PROJECT: Vertical

[FrizzleFried]

Alright...so I just completed (well,  completed isn' the right word as I fully intend to continue messing with it) my first cabinet...it was a ROBOCOP that had been bastardized to a Street Fighter II.   Here is a shot of the completed project:



It still needs some minor cosmetics (new marquee for sure...that one just doesn't GO with the project)...and I want to add a spinner to it at some time.

Not bad for a first project I think...

Now on to PROJECT: VERTICAL.   I play a LOT of vertical games...and, unfortunately,  playing vertical games on a horizontal arcade monitor sucks if you like to maintain authenticity by running as close to the native formats as possible.  Sure,  I could squeeze and shrink and get the entire screen on the horizontal oriented screen....but who wants the fuzzies associate with it.

So I managed to convince the wife-unit that we NEED a vertical oriented cabinet (w00t!).  It made it much easier when I managed to find one for $40.00 and a little time putting together some DVD's for the guy.

What made it REAL nice is that (a) the cabinet is in pretty damn spanky condition...easily surpassing the condition of the Robocop cabinet I got for $100 for my first project.  (b) the monitor that came with the unit was "untested" and when I "tested" it,  IT WORKS FINE!  Hell,  it seems to work better than the Electrohome G07 I recapped.  My Electrohome's tube has some minor CENTPEDE burn-in.   This monitor has ABSOLUTELY ZERO burn-in,  and the PCB looks damn near new...and (c) the guy threw in a larger extended control panel.  Not bad for $40, $5 in DVD's and a little time.

Here is what I got:





Here is a shot of the back with the cover removed...



and here is one of the extended CP I got:



First thing is first...last night I ordered another JPAC and ArcadeVGA card.   I already have an Athlon XP,  Nforce 2 motherboard,  power supply,  etc.   I do need to acquire some memory...512mb of some cheap DDR RAM shouldn't be too expensive...hell,  I may be able to rip some out of the HTPC...I can't remember if it has 512MB or 1GB...and frankly,  since we got a DVR with our cable,  the HTPC sits mostly idle.

I was considering putting some laminate on the sides instead of painting them like I did with my first cabinet,  but JESUS is laminate expensive.  I'd have to pay over twice what I paid for the cabinet itself to do it...so I will probably stick with paint.

Right now I am sitting at just over $200 total investment...$166.00 for the ArcadeVGA/JPAC,  and $40 for the cabinet + $5 for the discs...$211.   I'd REALLY like to keep this project to under $250.00.

That meants this cab DOESN'T get a trackball...I'll have to live with the vert. oriented games that use trackball in my horizontal cabinet.  I just can't see how I would fit a trackball in to that metal CP.   Ideally I'd like to go with a 2 x 6 button CP with the new extended CP,  then later add a flightstick/spinner to the old CP for some Tron action....who knows.

....I will update this tread as I work on the cabinet.   You can see the work I did to my original cabinet here:

Link

[leapinlew]

I'm thinking you might have room for a trackball. This cabinet should only have 2 joysticks with 3 buttons per player. That might allow room so you can squeeze in a 2.25" trackball for centipede/millipede. Or, you could put in a spinner for Tempest/Arkanoid.

Are the joysticks primarily going to be 4 way?

[IG-88]

Would you want to part with that Final Fight Bezel? I have a need for one if you do. Might be able to use the F.F. CP also, that is if you want to part with it

[TOK]

I don't think you need 6 buttons for a vert cab. 3 is plenty. Most shooters use 2, most classics only 1.
I also opted not to go with a trackball, mainly because I'm not really into Centipede/Millipede.

[FrizzleFried]

Yeah...I am considering 2 joysticks x 3 buttons which would leave room for a spinner.  I don't think this box will get a trackball,  but who knows.  First thing first...I need to get my monitor up and running correctly.  When I got the box it wasn't hooked up at all so I get to learn how to wire a jamma harness to the monitor...doesn't look all that difficult. 

As for the bezel and CP,  when I am 100% sure what I am going to do with them,  rest assured you will be the first to know.   I may need the bezel but I doubt I need the CP.

[FrizzleFried]

Alright,  I have gotten QUITE a bit done on the PC side of the project,  and only a little done on the cabinet side.   As far as the PC side is concerned,  I put together a PC out of spare parts in the garage.   The only thing I need to buy is some memory because I am plum out of DDR RAM.   So for now I am "borrowing" 256MB from the HTPC.

The PC consists of: AMD XP2100+ CPU  running at 2.1ghz on an MSI Nforce 2 motherboard.  512MB RAM will eventually have a home here.  The hard drive is a Seagate 120GB PATA model...the motherboard doesn't support SATA.   The power supply is an Antec 300 watt model.

Here is a pic:



...I still have some wire routing to do...but aside from that,  she's ready to install in to the cabinet once my JPAC and AVGA card arrive.

I cloned my horzontal cabinet so it was very easy to get up and running.   Some minor modifications to my front end,  and a new custom layout,  and finally a nifty little program called iRotate to rotate the display and we are cookin'...



