Author Topic: Cameron's Arcadia (Read 9291 times)

Cameronj · « **on:** November 02, 2003, 09:37:53 pm »

My second project..

Cameronj · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2003, 09:43:14 pm »

It is recessed into my unfinished basement,
It uses a Princeton Arcadia 29" SVGA monitor.
The marquee is backlit. It uses a wireless keyboard & mouse, the PC is behind the wall and the speakers are in the ceiling.
There are power reset and aux.buttons on the wall.
It has turned out nice I think.

Cameronj · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2003, 09:49:44 pm »

I have built 2 other control panels and I am feeling a bit lazy so I ordered a Slik Stik Classic. Hopefully it Will come soon!

Let me know what you think!

Cameron

RetroJames · « **Reply #3 on:** November 03, 2003, 12:33:25 am »

I really like it. Very slick and sneaky! Very tight looking as well.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #4 on:** November 03, 2003, 12:36:13 am »

HOLY SHAT WOW !

The monitor is inside the wall ?
VERY creative. So you gonna build like a stand and use a slikstick

Like those 33" show case cab's panel(padestrel thingy?)?

Ghoward · « **Reply #5 on:** November 03, 2003, 08:35:56 am »

That is really cool, I take it your not planning on moving house anytime soon!

Gary

Cameronj · « **Reply #6 on:** November 03, 2003, 09:08:47 am »

Thanks for the comments. You would have to drag me kicking and screaming from my present house. You should see the theater room if you think this project is extreme.

The stand that I am building for the SlikStik will be more like a black four legged table instead of a pedestal. Thus I can have a slide out keyboard accessory drawer mounted underneath. The Control panel will be attached to the table with industrial velcro. This way I can quickly relocate it to the theater room if I want to play galaga on the 110" screen. Plus the four leg design will make it so I can slide the control panel away from the wall if I so desire etc.

This has been working out really well so far and my out of pocket expense to make this hasn't been too bad at all except maybe for the SlikStik. I do have a wide format printer and laminator which helps with marquees, bezels and such though.

A nice thing about this type of install is that it takes up very little space in the room and the control panel can be stashed away if necessary too. Very wife friendly. Also it is nice to just open a door and walk around to work on any wiring/computer/monitor stuff. That was one major pain with my last cabinet.

The down side is that it can't be relocated. But I never relocated any of my other projects when they were running either. Now if I could only figure out how to get the SlikStik running with all of my consoles...

Now if only my SlikStik would arrive

hyiu · « **Reply #7 on:** November 03, 2003, 09:44:32 am »

hmmm.... something different.....

its a cab... but no cab !!!... its inside the wall !!!...

haa haa.... nice..... very creative....
I don't think its for me.... but nice....
feels like a plasma tv.... haa haa....

since you mentioned it.... now you have to take some pics and show us your theater room !!!!

Cameronj · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2003, 10:17:53 am »

Yeah this arrangement is not for the Cabinet purists out there, but I am not a purist. Plus I already have Pacman and Donkey Kong dedicated cabinets in the room anyway. I just wanted something cool and not bulky this time.

Here is a page that has some old shots of the theater room. It looks a good bit better now with the trim pieces etc. I will attempt to take a pic with MAME in the not too distant future.

Cameron

http://www.mindspring.com/~cameronj/jensen_home_theater.htm

pathdoc2 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2003, 11:43:38 am »

Looks great. I have a space in my home just next to the media room that I could do this exact thing. I already have the glass/window installed so it would be a quck build. I'll give it some thought.

menace · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2003, 01:04:47 pm »

Cameron: that room is inspirational! Looks like I'll have to move now and build one into my new house--You even put seats in the back row so some --missioncontrol-- can yack on a cell phone and kick your seat just like a real theater--love the authenticity

Cameronj · « **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2003, 01:36:16 pm »

yeah I was getting so sick of watching movies at the theater with all of the jerks, out of focus projectors, sticky floors, and sound problems that I was compelled to build my own. I went a little bit overboard and nuked my budget etc... I think that I am in a forum here where that is a common occurance.

