I guess ill call it the black and red plague....??

[willybeamish]

Hey boys and girls ive been wanting get a cab going for at least a year now. I live in a 3 bedroom apartment with my wife and her/our 9 year old daughter in Ct. I am lucky enough to have a awesome dad who is extremely talented with wood working. I on the other hand can barely use a tape measurer  . Now with us having a spare bedroom and its basically a storage room/drunk tank. And with me and some of my buddys getting into drunken mario kart contest's among other games. I thought it would be a fun addition to the house. I was able to get a gutted Pole Position cab from DeLuSioNal29 today and the gears are in motion. My pops has never worked on a arcade machine and im pretty sure the last game he played was probably Pac Man a gazillion years ago lol. Im going to handle the software end and ill attempt to help him out as much as possible with the woodworking. I plan on running a X gaming dual stick or possibly a tank stick if i have the extra money. But first things first I gotta situate the tiny bit of rot on the bottom corners, the top however is in good shape.

Ive started a album for this project in Picasa...not sure if I should upload photos here or just link them thou

UPDATE 2/25/2013..im just about done..thanks to everyone here for help..thanks to DeLuSioNal29 for selling the cab for a great price and throwing in the monitor    . And thanks to Drnick for helping me out with Hyperspin via PMs 

[drventure]

Best to upload here. That way, they'll be around as long as this site's around. POsting links almost always ends up with dead links.

And Welcome Aboard!

[steveh]

Nice cant wait to check this out.  Im going to start my thread soon.  One thing i suggest is builing your cp from scratch you will be much happier


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[willybeamish]

Nice cant wait to check this out.  Im going to start my thread soon.  One thing i suggest is builing your cp from scratch you will be much happier


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I think if I like how this comes out ill do another one down the road. I wanted to try to start with a cab already made so I have a clue on what im working with since I dont know a single soul who has one of these.

[willybeamish]

Here's some pics in no particular order from today..


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[willybeamish]

Few more. Sorry about the sideways pictures for some reason they look fine in my phones gallery but they upload sideways to the forum.

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[drventure]

Looks like a good cab to resurrect

[willybeamish]

Looks like a good cab to resurrect

The top half is fine and needs very little work asides from paint. The bottom half on the front side has some rotted particle board which were going to cut out and replace. I believe he wants to make another front piece (where the coin doors would be) and also cut the bottom off maybe 1ft up to get away from any rot and copy it with better wood..put a ton of reinforcements on the inside and see how she holds up.

[steveh]

I meant the control panel not the cab.  You mentioned The Tank stick, i would suggest buying the parts and building one yourself.  Im actually doing something similar with a nba jam cab i saved from junk day. Ill keep following your thread id like to see how it comes out


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[willybeamish]

I meant the control panel not the cab.  You mentioned The Tank stick, i would suggest buying the parts and building one yourself.  Im actually doing something similar with a nba jam cab i saved from junk day. Ill keep following your thread id like to see how it comes out


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Ohhhhhh yeah i've thought about it but how much would a two man control setup cost me ($$??) vs buying one already setup ($90.00) ? I wouldnt mind it if it wasnt too far off from that. Im just trying to do this as frugally as possible lol.

[willybeamish]

I also have the factory gas pedal with the micro switch still in tact. I was wondering if there is any way to still use this ?? I dont plan on getting a steering wheel but it would still be cool to have the pedal work and use the X gaming joystick to steer.

[willybeamish]

I was wondering about a power switch and what you guys do for the monitor power on switch? It would obviously be under glass and once its in I dont really wanna pull the glass everytime I turn this beast on 

[drventure]

For the monitor, just be sure to get a monitor or TV with a "power resume" function.

Basically, you want the monitor to "come back on" when power is restored.

Then you plug the monitor into a smart power strip that turns on EVERYTHING when the PC is turned on.

That way, all you have to worry about is a switch to turn the pc on, and you can use any ol' switch for that.

Here's the one I used in my cab



(ok, so that one +does+ take a little more effort to use as a pc switch, but any momentary pushbutton will do in reality.

[PL1]

I also have the factory gas pedal with the micro switch still in tact. I was wondering if there is any way to still use this ?? I dont plan on getting a steering wheel but it would still be cool to have the pedal work and use the X gaming joystick to steer.

You can easily wire the pedal in parallel with one of the player buttons.

Why not add a TT2 with optional 7" steering wheel?  Several threads around here about the Tankstick TT2 mod including here and here.

