Author Topic: My First Cab - Galaga themed - from JAKKS Plug n play (Read 7972 times)

krazyxkarl · « **on:** March 17, 2011, 01:36:03 am »

Hey everyone,
So I have been cruisin' this site for a short while and am SUPER impressed with some of the stuff everyone puts on here and it has inspired me to get on my own project. I have dismantled a Jakks plug n play 10-1 game and want to turn it into a bar-top cab... I decided to go with jakks cause it's cheep and I can destroy it without feeling bad about it. So........... here it goes...

below is the cardboard cutout and the monitor I plan to use

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2011, 01:45:18 am »

this is the jakks electronics dismantled... I had to saw through the side of the plastic in order to keep the joystick... I haven't found anything on a replacement joystick so I can still play pole position... So I thought I better keep this one in one piece.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2011, 01:46:40 am »

also,
I used an old 5v cell phone charger to power the board... it seems to work nicely.

Blanka · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2011, 03:22:34 am »

Maybe you can add a little steering wheel to the Jakks stick for Pole Position, and add a true 4-way stick for the other games.

Everybody should dismantle these Jakks toys. They all have the same big fail: stick on the right, button on the left. This makes the shooters unplayable (besides, their buttons are extremely stiff too).

Rusty Shackelford · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:15:20 am »

Good stuff. If possible could you take some shots and descriptions of how you are wiring everything up? Thanks in advance.

jmike · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:45:53 am »

This is great. I always thought about doing this for my little nephew. +1 on the wiring pics and instructions.

Can't wait to see more

leapinlew · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2011, 08:36:45 am »

When I built my mini-galaga and tempest I learned my lesson and made sure the monitor was much closer to the front edge of the cabinet. This ensured there was no obstruction from the marquee overhang area.

Did you see MarkVP's pacman Jakks build? That would be worth a read. He did 3 of these Jakks in 1 machine.

Good luck.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2011, 11:48:10 am »

Quote from: Blanka on March 17, 2011, 03:22:34 am

Maybe you can add a little steering wheel to the Jakks stick for Pole Position, and add a true 4-way stick for the other games.

Everybody should dismantle these Jakks toys. They all have the same big fail: stick on the right, button on the left. This makes the shooters unplayable (besides, their buttons are extremely stiff too).

This is my #1 problem with the plug n play and a BIG reason why I wanted to build my own having the button (stiff ones at that) on the right cuts down on speed... I'm not a huge fan of the joystick, but I have to use it until I learn more about how it works... If I build another maybe I can learn how to seperate the pole position controls and install a mini steering wheel... if that's the case then maybe I can put in a low high gear shifter too... that would be fun..

Quote from: Rusty Shackelford on March 17, 2011, 06:15:20 am

Good stuff. If possible could you take some shots and descriptions of how you are wiring everything up? Thanks in advance.

I'll take as many pics as I can... my internet connection is kinda spotty... but I'm pretty into it and it may help make things smoother with the ideas from you guys

Quote from: leapinlew on March 17, 2011, 08:36:45 am

When I built my mini-galaga and tempest I learned my lesson and made sure the monitor was much closer to the front edge of the cabinet. This ensured there was no obstruction from the marquee overhang area.

Did you see MarkVP's pacman Jakks build? That would be worth a read. He did 3 of these Jakks in 1 machine.

Good luck.

Marks post was a huge help but i think his thread has been compromised somehow because picturesw and repls seemed to be missing ... either way i'm planning on keeping it simple with one board and going from there i can always upgrade or make another cab... thanks for the feedback everyone

Blanka · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:26:09 pm »

Just keep the normal stick for Pole Position, and wire the 4 switches to a second real 4-way stick. Nothing difficult in that.

opt2not · « **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:32:08 pm »

Cool!

What size is that monitor?

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2011, 02:15:04 pm »

Quote from: Blanka on March 17, 2011, 12:26:09 pm

Just keep the normal stick for Pole Position, and wire the 4 switches to a second real 4-way stick. Nothing difficult in that.

good idea... I'm having an interesting time figuring out how to mount the original (maybe exclusively) pole position stick, i was going to use 3/4" for the control panel so I could make things nice and smooth by sanding it down, but the stick is so short it won't do well if most of the stick is used up through the 3/4 inches... I'm thinking about mounting it to a plate and making a cutout in the 3/4 inch... not sure yet.. like the 2 joystick idea though since i primarily play galaga

Quote from: opt2not on March 17, 2011, 12:32:08 pm

Cool!

