Artic Mini Mame - First Pics!

[paigeoliver]

Here are the first pics of my Artic Min Mame project. I got this cabinet locally from another gamehead. It is an Artic (ATW) King & Balloon (which was a bootleg from what I understand).

This cabinet was nearly NOS. You could just examine it and understand the story behind it. The coin meter had 700 plays on it, the joystick had a pair of broken microswitches, and the coin mechs and PBC were missing. The thing looked nearly prefect inside and out, with a bit of drag damage in the back rear (easily fixable). The monitor boards were so clean that you could eat off them.

Here is my guess as to what had happed. The original arcade got the game and a week later the joystick broke. They took it to the back to fix it, and it never got fixed. Later the coin mechs (just the mechs, not the door) and PCB got robbed from it.

I was originally going to try and get a boardset for the game, but I couldn't find one, and eventually realized that the cab was a bootleg anyway. So I stopped trying. Further examination showed that it was wired for those boardsets that get AC power directly. So I pulled the wiring harness and power supply and such to use for another project later.

Then I pulled that perfect monitor to use as an eventual replacement in one of my other games.

I decided to go with a Toshiba 19" security monitor for the new display. That is basically a 19" television with no tuner and an s-video hookup (yes, a 19" with s-video). It has a bit of Walmart security cam burn in, but is otherwise in good shape.

I took the monitor out of the case, and luckily the tube bolted right up to where the old arcade tube bolted (made it easy). At first I tried to put the monitor boards where the old arcade monitor boards were, but they wouldn't go there (the unit had originally used a frameless arcade monitor, where the tube bolted right into the machine, and the monitor boards went on the side of the cab).

So I sawed the bottom off the old plastic monitor housing, put the boards back in it, and screwed those in inside the cabinet. I then put the original arcade monitor bezel and glass back on, and went a grabbed a DVD player to test my handiwork.

It worked perfectly!

I already have the parts to build a computer for it. Going to do S-video video (obviously), the monitor has an audio input already, using that, but I replaced the original speaker with the one that was already installed in the cabinet.

I am going to interface the original control panel (single 4-way, 2 buttons, plus start buttons) to a microswitch based PC joystick that I already hacked a long time ago.

I will probably interface the coin mechs and service switch to mouse buttons, just because I have a million mice laying around, and won't otherwise need a mouse on this one.

If those interface ideas don't pan out, then I will start saving for another Ipac (I think my Jack the Giantkiller cocktail has almost enough quarters in the coin box to buy one).

[paigeoliver]

Monitor chassis inside the cabinet. The whole front of this cabinet opens up, making service a breeze.

[paigeoliver]

Close up of the flawless control panel and bezel (that little lamp is making some weird reflections though). Check out that funky joystick (which I had to repair)!

[paigeoliver]

Closeup of the front of the cabinet. That coin door is flawless. To bad they drilled it for a lockbar

[paigeoliver]

I just got the computer motherboard, power supply, and drive bays mounted.


There was still a big metal plate in the cabinet where the orignal boards went. So I took that, and along with a piece of wood,  mounted the motherboard and power supply on it, and then installed the metal plate back where it originally went.

I robbed an old Pentium 133 for its drive cage (and hard drive), and put that inside as well (bolted to the big metal coin box cage inside).

I won't be able to do any work on it tommorrow, because I have to go buy some black clothes for a church service friday evening (I am doing a reading), but I hope to get everything functional by Saturday night.

Or at least I hope to get the main functions going. I doubt I will have the front end all configured (or installed, or even selected) by then.

I am also going to need a new marquee because that King and Balloon one is just a piece of cardboard and it is in bad shape.

[paigeoliver]

I am having the urge to get an oscar spinner for that spot in between the joystick and the buttons. Or maybe it would be better to put the spinner where the joystick is and move the joystick over?

ANybody have any thoughts on that?

[paigeoliver]

OK. I got the computer installed, and the operating system set up. I only copied the RIGHT roms into my Mame roms folder (See my software thread on "The definitive 4-way vertical list).

The monitor doesn't look half bad. It isn't prefect, but it is better than the monitors in a few of my non-mame arcade games.

I still need to hook up the sound and the controls.

[paigeoliver]

Everything hooked up, and working. This bad boy is for sale.

[StarGoddess222]

wow...big thread!  so many replies, and they're all your own posts!  next time submit the project.

[Ghoul]

wow...big thread!  so many replies, and they're all your own posts!  next time submit the project.

He was just posting updates to his project, which is the purpose of this forum. He's not spamming.

