Arcade controller with built-in pc

[keepsake]

the old project:

Years ago, I built a 2player arcade controller with an integrated computer. Most of the measurements (except for the top panel) were done "at sight" so it isn't the most accurate build


it had no cable management whatsoever




This build took ages, was a lot of fun and worked (almost) great, but lacked a couple features I wanted.
So I decided to build a new, bigger and better arcade controller.




The new project

A friend of mine is also a retro game enthousiast and was really interested in the project so we decided to build 2 similar controllers. For future reference I'll call my arcade controller the SigArcade (I'm Sieg) and my friend's controller the "KevArcade" (he's  Kevin)

early plan to sketch out the idea:



First building phase: the Box











Second building phase: the top panel

sandwich of 2 wood panels


the missis brought us soup because we were working in 5°C... Thanks honey


top and bottom wood panels with holes cut out


panels with holes in a new sandwich



early test fit


t-molding slot:


For the KevArcade: wood-plexi-wood sandwich. internal leds will be added to get a cool light-rim effect inbetween.

plexi routed to shape


trackball hole routed so the ball wil be positioned as high as possible on the panel surface.
I'm using an old jumbo trackball, used for playing kid's learning games. I thought it would work well, so I cut parts of it so it would fit (this was used in my old arcade but I'm transplanting it to the new one)

[keepsake]

Now that the raw box is done it's time to install some stuff inside. I started with something that we thought would be really kickass: an automatic sliding keyboard that would slide in and out of the box with the press of a button.
A fullsize keyboard would take up too much space inside so we ordered 2 mini keyboards. I wanted a mac-style thin metal keyboard but the "normal" ones were way cheaper and ready for shipment @ our China supply store so we just got 2 of those.



First I needed some kind of motor for the sliding mechanism. CD roms have lots of experience in sliding so we harvested some from old pc's. I opened up the first one and literally cut and hacked away everything I didn't need. I ended up with a pcb board and the open/close gearwork+"geartoothed" bar from the tray. I got rid of too much: the "open" action is stopped by a switch, and idem for "close", which I hacked away, so I made new switches for that and connected them to the right component legs on the pcb. A lot of time went into searching for the pcb connections and testing but it's done now and it works, so I'm not complaining.
Now I know that I'll do things differently for the sliding mechanism for Kevin's Arcade box...

extended the connectors of the open/close button to another button outside the box


The sliding rail is a small but robust metal rail, used for making sliding chest drawers. When you buy them, they have too much resistance so a little customizing is necessary to loosen them up in order to make them slide smoothly. And they need to slide -really- smoothly if you want a cd rom motor to be able to handle the movement. As in: hold the rail slightly slanted and it should slide in/out all by itself. Add a generous amount of chain lube and the rail should be ready to install. Or first install, then add lots of greasy stuff - but of course, you learn those things by doing it in the wrong order and making a big mess.
Oh well...

I'm not always taking pictures of the whole building process, so sometimes there's a small jump in the reporting of it. I didn't take any pictures while making the sliding mechanism for my arcade box, but here's a video I made right after -finally- making Kevin's sliding mechanism work:


KevArcade: to turn the button illumination on/off, the KevArcade uses a set of chrome switches


SigArcade: test fit of controls. I like it so far!


underside of the control panel. I hacked an old jumbo sized trackball mouse, replaced the yellow ball with a transparent ball and drilled a hole in the bottom of the housing, so i can add a led lamp to light it up


led light to light up the trackball - when the top panel is closed, it's positioned exactly under the trackball hole. But it committed suicide. Damn drama queen.


unfortunately my led lamp "blew up" with a sharp bang and a bright spark for an unknown reason. I'll be replacing it with another type soon. I'm not sure what happened because it had the right voltage and there was no shorted circuit or anything.
It just committed suicide. Maybe the pressure of playing the role of an element that brings such an amount of kickass into a project that oozes kickassness (retro arcade games are the summum of kickass) was too much for it?

Panel Layouts

We're using slightly different layouts for the Sig- and KevArcade. The 2 boxes will have different finishings here and there (panel edges: plastic border vs "light rim") and a different graphic overlay on top.
Kevin's Arcade will get a Megaman theme and mine will get a blue/red brushed metal overlay, based on the design idea I had for my old arcade project. But It will be  more colorful this time

KevArcade panel cutout


SigArcade panel cutout with test fitted buttons





Fitting the computer and parts



Inside the box (cable management is ok, but not final yet)


I did a first test run with the arcade controller. Looking good so far. The moving keyboard was the trickiest part but it works like a charm now.
Here's a small video of booting up and testing the menu:

[EightBySix]

That keyboard is cool! Can you nudge it to push it back in, like with a cd-rom?

