Project: My first cabinet - Mid 90s and before! [Complete]

[minorhero]

Great work so far, keep it up

Thank you!

Small update:

I have really good weather today, so hopefully I can finish up the cabinet to a point where I can put on the primer. Not too many days left where I can expect above 55 degrees to get the job done outside and I REALLY don't want to make a painting booth inside my garage if I can help it.

To that end I finished up the door (minus actually attaching the hinges and screwing in the coin door). Right now it's all just resting against the cabinet while I took the picture.

I also added a brace for the hinges to attach to the control panel. I am very glad I checked the fit with the drilled control panel first because it  became obvious this piece would need some attention to get everything to fit



I also added the top access hatch and attached some random bits to the edges to hold it in place.



It's hard to make out in the picture, but the angled part of the top removes. It's not held on by anything more then gravity and the bracing you see.

The idea is that there will be 3 access panels to the cabinet. The first is the kickplate at the bottom which is actually a door that will give me access to the computer. The one of the top will give me access to the marque and the speakers. The third and final access location is the bezel/acrylic in front of the monitor. I plan to put handles on the sides and place it in such a way that it will be completely removal. Figuring out the bracing for that, the monitor, and cutting the bezel itself is the last thing to do before priming/painting.

[minorhero]

The build continues! Today was about test fitting the control panel, and figuring out the monitor bracing. I'm glad I tested the control panel with the hinges partly installed, because the resulting 'feel' of the control panel being held up by hinges in the back was absolutely terrible. I will need to come up with a different solution for it, likely screwed down in place. I can still access the underside by sitting in the open space behind the kickplate. I may or may not need to recut the whole control panel to accommodate though.

Meanwhile I came up with a solution for holding the monitor.





It's pretty simple, but it should work once the bezel is installed to keep it from falling forward. I needed to figure out this placement in advance of cutting the bezel since the exact location is kind of important

BUT, with this part done, I can now finally get to painting for the cabinet itself.

[Lexiq]

Very nice (and quick) work! It's great to see your progress .

I'm glad I tested the control panel with the hinges partly installed, because the resulting 'feel' of the control panel being held up by hinges in the back was absolutely terrible.

I think hinges can work if they're combined with some other mechanism for holding the panel in place, but I had similar concerns. I ended up going with a 'lift off' approach where the control box fits snugly over the base and is held in place by gravity and friction. There's zero play, it's relatively easy to remove if necessary and control feel is solid. Our cabinet designs are different though, so this may not be practical, but a variation of it could work.

[Zebidee]

Good, neat work. I like the style of cab, nice curves.

Hinged control panels can be held in place by lock-down clamps.

There are various designs, but they all involve hooking onto the CP from underneath. Once locked down, the clamp is held in place by spring tension, which can only be released by flipping up a lever from below.

I used them in my Aussie lowboy with hinged metal CP. The clamps themselves are rated to 150kg each, which means you could pick up the entire cab by the control panel and the clamps would still hold fast. When clamped down, the CP feels completely rock-solid. A keyed door at front provides the only access to the clamps, meaning the cab is secure from meddling hands.

I've seen these clamps used in a bunch of commercial cabs, with both metal and wooden control panels. Clamps are definitely more convenient than any kind of screw/bolt down method. The main concern I have for your setup is that you would want a keyed door at the front - accessing the clamps by reaching from the back is possible, but not inconvenient. You don't seem to have a front door, and a coin door is probably not going to give you enough freedom to get your hands into the clamps.

FWIW, here is how I did it: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,166352.0.html

[minorhero]

Very nice (and quick) work! It's great to see your progress .

I think hinges can work if they're combined with some other mechanism for holding the panel in place, but I had similar concerns. I ended up going with a 'lift off' approach where the control box fits snugly over the base and is held in place by gravity and friction. There's zero play, it's relatively easy to remove if necessary and control feel is solid. Our cabinet designs are different though, so this may not be practical, but a variation of it could work.

The easiest solution I came up with was just fixing it in place, but I could see how some other options could work. One issue I have is that my control panel is made out of plywood and is only 25 inches x 10 inches so it's pretty lightweight. I would need something it fit into to hold it in place but it would be doable.

Good, neat work. I like the style of cab, nice curves.

Hinged control panels can be held in place by lock-down clamps.

There are various designs, but they all involve hooking onto the CP from underneath. Once locked down, the clamp is held in place by spring tension, which can only be released by flipping up a lever from below.

