Q*bert shell -> #M@ME?! cabinet

[DjinniMan]

Hello everyone.  I am a longtime reader on the site, and started my own project in 2004.  I have learned SO MUCH after working on my cabinet.  In hindsight, I would have done things far, far differently.  However, no use crying over spilled milk, and all that, so please, realize that half the decisions I made, were mistakes, and if I had to do it all again, I would end up with a far different arcade cabinet!  Here's my first records from 3+ years ago.

April 2004:

I managed to pick up an old gutted Q*Bert machine from a guy in Joplin, MO. He just wanted to get rid of it, and I was very excited over my good fortune. Visions of Q*Bert were dancing in my head. I was totally excited and ready to get to work on the cabinet. My original plan was a restoration, as the guy said it had some “minor” water damage. My brother drove through Joplin weekly, and picked it up for me. My dreams of restoration quickly faded when I saw the unloaded cabinet. Check out all that water damage! I guess that is why the cab was free. At this point, I had no real clue how to proceed, but lots of good ideas.

[DjinniMan]

June 2004:

After lots of thinking, wondering how I was going to make it work, I decided to use only the sides of the cabinet, as really the sideart was the only thing worth saving. I was disappointed that the cab was basically going to waste, and this was by no means going to be a restoration, in any sense of the word.

However, I began to think of it as a scratch-built cab, using some vintage parts. Unfortunate, but it’s probably better this way. It makes even more sense when you consider that I was and still am very inexperienced with woodwork in general, and even more of a newbie when it comes to the wiring, etc.

I gutted the cab and tossed everything but the sides. Then I sawed off about the bottom 10 inches or so of the water damage. I attached some ¾” board to the bottom using a 2x4, and used wood putty to fill in the cracks and get it ready for painting. So far, so good. Now on to the real challenge, building the rest of the cabinet!

[DjinniMan]

July 2004:

I was planning to use a HotRod for the control panel, as I am a wiring newbie. I realize tha this was a controversial decision. The HotRod made sense for me, due to the low cost and ease of use. However, I couldn’t bear the thought of a giant purple CP with the HotRod logo hanging off my cab like a Frankenpanel, so I special ordered one with a black background. It would be a considerable wait for a custom, but luckily they had a black one with a white logo in it already made. I decided to go for it due to my impatience and the sales reps promise that the logo would peel off easily. A few days later, the CP arrived and I did some “testing” with Connor, my 4 year old son. The logo did, indeed, peel right off with some GooGone (great stuff, by the way), and now that the CP was in hand, the planning for the rest of the cab could begin in earnest.

The angle of the CP was exactly the same as the angle on the original CP, which was a tremendous boon. The plan was to set the CP right on top of where the original CP would be, with some overlap due to the oversized top on the HotRod. So, everything was made to the width of the CP. The back would be left open to allow plenty of room for a monitor or TV. I built the cab very carefully, but made one serious error. I didn't have a counetrsink bit, and thought I'd be able to get the screws drilled in deep enough to cover and paint over with some putty. However, in practice, the old MDF on the sides was too hard, and so some of the nails were visible. Next time I will know better, but for a first timer, with a limited budget and time, it was certainly not a huge deal.

[DjinniMan]

September 2004:

After the cab was finished, the moment of truth arrived. The CP set right in (whew!), and I drilled holes through the side of the HotRod so I could attach the side “flipper” buttons to the outside of the cab. A few days of hard work sanding, painting, and more, the cab was complete enough to bring inside. I slapped an old 17” monitor in it and had some friends over for more “testing” as seen above. The cab was a big hit even in an incomplete state.

Notice, at this point, I had no T-Molding (MAJOR problem later), no permanent monitor, and just a homemade marquee printed on photo paper and taped on. Pretty shabby, I know, and in retrospect, I should have never brought it in, because it stayed like this for almost a year. A wondrous, MAMEy, happy year, but I digress!

[DjinniMan]

February 2005:

Finally, when I could afford it, I purchased a 20” flatscreen TV that had just the right measurements to fit inside. I should have had the TV in mind from the beginning, and built the cab around it, but I didn't have the $120 or so at the time, and the old monitor was working just fine. I was confident that the new TV's measurements would ensure that it slid right in with no problems.

WRONG!!

The TV was about half an inch too tall to fit in! Heart wrenching! After weighing my options, IO decided to I had to (gulp) take a jigsaw to the marquee panel. The cut was terrible, but I got it in, after cutting a new hole in the back for the back of the tube, which was about 2 inches too deep. It was extremely messy, for sure, but I was so anxious to get the TV in I just went for it, figuring I could fix it later.

