Author Topic: My first conversion and real build (Read 15897 times)

TeamTEOR · « **on:** November 01, 2006, 03:05:56 am »

Slowly over the past couple of years I have been buying parts for this project, and it about time to get serious. It is going to be nice to not have to waste the quarters anymore once it is done. Sometimes I think that I grew up in an arcade. We would even find slugs to put into machines to play! Mom never knew what was happening with the washing machine tokens that we had a stock pile of. HEHEHEHE.

I found someone close by who is selling machines and cabs (thanks to another member). I ened up with a Punisher Cab that was stripped and also needs a little wood work to it. Half of the cab had its side art ripped off and there is a little bit of water damage on the bottom, nothing major tho. It is still a rock solid cab for the most part, all it will need is half of a small can of bondo to fix it right up. So when i got to the place I walked out the door with the cab shell for $200 (still a better deal than the Ultimate Arcade II that I almost went and ordered). I was able to bring the price down from $550 since I didn't take the monitor, monitor glass, marquee, or control panel. I did get to keep the speakers, and working coin box, so that is a plus. It is also going to need to get new T-molding (that lucky for me I already have). I am really happy with the purchace so far.

Tomorrow I will start to get cracking on the build. I am going to use my aircompressor to blow out all of the dust from the inside, and collect any loose screws. Then I will paint the inside of the control panel area up with a spray can to make it look nice. The inside of the cab will not be seen, so there is no reason to use it. For paint I picked up a can of Krylon H2O black. Once it is cleaned up I will place it on its back so I can work on the bottom of the cab. Castors is kind a must for me on this build, it will be sitting on carpet, so levelers is not going to be needed. The wife doesn't like the Punisher side art. She wants me to use some fighting stuff, and I agree with the choice. We found some nice stuff from MameMarquees.com. I am going to consider these unless I find something else that we both like.

Hardware:
AMD 2000 with 512mb of ram (maybe more, it has been sitting in the corner for a while)
250gb Hard Drive (So I can store some music on it as well)
Geforce or ATI video card (I have one of each, just need to see which I like better)
Viewsonic A90 monitor (Till I get a larger one.)
Two Happs 8 way sticks, one 4 way stick
Happs 2" trackball with a USB conversion, and it will be setup with a backlight.
I forgot who I got the spinner from off hand.
WizKey Max 1.5 Key encoder
Actlabs USB Light gun.
I also have two very nice 110v fan units that I'll put into the top of the cab (only one will be on, and I'll keep the other as a spare.

I am not sure on the OS yet, I guess it is going to need to be a Winhose unless I can find some emulators to work for linux. Any links would be appreciated.

Here are some pics (yes that is a Dolly under the cab, used it to unload it from the trailer, and thought it was a good idea to leave it on there for the moment).

johnm160 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 01, 2006, 08:43:27 am »

Nice looking cab to start with, you gonna keep that size CP on it or are you going to remove the base?

Take lots of pics...

John

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #2 on:** November 01, 2006, 10:11:32 am »

Hey John,
I was thinking about building a larger CP, but the problem is if I mod it for one I will not be able to remove the unit from the room it is going into. So the way to I was considering was to make drop in modules that will fit into that base. This is easy enough to do and just requires me to use a PS/2 and USB port and cables this is really cool because I can make a few different CPs and not have everything cluttered.
Tom

gamenut · « **Reply #3 on:** November 01, 2006, 10:40:12 am »

Thats a really good cab for $200

Have fun

leapinlew · « **Reply #4 on:** November 01, 2006, 12:31:19 pm »

If your going for a slick finish - I would consider formica. I have a cab made of the same material and the paint didn't give me a super smooth finish.

It's a nice looking project. How bad is that water damage?

johnm160 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 01, 2006, 04:58:50 pm »

Quote from: TeamTEOR on November 01, 2006, 10:11:32 am

Hey John,
I was thinking about building a larger CP, but the problem is if I mod it for one I will not be able to remove the unit from the room it is going into. So the way to I was considering was to make drop in modules that will fit into that base. This is easy enough to do and just requires me to use a PS/2 and USB port and cables this is really cool because I can make a few different CPs and not have everything cluttered.
Tom

Yeah if you go to big you have to make the entire cp and base detatachable to fit through doors. I am doing a UAII panel I will have to do that for. I am not gonna clutter it but I need room for 4 players.

I like the interchangeable panel idea to. I am planning that for another build......

Have Fun!
John

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #6 on:** November 01, 2006, 05:07:19 pm »

There is just a little bit of water damage on the bottom of the cab. It is also only on the side, not on the bottom, again so it it is not bad, however you can see the wood is a different color.

I was considering the formica, not sure just yet. I have 1/4 inch of play to squeeze the cab into my office through the door, If I laminate it I might loose that clearance. I have another possible trick up my sleve, but I need to get confirmation that it might work.

