My first cab - Acrylic based on Nanocade and Pixelbox

[junga]

Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading through the forums for some time now.  This is such a fantastic forum.  I’ve followed emulation for years, but never thought of building my own cab as I just don’t have the room for one.  When I happened upon Lokesen’s Nanocade (http://www.nanocade.com), I was inspired.  I loved the look of an acrylic mini-cab.  Doing more research, I came upon Vance Fry’s Pixelbox (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50248.0;all), which further inspired me.  I really liked the Nanocade, but I wasn’t quite confident that a dismantled netbook would fit inside.  I also wanted a spinner, so I knew I’d need something with a slightly bigger control panel.  When I saw that Vance Fry also had a trackball, I went for broke. 

I decided to design my own using Google Sketchup’s demo.  I have blatantly stolen certain elements from each of them.  I reached out to both Lokesen and to Vance to make sure that they were okay with my posting.  I never heard back from Vance, but Lokesen was gracious enough to say he’d like to see what I’ve done.  I’ve borrowed some design elements from both as well as some construction elements. 
I will be using Pixelbox’s multi-layered control panel and Nanocade’s marquee and layered side panels.

You’ll notice that I’m throwing the whole farm at this thing, but I think it should all work.  In my Sketchup model, I used the joystick and the 2.5” trackball from the Google 3d warehouse.  The buttons I made from the spec drawings for Sanwa’s 24mm pushbuttons.  The renderings were done using the V-Ray for Sketchup demo.

I do have some questions, though.  I am trying to find an alternate way to mount the 2.5” trackball directly to my three layer (2 x 1/8” and 1 x ¼”) acrylic panel.  Is there any way to mount these things without needing a 4”x 4” square plate?  I’ve even toyed with gluing the trackball housing directly to the top layer of the control panel, then supporting it from below. 
The joystick will likely be an Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus but with a ball top.  I’m planning on screwing it between layers sort of the way that Vance Fry did with Pixelbox.  Hopefully, you can see what I mean from the pics of each individual layer. 

The layout will allow me to use the joystick with my left hand while using the buttons with my right, as well as use the trackball with my right hand while using the buttons with my left, which is just how I prefer to play each. 
I’ll get a MiniPAC controller and shift one of the buttons, so that should allow for enough buttons to control MAME and MaLa FE. 

I’d really like to know everyone’s thoughts.  I know some will say my control panel is overkill, and that’s fine.  This will be for my use only, and I’m while I’m not married to the trackball, if I can find a way to mount the thing, I’m gonna put it in there.  I know myself, and I’ll regret it if I don’t do it, but I’d like to know everyone’s thoughts anyway.  Though it won’t be my first time working with acrylics or modeling, it will be my first cab, so hopefully, even if you have criticisms, you’ll be gentle. 

I included a Coke can model from the 3d warehouse for size reference.

Cheers,

/Jules

[lokesen]

I welcome any project inspired partly on my Nanocade  

I also read about Vance Fry's project a couple of years ago, and thats what gave me the idea to use acrylics. While I love his design, I was more inspired by my childhood "arcade cabinet" than his design:




Have you calculated the price on the parts yet? It looks mighty expensive to my experience with acrylics. But then again, you don't make acrylics cabinets due to the low price, but rather the classy looks. I think you are aware of that already

I'll follow this closely for sure  

[robertsig]

junga,
I don't think lokesen would mind me saying, but I ordered a couple Nanocade kits with a custom control panel that includes a spinner.  I have never been happy with small trackballs so if you don't want to compromise, just leave it out.  Build a secondary trackball arcade panel and just plug it in via USB.  Sure, it won't be integrated, but then your base bartop could be smaller.  How many good trackball games are there? 

[junga]

@Lokesen
I haven't costed this out yet, but I'm going try and get this onto as few sheets as possible.  I won't have to pay shipping as the acrylic shop/laser cutter is in Chinatown in NYC and I can walk there during lunch. 

Speaking of the laser cutter, can you guys give me any advice on converting my Sketchup models into Illustrator .EPS drawings or some other format that the cutter can use?  Any shortcuts?  I've worked with Acrylic, but never sent my own hairline drawings to have my own shapes cut.  How did you prep your file for the laser cutter, and what format did your cutter accept?

