Author Topic: Project: Lettuce. Now 99.999999% Complete (Read 9146 times)

lettuce · « **on:** April 30, 2006, 09:02:37 am »

Almost ready to start work on my Mame Cab. It will be a four player cab, with the colour scheme of Gauntlet in mind, for the CP.

Bits i have bought/order so far are as follows:

3x 4ft x 6ft 3/4 sheets of MDF
1x 4ft x 6ft 1/2 sheet of MDF
4x Coaster wheels
1x 32ft of Blue T-Moulding
1x 12ft of Black Edge T-Moulding
1x AMD 64 3200+ CPU
1x A-BIT Motherboard
2x 512MB of RAM
1x Western Digital 160 GB Harddisk
1x 450 watt PSU
1x 28" Toshiba TV
20x PCB Feet
2x Happ 49-Way Sticks
2x Happ Competiton Sticks
7x Red Translucent pushbuttons
7x blue Translucent pushbuttons
4x Yellow Translucent pushbuttons
4x Green Translucent pushbuttons
2x Clear Translucent pushbuttons
2x Orange Translucent pushbutton
2x GP-Wiz Eco 32-Input USB Controls Interface
1x Rotary Board Interface
1x Red Square Illuminated Buttons
1x Blue Square Illuminated Buttons
1x Gree Square Illuminated Buttons
1x Yellow Square Illuminated Buttons
1x I-PAC4
1x Red 16/01 Wire (10 Meters)
1x Blue 16/01 Wire (10 Meteres)
1x Green 16/01 Wire (10 Meters)
1x Yellow 16/01 Wire (10 Meters)
1x White 16/01 Wire (10 Meters)
1x Orange 16/01 Wire (10 Meters)
2x Black 21/01 Wire (10 Meters)

MYX · « **Reply #1 on:** April 30, 2006, 02:13:25 pm »

YOur hosting site pulled your images. Try loading them onto the BYOAC site. Looking forward to more pix.

Timoe · « **Reply #2 on:** April 30, 2006, 03:14:58 pm »

I might suggest relocating the spinner off to one side. You will be slamming it with your finger when you give that trackball a whirl.

Note: good news if you dont move the spinner - its really hard to break a turbo twist.

I dunno about your finger though.

And lets see those pics!

lettuce · « **Reply #3 on:** April 30, 2006, 08:20:09 pm »

Quote from: MYX on April 30, 2006, 02:13:25 pm

YOur hosting site pulled your images. Try loading them onto the BYOAC site. Looking forward to more pix.

url??

lettuce · « **Reply #4 on:** April 30, 2006, 08:36:07 pm »

Quote from: Timoe on April 30, 2006, 03:14:58 pm

I might suggest relocating the spinner off to one side. You will be slamming it with your finger when you give that trackball a whirl.

Note: good news if you dont move the spinner - its really hard to break a turbo twist.

I dunno about your finger though.

And lets see those pics!

Yeah ive moved the spinner up slightly now, its now 8" away from the trackball. I worried about the distance from the trackball to the P2 stick though, its just over 7".

lettuce · « **Reply #5 on:** April 30, 2006, 08:45:02 pm »

Slight update, have now routed out all holes for the buttons, so far so good

The base of the CP takes shape, is fixed together with 'Hard As Nails' glue, then screw together for good measure, the angles are 45 degrees, and the CP will have a slight upward slant to it. At the front its 6" high and at the back 8" high.

My stupid arse cat thinks it can cut in on the action. They dont want to know you when your not doing anything, but as soon as you start working they wont leave you alone!

lettuce · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2006, 02:07:41 pm »

Right have 99% finished building the CP box today.

Have installed 5 sets of hinges at the front of the CP box, and attached the CP top, so its like a chest.

Some how the 1/2 MDF CP has managed to get slightly bowed one the right hand side corner, so when i close the CP lid, it doesnt sit flat against the CP box at the rear

. I have placed a rubber bung in the middle of the CP, and clamped the problematic side down over night, hope this will sort the bow out, fingers crossed. Other than that im quite happy with it at the moment. Now just awaiting my control bits

ha-Y-n · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2006, 03:58:36 pm »

nice

miles2912 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2006, 04:47:07 pm »

When I was cutting my CP top I noticed that it was a little warped. What I did was lay it on a flat surface with some weight on top. It took a few days but eventually straightened out. Clamp it as long as you can wait for it to straighten out.

Don

lettuce · « **Reply #9 on:** May 02, 2006, 03:51:35 pm »

Slight update, have cut the bottom and top side sections today. The actual cab itself is based on the Ultimate Arcade II, with some slight modifications to the original Ultimate Arcade II plans.

Also my parts from Groovygamegear turned up today

lettuce · « **Reply #10 on:** June 25, 2006, 08:58:49 am »

Havent posted for a while but have made alot of progress, the cab its around 80% complete now, and the out shell is all but done, now comes the task of putting the electrics in. Here are few pics of the constructed cab

Photo Sharing - PicTiger

Am have a problem witht stratches on the out side of the cab at the moment, with the sightest graze, and it results in a mark on the paint. I think i will have to put a clean varnish or top coat on to stop this from happening, is this advised??

lettuce · « **Reply #11 on:** June 25, 2006, 09:05:56 am »

This shall be the TV i will be using for the cab its a Toshiba 28" bad boy, shall be connected via a scart socket, which gives perfect results.

