Soul's Baby Cade! (Pictures updated 8-25-04)

[Soulcon]

Ok I just ordered all my buttons, sticks and fun stuff now onto the building. But first let me explain exactly what I am building. First of all It will be a Minicade for my daughter who turns three in august so I have got to rush it . Second of all it will be my entry into the world of Arcade building. "Yippy"

My wife has given me authorization to build what ever I want as long as she gets a Pacman Tabletop eventually so I think I will whip something out for her. That is ofcourse once I get a little more profeciant in building arcades .

Now for the questions and if this is out of rules please inform me and I will try and reword or rewrite my post. Now seeing as this will be for my Daughter I am only going to have two joysticks and two buttons per stick. I am also going to put on Pinball buttons. My questions to you lovely people is this....

I bought an (Ipac 2 USB) and 14 buttons because I wanted to be safe. This is what I would like to run. MameWah, Command Line Mame, Nes, and Virtual Pinball. Now I fugured I would need 4 extra buttons for Start and Select for each player for the Nes games? 3 Buttons for the emulation selection Mame, NES, Virtual Pinball etc.....? And last but not least a Exit Button? Is that right?

Now if that is right I figured I could wire in the Start buttons in the p1 and p2 start areas consecutively, and the Select buttons would also be my Coin button. But the other buttons I wouldn't quite know where to begin for the simple fact of I haven't seen the Ipac program running yet to know how it assigns buttons. So any help would be appreciated.

I should be beginning my build this weekend and will have hopefully some pictures to post of my progress soon. Again thank you all for any help I may recieve ahead of time. I really enjoy coming here, and just look my Daughter is benefiting from it as well .

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Welp just got back from the local hardware shop and got all my wood and other materials. So Tomorrow I should have atleast the Cabinet built and ready for paint. I have decided since it will be for my daughter I am going to do a Little Mermaid theme. I figure if I take my time and do a Mureal Style it will help bypass the time that it takes Ultimarc to send me all my controls and supplies. (What is usual ship time for them anyway?)

But anyway here is some pictures of some wood and supplies just to show ya I am in it for the long haul .





Keep in mind I only have until August 13th to hopefully get this thing done .

-Soul

[crashwg]

Getting started a little late aren't you?

My daughter is 10 months old and her cab is already 80% complete...
 

Seriously though, good luck, have fun and welcome to the boards.

[Soulcon]

Its called waiting till she was old enough so wife thinks its only for her . Plus once the wife gets to playing Pacman and Space Invaders on a mini cab she will be begging for a real size one .

But thank you very much for the welcome I am going to do my best to document as much as possible I already have a webpage set up to have all my pics and stuff loaded to. I just hope everything works out ok with this first one .

So does anyone have any answers for my first posts questions? It would be great because once I get that stuff in I need to be able to bang it out quick like .

Again Thanks for the welcome.

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Welp Got to work today and wow I must say this was a sheer blast. Only had one little oops on the base but that got ironed out real quick. So I will shut up and get to the Visual splendor . Atleast for me that is I am the bald one. The other is my Carpenter Neighbor who came in oh so handy . Welp on to picture posting so I can get to puddying and primering. Enjoy

Here is the supplies sitting pretty waiting to be defiled.



Here you can see we have the inside panels cut out and the oops'ed base.



Hey look its me after we measured and cut out the side panels.



Here is our assembled sides, base, and top connector.



Here is a pic of the facia panels installed and the Monitor base. All we gotta do is install the Speaker board .



Construction complete now onto puddying, primering and painting. Once we get the controls in It should come together nicely.



-Soul

P.S. Man I sure do look like a slob there I will try and pretty myself up for future pictures .

[Soulcon]

Well got the Puddy (stinking stuff I hate it.....) done and the primer. Also I was to antsy so I spray painted the inside too. So here are two more pics of where the Baby Cade has led me to this fine and wonderful day.

