Mid-Sized Galaga

[honeyjew]

Good day everyone.

I've been a long time meddler in all things computer like and have wanted to build a MAME cabinet for a long time. After a house move earlier this year, which had the addition of a nice large garage for me to man/mane-cave within, I decided that my time had come.
 
I decided on a mid-sized Galaga cabinet, which will be strongly based on Bella's arcade. I did a lot of research, this site along with the Bellas arcade blog were hugely helpful. It's mid-sized (4ft high) as I have no way of transporting 8ft sheets of MDF, and the delivery costs available were far too pricey for my liking. Additionally, with no prior wood working experience, I though it best not to start with something too large, in case it goes wrong and I give up, or I have to start again due to issues. It's constructed from 12mm MDF.


Carboard prototype - smaller scale





I had an old Mini-ITX computer laying around, which used to be my HTPC, that I wanted to use in this build. This is a Jetway 1.2 Ghz Eden CN700 (J7F4K). I installed a clean copy of XP SP3 on this and playing Galaga on it was not hugely successful due to its limited processing power. A bit of research lead me to MAME 106, (which luckily I had many years ago ordered the 106 romset from a disk burner) which worked significantly better than the latest version. I used RomCenter and RomLister to help me organise my ROMs for my cabinet, ignoring all those with CHDs.

For my front end I've decided on MALA with a custom made graphics, which will hopefully mimic the bezel, giving the impression that the star field & blue bits are continuing into the screen.
 
I purchased a cheap Dell 15inch monitor, which will be mounted vertically. I've created a custom bezel (customised in dimensions only) for this, which (once printed) will be placed between two pieces of perspex.



Monitor surround

 
The control panel will be strongly reminiscent of the original, but will have a ultimarc 360 joystick and three action buttons. A couple of prototype of this have been build, to ensure correct positioning.


 





I had some old computer speakers and sub-woofer hanging around, which I've decased and put in the shelf above the monitor.


Old computer speakers installed in shelf along with retainers for the cold cathode lights (sticky upey bits)


Some very bad freehand cutting with jigsaw


So I shall cover them up with these - from the original speakers



I originally wanted to put the Galaga kick-plate artwork on as well as a coin door, though I'm not sure presently if there will be enough space to accomidate this (coin door would be full size). May end up just putting in a couple of those coin door buttons I've seen, or a single coin mech without a coin door.

Things have slowed down recently, due to the garage being unheated, which I imagine would make primer and paint take a long time to dry. The last bit of glueing I did took an age to set. So I've been working on the software side of things mostly recently. Next big job will be the paint up.


My expenses log is shown below, and as you can see I had to buy most of the tools. All prices are in £ (GBP) :

Gremlin Solution   
Black T-moulding   14.50
3 x red IL buttons   4.20
2 x yellow IL buttons   2.80
Joystick carriage bolts   2.40
Tax (20%)   6.28
P&P   4.00
   
Ultimarc   
u360 joystick   37.17
u360 optional hard spring   1.89
u360 wiring harness   5.04
wiring kit   14.49
Shipping   6.30
Tax   12.98
   
Ebay
Flush trim  bit - top bearing   14.15
Rollover router bit   3.27
Zip Ties (120)   1.49
25 red butt crimps   1.84
28mm forstner bit   3.95
Flush trim bit - bottom bearing   3.59
Power socket (unused)   5.58
Power socket   2.75
15" monitor   16.99
Cold cathode light   8.49
2 x kettle plugs   3.94
Control panel clips   4.49
Locking cable clips   3.25
5m 24/0.2mm 18-19 AWG 2.5m RED + 2.5M BLACK   2.49
   
GroovyGameGear.com   
2 x PCB standoffs   
t-moulding slot cutter   
button nut wrench   
Player 1 button IL   
Shipping   
TOTAL   23.53
Import tax + charge   11.00
   
Wickes   
Sanding block   2.95
10 x Foam ear plugs   2.99
200 Screws - 4x1/2in   1.79
200 screws - 3.5x25mm   4.55
200 screws -  (left on trolly)   4.55
10 x planed softwood 18x28mmx1.8m   9.59
1 x MDF Board 1220x606x6mm (unused?)   8.49
6 x MDF Board 1220x607x12mm   74.94
Weatherproof wood adhesive 250ml   5.09
Angle bracket 30x30x15mm PK 4   2.70
2 x Donation to leukaemia research   1.00
Plastic angle (bezel retainer) 15mmx15mmx1m   2.59
10x 4.25inch mini gloss roller sleeve   4.99
4.25inch mini roller frame   2.02
4inch mini roller tray   1.19
5x4inch mini roller tray inserts   2.49
Masking tape   1.99
4x easy on cupboard door hinges   11.99
Wet and dry sandpaper pk4   2.99
assorted finishing sandpaper pk 10   7.99
wood primer 750ml   12.79
large magnetic catch    1.39
white spirit 750ml   2.49
keyed chuck replacement and key   6.19
protective bumpers (feet)   3.19
   
B&Q   
Clampset   7.48
Clamps   4.98
Safety googles   3.88
Utility square   4.98
Dust mask   3.98
mini brclmp ??   6.98
8m tapemeasure   3.98
1m ruler   7.48
Jigsaw   22.98
Countersink   7.98
Jigsaw Blade   6.98
JCB Router   76.48
   
