The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: skinz on October 18, 2010, 09:42:16 am
-
First of all I'm a huge noob. Just thought I'd get that straight. Been dreaming of a MAME cabinet for quite some time. Just got my hands on a Jamma cabinet that was a street fighter converted into a Tekken 3. I just ordered all the buttons, joysticks, etc. Tracked down an old Ultimarc AGP card with 128 Megs of video ram to go in the older PC I got for free.
My wife and I are Master leather craftsman in the city. I've seen a lot of gorgeous custom cabs on here but none covered in anything. My wife had the idea of fully wrapping the cabinet in leather, with custom gold tooling etc.
If you want to see our work go to www.mhgstudio.com (http://www.mhgstudio.com).
This post is a little premature because I won't be stripping the cab til this weekend coming up. I'll put up pix of the whole process. The only thing we will have to make from scratch is the CP because the original is too altered and we need space all the way around for the leather wrapping.
This is my first cab so its bound to go horribly wrong (already having monitor issues - surprise surprise). Pics to follow in this thread starting this weekend.
Wish a noob some luck!!!!!!
-
on the topic of leather covered cabs, there were these posted a while back:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105080.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105080.0)
-
Wow - those are silly - I promise mine will look NOTHING like that.
-
Make sure you keep us updated!
-
As long as it's got lots of brass trim and gold leaf leather foil stamping, I'm in!
-
As long as it's got lots of brass trim and gold leaf leather foil stamping, I'm in!
I'm going for the 80's rocker van look. You know, the black vinyl with the sewn-in diamond pattern, and a lot of shiny chrome. Something with a bed in the back.
(http://c.complex.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/the_rocker_van.jpg)
-
My uncle used to wear a silk shirt that looked like that back in the late 70s.
-
I will have initial pics of the cab this weekend before I start stripping it down. And yes it will have 23K gold leafing and lots of brass nail work. I'm gonna replace the T-Molding with nailheads. I need to get some parts still including the bottom half of the coin door etc, but I should have plenty to start.
-
As long as it's got lots of brass trim and gold leaf leather foil stamping, I'm in!
I'm going for the 80's rocker van look. You know, the black vinyl with the sewn-in diamond pattern, and a lot of shiny chrome. Something with a bed in the back.
So if this cab is rockin', don't come a knockin'?
-
So I made a ton of progress and hit a brick wall at the same time this weekend. It's OK though - got way more done than I thought I would. Here is the Cabinet in the Garage in Tekken 3 Working condition.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01140.jpg)
The Cab was a Mortal Combat and converted to a Tekken 3. All side art was Mortal combat and front art was all Tekken 3.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01141.jpg)
Jpac installed and Mala on the front end. Thats where the snag came in. The AGP Arcade VGA card I got won't work with my dell so I'm in search of a replacement that will allow me to use Soft15K.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01138.jpg)
So it was strip time. Got it in the house and spent the weekend stripping off the graphics and getting her all prepped for leather.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01167.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01164.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01163.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01162.jpg)
Heres the Tekken 3
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01160.jpg)
Managed to strip off all the graphics - Ordered everything else I need for the control panel. Its Big. The hides wont cover the sides in one piece so we will be getting creative. All the t-molding grooves are filled and just need a final sanding waiting to be wrapped.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01157.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01156.jpg)
The inside was nasty.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01144.jpg)
Thats all cleaned up too.
Check this out LOL
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01145.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01143.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01142.jpg)
So I'll be looking for a card to run soft 15k - the rest of the buttons etc are coming as well.
It might be 2 weeks for more pics because of Halloween but I'll keep it updated as I go.
-
I got the Trackball and all the buttons today. All black. We decided to use #9 real brass nailheads, 23k gold tooling and all black controls. All I need now is the video card that will work with this machine and soft 15k. Next weekend the leather wrapping will begin.
