Pac-Man Legion

[Laythe]

Unf. 

That control panel is gorgeous, man!   

I love the big thick radius you've got on everything here, it shows off the automotive-grade paint job to great advantage.

[Zebidee]

Big, bold curves are beautiful.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/peter-paul-rubens

[Ond]

That's a lot of applause buddy! (thanks  ).  Nearly up to the real sexy stuff now.

Man that work is crisp OND, this is definitely shaping up to be a "Mona-Lisa" of the arcade builds.

I'd love to be there, and see the looks on peoples faces, when they see it in person and ask "where did you get that"... and then you show 'em your build pic's.

Nice work mate... and love the video's too, they're gold

Cheers 

The cab should be a talking point for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the gamers in my extended family sitting down and enjoying some classic games on a real CRT based cabinet.

Incredible work.  Love the videos too - very relaxing to watch.  I notice that when you are sanding you look like you are barely applying any pressure.  Have I been doubting it wrong all these years?

The sanding on fine finish is very light for sure. I'm trying to ensure an even surface as any imperfections are really obvious on a mirror finish paint job.

If I made a control panel look that nice I'd be afraid to use it.

This cab is for ornamental decorative purposes only... Kidding, I'm fine with normal wear and tear as a result of use, it's not that fragile.

Not sure how I feel about you covering that glorious paintwork with so much vinyl !

Although I am sure there is a design element to it that will reveal itself upon assembly- so I wouldn't say I am concerned really...
 

I know what you mean but there's plenty more high gloss paint finish to the cab. The design balances out those areas of black and yellow.

Unf. 

That control panel is gorgeous, man!   

I love the big thick radius you've got on everything here, it shows off the automotive-grade paint job to great advantage.

Thanks Laythe! Those edges evolved from the idea of doing away with t-molding as an edge finish. Reflections on a high gloss finish definitely look best on curves like that.  Even though the concept has been sharp in my mind all this time it still surprises me as the finish reveals itself.

Big, bold curves are beautiful.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/peter-paul-rubens

Heh, yep Rubens certainly knew how to show off curves.  Great artist.

I've been working on the inner bezel. I test fitted it to the top plate and adjusted the CRT image in the service menu to best fit.  Here it is after undercoating.  Doesn't look like much yet but painted black and fitted in place it will play a big part in the final look.

I'm also starting to work on the final major cab component - the base plate. A large fan will take up much of it. I'm thinking of using these caster wheels.

Before I apply the final paint to the side panels I'm doing a test assembly of the cabinet including motherboards, power supply, glass plate etc. etc. I'll post a major update at that time.

[bobbyb13]

Looks outstanding of course...

I can say that I tried a urethane surfaced caster for my Multi-Williams cabinet and I can't wait to get to swapping them out for solid nylon wheels (like all the original ones I have seen appear to have.)

You may find different results with a much shorter cab, but the amount of shaking that the cabinet has while playing is unnerving to say the least.

If there will also be leg levelers employed here to set the cabinet solid then you would be fine I imagine, but just relying on the brakes on two wheels to stabilize mine doesn't help with such a squishy contact point.
 

[Ond]

Looks outstanding of course...

I can say that I tried a urethane surfaced caster for my Multi-Williams cabinet and I can't wait to get to swapping them out for solid nylon wheels (like all the original ones I have seen appear to have.)

You may find different results with a much shorter cab, but the amount of shaking that the cabinet has while playing is unnerving to say the least.

If there will also be leg levelers employed here to set the cabinet solid then you would be fine I imagine, but just relying on the brakes on two wheels to stabilize mine doesn't help with such a squishy contact point.
 

Good to know Bobby, that's what my test build is for, to check fit, stability and functionality. I'm sure I'll be making some adjustments and changes as a result of that. There's almost zero wood screws used in the cab, it's all machine screws and bolts, given the spaces I'm playing with in building this cab, that joinery method is ideal. It lets me test tolerances, close fits and joins, pull down again and adjust.  Hell I could crate the whole thing up as a kind of 'ready to build kit' and send it to ya! 

Here's a design element I'll be covering soon, the big ass fan in the base of the cab (set to low, quiet RPM) blows cooling air up through the cab body past electronics boards and PS and out under each control panel - basically at the players groin level.  Each control panel is vented underneath to allow both air flow and sound from the speakers. Most typical cabs, uprights especially, really don't need fans of any sort just some vents to allow air flow but this beast may get a little too warm inside otherwise.

[bobbyb13]

I am with you on the modularity concept.
Each successive build I am finding ways to implement more screws (rather than glue and brads!) in strategic spots so that making changes to coin door, speaker and control panels and even monitor mounts for different size/orientations of screen would be easy.
For engineering as you go it seems like a real headache saver too!

