Chrome Lowboy - Update - now with Nannus Icons

[stuzza]

Here is an Aussie lowboy cabinet that I have just finished doing up for my boss at work.  Now I can play games during the day    The Marquee is not final yet as I've just printed it on an inkjet and stuck the paper together with sticky tape to see what it looked like.  The boss likes it though, so I'll probably just get it printed.











I don't have a before shot of the actual cab, but here are 2 more I just purchased which are identical.  Hopefully I'll be starting on these soon.

[Minwah]

Nice work  I really like that style of cab, don't see many around.

[Bloinkxp]

Great looking cab.
Perfect for work with the low-profile look.  I gotta convince my boss that MAME is a network tool...

[brained]

  Stuzza, how did you get that extra glossy look!??!
laminate or paint?? tell me how!!

Brained

[Mr. Dude]

Great Job!  All of Stuzza's painted cabs look amazing.... Stuzza, you have major skills my friend!

[KrawDaddy]

Sweet, I would like to use some of these lines on my next version!

[stuzza]

Stuzza, how did you get that extra glossy look!??!
laminate or paint?? tell me how!!

Brained

I've teamed up with a friend now and we are doing a few cabinets for other people.  He has an air compressor with a spray gun and uses that to paint the cabs with high gloss paint.  He is a real perfectionist and so they turn out awesome!

[sonicflood]

Give us the specs.  What type of CPU, Monitor, etc.

That cab looks amazing!  Are there any plans out there for that cab?  I gotta have one!

Scott

[cdbrown]

Nice work  I really like that style of cab, don't see many around.

 That's coz there's not enough Aussie mamers around yet.  Actually I don't really see too many of them around here much - only at the auctions, not on site.  They were just generic cabs used for 1 or 2 player games.  Nice and compact little things.

I wonder if I could convince my bosses to get a mame cab in the office.  I know one of them would.

Excellent work stuzza - it looks mint.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[froggerman]

How about measuring up the cabinet and sending them to Jakobud?

[stuzza]

How about measuring up the cabinet and sending them to Jakobud?

I'll try and measure up the cabinet this weekend and make them available.  I'll measure the original non modified cab as well as one with my control panel design added on. (The original CPs that come with these cabs are Metal and are really small and cramped.  Only enough room for 3 buttons each.)

The cabinet houses a 19" Mitsubishi CRT Monitor, which fits perfectly.  The machine going in it is a Celeron 2.0Ghz with a 40GB hard drive running the fantastic Mamewah Front End.

Thanx for the replies guys.

[zzsprade]

(The original CPs that come with these cabs are Metal and are really small and cramped.  Only enough room for 3 buttons each.)

Any ideas on how to fit at least six buttons for each player on to a panel with the same dimensions as the original? Maybe slight modification?


-Alex

[RayB]

I'd love plans for this one.
I'm not a fan of huge beasts, so this would fit right in.

[stuzza]

Any ideas on how to fit at least six buttons for each player on to a panel with the same dimensions as the original? Maybe slight modification?

-Alex

You'd probably have to extend out the metal CP by at least an inch and a half so you could fit in 2 rows of buttons.  When I first saw these cabs, I knew I'd have to modify the whole control panel area somehow in order to increase the room for 2 players with 6 buttons each.  You could do something similar to what I have done with the CP box, but make it much shorter.  I allowed plenty of room on mine for wrist rest area and Pause, Exit, and start buttons.  There is also a keyboard drawer which slides out from the CP. - although I no longer put this in my cabs as I've since managed to get all the software setup without the need for resorting to the keyboard.

[Bgnome]

how wide is the available cp area?  if you fit a 17" monitor in there, its gotta be at least 16 or 17 inches wide..
you CAN fit a 2 player / six button layout if you dont mind getting a bit personal..

nanuu's mini cab has a 17" wide cp:



i drew up a 16" wide layout.  you could even shave off an inch if you tightened it up..

[stuzza]

Added Nannus icons to the black buttons. Big thanks to Blakey for sending these to the Aussie mamers for free  

[Matt, GoC]

I ain't seeing any pictures, stuzza...

