Vault 17 - 1.9.08 - CPO Applied

[nicklaw17]

Where to start...

2003

Well, the idea of building a MAME cabient started a few years ago - I've been sitting on an ULTIMARC order for about three or four years now...



then, as it is apt to do, work and real life played it's hand, and suddenly I was travelling on business for two years (literally every week, out sunday/monday, back friday/saturday) - suffice to say, I didn't have alot of time (or energy) to tinker around the house.

Then I moved to consulting, and was swept up in a monster, 80-hour-a-week project, the pay was great, but, again, not much time.
 
That project wrapped, and suddenly I find myself at another consulting client, who also decides that they want to black out contractor work for the holidays - wow, now I've got three weeks of free time, maybe I can actually get around to some of those old projects.

Tuesday, 12.18.2007

Task one is to get the space I plan on putting this beast cleaned up - I'm no woodworker, nor do I have the workspace to even attepmt to become one, so I decide to go the UAII route. Might as well place the order, with the holidays and all, I'm sure it'll be caught up in shipping long enough that I won't have to worry about it.

I bite the bullet and order a 4P CP as well, I know I'll have more than one friend interested in playing at any given time... electronics I can handle, but I will need to get an order into Ultimarc for a 4P Ipac, since I only have a 2.

Wednesday, 12.19.2007

Holy crap, they have USB Joysticks? I don't need to order a new IPAC? Awesome. Might as well get this order in too. Last order from Ultimarc took a few weeks to arrive, and I'll just wire these up as 3P and 4P anyway, so no worries.

Thursday, 12.20.2007

Gotta finish christmas shopping, I'll have the game room cleaned up and ready to go by the time stuff arrives anyway.

Stop at the local hardware store to pick up some... accessories.



Pick up some cheap speakers while I'm out as well, and dig up an old wireless card from the junk drawer.



Friday, 12.21.2007.

As I get home from the gym, I think, "I should probably start cleaning today, don't want to get blindsided next week when everything starts arriv-..."



Well, I guess I can keep them in the kitchen... Scott's only up in Cleveland, though I figured once they were in the fedex system they'd take their sweet time to get down here... (ie Cleveland to Columbus by way of Dallas or somesuch).

"Well, I'd better get these things into the kitch-you're kidding me."



As impressive as the Mameroom order was, London to Columbus in 2 days by Ultimarc might have them beat. I've had friends take longer to get overseas for vacation...

(In reality, I suspect that my first order got tied up in customs, while, by the luck of the draw (or poor holiday staffing at Customs) this one snuck through on the fast track)

Anyway... that's the updates for now - probably won't see much from me in the next few days, as apparently I've got a game room to clean. (and presents to wrap, christmas to celebrate, wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it, etc, etc.)

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

[nicklaw17]

As an aside, I realize that I might be the very first customer of either supplier to complain about items arriving too fast. 

[Jdurg]

Very nice.  I've got all the parts for my control panel ready, minus the spinner/trackball/Ipac.  It's so difficult sitting there and not being able to play with it.  Yet being so close to Christmas I can't go out and buy tools since my family may have purchased some of them for me as gifts.

Also, I had to comment here due to the classic Princess Bride quote you threw in.     

[Kevin Mullins]

Hmmmmm........ very interesting.

[HairyDVD]

Are you putting a keg in there ?

[Akuma]

restroom arcade - coin insertion also flushes the toilet...

[nicklaw17]

Hehe, the pvc lines may or may not work for what I intend them for. My ultimate goal is to grunge up the cabinet a bit, use some pipes for the keyboard drawer pull, etc.

The gas main will be used for a volume control knob - if I ever add a spinner at a later date, I'll probably repeat the same.

Wednesday, 12.26.07

Christmas is over, more cleaning - because of all the housework, my living room looks like a warzone. I actually wrapped most of the christmas presents ontop of my cpanel this year.

Mame Marquee is on holiday break until the new year - which gives me plenty of time to work up my overlays... unfortunately, it also gives me plenty of time to get the cab together and wired, which has two problems:

   1. It'll mean unwiring a 4P cpanel to apply the overlay (I plan on using spades anyway, so this should be minimized as much as possible... but it's still a large number of connections - two U360's will help mitigate this though, as all wires won't be running to a single source.