Today I stripped the cab down, pulled all of the beat up t-molding, cleaned and vacummed it out. Also, scraped off the bubble gum from the bottom of the CP area. The sides are both bare now as well. On the inside of the cab I sprayed it down with 2 cans of Krylon H2O black paint. So it is looking really sharp about now. The locks on the coin doors have been replaced, and lucky for me both locks use the same key. I noticed the slides for the coin mechs were removed, so those will need to be ordered. Also, I have no idea what the size of the glass for both the marquee and the Monitor were. I will try to reach out to the guy who has them to see if he can measure them for me quick. Another thing, I want to get glass for the monitor that is lightly tinted for this cab.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #7 on:** November 02, 2006, 12:24:30 am »

Here is the way the cab is looking after today's bit of work.

leapinlew · « **Reply #8 on:** November 02, 2006, 11:15:51 am »

What a great looking cabinet! It's going to be real snazzy. Just keep up the good work.

As for the little bit of water damage...

I painted over mine and it just didn't turn out well. The paint actually made it swell a little bit. What I did was use some diamond plate to create a kickplate all the way around the cabinet. You have that option available if the paint doesn't work out for you.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #9 on:** November 02, 2006, 02:53:19 pm »

The wife does love that idea of the kick plate. She says it would save a lot of headaches for us trying to restore it. I think I'll just sand it down, and prime it & paint it up. Maybe if I can find some chromed angle stock I can hold it up from bottom and use two screws per panel to secure it into place. Home Depot should have all of that.

On my run to the Hardware store today I'll pick up the last can of black spray paint I need to finish the inside of the cab, and also some Killz primer (tinted black) with some high grade foam rollers. What I'll do is find an old quilt that is laying around here, lay the cab down on its side on top of the quilt and prime the majority of the sides then do the rebuilding of the top of the cab with the bondo. It would make those areas one less place to worry about. This has been a fun build so far!

Anyone have a good place to order up those spade connectors in bulk? Not sure what size those Cherry switches will be using. Also, has anyone used a nice (high count) stranded wire vs a solid wire? I bet there is no real advantage here that would warrent the high strand count wire. I guess maybe some 18 to 22 guage wire will be fine.

Also, should I strip down the front panels that have the stock vinyl lamination on it, or will it still look good when the cab sides are painted? I was going to try to leave it on to see how it looks.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #10 on:** November 02, 2006, 11:37:34 pm »

Got nothing really done today, that HONEY-TO-DO list hit me head on. I did manage to make it to Ace Hardware before coming back home. I picked up a gallon of primer that I got tinted to a very dark grey. Laying black paint over it should be cake work. I have some foam sheets in the closet that I am going to use to make my template for the control panel. Maybe I'll run out there and fit it in quick before bed, if not it will be first thing in the morning.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #11 on:** November 04, 2006, 12:47:19 pm »

I need to reseach a little to find the site that had printable templates for controllers, buttons, trackballs, and stuff so I can start to lay this all out. The foam worked out real well. Things has been crazy here at home, so I have been going slow. That is fine with me as I am less likely to do something really wrong.

Timoe · « **Reply #12 on:** November 04, 2006, 10:38:00 pm »

I dig the profile of your cabinet. It'll look hip when you're done.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2006, 11:32:22 pm »

Timoe, thanks for the kind words.

Still working on finding templates. I dug out my old Extreme Tech "Project Arcade" book, and lucky it still had the CD in it. However the template within it look like I need to have legal sized paper in the printer for it to print at 100% without getting cut off, something just doesn't feel right about that. I really wish I could find the templates I had prior, they consisted of the joystick with 6 buttons and I recall it printing out on a standard letter sized sheet. I used this template to make a single joystick for my cousin-in-law last year as a X-mas present. Maybe it is on the Lucid site, I'll find it sooner or later. Then I'll have to modify it a pinch so I can include the 7th button.

Here is a picture of the dimensions of my control panel area.

***Update, added a picture of a possible CP design for the first CP that will be made. I am using Paint Shop Pro 9 since I can't figure out the panel design software. Oh well. Hopefully you all get the idea from this picture. It is going to take some playing around once I have the wood cut out for the control panel and also the overlay here.

Timoe · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2006, 11:49:59 am »

Here try these templates

Open using Adobe Acrobat reader
Use the magnifying glass zoom thing to center what you want to print on your screen then,
got to File>Print
Under "Print Range" select "current View"
what you want to print should be fully visible in the preview window
under "Page Handling" make sure that "page scaling" is set to "none"
print

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #15 on:** November 05, 2006, 12:02:16 pm »

Thanks buddy, that will help when I go to print the templates out for a mockup on the foam board. I did also find the old templates that I used for my cousin-in-law, they were the ones on the Lucid site, betweem both yours and his I can start to move forward on this some.

I am going to attempt to cut out a piece of wood today for the control panel if time allows. I need to check to see if my wood is the proper size for the T-molding. If it is not, I know I can got into Home Depot to pick up some proper (thickness) sized MDF. I'll post some pics once I get that going.

muzland · « **Reply #16 on:** November 06, 2006, 08:16:51 am »

Neat Cab TeamTEOR,

What are the dimensions of the Marquee area? Looks like you could fit a Widescreen LCD in there. Now that would be cool

Muzland

theCoder · « **Reply #17 on:** November 06, 2006, 10:47:16 am »

You've got a lot of different colors and contrasts going on with that artwork. You might want to surround the buttons with a solid color and/or pin-stripped boarder so they don't get lost in the graphics.