 

I was wondering about a power switch and what you guys do for the monitor power on switch? It would obviously be under glass and once its in I dont really wanna pull the glass everytime I turn this beast on 

If your monitor/TV doesn't switch on using a smartstrip, you can use a DPST or DPDT switch like this. (You add the green switch and red wires to the existing circuits.)

Remember that the dotted line between the two switch levers in the diagram is only mechanical, not electrical.

The TV and computer circuits are mechanically connected, but electrically separate.



If you are worried about modifying the board, you could scrape back a little insulation and use micrograbber clips to connect.




Scott

[willybeamish]

I also have the factory gas pedal with the micro switch still in tact. I was wondering if there is any way to still use this ?? I dont plan on getting a steering wheel but it would still be cool to have the pedal work and use the X gaming joystick to steer.

You can easily wire the pedal in parallel with one of the player buttons.

Why not add a TT2 with optional 7" steering wheel?  Several threads around here about the Tankstick TT2 mod including here and here.

 

I was wondering about a power switch and what you guys do for the monitor power on switch? It would obviously be under glass and once its in I dont really wanna pull the glass everytime I turn this beast on 

If your monitor/TV doesn't switch on using a smartstrip, you can use a DPST or DPDT switch like this. (You add the green switch and red wires to the existing circuits.)

Remember that the dotted line between the two switch levers in the diagram is only mechanical, not electrical.

The TV and computer circuits are mechanically connected, but electrically separate.



If you are worried about modifying the board, you could scrape back a little insulation and use micrograbber clips to connect.




Scott

Great idea on the steering wheel ill have to see what side work I get this week ahhh money. And as far as the pedal goes..your saying wire it up with the dual stick setup aka wire it to one of the buttons and map the "gas" to that particular button?

[willybeamish]

Got these speakers today at work for free... Pretty loud but missing the subwoofer ... Gonna figure out where to put em tomorrow

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[PL1]

Great idea on the steering wheel ill have to see what side work I get this week ahhh money. And as far as the pedal goes..your saying wire it up with the dual stick setup aka wire it to one of the buttons and map the "gas" to that particular button?

What I'm saying is that you can wire it just like the the TV/monitor -- just substiture "Player X, Button Y" for "TV Power" and "pedal microswitch" for the green DPST switch in this diagram.



Bonus round: If you want to play Visual Pinball, wire the pedal in parallel with Player 1, Button 3 (Space bar) and you can use the pedal for an "up nudge".   


Scott

[mgb]

Well seeing your a Ct guy an all, I guess I gotta watch this one.
Good luck. I hope all works out well.

[willybeamish]

Well seeing your a Ct guy an all, I guess I gotta watch this one.
Good luck. I hope all works out well.

What part of ct you from?

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[nipsmg]

Wow, more CT people!    I'll keep an eye on this one as well!

[willybeamish]

Wow, more CT people!    I'll keep an eye on this one as well!

Yay!! Thought I was the only one interested in this stuff here (CT)...also I love your avatar...ROONNNNEYYY. Anyways plan on doing some wood work today with pops after work. Pics to show progress later on.

[willybeamish]

So last night we sawed off the cabinets rotted particle boards "legs" to transplant new ones. We built a temporary frame to hold it together just in case it got wobbly.. Next step will be to replicate the bottom.

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[willybeamish]

So we are brainstorming and considering this is going into the mancave. We were thinking we like beer and games. I wonder how can we combine the two lol. I have a mini fridge laying around that should fit into the lower half of the cabinet. And since we are rebuilding the lower half and replacing the front portion anyways maybe make the front swing open and put the mini fridge on a pull out shelf. If I left the back open for air ventilation do you guys think it would have any adverse affect as long as I didn't lose power the thing defrosted all over the bottom of the cab. Or am I nutty for thinking this up? )

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[vanrose72]

This shot made my day:

[willybeamish]

This shot made my day:

Yeah my buddy is a super serious carpenter lol...

Another idea I had not sure if it's been done yet.. I have a small lcd flat screen tv maybe 18 or 20 inch laying around with a vga port in the back. I was thinking of mounting it outside of the cabinet maybe on the top above or in place of the marquee.. Maybe to just mirror what's going on in the cab. What do you guys think?

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[PL1]

So we are brainstorming and considering this is going into the mancave. We were thinking we like beer and games. I wonder how can we combine the two lol. I have a mini fridge laying around that should fit into the lower half of the cabinet.

Sounds like Tony Silveira's bArcade.




Scott

[willybeamish]

So we are brainstorming and considering this is going into the mancave. We were thinking we like beer and games. I wonder how can we combine the two lol. I have a mini fridge laying around that should fit into the lower half of the cabinet.