The TV worked fantastically! The games had more of the arcade type of feel, not the high res of a monitor, which was nice. Plus, the flat screen was awesome for crowding four players around to see. At this point, I still had no bezel, a lame marquee, and no T-molding. Again, though, inertia got the best of me and I spent most of my time playing and no time working on the cab.

[DjinniMan]

July 2005:

Summer came, and with it came summer school money and some time off. I decided to finish a few details still left on the cabinet, first of all, the T-Molding. I ordered from groovygamegear.com and decided to get to work. What should have been easy ended up being a nightmare!

As I stated before, the HotRod CP overlaps the edges of the cabinet. This was not a problem at first, as I hadn't put the T-Molding in the existing grooves yet. However, when I did this, I removed the side flipper buttons from the CP and drilled holes in the sides of the cabinet for those same buttons, as seen in the pictures above.

The problem was, even after measuring and remeasuring, the holes were just slightly off. The buttons would not easily slide in, so I had to use a rubber mallet to (gently) bang them in. Some sawdust was made, but it wasn't a big deal. However, the problem now was, I needed to get the control panel off, and it was almost impossible! The side buttons just wouldn't come out.

I weighed my options. One idea was to put the T-molding right up to the edges of the CP, but not underneath. The other would be to use the aforementioned rubber mallet (eek) to get the side buttons out. Pros and cons either way were pretty much a wash. I decided to go for the nicer look of having all the T-Molding in, even if it was covered up my the control panel. So, I got under the panel and started banging on the button from the inside.

Keep in mind, the only thing holding the CP on at this point was those buttons. I started banging away and got one out with no problems. When doing the other side, I hear a sickening CRACK! Lo and behold, the side of the HotRod cracked right in half around the button hole.

ARGH!

Now I have a serious problem. Not only will my CP not stay attached, the front of the CP, which sticks out a bit, as you can see from the pictures, is partially missing. The whole CP was a mess now. After crying about it (on the inside at least) for a few days, I decided to use some brackets and attach the top of the CP on as well as I could. It is not nearly as sturdy as it was before, but it would hold together for the time being.

I was able to get the T-Molding on, and wow, what a difference it made! Too bad I screwed up the rest of it getting the stuff put on. Now I have more messes to clean up and the cab looks about the same as it did before: ugly.

But, once again, it was playable, and so I didn't do much with it, which is the curse of any MAME cabinet maker.

[DjinniMan]

August 2007:

I discovered the only way to actually get work done on the cabinet: haul it back into the garage! I've told myself I will not bring it back in until it is DONE, absolutely complete. By bringing it in working, I end up playing it and not worrying about finishing it up. So, out in the garage it goes, until it is finished!

So far, it has been in the garage about two weeks. In that time, I completed a MAJOR part of the work, fixing the control panel sides back up. It took some real effort, and I had to use screws on the sides of the cab around the side buttons, which look poor now. However, once they are painted yellow I think it will be just fine. Really there was no other option. In hindsight, it was idiotic to think that the entire control panel would stay mounted forever while only being held on by the side buttons. It is definitely solid now, as there are screws through the back and sides holding it in securely. In addition, by using small finish nails I was able to get the front and side parts of the control panel to match up again. I hope it holds up to the wear and tear of use. You can see the fixed CP in the pic below.

[DjinniMan]

September 2007:

Well, today was a very dusty day. I managed to clean up the messy cuts using a combination of a router, a zipsaw, a jigsaw, and a sander. It's not perfect but it's 1000% better than it was, and that was the big thing.

Using some good old ingenuity, I decided on using some Jenga pieces to support the bezel. Yes, it is ghetto, but I don't have most of my tools right now and this way was quick, easy, and workable. No one will see under the bezel, anyway. I cut a black piece of foam board to size, and adjusted it to fit snugly against the TV. I still haven't figured out a way to keep the TV from moving around during serious play; I suppose I'll just have to rely on gravity and friction. Here's a shot of the bottom two Jenga bezel supports and the cool new buttons.


Slowly but surely, I am getting there. Slowly crossing things off the list, I am left with:

1. Touching up some problem areas of the paint.
2. Ordering a marquee/plexiglass, and mounting it.
3. New hinges on the door to replace old ugly painted ones.
3. Putting it all back together and playing some GAMES!

[DjinniMan]

Labor Day 2007:

My original plan was to touch up paint yesterday, but I got lazy and instead worked on cutting a hole for the monitor in the foam board bezel. I got it to work pretty well, first try. However, the cut is rough and the foam board was pretty bent after being stored for 2 years. I'll probably get another piece of foam board and cut it with a sharper razor blade, first, and then upgrade to a piece of plywood at some point in the future.