I can relate to the honey-do list. It's a delicate balance keeping up with chores & family when the cab build is on your mind.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #18 on:** November 07, 2006, 12:10:02 am »

Muzland, I believe it had a 25 or 27 inch monitor in there. I'll mesure the open area on it later on. The widescreen LCD is a nice thought, the only problem I have with that is there are no light guns that I would be able to use that I know of. Presently I have a set of two Act Labs USB light guns. If my info was correct their control boxes can be daisy chained so I can use both at the same time. connected to my SVGA monitor. I have a Viewsonic A90 that I will be using for testing till I can figure out if I can afford to get a 25 or 27 inch monitor and a proper video card for it and light guns.

theCoder, I feel the same way. That was just me messing around with paint shop pro and The GIMP software to edit the picture that way. I am hopeing that for the Fighter CP that layout will be a good one. I don't think that I left anything out of there. As for the Chores.... We all use the force, that is how we get it done. With the age comes the wisdom to balance it all. Part of what we grew up with, to win the game you must achive the balance of quarters in your pocket to finsh and see the credits.

Today I had the chance to go to Home Depot. I picked up two pieces of wood cut up to the correct dimentions needed for the control panel. All that is left is for me to cut are the angled cuts to shape the front part of the CP. I also made the width smaller on the CP to allow space for the T-Molding to wrap around completely and still be removable. Also since most people are telling me not to bother with a lexan lamination I picked up the wood in 3/4 MDF so it can just get a good quality CP artwork overlay. I am pretty sure if there is a need I can use a very thin lexan sheet over the artwork. I took a piece of T-molding in with me to make sure I had the right size wood. Tomorrow I'll run a pencil to match the profile of the CP base and run the circular saw and maybe even the router (if I have the proper T-Molding bit).

muzland · « **Reply #19 on:** November 07, 2006, 07:49:11 am »

Thanks for the reply TeamTEOR,

I was thinking of the LCD for the Marquee area not as the main game screen.

This could be used to show the right marquee for the game that is being played, Johnny 5 or whatever. I just think it opens up a range of possibilities and would be really cool and unique.

It just looks right the right sort of dimensions.

I have toyed with a similar idea for my cab but I simply don't have the space in the marquee to do this (it is long and thin). I have even thought of using a rear projector type system to display custom marquees.

Muzland

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #20 on:** November 07, 2006, 12:23:34 pm »

Muzland: Total viewing area for the marquee is about 27" wide by 15" tall. A small wide screen LCD would be very cool, and rather very dynamic as well. Awesome idea, is there a front end or does the MAME core support that function by chance with a dual output video card? It would maybe need to have the screen a little smaller to get it to recess into the housing area 26 5/8 by 14 or so would be the largest screen I would try to put in there. Your projection idea sounds like something far better tho.

muzland · « **Reply #21 on:** November 07, 2006, 07:15:57 pm »

TeamTEOR,

Using your measurements you are almost exactly 16:9 widescreen ratio. You could fit up to a 30" widescreen display in this area (decased of course). Most LCD's even decased have some metalwork around the screen so a 26" viewable would probably be about right and fill the space.

In terms of software, take a look at McCoy's Varsity club project. He has 2 screens and is using the top screen for viewing the controls, etc. I think he is using Mamewah as a frontend. Take a look at the thread.

The projection idea has never got past the bag of a cigarette packet unfortunately. I did some googling on homemade projectors but never aquired any parts to give it a go.

Muzland

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #22 on:** November 08, 2006, 12:56:39 am »

Ofcourse I go and approach the wife with this, she agrreed to it if I used my new LCD Screen for my office PC! LOL (Next Question) What can I replace it with, she grinned and and said an old monitor. Well, for the moment that stops that idea! Not that I won't go for it later on tho. Maybe I can locate a LCD screen that has a badly damaged case, or that the tuner section doesn't work on it. If I am lucky I'll come across a sale as well. Thanks for the idea on this Muzland.

Today I set up shop outside (since there is an easy clean up that way), and we cut the control panels (the two of them) to fit the cab. Also finally found the last can of H2O black paint that I needed for the inside of the cab. They also cut for me a piece of 1/8" thick plexi-glass for the Marquee area.

Since I was set up outside I also pulled the Router out of its case to see if I had a T-mold bit along with the 30 attachments. NOPE! I found a local woodworking shop who had a a bunch of T-Mold bits in stock. I brought a piece of my new T-mold with me as a sample, and they then sold me a 3/32" T-Mold bit with a 1/2" drive shaft. In the morning I will attemp to use the router, I will be sure to make sure the bit is spinning in the proper direction, and that I am not just burning wood, also I have a set of goggles ready for the job.

Now since the cab has threaded inserts right now, I can swap out the slides for castors with a threaded shaft. Over at ACE the castors didn't state a weight that they were rated for. Does anyone have suggestion on this? Maybe I should just get some castors that need to be screwed into the bottom of the wood instead.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #23 on:** November 09, 2006, 01:52:48 pm »

Got some more work done yesterday. The two control panels got their T-mold channel routed into the edge, and then sprayed with a little black H2O black spray paint. I messed up on the corner of one piece, but only on the bottom of the panel and it won't be seen. My clamps gave way, and the spring plunge pushed the blade up as I was pulling away from the wood. I can easily fix it with some bondo.