[stuzza]

I ain't seeing any pictures, stuzza...

Bugger!  Seems I've hit my bandwidth limit for the first time.  The sites been popular this month for some reason.

I'll transfer the pics to another free server where the others are. - I was unable to login to that server last night so I had to use my main hosting account.

Update:  Links fixed.

[zzsprade]

I was thinking about that six button layout for low boys again, when it occured to me that I was sure that I had played on one before (most probably Street Fighter).

So I did a little searching and found at least one example of a low boy similar to mine with a six button layout. (Doesn't look that roomy)



So it is possible. I wonder if 7 is possible in a 3 on top, 4 on bottom pattern.

Now I have to make a decision whether to stick with 3 buttons (classics), 4 buttons (neo-geo + classics) or go the six (for mortal kombat, sf, and the others). Decisions?

Cheers again and sorry Stuzza mate if I have highjacked your thread a little. Great work with the low boys, they are a good looking cabinet shape. Superb paint work by the way.


-Alex

[zzsprade]

Stuzza,

Actually while I am on the topic of restoring one of these lowboys, any tips to share?

Ie. Did you remove the panels to paint or just turn it on its side and leave the cabinet in one piece? Etc.

Just your general experiences with restoring a low boy, as any help would be very much appreciated?


-Alex

[GGKoul]

How about measuring up the cabinet and sending them to Jakobud?

Great Idea!!  

[stuzza]

I was thinking about that six button layout for low boys again, when it occured to me that I was sure that I had played on one before (most probably Street Fighter).

So I did a little searching and found at least one example of a low boy similar to mine with a six button layout. (Doesn't look that roomy)  

So it is possible. I wonder if 7 is possible in a 3 on top, 4 on bottom pattern.

-Alex

Yeah, I have seen a couple of these before, and although they managed to squeeze 6 buttons per player on there, I don't think 2 grown people could play comfortably side by side! LOL  You can see a lowboy NeoGeo cabinet here: http://www.amusementworx.com.au/machines/cabinets/neogeo.htm  It might give you some ideas.

zzsprade:  I don't really have too many tips for working on these lowboys.  There isn't really too much to it.  Basically I just strip off all the crap (including the front and back doors) first, then sand the whole thing down.  Start with a good hard sand paper like 60grit to really tear off any bumps and marks.  The whole thing was left together to sand as well as paint.  I wouldn't recommend pulling the thing apart and then putting it back together again, no need to do that.

Here are a couple more photos showing the ones we've been working on the last couple of weekends.

[stuzza]

Okay guys, here ya go.  I've measured up one of the cabs and put together a PDF with the dimensions.  I've also included some more pictures of the cabinet from various angles so you get an idea of how they are put together.

You can grab the file here: http://members.lycos.co.uk/stuzza12/chromeboy/Aussie_Lowboy_Dimensions.zip   (~700kb)

I didn't have time to fully measure everything on the cab, but it should be enough.

[zzsprade]

Stuzza: Thanks for the tips. Sometimes its the simple things said that can give you a start. What you said was so obvious, but it certainly got the brain ticking over.

FOR EVERYONE: Was 20" monitors the largest that would fit in one these (besides fatboys) Can something bigger fit inside? Anyone with experience with this idea?


-Alex

[Bgnome]

So it is possible. I wonder if 7 is possible in a 3 on top, 4 on bottom pattern.

well it doesnt get tighter than this..
this is about 15.5" wide and stuzza's measurements say that the cab measures about 23" wide from side to side so i'm guessing this would fit with a little room to spread out..

[qball]

FOR EVERYONE: Was 20" monitors the largest that would fit in one these (besides fatboys) Can something bigger fit inside? Anyone with experience with this idea?

I just finished restoring one of these to use as a JAMMA cabinet. I put a Toshiba 21" arcade monitor in it and I needed to cut away a bit of the existing wood frame that held the old 20". I also added some little metal brackets in the 4 corners for extra strength.

I also used a six button layout (albeit with a Neo-Geo colour scheme) and, whilst smaller than a full sized control panel, I wouldn't call it overly cramped.

It's running a Neo-Geo 1-slot and plays mostly fighting games.