I imagine relying on passive cooling isn't even an option here.  Looking forward to seeing your solution.

The cost of being too good with fitting so many components into the minumum amount of space.
 

[Ond]

Final coats of black on these panels today to get a consistent finish.  Coin panel was various different textures of black depending on metal and plastic parts, all the same now.

I wasn't at all happy with the eject buttons done in cheap yellow plastic that came stock on the coin plate so I'm redoing them in red acrylic which will be LED lit. I'm off to the printers to get a transparency sheet done (monochrome) for button inserts.  When lit they'll look like this, just simple bold text rather than complex graphics.

Painting continues ...

[bobbyb13]

Always next level...

That is a cool font.

[Ond]

Always next level...

That is a cool font.

Yeah I thought so, I wanted something chunky and arcade, that suited.

Tonight I finished painting the bezel so here's a pic of that fitted into the top plate on the CRT. The top plate is still at undercoat stage but the fit is good.

[leapinlew]

What's your thoughts on this OND? I like the simplicity of yours, and didn't know if this would be too much



As always - looking good. It's usually around this phase where I'm ready to be done.

[Ond]

What's your thoughts on this OND? I like the simplicity of yours, and didn't know if this would be too much
As always - looking good. It's usually around this phase where I'm ready to be done.

Hah, you got me Lew, I love it. I'm a sucker for novelty and small detail. There's some small process to making the modified coin door button work with both yellow and red.  I'll make a video guide for that available on my channel. Here's the re-worked artwork with adjusted font sizing for better effect.

By way of thanks, here's a download link to the high-res PDF for the transparency sheet for the button inserts:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xviorr2lh25h3h/Token%20Label%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0

 

[leapinlew]

Right on. 

[bobbyb13]

And now it's even better!

Nice one leapinlew

[javeryh]

Yeah I like this too.  Very subtle and obviously fits the theme perfectly.

[Vigo]

Looks outstanding of course...

I can say that I tried a urethane surfaced caster for my Multi-Williams cabinet and I can't wait to get to swapping them out for solid nylon wheels (like all the original ones I have seen appear to have.)

You may find different results with a much shorter cab, but the amount of shaking that the cabinet has while playing is unnerving to say the least.

If there will also be leg levelers employed here to set the cabinet solid then you would be fine I imagine, but just relying on the brakes on two wheels to stabilize mine doesn't help with such a squishy contact point.
 

Good to know Bobby, that's what my test build is for, to check fit, stability and functionality. I'm sure I'll be making some adjustments and changes as a result of that. There's almost zero wood screws used in the cab, it's all machine screws and bolts, given the spaces I'm playing with in building this cab, that joinery method is ideal. It lets me test tolerances, close fits and joins, pull down again and adjust.  Hell I could crate the whole thing up as a kind of 'ready to build kit' and send it to ya! 

Its a small investment, but I recommended these elsewhere on the board the other day. Might be worth looking into. It's a caster with leveling leg that pops down. Get them in black and they will match pretty well, too.

[abispac]

  updates? 
Are you ok OP?

[Laythe]

Ond kind of comes and goes, around here. 

He'll likely be back one day and post some more absolutely amazing stuff... but that day likely isn't tomorrow.

Always makes my day whenever he comes around, though!   

[abispac]

Did you finished this or not? i want to see it done hahahaha please come back.

[thatpurplestuff]

Update! Update! Update!

[Zebidee]

You can see more on this project over at Aussiearcade.com forums, but nothing more recent unfortunately. Hope Ond is well:

https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/97568-pac-man-legion/

[Ond]

Hey fellas...

Apart from locking myself out of BYOAC (temporarily) I'm all good! 

I'm very fond of this project, sitting neatly dismantled ready for more work. In the last year most of my efforts have been focused on helping my daughter build her house. I only work part time now which means more time for my hobbies. 

[Ond]

Priming this project for updates.  2+ years since I've looked at it.  Re-reading the entire project is a bit of a cringe ha hah. That's ok things change, we change. I'm not going to use the overly complicated game select system I had in mind just a FE new to me. More in the next few days.  If you haven't seen this project before have a look! My revised plan for this will have some different look and feel.  A months leave is coming up for me, so get ready BYOAC, OND is back.     Assuming I can bring up the forum in browser, that's a bit hit and miss these days...

[Zebidee]

Genuinely looking forward to this   I think this is one of your more exciting projects. Maybe not the most technically challenging thing you've done, but I love it as an "artistic interpretation" of a classic games cocktail cab.

