My Low-buck Cocktail Conversion

[Evil Ivan]

So, I've been lurking around here for about a year now. Seen some awesome projects, built a separated control panel for my my PC and xbox. Last weekend I picked up some cocktail cabs of the craigslist, with the intent of converting at least one. I thought I'd share my build log, of sorts, with everyone.

I could of built one from scratch, and I plan on building an upright as such. But for this one, I wanted the 'vibe' of an older, bar-soaked cabinet; and it was free.

Started 26 April 2009 - Sometime in the afternoon...

This particular cabinet was orignally a 'Pit Boss' (I think) unit and was converted to 'Phraze Craze' . It seems to have been dropped at some point in it's life, and may have also had a monitor burn down. There is some smoke damage around the monitor, but it's hard to say for sure. In any event it doesn't actually matter, as I will be replacing the original display with a modern 17" PC display.

I have most of the hardware to complete this project.

Planned features and goals:
*Functional coin-doors.
*Four control panel positions.
*Interchangeable control units.
*More or less secure-able.
*Have fun!

[Evil Ivan]

Monday:



17" ViewSonic monitor stripped of all extra materials, in preparation of being installed.



Tentative internal component layout. Motherboard and PSU on the old PCB board. Sub just and remote wireless network device just inside of where the coin tray will reside. Thinks will likely change once the CRT is dropped in. It's very possible that I will need to remove the shelf and center piece of wood entirely, as the newer display is longer than the original.



First test fit of the ViewSonic. I had to remove a few pieces of wood to make it fit, and it doesn't fit correctly here, but one gets an idea of how it will look.



...and with the top in place.
At this point, I feel the monitor is too low. Also looks like somebody just dropped a PC monitor in place.



Raised and mounted the display. Then tried the old display bezel. Looks fine to me, for now, I can mess with it more at another time.



So, I couldn't get an component arrangement I was happy with, at least not without more wood work, or being WAY too close to the the emitter array of the CRT. An old HP case, stripped of it's ridiculous plastic excess, fits nicely. I've since flipped it around so the ports are facing, and accessible, the optical drive can sit on top of the case for the moment.



It's still close, but a lot better as far as the emitter is concerned. Once everything is setup well enough, I'll make sure the chassis of the CRT and the PC are grounded proper.

[Evil Ivan]

Tuesday:

Put together the PC, installing an OS, and beginning the MAME/console emulation software. Mostly dull stuff, install, reboot, repeat. Got it running and played around a little bit.

Machine spec, nothing special, but it runs well enough for my purposes:
AMD Sempron 2800+
Asrock kv3-vm
2GB RAM
ATI x1550 256 meg
20Gb hard drive
random DVD/CD drive I had
XP

Presently, I'm using GameEx, but I'm not dead-set on it.







Got my Boulder Dash on.

[Evil Ivan]

Wednesday:

Built a test panel, as I'm not sure what's going to feel right with this cabinet and to test a an idea for the removable control panel.




Thursday:

I stopped by a local outfit looking for some buttons and came home with some nifty stuff. This included a Happs 2.5" USB trackball w/mounting plate, thirty buttons, three of the LED SlikStik joystick handles, a Happs Top-Fire unit and some other random stuff. After that, I reloaded and wired the CP. I still need to decide on a solution for powering the LED in the stick, though.

[Evil Ivan]

Not much time was spent working on this over the weekend. However, I've been hacking up XBOX controllers, working on the harness and attending to fiddly bits. Nothing particularly exciting, or completed, but progress here and there.

I did spend some time testing temperatures, and no surprise, found the computer to be running quite a bit warmer than was acceptable. A lot, actually. One, 30 year-old, three blade fan is obviously not up to the task. Plus, with shot bearings and made entirely of steel, loud as hell.  Installed couple modern Antec 120mm fans and all is well for now. Since the existing holes (where the fans are presently mounted) are higher up, I plan to either slot the bottom some more, or cut some vents into the sides. I think venting the sides would be better for keeping the interior clean, but coming from the bottom might provide less visible clutter. At the moment, the fans are extracting, which I've found to be the most effective for lowering temperatures. Also, the end vents now need to be changed, as the holes on the old grills restrict flow and exit straight out. Some down-facing louvered covers ought to do the trick.

Any insights, in regards to cooling would be welcome. I'm sticking with the CRT for this project though.





LED Fury... 

[IG-88]

No insights, just a thumbs up on a job well done so far.  I like the detailed descriptions of your progress.

Whats up with the game-ex menu? I thought it was more graphically "interesting".

[Evil Ivan]

Thanks IG.

Software work will commence in a bit. GameEx can be more interesting, but I just threw the software on. Haven't really configured anything beyond the most basic paths. Also, the server that held the theme packages was down when I was installing. I haven't gone back, linked into my local resources or really done anything with PC, because it had been showing symptoms of overheating.

GameEx has worked well for me in the past, but I'm interested in checking out some of the other front-ends available. If, for no other reason than, it's the only front-end I've actually used, so far.