Here is Me priming the Baby Cade!



And last but not least the Primed and spray painted Baby Cade!



Hopefully tomorrow I will have some sorta paint sceme applied. Then all there is to do is wait on Controls. Man I am going to go nuts until the get here . Please could someone answer my questions I asked in the first post please?

-Soul

[CthulhuLuke]

In reply to your first question:
   An exit button is not very necessary if you have an Ipac rigged up in there, because all you have to do is simply program an odd shift Combination for Esc. for example on my arcade I have  Shift+J1 left setup to Tab, and I believe Shift+J2 b5 setup to ESC.  So for your arcade you could just do Start + pinball button 1 for exit, or something like that, it will make life much easier so you don't have another button just sitting out there.  Btw, Lucky kid!! if I got an arcade when I was 4 I would have flipped!
     And the cab is looking awesome, color schemes are sometimes hard to figure out, I have found going for a classic color scheme seems to work well, like the Pac-man yellow, or for mine I'm going with the Nintendo Orange.  Also when I'm trying to decide a color I will bring up photoshop and make like 6 different concepts of what color schemes I could go with.  Helps you visualize what you're working worth, and also think up new ideas.

   - good luck, very nice cab so far, hope you build a mame for yourself fullsized

[ras2a]

wow...this cab is well ace - always loved these mini-cabs, they look so damn trendy!

excellent work Soulcon

Craig

[Soulcon]

Cthulu I thank you graciously for your info it will help. However I think I will need an exit button because my daughters wouldn't grasp two button presses at the same tme. But I don't think it will be a huge deal in wiring it all. But thanks again.

Ras2a Thank you kindly for the kind words I appreciate it.

As for progress today well lets see I will make a list. Hopefully I will get pics posted later on it is just to late and I have to go to work tomorrow.

1. Bought locks
2. Bought Marquee light
3. Bought other lighting
4. Painted Baby Cade and added Kid Touches.
5. Dismantled Monitor
6. Painted monitor Black
7. Sliced hand open on metal casing while reassembling.
8. Decided I should call it quits for the evening

Well I did take a few pics today to show my progress I will post them tomorrow. That is ofcourse when I get home from work. Hopefully I will have controls on my door step .

Again Thanks all for you support its what made me strive to really to my best instead of slacking.

-Soul

[crashwg]

I must say you are moving along alot faster than I have been on my daughters.  I'm constantly finding myself waiting on different components and not getting anything done for weeks at a time.

I hope your controls come soon so you don't find yourself in my situation.

[Soulcon]

Well I am sorta timing what I do each day leaving myself the ability to zoom ahead if need be and or pause if need be. Sorta like when The dang Monitor jumped up and bit me. " I guess it didn't like its new color "

This is what I have planned for today when I get home from work. Again in list form.

1. Route out the tmolding slots on the sides and hindge area.
2. Fabricate my own Marquee retainer.
3. Mount back light for Marquee.
4. Drill out lock hole in back of cab and mount back door with hindges
5. Add Tmolding
6. Finish Painting fine tuned touches
7. Actually work fast enough to get pics posted for later tonight.

Anyone have any ideas of what I could use to fabricate the marquee retainer with? Instead of ordering one?

Also Thanks bud for the kind words greatly appreciated.

-Soul

[ras2a]

I'm thinking of using some 'hockey' stick (J shaped) shaped wooden beading to retain the marquee.  It'll certainly be cheaper than buying from Happ's...quite steep buying from Happ UK once import Tax.shipping blah blah has been taken into account

Craig

[Soulcon]

Great Idea!

My thoughts where to take some silly Dowel rods I bought and cut them in half. Then use one on top and one on the bottom of the marquee. Ofcourse I would have to utilize more of the stupid wood puddy to cover nail holes but if it would look nice I would be all for it.

But the more ideas I have the better I am I think this is the only thing I haven't researched  . Again thanks.