You'll be able to use a new GreenAntz v2.3 in it. It has an onboard 15.7khz video filter which will greatly help you to eliminate boot loading screens. So you can boot up directly into games or FE. I know you were originally planning to manage some of this with an Arduino, but now you won't have to!

Anyway, I can get the new GreenAntz to you whenever you are ready for it, just working out some enclosure details (BTW thank you for your help with that  ). 

FWIW, when posting on BYOAC I always cut/paste to notepad and save before clicking post/preview. I hate spending a couple of hours on a great post only to see it blown away because of a DDOS spam attack or something.

[Ond]

Yeah thanks Zeb. This build definitely needs some time spent on documenting GreenAntz place in the video chain. I also must acknowledge the nudge that all the GreenAntz development has given this project lately. It wouldn't be the same without it. I'm going to spend some time on the FE Attract Mode Plus, developing some nice artwork for it for a 320 x 240 CRT optimized layout. Hah that sounds so low-res but I know it's going to look glorious on the Sanyo TV CRT! Yup, no Arduino, no complicated crap, just careful attention to the GroovyMame based build. I've ordered a new PS2 KeyWiz for the project and a few other bits and pieces. Send that GreenAntz 2.3 whenever you are ready, I appreciate it!

I had mixed feelings about continuing this cab. It is an art piece pretending to be an arcade machine, the screen is overly large and not really optimal. But guess what? Playing on it is really indulging in everything anyone loved about CRT based gaming. If you remember that era then you know what I mean. I've been tinkering with the new look concept. Nothing locked in, but I like to test render and give it the stare test for a few days. The artwork is just low-res stuff I cobbled together, but it's a start. I think I'm on the right track...

Not so much yellow. Oh yeah, nearly forgot I'm replacing the real stained timber veneer curves with wood-grain contact in the style of the actual Pac Man cocktail cabs. The wood-grain contact is nice stuff though not rubbishy. The overall look should be more arcade machine and less furniture vibe.

[Zebidee]

Oh yeah, nearly forgot I'm replacing the real stained timber veneer curves with wood-grain contact in the style of the actual Pac Man cocktail cabs. The wood-grain contact is nice stuff though not rubbishy. The overall look should be more arcade machine and less furniture vibe.

Ummm.......Why?

I've restored several cabs with timber veneer shells and feel it is both totally arcade authentic & beautiful. The furniture vibe is cool.

An advantage of the veneer is it that minor to moderate scratches are easy to fix. Even large gouges are recoverable. I've got a really good technique sorted out (involving acrylic putty and a smidge of hobby paint) but won't go on (unless you want me to). With contact, once it is scratched or holed there is little you can do except replace it.

Other people like it too. Back in the "good-old-days" I restored some old wood veneer cabs, some I got for free because they were so scratched to hell. Fixed them up all shiny and they were attractive, popular, always sold for top dollar. One I made into a custom cab for a guy, he specifically wanted the woodgrain furniture vibe feel as it was going into the living area of his house.

Can't say the same feeling exists for contact woodgrain, but maybe I'm just thinking about cheap stuff. I won't go on. What kind of contact are you thinking of using? If you know of something that is good and affordable, I'm interested too.

[Ond]

  Ond has lost his mind, he's covering his cabs in contact paper. You are thinking about the cheap stuff.  It will be fine. Before I get to aesthetics I have structural stuff to address for internal hardware placement.  That will be next up.

[PL1]

Ond has lost his mind, he's covering his cabs in contact paper.

Hopefully not blue marble contact paper.   

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070321030425/http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/3.html


Scott

[Zebidee]

Ond has lost his mind, he's covering his cabs in contact paper.

Hopefully not blue marble contact paper.   

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070321030425/http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/3.html

Scott

Lol, that control panel is almost complete, just missing a couple of bolts

[Ond]

Good progress in the last few days, mainly fitting internal hardware, cabling and testing connections.

[pbj]

New stereotype - Australians don’t finish projects

 

[Ond]

New stereotype - Australians Ond don’t finish arcade projects.

Fixed that for ya.      Lovely to see you posting... anything pbj.

Meh. it's a fair enough comment.  I'm just gonna keep at it like I mean to finish anyway.

[pbj]

It’s been a journey to get back on this forum but I think I’m locked back in.  Rest assured, the drama has continued unabated.  Need to get some project threads going.

[Zebidee]

Even I'm glad to see you pbj! Things have been a bit slow.

https://memes.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/82c41751-266a-4ec2-95c8-2af63a33178e

[Ond]

I forge on through anything and everything.  Need some custom parts to mount a large CRT into a cocktail cabinet? Design and print them yourself. Better than the previous plywood bracket thing I had.

This a first. CRT mounted in the cab and connected to its board and powered up. All good.