   2. It'll mean that (hopefully) the cabinet is up and running by the time the overlays arrive, which might make it hard to stop playing long enough to apply!  :

That's it for now, back to the cleaning of the staging area...

[Green Giant]

Is this going to be the ultimate mario arcade, the PlumberCade?

[polaris]

gotta say id be tempted to give the plumbing some function (is heath robinson the term im looking for?)

that blue tap, you turn it to activate a microswitch to power on, for example.

[HairyDVD]

How about "Pipe-Dreams"

 

[Akuma]

Just a short idea that crossed my brain synapses:

If you really want some plumbing action, how about a functioning translucient tank. Maybe it drains and fills back up after some time. Or some bubbles? You might even backlit it. A fluid marquee. And a button to start a flushing sound.

I better stop, before I get too far carried away with those ideas! : )

[nicklaw17]

gotta say id be tempted to give the plumbing some function (is heath robinson the term im looking for?)

that blue tap, you turn it to activate a microswitch to power on, for example.

I've actually been hunting around for a ridiculous knife switch, but that could be another option too... *ponder*

[Havok]

You're not fooling anyone. Looking at those parts... I see... TolietCab!

 

[Kevin Mullins]

I've actually been hunting around for a ridiculous knife switch, but that could be another option too... *ponder*

I found a smaller version at radio shack once a couple years ago for a childs school project.
Not very big, about 3" square, but definitly a destinctive knife switch.

[polaris]

gotta say id be tempted to give the plumbing some function (is heath robinson the term im looking for?)

that blue tap, you turn it to activate a microswitch to power on, for example.

I've actually been hunting around for a ridiculous knife switch, but that could be another option too... *ponder*

if a knife switch is one of those dr frankenstein regenerate the monster type things, then you have to get one as the on off button.

[nicklaw17]

if a knife switch is one of those dr frankenstein regenerate the monster type things, then you have to get one as the on off button.

Yep.

[Akuma]

OMG Now I got an idea what's a knife switch, too. You GOTTA use that!!!

[Franco]

Looks very interesting this, Ill be watching closely!

[darkje]

Awesome, I love fallout, looking forward to see how this one turns out!

[nicklaw17]

Thursday, 12.27.07

Wired up the u360 last night, amazing how easy they are to work with - but I do think I'll be ordering the stiffer springs, they're really lose with the stock springs.



Additionally, pre-wired daisy chain cables for common wires are a godsend.

Of course, then I had to test things out... which killed the rest of the evenings productivity.


Friday, 12.28.07

Started mocking up my control panel overlay today - still a work in progress - not sure I'll use the metal plates for each players controls or not - disregard the grey-ish control panel there - that's just a layer I'm using for placement, won't actually be in the final result.



Thinking I might order some yellow t-molding for the cpanel now too, given the hazard tape border... but the black I have may work too.

[Akuma]

That's a CPO - COOL PANEL OVERLAY!!! I really DIG this style, giving a good idea of the overall style of your cab. AWSOME! Wouldn't it be cool, if they'd make black n' yellow t-molding? This half pealed sticker is another cool touch!

[nicklaw17]

Saturday, 12.29.07

Started assembly on the cabinet this morning - got t-molding installed on two of the lower pieces, then realized that my parts package from mameroom was completley lacking the screws for the cam-lock system, effectiveliy halting cabinet construction until they're back from the holiday. Not too much of an issue, except that now I've got cabinet panels leaning up against every wall in the house until I can get them. xD

Given the stoppage on that front, I did a bit more work on the CPO - I have a similar marquee in the works too - but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep or scrap it. I definately like the way the CPO is progressing though. I really like the haphazard (read crooked/misaligned) player "plates", just need to figure out what to do in the trackball area - possibly more yellow hazard lines - and if I want any sort of indicators around the few admin/coin buttons that'll be going up top.

[Sir Auros]

Seriously, I'm the only person here that gets his theme? I could've told you what it was based on his avatar and the name of the project.

Right, I forget that a ton of people here don't play games past 1986, and wouldn't be familiar with Fallout.

[nicklaw17]

Wednesday, 1.2.08

Spoke with Scott from mameroom this afternoon, he indicated they were having some email issues, and he'd be sure to get the cam-lock screws out in the mail thursday, so hopefully assembly can resume soon.