Sounds like Tony Silveira's bArcade.




Scott

Ive found some inspiration

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm really, really glad that you were the one to buy this cabinet from me.  I just didn't have the time to make it into a project myself (plus I already have a horizontal cab).  It looks like you are fixing the foundation the right way.  Very good.  I'm keeping my eye on this one.   

As for the powering of the monitor.  It's a 21" monitor so it will act... Just like a PC monitor.  It has power saving built in.  (No need for a Smart Strip).  So just get a normal power strip (with a long cable if possible since this will be what you plug into the wall outlet outside of the machine) and mount it inside the cabinet.  Plug the PC, Monitor and speakers into it.  The PC can be turned on by wiring a momentary pushbutton to the header pins on the motherboard (the pins that the existing power button is connected to on the MB).  Once you locate it, snip it and extend those wires to the top of the cabinet.  Drill a 1 1/8" hole on the top where you want your button to be.  Mount a standard Happ pushbutton and connect the 2 wires to the microswitch.  Then you simply press the button to turn on the PC, which will automatically turn on the monitor (bringing it out of sleep mode).  The speakers will always be on, but in my current build, my 2.1 speakers came with an external volume control.  I mounted it on the underside of my control panel which I use to turn it on/off and I can even plug a headphone jack into for some quiet gaming.


Good luck!

DeLuSioNaL29

[willybeamish]

I'm really, really glad that you were the one to buy this cabinet from me.  I just didn't have the time to make it into a project myself (plus I already have a horizontal cab).  It looks like you are fixing the foundation the right way.  Very good.  I'm keeping my eye on this one.   

As for the powering of the monitor.  It's a 21" monitor so it will act... Just like a PC monitor.  It has power saving built in.  (No need for a Smart Strip).  So just get a normal power strip (with a long cable if possible since this will be what you plug into the wall outlet outside of the machine) and mount it inside the cabinet.  Plug the PC, Monitor and speakers into it.  The PC can be turned on by wiring a momentary pushbutton to the header pins on the motherboard (the pins that the existing power button is connected to on the MB).  Once you locate it, snip it and extend those wires to the top of the cabinet.  Drill a 1 1/8" hole on the top where you want your button to be.  Mount a standard Happ pushbutton and connect the 2 wires to the microswitch.  Then you simply press the button to turn on the PC, which will automatically turn on the monitor (bringing it out of sleep mode).  The speakers will always be on, but in my current build, my 2.1 speakers came with an external volume control.  I mounted it on the underside of my control panel which I use to turn it on/off and I can even plug a headphone jack into for some quiet gaming.


Good luck!

DeLuSioNaL29

thanks for the tips and yes its in good hands right now. I can say that my pops is doing 99% of the wood work right now and im just standing around handing him tools. Now that he sees one in person im sure I can talk him into building a crazy one from scratch if we do this again lol. Yeah we saw there was a bit of rot on the bottom only so we cut out the cancer and hopefully with building a burly frame inside there wont be any wobble or flex when the two pieces go back together. Im getting way ahead of myself with ideas and with my shoe string budget im restricted to keep it kinda non flashy  . Im still debating on controls right now but thats not for a bit.

[willybeamish]

Made the bottom piece tonight letting the glue dry tonight and taking a few days off.

[willybeamish]

I've also figured that I'm gonna buy the X arcade dual stick and if it's not wide enough I'm gonna cut it and stretch the wood. Still pondering on the refrigerator and extra tv..

[willybeamish]

Completed the bottom section but we did not screw it together yet. We were debating and wondering about your guys opinion. We were going to bondo the seam so you don't see the gap. Now our question is should we leave a tiny gap like say the width of a nickel or get it as close as possible. Here are the pics so far.

Check out the last

[willybeamish]

We got the bottom to meet with biscuit joints and glue..Also hit up the sides with a sander out of curiosity to see what the original stickers looked like..

[willybeamish]

Moar... Amazing how in tact the graphics are in.

[mgb]

lookin' good.
When graphing wood together like that for rebuilding a section, I do it the same way with the biscuits and glue then after it cures for 24 hours I take a grinder with a wire brush and give a slight bevel to new and old piece so it forms a v groove where they come together and I rough up the area right around the joint and then I bondo it.

[willybeamish]

lookin' good.
When graphing wood together like that for rebuilding a section, I do it the same way with the biscuits and glue then after it cures for 24 hours I take a grinder with a wire brush and give a slight bevel to new and old piece so it forms a v groove where they come together and I rough up the area right around the joint and then I bondo it.

That's good idea about the v groove. Too late for us now lol. We just flipped it over and gonna let it sit. Next week I'll sand that beast down.

