CRT 'bartop' on the cheap *update 4/22/13*

[popsicle]

A friend of mine gave me a couple of old xp computers and monitors, and I decided to try to put something together using leftover parts and wood.

I had:

29" x 28" birch ply
various planks of this same birch ply from my cocktail cab http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=104229.0
chunks of leftover mdf from previous upright cab
zippyy joystick with white ball top and various buttons
t-molding
wires and connectors and such

I had to buy:

I-Pac ($40)
screws, sandpaper, carriage bolts, stain ($15)
glass ($5)
computer speakers ($10 walmart)
power strip ($1 at thrift store)

The large birch ply piece was done in one cut, diagonally, for both sides.  I did sort of a 's' shape and fixed the sides so the cp area and top fins were the same.  A partially decased 14" monitor *just* barely fits at the deepest point.

The cp is from a piece of an old tv stand that is a charcoal colored laminate/melamine.  I originally cut out a 15.5" wide cp, but at HD found replacement window glass that is 16" for $4.90, so I re-cut the cp and other support pieces to 16".  The glass will sit flush with the rails, and the t-molding will help to hold it in place.  I hope this glass is thick enough to allow for transport...

Since this a 4-way vertical setup, the monitor didn't fit correctly on a shelf, so I had to make a mount for the front.  This proved to be a royal pain, since all 4 mounting holes were partially covered up by plastic.  Then, my mount wouldn't slide over the back for the same reasons, so I had to slice it open and 'eat' the monitor like a giant mdf pacman    I then re-glued the sliced piece.

Getting everything in there was tough.  The motherboard is slid down one of the side panels where the monitor allows the most room, and the very ancient, very large video card fits in the last pci slot.  The power supply and hdd sit under the cp, just barely.  This proved to be the only way to get all pieces in there and still be able to connect together.   

The stain is Minwax 'English Chestnut'.  I had originally planned for a lit marquee, but there just isn't room at the top after the speakers are put in.  I kind of like the fins sticking out at the top too.  Could the power led from the motherboard be used to light up a small something somewhere?

Oh, and the thing weighs a friggin' ton despite the 29" x 28" x 16" dimensions.

Next is the wiring when the I-pac gets here.  I hope everything still works after all the mounting, screwing, cursing.  No innuendo intended.

[jimmy2x2x]

Looking good, has a nice retro feel to it

The weight might be an advantage once in situ

[Le Chuck]

I'm feelin' it. Smoke filled bowling alley...stale beer...rocking a shoot'em up, I'm there man. Fun stuff.

[popsicle]

Added crappy black bezel (painted back of glass) and speakers/top.  Video card is so ancient, it won't run d3d or ddraw mode.  I think it has 4MB.  Need to find a pci card newer than 1997.

[popsicle]

Hmmm... came back to this one to pretty it up a bit.  Zippy 4-way works great after shaving the restrictor plate 'nubs' as seen on another thread.

Moved around the guts to fit better, changed out the motherboard, installed tinyxp, added marquee plexi and light. 

Plans to get marquee and bezel printed.  Trying to keep a retro wood-grain look to the whole thing.  Is this marquee blasphemous?

[killsurfcity]

That little thing is badass!

[mcseforsale]

I had originally planned for a lit marquee, but there just isn't room at the top after the speakers are put in.  I kind of like the fins sticking out at the top too.  Could the power led from the motherboard be used to light up a small something somewhere?

Absolutely.  I'm using 4" CCFLs that run on 12V.  These are normally sold as gamer "mods" and don't use that much power.  Under my cab are 15" CCFLs and my marquee is the 4".  The cool thing is the control box (I'm guessing it's the balast, or whateve) is separate and each bulb has a 12" lead that plugs into it.  So, you can mount the control box somewhere else and just mount the CCFLs in the marquee area since they're only about as big around as a sharpie.



Frozencpu.com has singles, too.  I think they do a single 12" in white...

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g6/c75/s132/list/p1/Lighting-Cold_Cathode_-_Kits-12_Single_CCFL-Page1.html

I just happened to have overbought and had the dual 4" laying around and I needed blue.

AJ

[popsicle]

Absolutely.  I'm using 4" CCFLs that run on 12V.  These are normally sold as gamer "mods" and don't use that much power.  Under my cab are 15" CCFLs and my marquee is the 4".  The cool thing is the control box (I'm guessing it's the balast, or whateve) is separate and each bulb has a 12" lead that plugs into it.  So, you can mount the control box somewhere else and just mount the CCFLs in the marquee area since they're only about as big around as a sharpie.

Thanks, these look really great and easy to use, but I'll have to wait for a future cab to investigate (as you can see, I already added a fluorescent marquee light, and plan to put the speakers elsewhere).

@ killsurfcity, lechuck, and jimmy2x2, thank you for your positive comments! 

I've used the same background bezel graphic for the mala background, just flipped. 

Romlister gives me plenty of options for 4-way/2-way vertical 3 buttons or less, but I know for a fact there are other games out there I'm missing that would play well.  I've added a handful of horizontal games like Joust, Chicken Shift, Tapper, Bank Panic, Moon Patrol, etc., but I find that Bomb Jack (listed as 8-way) plays just fine for me on a 4-way stick.  Surely there are others like this? 

Newly discovered 4-way vertical favorites: Tail to Nose, F-1 Grand Prix, Astro Fighter, Lunar Rescue, Solar Fox 

[popsicle]

Minor update: used a Knight Boy marquee I had won as a door prize at the Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo last summer.  I had to cut it to fit, so now it just says Knight.  Whatever.  There's a lit marquee. 

I also used a broken white melamine drawer from my kids closet, painted it black, and used it for the top.  I added a pushbutton in the round drawer handle to allow power up/down.   There's also a back on the thing with a case fan near the top to draw out crt heat. 

As you can see I have the encoder underneath by the cp.