First CAB Father Son Project

[ssc arcade]

I have been researching for a while and will start my cab in the next few weeks.

[ChadTower]

I work with my sons on all of my projects.  It is awesome father-son time.  Good job.

[Bones]

Hey thanks for the comments.

Your CP looks fine but you will probably get some negative feedback on your 4 way joystick in relation to your trackball. Nothing beats a mock-up panel for testing your positions and finding out for yourself. It really is worth the time and the mock-up is good practice if you are new to the woodworking side.

There are some good stickies throughout the boards that detail monitor pro's and con's that are definitely worth checking out but the general consensus is nothing beats an arcade monitor for authentic gaming.

Good luck with your project. 

[ChadTower]

I say eliminate the 4 way and change the player one stick to a 4/8 way switchable from above.

[Buddabing]

I think you should put a 25" TV in there. When playing vertical games on a horizontal monitor, a good bit of the screen real estate isn't used and it will look small.

If you are not into fighting games, you can limit the number of buttons on each player. Three per side will probably do it. You can play Simpsons or NBA Jam with that.

Plus, three buttons to the left of the trackball will allow more accurate Missile Command gameplay.

For simplicity you can get rid of the 4-way. If you don't, just make sure you don't hit it when playing Golden Tee.

How about something like:
 

[ssc arcade]

I have had some second thoughts on the 4 way placement also, I like that it is in the center of the CP but can see issues with the trackball.

As for the switchable in my craze to get started I already ordered some buttons, the IPAC2 and the joysticks.  I also want to keep this as simple as possible.  I want it to be as easy for my kids to use 5 & 11, the 11 year old no problem.  But I want the walk up and play.  I have had too many projects in the past where in the end it has some tricks.  My test is if my wife wants to play it (which I doubt she will, she just doesn't appreciate what a great waste of time) and I explain it to her she can play all these games but she has to remember to change this switch for blank or ..., I know I will get that look.   Also I really like the look and feel of the ball top 4 way on pacman and galaga.

I will attach a side view of the CP to give you an idea of scale

the distance between center of track ball and post of 4 way is 7.125"

Do the six buttons have any use except for fighting games?  (thanks Buddabing)  I want it to be as flexible as possible also.  I can just see some friends coming over and are real big fans of a game that needs them.

Also a lot of layout have the thumb button below the six, what is it's function?

I also like the classic look with the smooth sides but a removable CP just makes too much sense, and in the long run more comfort.  I am not a stickler on making a super realistic cabinet, just a good balance.

[ChadTower]

The 5 year old will learn anything he needs to in order to play.  When he was 5, my older son was already putting a multimeter to pinball switches "because the right slingshot isn't firing daddy".

They pick the stuff up SO FAST when they think it is cool.

[ssc arcade]

Here is a side pic with some inside detail.  I will give the change to switchable 4-way some thought but for now I will stick with the idea that I want a dedicated 4 way and 2 8-ways.  I know the kids will pick it up right away, it is some of the slower adults that worry me.

thoughts on wheels.  I like the idea of no wheels nice and sturdy, I think I may make a temporary "cart" to use to move & during construction.  with just the MDF (3/4) it is already almost 300 lbs with no monitor computer etc., and I don't have any of the 2x2 or support wood in it.

The material I used in the model has a 4 x 8 sheet of MDF weighing about 75 lbs.  Does this sound about right?

[ssc arcade]

sorry here is the side view

[ChadTower]

Don't dumb the design down TOO far for the adults.  If you go down that road, before you know it, you will have a cup holder and toilet paper on the CP.

[RetroACTIVE]

thoughts on wheels

I did not like the idea of having 4 wheels... many people have done this but I decided to go with rear corner mounted caster wheels and leg levelers on the front.  It is really functional.  Not my idea of course... it worked out very well stable and mobile.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=43594.0

[Mark70]

Actually I designed my CP to be removable and not protrude at the sides.

[ssc arcade]

Here is a front view and a bottom view.

Looking at the front I could get everything in between the sides, but I just picture me smashed in there for any 2 player games, or having comfort issues with the 2 joysticks.  Plus I may want to add a spinner.

Also with such a deep (towards you) CP I think it would look jammed in if I cut it at the sides.

You can see on the front view that my cp sides do go past the cab sides.  I am thinking if I want to make the sides more even with the CP top in case I want to put on flipper buttons.

I originally didn't have the toe kick but added it to make the cabinet not look so blocky and to reduce how they have a tendency to take over a room.  I have a small basement and want to limit this.  Plus I think the fixed angles will help give it some rigidity when I am working on it, transporting etc, and solve clearance issues with the front door.

[markrvp]

I personally feel that a 4-way joystick is very important.  If you look at Knievel's Neon Mame (a Hall of Fame cabinet) control panel you will see that the 4-way stick is moved left of center with two buttons to the right. 