I already have a netbook that I swiped from my dad, which he got free with his Internet service and doesn't use.  I've installed all the emulators I want on it, and it handles everything I want it to really well...pleasant surprise.  So the only cost will be the MiniPAC, the Mag-Stik Plus, the buttons, and the acrylic.  When I finish the model, I'll send the Illustrator file to the cutter for a quote.

@robertsig
The trackball I'm using in my model is the 2.25" HAPP trackball.  It's gotten good reviews, but I have to admit, I originally toyed with just buying a cheap external USB trackball, so it's not too far off from your suggestion of building a secondary panel.  You make a great point about the number of trackball games, so I'm leaning toward taking the trackball out.  I think this weekend I'll work on resizing the control panel portion of the cab.  The main body of the cab is pretty much determined by the size of the lower half of the netbook. 

So, anyone know of any projects, besides the gent who tried to fit the netbook into the Nanocade, that have used netbooks?  I'm debating whether or not to completely remove the motherboard and fasten it to the case, or to keep it in the netbook case bottom which adds about three quarters of an inch to the height necessary to house it.  What do you guys think?

I'll update the model and hopefully have something up for review this weekend.

Thanks for the feedback, btw.

/Julez

[junga]

Hi, all!

I revised my cab, removing the trackball.  I shaved a bit off from the front, sides, and the bottom.  I'm showing all angles here, as well as an x-ray of how the netbook parts will sit inside.  I added a power button at the back, which I will solder to the motherboard (haven't checked the connections yet with a multimeter, but am hoping to this weekend.

I did a render with v1 and v2 face to face.  It's tough to tell, but v2 is a bit slimmer, a bit shorter, and the control panel is less deep.

Has anyone ever used artwork decals with acrylic?  I'm curious to know if I can print onto adhesive-backed inkjet paper and apply the artwork to the cabinet sides and/or control panel?

Any feedback would be welcome!  Thanks to you all for providing such a wealth of info in these forums!

/J

[junga]

Hi Everyone,

So it's been a while.  I had to wait until I could get the funds to cut the acrylic.  I got the pieces, and I've started construction.  I'm attaching a jpeg of the first cutsheet I created for the laser cutter.  I'm also attaching some pics of the first stages of construction.  So far so good.  Measurements came out great.  The control panel is three layers, one 1/4" layer and two 1/8" layers.  A hexagon was cut out in the middle layer for the bolt heads, and they fit perfect.  When all glued together, the bolts are permanent, but I can remove the joystick anytime I want.

Let me know what you guys think, good or bad!

/J

[junga]

Adding two more control panel pics.

Cheers,

/J

[pmailley]

Nice work, I am a little worried about Scratches on that high gloss black acrylic, but it sure will look sharp!

[Unstupid]

Did you forget to put the trackball in? 

[junga]

@unstupid:  Oh shoot!  I have to start all over again!

Actually, I chose to remove it based on feedback above.  I will have USB ports in the back and can always use a USB trackball when I want to use one.  The small ones that would have fit have had poor reviews and I would have had to increase the size of my cab greatly in order to accommodate the mounting equipment necessary for a standard trackball.

I'm plenty happy without it, and can't wait to start using this panel.

/J

[wizkid32]

Very impressive, though the set of games you can play will be a bit limited.  Nonetheless, really cool!  My current project ended up going the other direction, with a MASSIVE bar top.

[junga]

Here are some pics of the removable back panel that will hold the power port, the power button, the 80mm fan, and the USB ports.  The pics show the fan installed, and the power receptacle and button. 

I hit a snag, too.  This panel has four holes that screws will fit through and fasten to two blocks that will hold two nuts each.  Each block will be "welded", using plastic bonding solvent, to the side panels.  However, after mocking everything up, I found that with the blocks screwed into removable panel, each block sits about 1/8" from the side panel it's supposed to weld to!  I didn't think the laser cutting would be so far off.  In the vector drawing I sent in, and in the 3d model in Sketch Up, everything lined up perfectly.  Sux.

So I'm thinking of shimming them with thin acrylic pieces.  Once bonded using solvent, they'll basically be one big piece of plastic as the solvent basically melts connecting pieces into each other.  We'll see if I can fill them so they're flush with no gaps.  I'll update tomorrow after I try that.