While working in the garage I found some old carpet and put the cab down so I could prime one of the sides. The though process was I could fill all of the bumps and then prime it again, that should make the side like glass as long as I sand it down well with a fine grain sand paper. Since the cab was on its side I also primed the bottom after unscrewing the leveling feet. It will take a day or two for the primer to fully cure I guess. This morning it was very slightly tacky to the touch. The cooler night temps help slow that process up.

The side I primed was the side with the water damage and I was able to work that out pretty well. My random action orbital sander and a medium sand paper was called into play to sand down the water damaged area. It took all of 5 mins to bring it almost level. Only the side of the cab was slightly damaged, not the bottom so that made things easy.

I will try to build up the top corner of the cab with some bondo maybe tomorrow. The wife and I have a few appointments today to go to, so there is no time.

MaMeNnO · « **Reply #24 on:** November 09, 2006, 03:20:07 pm »

You're doing a real good job!

BTW I like the CP, especially the centered logo. Did you do all that yourself? If you did

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #25 on:** November 09, 2006, 11:44:47 pm »

I wish that I had that type of tallent! That is a picture that I found around somewhere. To make that control panel picture I used Paint Shop Pro, and created two layers. One layer was the CP buttons and the second layer was the picture. THen I flattened them down to one layer and using the eraser I cleaned up the edges. I really like that artwork, and I might just go with it. My only problem is getting something like that printed nicely at the size that I need. This fighter CP will have one set of controls in Black, and the other in Blue. I know I did the picture above in red, but I was fighting sleep to get that done.

Speaking of artwork, I am hoping to locate something for the trackball panel. No idea yet, but the trackball is a 2.5 Happs unit, and is blue. Also it will have a light installed to make it glow. I might just order up some luminated switches for that panel as well.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #26 on:** November 12, 2006, 06:48:37 am »

I am trying out a new OS out. It is the new freebie from Linspire called Freespire. Their C.N.R. (Click & Run) service is free, has tons of downloads, and included is Mame, and a bunch of emulators. Now if there is a linux build of Dalphine I think we are set. There is NES, SNES, Gameboy, and a couple of others that will install with just one click. Tomorrow I'll bust out the system that I am going to use for the build and see how it works with my big TV, and if it is any good then I'll use it, otherwise it is back to the Viewsonic A90 monitor. That TV didn't do so well in the past with the S-Video connection and the PC, the bottom viewing area of it was really messed up in that mode. Maye a TV repair shop could adjust it (this way there is no incident with me blowing myself up!).

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #27 on:** November 12, 2006, 11:12:28 pm »

Not to sure on the OS right now, it looked good, and works really fast, two items tho... I am having problems with it being solid on the network and also the CNR (Click and Run) feature works great, but the mame stuff it put in (yes I have been testing it all morning) is not easy to get to, or find a front end for. I will try to contact them, and if not I'll try out that other Linux build specifically made for Mamers.

Today's work, there are no pics (sorry), I started sanding with 220 grit on the orbital sander and also layed down some bondo. That stuff stinks, but does it ever work great! I found a trick to use cardboard to help make the curves needed and to help the area build up. It has been working out real nice. I have to flip the machine tomorrow in order to continue building up the damaged area, but that water damaged area is totally gone. After the second sanding there were a few pits that needed to be filled though, so I hit it again with another layer of mud. I can't wait to see how it looks tomorrow outside when I sand it down for the third time. It might just be ready for a second layer of primer. As it is most of the side I am working on feels super smooth. I am really happy and surprised at how well it is turning out.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #28 on:** November 13, 2006, 07:05:51 pm »

Things are coming along nicely today. I got the other side with its first layer of primer. Sanded the first layers of bondo down. I am getting close to be able to sand the whole side panels with 360 or 400 and then with some 1500 after another layer of primer or two. It is looking sharp tho, and the top of the cab is almost completely repaired.

I have also chatted a bit with Scott over at MameMarquees.com. So very soon I will be placing an order for my overlays (maybe even some side art). Whoot!

Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #29 on:** November 14, 2006, 06:00:11 pm »

Bondo is just awesome stuff. I have completely fixed all of the areas that were cracked, broken, and water damaged. There is no way spackle would have done as nice of a job. I sanded everything down again today, and put down another layer of primer.

Tomorrow if the primer is not very tacky I'll sand it down with 320 grit or 400 grit sandpaper and put another light layer of primer on there. If I am lucky I can then sand with 600 grit and get it ready for the black paint. Also I plan on using the router to make my slot for the t-Molding in the top areas that I repaired. I will be sure to go very slow so that I don't crack anything.

I am kinda torn here, I am not sure if I should continue to use a foam roller for the black paint, or if I should try a sprayer. I have never been very good with spray, and I am not sure if the roller is going to give me the finish that I want.

New stuff, I have been working with Scott from MameMarquees.com for the artwork since I am close to needing it to complete the cab. Maybe I'll post up some pictures once I have paid for it, and have settled on all of the artwork.