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Welp here are somemore pics of where it is at for the moment. Just waiting on a router and for my dang drill to recharge .

The Boo Boo


The Culpret = I can't seem to find the picture of it taken apart but it was pretty cool anyway .


Side view of what seems to be taking forever.


Front View


Hey look the other side


Any self respecting Arcade machine would never show its hind courters until dressed. So I will save that for later .

-Soul

[whammoed]

Cool fish.  Very original.

[AGGIEZ]

Interesting. Can't wait to see what it looks like when finished

[ThePaul]

You are flying with that thing.. the deadline aproaches! Looking great man!

[walls83]

What about T-molding?  I see your waiting for your router.  I would make sure to have something under the router so it doesnt scrape the paint when you are going around it for the T-molding..  Looks good. the little one will be very happy..

[NIVO]

looking great Soulcon. Where's NEMO? LOL

[Soulcon]

I am not exactly using T-molding . I am using something with a little more cushion because my Girls are notorious for running into things. Especially the Corners ! Plus if I put Nemo on the Cade They would never play the games they would just be wanting to play with Nemo .

I do have another question for you wonderful people though. Using Mamewah the screensaver thingy does it just tap into the windows screensaver? If so that would be really cool because I have one of those real life fish screen saver thingys .

Last night was actually depressing my Nieghbor went out and forgot to drop off the router so I had a bit of a set back. Not to mention my drill was dead so I couldn't install locks or work on a start for my control panel. So Basically all I got done was the Fishes and I hand screwed in my marquee light. ::Sniffle Sniffle:: Hopefully today will be more eventful.

I contacted Ultimarc and (Andy?) I think contacted me about my order. He said it was in the system only the Shipping numbers hadn't been scanned for that day. So I should get atleast my tracking number today. If it was already sent I might actually have them today if not maybe on friday.

First things first though I have got to drain my basement. It rained all night and is still raining now. My wife just called me and said the Basement flooded.   .........................

Lucky for me I was up a little late playing Doom when it started to rain I put everything that could be ruined ontop of 4 blocks high of cinder blocks. So Baby Cade is safe and sound phew.......

-Soul

[Soulcon]

8/3/04  7 : 49 pm  Departing origin.     London, United Kingdom  
 Picked Up by DHL.

YIPPY YIPPY YIPPY YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEE.

So how long does it usually take something from London to get to Chicago ? Sorry very excited!

-Soul

[clanggedin]

Soulcon, where did you get your plans for your cab?? Would you be willing to post them online to download if they are yours?

It's my son's 6th birthday coming up and it would be cool to be able to surprise him with one his very own cab.

[NinjaEpisode]

They look like the plans from http://www.minimame.com

[Soulcon]

I did start out with the plans from Minimame but I must say do not follow his measurments at all. He didn't put in angles eithert so its next to impossible to build. We ended up just blowing up his picture and using it as a template. If you blow it upto 24 by 48 you can fit a 15 inch monitor (including case) with out the back of the monitor hanging out.

What I can do is while I am routing it I will see if I can't get you some measurments of my Cab. The Speaker board that is above the monitor is sorta a crap shoot though. Basically I laid a scrap piece 1/2 inch pressboard on the angle of the monitor and then took a piece of 16 inch press board I had cut earlier and placed that ontop of the scrap. I then marked off that angle and evened it out. That way the monitor is pretty snug in its home.

I do still have to give credit to MiniMame though because we did still use some of his measurements on the insert pieces and by them ending up being a little to small. They made it so I have a funky and new way to keep the inside 0f the box cool . I will gladly doscument as much as possible once I am done. Currently all I have time for is to post a few pics work on cade and my normal proffession. So once the cade has moved on I will do my best to adjust what ever measurmentsI have for ya .

-Soul

[Bloinkxp]

Soul,
That is a great little cabinet!  For some reason the fish kill me.

