New arcade project: 1/4 scale classic cab

[bvicarious]

Hi all. After seeing how awesome all the 2/3 scale pacman cabs have been turning out around here and recently digging up a mockup I did for a full sized cab, I decided that I would do them one better and go even smaller! So I started planning a 1/4" scale arcade cab that would use a 4 or 5" LCD screen, and I'll probably have to custom fabricate the buttons and joystick somehow (a regular mouse would make a good trackball). It will be powered by either a mini-itx board, inputs in the back to hook up external video, audio, and controls, or one of those home game-in-a-joystick type things. After thinking about it more, I'm reconsidering making it a pacman cab for several reasons:

1. Everyone makes Pacman cabs
2. I'm not a huge Pacman fan
3. I don't like the angle the screen lays at (not good for an LCD)
4. Possibly make it a multi game cab, but with only one theme. Pacmans button layout wouldn't support many other games.

So, anyone have suggestions for what cab to model it after? I definitely want to go with something a classic, distinct look, and I don't want to do an original design because that would take some of the charm out of it. One player games are preferable due to space constraints. I guess that really narrows it down.. I'd love to make a whole collection of them but it'll probably be a tad expensive to build... someday!



Here's a 3d mockup of the Pacman cab sans control panel, with the thickness at 3/8" for stability reasons. The foamcore mockup is around 18" tall and is next to a 120mm fan for reference.

[leapinlew]

I say make it a track and field. Put just 6 buttons on it and in your first game of 100 yard dash...

you'll smash it to bits.

Good luck with your endeavors. 1/4 is small and one of the biggest obstacles is having the joystick not look huge sitting on it and putting on a joystick that is truly usable.

[bvicarious]

leapinlew: I don't think structural integrity will be much of a problem    As for joystick scale and usability...


Ok so I think I've figured out the controls. It was a lot more easy than I thought it'd be.. I remembered the original gravis gamepad has a joystick that screws into the middle of the D-pad. When I dug it out, I noticed the buttons are the perfect size for a 1/4 scale cab! I'm not a fan of convex buttons, so I took the buttons out of an NES controller instead. The great part about this is that NES, SNES, TG16, and possibly even PSX controllers all have the same sized buttons, so really I can drop in whatever button I want to.

I don't have the joystick to the gamepad, so I wrapped a screw in electrical tape and stuck a 10mm LED on top and blackened it with a sharpie. Then I threw it all together on the old mockup control panel I have and... it looks great! The buttons are slightly larger than 1/4 scale at 3/8"  (1/4 scale would be 7/32") but if you think about it, NES buttons are the perfect fit in terms of usability... they're what I grew up smashing after all. I happened to have a model hand that is precisely 1/4 scale of my own hand, and next to it the control panel looks fairly proportioned.

To use the gamepad joystick I'm going to have to look into hacking it. Either by using the gamepad interface itself (it's ADB so I'd have to ebay a newer USB or PS/2 one) or by simply soldering wires to it and using an encoder.

Regular ol' microswitches mount perfectly under the buttons, and I can add a small spring if I want some extra stiffness.


As far as design goes, I'm still open to suggestion everyone     I'm now thinking about a neo-geo cab since I have all these little colorful buttons to use. Still only enough room for single player though.

[JamieMcShan]

Damn.... you beat me too it....

I have plans to start a 1/4 scale Galaga.  I was planning on hacking a Gameboy SP, mounting the screen and custom building a joystick using the existing gameboy switches.  Since you can get the Namco games cartrage, I figure Galaga (also since it's my favorate) would be what I would build.  I still plan on doing it someday, but my recent relocation to Austin will probably put it behind a few months. I look forward and will track this thread with great interest!

If you do use an mini-ATX, and LCD, it's going to cost you a pretty penny!

Jamie

[bvicarious]

If you do use an mini-ATX, and LCD, it's going to cost you a pretty penny!

Jamie

I am quickly finding this out 


But I've always wanted a mini-itx computer, and I can still use it for other stuff. I'm trying to find stuff on the cheap, and I might be able to snag a free LCD.

Using a gameboy is interesting, I look forward to seeing it.

[NightGod]

Yeah, once again, don't forget the old truth-what you save in materials you'll easily make up for in minaturization costs.