This is a great setup for Donkey Kong, Moon Patrol, Ghosts 'n Goblins, etc.  I would also recommend going ahead with 6 buttons as your son may want to play some of the fighter games later on.  If you also play games like Lego Star Wars (PC CD-Rom) on your cabinet, you may need more than 3 buttons to map controls.  But a dedicated 4-way joystick is something that I firmly believe in.  I have bought almost every joystick known to arcade enthusiasts and I have yet to find a joystick that beats an original Pacman 4-way leafswitch.  A close second (since those are hard to find and/or expensive) is the Happ Ms Pacman/Galaga reunion joystick.  I really like this stick as well and it is what I am using in my upcoming cocktail cabinet project.

You asked about the 7th button.  There are no games (to my knowledge) in MAME that use 7 buttons.  That 7th button is used so that there are 4 buttons basically in a row that can be used for Neo Geo games that used 4 buttons.  Below is how the buttons would be mapped depending on game.

[Mark70]

Nintendo emulators will use at least four somethies six, sometimes two, depends on the game, but up to six.  I'm thinking SNES.

RE the CP, yes either go past or go inside.  Flush just won't look nice if it's removable and there's a joint there

[ssc arcade]

Here is another pic with some changes taken from recent posts.  I have moved the 4-way over, don't mind this too much.  I have removed 2 of the buttons from the left side of the 4-way.

I have also added some slant to the buttons.  My distance between button centers I have maintained at 1.5".  I will try to mock up over the weekend to test this out.

Also should I make sure I have a pause button, also how do you esc out of a game and get back into the front end, I have not messed too much with mame, and have not tried a FE yet.  From the looks I am leaning towards Mamewah.  I am trying not to get to much running until my cabinet is done so I don't waste time playing instead of building.  I do have it running on my regular PC (windows command prompt version) and can do some testing with that.

Anyway, I am thinking of having a dedicated button for pause and escape back to the FE and that is it.  The 2 on each side are player start and coin up for 1 and 2.  I am also going to make the coinup with an off switch internal if I want to make it coin only.

[ssc arcade]

another jpg more straight on

[elvis]

RE: 7 button layouts:

I too have a 7-button layout for MAME (3/6 buttons for JAMMA games, 4 buttons across the bottom for neo-geo).

If I had to do the cab again, I'd put the 4'th button on the top-right, rather than the bottom-left.  Why?  Well, at current every time I play a neo-geo game for the first time I have to remap the buttons.  Very frustrating.  With the button4 on the top-right (and physically wired to the same button as the button4 in the 6-button layout) it means all neo-geo games are good to play "out of the box" with no reconfiguration.

Just my 2c.

[Buddabing]

Well, at current every time I play a neo-geo game for the first time I have to remap the buttons.

[ssc arcade]

Just a bump with some updated jpg files.

I have been trying to get my layout work done as much as possible before I cut.

below are 2 pics one side and front and one of the CP.

I wanted to determine my monitor before I finalized my dimensions since if I went the TV route I would need to make sure it was wide enough.

[markrvp]

You monitor angle is fine.  I'm with you, I like it more straight on than laying too far back.

All the spinners I am familiar with mount completely underneath the CP.  All you need is a hole to give clearance for the 1/4" diameter shaft, so a 3/8" or 1/2" hole will do nicely.

[babydickonboard]

i like how you did the bottom of your cabinet....i did something similer.....space invaders inspired.

[ssc arcade]

After more than a month of no progress, I finally got parts cut and a partial assembly.  I know I am making the mistake of making it playable before it is done but I really wanted it to work for when we had family over for Christmas.

Here are some pics of the assembly state as it is now.

I did not take any pictures while cutting, my wife had the camera that day.

Currently it is just screwed together, even with only half the panels in it is fairly sturdy, I think I will probably go back and redo each panel and with glue and then screws.

Only had a few wires to fix after it was put together.  Other than that no problems.

[ssc arcade]

Here are some pictures of the actual cab

some observations.

MDF is very easy to work with.  Routing is about the easiest step.

MDF is the worst to work with for dust, wear a mask when routing, googles would be good also.

cutting one side and using for a template worked good, I then clamped the 2 together and then used a belt sander to get them even.  Nothing new here just comfirming that it does work as good as everyone says.

Plans are will be made avail layed out per sheet with dims in a week or 2 after I check some parts.

[ssc arcade]

more pics

[ssc arcade]

last pic for now

[walls83]

I would say great job but.... youll never get it done now.  Its playable right.  It will be another 2 years before its done.  Its just a fact of the BYOAC world.  If the CP is done and playable its an automatic 2 years added on to construction of cab.

[markrvp]

Congratulations SSC.  I was wondering how you were coming.  How did everyone like it at Christmas?

[ssc arcade]

went over really well, I do need to keep working on it.  It did not have a FE running so I had to start each game.  Plus it is a little intimidating to play with everything open.  People are worried they will break it or it looks too complicated.

Just more reason to finish it.  My son didn't have any problems he beat the simpsons on the first day and is already typing games in without me even explaining it.

For CP and sides I really liked what some people came up with on C64rulez thread with the pac man on the sides.  I am thinking pacman on one side, space invaders on the other.