[willybeamish]

Sanding sanding and more sanding

[willybeamish]

Thinking about how to mount the glass and how much of an angle to mount the monitor

[DeLuSioNal29]

Just thought I'd add that the xArcade Tankstick is on sale up until next Sunday 11/25 for $159.99 including shipping (no tax).

http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-tankstick-includes-usb-cables/?utm_source=Xgaming+List&utm_campaign=b0168c8662-2012-BLACK-FRIDAY&utm_medium=email

I know you were looking for one and this INCLUDES the trackball.

DeLuSioNaL29

[willybeamish]

Just thought I'd add that the xArcade Tankstick is on sale up until next Sunday 11/25 for $159.99 including shipping (no tax).

http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-tankstick-includes-usb-cables/?utm_source=Xgaming+List&utm_campaign=b0168c8662-2012-BLACK-FRIDAY&utm_medium=email

I know you were looking for one and this INCLUDES the trackball.

DeLuSioNaL29

Thanks so much for this link I had no idea. I want to grab this as long as my funds allow it thanks man for looking out!!!!

[willybeamish]

Grabbed a Tankstick from Ebay for 150 shipped finally  Now we can continue this beast and finish it up. I have in my possession a 22 LCD tv and also large CRT which was given to me with the cabinet im debating on which one to use. Im also thinking about somehow labeling the buttons on the tankstick but im not sure what you guys do since ill be bouncing around so many different emulators im very lost with that portion of it. Just need to cut the cab to make the Tankstick look good and fit proper..debating on making it removable from the cabinet. Ive also got a nice little mini fridge I was debating on puttin in the bottom and making the front coin door hinged but IDK if it will make it significantly weaker. Too many ideas 

[DeLuSioNal29]

22" CRT. Hands down. It's also 4:3.

[Felsir]

+1 for the CRT

[willybeamish]

Yes more progress.. Got controls

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[DeLuSioNal29]

Lookin' good!  The right angle cuts came out perfect.

[willybeamish]

Few thoughts about my next steps


-Will sideart stick to latex based paint??


-Still am debating on running a mini fridge in the bottom..


-Thinking about running red t molding and black paint..


-After setting in the controls gotta get a piece of tempered glass cut and figure out how to do a bezel for the CRT and depending on the space between the glass and monitor how to actually make it you get that funnel effect and avoid seeing the plastic surrounding of the CRT..


I love what this guy did with his cab and might look into doing the same (light up bottom piece), and not rip off the space invader thou..need to figure out what character to do and how big to do it. 

[willybeamish]

Little by little folks..I swear if not for my dad knowing his ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- when it comes to woodworking this thing would look terrible lol..So far hes put in a pull out drawer for a keyboard..getting prepped for tossing in a mini fridge on the bottom and built a frame for the glass around the monitor. Already bondoed a bunch of stuff and a bit of concern for us was bonding spots that will have to be routered for t molding and wondering will it completely flake off or will it act like wood. We test fit the big ole crt Delusional gave us and it was very tight and after taking off the base it worked out better. We need to order or make a new marquee..im lost as to what to have on it..writing Mame on it kinda seems generic  . We spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what size bit we need for the router for the t molding..pretty sure its 1/16 and im thinking red molding and a black cabinet.

[willybeamish]

Starting to paint and ordered the T molding router bit from groovy..were almost done

[kahlid74]

Keep pushing.  The last 10% becomes grueling.  Also make sure to setup realistic goals of completion.  We all tend to continue working on our machines long past their "completion".  Always something to do in addition.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Lookin' good!  Glad that you decided to go with the big CRT monitor I gave you. :-)

I like how you chopped off the damaged edges near the control panel's base support. Looks even better that way.

DeLuSioNaL29

[willybeamish]

Lookin' good!  Glad that you decided to go with the big CRT monitor I gave you. :-)

I like how you chopped off the damaged edges near the control panel's base support. Looks even better that way.

DeLuSioNaL29

Yeah man appreciate you throwing that in for me. And we were thinking how can we eliminate the most rot/damage and use the the least amount of bondo lol. So far its coming out awesome..if it was just me working on this thing it wouldnt look even 10% as good as it is. Im still working on the pc portion of it at home and grabbing roms and what not. Red T Molding is in the mail from groovy gamer, we already ordered the right Router Bit from them before and went ahead of routed the new wood.

[willybeamish]

Paint and t molding make it so much better

[willybeamish]

Picked up these guys for lighting
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=696-24994-HTP904E&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3316942&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1





Had a piece of plexi cut at lowes..once I figure out how to make a bezel ill peel of the protective layer..