-
I'm still having video card issues with getting the cumputer to show on the arcade monitor and suspect I'll need help at some point. Tried the Arcade VGA one more time and didn't work. So, like I said before - I need to find a video card that will work so I can use soft 15K.
Anyway, we managed to get some leather on the cabinet today. Went over the layout and began to cover some of the prepared parts.
Heres how it went:
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01290.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01293.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01297.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01298.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01299.jpg)
It was a lot of work so far but my wife did an awesome job. I'll keep you posted with more leather on the cab. Then we will start with the 23K gold tooling and brass nailheads. It will be pimped out.
-
MY GOD! :applaud: That looks completely sick!
-
Very nice. You using some kind of brown tmold or wrapping leather around the edges? The gold tooling and brass nails was very much like what I was going for on my CP (but it's formica laminate so I couldn't quite use leather tools on it)
-
Wow thats really nice.
-
Just adding my kudos! That actually looks really, really good!
-
I filled and sanded all the T-molding areas and she completely wrapped the edges. Almost feel like I shouldn't ruin it with the nailheads as the molding because it looks so nice, but the wife still seems to think we should go all out. LOL - We are struggling with getting it to show up on the monitor and that is taking and has taken up all of our time. Nightmare!!!! We did the layout for the control panel this morning to get our minds off the monitor issues. This is what the first draft sketch of the layout looks like. It's kind of generic but we have limited space and this layout seemed to be the most comfortable even though its the least pleasing to look at. We have to go to Home Depot to get a 1 1/8" hole cuter so we can make the first mock up. Glad everyone likes the leather. It's this custom made Italian leather that is amazing. We had it leftover from a job.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01306.jpg)
-
Wow amazing work. Looks great.
-
One last pic for the night - we're friggin' exhausted. Here's the first mock up of the CP. The CP should be done by next weekend. Got the wood for it. Just want to do a couple more templates etc. before we cut the final one to make sure its just right. So, here's how the first mock up looks.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC01307.jpg)
-
Good choice with the all black controls. Don't think I've ever seen a black trackball used!
-
Thanks - Got the trackball all wired up and played a few games of milipede and a few rounds of golden tee with my buddy. Was nice to actually play something. Weird thing though>> We can use the trackball with the games no problem if we start the games through Mame but NOT if we start them through Mala. Can't figure out what it could be. Anyone know what setting I could be missing????
-
OK I'm desperate - My machine has onboard graphics and the AGP arcade VGA card I got isn't compatible with the dell i have. What other way can I get the games on the monitor? I can't be sure what cards will work in my machine to use the soft 15K so I was wondering if anyone knew if I could use one of those video converters etc? This is consuming 99% of my time - I kinda want to smash it.
Anyone help?
-
I have a Radeon X800 card working with Soft15Hz on a Dell Dimension AGP motherboard no problem - Having said that, I'm really not sure why you'd have problems with the Arcade VGA.
-
I just tried once more for the 60,0000th time and this is what happens. I uninstall the onboard graphics driver >> Power down and open the case >>> Plug in the Arcade VGA AGP 128 card (and make sure its seated properly), close case >>>> Hook everything back up but video out is going out of the new card to the Jpac.< Once I press power I get the blue dell startup logo all jumbled up on the arcade monitor and then everything goes black. The computer does not boot up. I try the same with it all hooked up to the computer monitor and same thing - Black screen and computer doesn't boot - Even with no monitor connected and the card in - Computer doesn't boot.
If I get this fixed I could be done in 2 weeks but its about 2 months already trying to get it on the monitor. My fear is that I'll buy another AGP card and it wont work either. I'd like to know something will work before I buy something else. Sigh.
I made sure the AGP in the bios was set to 128 and that it was switched from onboard to auto. The machine is a Dell Optiplex GX 260 full size tower. - Sigh again :(
-
Thanks - Got the trackball all wired up and played a few games of milipede and a few rounds of golden tee with my buddy. Was nice to actually play something. Weird thing though>> We can use the trackball with the games no problem if we start the games through Mame but NOT if we start them through Mala. Can't figure out what it could be. Anyone know what setting I could be missing????