I did wipe the cab down with a damp cloth to prep for painting, so the time wasn't totally wasted. Tonight, or Thursday, I will get the paint touched up.

I've spent some time looking at changes to the actual software used in the cabinet. I think I can use a different, customized layout for Mamewah, which matched the cab better. I also plan to use either CPViewer or Johnny 5 to show what the controls are for each game. Lots of advances have taken place even in the three or so years it has been since I put the cab together for the first time. I plan to fiddle with my ROMs, getting the list pared down to just what is playable on my cab, and isn't a duplicate. Lots to do, but getting closer all the time!

[DjinniMan]

September 10, 2007:

Friday night, I used black paint to touch of a few nicks and scrapes on the cab, and also to cover where the new cuts were made a few weeks back. It looks much, much nicer. I think one coat will be fine, as most of the areas will be hidden by the bezel or else on the back of the cabinet where they can't be seen.

I picked up a new piece of black foamboard and a hobby knife for bezel 2.0. Black poster board was on sale for a quarter a piece, so I picked a couple up. I haven't decided whether to use the foam board, or black posterboard with a cover of plexi or lexan. Also, black carriage bolts and T-Molding to fix the scraped up control panel edges are on the way in the mail.

[DjinniMan]

Ok, now we are up to date.  As I said before, in hindsight, I would have changed so much.  It likely would have been less work to start totally from scratch, as really the only reason not to would have been keeping the sideart.  I'd gladly pay for the sideart on a new cab if it meant my cabinet would not look so, well, CRAP Mame-worthy.  I had to make lots of sacrifices to keep the cabinet like it was, with no lighted marquee, place for speakers, overlapping control panel, and all the other ugly stuff.  I certainly plan to do much better on cabinet #2, eventually.

I do need some advice, primarily about speakers.  As it is right now, I am using the speakers on the TV.  However, as I will be putting on a bezel, I am in a bit of a dilemma.  Do I cut holes in the bezel to allow the TV speakers to be used, or do I put some dedicated speakers somewhere else on the cabinet.  I suppose the top would be the best place, but that surely seems odd.  To be frank, I really want to get this thing done, and looking "pretty good", so I can start building the replacement.  I'd love a nice bezel with lexan/glass on it, but I doubt that will work if I keep using the TV speakers.  I'd appreciate any ideas and suggestions.

Please, remember, I know I did lots of bad things, but what is done is done.  I have learned from my mistakes, but I still think the cabinet is salvageable.  So take it easy on me, ok? 

[Dmod]

I admire your tenacity.  Did you finish the repair/paint for the sides?  Post some updated pics if you have them.

As for the speakers, I used the Klipsch hack from Saint's book and have been really happy with them.  A sub is killer for giving the cabinet some shake during gameplay.  Usually the speakers are mounted above the monitor in the cabinet so you don't have to tear into your bezel.  You also don't want to cover up your speakers with glass or plastic.  On your cabinet, since you don't have much (any) room underneath the marquee, and you don't want to upset the artwork on the sides, I'd consider mounting speakers in the top of your cabinet and hide them behind the marquee.

I used clear glass over my Happ bezel and it definitely makes a difference in giving a true arcade feel.  If you're not that happy with the look on your bezel, others claim that smoked or tinted glass is great at hiding all kinds of problems.

[Level42]

Poor Q*bert...

Why Mame a classic, you could have used any other pieces of wood...

All I can say is: @!#?@!

[DjinniMan]

I admire your tenacity.  Did you finish the repair/paint for the sides?  Post some updated pics if you have them.

I did finish the repair, but the paint is not done yet.  I plan to do it tonight, but you can check out the repair, at least, in the pictures below.

As for the speakers, I used the Klipsch hack from Saint's book and have been really happy with them.  A sub is killer for giving the cabinet some shake during gameplay.  Usually the speakers are mounted above the monitor in the cabinet so you don't have to tear into your bezel.  You also don't want to cover up your speakers with glass or plastic.  On your cabinet, since you don't have much (any) room underneath the marquee, and you don't want to upset the artwork on the sides, I'd consider mounting speakers in the top of your cabinet and hide them behind the marquee.

I used clear glass over my Happ bezel and it definitely makes a difference in giving a true arcade feel.  If you're not that happy with the look on your bezel, others claim that smoked or tinted glass is great at hiding all kinds of problems.