What size is that monitor?

the screen is 12" the entire monitor is 16 1/4" just one i had laying around

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #11 on:** March 17, 2011, 02:25:25 pm »

interesting little diddy...
sooo...... I didn't test the game out before I destroyed it... which i probably should have but after connecting the cell phone charger and powering it up i realized left right and up on the joystick wasn't working... it turns out the black wire that daisy chains around the stick (the ground i think?) had been pulled off , either by me or poor wiring by the factory.... i don't know so i re-soldered them for a better connection and it works now...

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #12 on:** March 17, 2011, 03:04:47 pm »

also of note... I have to put the monitor upright instead of inset due to the small design... i think this is going to screw with my bezel since the original bezel stops where the cpo begins.. I think i am going to try to keep this idea, but create more of a bottom in photoshop by duplicating the original art and moving it to cover the bottom of my monitor...

below are pics of the original bezel i got offline (maybe from this site, i don't remember) and below that is why I plan to do, I have cleaned up the bezel pretty nicely, the original has some scuffs and grey marks on it and i took an overlay from someone and modified it by making the bottom bugs more symetrical and deleting the player 1 player 2 buttons, since jakks is only 1 player, and added an aux button for games like pole position where you have to shift..

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:27:22 pm »

Pay day!
So I ordered my buttons (super cheap) and a spare joystick to try blanka's idea of having 2 sticks... (orginal for pole position, and the other for all the other games...

Yvan256 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:48:01 pm »

Quote from: krazyxkarl on March 18, 2011, 06:27:22 pm

Pay day!
So I ordered my buttons (super cheap) and a spare joystick to try blanka's idea of having 2 sticks... (orginal for pole position, and the other for all the other games...

You could re-use the original stick to keep the "spring back to the middle" feature, make a plate to keep it centered (so it can't move left/right or up/down) and replace the ball with a small toy steering wheel.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:53:01 pm »

Quote from: Yvan256 on March 18, 2011, 06:48:01 pm

Quote from: krazyxkarl on March 18, 2011, 06:27:22 pm
Pay day!
So I ordered my buttons (super cheap) and a spare joystick to try blanka's idea of having 2 sticks... (orginal for pole position, and the other for all the other games...

You could re-use the original stick to keep the "spring back to the middle" feature, make a plate to keep it centered (so it can't move left/right or up/down) and replace the ball with a small toy steering wheel.

i thought about the small toy steering wheel part ... but I would want it REAALLLLLY small... I'm keeping an eye out for one

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #16 on:** March 18, 2011, 07:14:13 pm »

here's my cut MDF... the part over the monitor is cardboard just for planning purposes .... my bezel is going to be off, i printed out a test along with my cpo... still have to make adjustments for the second joystick anyway... i ran out of mdf though so i will have to pick it back up on monday.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2011, 04:37:10 pm »

Finally back at it. We've had a couple of days of rain here and there, made it difficult for me to get out and cut the rest of the mdf, since i don't have garage...

anyway, i made the marquee box for the cab yesterday and put the marquee light in with velcro so i can take it off when i paint it... I also put the top and bottom on, if i were going to do this again, i would do that first for sure, since it made the whole cab much more sturdy, which makes sense, but i'm not a carpenter so what do i know... i also did some minor wiring which i will post in a little bit

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #18 on:** March 29, 2011, 05:00:22 pm »

so here are some wiring pics in case somebody wants to try this as well
the jakks board is pretty clearly labeled with right left up down ... a,b buttons ... so since everything is pretty compact i went to the hardware store and got some more wire, what I bought was "telephone" wire, it seems to work pretty good because You get three wires approx. the same size as the jakks wiring and 3 for the price of one, (which is like 30 cents a foot, so you won't break the bank)
I know most of you probably already know this stuff, but I'm going to lay it down in the off chance you are like me 2 weeks ago...

off the jakks board comes 2 wires for each button... A is Black and Blue , B is black and white.... the black is the common that goes to the button connector COMM and the blue (or if your are wiring the b button, white) wire goes to the NO connector... which stands for "Normally Open" apparantly.

it's the same for the joystick. everything is labeled again... but the common daisy chains around the joystick (again the black wire, and again to all the COMM connecters on the switches... then right goes to the rights switch left to left etc... easy money..

