Metalhead's Arcades (2.0) *Updated: 13 April*

[M3talhead]

Well I've finally finished the first of 3 "You Dont Know Jack" hand buzzers for the CP. I still need to make a run to the hardware store for a few more components so I can assemble the last 2 units, but you can expect a write-up with pics in 2-3 days!

[mccoy178]

Excellent!

[M3talhead]

Well, after more than 5 months of playing "You Don't Know Jack" on the arcade and ignoring the little voice in the back of my head telling me to build some hand buzzers, I finally caved in. Using the tutorial at Arcadeparadise.org as a starting point of sorts, I decided to take the design a step further and make some really unique and "professional" looking hand buzzers. Since "You Don't know Jack" can only support a maximum of 3 players at a time, I only needed to create 3 buzzers. Each one took about 30 minutes to assemble and finish.

Material list:

(3) Handset phone cords, or one really long one to cut into thirds
(3) 6" metal or plastic pipes
(3) Mountain-bike rubber hand grips
(6) Plastic furniture endcaps, like those found on cheap metal tables and chairs
(3) 8" of red and black wire, 18-22 ga
(3) 1/2" vertical momentary pushbuttons (not microswitches)
(3) 1/8" 2-Channel audio jacks - Male
(3) 1/8" 2-Channel audio jacks - Female

Tools needed:

Soldering iron & solder
Electrical tape
Hot-glue gun
Strippers (no, not that kind!)



Start by working a handgrip over a section of pipe.

 

Using the soldering gun, solder the 8" lengths of red and black wire to the momentary pushbutton and independently wrap the connections in electrical tape to prevent short circuits. Set that aside.



If the handset cords you're using came terminated with RJ-11s, clip them off. Slip the plastic audio jack cover over the phone cord and remove about 1/2" of the outer sheathing to expose the 4 telephone wires. Clip the 2 middle ones, you only need the wires on the sides.

 

Strip and tin the 2 remaining phone wires (they're 26ga). Then crimp the metal 1/8" audio jack to the external insulation of the phone cord while keeping the exposed telephone wires from wandering in the middle. Carefully solder the wires to the outward facing sides of the terminals and test for continuity with a multimeter.

 


Heat up a hot-glue (hotmelt) gun and inject a small bit between the newly soldered connections to give it support and prevent the frail wired from breaking off.

 

Thread the plastic jack cover onto the jack to close everything up. Make a hole appx 1/4" in diameter at the end of a plastic endcap. Thread the other end of the phone cord through the cap as shown and tie a knot to prevent it from being pulled out by accident.



Connect your button/wire assembly to the unfinished end of the phone cord by stripping the wire as described before and soldering the 2 outer wires to the un-finished ends of the red and black wires (It doesn't matter which one goes where, just as long as they make a good connection). Wrap the wires up independently with electrical tape to prevent shorts in the buzzer.



Next, make a hole in another plastic endcap the same diameter as the button's threaded mid-section. Work the it through the pipe, and push it though the new endcap's hole.
Once you get it through, thread the small nut onto the button-shaft to prevent it from backing out of the cap. Roll up the ends of the bike grips and push the endcaps over the pipe. It'll take some elbow grease to get them on, but once they're there, you wont have to worry about them coming off by accident any time soon. Flip the grips back down over the cap and you're done!

 

Tomorrow I'll post the last part of the write-up: how to to integrate the female jack into the control panel.

[babydickonboard]

thats pretty sick.

[javeryh]

Genius.

[M3talhead]

Interfacing the handbuzzer with the cab is actually easier than making the buzzers themselves...

First, identify which tabs on the back of the female jack blocks you need in order to make the connection to the keyboard encoder. You only need 2 tabs, so once you figure out which ones make contact with the respective sections on the male jack (at the end of the handbuzzer), clip the unwanted tabs off and leave the 2 you need.



Cut 2 lengths of wire equal to the distance between the keyboard encoder and where you'll be mounting the jack. Solder each wire to one of the tabs you saved earlier. If you want to make things a little more organized, you can make a TWP (twisted-wire pair) by following tip #6 located here.