Here are some pictures after todays session of sanding and painting.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #30 on:** November 25, 2006, 02:03:33 pm »

Yes, I know that I have been quiet lately. Sorry about that, but I have to share this update.

I have no need to continue to paint the sides black, I've been working with Scott (Mamemarquees.com) on the artwork for the project. Hope you guys enjoy the eye candy, I know that I did. These are getting printed up very soon.

subcriminal · « **Reply #31 on:** November 26, 2006, 05:06:16 am »

Nice artwork! Looks expensive

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #32 on:** November 26, 2006, 10:21:11 am »

Yup, it is not cheap, but since I didn't need to build the computer I had some extra in the buget (I just took one of the older computers that we were keeping around as a spare). I may need to sand the sidesdown one last time and get a hold of the stuff recommended. I can't remember what the name was of the industrial wallprep. I'll do a search to find it.... Maybe someone can jump in witht that info for me. I didn't know about the out-gassing problem of some primers and paints.

dynamite · « **Reply #33 on:** November 26, 2006, 11:32:01 am »

dunno what that wall prep is called but I just have to say I love the artwork for the sides. It looks better than any of the real street fighters ever were. I just hope it retains its quality when printed full size.

Bobbler · « **Reply #34 on:** November 26, 2006, 03:26:55 pm »

Woah! Nice sideart!

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #35 on:** November 26, 2006, 08:52:54 pm »

I am sure it will, Scott said that he has it in a RAW format, so it has got to have a ton of detail information with in the file. If it doesn't look right I am sure he would not ship it.

I found some diamond plate finally about 6in wide. I just need to measure out the ammount needed and place my order. I am only going to use it on the front, besides, if I used it on the sides of the cab I would need to grind down the whole area under the metal to keep it all flush, otherwise I would need to resize my office door.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #36 on:** December 06, 2006, 01:32:10 am »

Side art is paid for and should be in the mail very soon!

MaMeNnO · « **Reply #37 on:** December 06, 2006, 01:54:39 am »

Wow, nice side art!

Bit intimidating, but nice.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #38 on:** December 11, 2006, 11:20:42 pm »

Yup, that is the way I like it. I really want it to come out and grab you! Just Awesome, that is all I can say about it.

I am guessing that the side art will be here in the next day or so. I'll drop a line to Scott.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #39 on:** December 31, 2006, 05:00:19 am »

Wow, Scott really does some great work! The side art is here, but the project is on hold for a little bit. Things got a bit crazy here at home, and I need to get some house work done, and dealing with issues here is not allowing me to put my focus on the arcade machine.

DirecTV was installing a second line into my kids room for his new DVR (so that he would leave ours alone!!) and while they were in the attic they broke a pipe for my fire sprinkler system. It took us 8 mins to shut that water off since I had to find something to turn off the water main! The pipe was 1.5" wide and the water was coming out at better than 200psi. This all happened the first week of December. So now contractors have been on vacation, or acting as if they are sick or overbooked. I spent a week with 2 industrial dehumidifiers drying up the place, and 15-20 commercial grade fans blow drying the walls. A company cam in and tore down a lot of sheetrock, and holes were drilled everywhere to air out the walls! So now on top of my kid not having access to his room, there is no access to his closet and bathroom since there is no ceiling in his closet, bathroom, and part his bedroom. To complicate things there is insulation blowing around this house from the attic every time the wind blows. It has made this winter very hard for all of us. At least DirecTV is paying for all of the repairs. I'll estimate they caused about $30,000 in damage. This is not counting if there is any mold damage. I need to call someone in next to do some air sampling.

In any case, the side art, marquee, and one of the overlays for the control panel are all here waiting to be installed. The garage is also a pinch to cold right now to be applying things, and I do not have the monitor installed just yet, so I do not know if I need to add a shelf in or not. I am going to try to see if I can get the original 25" (or it was possibly a 27") monitor for the cabinet to make it easy. If not then I will need at least a 24" CRT SVGA monitor. The SVGA monitor has one advantage, it will work with my Act Labs light guns. If I get the original monitor guys, is there a way to interface a set of light guns? Maybe I need to buy a different set of light guns or a special module?

Another item on my list is that I need to get some new T-molding as well. The stuff I have would be fine, however I would need to fill in the original track and then route it out again with a thinner blade. That is too much work as far as I am concerned. I believe that T-molding comes with two different tongue widths, 1.5mm and 2.0mm, (I could be wrong on this) and if this is the case then I have the 1.5mm stuff.

I hope you guys can help me out here with some more information, it will help make my mood for sure and cheer me up some to continue with this project.

BTW, I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season, and I also wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.
Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #40 on:** January 01, 2007, 01:14:54 am »

Does anyone know if the Act Labs PC Monitor Lightguns will work with a D9200 monitor?

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #41 on:** October 31, 2007, 12:22:40 pm »

Hey gang, the summer heat has cooled down, my cab had all summer long to let the primer vent its gas. I am getting back to work on it again!

A few days ago I stopped into my local Betson office and picked up a brand new Kortek 27" Multiscan monitor.

As of right now, I am touching up some spots on the cabinet, and applying a little more black paint to it. Pictures should follow in a few days.