Cameron

DAmnb · « **Reply #12 on:** November 03, 2003, 05:21:43 pm »

Very, very nice stuff there! Wish my little lady would let me go all out like that

That cab in the wall thing really got my wanting a showcase typ cab

Cameronj · « **Reply #13 on:** November 03, 2003, 09:20:01 pm »

Thanks guys for the comments. Few other people really realize how cool this stuff is. I am having problems with my table for the control panel. It is too wobbly. I may have to go with an attached to the wall configuration or the like.

Cameron

eightbit · « **Reply #14 on:** November 03, 2003, 10:29:56 pm »

Quote from: Cameronj on November 03, 2003, 09:20:01 pm

Wow showcase cabinet. I am flattered. Thanks guys for the comments. Few other people really realize how cool this stuff is. I am having problems with my table for the control panel. It is too wobbly. I may have to go with an attached to the wall configuration or the like.

Do you have any pics? Perhaps we could suggest some design changes to steady it if you could show it to us.

Cameronj · « **Reply #15 on:** November 04, 2003, 09:24:13 am »

Well I don't have a pic right now of it but I don't even like the look so I think I might scrap that for the present. I might take a pic when I get home and post it though. I am thinking of an alternate route and have found a cabinet that will work well as a Pedestal/stand. It isn't expensive, looks nice and will have the stability that I want.

eightbit · « **Reply #16 on:** November 04, 2003, 09:33:14 am »

Are you going to set a controller on top of that or build into it? Is it high enough? Is it mobile enough? To me it doesn't look like it would match the style.

tmasman · « **Reply #17 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:05:44 am »

Quote from: eightbit on November 04, 2003, 09:33:14 am

Are you going to set a controller on top of that or build into it?

Now that would be cool...
Building a controller into a piece of furniture like that...

I know you're probably just thinking of mounting the SlickStick on top of it though...

Still... I like what you've done, It's something I'd thought of doing with my computer (not for MAME, but the same idea) in the office... But I don't have the space behind the wall for it.

~ tmasman

Cameronj · « **Reply #18 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:07:29 am »

The SlikStik would be mounted on top of it. The style isn't a perfect match but after I do my artwork additions to that cabinet it should match fine. It will be mobile enogh for that situation, but I would need to come up with something else to hold the control panel in the theater room.

I would mount the slikstik with industrial velcro so it could be removed and relocated to the theater when I wanted to do some gaming in there.

I really want something that I can pull away from the wall or stash in the back if needed.

I will attach a sketch of what I am talking about. Let me know what you think!

Thx,

Cameron

Cameronj · « **Reply #19 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:09:46 am »

OK here it is...

pathdoc2 · « **Reply #20 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:19:25 am »

I've thought of doing this and I think it will work out very nice. Good ideas and good execution.

Cameronj · « **Reply #21 on:** November 04, 2003, 10:24:27 am »

Cool. Thanks for the replies.

mpm32 · « **Reply #22 on:** November 04, 2003, 12:29:58 pm »

What's behind the wall under the monitor? You could do a pull out type thing for the control panel. Sort of like you did for your rack in the theater.

menace · « **Reply #23 on:** November 04, 2003, 12:59:20 pm »

what would really blend well with your room is to have the controls come up through the top of you cabinet--similar to how your equipment rack comes out of the walls. I have this vision of you pressing a button--the screen comes alive, the cabinet moves and the top flips over exposing glinting controls--all while you stroke your white persian cat laughing maniacally--sorry too many james bond episodes

anyways, I think hiding the controls in a piece of furniture would be the cats --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules--. If I could get nannuuu or one of those guys do do one of their fancy artistic impressions to illustrate that would be perfect.

jakejake28 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 04, 2003, 02:13:14 pm »

yea, hide the controls in the cabinet, and put artwork on the back, so when not in use you turn it around and roll it against wall.