[Xphile]

wow...big thread!  so many replies, and they're all your own posts!  next time submit the project.

He was just posting updates to his project, which is the purpose of this forum. He's not spamming.

no smiley or anything on SG's post either...I'm guessing time of the month..

(Hay SG222.. if ya can't say anything nice...)

paigeoliver:
It looks great.. Is the front panel vinyl or laminate? (guessing vinyl..) ..either way you could probably do a nearly unnoticable patch on the lock bar holes if you can find a chunk of a similar pattern/colour.  (if they're bugging ya it's just a thought..:-)

[paigeoliver]

The whole cab is covered in laminate. Woodgrain outside and black inside the monitor bay. I really don't notice lockbar holes. Most games seem to have them. (At least half of mine do, maybe more, I can't even remember).

The only real cosmetic issue with that cabinet is laminate peeling away at the edges on the side. But I have been slowly but surely gluing it all back down, been taking my time though, and keeping each bit I glue clamped for days.

[paigeoliver]

Ok. I have started on version 2.0 of this cabinet (since my buyer no showed on me).

I have a Pentium 2 on the way to use as the new CPU.

I took out the huge coin enclosure to make more space inside.

The people 2 houses down had a garage sale and I picked up a new set of PC speakers for 50 cents (still in shrink wrap), also got 2 good keyboards for a quarter each.

Finally. Today I tackled the biggest change I wanted to make. The monitor.

I took out the functional (but burned in) 19" s-video security display tube. I chucked the tube, but kept the monitor boards. Then I dragged that bad boy outside and got to work at refitting it to take a KDS pixeltouch 21" monitor (vertically of course).

Man, was that hard. The 19" that was in it before only fit because it was a frameless tube with the monitor boards bolted to the side of the cabinet.

What I did was remove the original tube mounting board altogether. Then I cut a huge rectangular hole in the back of the cabinet so that the back of the monitor could stick out, and boy does it stick out, almost 6 inches. =)

I built a monitor shelf using some 2x4s. I put the new monitor in it and it fit perfectly, although it sat a bit lower than the original.

I took the cab back in the house. Put the monitor back in, and went to hook up the cables and I found out that the VGA plug AND the power cord socket were both right up against the monitor shelf.

LUCKILY for me I had accidently installed the shelf about an inch and a half low. =) I got out some more wood and raised the monitor up about an inch and a half (leaving the spot with the VGA and power plug open this time). That almost did it. I could get the power cord in, but the VGA plug still didn't fit. So I used my drill to cut a bit of a channel into the 2x4 below the VGA plug, and that was what I needed.

Up top I managed to get the new monitor perfectly centered using a few pieces of wood for shims. The whole screen is luckily still viewable through the old monitor plexi. The old plastic bezel doesn't fit anymore, but I will figure that out later.

I started to take apart the panel to switch over to a Pac-Reunion joystick, and then I thought better of the idea. The panel is wooden anyway. I will just make a new one, to avoid messing up the overlay on this one. I am too tired to continue today, so I will do that tommorrow.

[rampy]

how about some pics of your monitor mounting job?

=P

rampy

[Distortion]

paigeoliver, you really need to back off on the double posts.  you do it all the time and i can't speak for anyone else, but it's annoying as hell!  that's what the "modify" button is for!

[IIOIOOIOO]

There used to be a thread around here (sure it still is) where the whole thing is like 30 posts of Paige talking to himself Still, he posts lots of handy stuff.

[paigeoliver]

paigeoliver, you really need to back off on the double posts.  you do it all the time and i can't speak for anyone else, but it's annoying as hell!  that's what the "modify" button is for!

I suck, what else can I say?

how about some pics of your monitor mounting job?

Photos will be coming soon. I still haven't quite gotten around to finishing up the control panel. Switching in a Pac-Reunion joystick and recovering the control panel in hard black vinyl (Home depot stair protectors, only $2 and they are exactly control panel size).

I am also toying around with the idea of adding a spinner. I made one using a 1.75" stereo knob and a joystick pot. I am just not sure if I can simultaneously wire it up with the existing joystick or not. I think I can because the existing stick is a 2 axis 4 button stick, the kind that doesn't need a special driver. The spinner I made would be useless for Tempest, but should be OK for Arkanoid (and friends). Ultimately I am thinking I won't put the spinner on the cab. It really isn't heavy duty enough and WILL BREAK eventually.

UPDATE (omg I actually used the modify button!!!)

Redone panel completed. Too busy playing to take any pictures right now.

UPDATE UPDATE

http://paige.onecloud.org/arcade/mame.html