This is Ground Control

[yotsuya]

GO TO BED, SCOTT!!!! 

[PL1]

Should I dream of electric sheep, too?   


Scott

P.S. For those of you who aren't sci-fi fans, this is the reference -- don't go diving into the gutter.

[Louis Tully]

.

[gabrielmtl]

Thanks for the replies.

Scott, I'm so happy to know I can rotate the TB, thanks a lot. Here is a version with the TB centered and lowered.

I am pleased with this design. Any final words? 

[PL1]

Hate to break it to you, but that won't work.

You only turned your UTrak 45 degrees instead of 90.   


Scott

[gabrielmtl]

aaah of course.

Can you tell that I'm fed up with this step

[gabrielmtl]

Well, I have to choose. 1. The TB is not centered and higher on the CP, like the first layout I presented yesterday, or 2., it is centered and lowered but the 1p joystick is close to the left side.

VOTES!

[Malenko]

Well, I have to choose. 1. The TB is not centered and higher on the CP, like the first layout I presented yesterday, or 2., it is centered and lowered but the 1p joystick is close to the left side.

VOTES!

axe the trackball and put a spinner there instead.

[yamatetsu]

My 2 cents : Make a mockup of the CP (cardboard, thin wood, whatever). You only need the PL1 joystick at the position in your 2nd layout.
'Install' the joystick into the mockup, place the mockup into your cabinet.
'Play' with the joystick. Is it comfortable ? Go with the 2nd layout. If it isn't, choose layout #1.
Hope that helps ...

[gabrielmtl]

Thanks again for all of the input.

I think this is the final final final. I can't do much better than that while keeping the minimum distances I want and what not. I'll have to cut part of the 2p joystick bracket and possibly carve into the front part of the CP so that the TB fits that low.

[yamatetsu]

Final final final thought : You could move the PL2 joystick and the buttons up a little bit so you don't need to cut the bracket. Granted, it will not be symmetrical any more, but who cares ? In this case, I would vote for function over form   

[gabrielmtl]

nah, I'd rather cut metal 

[InfraredMonkey]

This is project is looking pretty good!  When I did my first MAME, I regretted the decision to build the CP to what I want instead of adapting to what was already existing.  I ended up with a Taito CP with 3 buttons then added two for each player.  Once I did that, the button layout ended up looking like Mortal Kombat.  IMO, was too cramping for other games.  All I had to do in my situation was cut another control panel, but I was young, naive, and broke financially.   

What I really like is the input from the folks on the forums on the CP layout.  If I knew about this forum sooner, I would have been probably been in a better position.  Anyways, sorry for jacking the post, but I gotta say - I love the project so far.   

Did you end up deciding the marquee/side art/control panel overlays yet?  Oh!  How about a name?

-- Spencer

[gabrielmtl]

Thanks for the kind words!

My friend is finishing the art right now, after tons of brain storming and such on what we wanted to achieve. One thing is for sure : YELLOW!
And yes, I do have a name... I think. I'll show the marquee soon, should be done Friday.

[gabrielmtl]

Final positioning before piercing. The joysticks are a little higher than I would like, but it's the only way to get that TB centred and lowered.

It does feel very comfortable, which is the important part. Lots of space to rest my hand under the joystick and buttons.

[gabrielmtl]

Got some cool progress done!

I made a custom plexi guide for my router, in order to make the TB hole perfect. I didn't want to use the bezel supplied with the U-Trak, but for that the cut had to be perfect. I spent a good 4 hours making it happen! I almost gave up. I'll have to do the same for the plexi. Wish me luck.



Test piece:


I wasn't kidding when I said everything would be tight.


In order to have the 2p joystick properly aligned and not too far on the right, I had to put the bracket under the u-trak, so that they could be touching. Also, I made the mistake of fixing the vertical section of the CP before making my holes, so I could not use my router to carve the inserts (router too big, no place for the guides). Instead, I used a small rotating Dremel without guides. A bit crooked but it works!
 