Not too far off structural work completion. Then I'll turn my attention to surface finish and final color/artwork.

[Xiaou2]

Ond has lost his mind, he's covering his cabs in contact paper.

Hopefully not blue marble contact paper.   

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070321030425/http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/3.html


Scott

 Why TF do you care what someone Else's control panel looks like?

 At least his panel can actually play more games than most peoples panels.

 Him caring more about playing more games, in a single Cabinet.. is HIS Choice.  Not Yours.

 Not everyone has the Space for +5 different machines...  Nor wants to waste time swapping panels to play different games.

 While the panel could be layed out a little better... Id still chose it over most peoples CP's,  As like him.. I prefer playability over all else.

 You can mock all you want.  But It just makes you an Autistic Ahole  /  Cabinet Nazi


 As for Marble Paper...  You young Tots clearly were not here in the Golden Era of BYOAC.   This was a dirt cheap way to get a decent cabinet covering.
No need to deal with primers, several layers of paint and sanding.    And back then.. there were not really any affordable options for large detailed colored
vinyl prints.

 Back then.. everyone was experimenting, and pushing the boundary's of what was possible.   Heck... before there were any commercial Keyboard Encoders,
people were hacking their keyboards matrix.  Have some respect for fellow BYOAC'ers, and the Pioneers of the Hobby.

 Theres a good reason why so many people stopped coming to this Sites forum.   Its because of people like yourself.

[javeryh]

OND! Glad to see this project come back. Hope all is well. 

[Ond]

Hey mate! Nice to see you here javeryh. Yes, I got a bit inspired by the good work being done both on GroovyMame and GreenAntz.  I wanted to do a complete overhaul/rebuild not just of the cabinet but of the software side of things. So, the build is based on Windows 10 with all recommended options. Also going with the FE Attract-Mode-Plus because it's ideally suited to a 240x320 CRT vertical layout, actually looks rock solid and clean.   At the end of the day I just like sitting down and playing some games on a real CRT.  I did a bunch of tests with logging turned up the other day and games run smooth (around 99%+ speed), clean and at the right frequencies etc.

I'll post more detailed hardware/software build and configuration details later on. This project is more than just the build aesthetics, it is also genuinely about the enjoyment of playing the games as they originally looked on screen.

OND! Glad to see this project come back. Hope all is well. 

[Ond]

Production Side artwork:

FE Menu background:

[abispac]

dang, hope you do finish this one, looks dope

[Ond]

Thanks abispac, you were a fan of this build back during my last work on it  .

When I first designed this cabinet I didn't give that much thought to placement of hardware or CRT mounting or the base support. At the moment that's all I've been working on. I wasn't entirely sure where the main TV board would go, PC and other bits and pieces. I just knew they all had to fit somewhere inside!  . Getting all that right has been a process. I received my USB Keywiz from Randy the other day which is exciting as I'm looking forward to wiring up controls soon. I'll turn my attention to paint finishes and getting artwork done once the hardware is sorted. The next progress pics are what I've been working on.  I need to give some thought to getting the Sanyo TV system to switch to DVD mode (component input) after power up. It's not the default. That's all fine, I may still use an Arduino for some power on control. I also want to make a simple breakout board for the TVs front panel controls to be accessible behind the coin door. The One-for-all remote control I have has limited functionality for picture adjustment, so physical buttons are a better option. I also have some issues getting AttractModePlus working with the modified Radeon driver on the CRT. I'm working on resolving that as well, probably will discard AttractModePlus as an FE choice rather than struggle with it. All good! Damn it's nearly playable! Hah ha.

dang, hope you do finish this one, looks dope

I'm using the TV casing base to mount the TV main board in. Makes sense right?

Component video feed with good clearance for the tube. TV Main board in place. I've become fond of this board and the CRT, it's very familiar to me now. Everything is easy to remove in this cabinet. The base unscrews in seconds and I can work on the PC, PSU and other components at my leisure.

PC motherboard, Radeon Card, PSU. I stripped all the unneeded cabling from the PSU. I still left myself with a cord bundle of 3.3v, 5v, and 12v just in case, probably for a small audio amp and power for Arduino. I could use the speakers that came with the TV directly from the TV main board but ehhh, I'm not happy with sound out of them. More on that later.

Here are the CRT mount brackets I printed up in place with stainless steel bolt and rubber bushing. This provides similar mount cushioning to what was in the original TV.

Here is the heavy CRT bolted securely in place into the cabinet. It's actually easy to remove as well, no need for block and tackle lift, I just lay the cabinet on it's side and ease the CRT out onto some foam rubber, way less fuss.

Next up, control wiring, Keywiz setup and FE testing.