Cameronj · « **Reply #25 on:** November 04, 2003, 02:17:43 pm »

Well I admit that an automated stealth control panel would be cool, but I bought a SlikStik and will mount it on the top of that cabinet. I think it will look pretty cool. and will work better than it looks. I messed around with some sliding rack stuff last night and found that it doesn't have the good stability that you want in a control panel. I do have some space behind that wall to work with in the future if I want to have a sliding control panel that comes out of the wall. I don't want to lose steam on the current progress though because I have accomplished so much in so little time and I hate not finishing these types of things (which does happen a lot with me.

)

I did buy the cabinet today and will assemble it soon so we will see. I want to start working on the matching artwork.

Cameron

Cameronj · « **Reply #26 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:11:16 am »

OK here is a pic of the original crappy wobbly table. The legs would have been painted black...

Cameronj · « **Reply #27 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:15:03 am »

OK now here it is with that cabinet. It matches everything better than I thought. I am almost finished with the artwork. I still need to laminate the panel artwork and attach it. I will probably have pics of that tomorrow.

eightbit · « **Reply #28 on:** November 05, 2003, 11:41:17 am »

You could have stiffened up the legs on the first table by putting a skirt on it but the new cabinet does look better. Are you going to put the Artwork on the door side or the back? The advantage to putting it on the back would be the ability to hide it. That was just a thought I had.

Bill_S · « **Reply #29 on:** November 05, 2003, 12:17:36 pm »

Looks great!

Quote from: Cameronj on November 04, 2003, 02:17:43 pm

Well I admit that an automated stealth control panel would be cool... I messed around with some sliding rack stuff last night and found that it doesn't have the good stability that you want in a control panel. I do have some space behind that wall to work with in the future if I want to have a sliding control panel that comes out of the wall.

Accuride makes a very strong drawer slide that should allow you to hide the control panel. I used them in my latest project to hide my control panel. The are rated at 500 lbs. when mounted vertically, or 150 when mounted horizontally (that's the way I have them). The control panel is nice and stable this way.
Here's a link to the slide at Accuride:
http://www.accuride.com/products/woodworking/details.php?p=9301&c=heavyduty_wa

I bought some from rockler. Here:
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?&sku=1491

Adding a stealth control panel would really make that awesome!

Cameronj · « **Reply #30 on:** November 05, 2003, 12:57:36 pm »

Interesting. Thanks for the links. I had seen their products before but I wasn't sure how well they worked. Does it lock well into place when it is extended?

One major problem with my setup will be that I only have 29" of width between the structural studs in that wall and the control panel is 35" at the widest so it would be cool, but not at this time.

There is an 85% chance that I will be building another control panel in the future and I may make it specifically for this Arcadia project. If that is the case, I will probably do some form of stealth install. That would really be cool. I still worry a bit about the stability of any rail/slider system in this situation though.

Cameron

eightbit · « **Reply #31 on:** November 05, 2003, 01:09:40 pm »

Is it a load bearing wall? If not making the opeing in the studs a little wider wouldn't be hard.

The accuride slides are very tight and you can get them in many weight supporting ranges. They use those for pantrys and tv's and all kinds of heavy things. Bill_S should be able to sit on his control panel without fear of putting to much weight on the slides.

They also make those slides in longer lengths which you'll need to be able to step back a little. I doubt if you play much standing 12" away from that big screen of yours.

menace · « **Reply #32 on:** November 05, 2003, 01:17:01 pm »

I love all the peer pressure in this group to go stealth--reminds me of what my grade 8 teacher always used to say "peer pressure is the number one problem in schools

Keep on him guys, I sense him starting to crack!

I can just see it now..

wife: what the HELL are you doing to that wall?
Cameron: but honey the guys on the board said Iit would look cooler this way......

edit: oh yeah --stealth all the way man--it would look way cooler

Cameronj · « **Reply #33 on:** November 05, 2003, 01:25:11 pm »

Well I probably would crack except that there does happen to be a physical limitation here on width.

As for the hole in the wall... Well I have to say that another giant hole in the wall wouldn't suprise my wife too much. he he

Of course this wasn't meant as much as a stealth project as a cool looking one that doesn't take up as much space as my last megamonster cabinet control panel project.