Now...as far as the cabinet side of things,  I managed to pull the monitor...here is a pic:



Now I have some concerns I have posted over on the Monitors forum regarding the lack of a grounding strap and whether that is normal or not.

Also...does it matter which direction I rotate the monitor?

More updates to come...

EDIT:  I didn't like the background of the front end layout above,  so I came up with this:



I take NO CREDIT for any of the artwork elements...

..and it should look even better on an old-school arcade monitor.

[Cornchip]

Your monitor rotation is a good question. I have recently built a rotating setup for my 21" PC monitor. It rotates to vertical "clockwise" when viewed from behind. I've only played with the Window's version of Mame. The monitor setting is "clockwise" as well. I have also tried a couple of Dreamcast games that display vertical....and they work the same way. I don't think you can screw this up....under Mame you can rotate any way you like. I'd like to know if you can "globally" force all vertical games to your choice of rotation in the .INI .


 Since your ahead of me in the software department....what frontend did you use? I'd like to use something like that and loose what I currently have.

 Cornchip.

[FrizzleFried]

That is a SWEET rotating monitor setup!

I am using MAMEWAH v1.62b12.  Make sure to use the beta version and NOT the 1.61 version that is available as it doesn't work with the more current versions of MAME.

I stumbled upon the fact that you can create two different setups and it will switch from vertical to horizontal and back ...as least if you have irotate installed.

[FrizzleFried]

UPDATE:

Good news and bad news.   The good news is that I have the monitor re-mounted in a vertical position.  It was somewhat of a ---smurfette--- getting it in vertically as I couldn't position my jigsaw up in to the area at top.  I had to bust out the hole-saw and go to town.  It's a bit ugly,  but it will be covered by the bezel anyway.

Here is a pic:



Now for the bad news...a picture is worth a thousand words...here are two:





Thats right...when in the vertical position,  the friggin' chassis sticks out the back!   The only options I see are...

(A) Cut a hole in the rear removable panel...perhaps box it in.

(B) Buy a vertical mount.

Now...I am a cheap bastard...so unless the mount option would be real cheap,  I am probably going to go with (A)...unless someone has any other ideas?

[arcadefever]

that is a nice set up ....

i love the rotating monitor  great job !!!

[Cornchip]

I see you dilemma...one part of you says save a little and the other half wants it all. Maybe you could post in the Buy and Sell area looking for that vertical style mount. Or just box it in....you likely won't be the first. 

 I'll get around to starting a Project Announcement soon for my own project and get some pictures up of my rotating setup. It turned out great. Hate to enclose it in the back of the cab out of site.

 Oh...Arcadefever...if that's your Arcade room on your web page....then you have an amazing setup. Wow!!! I'd like to collect a couple of originals.

Cornchip.

[FrizzleFried]

Alright...I have done a few things to the vertical cabinet in the last couple days.   First off I installed a couple happ buttons for power and reset to the top of the cabinet.

I also put together and installed the control panel.  Now,  being that this cabinet is being built "on the cheap" for the most part,  I managed to acquire some official "MAME Arcade Control Panel Marble Contact Paper"* wholesale at the local Home Depot for $3.99 for like a 5 yard roll...a little plexiglass from the last project,  some black paint,  and we are in business.

The buttons,  while uniform,  are the colors they are based on the availability of used buttons I had in the drawer.  I did have a couple whites I could have used,  but they were pretty beat up looking.  The only new buttons on this CP are the black "exit" button and the blue button to the left of it.

The joysticks are some unidentified short throw joysticks from "Coin Machines,  Elk Grove, IL" or something like that...I assume they are some old Happs or something.   I have no idea how they will perform yet...they were taken from a "Real Ghostbusters" control panel (see topmost picture).   I decided on trying out these short throw sticks as opposed to the two "super" styles sticks I have as this vert cabinet will be used mostly for shooters and old school games...I figured the short throw may help with pacman, donkey kong, etc.   We shall see.

The CP has plenty of room for expansion.   I decided on a 3 button layout because there are very few vertical games that use more than 3 (I can only think of Super Punchout off hand (4))... I intend to get a spinner and place it centerish lower on the CP.

Here are a couple shots...





* Check out this asshat selling "MAME Arcade Control Panel Marble Contact Paper" in 1 yard lengths for a starting bid of $4.99 and a buy it now price of $5.99...with an additional $4.99 for shipping!   SO you are looking at a MINIMUM of $9.98,  or a buy it now price of $10.98 for a single yard of this contact paper that can be had at the local home depot (hence my smart-ass use of the world wholesale) for a mere $3.99 for 5 yards of the stuff!  Someone needs to take this bastage out...he is not even using the required "WORKS WITH MAME" verbiage...and uses MAME in his title!  What a scumbag.

