2084: A Gaming Odyssey

[Raleigh]

I am just starting a new project.  The cabinet I am using was originally a Nintendo PC 10, but more recently was Primal Rage.  The Primal rage looked pretty hideous because of the excess room above the monitor where the 2nd PC 10 monitor used to reside.

So far I have taken 12" off of the height of the cabinet to eliminate the vacant room of the second monitor.  I have stripped out all of the components of the cabinet as well.  I spent a couple hours today removing the primal rage and Nintendo control panel overlays, that was a pain in the A.

I am not sure as to how fast this project will move along with the upcoming holiday, then the start of our busy season at work. 

Priorities on the to do list:

1) Add two more buttons for each player, and add two player start buttons, which I need to get a hole punch or something to make the holes in the metal CP.

2) Either buy a 19"-21" computer monitor, or pick up an ArcadeVGA card and use one of the 19 arcade monitors I have laying around.

Other things:  Secure top of cabinet, increase height of marquee holder, fresh paint job, new t-molding, come up with a theme among other things.

I have attached a picture of the cabinet in its current state, and a picture of the control panel with white circles representing where I am adding the buttons.  I am planning on using the 5 small buttons as admin buttons, but may choose to use only three as admin and use the center two as player start buttons.

EDIT:  Modified title for potential name.

[Raleigh]

Well I picked up a 1 1/8" hole saw from sears last night and made my additional holes in the control panel.  I am also working on getting a cheap 21" monitor locally.

I have come up with a potential theme to the cabinet.

2084: A Gaming Odyssey.  Kind of a play on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Using the year from Robotron 2084.  I will keep the cabinet black, and will utilize purple as the button colors as I have them on hand.  I have attempted at a marquee design and would appreciate any and all comments as I have absolutly no artistic or photo shop skills.  Please give any general comments on size of font, size of characters, and how the overall marquee may look with lighting behind.

Of course I will have Hal-9000 as my interactive frontend, the washed up super computer turned ultimate gaming system.

[Hiub1]

The marquee pic is not working ATM for me. As for the Metal CP, did you purchase a regular hole saw to drill it?

Looks to be a promising project, keep us updated!

[Raleigh]

As for the Metal CP, did you purchase a regular hole saw to drill it?

Here is the bi-metal hole saw I picked up:

http://tinyurl.com/67eu5

also picked up a hole saw mandrel since I didn't have one already:

http://tinyurl.com/5kcur

I was going to try and pick up a hole punch off ebay, but didn't want to wait around and never know what the price will end at.  So picked these up from sears last night, had a gift card anyway.  Made light work out of the 6 holes I needed done.  I can already see a bit of wear, so probably not the best option it you needed to drill tons of holes, but if you just needed to do a few here and there works out well.

[Raleigh]

Well I picked up a 21" computer monitor locally for $25, so that is taken care of.  I have given the cabinet a fresh coat of paint and added T-molding.

I need to finish the control panel (add plexi/lexan, attatch buttons and joys), give some TLC to the coin door, as well as some other minor things.

The main thing I need to figure out is what to do about the marquee, unfortunately I was unable to increase the height of it without obstructing the view to the monitor at its current angle.  So the demensions are 5 1/8" by 23 1/2", but taking the retainer in account, the viewable area is 3 7/8" by 22 1/2".  I am currently rethinking the 2084 idea, but definately want something other than just slapping "mame" on it.