I used them in my Aussie lowboy with hinged metal CP. The clamps themselves are rated to 150kg each, which means you could pick up the entire cab by the control panel and the clamps would still hold fast. When clamped down, the CP feels completely rock-solid. A keyed door at front provides the only access to the clamps, meaning the cab is secure from meddling hands.

I've seen these clamps used in a bunch of commercial cabs, with both metal and wooden control panels. Clamps are definitely more convenient than any kind of screw/bolt down method. The main concern I have for your setup is that you would want a keyed door at the front - accessing the clamps by reaching from the back is possible, but not inconvenient. You don't seem to have a front door, and a coin door is probably not going to give you enough freedom to get your hands into the clamps.

FWIW, here is how I did it: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,166352.0.html

I love the idea of locking clamps/hold downs. I think that could definitely be the answer here! I searched on amazon and found these for 7 dollars:



I will need to change the underside of the control panel a bit to attach them, but that's pretty easy. I am glad I didn't get to paint the cabinet over the weekend as it would make installation harder.

There is actually no access to my cabinet from the rear. The entire kickplate is actually a door on my cabinet. I have some hinges for it but I might end up installing a frame for the door to rest in so the entire weight of the door is not put constantly on the hinges.

[Zebidee]

I love the idea of locking clamps/hold downs. I think that could definitely be the answer here! I searched on amazon and found these for 7 dollars:



I will need to change the underside of the control panel a bit to attach them, but that's pretty easy. I am glad I didn't get to paint the cabinet over the weekend as it would make installation harder.

Those are very similar to the clamps on my lowboy.

The only issue I had with them, and frankly most/ clamps available, is that the standard latch/hook piece always seems designed to sit the same plane as the main end. I needed mine to sit directly under the control panel, meaning the plane is off by about 90 degrees. After considering many ideas, I decided to fashion a new hooking piece by bending some scrap metal into the right shape (like a C). Then I took it down to the metal shop and got them to weld it on.

Anyway, easy enough to make/modify something if you need to.


 
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,166352.msg1753836.html#msg1753836


An extra piece of scrap wood across the cab, just under the control panel, gives the clamps something to be screwed into. Also makes it all sturdier. Top end of this plywood is slightly angled at a single plane, such that the panel sits snugly against it when firmly clamped down.

Just clamping at the sides can work too.

[minorhero]

The only issue I had with them, and frankly most/ clamps available, is that the standard latch/hook piece always seems designed to sit the same plane as the main end. I needed mine to sit directly under the control panel, meaning the plane is off by about 90 degrees.

Yeah, I noticed this as well. I added small block of wood to the inside of my cabinet below the control panel and I will add another piece of wood to the underside of the control panel itself which I will attach the hook end of the latch to. In that way I should be able to install the latches without needing to make a new hook or modify the existing one.

They do sell 90 degree latches, but they were not as good as the ones I got. Mainly because the ones I got can be tensioned after installation which is just too convenient a feature as far as I am concerned.

With that said, a small update and a question.

Yesterday I cut and tested out my bezel. This bezel will remain removable even after the cabinet is done and will thus be my access point for the monitor area.

In order to know how big to cut the bezel I first needed to get my screen to display at a 4:3 ratio. The easiest way to do this is to choose a 4:3 resolution in Windows. My monitor's full screen native resolution is 2560x1440. The highest 4:3 resolution in windows though is 1600x1200. The problem with this resolution is that it's not a native resolution. So everything will be a bit blurry, that kinda sucks. Doing some maths, the ideal resolution for my monitor is 1920x1440. This was not an option in windows though. I tried to make my AMD software do it (since I have an AMD graphics card) but it just wouldn't make it happen in Windows 10. I looked online for a while and eventually found s little application called the Custom Resolution Utility. What this does is allow you to put in your own resolution and then it adds that resolution as an option in Windows. That way windows does it's normal thing without needing another piece of software to load up every time windows starts. Once that was done I finally had a native resolution 4:3 screen display.

From there I measured how big the displayed area really was. About 17 5/8" x 13.5". I put my monitor in place and then marked where the monitor made contact on wood of my bezel with a pencil. Then cut out a hole slightly smaller then the size of the display area where the monitor was positioned. All of this took a bit with lots of checking and double checking etc. But the end result was pretty good. I roughed out the hole with the jig saw and then finished it up with the router and a pattern bit and some wood clamped around the hole to act as my pattern.



