It's in better hands! As-of-yet Unthemed Weecade.

[mcseforsale]

Monitor is MOUNTED!!  The original Dell was scratched on the LCD, so I had to abandon it.  I ended up using the Proview (or whatever it was).  The new monitor didn't fit in my MDF bezel, so I went the more traditional route of VESA mount (which this monitor didn't have...it was a pre-VESA standard mount) and bolted/glued it to the sides.

First, removed the monitor's bezel and painted it:



Next, mounted it with 1/2x1/2 hardwood dowels to the side using a 1/2" MDF mounting board.

Here's the back:



Here's the front detail:



Here it is mounted:



I don't know what it is, but between my phone/camera and the lighting in my garage, everything I build looks effed up and crooked.  But, I assure you it is square... 

Plugged in the garage laptop and ran the only ROM I had on it....PHOENIX!



Next up is ordering the arcade-y bits tomorrow, routing a channel in the back of the CP for plexi, working on the art (I still need a concept...but I think I'm close) and getting this thing buttoned up with paint, speaker cloth and details.

AJ

[mcseforsale]

Big issue today.  I was going to bend the plexi around the CP, but when I was routing the plexi, I accidentally dropped the CP and it cracked at the joint.   

So, thinned down some glue and saturated it with several seeping coats.



Re-inforced the back of the joint...


So, I decided to do CP plexi only.  I also got the plexi cut for the bezel and the marquee...



Just have to buy the xx-n-1 card, joy and buttons....get the art squared away and then it's done.

AJ

[Rick]

What this man does with basic wood glue... ...well, I guess... ...it's what everybody should do with wood glue.


 

[mcseforsale]

[mcseforsale]

Small update.  I got the plexi for the CP mounted and I was able to mount the CP to the chassis tonight using the cap-screw theme.  Drilled holes in the plexi, then anchored the CP to the batons underneath...
detail:




Overall, a good look.  Should pop with dark CP art and chrome bolts...




To be honest, I'm a bit stuck on the art, so I've been tinkering around with some themes.  It'll definitely be black with some cool mechanical artwork, but I usually start with a name, then work out from there. 

Artwork to come.  I'm gonna put my head down and get on it hopefully have it done by Friday since I have to go to maine next weekend, so it's a perfect time to get it printed.

AJ

[mann0mann]

Did you ever finish it?

[mcseforsale]

Nope.  Still sitting there with life getting in its way.

AJ

[Rick]

Nope.  Still sitting there with life getting in its way.

Maybe this might help inspire you.

"Subscribed!"

[mcseforsale]

OK, so all the plexi is cut and the monitor is mounted.  But, I'm just sick of this build.  Hadn't had the money to finish it and it's just sitting there.   



I'll press on, I guess. 

AJ

[mann0mann]

put it in a box and sell it to me! 

[mcseforsale]

So, a major update to this project over the weekend.  The weecade is *SOLD*.  I was having a hard time walking by this thing with it's sad face since I couldn't find the time/energy/money to finish it and decided to throw it up on craigslist.  I found a great buyer local who's into Japanese Candy arcades and was looking for something to get is beak wet with MAME.  Current plans are some sort of Linux distro with MAME and I'll be helping him out as much as I can.

Hoping he'll create a login here and keep us updated with the progress.

AJ

[yotsuya]

Nice way to make lemonade, my friend!

[mcseforsale]

Thanks yots...I've already received a few emails from the buyer with specific questions about fasteners and speakers, etc.  It's nice to see the excitement.


AJ

[Malenko]

can you post some pix of how you did the Batons and control panel?

[mcseforsale]

Batons (1/2" square dowel):



CP:



Fasteners used throughout:



Back of CP angle:



CP Mounting:




Thanks,
AJ

[Malenko]

exactly what I needed, I think Im going to try this method. guessing you dont have part numbers for Lowes or Home Depot do ya?

[mcseforsale]

Sure.  Home Depot in the specialty fastener drawers:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-8-32-x-1-in-Stainless-Steel-Button-Head-Socket-Cap-Screws-2-Pieces-69698/202209925

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-8-32-Coarse-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Tee-Nuts-4-Pack-18861/202704505#specifications

AJ

exactly what I needed, I think Im going to try this method. guessing you dont have part numbers for Lowes or Home Depot do ya?

[jdbailey1206]

Looks like he used Tee Nuts and socket cap screws.  Both are made by Everbilt and can be found in abundance with a quick search on homedepot.com

Oops.  Too slow....   

[mcseforsale]

 
AJ

Looks like he used Tee Nuts and socket cap screws.  Both are made by Everbilt and can be found in abundance with a quick search on homedepot.com

Oops.  Too slow....   

[404]

So, a major update to this project over the weekend.  The weecade is *SOLD*.  I was having a hard time walking by this thing with it's sad face since I couldn't find the time/energy/money to finish it and decided to throw it up on craigslist.  I found a great buyer local who's into Japanese Candy arcades and was looking for something to get is beak wet with MAME.  Current plans are some sort of Linux distro with MAME and I'll be helping him out as much as I can.