I also found that one of the microswitches needed some tweaking on my Tankstick as well..

[Drnick]

Looking good.

Here's that xml file I PM'ed you about .  It has been stripped of all Nature and Majong games, clones are in currently. I believe that it is only working games left in the file. But please check it and let us know. 

[willybeamish]

Looking good.

Here's that xml file I PM'ed you about .  It has been stripped of all Nature and Majong games, clones are in currently. I believe that it is only working games left in the file. But please check it and let us know.

Cant thank you enough..next time your in Connecticut (which im sure has never happened) drinks are on me 

[DeLuSioNal29]

If I were you I'd paint the bezel of the monitor black. You can either take it apart an then put it back together (my preferred choice) or just mask off the front and carefully paint it. Then I would order a custom plexi from Tapp plastics (tinted Solar Grey, 1/8" thick).  Then you won't even need to create a bezel and the tinted black plexi will match the theme of the cab. It will look sick.

You can grab it here for under $30 shipped:
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_transparent_colors/519

To give you an idea of how it would look, I've used this method on my latest cab:


D

[willybeamish]

Wow, more CT people!    I'll keep an eye on this one as well!

Hey man what's going on Derby here!

[willybeamish]

If I were you I'd paint the bezel of the monitor black. You can either take it apart an then put it back together (my preferred choice) or just mask off the front and carefully paint it. Then I would order a custom plexi from Tapp plastics (tinted Solar Grey, 1/8" thick).  Then you won't even need to create a bezel and the tinted black plexi will match the theme of the cab. It will look sick.

You can grab it here for under $30 shipped:
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/acrylic_sheets_transparent_colors/519

To give you an idea of how it would look, I've used this method on my latest cab:


D

That looks awesome I already grabbed a big sheet of very thick poster board and wanted to see how it came out. The issue for me is that the plexi glass is not flush with monitor and I have to get creative with angles and what not. If I cant figure it out ill drop the $30.

[maffewl]

If I were you I'd paint the bezel of the monitor black.

...

You can grab it here for under $30 shipped

I agree with DeLuSioNal29 about painting the bezel black (on the back side) of the glass.  D29 mentions buying from Tapp plastics which I know alot of people on here do, but I would also throw out there that if you have a local glass shop, you could give them your dimensions and get smoked tempered glass for about $20 more which I think looks quite a bit better and supports local businesses.  Just throwing another idea out there.  Looks great so far!

(Edit:  just noticed your comment about the poster board and tilted monitor.  I would still suggest smoked tempered glass and you could still "case" out the bezel however you wanted, best of luck!)

[DeLuSioNal29]

I agree with DeLuSioNal29 about painting the bezel black (on the back side) of the glass.

What I meant was painting the actual edges (bezel) of the monitor itself, not the plexi/glass.  With the smoked plexi installed, you won't even see the edges of the monitor. Problem solved.

D

[willybeamish]

I agree with DeLuSioNal29 about painting the bezel black (on the back side) of the glass.

What I meant was painting the actual edges (bezel) of the monitor itself, not the plexi/glass.  With the smoked plexi installed, you won't even see the edges of the monitor. Problem solved.

D

Ahhhh okay good idea I might try that

[willybeamish]

Got a bezel in granted its not quite the right way to do it but it works for me. Ive either got to paint the exposed white portion on the monitor (tried taking apart the case on the monitor to paint it without spending a ton of time taping off the glass but it was a PITA), use double sided tape to hold down the bezel. We ended up just kinda folding the board to get it in the front of the monitor...kinda half assed but not really.











Also ran two NES controllers to use instead of the Tankstick..and I love forcing our 10 year to use them lol

[Drnick]

Nice to see it all up and running. Nice going on the Nes controllers.  I use Xbox 360 Controllers for console games and they don't feel half as good as an original nes pad

[willybeamish]

Nice to see it all up and running. Nice going on the Nes controllers.  I use Xbox 360 Controllers for console games and they don't feel half as good as an original nes pad

Yeah its kinda awkward but the nostalgia is in full effect with those nes controllers. Couldn't have done it without your help.

[Drnick]

No problem.  I should be putting mine all back together again at the weekend.  The Gloss black has cured so time for the clearcoat and artwork.  I'm half wishing I had just left it alone, put the side art/t-mold on and called it a day.  But as my mother said, "If a job's worth doing it's worth doing right".  Although ignoring that try using permanent black marker on the white bit of the monitor, it maybe easier then trying to paint and you got nothing to lose in giving it a go.