[theCoder]

Yeah, once again, don't forget the old truth-what you save in materials you'll easily make up for in minaturization costs.

Once again...what he said ! 

As for a design; If it were me, I'd go for a machine that did not have a joystick.  Simpler, less points of failure.  A couple of classics come to mind including Star Castle or Rip-off.  These two are on my short list of favorite old school Mame games.  Others would include Asteroids, Space Invaders, plus countless others.  Just my 2 cents.

Good luck with the project.

[jfunk]

I happened to have a model hand that is precisely 1/4 scale of my own hand, and next to it the control panel looks fairly proportioned.

Doesn't everyone? 

[melarky]

I just finished a somewhat similar project:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55628.0

And while I was making it, I got the same idea to make a slightly larger machine with a playstation lcd and small joystick (http://www.p3america.com/pp/851.htm has a footprint of 1.7").  I may try this eventually, but I need to get my 2/3 scale Donkey Kong done first...

[vrf]

If you do use an mini-ATX, and LCD, it's going to cost you a pretty penny!

The man speaks truth...

Anyhow, great work so far. I'm watching this thread with great interest!

[bvicarious]

stew-bidasso: Thats a nice lamp. I just got a quote for those joysticks.. $24 each. That's about the price of a quality regular sized joystick. I'll let you know if I get any. I also have a few leads on cheap LCDs. So far this isn't costing as much as I expected.


update: Then there's also this with a nice variety of handles, I bet its a lot more expensive though: http://www.chproducts.com/oem/misc_switchstick.html

[melarky]

I bought 2 of those joysticks a while back (I'm sure I'll use them eventually).  I think I remember it was $8 or something per stick (that was without shipping).  I think it was like $20 total (2 sticks with shipping).  I got the ones linked to at this address:

http://www.p3america.com/pp/851.htm

I could be wrong on the price (it's been a while since I got them, but I don't think I paid $24 each as you were quoted, my wife wouldn't let me do that )

I've been collecting 5" lcds off of ebay (getting them for about $20 on average with shipping).  I usually go after the Intec game cube screens as they are easier to work with (in my opinion).  You don't even have to de-case them really, and they have built in speakers and an adapter that lets you hook up RCA jacks really easily.  I somehow ended up with about 4 or 5 of them now (oops).  I just put my max bid on ebay and then forgot about them.  I ended up winning quite a few.  I will find projects for all of them someday

[melarky]

Also, make sure to read the data sheet on the joysticks you're looking at, the reason I went with the ones I got was because they used microswitches so it's very easy to hook them up like any other joystick, many of the other joysticks on their site did not use microswitches, so it would have been way harder to get it to work.

They were really nice to deal with, and the shipping was fast.  I haven't hooked the joysticks up yet, so I can't tell you how well they work, but the construction seems nice on them.  I'm sure they'll hold up fine.

[bvicarious]

YowZa, $8 is a lot more tempting than $24... the ones I got quoted on were from here: http://www.etisystems.com/j1.asp   and they look pretty rugged and industrial. They are indeed microswitches. I just noticed the quote request form on p3america, I'll see what they have to offer.

I found LCDs for about $40-$50 new, 5.6" intec for xbox. Not sure if that extra .6" is worth the cost, as I see several gamecube ones for $20 buy-it-now on ebay right now. I typically have bad experiences with ebay 

I'll hold out for a bit longer, I'd love to score a 6"-6.5" lcd even if it is a bit more money, just to keep the scales as close as possible.

[melarky]

As I recall, they didn't answer my e-mail quote request (although I think I only gave them a day), I ended up just calling their 800 number and getting a quote on the phone.  Once I got the quote, I just ordered right there on the phone as well.

[bvicarious]

Quote from p3america: $14 per joystick

I'm waiting on one more quote then I'll decide which to go with

[bvicarious]

Well, final quote came in at $60. It's too bad, because it was just about the right size with a nice handle.

stew, the joystick at p3america states it is '4-way switching' while the other one I found says '4 or 8 switching capability' .. can you verify if your joysticks are capable of 8-way? The two otherwise look identical.

[melarky]

I don't know where I put them, but I think they are probably just the 4-way (they also come with a little restricter plate that can make them 2 way).  If I can find them, I'll verify...