Cameron

hyiu · « **Reply #34 on:** November 05, 2003, 01:34:05 pm »

29 in width is not a problem....

you just need to rotate it 90 degree when you stealth it inside the wall.....

haaa haaa haa....

Cameronj · « **Reply #35 on:** November 05, 2003, 01:45:18 pm »

Well now that you put it that way....

Actually it would be cool, so all of you peer pressure guys come up with this one.

I would need a rack that can swivel and lock into position for the 90 degree swivel thing.

I need to have some way to lock the slide mechanism when the panel is out at various distances so it doesn't slide around during vigorous multiple player competitions

I need the slide mechanism to be sturdy enough that it doesn't bounce around or move while gaming.

It needs to be easy to adjust so it can pull in and out quickly and I don't have to be present to make adjustments.

So put your minds together and if you come up with a solution to the above issues, I may just do it.

Cameron

pathdoc2 · « **Reply #36 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:25:10 pm »

Okay easy solution. Cut a hole in the wall and build a simple recessed cabinet you could slide your new control panel into. Just turn control panel 90 degrees and it pushes right into the wall. Close door behind it and its hidden.

Cameronj · « **Reply #37 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:43:03 pm »

Yeah I assume that the recessed cabinet could be a solution, but it still doesn't solve the issue with sliding in and out and holding the 35"x17"x5" control panel for playing. I have some ideas but none of them would be worth it. Especially considering that I want to use this control panel in other environments too.

mpm32 · « **Reply #38 on:** November 05, 2003, 02:58:25 pm »

Do this; it would be plenty strong

hyiu · « **Reply #39 on:** November 05, 2003, 04:51:52 pm »

well.... what mpm32 suggests seems good....

but what I'm thinking is still ike a rack pull out like your theater equip. rack...

but then at the end.... use a lock of some sort and lock it to the wall.... (like put a dead bolt on... or some common door lock...)

then release the lock and push it in... at the end... use another lock at the same position...... so that the panel will stay closed or open in place....

I hope I explain good enough.....

I'll try to draw my idea out (I suck at drawing.... ) if you guys don't understand.....

Cameronj · « **Reply #40 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:54:04 pm »

Interesting ideas guys. Thx

Here is the bottom cabinet with artwork applied...

Cameronj · « **Reply #41 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:55:01 pm »

Left side...

Cameronj · « **Reply #42 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:56:19 pm »

right side...

Cameronj · « **Reply #43 on:** November 05, 2003, 09:59:17 pm »

OK last pic for now.... the whole shebang. Just have to wait 2 more weeks for the slikstik to come

RetroJames · « **Reply #44 on:** November 05, 2003, 10:04:50 pm »

Ok, now that is pretty slick man. Very original and very very cool.

I just love the innovation and imagination on this board. I guess these games did't rot our brains after all!

Cameronj · « **Reply #45 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:05:23 am »

Thanks man. It does look really cool in person too. Much better than my crappy quality pics.

RetroJames · « **Reply #46 on:** November 06, 2003, 11:11:17 am »

Do you have a website up? If so I want to link to it. I am creating a favorites section on my site.

Cameronj · « **Reply #47 on:** November 06, 2003, 01:10:19 pm »

I will probably put it up on one of my websites this weekend. I will post here when I do.

Cameron

Hyperion · « **Reply #48 on:** November 07, 2003, 04:46:54 pm »

I'm soooo envious!

It looks great, love the theater!

]-[yperion

Cameronj · « **Reply #49 on:** October 08, 2005, 12:22:08 am »

Alas after a year or two of arcade bliss,

I have sold my house (the buyer of the house really liked the cabinet and theater. They were the major selling point.) and moved. The buyer is now enjoying my Arcadia project and all I am left with is my small portable control panel. My new house doesn't have any walls that I can cut giant holes in.

I am itching to start a new project. Maybe it will be Arcadia II. I liked the name. I noticed that a few other dudes came up with that one two since I originally posted. I wonder how those turned out?

Wish me luck!


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news