/J

[Nephasth]

Looking forward to seeing how you squeeze the guts into this one! Keep us posted!

[junga]

Hi everyone,

So I had to shim my bolt fastening blocks.  I found a 1/16" piece of acrylic and cut a few pieces and they fit well.  I was able to get a solid bond and the fastening blocks came out really sturdy.  In the second pic, you can see how I'm going to screw the panels in.  The hex-shaped cuts will house the nuts that will hold the bolts.  The blocks were made of two 1/4" plates, one with the hex cut and the other with a hole wide enough to fit the bolt, that were bonded to each other.

Next steps are to finish the emulator/frontend config and then to dismantle the netbook and start placing pieces inside the frame. 

I'll post software/hardware specs in my next update.

/J

[junga]

Been a while since my last update.  I have been playing with the software and configuring the computer that will make up the guts.

Hardware:
Ultimarc Mini-PAC controller
Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus joystick
Ultimarc GoldLeaf pushbuttons
TurboTwist 2 spinner

PC:
HP Mini 110
2GB RAM
300GB HD
Windows 7 Starter (All Windows start-up graphics hidden using Resource Hacker and Instant Sheller).
MaLa Frontend v. 1.745

Emulators:
M.A.M.E.
Commodore 64
Daphne
Atari LYNX
NES
ColecoVision
Future Pinball
NEO GEO
N64
Playstation
Sega Genesis
SNES
TurboGrafx-16
Atari 2600
Model 2
Some PC pinball games.

The laptop now boots up straight into MaLa, and MaLa shuts down the laptop on exit.  I'm pretty much ready to start dismantling the laptop and beginning final construction.  More pics as I dismantle.

Cheers!

/Jules

[junga]

JungaCade is complete!  It took a while, but the final product came out looking very much like the initial renders.  I modified Game Creature's Alien Dashboard layout for MaLa Frontend to match my resolution of 1024x600.  It's my favorite layout.  I asked Game Creature if I could post a shot of my modified version and he said it would be fine, so it's attached.  Here's a link to the original layout:  http://malafe.net/index.php?page=layouts&subpage=aliendashboard.  I used the 1024x768 layout and chopped off the bottom a bit, then added a couple of elements--the blue boxes on the right side.

I want to thank everyone who offered input and advice.  I want to thank everyone in this community, actually, as I learned so much from reading around here. 

Here are some pics of final construction.  I'll post more pics later. 

Any and all feedback is welcome.

Cheers!

/Jules

[BobA]

Looks great.  All you need is a bezel to hide the screen edges,

[Hi-TEK]

I agree with Bob, great little machine and very portable if you want to move it around. The unit must be a magnet for finger prints and will require constant cleaning after some heavy gaming sessions, very well done.

[junga]

Thanks!  Right now, there's clear acrylic sitting in front of the LCD.  I am planning to paint a black border on the inside of the clear acrylic to mask the LCD frame and the gap between the control panel and LCD.  The more I play with it, though, I kind of like seeing the internals and might just paint or use black tape to cover the LCD frame.  At this point, it's up in the air.  I'll try without for a while and see if it sticks.  It's just for me and mine, after all, so the aesthetic is subjective.

Here are some other construction pics.

[cigardude]

Cool project. Can you tell us how you mounted the joystick? Also, what company did you use to do the laser cutting?

[junga]

I had three layers of acrylic.  The top two is 1/8" and the bottom layer is 1/4".  In the middle layer, I cut hex holes to match the size of the head of small hex crown bolts.  These holes serve to anchor the head, and the thickness of the head is just about 1/8" so it fits perfectly within that layer with no play.  The shaft of the bolt fits through a small hole just wide enough to fit the shaft in the bottom layer.

When the layers were bonded, I placed the bolts through the bottom layer, sat the middle layer around the bolt heads, then bonded the top layer on top of the heads.  When bonded, the three layers are solid and the shafts of the bolts are sticking out of the bottom.  I mount the joystick from the bottom using lock nuts.  It's rock solid and stable.  This sacrifices some of the height of the joystick, but I got the extended shaft for my stick and it's perfect. 

I got my acrylic laser cut at T & T Plastic Land in NYC.  http://www.plasticland.com/.

Cheers,

/Jules

[cigardude]

Very cool, thanks!