Will be using this brackets as mounting brackets to hold the TV in place inside the cab, as i shall be decasing the whole TV as thanks to the spaekers on the side is too wide to go in the cab

Heres the TV completly decased

had to make some brackets up for the TV to hold the circuit baord, as getting that and the TV into the cab all at once would have been a real hassel, now with it all connceted all in one lumb (much like a arcade monitor) it shall be alot easier to get in,....hopefully

Photos Gallery - PicTiger

MYX · « **Reply #12 on:** June 25, 2006, 03:28:07 pm »

Good to see you working on it again. You have made a lot of progress!!! Great job.

theCoder · « **Reply #13 on:** June 25, 2006, 09:31:55 pm »

How much narrower is the TV without the case?

lettuce · « **Reply #14 on:** June 26, 2006, 05:19:41 am »

Just under 6" altogether

Czapala · « **Reply #15 on:** June 29, 2006, 03:41:31 pm »

Hey,

I am just now starting to build my first cab and my plans are VERY similar to yours. Couple of questions.

How wide is the bottom section?

Is the shelve the monitor goes on attached to the bottom part?

I am going to try to make mine where I can take off the CP and the top section for when I need to move it or go between rooms. But I have narrow doorways in my house. I am hoping to keep the bottom section total width below 28" ( I will also be putting in a 27" Betson which I just ordered, haven't even bought wood yet

)

Any tips/advice would be appreciated. Thanx !

lettuce · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2006, 05:06:35 pm »

Right have all but finished the construction of the cab, and now the only thing left to do is the wiring of the PC, Coin Mech, and buttons. Heres a few pics of my progress so far.

Hopefully with the use of the I-PAC i shall be able to get these player start buttons to flash when credits are inserted!

Timoe · « **Reply #17 on:** July 24, 2006, 09:05:48 pm »

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE, I like the changes you've made and all the admin buttons on the cab not the control panel is a nice touch.

Crafty · « **Reply #18 on:** July 24, 2006, 10:00:19 pm »

Is that the coin slot above your middle admin button???

lettuce · « **Reply #19 on:** July 25, 2006, 12:48:42 pm »

Thanks for the replies. Yeah thats the coin slot in between the red and blue buttons. The coins will be despenced at the bottom of the machine where the coin is, and retruned coins just above the coin door. The reason i went for this type of coin mech setup was that if i was sitting on my stall playing a game i didnt really want to have to get off the stall and go to the coin door towards the bottom of the machine, as you would for coin mech doors all in one. This way i dont have to move when i want to place another credit in the mech

lettuce · « **Reply #20 on:** August 06, 2006, 05:23:44 am »

Make some progress now, the CP wiring is done now, cant believe how long it took to all do, very time consuming. Now my wiring is no where near as good as Timoe, as most of us can only wish to be that good but im happy with the job, and then main thing is it all works, well most of it, ill get to that later.

lettuce · « **Reply #21 on:** August 06, 2006, 05:28:04 am »

And the LEDs all work, yay. Not too sure what the life expectancy of LED's are, (am using the 12 volt from the PC PSU with resistors) hopefully aloooong time, as changing them over will be a read pain in the arse, oh why didnt i use a LEDWIZ inferace

Upload Pics with PicTiger

Am toying with the idea of spraying the 49-ways their respective player colours, as they look a bit odd compared to players 3 and 4 sticks.

Now im not sure if this is a problem with my I-PAC4 or if i need to setup these buttons, but all my admin buttons along the top of the CP dont work, now surly it cant be coinsadence that these dont work and thus have test a few of them by running separate wires to different input on the I-PAC then these buttons work, so im guessing these buttons need to be setup somehow?

Timoe · « **Reply #22 on:** August 06, 2006, 09:45:31 am »

I did the rotary 49-way sticks, those things are slick.

lettuce · « **Reply #23 on:** August 07, 2006, 03:33:45 pm »

Yeah, am still to set em up properly yet, but the throw on them is rather stiff!! Now i have the chore over designing my CP overlay. A note to anyone who is thinking of using plexi-glass on a pure black CP, i strongly recommended against it, the black just shows up every little mark, specs of dust you name it!

MYX · « **Reply #24 on:** August 09, 2006, 08:18:17 am »

Wow, it is coming along well bro! It is not too late for the wiz. Sure an extra couple of weeks of wireing, but not too late.