I bought these cheap slide female connectors at walmart and they work pretty well, the attach perfectly to the microswitches... just gotta make sure you crimp them really good, and i used the red connectors just to extend the wiring for the joystick...

One thing i noticed when i was wiring the power source was the two wires can not touch otherwise it will short out... thats all for now... hope this helped anyone who is making a crack at jakks

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #19 on:** March 31, 2011, 02:14:04 am »

so i bought a small "power wheels" steering wheel... i think i am going to try to mount it on the bottom left corner using an old fan mounting plate... it seems to fit nicely in there and i think it will house the original joystick that has the "spring back to center" attribute for pole position...

jmike · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2011, 07:41:48 am »

Coming along nicely. I like the steering wheel idea but won't it take up too much space on the control panel?

Can't wait to see the finished results.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2011, 03:44:43 pm »

Quote from: jmike on March 31, 2011, 07:41:48 am

Coming along nicely. I like the steering wheel idea but won't it take up too much space on the control panel?

Can't wait to see the finished results.

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah... i haven't mounted it yet... the idea is for it to be far enough below the main control panel so it doesn't get in the way of the joystick but still comfortable enough to play for pole position... i still need to play with the mounting plate to see exactly how much room we are talking about...

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #22 on:** April 02, 2011, 02:03:53 am »

i'm thinking about adding a hinge to the control panel bottom, so it flips out (towards the player) and the having it "stick" to the base using velcro... any thoughts?

BobA · « **Reply #23 on:** April 11, 2011, 09:30:00 am »

Works well. I used that on a couple bartops. Only thing to consider is use industrial strength velcro that you can get at a home improvement store. I also used some staples to secure the velcro after it was glued down. The staples sink below the fibers and hold the velcro since the glue sometimes gives out on mdf or any other unfinished surface.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #24 on:** April 12, 2011, 05:12:00 pm »

painted and hinged, I also cut some of the holes out for the control panel, i will hopefully start putting the controls in this week... ?

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #25 on:** April 13, 2011, 02:36:13 am »

here is the marquee I have designed for the top. Since it is a 10 in 1 I wanted to throw some subtle hints of the other games in the marquee, but still have it mostly galaga themed, so on the left i have a little pole position on the right a little pacman, in the middle i filled in the blank spots with a checkered flag (pole position-ish) touched up the colors, added some strokes and shadows and added the galaga ship (cause I like it

)

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #26 on:** April 13, 2011, 02:43:53 am »

I just placed the controls in their cutouts to get a feel for the control panel, it looks like this

crashwg · « **Reply #27 on:** April 13, 2011, 03:57:54 pm »

It's probably too late but if you had the steering wheel in the middle it probably would interfere with your arms less.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #28 on:** April 13, 2011, 10:37:10 pm »

it is too late, but it should be alright

jmike · « **Reply #29 on:** April 14, 2011, 06:48:33 am »

Krazyx, that marquee looks fantastic!

Well done sir. Can't wait to see the next update.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #30 on:** April 14, 2011, 03:32:54 pm »

thanks j,
it took a little while to find the appropriate elements but I am really happy with it.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #31 on:** April 19, 2011, 07:06:39 pm »

IT'S ALIVE!

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #32 on:** April 20, 2011, 03:17:01 am »

here is the cover I made and laminated for the pole position wheel

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #33 on:** April 21, 2011, 01:20:46 am »

here is my latest Bezel. It's obviously much better quality but i shrunk it down to fit in the forum.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #34 on:** May 22, 2011, 02:53:44 am »

check it!

BobA · « **Reply #35 on:** May 28, 2011, 03:23:38 pm »

Looks great. I like the way you saved the spinner function for the steering wheel.

krazyxkarl · « **Reply #36 on:** May 29, 2011, 01:40:53 am »

Thanks BobA,
I ended up attaching the wheel with "mighty putty" (rest in peace Billy Mays)... so far it sticks...

The Habbler · « **Reply #37 on:** May 29, 2011, 07:36:29 pm »

Hey, green to white technology always works.


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