D

[Soulcon]

Well jeez I didn't want to actually kill anyone

Just kidding thanks for the kind wordamajiggy

-Soul

[Soulcon]

8/5/04  8 : 02 am  With delivery courier
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Sorry definatly excited today I will get my parts in today plus my nieghbors wife leaft town yesterday for vacation that is why he hasn't been helping me lately. (I haven't got any power tools ) But today he said as soon as I get home we are going to get cracking on the arcade "YIPPY". So expect a ton of pictures hopefully tonight. Dang I can't wait to get home!!!!!!

-Soul

[pointdablame]

All I can say is I hope your daughter is HALF as excited as you are about this when she sees it  

It's looking great, keep us updated.

[Soulcon]

8/5/04  11 : 29 am  Shipment delivered.[/color]

WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Now I can get to building my Control panel so wish me luck in my programming and configuring skills. Today I should get everything completed to atleast play via a keyboard in the arcade. The only thing I am worried about gettiung doen is the Marquee and the Plexi infront of the monitor. But hey I can finaggle something (seran wrap anyone) kidding kidding!

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Grumble Grumble Grumble!!!!!!

Well yesterday if it could happen it did jeez! Welp here is the list what happened .

First The control panel was giving me fits make holes even and finding wood that didn't get wet in the rain that flooded my basement. Not to mention The router I had recieved wouldn't fit in certain nooks and cranies so I decided to hold off on that for the time being. So I drilled the holes in some super crappy wood for all my components (unevenly was just so disturbed) So this will be temporary until I can afford some new wood. Put about a bucket of Primer on it to try and smooth it out a little after sanding but it still looks like crap. Dang I wish I could get a day off of work so I could actually get this thing ironed out.

Secondly (the kick butt good thing) I got some free grey smoked plexi for free and it fit perfectly in the baby cade so that knocks out some searching and money spendage.

So onto the really annoying part! I figured since I was upset with the CP for the tihe time being I would start the programmming of the computer and get everything setup. "Just shoot me now" Here is basically what happened.

1. Brought monitor up and plugged everything in turned it on and decided I would just do a fresh install of everything bnecause my wife used it as her download computer. So as you know its virus riddin. So I go to start the reinstall and my CDrom in the computer blows. (Head bang to wall 1)

2. Replace cdrom with old dvdrom I had laying around and install windows after many changes to bios to actually get the new DVDrom to actually be recognized. Now I go to update computer and my Nic card blows. (Head bang to wall 2)

3. Thankfully the MB has a internal nic card so I will use that "whew" Windows has a heartattack because now it trys to install newly enabled network adaptor but can't find drivers. But then gets confused on why it can't go online and get the drivers it needs. (Head bang on wall 3) Oh it does not help it is confused about the Raid driver and Media driver as well. So lets install those drivers shall we? "Sure if my wife haden't packed up all my computer stuff because where moving in november" (Head bang on wall 4)

4. So I dive into the massive wall of boxes and 2 hours later the last box I check I find the MB driver disc (Happy Dance insues) Install all of the drivers and bios's and compiter boots up and is as happy as a clam. I think finally I can install some stuff.

5. I grab all my Mame DVD's I had made with everything I am using for this computer and insert disc 1. Nothing! My DVD rom refuses to read any DVD's. By some research on the web I find that this DVDrom will not work in XP only the CDrom reader or whatever will. (Head bang through wall)

6. So I take my brand new DVD burner from my personnal computer and its 3.5 startup floppy and put it in the new computer figuring ok it should just be recognized by XP. Nope it can't find it (actually didn't even try) so I say ok no biggy I will just use my pre made driver disc I had made. Pop it in to my 3.5 drive and well what do you know DOS sees my 3.5 but XP and windows does not so again my computer says biteme. (Judo Body slam through wall following first wall).

7. I decide ok my personnal computer had no problem finding my dvdrom when I first installed it so I checked the plugs in the bac. (The cable was loose) XP sees it and is installed like a dream. (Happy limping dance insues from last wall crash).