Sorry I have not been around much, it was a tough warm season for me to be in the garage. Also I picked up this awesome scooter, and I have been having a BLAST riding around town. In the past 5 months or so I racked up about 1000 miles on it. In case any one is interested it is a Kymco Xciting 500.

Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #42 on:** November 02, 2007, 10:02:41 pm »

This morning I did the last touches on the repair of the rear of the cab. I also painted a new back door for it as well. The original one was not in good shape, and was not worth all of the bondo & work to fix it. Tomorrow I'll cut a hole out of so that I insert a cooling fan, but I need to test it to make sure it is not going to harm my monitor due to a magnetic field. I will for sure install a fan at the base of the cabinet.

So I started the afternoon (after a parts run) by installing a metal outlet box, along with an outlet, and a 9 foot heavy duty appliance power cable (so now I have electricity inside the cabinet for the first time since it came home). Next to the installed outlet I mounted a nice power strip. Once that was done I mounted up the subwoofer and speakers in the cabinet. It is a very simple Durabrand 2.1 speaker set, however it sounds pretty good. The subwoofer speaker was hidden, however the two satalites are small 4ohm 10 watt speakers (the speakers that came with the cabinet are 8ohm 10 watts) I didn't want to mess up the system so I used the stock speaked the subwoofer came with. I was also lucky enough to have on hand some speaker fabric, so you do not see the speakers behind the grill. Since the grill was installed I tested out the fitment of the marquee lexan. I needed to sand it slightly to fit it in, but it is all good now. I'll venture out to the garage in a few to put the light in place for the marquee and power it on. Once the fan is situation is figured out I will start to install the sideart and the marquee followed by the monitor.

I am still a bit at war about what front end to use on the setup. I really wanted something cool and graphical like the Ultracade interface. I wonder if anything new has been made that would work. There are also the new technologies coming up that makes programing more of a drag and drop thing, maybe I can do something with that too.

I am all ears if anyone has any suggestions.
Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #43 on:** November 09, 2007, 04:59:18 pm »

Seems the Kortek 27 inch was to big. I tried to shoe horn it in there, but the side art is already on the cab, so I was not daring to try to open up the mounting area.

I called Betson, they have a 24.8 inch TRISYNC Flat screen CRT (BL25C90T) (44-4024-00) on hold for me to pick up on Monday, and while I am there I will pick up a bezel for that monitor as well. That trip is setup for my early morning run, so by the afternoon I'll have it installed.

I will post some pictures on Monday after the monitor & glass are installed.

Mean time, if the wife does not kick me out of the house this afternoon to run around I will start on the control panel.

Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #44 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:35:41 pm »

Wow, was I worried about the forum there for a couple of days. I am glad it is all back and working.

Well, here is what I have so far... Some more diamond plate is on order to accent the areas cut short of the side art. I was an error on my part I guess, next time I order side art I'll really order it over sized. A word here about Scott Prior & MameMarquees.com, the man really does great work, and I am very happy with the way my side art came out. He is really there for anyone who needs his help & advice, THANKS SCOTT!

I am not sure if Betson is going to open tomorrow, however I will call, if not Tuesday morning I'll head over for the monitor exchange.

So what do you all think so far?

It looks like I am going to build three control panels to start.

One is going to be a fighter panel, a pair of 8 way joysticks, and 7 buttons each, plus the normal, player & coin buttons, plus admin buttons.

The second I want to set up with a pair of 4 way joystick, I am not to sure how many buttons yet buttons for each joystick but I am thinking 4, along with spinner.

The third panel would have a maybe a flight style grip joystick, on left side, the admin buttons, and a 2.25 inch trackball (or maybe a 3 inch if I can set aside the cash to buy one).

So my task & shopping list is as follows:
two Keywiz controllers
two more sets of player 1 & 2 buttons
maybe a 3 inch trackball
and a couple more buttons

I am rather unsure about typical spacing for this size panel, I am guessing that the controls are all centered between the top and bottom of the usable area. Another thing I am in need of is a set of templates for the spinner, and the trackballs. Routing out the top does not seem like a hard thing to plan out, I do not want to route out too much on the bottom part for it. I am almost contemplating ordering a CNC cut panel for the panel with the panel with the trackball. I hope someone has some templates to share and any advice. This thread has been quiet lately with anyone else chiming in.
Tom

KDOG · « **Reply #45 on:** November 11, 2007, 11:17:55 pm »

I like it. Where did you get it printed at?

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #46 on:** November 12, 2007, 12:09:57 am »

Quote from: KDOG on November 11, 2007, 11:17:55 pm

I like it. Where did you get it printed at?