And here i the finished result:



Next up, priming and painting.


Now, my question. How do people deal with power to their cabinets? I will have a pc inside, speakers, monitor, and light for the marquee. I figured I would plug everything into a power strip. But that just gets me power. I would then need a separate external button for the pc at a minimum.

Ideally what I would like is to have the cabinet plugged in all the time but powered down, then use a single button to power everything on at the same time. I don't know how to do that though. What I do know how to do is just have a switch that turns on the power strip and a separate button for the pc. Everyone must go through this same process though, so I wanted to check if there is something more clever then my 2 button/switch solution.

[RavenDarkwood]

Hi, minorhero, a little suggestion for the power setup.
In my cabinet I connected everything to the same power strip: when switched on, even the PC gets its power.
The trick is to change a little the configuration of your PC: somewhere, in the power-up options, there's something like "start the PC when power is detected".
Hope this can be useful 

[Zebidee]

Use a "master/slave power strip'. These have a "master" outlet, to which you plug in the PC, and several "slave" outlets, which are only enabled when the master draws power (more than a few milliamps, so standby power alone does not activate the slaves). These cost ~$20 to $80, but cost alone isn't a reliable indicator of quality. Years ago I used to be able to find good search hits with "smart power strip", but nowadays that search just pulls up wifi-enabled power strips. Such is life!

In addition to adjusting power options in Windows, you will probably need to look for power-on behaviour options in the BIOS.

For an actual power button, run a couple of wires from the pair of POWER_SW and GND pins, on the front panel header on the PC's mainboard. Attach a button to the wires. Check the user manual and/or just trace the wires back from the existing power button. You will probably need to solder up some connectors. With some creativity it is possible to run the wires to both the normal PC power button and your new cab power button.

Instead of choosing a 4:3 video mode, you may be better off running the monitor in its natural resolution and just make sure to preserve the aspect ratio in mame options. You can then enable artwork options to fill up the blank space.

[PL1]

Now, my question. How do people deal with power to their cabinets? I will have a pc inside, speakers, monitor, and light for the marquee. I figured I would plug everything into a power strip. But that just gets me power. I would then need a separate external button for the pc at a minimum.

Ideally what I would like is to have the cabinet plugged in all the time but powered down, then use a single button to power everything on at the same time. I don't know how to do that though. What I do know how to do is just have a switch that turns on the power strip and a separate button for the pc. Everyone must go through this same process though, so I wanted to check if there is something more clever then my 2 button/switch solution.

As RavenDarkwood and Zebidee suggested, a "smart strip" is probably what you're looking for -- a quick forum search will pull up numerous examples and more details including a thread on how to make your own.



Plug the PC into the blue "control" outlet on the smart strip and connect a momentary pushbutton to the PC motherboard power switch pins.
- Power is always available on the "control" outlet and on the unswitched red outlets.
- When you press the momentary pushbutton, the PC boots up.
- When the PC boots up, the increased current draw exceeds the threshold for triggering the smart strip so it applies power to the green "switched" outlets on the strip.
-- Some smart strips allow you to adjust the threshold which can prevent unwanted on/off toggling of the "switched" outlets.
- When you push the momentary pushbutton again, the PC performs an orderly shut down.  When the current draw drops below the threshold, the smart strip removes power from the "switched" outlets.

You may also want to use an IEC fused power inlet with a lighted switch.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Wiring#IEC_Fused_Power_Inlet_with_a_Lighted_Switch


Scott

[minorhero]

In my cabinet I connected everything to the same power strip: when switched on, even the PC gets its power.

Use a "master/slave power strip'.

As RavenDarkwood and Zebidee suggested, a "smart strip" is probably what you're looking for

This is what I was looking for, thanks guys! I did some searching and since the advent of wifi power strips the term "smart strip" doesn't work as well for searches. Now the term to use is "energy saving" or "Master controlled" power strip. I found a bunch of options but settled on this sunbeam model because it was both the cheapest at 10 dollars and had the best reviews.

The plan then is to have the computer plugged into the master outlet, have an external button hooked up to the computer power button. That way when plugged in nothing should happen until the button is pressed, then everything should turn on. Since the power cord for this strip is so darn small I will need to splice on a much longer cord, but that won't be a problem. 

In other news, yesterday I painted!

I thought I was going to get the priming done with 1 double large can of spray primer. That was definitely not the case. I ended up buying a quart of primer and put it on with a roller.