[DYNAGOD]

wowo the angle of that control panel is extreme..
does it feel and play natural at that almost vertical angle?

[stuzza]

FOR EVERYONE: Was 20" monitors the largest that would fit in one these (besides fatboys) Can something bigger fit inside? Anyone with experience with this idea?

I just finished restoring one of these to use as a JAMMA cabinet. I put a Toshiba 21" arcade monitor in it and I needed to cut away a bit of the existing wood frame that held the old 20". I also added some little metal brackets in the 4 corners for extra strength.
...

You're cabinet looks great.  Good to see some other people have made good use of these cabs.

[qball]

wowo the angle of that control panel is extreme..
does it feel and play natural at that almost vertical angle?

Must just be the photo that makes it look like that, it's nowhere near vertical. It's only slightly more of an angle than a regular control panel because of the way I bent the metal. It's pretty comfortable to play once you get used to not having much room to rest your hands.

[zzsprade]

Qball,

Out of curiousity (and I am guessing you are living in Australia) but where were you able to source a 21" toshiba arcade monitor and how much were they?

Cheers!


-Alex

[qball]

Out of curiousity (and I am guessing you are living in Australia) but where were you able to source a 21" toshiba arcade monitor and how much were they?

I picked my monitor up from Bumper Action Amusements in Melbourne. It was AU$350, not sure what I was expecting it to be, but it was brand new so I came away happy.

- sorry stuzza for the hijack

[zzsprade]

Out of curiousity (and I am guessing you are living in Australia) but where were you able to source a 21" toshiba arcade monitor and how much were they?

I picked my monitor up from Bumper Action Amusements in Melbourne. It was AU$350, not sure what I was expecting it to be, but it was brand new so I came away happy.

- sorry stuzza for the hijack

I had a feeling it was Bumper. It's the only place that I could remember seeing 21" toshiba monitors. Thanks again Qball.

-Alex

[zzsprade]

Qball,

When restoring your cabinet have you painted the inside panels completely black rather then the blue/purple on the outside? How does that look?


-Alex

[qball]

Yep, the insides are all black. I like it because it makes the monitor really stand out, and inside the cabinet you can see the coloured wires against the black sides.

[DYNAGOD]

LOOKS BADASS!
 
got a marquee yet?

[zzsprade]

Stuzza,

How did you get your hands on a set of Nannus icons being in Australia? Are there any in the set left over or is it possible to get some more sent out?

-Alex

[stuzza]

Stuzza,

How did you get your hands on a set of Nannus icons being in Australia? Are there any in the set left over or is it possible to get some more sent out?

-Alex

One of the aussie members "Blakey" got a whole sheet of them and because he had so many spare he kindly donated them to any other aussie members who wanted them.  It was a great gesture and we all appreciate it.  I'm not sure if he has any left though.  See this thread: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=22743;start=msg184906#msg184906

DYNAGOD:  Still no marquee yet.  We have 3 more lowboys underway currently, so I'll wait till they are done and get all the marquees at the same time.  Hopefully this will reduce the cost a bit.  I'll post more pics when the next 3 are done.  

[DYNAGOD]

one of those would have been perfect for me..
instead i got the 380lb all metal, 29" monitor godzilla cab.  
they pack those monitors with enough lead to sink a ship to keep all the xrays from burining your shadow into the wall behind you as you play.. sorta like the radiation king from the simpsons lol.
i read somewhere back in the 20's or whenever when xrays were first discovered doctors would xray their testicles before a date to sterilize themselves  
suffice to say i dont think they lived long lives  

[Corporate Dog]

Stuzza,

I just followed the link to your lowboy plans, and found that they didn't make the move with the rest of your website.

Any plans to host them on the new site or somewhere else?

Thanks,
Corporate Dog

[quadmasta]

They're there, you just can't directly link to them.  Type in his stuzza directory and go find 'em.

[DvMxDv]

Just right click on the link and select Save-as.  Worked for me just now.     Now I just need to draw up plans for a scratch build with mods to fit my 21" CRT from my old graphics pc and a two player panel with trackball and spinner...