there, but why not use longer nut type buttons made for wood. Hve you already bought the snap ins?
The Ice buttons with RGBs are sweet.

I should also mention that I am still planning on bolting down the plexi to the wooden CP.  So I won't be using the buttons to secure the plexi, I just want to make sure that the plexi is strong enough for the buttons to stay in place and be durable if I notch out the wood around the button so they work after routing.  I suppose I could route a large hole in the wood and use a metal plate with the button holes in it under the plexi too, so I'd have a little bit more strength, but that is making extra work and costing extra money...

[Donkbaca]

I don't think it would be too stable because the buttons are essentially being held in place by a flimsy piece of plastic, but hey its not like you are putting this in a public place to get mashed on by kids, so it may be okay, I say try it on some scrap, if its not sturdy enough, you'll have to with a metal CP top.

[LeedsFan]

Just get a piece of 2-3mm thick aluminium. It's easy to cut and strong enough to support the buttons. You can still have the plexi overlay on top. Just make sure the thickness of plexi+aluminium isn't over 4.5mm and the snap-in biuttons will be fine. You will need to route out the wood to the same thickness of the aluminium panel so that it sits flush, but this is really easy to do.

I read what you intend to do with the wood panel. i.e routing out the back and then notching the inside of the hole for the snap in button. But that seems like a lot more work to me and I'm not sure it would be as strong. Sure it will work but I always go the path of least resistance.

[Aithos]

Just get a piece of 2-3mm thick aluminium. It's easy to cut and strong enough to support the buttons. You can still have the plexi overlay on top. Just make sure the thickness of plexi+aluminium isn't over 4.5mm and the snap-in biuttons will be fine. You will need to route out the wood to the same thickness of the aluminium panel so that it sits flush, but this is really easy to do.

I read what you intend to do with the wood panel. i.e routing out the back and then notching the inside of the hole for the snap in button. But that seems like a lot more work to me and I'm not sure it would be as strong. Sure it will work but I always go the path of least resistance.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll talk to my dad about doing this since I'm sure he has the tools to do it.  So to make sure I understand you:  I'm going to make essentially a rectangle type hole around where the buttons are going to go, then make a couple mm thick piece of metal larger than the hole (so it can attach to the wood on 4 sides) and route the thickness of the metal plate on each of the 4 sides so that it sits flush when attached.  It should definitely work and I actually thought about doing that but what originally made me shy away from it was that I'm not sure how much wider the metal piece should be and how that would affect the layout of my joysticks.  I'll see if I can't photoshop something up with my layout pictures.  I had some unexpected car issues this week so I haven't been able to order anything yet so atm I'm in a holding pattern of making decisions and not doing any work (it's killing me).

[LeedsFan]

Just get a piece of 2-3mm thick aluminium. It's easy to cut and strong enough to support the buttons. You can still have the plexi overlay on top. Just make sure the thickness of plexi+aluminium isn't over 4.5mm and the snap-in biuttons will be fine. You will need to route out the wood to the same thickness of the aluminium panel so that it sits flush, but this is really easy to do.

I read what you intend to do with the wood panel. i.e routing out the back and then notching the inside of the hole for the snap in button. But that seems like a lot more work to me and I'm not sure it would be as strong. Sure it will work but I always go the path of least resistance.

So to make sure I understand you:  I'm going to make essentially a rectangle type hole around where the buttons are going to go, then make a couple mm thick piece of metal larger than the hole (so it can attach to the wood on 4 sides) and route the thickness of the metal plate on each of the 4 sides so that it sits flush when attached. 

That is exactly the way to do it. Try to get aluminium plate as it's much easier to work with. Just give yourself about an inch (I'd say half inch minimum) of overlap to screw the plate down. Although this measurement isn't critical. Just so long as the plate is solid and firm. I've just done this method on a project I'm working on now.