First Cab: HydroCade [Button Layout and Lighting]

[webgeek]

Hi all. I'm new to this site and to the MAME community but I'm hooked. I have always been a fan of over-the-top projects and building my own arcade machine fits that bill perfectly. I've done a tremendous amount of online reading and research only to find that a buddy I work with (I'm a software architect) has actually built a cab already! After much discussion with him, I have finally started on my own cab; HydroCade. In this thread, I plan on documenting my progress and explaining any decisions I made along the way in the hope that they might help others looking to build a cab.

I think I'm going a little different direction then most people. I don't remember much of anything about the way games felt at the arcade. I just remember having fun playing the games. To that end, I'm not at all concerned about reproducing the look or feel of a classic arcade machine. I just want it to be fun

Overview
I'd like the HydroCade to be a general entertainment platform. It will be running Mame (obviously) along with PinMame and a slew of emulators for various older platforms. It will also contain my XBox, PS2, and Dreamcast within the cabinet. Finally, it will also be a full-fledged jukebox. To make things more interesting I want to have a series of water features on the front and sides. I talk about these more in "Odds and Ends."

Cabinet Construction
One huge concern I have is the weight and size of these things. I travel around a bit and simply don't have the ability to lug a 300+ pound arcade machine around. This means that I need to keep the cabinet as light as I can and as portable as possible without limiting it too much. To do this, I have decided to use 1/4" plywood over an internal frame of 2"x4"s and 2"x3"s. This might seem heavy but in reality, it's quite light for the size. Almost everything is built to be detachable if needed. Sadly, this does change the look a bit, but i think I can work that into the design to make it more interesting. Externally, it looks a bit like a Lucid or Arcade Paradise 3 cabinet but only in the basic shape. I didn't follow specified dimensions for any part. In the end, the cabinet (minus control panel) is 36 1/2" deep by 27 1/2" wide. I'm still debating on the height.

The inside of the cabinet will contain a subwoofer box that takes up a great deal of space and a series of shelves for the various components. If I can squeeze it in there, I'd love to get a small fridge hooked up as well.

There are also some special construction requirements under the controls and sound sections below.

Computer
The computer running everything is a Sempron 2600+ with 512mb RAM and a 100GB hard drive. The video card is a Radeon 9200 that I chose for its S-Video out on boot (as opposed to only within Windows) and strong set of color-tweaking options. The computer is attached to my local network via a wireless card. The system runs Windows XP Pro because it gives me some programming options. Going forward, this machine will be replaced by my desktop machine with each upgrade. Hopefully that will keep me up enough to run the new games

Display
The display is a Sony Trinitron 27" monitor that I picked up for $100 used. It has an S-Video input that work perfectly with the Radeon card. I just had to tweak the saturation down and contrast up to get a really good image on the monitor. Overall, I'm VERY pleased with the results. There is almost no bleeding of even the bright reds. All that's left is a bit of over-scan in the far top corners but it isn't noticable in games. The only problem with this monitor is that it is HUGE. It's about 10 years old and very large.

I'm seriously thinking about a monitor rotator that automatically changes the orientation based on the game but I can't figure out how to do that and keep it small.

Sound System
I've gone WAY over the top on this. I happened to have a high-quality car stereo system available already and decided that this is as good a use for it as any. It consists of a 12" subwoofer w/subwoofer box, two 6"x9" and two component mid/tweeters with passive crossovers all powered by a big amp. The 6"x9"s and components will be wired off one channel and the sub off another. An ex-car stereo installer has informed me that this will give me the best clarity. The amp power will be supplied by a ChiefMax 650 watt power supply that I purchased from here.

I'm a little worried about shielding the monitor from the massive speakers but I think I can work something out one way or another. I'm also concerned that the power supply won't have enough continuous power available to drive the sub properly. To solve this, I might need to purchase one of those massive one Farad capacitors they use in some of the custom car stereos. They are said to be capable of smoothing out power requirements to avoid sagging issues.

