First Arcade Project - Ideas and progress

[fauxc]

Hello everyone,

This is my first arcade project and I'm very excited and ready to get started, but I want to do my research first.  I purchased the Arcade Project 2nd edition and just received it the other day, so I'm still reading through it.  I have been browsing a lot on this site the last few weeks and there are some great ideas and beautiful projects that everyone has built.  Here are my ideas and dilemmas of decisions that I'm trying to make.

Cab construction - MDO or MDF.  Since I'm thinking about laminating the cab, I'll probably go with MDO since I don't need a smooth finish.  This will also help reduce the overall cab weight since the laminate will add extra weight.

Cab design - 1 piece or 2 pieces.  I really like the look of the two pieces and I think that overall it will look better.

Cab finish - Paint or laminate.  I'm leaning towards laminate since it will look better and paint would be more difficult to get a good finish unless I sprayed it and I don't have the equipment for that.  My only concern for the laminate if the extra cost.

Control panel - Switchable or Rotating http://1uparcade.rmfx.com/.  This is becoming one of the hardest decisions for me because I really like the rotating, but I know that it will take longer to build and be more difficult to construct and wire.

Controls - Joysticks, trackballs, spinners, buttons, etc. - I still have quite a bit more of research to do on this.

Artwork -  I haven't even thought about this yet.

Frontend -  Hyperspin, Mala or others - I'm still researching this, but I have plenty of time because this will be one of the last things that i do.

I plan on updating my progress here and using this to track everything.  On my next post, I hope to have some preliminary plans of what my arcade will look like.

If anyone has any suggestions, links, ideas, etc , or just wants to chat, please feel free.

Thanks in advance,
Cris

[fantoboy]

Good luck with the rotating CP.  That looks like a real pain.  Any idea on what the name, art-style, or color scheme will be?

[britinva]

Cab design - 1 piece or 2 pieces.  I really like the look of the two pieces and I think that overall it will look better.

While the 1 piece is more traditional I too like look of the 2 piece better. What swayed it for me is I'm going to be using a 25" Sony CRT and that weighs a lot. I think the 2 piece will support it better.

Good luck,
Mark

[Rando]

Frontend -  Hyperspin, Mala or others - I'm still researching this, but I have plenty of time because this will be one of the last things that i do.

You can also play with/try out different Front ends once you get the emulators and some ROMs loaded.  Note that the "Cooler" programs like HyperSpin require a more powerful PC.

You didn't list PC specs, do you have something onhand that you plan on using yet?  One of the first things I did (aside from gathering information) was to wipe an old Dell that I acquired, swapped in some more RAM and a wireless card that I had lying around, and got it loaded with Windows, MameUI, and some ROMs for testing.  I tried out HyperSpin but that was too much for my P4.  Currently using GameEx which is nice but I'm working through a couple issues.  I'll likely try a couple more before settling on a final choice.

Luck!

[mgb]

welcome to the habit... er, I mean hobby

Laminating is definately a great finish. I kept away from it and then just finally laminated a cabinet. I love it.
But yes it does add a decent cost. If you laminate, it does open up your options for what to use for construction of the cab.

I like the 2 piece idea too.
I like the look of the Neo-Geo cabinets which look to be a 2 piece design


The nice thing about a 2 piece design is that its a heck of lot easier to relocate.

Like already said, Hypenspin will depend on you have for a PC.

When designing a control panel, remember that its easy to really overdo it which adds a lot of cost and confusion. You often can end up with a frankenpanel thats not so arcadey.

good luck with your project

[fauxc]

Good luck with the rotating CP.  That looks like a real pain.  Any idea on what the name, art-style, or color scheme will be?

Not yet, I'm still thinking about that.

[fauxc]

Laminating is definately a great finish. I kept away from it and then just finally laminated a cabinet. I love it.

If you laminate, are there any issues with the T-moulding not covering the edges of the laminate?  Also, what type of wood did you use for the laminated cab?

Thanks.

[mgb]

If you laminate, are there any issues with the T-moulding not covering the edges of the laminate?  Also, what type of wood did you use for the laminated cab?

There doesn't have to be . You can either use a thinner wood so that then with the laminate, it still equals 3/4" so that you can stick with the standard 3/4" t-molding or you can do like what I did and just use thicker t-molding. I'm using 13/16" t-molding to cover the laminate edge.

[Epyx]

If you laminate, are there any issues with the T-moulding not covering the edges of the laminate?  Also, what type of wood did you use for the laminated cab?

If you look at my lamination tutorial or aliens cab build in signature you can see an how the two look together close-up. I personally use MDF for my cabinet builds (sides and CP) but use plywood for the interior stuff.

When laminating with T molding just make sure your measurements add up...for example a tried and tested method is to use 5/8" MDF for your sides and laminate with 1/16" Laminate...this works out to exactly 3/4" and will ensure that 3/4" T Molding lines up perfectly.

Quick example from my thread:



Good luck!

[fauxc]

If you look at my lamination tutorial or aliens cab build in signature you can see an how the two look together close-up. I personally use MDF for my cabinet builds (sides and CP) but use plywood for the interior stuff.

This is a nice cab that you built.  Very Professional looking.  Thanks for the tips!

You didn't list PC specs, do you have something onhand that you plan on using yet?

I'm probalby going to use an older laptop that I have with a cracked monitor screen and I think that it should be powerful enough.  It's currently running XP and I think that it's a P4.