Talk to Scott over at http://www.mamemarquees.com
Great guy to work with, and is very quick to email back during business hours.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #47 on:** November 12, 2007, 05:05:00 pm »

Ok, just got back from the Betson office. The new 25 inch monitor fits like a glove! It is not the Kortek monitor that I thought they were going to give me, but a BilLabs monitor, and yes, it is still tri-sync unit. It is sitting in the cab right now, but I need to go and pick up some washers so I can screw it down into place properly. They did not have the 25 inch bezel in stock, so they will order it up for me. Pictures with the unit turned on later tonight if I can get things done in time.
Tom

*****Update
HA! One thing to note, if anyone is picking up a BilLabs monitor, you will need an appliance power cord. It comes with a 3 way molex power adaptor, 1 plugs into the monitor, and the other two plug into whatever type arcade power cord you have. One the wire harness it is made with three wires, one is green and the other two are purple. The green is ground, and purple are for the 110v-240v AC power. I am going now to ACE Hardware to pick up the power cord, washers and screws.

leapinlew · « **Reply #48 on:** November 13, 2007, 07:51:31 pm »

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #49 on:** November 14, 2007, 12:53:52 am »

OK, I know that I took the easy way out on the control panel, I didn't make any templates to carve things out all pretty, but this is my first one, and I want to get it operational so I can see if it is something that I am going to stick with.

I took out about a quarter of an inch of the MDF with my router on the bottom of the wood for the joysticks and the buttons. I probably went a little crazy on clearing the wood for the buttons as well, but I wanted to make sure I had enough of the threads used to fasten them down. Since I am rather embarrassed about the sloppiness of the routing on the bottom I won't show a picture. Give me a break here, I never used a router before this project, I feel I am doing pretty good so far. I know that I am not done, a couple more panels and a juke box are in my future, I'll get better and do nicer jobs.

In any case, when routing, do it outside, wear a mask, and have a shop vac on hand to clean up things as you go (you will thank me for that advice). So here is what the top side of the CP is looking like so far. I used a set of paper templates that I found one another builder's website, once they were taped into place I used a fine point nail set to mark the center point for each drilling location. If I had not done that I would have been lost as the paper likes to shred with that spade type drill bit. I used a 3 foot level to make sure my workbench outside was level, then I used the bubble level on the end of my drill to make sure I was drilling straight down.

The black joystick is perfect, the blue one is feeling rather ODD, so I am going to order up another one, and keep this one as spare parts. Since the black one is perfect I filled in the screws over the course of the evening, in the morning it will gets its final sanding. Keep in mind here the buttons were just sitting in place for the picture, they are already out so I can finish the prep work. I do have a control panel artwork to top the CP, but will use it for the trackball. I want to order up one for this one in the fighter theme. I am wondering if I can sneak in the spinner on the lower part of the panel in the center. I did pick up some extra red buttons along with some extra player 1 & 2 buttons so I can work on the other panels as well.

I am not sure if I touched on this before, on the back door I cut some new wood to make it look nice, painted it down and to make it easy for removal I installed a simple 3/8 inch bar knob at the top of it. It feels really solid, and I no longer need to pry out the door with a small screw driver. I was chipping the wood, and not I need to re paint two or three spots.

Feel free to jump in here guys with any ideas.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #50 on:** November 15, 2007, 11:54:44 am »

Well, I ordered up a new blue joystick, along with a Opti-Wiz (My mouse hack didn't work the way I wanted it to for my spinner) and extra Key-Wiz Max controller. At the same time to cut back on all of the headaches of the video problems I ordered up an ArcadeVGA card. So I guess I am stalled out for the next week or so. I'll try to move ahead on the control panel work. Does anyone have a template for a 2.25 happs trackball & plate that they can share?
Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #51 on:** November 17, 2007, 04:30:20 am »

While the above items are in route, I have done some stuff that I have been putting off... Such as cleaning the garage! LOL! After getting out a bunch of garbage I plugged in my electric leaf blower and blew out almost all of the saw dust that was building up in the garage along with the leaves that tend to collect in there. The wife and kid are both happier, and I am sure am myself as well. It seems that I won't be seeing a 25 inch monitor bezel for a flat screen any time soon, I am going to have one made one up. I centered my monitor screen today, and then took some measurements, in the morning I will make a phone call to a local framing store to see what I can come up with. I bet they will charge $5-10 for a black photo matte cardboard frame to be cut to fit. My family is coming over tomorrow around noon, so I'll have just enough time to run out and pick it up along with some food so I can cook for them.

I have heard back from Scott over at MameMarquees, I am going to look a few designs over and send for the CP cover as well.
Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #52 on:** November 20, 2007, 01:09:21 pm »

WOW, I got my ArcadeVGA card today! Talk about fast shipping! Just a 3-4 day turnaround for it to be in my hands from the UK, and I am in Arizona.

Well, I went into safemode on the computer running XP, deleted all of my ATI 9600 drivers and software, ran a hardware scan and it pulled up the ArcadeVGA card, and loaded it right from the drivers. It did load up once into VGA mode, but I need to figure out a way to block the use of unsupported modes so that I can stop all of the blue screening & rebooting (it complains of a bad video driver)

Tom

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #53 on:** November 20, 2007, 05:19:21 pm »

"It is Dead Jim" The ArcadeVGA card took out my motherboard as well, and I have no idea why. (It happens, and I am waiting to hear from Ultimarc.

blueznl · « **Reply #54 on:** November 26, 2007, 03:33:25 am »

A video card that takes out the Mobo? First time I've ever heard of that. You're serious?

mr.Curmudgeon · « **Reply #55 on:** November 26, 2007, 10:19:34 am »

That side art looks AMAZING! Great job on the cab so far!