I was having that very same issue, pissed me right off. I found a setting in Mala to enable mouse input, that worked for me!
-
I see that setting in Mame only and I turned it on and it works - But I don't see the setting in Mala. If I play the very same games launched through Mala the Trackball won't work. Wheres that setting in Mala?
Tried the Arcade VGA one more time - and nothing - still prevents the machine from booting. Discouraging. :(
-
Hmmmmmm I dunno actually, I definitely tried the mouse setting in MALA under Controllers/mouse but after selecting and deselecting that I'm suree that's just for menu navigation. Try [in mame] allowing multiple mice. If that doesn't work, try posting in the Mala forum!
-
You might want to send Andy at Ultimarc an email describing your problem with the AVGA card if you haven't already.
Encryptor
-
How do you get the leather wrapped around the corners like that without it bunching on the backside?
(guess that's why you're the professional)
-
i've heard that dells are a pain for non dell hardware, basicaly they make the mb's work only with dell approved hardware, and not a lot can be done about it, other than never buying from dell again.
-
So, you never even get past the BIOS screen? Sounds like a possible card fault.
Only way to know for sure is to try it in a different machine - It should at least start to boot XP before bombing out due to any driver issue.
-
i've heard that dells are a pain for non dell hardware, basicaly they make the mb's work only with dell approved hardware, and not a lot can be done about it, other than never buying from dell again.
So, you never even get past the BIOS screen? Sounds like a possible card fault.
Only way to know for sure is to try it in a different machine - It should at least start to boot XP before bombing out due to any driver issue.
Yes, my experience with dell is that everyone raves about their customer service... because everyone has to use it. My fiance, against my advice, ordered a Dell computer. It was assembled in Richmond BC, we were living in Tsawwassen BC at the time, 20 minute drive. We weren't allowed to pick it up. Shipping was over $100. It shattered the first CD we put in the drive, it had decent specs so I bought an aftermarket AGP card to boost the graphics so she could play The Sims 2 when it was new. Opened up the computer, and wow... the AGP socket had been UNSOLDERED and REMOVED. I can see where it was, it shows up in the BIOS, but completely removed from her machine.
This was a few years ago, and I've heard good things about them since... but that wasn't a nice first impression. I did get a graphics card out of it though.
On 2 of my 9 computers, even though they are good computers, putting the screws in to lock the PCI cards in actually pulls the card out of alignment. I would suggest looking closely at the card whn you insert it and maybe giving it a jiggle and firing it up without the mounting screws. I'm sure you can get it to boot up. As Trevski says, it's more than likely a card error. Also try leaving a computer monitor plugged in to your onboard video output - maybe it just doesn't want to boot if it can't detect a video output. You may need to install everything with the hardware connected and detected for it to show up. I'd try making sure the card is seated properly first htough.
-
I tried seating the card properly a million times. I'm kinda leaning toward Trevski's remark - I think the card is bad. Just because you guys all rock I'm gonna try again one more time tonight - I'll see if I can start it with the case open and a monitor plugged into the onboard at the same time and see what happens. Thanks for all the tips etc guys.
-
I'm, the other person involved in building this machine. We got the trackball working with MALA now. So thats one less item to get working.
-
HATING this monitor problem - which I'm now understanding is a computer problem - Start with a better computer and have less problems - I'm going to start saying that to myself over and over so I don't forget for my next build. Also, Dell is horrible - LOL. :afro: Really could have been done by now - Oh well - Live and learn.
-
Special thanks to Memeber TOK for all the help this week!!!!!! I'll get it figured out! I can honestly say this is the best fun and learning experience I've had in a long time.
Here's my first Front End attempt - so don't make fun!