This worked really well and dried quick enough I could put on the paint in the same day. I ended up buying a quart of black rustoleum satin enamel.



I will need to sand it touch it up likely, but otherwise pretty happy with it. Hopefully I can do the other random parts today.

[minorhero]

In other news, it's time I talked a bit more about artwork.

Wow, is artwork cool nowadays.

So the first thing I thought when I set out to make my artwork is that I'm terrible at drawing and my photoshop skills are rudimentary at best. So my idea was to find a bunch of people who made fanart for my favorite games, use their artwork, convert to vector, and copy and paste them all together in a collage. It didn't go super well and I wasn't too happy with my progress. That is until I started trying to do the same thing with an AI image generator.

Up till this point I had heard of AI Image generation of course, but had not really tried it more then once or twice with some really terrible ones. But for this, I got a bit more indepth.

The basic business model for all of these AI image generators is that you sign up for a free account, and they give a certain number of credits a day. Each of those credits are roughly equal to 1 image generated. Some of the AI image generators will generate more or less images based on options you select such as longer run times, or stricter prompt guidance, etc. You can of course pay them money and get WAY more credits a day/week/month/year (depending on the business model), but I did not want to pay for more when I figured I could get this done for free. And I did get it done, but it took a few weeks using free credits to figure out what the ai is good at and what it's not good at and adjust my design accordingly.

It is not good at making a specific video game character for instance. Want a generic wizard? No trouble. Want to generate Chun-Li? Ehhh probably not. For instance, an early effort of mine was to generate Mario and the teenage mutant ninja turtles playing an arcade machine:



The results are.... weird. That's because the AI doesn't know that we have VERY specific ideas about how a teenage mutant ninja turtle should look or proportions for mario. The AI is instead used to embelishing things and when it's making wizards or cat girls or whatever, that's fine. But when we want something VERY specific, it doesn't do as well. There are ways to make it better using existing images to train the AI, but generally that wasn't available through the free options.

Here is one where I wanted Darth Vader and Mario fighting batman:



For whatever reason it decided to combine mario and batman together..... ya. So not great at this kind of thing.

Over time my design evolved in large part based on what I could easily get out of the AI. Curiously, AI is really bad at text. I really wanted it to have a sign saying "ARCADE" in a cityscape, but it kept throwing letters out of order or making up new words.

Here is one of the better cityscape ones:



But as you can see, it added more signs that were not spelled correctly.

Eventually I settled on more simple designs, but along the way I came up with a bunch of options. Here are some of them:






















Ultimately I have more or less settled on doing a circuit board cyberpunk design for my cabinet. It looks nice and is relatively easy for the AI to generate. I haven't ordered it yet, but I'm 90% sure it will look something like this:



For those interesting in following in my footsteps the AI generators I used are Leonardo.ai nightcafe.studio, and limewire.com

[Zebidee]

Interesting art - and despite it being AI, I see this level of AI art as being more human-generated ... the AI just responds to your prompts.

I see what you mean about AI not getting pop-culture characters right, or out-of-context. That, and Darth's head looks too large in every case. Makes Darth look like one of those head-bobbing kewpi dolls you put on the dash of your car.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed some of the art-deco style stuff, with no actual characters involved (some of the last few you showed). In particular I like this one, looks like it could've been lifted directly from Metropolis





The UFO themed pics, or the electronic PCB pic, would all be great for side-art too, at least for a shmups/shoot-em-up kind of cab.

[minorhero]

On the other hand, I really enjoyed some of the art-deco style stuff, with no actual characters involved (some of the last few you showed).

The UFO themed pics, or the electronic PCB pic, would all be great for side-art too, at least for a shmups/shoot-em-up kind of cab.

Thank you! It's been a bit of an adventure figuring out the artwork. I went through a whole art deco phase before going through a whole spaceship phase. I literally have hundreds of images, many are completely useless because of weird errors/artifacts. Others 'worked' but just ended up not being what I wanted. Here are some of the art deco / spaceship / circuit board stuff.

[minorhero]

Small update:

I primed and painted all surfaces, huzzah! The cabinet got sanded again after painting and I still need to do the same to the doors/panels, plus a little touchup here and there where I sanded through the paint. But otherwise, it's ready for artwork.



Probable artwork mockup:

[Lexiq]

Nice idea using AI generated art, some of those are really beautiful!

What resolution can you get it to generate? You may need to run it through an up-scaler that adds detail for it to work at cabinet size.

