PRETENDO : PlayChoice - My First MAME Cabinet!!! *Parts are arriving!!!*

[Daniel B.]

Welcome all to my build thread!

Pretendo:PlayChoice is a MAME cabinet inspired  by the Nintendo Playchoice cabinets. This is NOT a recreation, restore or anything like that. Nintendo Purists be warned! No Nintendo cabs were injured in the building of this project.



The basis of this cab is a Dynamo Z-Back. I picked it up several weeks ago from a kind gentleman in Omaha, NE for $40. It is my first arcade cabinet ever, and so far has been quite the learning experience! There were many cabs to choose from, he seemed to have alot of MVS 4 slot machines. I had to pass those on as they would not fit the T.V. that I had in mind (27"). It was in a tight space, and I was pretty excited to be getting a machine at all, so I actually didn't notice most of the damage on this cab. I noticed one spot on the back of the "Z" that had damage but that was it. When I got it home, I noticed in addition to the spot I saw in his garage, 3 of the 4 corners were BAD NEWS. This concerned me very much, and after reading on byoac, I learned bondo could be used to fix them up. I proceeded to do just that.

As you can see, things were very scary at first!





I made some jigs out of cardboard and aluminum foil for the corners, but being as inexperienced as I am with "projects" in general, they didn't always work. Building it up layer by layer is absolutely necessary with damage like this.



After many many hours in the 20 degree garage (Bondo doesn't work so well in the cold!) I was making headway.



I'll be sure to get a real workbench when I buy a house! 




I eventually got to a point (after about 10-12 hours) when I realized nobody is going to be inspecting the bottom of this thing with a magnifying glass. My plan was to cover it with black vinyl. I got the edges straight enough, and covered some holes/chunks in the particle board and called it good. I then installed 4 casters on the bottom of the cab. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of it standing up yet - but I will add some soon.

 

[XyloSesame]

holy crap - I love the name!!

[Neilyboy]

Diggin it so far man! Keep up the good work and keep posting more pics!!

Neil

[Daniel B.]

Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm waiting on something in the mail (Should be here tomorrow), before I post any more details. Don't worry, there will be pics! 

For the time being, here is a picture of the original playchoice cab, along with some other awesome nintendo cabs.
||||||
VVVVV


Neil, your thread was fantastic. It has made me want to restore an original nintendo cab so much more. Kudos on the terrific documentation!

[Daniel B.]

I apologize I didn't get this thread updated on Friday. It was a pretty busy weekend. Luckily, my control panel came!!!! The original CP that came with this Dynamo was actually in fantastic condition, and already drilled in a sf2 layout. I thought it over for several days, and decided it wasn't going to cut it for my setup. At this point, I began searching to see what people have been doing to create a new control panel on a cabinet like this. I saw knievals thread on his Dynamo, and saw that he cut off the "control panel wings". I was not comfortable doing this. I was afraid I'd cut them croooked or once I started cutting, the cab would fall apart. The search continued.  I found an auction on ebay, for a 4p control panel w/ 5ft jamma harness. The auction mentioned it was a direct replacement for a hs-5. For some reason, I thought my cab was an hs-5. (In fact, I thought all dynamos with a 25" cp were hs-5, how wrong was I!). I tried to snipe the auction - but it ended up going way higher than I thought. I eventually won the auction, and exchanged emails with the seller. He's an old OP. He asked what kind of cab I was going to put it on, I showed him a picture, and he said "good luck".  A little scary, let me tell you. No reason to be scared anymore, BECAUSE IT FITS!!! (Note, I also installed casters last weekend so I could move this thing easier)





The slide out tray, is no longer "long enough" with the new cp - there is a gap here, I'm planning on putting a flourescent light here, and tinting it red. It's low enough you shouldn't be able to see the tube!



and one more "artsy" shot, lol




I'm getting ready to oder all of my control parts this week. I have discovered a cheap source of the Black Pica vinyl, and once they calculate shipping and charge me, I'll let everyone know if this was really savings or not! I am nearly completed with my CP overlay, I'm just having a hard time converting it from 35"x12.5" at 300dpi to something I can post on the board without loosing all the fine details. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Otherwise the alternative would be for me to post a link to the entire compressed archive and everyone can download it manually.