As you can see from the pictures, it is a very tight spot behind the marquee, even if I were to mount the speakers on top.  The Klipsch speakers would be a great option, but I think they are beyond the scope of this project right now.  At some point, you just have to stop adding things, and as this cab is never going to be perfect, I think I will stick with the TV speakers.  Cutting holes for the speakers in the bezel looked better than I had thought, see my next post.

Poor Q*bert...

Why Mame a classic, you could have used any other pieces of wood...

All I can say is: @!#?@!

Yes, as I said, I would have done it all differently if I could.  However, I have what I have, and have enough time and money invested in it that I feel I must see it to completion.  Totally restoring a cabinet was beyond me 3 years ago, and would be a daunting task even now.  The old adage states that "you can't make a silk purse out of a cow's ear"; I'm not looking for a masterpiece of craftsmanship here, just a "leather pouch" that is still functional even though it may not look the best.  I have learned from my mistakes and hope for much better results on my next cabinet!

[DjinniMan]

Attached are the latest pictures of the cabinet.  I still have the "test" bezel on, plain old foam board.  Not terrible, but still needs some work.  I am considering using some model paint to paint the TV speakers black, so they don't stick out so much from the bezel, though they will certainly be noticeable either way.  I'm thinking get the foam bezel just like I want it, then use some 1/4" plywood painted gloss black like the rest of the cab, and that will just about do it.  I'm considering putting some sort of yellow trim around the hole for the TV screen, to look more like an original Q*bert bezel.

I did have a friend whip up a nice custom marquee for me, which I have attached.  It should be here this week, if all goes well.  I also fiddled with a layout for Mala, and have attached a screenshot of that below, also.  Any comments are welcome!

[Q*Bert_OP]

Poor Q*bert...

Why Mame a classic, you could have used any other pieces of wood...

All I can say is: @!#?@!

I would have destroyed it if it got into my hands, though...

It also seems to have looked more like a Reactor cab???

[DjinniMan]

It also seems to have looked more like a Reactor cab???

Yes, it was a Reactor conversion.  There was orange paint under the yellow.  Fellow BYOACers IDed it as a Reactor. 

[theCoder]

I am considering using some model paint to paint the TV speakers black, so they don't stick out so much from the bezel, though they will certainly be noticeable either way. 

I've never had much luck with model paint, too thick.  How about masking it off and hitting it with flat black spray paint?

[(+_+)]

Being a huge Q-Bert and Mame fan, I love the cab name.

[KenToad]

Nice work on the Mala layout.  I really dig that and it goes well with the Marquee and the theme in General.

 

[koolmoecraig]

My Q*bert Mame Cabinet.

Completely reversible in minutes.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=26333.0

[DjinniMan]

Being a huge Q-Bert and Mame fan, I love the cab name.

Nice work on the Mala layout.  I really dig that and it goes well with the Marquee and the theme in General.

 

Thank you very much, both of you.  I know the woodwork and such was not quite up to snuff, but I tried to make up for it as best I could with the stuff I am better suited for, like the marquee design and Mala layout.  Once I put the marquee on, the cab's coolness factor went up 1000%.  You can see the cab in it's current state in the pictures below.  A few notes:

1.  ARGH the bezel is killing me.  I measured and remeasured, and cut, and recut, and still the stupid bezel is crooked.  I had it looking pretty good, then had to move the TV a bit to attach a cable, and it never lined up right again.  Clearly, I will have to permanently mount the TV so it doesn't slide around, then refit another bezel, this time made of wood, and mount it too.

2.  Changing the carriage bolts out to the new black ones was far more of a pain than I had thought.  I even got a new socket set and everything, but it was just hard to do around all the wiring.  And of course I lost the nuts several times!  Bob Vila, I am not.

3.  The Unreal Coin Door is a nice touch.  I wish it was more black, and less gray, but it isn't as bad under real lighting conditions as it is from the camera flash.  Also, the pewter-look hinges are far better looking than the nasty old painted ones.

4.  Painting the screws holding the CP in place was difficult.  Granted, I was doing it mostly at night, so I couldn't see well, but it took several coats to cover, even after using some wood putty to cover them better.  I really must get a countersink bit. :/

5.  In case you are wondering, I collect Transformers, and they are what you see in the background.  I'm not really 10 years old.  (No matter what my wife says.)

I hope to have pictures of the cab setup and turned on soon.

[koolmoecraig]

Looks great but I would ditch that phony coin door.  Looks cheesey.

How about installing a TV in that area and hooking up a console to it?  A double layer game machine!

[MAME TIME]

yes, otherwise great job

Looks great but I would ditch that phony coin door.  Looks cheesey.

How about installing a TV in that area and hooking up a console to it?  A double layer game machine!