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #56 on:** November 26, 2007, 11:26:49 am »

Blueznl: Yup, I am serious, and I have no idea how it happened. It was suggested by a few others that the card might have slipped out partially, or that the motherboard gave out, and took the card with it. Another suggestion was that the monitor in switching modes to figure out what to run at may have spiked the card somehow. All I know is it is dead, and I lost a 2giz board and proc in the process. These things do happen, it happened to me this time, and that is fine. It is not anyone's fault. The products are all good products, so it could have just been age of the motherboard. Caps go out on monitors with age, they will as well on a motherboard, and it is possible that there was a cold solder joint on the VGA card. None the less, the ArcadeVGA card has a very nice fit & finish, it is made by ATI, and it is a quality product.

Mr.Curmudgeon: Thanks, it is not perfect, but it is close & I am happy with it. The jukebox machine I make next will be from scratch, and I'll make sure that as I get things for it that it is a little more better planned since I am a bit more experienced now.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #57 on:** December 31, 2007, 09:02:27 pm »

Well gang, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I didn't get a chance to order up the control panel overlay or the screen border just yet. The Holiday Season here at home was way crazy, and I am glad it is over.

I have the machine close to done, I finished off the control panel for now, but I will need to take it apart to install the overlay onto it. Today is the first day I actually turned it on and played using the actual arcade controls. I am very happy with the feel of it.

Over in the monitor threads I am getting some help with the video setup, but if you just was there to play, you would not care. Most Arcade machines in NY where I grew up all had their video a little off anyway.

The next modifications I need to make next is to install an On/Off switch and volume control on the top of the Arcade, and also to find one of those special smart power strips that turn everything off once the computer shuts down. Maybe one of you can point me in the right direction for the power strip?

Also, I'd like to get some opinions on what I should do to the control panel. What overlay should I use for the fighter style control panel. I am kinda stuck with the odd size of the control panel in getting something like the Half red half blue setup over at MameMarquees.com. I was thinking of one of the standard fighter panels that they sell, but was afraid it would kinda wash out the look of the panel. If you all look at the picture on my November 13th post you will see the way it is setup, I made no changes to that setup. It is working out really well.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #58 on:** January 01, 2008, 12:44:39 pm »

Ok, two current pics.

I need to get some new black paper to make a screen border that covers more area, I can clearly see behind the screen right now. The first pictures shows things better on the rotation problem I am having.

DaOld Man · « **Reply #59 on:** January 01, 2008, 09:36:40 pm »

Great job!!!

I love that side art!!!!!!!

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #60 on:** July 05, 2011, 07:17:08 am »

I still play on the machine once or twice a week, but I am getting tired of the machine vibrating loud as hell from the fans needed to cool that AMD proc. I can feel that the system heat up as the wood gets really warm. I am temped to take the back cover panel off and leave it in the closet.

In any case my wife upgraded her computer and gave me her older 3.Ghz Core2 Duo motherboard, proc, and ram. I am also going to try to use her old ATI 4550 PCI-E video card as well since drivers have surfaced for it to run on 15khz. That means she gets another upgrade for her computer.

Another thing I'll be doing is to install a wireless mouse as I am tired of the corded one.

I really need to get a hold of a set of templates and a walk through so I can make a new panel to house my trackball. I already have the control panel itself cut out.

newmanfamilyvlogs · « **Reply #61 on:** July 05, 2011, 08:38:35 am »

Bit the bullet and add the trackball instead of getting a mouse. (:

I run my 3.16Ghz C2D with a FreezerPro heatsink/fan in an Antec 300 case in my cabinet. It lives in a very small enclosed space in my cab, but barely gets warm with the fans running almost silent, even if left on all day. If you've got the room/funds for it you might look at those:

Freezer Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

The Antec has two large fans with three speed settings. It moves a gracious volume of air over the HSF even at low rpm.

TeamTEOR · « **Reply #62 on:** July 05, 2011, 12:12:01 pm »

Good stuff! Looks like a great cpu cooler, and those Antec cases are nice. If the Core 2 Duo system heats up at all in there (I doubt it as it always seemed to run cool & quiet) I'll look for a new heat pipe cpu cooler like that. The tower it is in is decent, so no worries there.

That old AMD needed that fan to run cool, and it is on a copper heatsink with silver paste. Never understood why AMD always ran so hot. Their heat issues is also the reason stopped buying them.

If you look in the other thread my wife fitted over her ATI 4550 video being pulled from her tower, so I picked up a new ArcadeVGA 3000 on eBay for $60 (shipped).

What I would love to find is if there was a fan I could mount onto the top of the arcade itself that would not send magnetic waves to the monitor. That is my next search.

newmanfamilyvlogs · « **Reply #63 on:** July 05, 2011, 01:19:57 pm »

Well with the new stuff going on with modified ATI drivers you can get away with a passive card like many of the HD4350s. I've got one of those and have run both 15kHz and 31kHz monitors with it. Mame is flawless and newer 3d games like SF4 run full speed.

As for the fan, you could take the route I saw in another thread and use some kind of ducting to direct air flow.. Put a few large diameter, low RPM fans at the bottom drawing in cooler air and direct it upwards toward your opening in some kind of a vent to stir the air in that direction.


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