Yeah, dust is the total nemisis isn't it. I just hate that you spend all this time making everything neat and tidy and something so totally out of your control has to muk it up. I fight dust all the time. Actually not dust, but the air is full of little teeny tiny hairs that come from God knows where (underwear gnome hair???).

theCoder · « **Reply #25 on:** August 09, 2006, 11:08:39 pm »

Quote from: lettuce on August 06, 2006, 05:28:04 am

Not too sure what the life expectancy of LED's are, (am using the 12 volt from the PC PSU with resistors) hopefully aloooong time, as changing them over will be a read pain in the arse

I've got some control panels at work that I built about 8 years ago, and the LED's are still going strong. LED's pretty much last forever unless you have a significant power spike.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #26 on:** August 12, 2006, 08:31:52 am »

weve got lettuce, weve got tomato. my next project will be called BACON (",)

lettuce · « **Reply #27 on:** August 12, 2006, 12:44:19 pm »

Trust me Lettuce wont be the final name of the project

danny_galaga · « **Reply #28 on:** August 12, 2006, 08:53:48 pm »

Quote from: lettuce on August 12, 2006, 12:44:19 pm

Trust me Lettuce wont be the final name of the project

the how are we gonna make a BLT?

lettuce · « **Reply #29 on:** August 18, 2007, 10:55:12 am »

Well its been about a year but my cab is now 99.9% complete (just need to get my GunCon2 guns working with my scart lead).

My control panel has had a slight re-design. I decided to ditch the Happ 49-Way sticks, as they basically sucked with most games especially fighting games, and just didnt like the feel of them, I replaced them with Happ Copetition sticks. I updated my spinner from the turbo twister to the turbo twister 2 . Replaced 1 of the top fire sticks with a dedicated 4-way stick. Also added a LED-Wiz so i could get more out of my LED's!. I think the changes i have made have been for the best.

I designed my CP artwork through photoshop and got it printed at www.classicarcadegrafix.com, i also got my marquee fromt there aswell, great people!

Added plexiglass to the top of the CP to protect the art work

I had to cut a whole new CP as i wanted to add a T-mould edge to the edge of the CP to protect the plexiglass, the reason for this was my original CP was 1/2 inch MDF, and they dont do a 1/2 inch T-mould edging only 3/4.

Anyway here the final product, was such an experience and would defently build another cab, just for the amount of satisfaction you get from it!!!

Heres a close up of the CP, only things i am disappointed at is that the track ball doesnt quite line up with the artwork, but i was relieved that pritty much everything else was spot on!

And the underside of the CP, i know this is nowhere near as neat as somepeople's CP are, and they have my utmost respect as i spent ages on this part so god knows how mucg time they must spend on theres, and i couldnt believe how anal i got about this aspect of the project

And finally the heart of the beast complete with coin counter!

Now just going through the painful task of editing the ini files for various games, so they display correctly on my TV

meismr · « **Reply #30 on:** August 18, 2007, 04:56:20 pm »

Dude, Great looking control panel... I know some people don't like the 4-players, but I think they're great, and this one is really nice. Hope you have a lot of fun with it.

arcadefever · « **Reply #31 on:** August 18, 2007, 07:38:37 pm »

nice control panel ...i really like it

Avrus · « **Reply #32 on:** August 19, 2007, 03:17:44 pm »

Wow that control panel is tight and clean. That may be what I end up doing on my rampart type cab.

csa3d · « **Reply #33 on:** August 19, 2007, 04:02:48 pm »

Very cool! I like the integration of the square buttons. I can't recall many other cabs doing that which I've seen lately. Looks great!

What do the groups of 3 square buttons on the panel do vs. the 4 square ones on the admin panel. Always curious about how folks decide to interface this part.

Thanks!
-csa

lettuce · « **Reply #34 on:** August 19, 2007, 04:43:31 pm »

Thanks for the positive comments guys. Regarding the square buttons, im awaiting some transfers to stick inside the buttons so people know what they are. But the 4 buttons under the screen are the player start buttons. (hopefully the next update for MaLa's Plugin, LEDBlinky will have the option to have player start buttons flash upon adding a credit just like TMNT and other konami games did) As for the other square button starting from the far left, Menu (tab), Enter (enter), Exit (Esc), Pause (P), Reset, and Save.

BrentRadio · « **Reply #35 on:** August 22, 2007, 06:25:43 am »

I think the cp looks really nice the way you laid out the color scheme.

Good job!

Brent

lettuce · « **Reply #36 on:** September 02, 2007, 06:21:11 am »

Im in 2 minds now if i should have a 2nd attempt at spray paint the edged T-mold that goes around the control panel in blue, so its the same as the other T-molding on the cabinet, only thing is i did try some spray paint but it didnt seem to bond with the t-mold and was easy to peel off. Has anybody sprayed T-molding before with success? if only i could get my hands on blue edged t-molding, but there just only seems to be black

theCoder · « **Reply #37 on:** September 02, 2007, 01:37:57 pm »

Man, now that's a frankenpanel. Looks good.

I don't think you will ever get paint to stick to t-molding. I'd give you a left over piece of t-molding from my Partybox project, but it's probably not long enough and it is darker than what you have on there. Perhaps someone else has a spare 6 foot piece they could spare you.

lettuce · « **Reply #38 on:** September 03, 2007, 10:37:34 am »

Cheers for the offer, but the t-mold i have around the CP is the T-mold with a lip so it holds down the plexiglass i have over the CP, http://www.t-molding.com/store/product.php?productid=16&cat=5&page=1 , id ont think you can get it in any other colour than black?


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