[minorhero]

Nice idea using AI generated art, some of those are really beautiful!

What resolution can you get it to generate? You may need to run it through an up-scaler that adds detail for it to work at cabinet size.

Resolution depends a bit on what generator I use. Generally most will make an image of around 600x1500. Some allow you to 'upscale' the image for free others will charge you for the service. Either way I definitely need to convert them to make them work. I also bought a monthly subscription to Adobe Illustrator and then used that to convert the image into a vector image. That's where I am now.

Unfortunately holiday shopping expenses have put a pause on the project. The next step is to get the artwork ordered, but it looks like it's going to cost around 200 dollars to get 2 side panels, a kickplate, a control panel, and a marquee printed.

[minorhero]

It's been a while. Life got in the way and the cabinet got put on hold.

But good news, its back on!

I ordered my artwork and got it in. I ended up applying the big sides using the dry method. Probably 'should' have used the wet method, but I was impatient

A few small bubbles but otherwise it went pretty well.



I had giant rectangles printed and then cut off the excess after applying it. Much easier then trying to get exact dimensions printed.

I am in the process of applying the t-molding and hopefully today I will get the kickplate and control panel vinyl applied.

I still have some fiddly bits to figure out like exactly how the control panel will attach and the hinges for the door. I have already drilled the parts to attach hinged, but have not formally screwed them on / adjusted them yet. So that will happen after I get the vinyl applied.

That said, I'm excited to get back to work on this critter.

[minorhero]

Some photos from today:

Trim installed:




Installing the coin door on the kickplate. In the background you can see the vinyl installed on the control board as well.







The door does indeed lock/unlock and swing open. So that's nice. I also plan to use the coin return button as the means of turning the computer on. Hopefully that's as easy to implement in reality as it looks to be in my head

Next I need to install the buttons on the control board and install hinges for both kickplate and control board.

[Lingwendil]

This is fantastic!

Great cabinet shape and size, the art is just the right amount of complex, and super clean work so far.

[minorhero]

This is fantastic!

Great cabinet shape and size, the art is just the right amount of complex, and super clean work so far.

Thank you! Its a lot of fun building this thing. I've done various types of builds for other non-arcade things over the years but the arcade cabinet definitely has gotten the most attention from other folks in my neighborhood as well

And in other news, an update:

Today I worked on the control panel. I got all the buttons installed and the control panel itself is 'attached' now. By that I mean I fiddled with the locking clamps until I was satisfied. I did not bother installing the hinges I was originally thinking of using as they ended up being superfluous with the use of the locking clamps.



I also got the kickdoor installed...mostly. I need to use the adjusting screws to really zero it in and I need to install the magnetic clasp. BUT, its really looking like an arcade!



Up next is going to be finalizing the kick door and wiring the buttons. I also need to figure out how I am putting the marquee together

[firedance]

Nice work, like the artwork, would fit into any arcade back in the day 

[minorhero]

Nice work, like the artwork, would fit into any arcade back in the day 

Thanky! That was definitely the idea I was going for.

Small update:

I got the door situated and the magnetic clasp installed. Then without further ado, I did the wiring of the control board. I was a little worried about this only because it looked somewhat intimidating with the giant bundle of harness wires. BUT as I'm sure anyone who has wired one of these before now knows, it was actually pretty easy once I sat down and really got started.




I am now at a stage where I can really start making this whole thing work. I mean, I could stop right now and just hook up the monitor and pc and start playing. If I did that though, I know that finishing the project would get shoved to the backburner. Soooo yeah, I'm going to keep assembling everything.

To that end, I would like to figure out a lighting solution to the buttons. My buttons are translucent and do not have attached leds. I did this intentionally when I bought them because I wanted concave buttons and at the time I purchased them I couldn't get led buttons that were concave like the ones I used as a kid. My plan has been to drill the button and shove an LED in there. I was hoping this idea was so common that there would be a literal kit to do just that. Sadly I have not found any such kit. I have found LOTS of LEDs some with wires attached, so now comes the point where I need to figure out which leds will work with my ipac and what the darn connectors are called so I can buy a pack of those as well. I only need 12 LEDs (6 per player) so it shouldn't be too arduous of a task.


And the state of the cabinet today:

[minorhero]

Update:

I am very very close to finishing this build. Since I last updated I installed the screen. Added a piece of plexi infront of the screen. Installed the Marquee (badly). Installed the computer, and moved the whole machine into my basement.

