Arcade Classics Bartop Mame Cabinet - FINISHED, for now :)

[mattfl]

Hey all, since I have a full size virtual pinball machine with just about every pinball machine in it, figured it was time for another MAME cabinet. About 10 years ago or so I built a full size MAME cab and wound up selling it off. I'm going with a somewhat bartop sized cabinet following floriske.nl's plans found here ->

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,123039.0.html

I love his design and while it's a little bigger than a bartop, I didn't want a full size cab.

So far I have his templates printed out and today I cut out the control panel. This is where I need some suggestions. I first was going to do a 2 player fighter style control panel, basically following his plans but have since decided to just make it a one player fully MAME cab with a spinner and a trackball.

It's been a while since I messed with MAME and I'm having trouble deciding what all buttons I need. So far my layout looks like this

P1 Joystick with 7 buttons          Trackball        Spinner

Along the top I have room for 9 buttons and so far I've got
Coin/Menu/Reset   Start/Pause/Exit   available/available/available

What do you guys think and what buttons might I be missing? Should I add any buttons specifically for the trackball or spinner. What about those 3 available spots at the top? Any ideas/issues with my layout?

I'm going to try and get most of the actual cabinet pieces cut out tomorrow as well.

[BorgDog]

Nice looking plan, I had not seen that one before.  Pretty grain pattern on you control panel board, i like    I look forward to following your build.

As far as the buttons, just because you can fit 9 doesn't mean you should.  Others I'm sure will chime in.

[rablack97]

I thought that looked familiar, florinske, used an xbox for his build which required the extra buttons, like "shift" and "back"

The 6 admin buttons you referenced are all you need for a computer build.

[mattfl]

I thought that looked familiar, florinske, used an xbox for his build which required the extra buttons, like "shift" and "back"

The 6 admin buttons you referenced are all you need for a computer build.

That's true, his was strictly for xbox. I guess I just liked the layout of his "admin" buttons along the top. I still want to go with the 3 smaller buttons for start/pause/exit and a few buttons on either side though I think.

[Vidiot]

Very cool shape! Getting very tired of seeing nothing but weecades for bartops. Looking forward to following this one. 

[mattfl]

More progress today!

got the sides cut and sanded down so they are 99% +/- the same


I'll get the back and other support pieces cut tomorrow and then it's time to start ordering parts!

[mattfl]

Holy crap I got a lot done today!

Got all the cuts done, decided to go with dowels instead of screws, all dowel holes cut in and tested, put it together just for fun to see what it looks like!

Cuts with dowels.



All together, well the back piece is just sitting there since I haven't gotten the hinges yet to attach it up but you get the idea



 I messed up two of them on the left side and need to use some wood putty to fix them, drilled all the way through the wood




So, it's time to start ordering some parts! Extremely happy with how it turned out!

[mattfl]

Oh man. So, some life stuff got in the way and I put this project on hold for a while and was finally able to get back to it!

So I got it all glued together and painted and mounted the monitor.

Still need to order

PC
Ipac
Trackball
Marque
Misc internal wiring stuff

Then it's done!

[mattfl]

Slowly but surely more progress! Flush mounted trackball today.





I promise its straight too lol, my router skills aren't up to par yet so while the lines around the plate look off, the trackball is straight

[Malenko]

if you bolt the plate down, or want to try to do it with a hand sander, you can fill those gaps in with bondo.


Too late for me to suggest trimming that CP so its flush with the sides?

[mattfl]

if you bolt the plate down, or want to try to do it with a hand sander, you can fill those gaps in with bondo.


Too late for me to suggest trimming that CP so its flush with the sides?

Ya I'll probably fill in the gaps with something once I get an overlay to put over top of it.

And yeah, I like the look of the overhang but I'll think about it

[mattfl]

Oh man, I think I'm done? Who knows, but it's pretty much complete...I think.

Picture dump incoming!



Control Panel Overlay from gameongrafix











Wiring


I decided the white trackball was too plain and got a translucent blue one and wired up a small LED under neath it





Next to my virtual pin



Marquee finished from gameongrafix


So I think that's it. I've got hyperspin up and fully running and configured. The only thing I'd like to add in the future is probably a lightgun, but we'll see.

[Scotty_C]

Nice! I like the artwork!

(BTW I'd love more details on your vpin!! EDIT: found your post on vpforums very nice )