I spent about 8 hours working in photoshop this weekend. Now I get to go back to work and do it for another 40 hours. Awesome.

Thanks for looking, suggestions are welcome!b

[Daniel B.]

(Verbatim from my thread in the artwork forum)

It's taken quite a bit of time to get this far. I pretty much taught myself photshop to do this. Last time I did any graphics I was using PaintShopPro while it was still owned by JASC. I want to do a button layout similar to a candy cab but I'm not too good with the spacing/exactness of it all. It has been shrunk and resampled to a lower dpi for posting. Actual size is 12.5" x 36"



http://superbowen.com/dan/cp.jpg (for fullsize.)

[Daniel B.]

The vinyl shipped today, unfortunately I doubt I'll get it before this weekend. I was looking forward to doing it, as temperatures will be over 30 for the first time in a couple of weeks. 

I may tough it out and construct the mount for the TV, so I can finally bring it inside!

[D-Lew]

Hah, that is an awesome name.  Looking forward to updates here.

[Daniel B.]

Lot's of progress on the cab this past weekend!

First, I scored these NOS playchoice header marquees on ebay. I originally thought I was bidding on one steel holder and three marquees, but it turned out to be 3 holders as well! SNK Baseball Stars, a blue foil Tecmo Bowl and a TMNT! I feel these will really add something special to my cab so I am very thankful I was able to get these. They are 20 years old and look as good as they did way back then. The SNK one is kinda wavy, but I've got it pressed out in some books so hopefully it will lay down, otherwise I may put it in the oven on a low temp for just a few minutes to relax the vinyl.










I also got my black pica vinyl applied. I purchased it from http://www.veii.com I paid pretty much half price compared to what happ wants for it. I never got any email confirmation from them, but the day after they charged my card, it showed up at my house in a huge tube. I hear HAPP sends it all folded up with creases in it. Other than no communication, I would highly recommend them for the best black pica vinyl source. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of it on the cab but I will try to take some tonight.

I also built the mount for my tv, but fortunately, the TV wedges in the cab near perfectly so not much actual weight is on the shelf. It took 2 of us to get it out of the cab, once it was placed. I am confident it will hold steady. I also began to mount my cp. I had to put the brackets on the outside, as I'm adapting a dynamo 4 player cp that was made for another type of cab. I will cover the brackets with the vinyl as well. Shouldn't be too much of an eyesore.

I also found that my pc will fit right through the coin door hole in the front of the cab! I removed the metal coinbox holder as I don't plan to use the mechs and it fits nice and close. All I'll have to do is open the bottom door, and turn on the pc. Smartstrip will do the rest.

Other than that, I'm still working on my cp list. I'm not sure what kind of sticks to get. I did want sanwas, but man are they expensive. I want a ball top at all costs. Tornado terry has the balltops for the comps - but by the time I add that with a comp base I might as well buy the sanwas. I've never used them so I don't really know if it's what I'm looking for or not.

Thanks for looking!

DB

[Daniel B.]

Well, I've been really busy lately, so I haven't updated this thread for awhile. Like I said previously, I got the vinyl installed and I just got the cp bolted on last weekend.It is currently "playable" sans a real control panel. I sort of miscalculated my finances and have to wait another week or so to order the cp parts. I'm using a Hori xbox 360 arcade controller, and already we are having alot of fun with it. I think it's a good idea, if you have the means, to do something similar to this. Get used to using the FE - you will likely be able to figure out just what admin buttons/shift commands you are going to really use.

Here is the cab in it's current condition. Don't laugh at the stools, I got them at harbor freight and I plan to add a little more padding and cover the flame job with something a little less....monster garage?



I hated to mount the CP like this, but unfortunately, it's the way it's got to be. I'm either going to paint the brackets black, or more likely cover them with the vinyl, so they will blend in a little better. You can't really see them from the front, but I know they are there!!!