Leathercade Mala Front End (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsWXGc_Jvgs#ws)
-
Got to say that I had some serious doubts about this when I first looked at the thread but looks like I'm completely wrong. The fitting on the leather looks awesome. Looking forwards to the suede-cade next .... :cheers:
-
Got my CP wood custom cut by an amazing cabinet maker today in the city. He even took 1/32 of an inch off the thickness of the 3/4 substrate to compensate for the wrap. Amazing! Then he tells me - No charge, just let me know when you want to pick it up.
Please remind me to measure a million times and cut once. I'll pick it up from him Thursday or Friday. Can't wait. Just ordered 200 female quick disconnects and my buddy picked up a crimper to help out with the wiring. Quick disconnects should be on the way.
Shame I can't sit down to work on it again until next weekend. :banghead:
Slowly but surely
-
This is very nice. I checked out your website too. Really awesome work! I would think this will look better if you skipped out on the brass and gold hardware and instead kept all fasteners hidden. Either way tho I'm excited to see how this turns out.
:cheers:
-
LOL - there are no fasteners. The gold and nailheads will be for decoration. There is no bunching, no lumps, no gathered leather, no fasteners of any kind. The leather is carefully templated out and glued directly to the piece. At first glance, you would think it's painted until you touch it. In any case you will certainly see pictures of it all covered in leather before any decoration. We just want to pimp it out because we feel like it's what someone would have wanted in the 80's. You know, slightly gaudy but impressive at the same time. I had the idea for the brass nailheads just to replace the T-molding. The gold is real 23K gold leaf that is burned into the leather in patterns with a hot brass wheel - It isn't hardware. I think it will look pretty insane when it's done. Embarrassingly enough it's all I can think about and is probably the least important thing going on in my life. Don't you love how that goes? LOL :dizzy:
-
instead of nail heads, how bout shiny gold t-molding?
http://www.t-molding.com/store/product.php?productid=23&cat=12&page=1 (http://www.t-molding.com/store/product.php?productid=23&cat=12&page=1)
With the caramel/yellow oak color that the leather has (great work, btw), it would look tres 80's :P
-
Wow the shiny T-molding looks great thanks for the link.
-
LOL - there are no fasteners. The gold and nailheads will be for decoration. There is no bunching, no lumps, no gathered leather, no fasteners of any kind. The leather is carefully templated out and glued directly to the piece. At first glance, you would think it's painted until you touch it. In any case you will certainly see pictures of it all covered in leather before any decoration. We just want to pimp it out because we feel like it's what someone would have wanted in the 80's. You know, slightly gaudy but impressive at the same time. I had the idea for the brass nailheads just to replace the T-molding. The gold is real 23K gold leaf that is burned into the leather in patterns with a hot brass wheel - It isn't hardware. I think it will look pretty insane when it's done. Embarrassingly enough it's all I can think about and is probably the least important thing going on in my life. Don't you love how that goes? LOL :dizzy:
Hope that didn't come across as negative. I'm sure it will come out outstanding. With that said, I'd gladly take brass buttons over that shiny t-moulding ;)
If someone told me .. hey I'm going to make this super sweet end table out of solid wood, then give it a nice dark stain, then I'm going to take that table and inlay leather in the center, THEN I'm going to give that leather some gold filigree .. well I would have thought that would look like p00. Yet I saw that very thing on your website and it was amazing. So definitely whatever your vision is for this let's see it thru!!
Also that red stitched leather sling chair is exactly the kind of item that my wife would spend untold dollars on, so she has been informed she is forbidden to shop at your store.
-
did you post about your problems in the Monitor/Video section? The people that post in there are probably more likely to be able to help you then the random people (like me) that peruse the project announcements. The leather looks awesome BTW.