Mamemarquee's are back from their holiday break as well, so I finalized my CPO and Marquee designs and got them sent off today - I fully expect some delays based on orders that might need filled from the holidays, so I'll probably be sitting on my hands for a bit. Not a huge deal, I've hit a productivity slump myself with the realization that I'll be going back to work next week *whimper*.

Final CPanel:



Basically the hazard lines will border about an inch or two around the cpanel - I left enough in the lower corners on the actual print to have enough extra that if I do add a trackball, I'll have spare tap to cover the plate... or to use for some other nefarious purpose.

Final Marquee:



I'd love to do some side art at some point, but I think it can wait... in the meantime I am considering some yellow t-molding for the UAII upper half...

Edit Forgot to mention that the pair of Ziotek Smart Strips I ordered arrived today as well - haven't had a chance to put them through their paces yet, but the plan is one for the cabinet, and another for general energy conservation in the entertainment center.

Anyway, until next time...

[shardian]

FYI, those speakers are total ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. We got them at work and everyones ended up in the junk room.

[nicklaw17]

Monday, 1.7.08

Multiple updates - recieved notice that Marquee and CPO have shipped from Mamemarquees.



Also recieved an envelope full of the standoff cam screws I was missing from my mameroom order. Started building the cabinet this evening, while watching/listening to a fairly disappointing national championship game... bottom half of the UAII is complete and trimmed, will finish up the top half sometime this week, and will probably get them all together this friday when some friends stop over.

In the meantime, I've been working on my frontend - using mamewah, and a great Fallout-based skin that Flip_Willie of the forums put together awhile back, and was kind enough to send me images for. Took some tweaking to get working with the newer mamewah directory structures, and I still have to configure some of the other EMU menus (Atarii, NES, etc.).

Hopefully next update will include a fully decked out CP.

[nicklaw17]

Wednesday, 1.9.08

Mamemarquee order was waiting on my steps when I got home from work today - excellent quality - I set the marquee aside, won't be needing it for awhile, and set about cleaning off (and stripping out the 1P setup of my cpanel for application.

One thing I found helpful was to "backlight" the cpanel and overlay, allowing me to ensure the buttons were lined up properly - I cheated a little on my overlay and added some faint crop lines on the top, which allowed me to line it up pretty easily - if you're designing your own, I highly reccommend it.



Apologies for the poor focus, didn't bother to break out the tripod, and using the flash would've burnt out the backlighting.

After I was sure I had my alignment good, I grabbed 4 clips, and folded back about an inch of the adhesive backing - enough to account for the clip area, and enough to get some adhesion, but also enough to allow me to reposition if needed. Once things were lined up, I started pulling, and smoothing - using my hands and a plastic wallpaper trowel.



I just worked my way down the cpanel until it was down.

Finally, I trimmed up the edges with a razor, and added my t-molding - still contemplating yellow t-molding... but maybe I'll just use that on the UAII side panels.

I did realize that if I wanted full blown side panel art, I'm going to have to put it on before I apply the t-molding (or strip and reapply) so it's something to consider...

Finally, I sliced out all my controller/button holes with an xacto knife, and put them all in place - haven't wired anything yet, I need to get to bed - but I did have to see how she was gonna look... if only to get this picture snapped to share.



I'm really happy with how the CPO came out - it arrived with a wrinkle to contend with, but it really was a non-issue once I started smoothing. The packing was excellent too - Scott even cut a small round of bubble wrap for the ends of the mailing tube to protect the edges - I'd definately shop with 'em again.

[BobbyG66]

Well done, that came out great!

[bfauska]

I remember being excited about the look of your artwork in the artwork section a while ago, it's great to see how nice it came out. Congratulations on the progress toward a great themed project. Keep up the good work.

[Daniel B.]

Great work!

Looks very professional!

An Inspiration for cp's everywhere!

[Jdurg]

That looks really sweet!     I'm now thinking about my artwork a bit more and may have to change things up a bit.  Great job!

[Flip_Willie]

Wow, you did an amazing job on the Control panel.  I can't wait to see it finished.

Just as it is,
Flip Willie

[BASS!]

I'd say its time for an update!

[Silverwind]

I'm doing a fallout themed cab also.  Nice to see your ideas.  What did you end up using the plumbing stuff for?

I'm going for a pipboy 2000 style look for my marquee.  Bought some modders mesh and will put in a few vaccum tubes.  So more of a showbox than a light up marquee.

Need to design a control panel overlay still though.