LINK: http://cgi.ebay.com/MAME-Arcade-Control-Panel-Marble-Contact-Paper_W0QQitemZ230057162960QQihZ013QQcategoryZ13716QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[FrizzleFried]

UPDATE:

Lets see...since last update I wired the control panel to the JAMMA harness.  I also wired the harness to the monitor.   I made some finishing touches on the PC that will be going in to the cabinet (removed welcome screens, changed background to black, installed bootskin, etc).  I installed a $15.00 set of speakers I got from Walmart...actually,  I installed the amp, and 1 speaker...I used the  other speaker that was already installed in the cabinet.   Sound is on par with my horizontal cabinet,  which is to say it sounds "authentic" to the era...a bit tiny...but then again,  this IS and old-school arcade cabinet...and futhermore,  if I wanted kickass surround sound,  I could easily run a cable from the cabinet to an external 5.1 receiver. I bought a $5.00 power strip,  removed the switch,  ran some wire to a nice "arcade-style" toggle switch that I mounted to the rear of the unit.

I also painted the cabinet.    Originally,  I was going to go with an opposite paint scheme to my horizontal cabinet...but I am not sure now....here is what I have thus far....

[javeryh]

Awesome looking cab so far!  I like the color scheme too.  It makes me think I need to do something with the sides of my cab other than one solid color...  Did you ever solve the monitor mount problem from sticking out of the back?

[theCoder]

Nice paint job.

Regarding the monitor, is there any way you can move the mounting plate forward a bit?

[FrizzleFried]

TheCoder:

That is something I am going to have to look at...but likely too much work.

Update:

I have been given the unfortunate news that my JPAC/AVGA package has been delayed.  Being that I am at pretty much a stand-still until these two items arrive, I figured I would part for the week with a couple final shots:





...perhaps I will get a hair up ---my bottom--- and add the yellow, red & purple that I was originally going to go with for the bezel and side paint...perhaps not.

...perhaps it's time to put together some custom art for the marquee...and I am REALLY considering ---steaming pile of meadow muffin----canning the black marble contact paper and going with something else...not sure of what yet...

[TOK]

I did my first panel with that paper too. I hated the look of it from the second I put it on. Redid it about 2 weeks later.
If you want something that looks good and is inexpensive, I suggest using plexi painted from the back with R/C car paint. Had family down from NY over Thanksgiving and we rebuilt his panel with a painted plexi overlay. Its smudged up from handling in the pics, but it looked fantastic when we cleaned it up. Easy to mask around your buttons for an alternate color if you choose also, though we went all black.

[FrizzleFried]

Well now ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.  I can't believe I didn't think of that...so simple!  Hell,  that would have worked well with my other CP too...

Duh...

Job one is to get this thing up and running...then i will mess with the CP.   Actually... I have some work to do on the paint.   See...I added some yellow today and,  I guess it's not the brightest thing to paint in a garage that is at about 35 degrees...I see some sandpaper in my future...when it warms up!

Oh well...live and learn...I guess it indicates a minimum temp of 50 degrees for a REASON?

[leapinlew]

I have some work to do on the paint.   See...I added some yellow today and,  I guess it's not the brightest thing to paint in a garage that is at about 35 degrees...I see some sandpaper in my future

B U M M E R! I did this once. Had to sand and paint the whole cabinet again. 

[FrizzleFried]

TOK was right...I couldn't STAND that faux marble shelving paper crap....

...so I painted it (the underside):



Also, after a real pain-in-the-ass time with the cold weather we have here (it was 12f this morning)...I managed to get the cabinet paint pretty much complete as well.

Here is a pic...a really really bad one (not sure what happened)...but I am too lazy to go take another pic right now (it's midnight,  I am in my PJ's and it around 25f out in the garage.



I got my JPAC and AVGA in the mail today...as well as a brand new Turbo-Twist 2...I got everything installed,  the control panel working 100%,  and I managed a picture on the monitor...but I am having some issues with adjusting the monitor...I think I might have something installed incorrectly...I posted over in the Monitors forum seeking some help.

Overall the day was pretty constructive...

[TOK]

Looks great. Other than the Williams games, it seems like every game I really love is vertical.
If I only had space for one MAME cab, it'd be a vert! 

[FrizzleFried]

Welp...as I was attempting to be creative with the cardboard bezel and my spraypaint,  I used some standard masking tape instead of the blue "drywall" masking tape...lets say I managed to screw up the cardboard bezel "something fierce".

On to plan B...painting the plexiglass...

The cabinet is just about complete.  I am having geometry issues with my monitor and have ordered a cap kit.  If the cap kit doesn't work,  then I am going to buy a monitor I think...but I was amazed at what a cap kit did to my Electrohome monitor so I am confident it will rectify my geometry issues.

I removed the marquee from my horizontal cabinet (which didn't match the paint scheme) as I have ordered a new custom marquee from mamemarquees.  This cabinet is only 23.875" wide and the marquee is flat.  My horizontal cabinet has a rounded bezel and is 26 inches long.  Lets just say I had to do some trimming to get the 26" marquee to fit in to 23.875".

Here is a shot of the ALMOST complete cabinet...

[Glaine]

Looks super, like your sideart.

You might consider putting a dreamcast in there also, there are some great vertical schmups for import on that: Ikaruga, Under Defeat, Shikigami No Shiro 2. The guy above is right if you want to do these, your monitor needs to pointed so that the power plugs in at the top. So if you did it the other way I wouldn't bother with this then unless you want to turn the screen over.