My 2 year old, Gavin, loves to play!!!! He hasn't quite got that he has to move the joystick AND press the buttons at the same time, but I can usually cover one for him. It's pretty awesome to see him go completely nuts yelling "GET 'EM!!!" while we play do donpachi (not a game for 2 year olds, eh?).

[Daniel B.]

God bless you RandyT!!!!!

Groovygamergear.com get's an A+ in my book.

I ordered this stuff Tuesday morning. I had to use my fiances credit card, obviously my name is not on the card. I sent randy a message regarding it and he took payment no problem. Seriously, in this day in age, NOBODY wants to take a card if the name and ship to address don't match! Anyways, I order it Tuesday morning, it shows up this morning. 2 days to Nebraska? Awesome. I will be ordering the iceTv2 as soon as I get paid.

Thank you Randy!



It also appears that there has been a redesign on the board! I don't know if this is news or not, but when I saw it I had to scratch my head for a moment....after all, "pretendo" project.....did I get a chinese knockoff keywiz!?!? 




I also got 15 white button blaster leds. I'm worried though, maybe I should have gotten colors to match the buttons they are going into??? Hopefully they look good anyway. I know you can get super bright leds cheaper elsewhere (so say my coworkers) but these have the proper resistor with them. Almost idiot proof, which is good for me!

As long as PonyBoy gets me the rest of my stuff tomorrow, I'll be wired up and cruising this weekend! I've got a company bowling night on Saturday. The goal is to have the house clean and the panel wired just incase some of the people want to come to our place afterwards.

Speaking of wiring... I have an extra 5ft jamma harness I'll likely never use. Is that wire gauge ok for this type of stuff?

as always, thanks for looking!

[TOK]

Hey, just related to the kid playing games... My daughter is now 3 and has been playing World Class Bowling since she was in her early 2's. It uses a trackball and the concept of just knocking down the pins by spinning the ball seems to make sense to a kids brain. If you're looking for something the little guy can play on the cab, it's great.

[Daniel B.]

Hey, just related to the kid playing games... My daughter is now 3 and has been playing World Class Bowling since she was in her early 2's. It uses a trackball and the concept of just knocking down the pins by spinning the ball seems to make sense to a kids brain. If you're looking for something the little guy can play on the cab, it's great.

I will definitely get him on it, once the trackball is in. Thanks for the suggestion TOK!

[Daniel B.]

Well, I got the control panel working. I still need to wire up all of the leds and the trackball lighting.

I went with Sanwa JLF's. I got the translucent iL buttons, and the electric ice-T v2.0 trackball.

Thank you for the suggestion, TOK! My son loves it, and is pretty good! Check out the video!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smjMk1SHMx0[/youtube]

[TOK]

The kids a natural. You have a gaming buddy forever. 

[leapinlew]

 

Awesome video dude...

[BASS!]

Man, hes better then I am. You should join a bowling league together

[Kaytrim]

Seeing your son playing with the trackball makes me want to get my CP rebuilt so I can have the trackball up and running again.  Great job now the final push to 99% completion.

[Jetson]

That's awesome!  We're gonna have a whole new generation of gamers in about 10 years..lol.  BTW, I have a 7 y/o named Gavin too....he's a big fan of Street Fighter 2 and Sonic.

[satchris]

Awesome cabinet!

How did you put the pica vinyl on?  To you cut it to a general shape first, then apply, then trim?  Or did you roll it on the whole width of the roll and then trim?  What was your technique for trimming and how well did it trim up ?  It is hard to see from the photos how the vinyl worked next to the t-molding.


Thank you,
Chris

[Si the Sigh]

Any news or updates on this project?

[Beretta]

how has those casters worked out for you? and also what kind did you use?

im thinking of putting casters on mine, the feet are missing so i gotta replace them anyway rather it be with leveler legs or casters.

[Shortbus]

Excellent Project, Nice work. Anxious to see what your doing with the LED's, always wanted to add that to a cab, but don't know much about the whole resistor/led thing you talked about. I look forward to learning from your posts.

Keep up the great work. and thanks,