The most basic of MAME projects..no bells

[skyblast]

First off I would like to say thanks to everyone on this forum for knowingly and unknowingly helping me on this project.  It was three months of pure enjoyment/frustration but loved every minute of it!!

No keyboard but I do have a working mouse tucked away and the upper speakers do not work...speakers and sub on the inside.  And yes, I wimped out and used the X-Arcade joystick.  Cup holders may be the only bell.

 

[skyblast]

a few more pics..

[javeryh]

Nice job but I have to ask... why is your cab upside down in one of the pictures?   

[skyblast]

Letting a channel of glue dry underneath the marquee..

[Visitor Q]

I like the cup holders. 

What was the total cost on this guy?

[skyblast]

Hummmm,

$90 in wood
$199 x-arcade
$50 coin door
$75 monitor
$20 kinkos art bezel
$100 side artwork
$75 CPU (P4, 20 gig)
$25 Maximus (FE)
$50 T-molding
$30 paint/supplies
$100 misc

around $900 or so....dang never really added it up before....that's a nice chunk



No count items
$80 router

[fronty]

.

[kizer]

Thats it. I'm building cup holders into my cab. Just makes to much sense since you know your going to be drinking something anyways.

[DaOld Man]

.... But hey, this is no competition (or is it...  ). ....

Man I sure hope this isnt a competition.
I need to take my dog out of the race if it is..

 

[BASS!]

better than having these all over

[skyblast]

Yeah, these were a must....too many friends coming over with....beverages

[skyblast]

Updated with a few new touches to my game room.  I found an old Mortal Kombat arcade on the side of a business that a dude was tossing out.  I asked him if I could strip a few things off and he said have at it.  I spent the next 15 minutes tearing this thing apart as my wife watched and laughed from inside her car.  WELL worth it though.  So I guess after some research that this machine was converted from a MK to an MK3?  A conversion kit of some sort?  I guess it was Midway's way of getting out MK3 without having to produce a brand new cab? I found used stickers, manuals, quarters etc. inside this thing.  For me it was a great opportunity to save a piece of gaming history. 

[Dizzle]

Nice cab!!!  I have to say though... I thought you were a goner when I saw you playing the unfinished version in one of the earlier pictures -- a lot of people never finished their cabs once it reaches a functional state.     Glad to see you finished it up!   

[Hunk_4TH]

Sweet cab! I noticed you have an MK 1 marquee hanging on the wall. I have oen on my wall as well. Also the MK3 CP does make an nice wall ornament

[IG-88]

I take it you used the "peg board" on the back of the cab for ventilation. How you like that? was it expensive?

[drventure]

Dang. Nice Cab!

3 months, eh? That's really impressive! I'm two years+ and I still don't even have the pc and monitor hooked up.

I suppose patience is one of my virtues

[Trebeck]

Hey nice job dude.
BTW when your buddies spill beer on your control top (I'm on #3) you CAN in fact slap them across the face and send them home.  Every guy in the room will understand.

PS the Pacman glasses are tight but check these out:

http://www.clubnamco.com/product.php?productid=259&cat=251

[skyblast]

Hey nice job dude.
BTW when your buddies spill beer on your control top (I'm on #3) you CAN in fact slap them across the face and send them home.  Every guy in the room will understand.

PS the Pacman glasses are tight but check these out:

http://www.clubnamco.com/product.php?productid=259&cat=251

Sweet those are nice indeed.  I'm super attached to the one pacman glass I have because it is an original!! 

Thanks for the compliment on my cab!!

[skyblast]

I take it you used the "peg board" on the back of the cab for ventilation. How you like that? was it expensive?

No, it wasn't too expensive.  Maybe 40 bucks for a huge sheet.   The hardest part is cutting it.  Makes a HUGE mess. I really like it a lot though.  Not only as you stated does it help the cab to breath but it helps make this heavy a#$ thing a bit lighter.

[Gatsu]

Its a really nice cab man. And basic is good. If you want more, basic can always be upgraded.

And now thanks to you...I will add cup holders to sit-down vewlix cab once I get to the control panel. lol.

[Spyridon]

$199 x-arcade

Nice work.  Just curious.  You did such a good job with your wood work, why didn't you build your own control panel?

[skyblast]

$199 x-arcade

Nice work.  Just curious.  You did such a good job with your wood work, why didn't you build your own control panel?

Yah know I'm not really sure?  I have no one in my life that can really help me with figuring all that out.  Sometimes when I ask extremely basic questions on this forum no one helps me.  I love working with wood and leather (I make custom gun holsters) but I guess I was too afraid to ask.  I mean honestly when it comes to the cp I have exactly NO real idea where to start?  IPAC...wires....buttons......button configuration....which joystick......?  I just knew when I had a working xarcade with a working FE and monitor and was good to go.  At that point I was very, very focused on putting a working computer, monitor and x-arcade in a cab and I knew that would accomplish what I wanted.


Ok, I guess I'll ask you.... how does one build a cp that plugs into a computer???

Thanks!!

[Spyridon]

Ok, I guess I'll ask you.... how does one build a cp that plugs into a computer???

Thanks!!

Best thing to do is purchase a copy of the Project Arcade book.  That will walk you through the whole process. 

That's what I did.  Here is how it turned out (final project not done yet)

[sayitaintjonas]

Ok, I guess I'll ask you.... how does one build a cp that plugs into a computer???

Thanks!!

One step at a time?  