8. I put in my first dvd and tada it likes it. Copy...

Command Mame
Mamewah
Mamewah Setup
one rom
Directx 9c
misc packs to make everything happy
and Layouts for mamewah

Install Mame, mamewah, and Mamewah setup and then the moment of truth............FM20.dll not found "Your FIRED". (Jumped out the window)

9. Ok OK not that big a deal I downloaded the setup program for FM20.dll and it fixed just about everything. I started mamewah setup said cool it works let me test mame. Tested mame what do ya know I have sound video and gameplay. "Sure sign to me that it means step away from the computer and go to bed" So that is exactly what I did.

Basically all I have to do now is install the games and nes player and I am done installing things. Then it is onto programming Mamewah setup. I also had my wife put on a coat of paint on the primed Crap Panel this morning so I can install components tonight if the computer doesn't take up all my time. So what did I get accomplished in total yesterday that was good. Was the fact I got the Plexi up and in place. Yippy! So sorry no pictures My camera died as well (batteries only) so you can see I had a bad day yesterday! Wish me luck for today

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Ok all yesterday was spent shopping for router bits and other last minute beauty supplies. I also am just about done programming the computer. This is what I have leaft to do.

1. Route cab and run molding

2. Wire up CP and setup my I-pac on the computer!

3. Install hindges and lock in back door.

4. Figure out how to change Stratup screens,sounds, as well as shutdown screens and sounds.

5. Figure out how to make Mamewah start when I turn on the computer.

I might finish tonight which might be awesome but I work all the way upto friday so I need to boogie. I still have a bike to build and cake to cook .

Wish me luck.

-Soul

[pointdablame]

http://www.themexp.org has login/startup, and I believe shutdown screens.  It also explains how to change them IIRC

You can throw the MameWah .exe into the Startup folder so that it boots up with the computer.  You can also create a .bat file I believe to do it... but I find the startup folder so much easier

[ras2a]

Hey Soul things sound like they're coming along fab!  Keep up the excellent work mate.  At this rate you'll be finished very soon...can't wait to see the end-product of your labours

Cheers Soul

Craig

[Soulcon]

OK! Today you should get pictures Scrounged up some cash and bought batteries . But here is what I got done yesterday.

1. Routed the Cab all in all went pretty well for never routing before . Had the bit slip down on me so I had to shave a 1/8 inch off the top. "Oops" The funky molding I got can't make the tight corners so I have to jigsaw the sharp corners and round them out so that the Molding can bend easier. Then I will route what I jigsawed and put up the molding. Should look nice .

2. Setup Mamewahs sounds and put some nice menu music for my daughter. Also recorded my own voice for start up and stuff like that. When it boots up it now says "Daddy loves you"

3. WIRED THE CONTROL PANEL............................... That was probably the most fun and infuriating thing I have done . But worked first time out so I am one happy camper. Ipac2 rocks the peruvial caspa!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To Be Done~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Jigsaw and reroute corners for a rounder easier guide point for molding. (time estimate 20 minutes)

2. Make Mamewah start on system turn on (time estimate 30 minutes)

3. Apply hindges and lock to back door (time estimate 20 minutes)

4. Paint routed areas so no bare wood shows and then mount molding (time estimate 1 hour for drying time)

5. Wire everything together and place all stuff in cab. (time estimate 30 minutes)

6. Design Marquee and figure out some way to mount it with out ordering anything. (Time estimate unsure probably do it tomorrow)

But if everything works out the way I think it should all I am doing is beauty work now so I should finish and make it playable today. So let the arcade building gods shine down on this poor Soul and get me up and running. I have to be running and stable by friday.

-Soul

[SirPeale]

...the funky molding I got can't make the tight corners so I have to jigsaw the sharp corners and round them out so that the Molding can bend easier. Then I will route what I jigsawed and put up the molding. Should look nice .