Drill a hole equal to the width of the jack somewhere on or near the CP and push the female jack through the hole from the inside of the cab. I decided to place mine under the front face of the CP so wasnt visible and would keep the lines of the cab clean. Tip: Use a Dremel or narrow file to shape the hole so the jack makes a better fit.





Position the opening of the female jack block so its flush with the outer face of the cab. Hold it there and fill the drilled-out hole with hot-glue from inside the cabinet, preventing the jack from moving around when you go to insert the plug.





When the hot-glue cools, run one wire from the jack to the "ground" on the encoder, and the other to an open input.

[MYX]

Not sure how I missed this, but friggin great job.
I like that you are using audio jacks for extra buttons. I am doing the same thing for a fire button for battlezone. I was thinking about using 1/4 in. but 1/8 is less scar space.

[M3talhead]

Small update.

I wasn't happy with the small push buttons I used when I started this little side-project, so I replaced them with some larger, beveled butons with a higher spring rate. The best way to describe these new buttons is that they feel much smoother and more "assertive" when you press them. Not so cheap and "clicky" (if that makes sense). They were a little more expensive (+$.50) but are so worth it. I guess its just one of those things you can't really sacrifice quality on. 

[CartmanDP1]

nicely done, ill have to add the to the long list of things i'd like to do. LOOOOOONG list. A cab truly is never finished.

[Bones]

That is bloody awesome you crazy bastard.

[MYX]

The bigger buttons look great on the handles. They look like something you would buy at a store.

[M3talhead]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Because I know you're all asking the same question, I went ahead and tallied up the cost to make one hand buzzer (This is assuming you have a soldering gun and solder):

Pipe - $1.50
Furniture caps (2) - $.50
Button - $1.50
Wire - $.05
Telephone cord - $5.00
Bike handgrips - $1.50
Audio jack (male) - $.35
Audio jack (female) - $.35

Total: $10.75

[M3talhead]

Well, another year has passed and VersuS is still kicking! Its' travelled half way around the world from Belgium to Guam, and is still as fun as the day I finished it!

[BobA]

You went to Guam with your cab from Belgium?  How would you go about shipping a cab that far?   Just interested as I never plan to move that distance but it would be interesting to know how to do it.

[MinerAl]

Excellent work!

I have a plan for a similar set up, but I hate (suck at) soldering, so I'll go to radio shack and buy two longish audio cables wit the 1/8" plugs on them already.  It'll cost me more, but my un-burnt fingers will thank me.

[M3talhead]

You went to Guam with your cab from Belgium?  How would you go about shipping a cab that far?   Just interested as I never plan to move that distance but it would be interesting to know how to do it.

I'm active duty military, so the Gov'mnt pays to ship everything.

[bfauska]

I'm active duty military, so the Gov'mnt pays to ship everything.

I tend to get annoyed when I hear about somebody getting things that seem above and beyond necessity from my taxes, BUT for the folks that sign up to potentially put their life on the line so mine stays safe and free I say we should ship arcade cabinets any freaking place they want.  Thank you for your service and I am glad you get to take something along to have some fun while we send you all over the world. 

Also I don't know if I've said it already or not, but that is a mighty fine cabinet and I think the buzzer idea is fantastic.  I have a projector set up for movies and TV and one of my computers is hooked to that, I think I should make some buzzers for that, I could put it on my cabinet, but it seems like YDKJ would be really fun on the big screen with a couple friends.  Thank you for sharing your project with us.

[M3talhead]

I'm active duty military, so the Gov'mnt pays to ship everything.

I tend to get annoyed when I hear about somebody getting things that seem above and beyond necessity from my taxes, BUT for the folks that sign up to potentially put their life on the line so mine stays safe and free I say we should ship arcade cabinets any freaking place they want.  Thank you for your service and I am glad you get to take something along to have some fun while we send you all over the world. 

Also I don't know if I've said it already or not, but that is a mighty fine cabinet and I think the buzzer idea is fantastic.  I have a projector set up for movies and TV and one of my computers is hooked to that, I think I should make some buzzers for that, I could put it on my cabinet, but it seems like YDKJ would be really fun on the big screen with a couple friends.  Thank you for sharing your project with us.

Thanks.