Hoping he'll create a login here and keep us updated with the progress.

AJ

Insert sad animal commercial

You could have donated this to the savethe404 foundation. Just one donation could have  put mame entertainment into the hands of an adult with the mind of a child


in the aaaaaaarms of an angeeeellll

 

[yotsuya]

So, a major update to this project over the weekend.  The weecade is *SOLD*.  I was having a hard time walking by this thing with it's sad face since I couldn't find the time/energy/money to finish it and decided to throw it up on craigslist.  I found a great buyer local who's into Japanese Candy arcades and was looking for something to get is beak wet with MAME.  Current plans are some sort of Linux distro with MAME and I'll be helping him out as much as I can.

Hoping he'll create a login here and keep us updated with the progress.

AJ

Insert sad animal commercial

You could have donated this to the savethe404 foundation. Just one donation could have  put mame entertainment into the hands of an adult with the mind of a child


in the aaaaaaarms of an angeeeellll

 

[404]

that dog hasn't been trained. His soul was taken! Someone needs to put that poor dog down asap. 

[yotsuya]

Poor Stains (that was his name).

[blackbag]

Hoping he'll create a login here and keep us updated with the progress.

AJ

Hi Everyone. The name's Rich in RL, and I bought the Weecade from AJ. I wasn't looking for another project (I moved not too long ago, and still have far too many projects to do around the house) but when I saw the CL ad it drew me in. In my opinion, AJ did all the hard stuff, now I get to do the fun stuff-- making it all work. Well, except the painting bit. I don't think anyone loves that.

With that said, I see this as passing the baton on, and I'm more than happy to take it and run with it. 

After getting the cabinet home, I put it in the office and started rummaging through my shelves for my box of arcade stuff. I decided to test fit with some HAPP buttons I had sitting around. These won't be the buttons I use, but it helped me get a feel for the space constraints.

I do have 2 Japanese candy cabinets (a New Astro City and a Super Neo 29) running X in 1 PC boards with JAMMA interfaces, but I've wanted to do a custom MAME build without touching them. Whatever I replace them with, I want to just be able to pop in, connect up and work. In other words-- I don't want to lose the use of them while I fiddle. This was another great reason (excuse) to pick up the weecade!




Later that evening, I raided the shelves again, looking for a small system to use as the heart of the weecade. Since I really just want to do older MAME based arcade games (prior to 1992), I don't need a tremendous amount of power and I don't have the room for it. I want to keep it as quiet as possible. What I had in my stash was my old mini-itx server that I used in the house before virtualizing it. This is an intel D525MW board with dual core atom CPU (1.8ghz) and 4Gb of RAM. I also had an SSD to use with this, which will make it fast and quiet. I went ahead and mounted everything down on the back panel, making sure to pay attention to the tight space at the top of the cabinet.




I needed a power button, and I found a nice black button in my arcade parts box that will do nicely. It's an old 24mm Sanwa button from one of the candy cabs.




At the end of the evening, I decided to figure out what to do about sound. The sound in my candy cabinets leave a lot to be desired, so I thought it would be cool to have a decent sound come out of something so small. Again, going through my parts shelf I found a set of Bose computer speakers that my wife used previously. I didn't think they would fit, but I was shocked to find that they fit nearly perfectly! The only problem is the grill of the speaker is slightly over the edge of the marquee, and the volume dial sticks out a good bit further. Of course, doing this will mean that I forgo the marquee and cover the area with black speaker cloth.

I tested the sound out, and indeed, they sound surprisingly good, especially coming out of the cabinet.




More to come!

[mcseforsale]

sniff, sniff....like a proud father.  It's nice to see that thing getting some love.  It sat around for WAY too long.

Progress is excellent.  Looks like all that stuff's gonna fit really nicely.

AJ

[mcseforsale]

OK, I changed the title of the thread because it deserved to be changed.  It's in better hands. 

AJ

[jdbailey1206]

sniff, sniff....like a proud father. 

She has your eyes.   

[mcseforsale]

And disconnected GAZE.  HAHAHA.

AJ

[blackbag]

Sorry for not posting sooner, but with the crazy weather, work and personal/family stuff I haven't been able to. BUT, I have been able to work on the Weecade! So, I'll hopefully get it all up to date with several posts now.

When I left off, I was just test fitting the cabinet and thinking through the speakers while waiting for different parts to come in. I decided to use the GP WIZ Max for the arcade controls to the PC via USB. I went ahead and mounted the power strip that I'll use to power everything up internally (monitor, Atom-based PC and Speakers).




Next, I installed the actual buttons and joystick I'll be using. I'll be using all black controls. The buttons are Happs and the Joystick is a Seimitsu LS-32 that I had in my parts bin. I originally had a ball top, but went with a bat top to give it a little more handle space, since the stick itself is short, along with mounting under the 1/2" MDF. I also built the frame that is going to be covered in speaker cloth and goes over the speakers in the marquee area.