Originally this cabinet was going to live in my garage. But my kids found out about that and immediately cried fowl pointing out that if it were in the garage they would never get to play it (to be fair, they would not) and The Wife caved under their demands, which I consider most fortunate.

Here is what it looked like moved into the basement.



I have spent a few days tinkering with big box, launchbox, and the ipac software to get things where I want them to be. I am now VERY close to being happy.

Currently I am soldering leds to wire leads so I can install them into the translucent buttons. I need to attach everything to the dupont or molex pin connectors and apparently you need a special tool called a crimper to make that happen. I tried doing without it and... wow is it tedious. So I'll wait another day or so until I can finish up the leds. Here is what my pile of leds looks like right now:



Other things left to do include setting up windows to forgo the pin login and load directly into big box (ideally I would have a custom windows loading screen as well, but not sure if I want to bother hunting this down).

I need to fix my marquee which was installed ...... just soooo badly. Basically I have tape holding it on right now. I need to make an internal bezel to hold it instead so that it doesn't have a shadow when lit. I have some leftover plexi I can use for this.

I also need to attach a power on button externally from the computer. I want to do that in such a way that the coin return on the coin door is what starts the computer. I believe that's doable but we shall see.

I would also like to add some ventilation on the cabinet. Something down low to draw in cool air and something higher up to let out heat.

I need to finish my leds... and... that's about it.. Sooooo yeah, I am really really close to being done. Here is how it looks right now:

[PL1]

Currently I am soldering leds to wire leads so I can install them into the translucent buttons. I need to attach everything to the dupont or molex pin connectors and apparently you need a special tool called a crimper to make that happen. I tried doing without it and... wow is it tedious.

A decent ratchet crimper with the correct dies for Dupont pins is your friend, especially if you intend to insert those pins into a housing.

https://www.amazon.com/IWISS-SN-28B-Crimping-AWG28-18-Dupont/dp/B08D67L3YS/?th=1



Even with the right tool it can be hard to get a good, clean crimp that fits into the housing.
- Unlike horseshoes, hand grenades, and atomic bombs, "close" isn't good enough for Dupont crimps.   

I also need to attach a power on button externally from the computer. I want to do that in such a way that the coin return on the coin door is what starts the computer. I believe that's doable but we shall see.

Check your motherboard manual, it should show the location for the power switch Dupont pins.

There are several posts in this thread showing how to mount a microswitch so pressing the coin return will trigger the microswitch.
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90837.0

The downside to using this approach for power vs. coin is that someone (kids or guests?) could accidently shut the system down.

It might be better to put the power button elsewhere like on a bracket mounted inside the coin door or in a countersunk pocket on the top of the cab.


Scott

[minorhero]

A decent ratchet crimper with the correct dies for Dupont pins is your friend, especially if you intend to insert those pins into a housing.

Even with the right tool it can be hard to get a good, clean crimp that fits into the housing.
- Unlike horseshoes, hand grenades, and atomic bombs, "close" isn't good enough for Dupont crimps.   


There are several posts in this thread showing how to mount a microswitch so pressing the coin return will trigger the microswitch.

The downside to using this approach for power vs. coin is that someone (kids or guests?) could accidently shut the system down.

Yeah getting the darn duponts on correctly is.... terrible. I was trying to do it with needle nose plyers and was like.... there has got to be a better way. Then I watched some videos and everyone was using crimpers. Then I looked for how to do it without crimpers and the overwhelming response was.... don't. I mean some people said you can solder them and I tried that as well and after 20 failed attempts got 1 nice 2 pin connector and 1 ok... But it was painful. So I ordered a cheap crimper since the nice crimpers cost hundreds. It comes today so hopefully that will be good enough.

I was going to light my coin return slots but you make a very good point about people accidentally turning it off. There is always that possibility but since most guests will see me turn it on via that spot, they will know not to push it again. Still to try and head these problems off a bit I think I will refrain from lighting the coin returns and thus make them a less tempting target.

I did not think of using a microswitch though! I was literally going to solder some wires to the coin return mechanism so they touch when the lever is depressed. Using a microswitch is clearly the better method. Thanky!

[minorhero]

Small update:

I got the power button working

I have an 90s era coin door on my machine I bought on ebay a while back. Once I decided to use a microswitch as the activation mechanism, it really simplified the build. I began by scrounging around for a screw that would fit the microswitch. Then I found a hole on the coin mechanism and widened it slightly so my screw could fit but was still tight.