Since I'm putting so much into the sound system, I figured I should go all the way. Instead of just mounting speakers under the marquee, I've decided that both the components and the 6"x9"s are going to be mounted on vertical trays that slide out from the cabinet. Think of a keyboard tray mounted vertically to get an idea of what I mean. The component speakers will be mounted at the top, by the marquee as they are the highest quality. The 6"x9"s will be mounted behind the control panel and come out about 14" or so. The final extent will be known once I figure out the exact monitor placement.

To ensure that it's playable in a small area, the machine can be played with the speakers recessed. In this mode only the components and sub will be active. The underside of the marquee will be ported a bit to make sure that the sound can escape without too much muffling but it will still sound much better with the speakers extended.

I also plan on mounting a physical volume control somewhere on the machine but am not exactly sure where yet.

Control Panel
The control panel will be hinged at the back so it can be opened up. At the front of it will be a tray that slides out. This tray will contain a keyboard and mouse. Inside the control panel will be an area to store all the controllers for the various other systems. I know I can wire them into the main controls but I prefer to play a system with the controls that came with it. The front edge of the box the control panel rests upon will be notched so the cables for the console controls can be easily run.

Most the buttons on the control panel will be a pale blue. I've decided that I really like the NEON Mame look and plan on ripping it's glowing buttons but with a lighter blue color.

For joysticks, I

[webgeek]

August 31st Update

Ordered my ChiefMax 650 Watt powersupply from here.

[webgeek]

September 1st Update:

Ordered:
2 Midway 49-Way Optical Joystick
2 Versa49 Balltop Replacement Shafts
2 GP Wiz49 MAX 49 Way Joystick Interface

All from Groovy Game Gear. As part of my order, I also asked Randy a few questions. Not only did he answer my questions within a couple of hours, but he also knocked a bit off my total price AND installed the shafts in the joysticks for me. I am very impressed with Groovy Game Gear and intend to do business with them again.

[webgeek]

September 2nd Update:

Got a shipment confirmation from BTech (not so fast) and Groovy Game Gear (very fast!)

I'm excited to be finally moving on this project!

[webgeek]

September 5th Update:

I've been sick over this three day weekend so I didn't get near as much done as I wanted. On Friday, I built a sewing bench for my wife so not a lot of cab stuff that day.

On Saturday, I picked up eight pieces of 10'x2"x4" and three 8'x2"x3"s. I also bought a circular saw and saw horse joints. BTW, a laser guide on a circular saw is a thing of beauty. It's helped me make quite a few better cuts then I expected. I built my saw horses that afternoon. They actually came out pretty well for being so cheap.

On Sunday, I started determining dimensions on everything only to find that my TV is huge and would cause problems fitting in the narrow cab style I was looking for. In the end, I had to play around with balsa wood a bit to get a scale model that gave me an idea of how to proceed.

On Monday I cut and built the first part of the cabinet. It's really just a box at this point but it feels good to have some physical construction done. I also picked up the casters I plan on using.

I'll post pics tonight when I get home. Don't expect to be impressed though. I'm a poor carpenter at the best of times.

[Bones]

How about some sketches?

[webgeek]

Ugh, now I need to show off my horrid artistic ability AND bad carpentry. I'm on my way to work now. I'll see what I can do about posting some drawings when I get home. Thanks!

[bossyman15]

or pics?

[webgeek]

I just started building so there isn't much to show pic-wise yet. As mentioned previously, I will photograph and upload what I have when I get home tonight. Thanks!

[webgeek]

September 6th Update:

Got my ChiefMax Power Supply in the mail today. Nice and fast service from B Tech. There is a picture below.

Stereo Pics
-=-=-

Amplifier
This is the JBL Grand Touring amplifier I plan on using.



Speakers
Here's a pic of all the speakers laid out. The left side has the 6"x9"s while the right side shows the component speaker system. The small speakers attached to wires at the top and bottom are piezo tweeters. The two center boxes are passive crossovers used to split high and low frequency signals between the piezos and 4" mids.


12" SubWoofer


SubWoofer Bandpass Enclosure


Power Supply for Stereo




Frame Construction to Date
-=-=-

Front


Front/Side Angle

[ChadTower]

HydroCade... a water themed cabinet.  Nice timing.   

[webgeek]

HydroCade... a water themed cabinet.  Nice timing.