And voila, here it is temporarily assembled (buttons not aligned yet). I am very happy and proud of the result!!

[yamatetsu]

This looks good. Nice idea of placing the joy plate under the TB instead of cutting it.

[gabrielmtl]

Redid the plexi bending, the last one was too thick and I scratched it a bunch during the bending.

I tried leaving the protecting plastic on while heating the plexi to avoid scratches and it works fine. (Edit : just re reading this post and I think it's important to point out again how the plastic covering the acrylic can stay on while heated. It resist heat better than the acrylic itself. I even routed all the holes with the router directly on top of the plastic covering)



Routed the TB hole.



I have to learn how to thumbnail pictures... sorry for the large format images.

[gabrielmtl]

MY SIDE PANELS AND CP ART ARE BEING PRINTED RIGHT NOW!!!

Marquee next week!


 

[gabrielmtl]

What a weekend... Nothing went right! I had a couple moments of discouragement, but I managed.

I broke two plexiglass CP covers while piercing, even after making tons of practice holes. I also messed up the CP art.

At some point I was going to give up for the weekend, instead I decided to clean up the workshop. I realize now that the mess wasn't helping. Much better now.

So here is the CP. I have to reprint the art since it got scratched (dropped my drill on it.. yeah.. 35$..). I debated on not showing the CP alone without the rest since the art was designed as a whole but whatever. The buttons and joystick ball colors aren't final. The two coin buttons are not installed yet, they will be on the front, aligned with the black bars.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO STILL, HOW WILL I EVER FINISH, PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS AN END WHERE I SIT DOWN, LIGHT UP AND ENJOY SOME GAMES

[yamatetsu]

THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO STILL, HOW WILL I EVER FINISH, PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS AN END WHERE I SIT DOWN, LIGHT UP AND ENJOY SOME GAMES

Nope, this will never end. Perhaps one day you might sit down, light the thing up and enjoy a nice fire   
But seriously, think of how good you'll be feeling when it is finished and about the stories you can tell about it then ... That at least is what I'm telling myself when something goes wrong with mine (like the ***-ing paint job I'm trying to get right for seven weeks straight now).
The control panel looks cool, by the way. Can't wait to see the rest of the artwork. Keep going !

[gabrielmtl]

Quick update:

I refinished the top of the CP so that the vinyl would stick. Plaster, sanding, 3 coats high gloss polyurethane.

I added the coindoor :

More measuring..





Of course, a detail escaped me. Once again my rotary Dremel comes to the rescue.


It's centred on both axis but somehow I feel like I should have placed it higher.


A big update coming soon, I hope.

[eds1275]

I have the same trackball as well as limited "runway." For golden tee I set my x and y sensitivity to 50 and its a good compromise if all the supermen out there are willing to alter their technique!

[gabrielmtl]

Not sure I get it, why change the sensitivity on a 3 inch ball?

 

[mcseforsale]

You'll like it where it is when you are standing over the CP.  Mine's just the opposite...it looks "right" to me standing away from the machine, but putting coins in there is an exercise in squatting.

AJ

Quick update:

I refinished the top of the CP so that the vinyl would stick. Plaster, sanding, 3 coats high gloss polyurethane.

I added the coindoor :

More measuring..





Of course, a detail escaped me. Once again my rotary Dremel comes to the rescue.


It's centred on both axis but somehow I feel like I should have placed it higher.


A big update coming soon, I hope.

[fablog]

What a good job so far gabrielmtl 

If you need a hand I live in Montreal too

[gabrielmtl]

What a good job so far gabrielmtl 

If you need a hand I live in Montreal too

Thanks! I'll invite you to the launch party for sure

Same goes with me, if you need any help, I'm around.

[eds1275]

Not sure I get it, why change the sensitivity on a 3 inch ball?

Because on a game such as golden tee where you need to fire forwards as fast as possible to get the distance, with your screen right there you don't have the clearance for much follow-through. If you are into those types of games, give it a shot and you will see what I'm talking about.