Then I attached the microswitch. The screw was a tight enough fit that I only needed one.



After that it was a simple matter to cut a small piece of wood and glue it in place so that when the coin return was fully extended it just made contact with the microswitch. I attached the wood with some superglue:





I am still waiting for my darn crimper tool (package was delayed) but I muddled through with needle nose plyers to do 2 connectors so I could attach this micro switch.

Delightfully it worked on the first try without any fuss whatsoever. So now I can finally turn the cabinet on and off externally.

In other news I got rid of the windows login, the recycle bin, and I tried (but failed so far) to get rid of the task bar. Once I manage that it won't look quite sooo windows-y when I boot up the computer. I also added big box to the startup folder. So there is that. I also did a MUCH better job attaching the marquee today. I used 1/4 inch plexi to hold it in place around the edges. Its thin and transparent enough it doesn't leave a shadow. So huzzah!

In the still to do list there is getting rid of the task bar and installing the LEDs.

[minorhero]

Update:

I got in my crimper tool. It took a few extra days to come, but it did finally come and wow, is it sooooo much better then trying to crimp wires with a needlenose plyers. For those that may one day need to know what crimper to use (because there are many different sizes), I found this one to be the cheapest that would do the deed:

iCrimp SN-28B

After I prepared all my LEDs I then attempted to install them in the buttons. My first plan was to drill right down the middle of the button under the microswitch. This failed completely because the microswitch got in the way or the wires got in the way of microswitch (depending on placement). It was at this point I realized the importance of drilling holes in the switch to allow for the wires to pass through. BUT, that would necessitate a LOT of work on my part after attaching all the dupont connectors on the ends and I wasn't convinced it was necessary.

Instead I ended up drilling for the LEDs in the side of the button at an angle. That worked incredibly well and was much easier to deal with. Here is how that looked:





The light is probably not quite as even as it could be at the button tops, BUT it still lights up the individual buttons and it honestly does look good. So I am calling that one a win. Here is how my control board looked all wired up:



At this point I installed the controlboard and began working on the software side of the LEDs.

I downloaded LEDBlinky and started configuring it. And here I ran into a problem. I stopped configuration part way through and then later came back to it. BUT MAME would never light up more then the coin buttons and 1 player button. The pause button, and the rest of the player buttons never lit. I tried a bunch of different things but have not gotten any farther with that issue. I suspect it has something to do with a save state of some kind with LEDBlinky installing a config file somewhere that it never overwrote once I finished the configuration. Bigbox had no trouble lighting the correct buttons and the buttons would cheerfully go through animations, but not stay lit once the games started.



That said... this is small potatos compared to what happened next.

While I was spinning my wheels on the LED software issue I decided to go ahead and install the ventilation into the cabinet. To that end I bought some 3" soffit vents. I decided to pull my computer out of the cabinet for the drilling since I knew it would produce a lot of sawdust I wouldn't want to fall into my computer. I drilled the holes and installed the vents:



I cleaned up the sawdust and then went to push my computer back inside. And that.. that was when I noticed my mini-usb cable that connects my IPAC Ultimate to my computer just kind of laying on the floor of the cabinet......... It would seem that my cable was a bit too short and I didn't even notice the tug when I pulled my computer out. But that tug would be when my too short cord ripped apart the usb port on the ipac ultimate... /le sigh.

I watched some videos of how to desolder and re-attach a usb port but it looked beyond my skills. So now I have to wait for a new ipac ultimate before I can move further along on this build. I also ordered a longer mini-usb cable....

[Zebidee]

Nice work! The kids are going to love it!   

USB ports are surprisingly difficult to solder. When I build GreenAntz units I do the USB first, because it is the most tricky. I also cheat and use hot air with some solder paste rather than trying to solder the tiny pins separately. If I screw it up anyway, then I can always just start a new board.

A thought - I like the main power button bold and obvious, but out of the way - somewhere between the screen and marquee, or maybe between the screen and control panel, works well. You can get all kinds of power buttons, including ones with an LED-lit power symbol. Make it a feature.