Hrm... I didn't think of that when I made the post. I've actually had the name in mind for quite some time as I often do water-themed projects. I just want to state that this is simply an unintentional coincidence and not meant in any way to belittle the memory of those lost in the wake of hurricane Katrina or the heroic effort of the survivors attempting to rebuild their homes.

[ChadTower]

I figured as much, I just wanted to see you get all squirmy. 

[webgeek]

I feel pretty bad about the name now, honest mistake or not.

[webgeek]

Here are two embarasingly poor diagrams that illustrate how the speakers will extend and contract. This is NOT to scale, I just hacked it together in Freehand. I appologize for the quality.

Extended


Restracted

[webgeek]

September 7th Update:

Woohoo! My shipment of parts from Groovy Game Gear arrived in perfect condition. I've been very impressed with Randy and his company and intend to work with them in the future.

[webgeek]

September 8th Update:

More stereo work today. I rewired the currently working speakers to use connectors rather then the hard-wired lengths I used to test initial. Next I wired up the component speakers for the first time. They have an amazingly crisp high-end sound. Finally, I installed the 12" subwoofer into it's bandpass enclosure and wired it all up properly.

To say that this fixes my bass complaints from yesterday is an understatement. The bass absolutely pounds now. I can see that I'm going to have to play with the gain a bit as the subwoofer can be overpowering when it's so close. Playing Tommy the Cat (live version of course) and pretty much any house or techno was awesome. Only problem was that I finished at around midnight and might have really irritated the neighbors

Tomorrow (or later today I suppose as it's 1 AM) I will make my power supply hacks official and mount some bananna clips onto it for convenience. This also means I will hard wire the load resistor to the case with some heat sink compound to try and keep the temperature down. I couldn't be more pleased with how this has turned out and strongly recommend the hack I linked above as a car amp power supply. I'll be posting pics of the final speaker/amp/power supply setup once I get it done. If anyone has any specific pics they want to see, let me know.

P.S. Please let me know if these posts are of any use at all. To be honest, I don't really feel like posting these for my own benefit, I just want to give a bit back to the community. If these posts arn't doing that, I'll discontinue them and figure something else out.

Thanks!

[ChadTower]

Keep it up.  I think a lot of people poke through here and look at pictures.

[Timoe]

I'm reading......post more pics. 

[webgeek]

September 9th Update:

Finished up the stereo work today, or so I thought! I went ahead and finished adding all the various quick-connects I needed to the cables and got everything working great. This is the first time I had run all 7 speakers in the system together. It sounds amazing. I'm more then pleased with the end result.

Then I decided to make all my power supply hacks permament. I opened it up, trimmed all the connectors I didnt need, mounted the load onto the case with a nice heatsink and made it all pretty. I then hooked it back up to the stereo and fired it up...

Nothing.

The fan in the power supply wasn't spinning (which only seemed to happen when something was wrong, the multimeter confirmed this). I tore the case open again and after 30 minutes of poking around, could find NOTHING wrong. When I turned on the power, it would fire up and then die. Some internal trigger was shutting it down for no reason I could tell. I tried everything. Finally, I redid a few of my wires and now it won't do anything at all. I can only assume I've fried something in all my poking around.

The only silver lining to this is that there are two good 12v ball bearing fans in there along with a good pair of transistor heatsinks and a nice rocker switch. I probably would have paid 15-20 bucks for all that stuff at Radio Shack, so it's not a total loss. I'll be using the fans to cool my cabinet and the switch as my cabinet on/off switch so I can scratch those items off my list.

Lesson learned? Sometimes the initial hack approach is the best. If I had simply mounted the load on a heatsink, I would have been good to go with no problems. Things only started failing when I tried to go the extra mile At least it was a cheap power supply so I'm only out 30 bucks with shipping. Looks like I'll be ordering another one in a week or so.

Two steps forward, one step back. At least all the speakers and amp are done and ready to go. They just need to be mounted now.

Have fun!

P.S. I will be doing a lot of wood working tomorrow and when I take pictures of the progress, I will photograph everything else I haven't shown yet. If you have any specific requests, let me know. Thanks!

