Erich's Power Ranger Cab

[Zeosstud]

Bartop cab made from Bishmasterb's design.  Got tired of my boy bugging me to use my computer to look at power ranger pictures so decided he needed a computer.  Why not make it an arcade cabinet also, seemed logical to me.  He is a pretty happy 4 year old right now, hell I am a pretty happy 39 year old.  I am still fine tuning my darn smartstrip ( not really that smart if you ask me ) but the machine is setup to turn on with the press of a single button which is located on the back left of the cab, recessed .75 inches so it cant be touched on accident.  Here are a few pics, if you have any questions just ask.  I still need to get him a wireless keyboard and mouse and I am also testing out a little program that lets me start Mamewah and MediaPortal using the arcade buttons, so far its working very well.





Zeosstud

[IG-88]

Very nice. I love bartops. Question(s). What is MediaPortal? What are the computer specs? Probably more ?? later. Thanx

[Zeosstud]

Media Portal is a program thats basically a free Media Center type program for your PC.  If your familiar with modded xbox's and the dashboard XBMC (Xbox Media Center) its like an open source version of that for computers.  It lets you organize Movies, Songs and Pictures available on local or networked resources and use them in a pretty cool and common interface.

Computer Specs:
Intel P4 1.7 Ghz
512 Megs of Ram
ATI Radeon 700 Video Card
80 Gig Hard Drive
Windows XP Pro SP2 Installed and updated

Zeosstud

[bishmasterb]

Hey, nice work.

What did you use for the monitor bezel? It looks good.

[Zeosstud]

Hey Bish,
                I actually made the bezel myself of all things, because I stink at woodworking so bad it was a bit of a process.  First I made a card board mock up, then I used that to make a bezel out of the posterboard stuff you get at a hobby shop, then I decided hell I can to that out of MDF.  Measured out and cut a piece of MDF then drilled a hole, stuck in my jigsaw and cut it out.  I goofed the jigsaw stuff up pretty bad, not cutting out of the lines but with the width, it like my jig saw was cutting at an angle and I certainly didn't want it to.  to fix it I drew about a 1/4" square around the hole I cut, clamped down a piece of wood straight on the bottom and used a router with a trim bit to even up all 4 sides the best I could.  When it was done I covered it with Sticky Black Vinyl and viola, a pretty descent monitor bezel.  Let me take the opportunity again to thank you for making your plans available for everyone, I know we all appreciate it a lot.

Zeosstud

[unix4hire]

Well I just had to post, I rarely ever see my name spelled correctly 

Hopefully someday I can post "Erich's awesome cab!"

Nice work btw!  Looks like lots of fun for the little one.

--Erich

[fl0yd]

As usual another fine creation

 

[theCoder]

Nice job.  A couple of questions.

1)  What size monitor did you use?

2)  Did you use formica on the siding, and if so, did you have any problems applying it?

Looks good.

[Zeosstud]

Its a 15" KDS Monitor, still in the case.  I just used some black tape around the edges of the monitor to keep the hole black thing going, normally I remove the the monitor and paint it or cover the whole thing in black but this particular monitor that idea seemed like it was more of a problem than it was worth.  I did use Formica on the sides, it was left over from my Sit Down Driving cab, I must say, I was not intimidated at all about applying formica this time.  You apply the formica glue to the wood, you apply the formica to the back of the formica, I then applied a second light coat around the edges of the cab then wait like 5 minutes until they are both tacky then put the formica on the wood.. THIS IS IMPORTANT...  Once the 2 surfaces touch, ITS STUCK.  Make sure you cover the cab completely with formica, your just gonna trim it off with your router and a flush trim bit.  I cant stress this enough don't think your gonna lay the formica down then slide it around that is NOT how it works.  Anyway after I put the formica on, I rub it down for a minute or 2 (not even sure that is necessary) then I use the router and cut it right off.  When I build my next cab I am going to use Black Formica for the "inside parts" for 2 reasons, first I am comfortable with formica and second, I hate to paint.

Zeosstud

[Zeosstud]

Alittle Update:

I thought I would share my results with the little keyboard macro program I used so you can start Mamewah or whatever using the control panel buttons and joystick.  I found a freeware program called autohotkey, it works great.  I set it up so that you press mame button 1 (LCtrl) mame button 2 (LAlt) and the Player 1 Start Button (1) and that automatically launches Mamewah..  so  ctrl - alt - 1  I also setup ctrl - alt - 2 to start Media Portal.  I am not a programmer by any means but this little util has ALOT of features the 2 I have used are the very very basics but it does the job and might be handy for others.

www.autohotkey.com  Check it out if your interested

Zeosstud

[theCoder]

...I did use Formica on the sides, it was left over from my Sit Down Driving cab...

And a nice driving cab it is.  This is off topic, but I'm accumulating parts for a driving cab.  How is the Speedster wheel working out?  Is there anything you would do different on that project?

[Zeosstud]

I gotta be honest with you, that project has worked out great.  I am not sure in this case I would do alot different.  I guess maybe get a nicer chair, I saw some really cool ones in the $250 range, but I got this one for free + the cost of the seat cover, not bad.  The wheel is great, I have it mounted in such a way that it DOES NOT MOVE an inch, I am happy with my driving cab.  I would probably rig up the xbox so I could turn it on with a easily accessed button too, now that I think about it, its a bit of a pain in the butt to reach behind there and fire it up.

Zeosstud

[Havok]

Nice job!

But... we're all friends here, you don't have to lie about your "son" wanting a power rangers theme!

 

[Zeosstud]

You right, we are all friends, I feel like such a weight has been lifted....  I do love the Pink Power Ranger.

Zeosstud

[Zeosstud]

AutoHotKey Update..

Today I figured out how to use the autohotkey program to allow me to use arcade buttons to adjust the volume.  There are a bunch of scripts you can look at on the autohotkey forum, I just looked around until I found one that i could use, now to turn up the volume he can use  ctrl - alt - r and to turn it down  ctrl - alt - f.  R and F you probably know are the default keys for Player 2 Joystick up and down.  I dont really have to worry about these buttons being pressed during normal game play because joystick 2 is really only used for Robotron so it works in this setup.  I know you could adapt this to any cab with alittle research into autohotkey.

Zeosstud

[cw]

nice job...my bar would like something like this....