[Malenko]

for some reason I think the red buttons should be on the top row. Coin door looks fine where its at.

solid progress!

[gabrielmtl]

for some reason I think the red buttons should be on the top row. Coin door looks fine where its at.

solid progress!

Yes red should definitely be on top, you're right. I still have to figure the final color layout.

[gabrielmtl]

Sanding, painting, sanding.. I hate it so much.. If I'm lucky, the side art is going on in 30 minutes.

Also, I'm not from the Pokemon generation.. I think I'm stuck with younger people thinking my CP is inspired from it

[Malenko]

Im definitely NOT younger, but I thought it was a pokeball thingie too.

[gabrielmtl]

Alright, here it is with the side art. You can't see it from the picture but the coin door is there also.

I can't believe I'm at this stage. It feels great!! Next step is the screen, speaker piece and marquee, in that order.





The yellow is actually a lot brighter. I'll take pictures with something else than my phone soon

[yamatetsu]

  That looks AMAZING ! 

[gabrielmtl]

That looks AMAZING ! 

Thanks!

[gabrielmtl]

Here is the marquee lighting, off and on.




For the speaker wholes, I wanted the design to appear to be floating. It looks pretty good in peson but not exactly to my liking, I could have applied myself more and made it straighter, I just don't have the time/patience to redo everything right now. The speaker panel has 2 squares cut out and I added those square pieces horizontally, black with yellow vinyl for the sides and attached together with an acrylic strip to get the transparent look. The fact that the marquee LEDs are installed on acrylic allows the light to go trough and light up the speaker "grill". I havent been able to capture that in a photo yet.



Ghetto speaker mount




Here is the marquee sandwiched between two acrylic pieces.  Space Oddity from David Bowie is my favorite song and represents the 70s and 80s for me.  I thought it would be perfect for such a nostalgia machine, and a cool way to make it a bit personal. I might print a version where the wording is bigger, not sure yet.



All I am missing is the acrylic to cover the screen and then I can focus on the CP, coin door, PC and video (that TV better still be working once I plug everything back in...)



I'll try to have better pictures once I'm done. How do you guys take pictures with your marquee lite up?

cheers and thanks for reading

[yotsuya]

I like the abstraction! Great job!

[yamatetsu]

Cool ! The speaker grills are looking great. The marquee looks good too, but IMHO it would look even better with bigger wording. The words just look a little 'lost' in there. Just my 2 cents.

[jeremypps]

amazing.
I'm planning to build a full cab some day and your will be my main inspiration

 

[gabrielmtl]

I'm having some trouble with outputting 15khz. Not sure if I should post this here...

I've done hours of research and tests and I can't make it work. My plan is to run a Crescendo TC1500 to my Sony KVFS100. For that, from what I understand the signal outputted from my card needs to be at 15 kHz. I have a Radeon HD 3450, that for some reason Soft-15khz recognizes as a HD 2400. I am running Windows 7/64, which I understand now was a mistake, XP64 appears to be much better with CRTs.

I can install 15khz, but nothing happens when I restart and I have to click Install 15khz again, like it was never installed. Quickres isn't showing any 15khz resolutions.

I'm a bit discouraged by all of this, I realize that I would need to spend a LOT more time researching and testing to make it work, and I simply don't have the time. Should I install XP so that the drivers and soft15 work? I'm reluctant to do so since my Hyperspin setup is very advanced and I would be afraid to mess something up by changing OS.

Sorry for the rant.

Here is my CP, almost fully wired. I think I am missing a cable to connect the U-Trak to the Opti-Pac. I'll have to figure that out eventually, I know for a fact I didn't receive any other cable in my order. (Edit : Andy replied quickly and told me how to plug it directly on the opti-pac, Black wire to any GND, Red wires to any +5V, The other 2 pairs of wires to X1, X2 and Y1, Y2)