Scratch Built Gauntlet MAME Cab

[Infernarl]

NOTE: I Migrated this post from another board.

I am building an arcade cabinet. It will be scratch built and styled after the Gauntlet Cabinet. You can totally play street fighter on it. I am doing 6 buttons for player 1 and 2 and 4 for player 3 and 4.

Here is the pain list:


000.00   Old PC
208.00    19" Vision Pro Universal Frame Arcade Monitor
076.95    3" Black Track Ball + Mounting Plate
087.00    ArcadeVGA Graphic Card
012.00   VGA Breakout Cable
065.00    I-PAC4 Keyboard Encoder
039.00   Opti-PAC Trackball Interface
010.00   Shipping on Prev. 4 Items
033.96   x4 Happ Super Arcade Joystick (black)
016.00   40' Blue 3/4" T molding
003.49   x50 .187 Female Quick Disconnects
002.00   Pushbutton Nut Wrench
002.99   1.125 Inch Wood Boring Bit
001.59   Player 1 Happ Button
001.59    Player 2 Happ Button
001.59    Player 3 Happ Button
001.59    Player 4 Happ Button
018.90   x14 Blue Happ Button
010.80   x8 Yellow Happ Button
002.70   x2 Black Happ Button
002.70   x2 Red Happ Button
010.95   Shipping on Prev. 13 Items
040.00   Used Computer Speakers w/ Subwoofer
008.16   Cable Ties and Misc. from Fry's
034.00   20 DVD's full of "something"
019.79   Project Arcade Book by John St. Clair
040.00   Authentic Gauntlet Metal Speaker Cover Plate
010.00   1/4" Slot Cutter Router Bit
035.00   Authentic Gauntlet/Atari Plastic Monitor Bezel
035.00    Coin Door from Bionic Commando
003.84    x10 #47 Bulb to replace the coin slot bulbs
060.00    x3 8' x 4' Sheet of 3/4" MDF
000.00    x4 Castor
______
894.59

Pain not yet inflicted:

Wire
Screws
Bondo
Paint
Counter sink bit
hinges

Where I'm at:


Button Layout:


Where I am aiming: (note I will not be decorating it like this):

That picture of the button layout is of the underside of your panel, right? I mean.. buttons on the left of the joystick? Seriously?

To be usable in that.. array, it looks like he would flip it horizontally on the turn-over, putting the buttons to the right of their respective joysticks.

I am going to flip the buttons, but I was just trying out a more gauntlet style layout. Gauntlet originally had the buttons on the LEFT. Basicly I got all done laying them out before I realized they were caddy wompus.

Buttons:


Buttons:





Also, the arcade monitor looks AMAZING. If someone tells you to use a TV or a CRT computer monitor, politely look away.


If they tell you to use an LCD screen so your cab will be lighter accuse them of being blind and also missing the point.

Even my girlfriend who is only casually interested in video games and this project said something like: "I thought you were nuts to get that monitor, but I see now why you did. It is totally worth it" Also, after showing her the same game on the arc. monitor and on my lcd: "On the arcade monitor it looks real and on the lcd it looks fake"

I wish I could capture the difference on film.

Is the difference between an arcade monitor and a good CRT that noticeable?
I really don't have a clue about the technical differences.. but let's just assume you could hook up your PC to your RCT through SVHS.


Btw I guess you'll be using DOS?

CRTs have a horizontal scan rate of 30 mhz and arcade monitors have a scan rate of 15 mhz, so the flicker and aesthetic are different.

I just have standard xp pro sp2 installed on there.

I am using MAMEWAH as a front end for the dos version of MAME. mamewah also runs other emulators, so I will likely have full rom sets for whatever systems I fancy.

I wired up one of the joysticks and played pacman just now, very exciting!! I won't be able to cut wood for a couple weeks though.

An issue my girlfriend and I are thinking about is how to decorate it. I can either paint it or apply some sort of laminate. Any suggestions? the buttons are yellow and blue. The T molding and track ball are black.

The simplest thing would be to just paint the whole thing black, but that's a lot of black.

Different button layouts:


Street Figher

standard SNK

MK3's insane layout.

as you can see above, I am going for a hybrid SF SNK layout
 D and short kick will actually be the same button.


authentic gauntlet/atari Bezel. It is so filthy and good looking. Really worth the 25$ it cost. Fits my monitor PERFECTLY. Virgil; not so much.


Speaker grill for authentic look. That is an original gauntlet marque sticker. Not sure if I will paint over it. Sort of matches Virgil and the couch.





Used my father-in-law's CRC.   IS NICE.


One of the sides.


Figuring out the base


Trying to figure out how to mount my monitor at the, like, 45 degree angle required. Any advice? I want to make it possible to take it out if needed, and all  have come up with so far is screwing it into the MDF, which is non-reversible.

[ivwshane]

Create a shelf for the monitor and have it slide on to it. No need to get fancy.


I went the tv route for my cab and honestly I love it! I was going to go with a true arcade monitor but they stopped making the one I wanted.

[leapinlew]

Create a shelf for the monitor and have it slide on to it. No need to get fancy.


I went the tv route for my cab and honestly I love it! I was going to go with a true arcade monitor but they stopped making the one I wanted.

Agreed.

As for the monitor debate. I've used a TV, CRT, LCD and Arcade monitors. It just depends on what your looking for. If your building a bartop - a LCD is just about required and CRT's look good and can replicate scan lines pretty good if thats what your into.

Good luck with your cab.

[TOK]

I made a shelf that supports the monitor at the base. Basically, I cut around the bottom of the metal frame with the monitor sitting on a piece of 3/4" plywood. I then "boxed" the bottom with 1.5" square stringers. Cut the width to the exact width of the inside of your cab.

The top holes are just supported with brackets since the bottom is bearing all the weight. building it was very simple, but I had to keep sizing things up to get the positioning right in the cab. The only real difference is that my monitor was a 27", so the bottom frame holes reached past the shelf and screw into the stringer.

In your case, I might have modified the box with an extra piece of regular wood across the front so the screws aren't going into MDF. It will split if you don't have it perfectly centered and pre-drill it.

[Spyridon]

An issue my girlfriend and I are thinking about is how to decorate it. I can either paint it or apply some sort of laminate. Any suggestions? the buttons are yellow and blue. The T molding and track ball are black.

The simplest thing would be to just paint the whole thing black, but that's a lot of black.

I know you said you weren't going to go with the Gauntlet paint job, but why not?  It would look pretty cool on that cab.

[BloodShed]

Sorry to bump an old topic.  I came across this thread by accident while searching for something else.

Anyway, I just wanted to warn you about the joystick layout, Infernarl.  I hope you're not too far along just yet.

Based on your layout I can see that player 3 and 4 are oriented at about 45 degrees.  From experience, I highly recommend that, even though your buttons are at an angle, you do not angle the joysticks.  Orient them inline with the screen.  I found that it's far more natural in practice.

Also notice on the Gauntlet II control panel in your picture that all joysticks are lined up with the monitor (look at the joystick bolts).