[keepsake]

thanks
yes, it reacts exactly like a cdrom drive, since that's the motor behind the mechanism.

[HaRuMaN]

thanks
yes, it reacts exactly like a cdrom drive, since that's the motor behind the mechanism.

Nice!

[Neostalker]

Kudos on your builds.    Did you make it an all in one for portability or just for convenience sake.

[keepsake]

one day I want to build an upright cab, but as I now don't have any room to spare I built an all-in-one machine so I can store it more easily and take it with me when I go to friends for an evening of retro gaming. So portability was a must.

[Neostalker]

Awesome idea. How deep is your build? and how much does that sucker weigh?

[keepsake]

the box itself is 78cmx33cmx19cm at it's highest point (it's slightly slanted: the front of the box is 16cm high)
the control panel is about 84cm x about 41cm

It's absolutely way bigger than my previous arcade box since that one was built as compact as possible. Because i had to use every square mm inside, i wanted a little bit more "playroom" so I made the box a bit bigger for building comfort

The weight is a good question. I don't know, I'll go check it right now brb

... aaaand I'm back. It's 17,5kg , that's 38,6 pounds. Not the lightest controller I bet, but it still qualifies as "portable". And i guess it also helps stability-wise.

[BobA]

Looks great.  Love your keyboard tray but you probably won't need it much when everything is setup.
 

[darthpaul]

Great work with the keyboard. I toyed with the idea of having some type of slide out shelf and pulled apart a CD Rom drive to see how it works, in fact it is still sitting on my workbench in pieces  .

[Neostalker]

the box itself is 78cmx33cmx19cm at it's highest point (it's slightly slanted: the front of the box is 16cm high)
the control panel is about 84cm x about 41cm

It's absolutely way bigger than my previous arcade box since that one was built as compact as possible. Because i had to use every square mm inside, i wanted a little bit more "playroom" so I made the box a bit bigger for building comfort

The weight is a good question. I don't know, I'll go check it right now brb

... aaaand I'm back. It's 17,5kg , that's 38,6 pounds. Not the lightest controller I bet, but it still qualifies as "portable". And i guess it also helps stability-wise.

Thanks for the dimensions, that is not too bad as far as weight. Like you said not too heavy for everything that is in it and perfect for stability. Did you add rubber feet to the bottom?

[keepsake]

Did you add rubber feet to the bottom?

Yes, I recently bought a set of self adhesive square felt "furniture sliding" pads. But they were very much anti-slip instead of the kind that helps to slide furniture around. So they were useless for that and perfect for this. Yet another arcade part that I don't have to feel guilty for buying for. (the idea was to build as low-budget as possible, using stuff I already had lying around, so my girlfriend can't use that against me when planning to start the next project  )

[Neostalker]

Did you add rubber feet to the bottom?

Yes, I recently bought a set of self adhesive square felt "furniture sliding" pads. But they were very much anti-slip instead of the kind that helps to slide furniture around. So they were useless for that and perfect for this. Yet another arcade part that I don't have to feel guilty for buying for. (the idea was to build as low-budget as possible, using stuff I already had lying around, so my girlfriend can't use that against me when planning to start the next project  )

HAHA, I'm trying to keep those costs hidden from the gf too. Curious as to how much you spent on this project total?

[keepsake]

because I used some parts from my previous project (the trackball, ..) and had some other stuff lying around (like the cdrom and most of the wood panels) the cost is relatively low:

buttons: 81eur
joysticks: around 45eur
replacement trackball: 14eur
ipac / pacdrive: 68eur
overlay print: 30eur
keyboard: 8eur
pc: gift from my friend (I provided all the materials for building the box and I built the second box for him
materials: most of it I had lying around

[Neostalker]

Not too bad at all, this definitely might be a project that I get setup in the future. Good job again bro 

[Green Giant]

What's going on with the rear?  Any pics.

How are you going to output video on it?

[keepsake]

this is the rear -for now-
I'm going to add 2 usb ports for the light guns. I don't know where yet: possibly on the back, possibly one on each side.