I would start by looking at your X-arcade control panel and determining if you need anymore features than it has to offer such as extra buttons, trackball, etc... If you're happy with you're current button setup, I'd look into the I-Pac controller. As for the buttons and joystick, I'm happy with the standard Happ buttons and competition joystick (they're pretty inexpensive). After you've got all your parts, I don't think you'll have too much trouble getting them hooked up. I'm by no means an expert, but I'm pretty sure that if you can build a cabinet that nice, you'll be able to handle a couple wires

[Uncle Monkey]

You could just try moving the guts of the x-arcade bit into the CP when you build it, and if that doesn't work, there's lots of help to be found here on byoac..... I'm doing the reverse of yours, building my own CP in a MAME Room cabinet kit. The CP stuff doesn't seem too hard yet, but there's no way I could do the woodworking myself...... But hey, it looks good now, and without the x-arcade bit, it'd be great.....

[skyblast]

Ok, I guess I'll ask you.... how does one build a cp that plugs into a computer???

Thanks!!

One step at a time?  

I would start by looking at your X-arcade control panel and determining if you need anymore features than it has to offer such as extra buttons, trackball, etc... If you're happy with you're current button setup, I'd look into the I-Pac controller. As for the buttons and joystick, I'm happy with the standard Happ buttons and competition joystick (they're pretty inexpensive). After you've got all your parts, I don't think you'll have too much trouble getting them hooked up. I'm by no means an expert, but I'm pretty sure that if you can build a cabinet that nice, you'll be able to handle a couple wires

Holy crap!!  You are one diligent, dedicated dude.  You seem very strict and direct in your procedures.  Nice job thus far!!


Honestly, there may be people out there that tell me that I have a nice cab and don't get me wrong...I am extremely happy with what I've built but when it comes down to it I've got nothing (skill wise) on 90% of what people have built on this forum.  Some days I just cruise the Project Announcement section blown away at what I see. 

I mentioned that I built the cab 3 months.  Actually it was only 3 and a half weeks of real building.  The three months I mentioned earlier included sitting on my rear waiting for parts to show up.  Since I am married and live in a relatively small condo I had to move very quickly sometimes putting in 12 hour days late into the night.  I started building in late October and really wanted the cab to be finished by Thanks Giving which I accomplished.

One of my first purchases in early October was the Project Arcade book but to me it was pure jibberish (I seriously do have dyslexia...diagnosed).  100 percent of my cab came from me scratching my head not knowing what to do.  I just basically winged it and during at least 10 different occasions GOT EXTREMELY LUCKY!!    The only thing I really did was go down to a local strip mall to take some measurements of a real arcade.   

All I know is that when my friends come over and the beers flows we sure have fun!!   

[skyblast]

You could just try moving the guts of the x-arcade bit into the CP when you build it, and if that doesn't work, there's lots of help to be found here on byoac..... I'm doing the reverse of yours, building my own CP in a MAME Room cabinet kit. The CP stuff doesn't seem too hard yet, but there's no way I could do the woodworking myself...... But hey, it looks good now, and without the x-arcade bit, it'd be great.....

You got me laughing on that one.  The idea flashed in my head of simply spray painting over the xarcade logo!!! HA Ha  DONE   

[drventure]

Hi Skyblast

It really is pretty easy to build a cp that just "plugs in" now. esp if you center in on USB driven controllers.

They're all out there. Key encoders, trackballs, sticks, spinners, they'll all just plug into 1 (or more) chained USB hubs, then plug the single "mother" hub into your pc. That's how my CP works and it's a 4 player, with 2 trackballs, a spinner and a flightstick.

But I saw you mention leather work. Any ideas on where I might find a tooling wheel to emboss a border pattern? Something like you might see on a custom leather top desk?

I'm trying to work something out for the cab I've been working on....

[urbecrisch]

I got the same cupholders on my cab, couldn't live without them now!

[skyblast]

I got the same cupholders on my cab, couldn't live without them now!

I've been getting lazy with my cupholders.  There's beer and crap in the bottom...oh well.  I guess that's what their for right?

[Turnarcades]

One of the better X-Arcade integrations, though if going to the trouble of constructing a full cab I'd have looked into doing my own. Wiring is much simpler than you think, especially if you use a simple solution like the Mini-Pac where all the wires are attached in a loom and crimped, so all you have to do is attach them to your microswitches; all detailed on Ultimarc's website.

I notice the top rear slanted section is very sheer; is there an intentional reason for that?

[drventure]

About those cupholders, yeah, that'd be nice but then you'd be missing on on getting stamped with the "Brown ring of Quality"



 

[skyblast]

One of the better X-Arcade integrations, though if going to the trouble of constructing a full cab I'd have looked into doing my own. Wiring is much simpler than you think, especially if you use a simple solution like the Mini-Pac where all the wires are attached in a loom and crimped, so all you have to do is attach them to your microswitches; all detailed on Ultimarc's website.

I notice the top rear slanted section is very sheer; is there an intentional reason for that?

Hummm.. I'm not really sure why I made the angle so steep?  When I drew the original design for some reason the angle in the back just appealed too me.  I also knew that I didn't want a giant out of control cab so I tried to minimize where I could.

About the CP.  It would have been fun to build my own but my main goal was to the build the quickest, cheapest cab I possibly could w/o having to think too much. 

[DaOld Man]

Good work man..
I have said that I was going to put cup holders on my next cab and have not done it.
Next time I will, I betcha!