1000 Posts, a new name, and a cheap driving cabinet project!

[Well Fed Games]

For my 1000th post it seemed right to add another project to the bunch (which now makes three that I am in the early stages of), and also to change my username... I always liked The Fearsome Fearful as a band name but it doesn't make much sense in this hobby. (Well Fed Games is what I will release my homebrew game under... if I ever get it done... er, started...).

So, the project is an upright driving cab, done as cheaply as possible, converted from one of these (lame-don't mourn its passing) gumball/rubber ball dispensing machines:



It will be a simple setup:

For the wheel, I am going to use a mouse attached to a spinning shaft (which is how the wheel on the machine is set up- wheel spins freely, and there was a string that tilted a simple maze the gumball fell through). Many other aspects of the cab will be based on what I can find cheap or have lying around.

My costs so far:

Cabinet (incl. nice coin door, cabinet, glass, wheel, light, etc.)- $25 at an auction
Happ return to center 2-way shifter (unused)- $16 on ebay
Pedals (from a guy on KLOV who was parting out an old Atari Le Mans)- $30
For buttons- Hacked Xbox fightstick PCB I bought from someone here over a year ago- $20
Mouse- had it lying around
18/19-ish inch CRT monitor- found on side of road
Computer- will piece together from ones I have lying around

so... under $100 so far for most of the parts, not too bad.

The "marquee" area of the machine was originally quite tall, as it was the hopper that held the balls, so it will be cut down a bit. Since the front glass that was on it won't fit then, I will use plexi I have lying around. I will also need to cut a cubby-hole down below the coin door (might be a tight fit) for the pedals. The cabinet is as tall as a regular arcade cab but slightly thinner.

Hardware-wise, I am cheating a bit, and will be playing some games that used a 270 degree wheel and potentiometer pedals with a 360 degree wheel (mouse hack) and micro-switch pedals, but if I can play the games with a keyboard for pedals and a mouse for steering at my desk, I think the games will play well enough... and hopefully will immunize me from trying to build a sit-down driving cab. I am focusing on the driving games from the mid-80s that MAME emulates well.

Still thinking of some themes... the guts of the cab will actually be pretty simiar to leapinlew's excellent Prepare to Qualify cabinet (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=54588.msg535238#msg535238), so I may be bugging him for advice! 

[yotsuya]

Fun project, but I'm going to miss "The Fearsome Fearful". It was very Wonka-ish! 

[Acids]

Well, In that case the name of the Cabinet should be "GUMBALL RACER"
The name implies Gumballs, Racing and cheap.

Exactly what you hope it will be ( and of course fully functional! )   

[Le Chuck]

Wow, somebody that voluntarily changed their username, that's cool. 

I will miss the fearsome and need to go make a note on the 2011 UCA noms for posterity.  Now lets see some tear down pics of the fun.e.ball. 

[PL1]

Well, In that case the name of the Cabinet should be "GUMBALL RACER"
The name implies Gumballs, Racing and cheap.

Seeing this suggestion reminded me of the 1976 movie "The Gumball Rally".


Scott

[Well Fed Games]

Don't worry, different name, same rubbish posts...

So I won some NOS World Rally sideart last night on fleabay, so it looks like World Rally is the theme!

I will try to see if I took any taking apart pics... was kind of in a rush to strip it down. Right now it is in the basement (fairly easy to carry), while my other two projects are upstairs in my in-laws garage... first goal is to get the body work done on all three so they can live downstairs for the rest of the process.

I will need to figure out how my two way/return to center shifter (two buttons) will work with MAME, as I know there are issues with it getting out of sync with the game. I know this has been discussed recently, but anyone want to remind me what build/mods would be best for that kind of shifter?