[webgeek]

September 10th and 11th Update:

Pretty big update tonight. I got quite a bit done this weekend. First off, I settled on a 28 degree viewing angle for the TV. This was a compromise between a good angle and the depth of the TV when tilted onto it's back. With this angle in mind, I created a shelf for the TV and mounted it onto the frame. I then decided how to mount the bandpass box and amplifier and laid out the foundation for the shelving in the interior. With this in mind, I started installing the various spars and pieces needed for all this. Now, as promised, lots of pics...

Joysticks, Encoders, and Buttons from Groovy Game Gear


Single Side of Speakers Wired Up
That was a lot of crimping. My hands still hurt.


Front


Back


Front with and without Sub
You can see the back contains the bandpass box and will also contain the amplifier + power supplies. Everything forward of that will be used for the mini fridge, computer and all the consoles.

Back with and without Sub
If you look at the left picture, you can see the mounting rails for the amplifier on the left side of the bandpass box. There will be narrow shelves in there too. These shelves will hold the power supplies for the computer and stereo. They will also hold any power cords needed and various sundry components.

Over the next couple of days I plan on designing the top half of the cabinet frame and starting to build it. Ideally, I'll have that all finished soon.

Have fun!

Mike

[webgeek]

September 12th Update:
Small update today. I got home from work and put in the flooring for the lowest shelf. As part of this, I also needed to add another spar to make it strong enough to hold some weight. Pics, as promised:


I also ordered a new power supply to replace the one I fried. And, as a little sneak peak, I ordered almost 12 feet of various types of cold cathodes Expect to see lots of pics covering various expermental ideas this weekend. Have fun!

Mike

[dmsuchy]

Nice progress!

[webgeek]

Thanks! I'm really excited about this project and trying to make a little progress every night. Problem is that I'm slipping on other projects

[webgeek]

September 13th Update:
Tiny update today. Real life required me to knock off the arcade business for the evening so I only had time to set the TV on the frame and snap some pics.

These pictures show how tight the fit is. On the left and right side, there is about 1/4" avaialble between the outer edge of the frame and the sides of the TV. This is the problem with side-speakers on a TV. I don't want to tear the TV apart though as it's a very good one and I like having it be fully usable outside the cabinet.

This tight fit is going to make the frame a bit tricky as it still needs to support the sides and top but can't be placed in the usual position. I'll be taking a stab at designing the struts tonight but I don't expect to get to work on them till tomorrow night.

Front


Back


Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Mike

[Timoe]

Very cool.  I wish I could just do my own design. 

[webgeek]

Stupid question, but why can't you do your own design?

[Timoe]

Ah, I guess I sounded pretty stoophid right there.

[webgeek]

It sounds like you and I did basically the same thing. Took a look at plans and then figured what needed to go where and did it

Seems like the best way to get exactly what I want and so I'm doing that too.

[webgeek]

September 14th Update
Hi all. I didn't expect to get a chance to work on anything tonight so it was a pleasent surprise to have an hour or so available. I decided to continue working on the frame and spent some time figuring out how the top and bottom halves would connect together.

Frame Progress


Frame Progress Highlighted
Since you can't see anything in that shot, I went ahead and highlighted it here.


Frame Mounting Points
I've marked in this picture the carriage bolts that are used to hold the top to the bottom. Due to the way these are attached, the top half of the frame can be completely separated from the bottom. I'm hoping it will be nice and stable.


Have fun!

Mike

[wintermute]

With all those bolts and screws in the 2x4 frame, it looks to me like that will be strong enough to hold up a small house.  That should be super sturdy.

I like your over the top audio, that's great.  When you were testing the sub outside of the enclousure, the sound waves from the front and back of the speaker cancel each other out, that's why you had no volume.  Low frequency is especially prone to this.  The box (or "baffle" as some people call it) keeps these waves seperate.

I just got a few CCFL tubes for the cabinet I'm building as well, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with them, so I'm looking forward to your experiments.  Just by playing with them for a few minutes, I think the sound activated mode will be really cool.  I'm just trying to figure out where to mount them for the best effect.

Nice work so far!

[webgeek]

Thanks for the comments!