You can notch the molding to make it bend far easier around the corners.

3. WIRED THE CONTROL PANEL............................... That was probably the most fun and infuriating thing I have done . But worked first time out so I am one happy camper. Ipac2 rocks the peruvial caspa!

That's "casbah."  There was a thread in "Everything Else" regarding just that recently.

[Soulcon]

LOL Thnaks for the Spell correction but I just chalk it up as I can't spell worth a damn anyway .

About the Molding Its not exactly T-molding its more of a Bumper. This is so when my kids decide to play real life Pinball I won't have to worry about corner bumps and the like.

The Bumper thing is what I am dieing to get finished but it has also been what has been slowing down my whole arcade building process. I almost said fewy on it a few days ago and just recut the sides. But then I saw my daughter sleeping and thought she deserves my all. So lets hope it all works out .

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Well I was gonna be done tomorrow but I had one of those last minute ephipanys. The paint I used was so flat that the second someone touches the paint it would leave a finger print. So once I had rounded out my corners I did a little bit of touch up work. And then after that dried I sprayed a clear coat over the entire thing to make it nice and shiney . Ofcourse what does that mean it means I had to wait till today for paint to dry. So my timing is off I did however try and work on getting Mamewah to start up when ever I turned on the system. Which turned out to be hell!

Here is the deal Any and every site people have listed here as to change load screen and the like are huge and awesome. However every single download has 100's of spyware programs along with it. So it took my 2 hours to clear out my daughters computer of all those damn popup spyware craps. I ended up just putting a nice backround picture up and adding mamewah to my startup folder. It loads windows then starts mamewah. It looks crappy but I don't care I am not dealing with spy riddin crap just to change a startup screen. Plus I sware anyone who has ever done this has ever written anything in laymens terms lol. So it boots up slowly but atleast it runs thats all that matters to me. One day I will figure out how to turn it off via Mamewah if anyone knows please give me directions please.

But today is the day it has to be done all except for the Marquee which I haven't even started desining yet. but it will be done by friday because that my daughters burthday. I took more pictures yesterday but forgot to preload them to my site. I will get them up today once I get it done . Thanks for all your guys help I just wish  make Mamewah startup and shutdown windows was better documented. Once I figure it out I will post a full page on how to do it for further newbies to follow .

-Soul

[Edgedamage]

#1 great little cab my kid would it he called it "the finding nemo game"

#2 get this program called spyware blaster it works!!
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

[Soulcon]

Funny you say that Edge I actually have a Backround screen of finding Nemo for her to look at while Mamewah loads up . I also made it so the screensaver is the one from the Finding Nemo site . I should actually make it Little Mermaid but I am sure I will change it multiple times.

To get rid of the spyware I utilized Adaware, Spybot, and Bonzai Buddy removal tool. The newest version of Spybot is simpley amazing. It now has a proggy that blocks things before they even get installed it is extrememly cool.

-Soul

[Soulcon]

Ok not quite finished but its running and all I need to do now is finishing touches I will also have to extend the back door a bit but that won't be hard. So enjoy the pictures I post below I will post more once I get it completed. If anyone has a Baby Cade Marquee design they want to share ........

Here is my Marquee Light.



Here is where my control panel shall go.



Here is the wiring of my controlpanel.



Hey look here is my Plexi, CP, and what is that on the sides? Sorry about the darkness I forgot to tun off flash



Here is what I have to clean up majorly



Now you can see why I was being sorta Vaque on my T-molding. Surprise !!!



My favorite shot so far Plus my favorite game Bionic Commando.



And a well deserved drink if I do say so myself



Welp thats that for now I still have to get all pretty like and make all the components stable inside. I still might move the MB to the side wall. That way I have alot more room. But that will have to wait until I get some more of those lifter feety things . Thanks for all of your support I hope you like it so far.

-Soul