To tidy up power cables snaking out that hole in the back, you could install a female PC-style power socket (IEC-320) with built-in switch, LED and fuse. Then you can just use any normal PC power cable with it, or remove completely as convenient.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304569422089?chn=ps&_ul=AU&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1WLrXSc6VQD2TmAsydaKhbg4&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-170288-465394-0&mkcid=2&itemid=304569422089&targetid=325425753764&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9047123&poi=&campaignid=20874198158&mkgroupid=154197095902&rlsatarget=pla-325425753764&abcId=&merchantid=494523277&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3624BhBAEiwAkxgTOjgzr0weakTsJ8IxowcfBmn0neZjggmhKFnX2sRU03hBl6l39lsXWhoChXIQAvD_BwE

[minorhero]

Nice work! The kids are going to love it!   

USB ports are surprisingly difficult to solder. When I build GreenAntz units I do the USB first, because it is the most tricky. I also cheat and use hot air with some solder paste rather than trying to solder the tiny pins separately. If I screw it up anyway, then I can always just start a new board.

A thought - I like the main power button bold and obvious, but out of the way - somewhere between the screen and marquee, or maybe between the screen and control panel, works well. You can get all kinds of power buttons, including ones with an LED-lit power symbol. Make it a feature.

To tidy up power cables snaking out that hole in the back, you could install a female PC-style power socket (IEC-320) with built-in switch, LED and fuse. Then you can just use any normal PC power cable with it, or remove completely as convenient.

Thanky! The kids definitely do love it, its a lot of fun playing with them.

Yeah when looking at videos of how to deal with the usb connector I was hoping it was going to be a situation where you just snap in the new one and solder the corners or some such. That... was not the case. I asked briefly in a facebook group incase anyone had a trick but it was a lost cause. I've already ordered a new ipac.

If I were building this for someone else I would definitely include a proper power button somewhere. But as it is, this machine will never leave my house, and wow, is it satisfying to press in that coin return button. The feel of it engaging the mechanism makes it easily the best pc power button I've ever used. It makes me want to find ways to mod my actual gaming pc

Nice idea with the female pc power port. I like it! I was just going to drill the back and be done as its the back and will not be visible to anyone, but that is definitely a nice touch adding one of those to back.

[jeremymtc]

Ouch! That bites on the encoder. Condolences.

On the other hand, your cab is looking great, and I dig the coin reject power button hack!

[Zebidee]

If I were building this for someone else I would definitely include a proper power button somewhere. But as it is, this machine will never leave my house, and wow, is it satisfying to press in that coin return button. The feel of it engaging the mechanism makes it easily the best pc power button I've ever used. It makes me want to find ways to mod my actual gaming pc

I love your power button. Now here is an idea.

If you ever decide to implement power-on in another way, you could re-purpose the coin reject button to give credits instead. This has already been done by many people on this forum, so it obviously works and would continue to give that satisfying "engaging the mechanism" experience.

[minorhero]

Ouch! That bites on the encoder. Condolences.

On the other hand, your cab is looking great, and I dig the coin reject power button hack!

Thank you! and yeah, the ipac dying was without a doubt the most annoying thing that happened this project.

If I were building this for someone else I would definitely include a proper power button somewhere. But as it is, this machine will never leave my house, and wow, is it satisfying to press in that coin return button. The feel of it engaging the mechanism makes it easily the best pc power button I've ever used. It makes me want to find ways to mod my actual gaming pc

I love your power button. Now here is an idea.

If you ever decide to implement power-on in another way, you could re-purpose the coin reject button to give credits instead. This has already been done by many people on this forum, so it obviously works and would continue to give that satisfying "engaging the mechanism" experience.

Thank you! I will keep it in mind for any future cabinets, this one though is complete.

And with that said, project done!

I got in my new ipac earlier in the week. Once installed I figured out what was causing me so much fuss with LEDBlinky. It seems I had not actually pointed the darn config file at the correct folder. I had instead pointed it at a different installation of mame on this computer. BigBox was using its own seperate mame installation and the difference between those 2 was causing my buttons to not light up appropriately. Once I realized I had more then 1 installation of mame, it was easy to sort out and everything started working. Tada.






Now to figure out how to convince The Wife that what we really need next to the arcade cabinet is a virtual pinball table.

[pbj]

Looks great.  Someday, you might consider getting a widescreen monitor and rotating it vertically to fill up more of that bezel area.  They're dirt cheap now.  My last HDTV was literally $1 and sealed in the box at an estate sale 3 minutes away.  Alright, I lied, there was an additional 27 cents in fees.

[jeremymtc]

Congratulations on completion!! 

Love how your artwork came out. Cab should be a ton of fun. Great work.