Yeah, my car stereo buddy said basically the same thing you did about the sub stuff a few days ago. Then he laughed himself silly at my expense

As for the sturdyness, I'm a terrible wood-worker and so it needs to be overbuilt to have any strength at all. It's currently ROCK solid vertically and front to back (I climbed on it to test that). It has a minor wiggle side to side. This is because I'm placing the vertical 2x4 risers on top of the box below it instead of in the corner where it can be reinforced and has more joint area. If you look in the pictures, that should make sense. I used 90 degree angle braces to fix this and they helped a bit, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I will be running two 2x3s in an "X" shape in the middle. This will fix that wiggle entirely and give me some mounting points for the shelves in front.

Re: CC lights... Sadly, part of my order back-ordered, so I won't get any of it this weekend. As I'm going with the whole water theme, I'm thinking about using UV luminescent dye in water and UV-emitting CC lights.

[webgeek]

September 18th Update
Sadly, my shipment of lights and such didn't make it in this weekend, so I had to do some more productive cabinet work.


Diaganol Reinforcement

I mentioned in my last post that there was a small side-to-side wiggle in the frame due to how the vertical risers are mounted. The first thing I worked on was a diag. cross-brace for this problem. I've colored it red in the picture to make it clear. This has completely stopped all side-to-side movement so I don't need to put a second one in the opposite direction.

Full Frame

After the reinforcements were done, I decided to finish the top half of the frame. It came out pretty well and is very sturdy. It's a bit tall, but I think it works. There will almost certainly be some more struts up at the top, but I need to finish the design of the marque (it's not just a light and a picture) to know exactly what I need. Once I completed the top of the frame, I went ahead and pulled the bolts and split it into two pieces to see how it worked. I couldn't be more pleased. In about 2 minutes worth of work, I was able to yank all the bolts holding the top and bottom together and seperate them. The fit was better then most anything else on the cabinet. I guess if one thing has to fit well, this is a good pick. The entire frame is quite light too. It was a cinch for my wife and I to move it around.

6x9 Speaker Slides
The next thing I did was install the 6x9 speaker slides. These proved to be a real pain in the butt. The maximum width of the frame is 27" and it can't be any wider or it will be almost impossible to take out of my basement. The slides are actually 14" each. This means that the slides together are an inch too wide for the frame. This isn't a problem with the side panels on because they will take up a 1/2" each and be flush with the slides. In the end, I decided to make the entire speaker assembly removable. This will probably make things easier in the long run.

I accomplished this by attaching the slides to a horizontal strip of MDF and then attaching a vertical strip of MDF to the horizontal one. I then drilled three holes in the frame through which I run 2 1/2" bolts attached with washers and wing nuts. This makes for a very secure assembly that can be removed easily by spinning off the wing nuts and sliding it out. If people are interested in the exact set up, please let me know and I will paste detailed pictures.


Cover-Up Paint

Now that I'm getting a bit closer to the end I decided that it's time to try and hide all the poor woodworking. My first shot at this is a nice coat of dark grey primer paint. I'll probably do another one or two before I'm through. This did do a good job of covering a lot of the minor blemishes that exist and I think it makes things look a bit more professional.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Mike

[webgeek]

September 19th Update
Small update today. I painted the frame with a second coat of primer.

I also got my mini fridge in the mail today. It's perfect Nice, quiet, holds 6 cans at once. I'm pretty pleased with it. Now that I have it, I can figure out how it will attach to the shelving on the inside of the cabinet. This means that I can finish up the bottom half of the frame and focus on the control panel.

Have fun!

Mike

[javeryh]

I can't wait to see your completed cab with the fridge and all - great idea!

[dmsuchy]

I really didn't think this project would ever make the jump from design to reality, but you have now made a beleiver out of me! A fridge!??!! That is great!

[lebanull]

Mike -

 This thing is a MONSTER! Very nice...INDEED! It's looking mighty heavy Can't wait to see the finished cab.

September 18th Update
Sadly, my shipment of lights and such didn't make it in this weekend, so I had to do some more productive cabinet work.