I have a standard vga output, and a rca video output. I still need to find a female to female s-vhs connector so I can attach the internal s-vhs cable to it. The hole has already been drilled and I hope I can fill it with a shvs connector soon.
What I use is a vga-to-video convertor i once bought for my previous arcade project. Before i had that I used to use the svhs output on the graphics card.

[Neostalker]

lol +1 for useless hole  That looks really good all together. I was curious as to what the back looked like but you seem to have quelled my curiosity.

[keepsake]

every good project needs at least one useless hole

I'm swapping joysticks (the mechanisms, not the sticks) because I prefer the feel of the old competition joysticks (actually supersticks, but they're kinda similar) over the magsticks.

[keepsake]

okay... swapping joysticks is proving to be one unexpectedly BIG and annoying job. Seems that the joystick shafts and joystick mechanisms are not interchangeable between models. 

So now I'm figuring out what mods need to be done so the illuminated balltop shaft can actually trigger the switches. I thought it would be a quick swap :/

But I shall succeed! 

[keepsake]

"automatic" keyboard light is working!  
it's a small but nice detail imo

[Neostalker]

Lookin Real Good! I'm trying to figure out how to hinge my ultimate arcade 2 control panel and it is proving to be a  ... seems like your keyboard illumination is going great though

[firedance]

awesome keyboard automation 

[madmatt]

WOW!!  Really great all in one.  And the damn keyboard is  cool!!!!

Thanks for sharing.

MM

OUT

[keepsake]

it's been very busy with work, so I had to leave the project for a short while, but now I have some new updates. I have the overlay print and sandwiched it between the panel & plexiglass. It's looking good

I also made some button graphics to put inside the buttons. i printed them on transparent "overhead projector paper". I had to print twice on the same sheet to get good light blocking black. i still need to make a "start-select-OK" button. But I'm not sure what to make. Maybe those three words in a retro font OR just the "play" triangle from tape recorders. But since this button functions as select/launch game/select character in some games, I think the 3 words optin might be more logical.
Or maybe just "OK"? or...

I can say that now it's officially almost done. Just some final touches here and there (such as rims around the speakerholes, adding a black plastic finishing around the keyboard hole in the front, ... )

I am going to add 2 light guns, but I see that as part II of the project so for now, part I is nearly done.

The button lights look prettier in real life... shiny and colourful
the new trackball light still needs to be added.





HS control buttons on top: (exit - pause - start (still need to make a graphic for that button) - genres - favourites)


close up of genres & favourites:


coin-player II

[dextercf]

Thats pretty nice, for a franken-MAME.. 

[yotsuya]

I wouldn't consider that a Frankenpanel. No Tron/Flightstick. It looks great, actually.

[keepsake]

thanks
I considered putting the pause & favourites buttons somewhere on the back, but on my previous mame build I missed some frequently used buttons right on top so I didn't have to go look for them.
I don't think it's a frankenmame, it could be worse... 

but maybe, if I had to start over, I would have put the speakers on the front or the sides or something, instead of on top.

So far for my arcade, now I need to finish the last things on Kevin's panel artwork and send it to the printshop.

[emphatic]

Awesome craftsmanship! 

[dextercf]

Hehe..
I see me using the word Franken-MAME is judged a bit harder than was ment.
MAME controlpanels tend to, must and/or should be more populated than dedicate ones. If not, you will miss out on alot of games.

To clear up everything; NICE WORK!

[Los Abrazos Rotos]

Incredible, I love it - you should start selling these!

[SNAAKE]

Incredible, I love it - you should start selling these!

some dude used to sell arcadeinabox long time ago. went out of business with the quickness. guess it was too much of a hassle for the profit margin.

things could work with an xbox360 as guts tho. since you can just mount the motherboard inside the control panel box and the power brick separate. I might make one of those soon.

anyway this project looks good. digging the artwork.

[keepsake]

Now that my arcade is almost finished, I continued on kevin's arcade. I routed the holes for the trackball so it will be flush on the control surface. The wood gets really thin in that area so I had to be careful not to break it.





Kevin is a big megaman fan so it really had to be a megaman theme. He made a rough lowres sketch and I started from there.
Since all the artwork out there is really low quality and wouldn't show up well in a high dpi print, I convinced myself to redraw every character in high res in Photoshop. This ate up way more time than I anticipated, but I think the result would never ever be good enough using the artwork I had.

This is the artwork I'm putting together for him:
(the yellow and blue joystick disks are just to give an idea of what the final colors will be like, they won't be on the print)



to be continued...