No Name Project..Need input

[snowdogg187]

Hey guys,
My pics of my project are here in my gallery.
http://impurity.org/gallery/album13

This was originally a MKII cab but when purchased at the last milwaukee auction it was a die hard arcade cab.
What I have setup on my mame cab so far:

Jpac/arcadevga to the 25" wells gardner monitor
Optipac
amd athlon 1.2 ghz system with windows xp pro.
Mamewah frontend.

1st question: Marquee and cover
Cab came without marquee or the glass cover and holder to screw down the top. Anyone know the size of this glass piece and if it would look allright if I used some sort of plastic, or would glass be cheaper?

2nd question: Trackball and spinner
If you look at my current control panel what do you think the best placement would be for the trackball and spinner?
Also, being as I am pretty broke, which trackball and spinner would be sufficient for me?

I really appreciate any input you guys can give me. This board is a great place for information.

[tmasman]

1st question: Marquee and cover
Cab came without marquee or the glass cover and holder to screw down the top. Anyone know the size of this glass piece and if it would look allright if I used some sort of plastic, or would glass be cheaper?

Most people here are using Plexi or Lexan...
Not many use glass... It's just not as user friendly.  

2nd question: Trackball and spinner
If you look at my current control panel what do you think the best placement would be for the trackball and spinner?
Also, being as I am pretty broke, which trackball and spinner would be sufficient for me?

See Oscar's site for the spinner... He's got a variety of them & the prices aren't that bad.
See Ultimarc's site for the trackball. (It's the cheapest I've seen)...

Also, you will probably want to look into the optipac to control them... You mentioned you have it set up, but you haven't mentioned what it's controlling... eh...

Otherwise... I'd probably look into rebuilding that top piece of the controll panel. That way you can be rid of that funky 3 button layout & set yourself up with a nice 6 (or 7 if you must) button layout to play the fighting games with.

The trackball is almost always best placed furthest from the monitor & in the center of the CP... This gives you the most room to give it a good SMACK! without running into to much stuff... Also try to keep it a good distance from the player 2 joystick... It can get in the way when rolling the TB to the right hard.

Keep us updated!

[snowdogg187]

thanks for the input man!!

I will get plexi or lexan, which are available at home depot I imagine. Do I just buy a sheet or something and cut it? What can I use to cut it?

Also, I have the optipac but don't have it setup yet as I am getting ordering my trackball and spinner soon.

I am going with the 6 button set up and if you see the bottom control panel picture you can see the holes that have been drilled. the middle 2 buttons would be down a bit from the outside 2 pairs.

I also would put my trackball right in the middle where you said. What size trackball should I use? And if I get an oscar spinner, would the cheapest one be fine or would the push pull at like $80 be best?

thanks and I would appreciate more input from anyone, criticism or help!!

[Raider]

Fun with plastic. My Home Depot for some odd reason only had very samll sheets. Got mine at lowes. I've heard a variety of ways to cut plexi. What worked well for me was I took a cordless drill and used cutting discs and bits for the rotary tool. I clamped a ruler down and just cut along that. I used a palm sander and 3m finish stripping paper to smooth all the edges. In fact that sanding idea worked great for making rounded corners.

I went with SlikStik Tornado spinners mostly because of the mounting space. I would've gone with the Oscar brand push pull spinners myself but the mounting space needed just wasn't going to work for the cp i was doing. Looks like you have a lot of space though... Just peep the mounting specs and be really confident in your decision for placement I say.

I have no regrets on the Tornados though... Damn nice! I use top fire sticks to make up for the lack of a push/pull.

Trackball... I use a 3" which is what i think most use on their cabs. You have other options like highballs and smaller or bigger. That's really up for personal tatse but I think the 3" has a good feel for all the trackball games. If you want to be slick you can go for a translucent ball and spend about $10-15 for a superbright to mount underneath it. Don't pay more than that though..... I've seen people charge as much as $40 for those leds!

[snowdogg187]

Hey guys, I've got the plexi ready but I need to cut the holes for the buttons.

What should I use for this and how?

thanks!

[snowdogg187]

Thanks guys, got the marquee and retainer all done and cut my holes.
Now I need to hook up 6 more buttons to my jpac, any input on this?
I know you hook all the grounds together daisy chained.
but do I just hook each other button to another switch on the jpac?

What connectors should I use, or should I get a soldering iron?

thanks

[garyh]

I found that a forstner bit in a drill press worked best for cutting button holes in plastic. It is possible with a hand drill instead of a drill press but as it is difficult to keep it perfectly striaght the bit catches as it makes the exit hole and you run the risk of cracking the plastic. You also need to run at quite a slow speed.

Gary