I drilled an inset button hole for the PC's power on/off button. I used a larger sized forstner bit for the inset hole, then a smaller one to drill through for the actual button. Since this button is a smaller japanese size (24mm), I used a closer standard size then sanded it out with a dremel tool and sanding drum attachment.

[blackbag]

This series of pictures shows that the unit was primed and painted and the T-molding installed. Over the snow days, I set everything up in the unfinished area of my basement and was able to paint it a little at a time until I finished it. I think everything got 5 coats of black paint in total. I also finished the speaker cover frame, painted it black and covered it with black speaker cloth.

Wiring up the controls is always fun... In this case, you have the added excitement of the tight fit. The only 2 trouble spots is the center front button getting close the the top 6 button cluster when the microswitches are installed. Rotating things around a bit allows for enough clearance. The REALLY tight spot was the front panel button immediately behind the joystick. Fortunately, there was barely enough room to fit it all together!




Here is the Weecade with the control panel installed and the plexiglass cover on it. Looking pretty slick with the new black skin and controls.




I framed up the speaker area with some extra wood around the marquee area to completely surround the Bose speakers themselves. I drilled 5 holes with forstner bits and glued in some very powerful magnets. On the speaker cover frame, I have 5 short screws in the same areas that hold the speaker cover grill to the Weecade. It works great and allows you to remove it to adjust the volume if needed.




Here it is with the speaker grill back on. Note, that I don't have the plexiglass cover to go over the monitor yet...

[blackbag]

And now we see the finished physical product. Everything painted, and I've painted and installed the plexiglass over the monitor. It's attached with velcro directly to the LCD display. I also covered, with black electric tape, any light source inside the cabinet from any components (power strip, PC, lcd panel led). I wanted to make sure that there was no bleeding of light through the edges of the plexiglass screen. It was a great opportunity to bring up galaga for a quick game!




Here's a rear pic showing the single, black power on/off button. Recessed in so that it would be harder to accidentally hit since this would power off the machine...




Here's a view front on of the Weecade. The monitor angle and speaker placement work perfectly for playing stand up while it's on a standard sized desk or table. The front 3 buttons, left to right, are used for Player 1 coin, Pause in MAME, and Player 2 coin. The Player 1 and Player 2 start buttons are on the top with white icons on them. For games that allow for simultaneous multiplayer play, I have a Logitech wireless controller that can be used on the system for player 2.




I decided to use MameWah for the fronted. While toying around with a custom layout, I finally came up with the name for the cabinet-- Weecade: Black Edition
The black on black motif came out really nice, and since my other 2 machines are white candy cabinets with lots of color, it was a nice contrast and looks slick. I came up with a custom layout that includes a picture of the actual cabinet to display screen shots and marquees of the game selected in the list. When my 11 year old daughter saw an actual picture of the Weecade ON the Weecade, it kinda blew her mind for a second.

I knew I had a keeper layout!




Here's a little closer image of the MameWah layout I built for Weecade: Black Edition




It's pretty much complete at this moment. I do have some work to do on the OS to make Mamewah the shell for a seamless boot up. I do have background music that plays when it boots up into Mamewah. I've selected 4 different songs that kind of fit the motif--
Beat Box by The Art of Noise
Halcyon & on & on by Orbital
Days Go by by Dirty Vegas
Riot NRRRD by 2 Skinnee J's

I'd like to eventually set up a Jukebox in Mamewah as a later project.

Performance-wise, this little Intel-based Atom unit works perfectly for what I wanted. The only MAME based game that it struggles with that I have installed is Mortal Kombat II. Visually, it works perfectly, but there is some minor sound stuttering. Not enough to make it annoying to play, but it's definitely noticeable. The original Mortal Kombat runs Flawlessly. The other game that it choked on was Golden Axe II (not the original).  I decided to not keep that one installed. It plays all the popular Capcom CPS/CPS2 games I've installed just fine. I think anything in the 1992/1993 era and below runs great, which is what I really wanted it to focus on. It runs silently (no CPU fan) and stays cool enough even after a couple of hours of play (and several hours of tinkering with things).

I can't wait to get the software done so I can start taking it over to my friends houses and different events (kids birthday parties, get togethers, etc). I didn't realize the additional fun and utility of having a portable Weecade until the end of the project, when it really dawned on me.

[mcseforsale]

Dude, *THAT* turned out awesome.  Exactly what I wanted to see.  Excellent creativity (that I lacked ) and it just looks mean.

you should be very proud of that build.

 

AJ

[blackbag]

Ok, here's a "family portrait" of the Weecade along with the 2 candy cabinets I have in the basement:



 

[Le Chuck]

1) That is one of the sharpest weecades I've seen  slickx3
b) Kudos for family pic being the pac family 

[Louis Tully]

.