Diaganol Reinforcement

I mentioned in my last post that there was a small side-to-side wiggle in the frame due to how the vertical risers are mounted. The first thing I worked on was a diag. cross-brace for this problem. I've colored it red in the picture to make it clear. This has completely stopped all side-to-side movement so I don't need to put a second one in the opposite direction.

Full Frame

After the reinforcements were done, I decided to finish the top half of the frame. It came out pretty well and is very sturdy. It's a bit tall, but I think it works. There will almost certainly be some more struts up at the top, but I need to finish the design of the marque (it's not just a light and a picture) to know exactly what I need. Once I completed the top of the frame, I went ahead and pulled the bolts and split it into two pieces to see how it worked. I couldn't be more pleased. In about 2 minutes worth of work, I was able to yank all the bolts holding the top and bottom together and seperate them. The fit was better then most anything else on the cabinet. I guess if one thing has to fit well, this is a good pick. The entire frame is quite light too. It was a cinch for my wife and I to move it around.

6x9 Speaker Slides
The next thing I did was install the 6x9 speaker slides. These proved to be a real pain in the butt. The maximum width of the frame is 27" and it can't be any wider or it will be almost impossible to take out of my basement. The slides are actually 14" each. This means that the slides together are an inch too wide for the frame. This isn't a problem with the side panels on because they will take up a 1/2" each and be flush with the slides. In the end, I decided to make the entire speaker assembly removable. This will probably make things easier in the long run.

I accomplished this by attaching the slides to a horizontal strip of MDF and then attaching a vertical strip of MDF to the horizontal one. I then drilled three holes in the frame through which I run 2 1/2" bolts attached with washers and wing nuts. This makes for a very secure assembly that can be removed easily by spinning off the wing nuts and sliding it out. If people are interested in the exact set up, please let me know and I will paste detailed pictures.


Cover-Up Paint

Now that I'm getting a bit closer to the end I decided that it's time to try and hide all the poor woodworking. My first shot at this is a nice coat of dark grey primer paint. I'll probably do another one or two before I'm through. This did do a good job of covering a lot of the minor blemishes that exist and I think it makes things look a bit more professional.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Mike

[webgeek]

I can't wait to see your completed cab with the fridge and all - great idea!

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. At times it feels like I'm talking to myself in here

I really didn't think this project would ever make the jump from design to reality, but you have now made a beleiver out of me! A fridge!??!! That is great!

I have to tell you; there are times I wonder if I ever will finish it myself. It's moving along nicely though. The water works are going to be brutal to complete. I'm very nervous about that.

This thing is a MONSTER! Very nice...INDEED! It's looking mighty heavy

[webgeek]

September 20th Update
Small update today. I did some touch up painting and flipped the cabinet over and painted from the bottom a bit. It's got so many nooks and crannies that it's hard to get em all. I'll probably finish the painting up tomorrow. Below, I've included some pictures of the various bits and bobs I've picked up over the last few days. These will all be needed and used as I continue on the project.

Fridge
Everyone is so surprised about me actually getting this. I don't know why? It seems the perfect compliment to cup holders

Timer
This is needed because the fridge isn't meant to run all the time. With the timer, I'll probably turn it on in the morning and off in the evening.


Air Vents
With all the stuff I'm putting in the cabinet and with how densely packed everything is, I need to be very careful to avoid temperature problems. To that end, I'm going to have a vent at the bottom that draws cold air in and a vent at the top that blows hot air out. I'll be attaching several small computer fans to each of these vents and wiring them up so that they are running when the cabinet is on. Sadly, this many fans will require another power supply. This makes three power supplies in the cabinet! I'll probably end up mounting them so their own fans blow out another grill in the back. Have to think about this a bit...


Smart Strip
This thing is a work of art. Well designed and well built. It was worth every cent. I could have hacked an existing one, but I didn't want to spend the time to end up with a sub-par product when this one is very good already. I expect I'll get this mounted in the next couple of days.


Thanks for all the kind comments!

Mike

[javeryh]

Why not keep the fridge on all the time?  I don't see the harm unless there's nothing in there to begin with but I'm assuming you are going to keep it well stocked.  Plus, if you put beer in there you don't want to skunk them.  Keep the progress pics coming!