Amazon   
2 x 600mm clamps   23.50
E.ON Intelliplug - Desktop Version   6.00
   
Other   
2 pieces of perspex. 1 smoked, the other clear   19.80

TOTAL £613.24


As it looks now

Edited 29/12/2012 to update expense log

[honeyjew]

For my bexel I had to resize and slightly change the dimensions of the scanned and fixed bezel available on the internet. I tried to keep the dimensions as close to the original as possible (though scaled down)



For my MALA background I wanted it to blend into the bezel (not sure how this will look mind). So to do that I tried to continue the blue bits and star fields into the center portion usually masked by the monitor. This looked like this:



Cropping out the centre bit leaves me with my MALA background-background



Which I'm thinking may look something like this when all is completed. Although, with this being said, I am leaning towards using video snaps. Actually, about that - tried to create an account on EmuMovies yesterday - couldn't figure out how to. Seems to be missing iFrame - "Anti-spam: complete the task". Anyhoo - a rough draft, list on left, game and logo snap on right, name of list on top right (Best Games, Most Played, All Vertical, All Horizontal... this is likely to change) and manufacture, year, buttons used on bottom left.

[Well Fed Games]

Wow, love these mid-sized builds, looks like you are knocking it out of the park. Always interesting to see an expenses list and parts sources. 

[MinerAl]

Nice!

[honeyjew]

A small update, being from the UK a smart strip to power my cabinet isn't an option, so I looked for alternatives, I needed power for the computer (always on), monitor (switched) and powered amp (switched). The 12v cold cathode lights run off off the computers molex and hopefully and coin-mech will do the same. So needing only two switched ports I found on Amazon something called an intelliplug costing on £6. Which I thought was a bargain compared to the £20-odd for the Belkin smart strip, which is available in the UK. It arrived and I found it to be branded E.ON, and looking it up in the E.ON shop it can be had for £4, called the Desktop Powerdown

https://www.eonshop.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductCode=PDOWNPACKB&Category=PowerSavingAppliances

It works perfectly for my needs - switching on and off as it is supposed to. Excellent.

In other news, I brought primer, sandpapers, cabinet hinges, rollers and other needed bits-n-bobs. Will have to resume work at some point also!

[floriske.nl]

Looking good so far! I really like the idea of the monitor panel and background blending into each other.

Always interesting to see a cost overview as well! Gives others a good idea of what to expect on a similar build.

[sharpfork]

I really like the design.  The shape/form factor as well as the graphic design are very nice!
 

How is the viewing angles on the LCD with the reclined vertical/tate setup?

[honeyjew]

How is the viewing angles on the LCD with the reclined vertical/tate setup?

Surprisingly good actually. I was a bit worried about this too and it's only today that I've powered it up with the monitor in situ, connected to my laptop. When the smoked perspex was on it looked surprisingly good. I've a mini-SLG coming from the US, I can't wait to see what it looks like with that.

Not much else going on with this, been sanding this evening, working it all down to 320 grit before I put the first coat of primer on it. It's seems that sanding is my new-year workout!

I've put the front door on, which I'm going to have to take off at some point in order to drill the hole for the (yet unpurchased) coin door in it. Getting the door properly aligned was a bit of a faf - but I got there in the end.

[Louis Tully]

.

[BC_Jeffro]

looking good

[Noshbomb]

Looks great!

[Mr Wilson]

looking good mate I'm from the UK as well and just about to start a mid sized cab for my son

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130482.msg1335343.html#msg1335343

how you getting on with the desktop power down plug?

on my previous cab i set the pc to turn on when power was restored and you use the shut down option in mala
flip the switch on the socket that had a 4 way strip plugged into it and it would turn the pc,screen and marquee light on
on shutting down you'd shut down though mala then wait about 15 seconds then flip the socket off(turning screen and marquee light off)

just ordered one

[honeyjew]

My little bit of testing pre installation in the cab seems to show that the e.on plug works as advertised. I have cold-cathod lights, which are wired to the molex connectors of the motherboard, so they turn on as expected with the PC - which will be wired to a switch on the back.

 Otherwise the project has taken a bit of a back seat over the winter as I had to take it inside as my garage isn't the dryest place to keep unprotected MDF. It has now been sanded, awaiting its primer and painting when it warms up a little. I have got the graphics (bezel, marquee, side-art x2 and kick-plate) printed out, from a company here in the UK in Brighton called Wheezer graphics. I'll be reporting the quality/price of these on on a separate thread at some point. Oh and I've also purchased a coin-mech and coin door.

[shrunkenmaster]

I have got the graphics (bezel, marquee, side-art x2 and kick-plate) printed out, from a company here in the UK in Brighton called Wheezer graphics. I'll be reporting the quality/price of these on on a separate thread at some point. Oh and

Hey Honeydew, I'm in Brighton too and I've used Weeza for my Burgertime and Star Wars cabs, was very happy with the quality/price. Hopefully you will be too!

[honeyjew]

Just a quick pic of the art I had printed.

[Unstupid]

thats cool....  but that's a lot of buttons for Galaga! 

[honeyjew]

thats cool....  but that's a lot of buttons for Galaga!

Yeah - it's not a direct replica. I've added a few more buttons so I can play a few more games