-
Peabody - No offense was taken at all. You did not come off as rude at all - lol. BKD, I haven't posted yet in the monitor thread - Next weekend there will be a bunch more work done on the cab though. Just got the quick disconnects to go with the heavy jamma harness I got and I am picking up the CP from the woodworker today. I'm gonna try the 2 low end AGP cards member TOK sent me this weekend and try setting the Bios to "onboard" (I know I know) like I read in one post and if that doesnt work I'm not going to waste too much time on it. I'll post in the monitor thread. I'm still convinced it's the Dell since the Tekken 3 PCB plays on it fine. I've been following another members thread that got all those cabs from a pizza place to repair and he seems new at it but very good at it. I'll PM him as well as the desperation thickens. My wife keeps seeing the pile of stuff I'm getting ready grow and is starting to ask alot of questions, so I need to get it done LOL... ...I'll need to replace that monitor at one point anyway - it's got serious Tekken 3 Burn. I'll tackle that after I get it up and going and read up more on monitors. Once its burned its burned right???
-
Yes, I think that there is no cure for monitor burn in. I think it is burnt into the tube permanently.
-
Yes, burn in is permanent. However, you can mask it a bit if you place some smoked glass over the monitor.
-
I'm gonna keep it for now and look for a replacement. It will have to do for now. My friend and my wife that are helping me are bugging me to pull out the arcade monitor and slap in an LCD or something just to be done with it. I really have my heart set on getting this one to work though. Next time I'll do that so it can be done really quickly. Theres just something about this monitor that I want to save.
-
Yes yes, lets ditch the old Arcade Monitor alleady! We could have been done long ago! :angry:
-
I don't know who this miggitymac guy is. What a loser. He obviously doesn't get it. Who OK'd his app for the forums anyway. He obviously doesn't understand that the arcade monitor is everything. Oh well - I don't want to dwell on losers. :tool:
-
This could be settled with a Street Fighter or MK tournament. MK3 even has a tournament mode.
-
Yah he is. He has no clue. What newbie! :cry: I bet we get the monitor to work with one of those cards you got the other day. I think the nvidia card will do the trick while running soft15k.
-
Don't settle for LCD. It will look like crap.
-
Don't settle for LCD. It will look like crap.
Crap or not, it will work ;-)
Maby it will look like crap compared to a arcade monitor but it's not that bad! I'm quite happy with my 24" LCD.
-
From my personal experience, arcade games (older ones in particular) look like crap on a LCD. The pixels are all blocky and too well defined. Newer games, I admit it doesn' make as big a difference.
-
Even if you end up giving up on the real Arcade monitor, just use a TV with s-video. It looks pretty legit.
-
It's a working monitor. I will get it to work. We will be up at the house this weekend after Thanksgiving and will be able to work on the cabinet. If anything we will get the CP done. I got the wood and my box of goodies. I'm going to start on the Marquee tonight if I can. :blah: :blah: :blah:
-
I was thinking something simple like this??? To go with the Mala front end - which I'll have to do over with same pic and more photoshop etc.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/LeatherCade.jpg)
Kinda liked this too.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/LeatherCade2.jpg)
-
Maybe this is a more appropriate font for an arcade game. Actually I like this one a lot better. :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/LeatherCadeBauhaus.jpg)
-
The third one is a better option.
-
Looking good - one suggestion on the Mame side; to get rid of that info screen that you have to hit a key, edit your mame.ini file and change the skip_gameinfo to 1 under CORE MISC OPTIONS.
And Voila! when you select a game in Mala, it just opens.
If you don't have a mame.ini file, run mame -cc and it will create one for you.
-
Thanks Havok- I'll do that this weekend - I was wondering how to do that - I hate that screen ;D
-
This is some fine work there... impressive
-
def third one
-
+1 for #3
Also, +1 on the LCD. I'm using a Dell 24" 2405 LCD and am quit happy with it. No, it's not exactly like the arcade monitors, but it's pretty close, and it's got the res to handle games like GridWars, as well as Future Pinball and Visual Pinball., plus Stepmania.
If I was building a standard cab dedicated to just the classics, I might think a bit different though.
-
Kinda hard to make out that capital C in the third, but the font is the best of the three.
-
I'll do one tonight with a lowercase c to see how it looks - I thought the same thing - I really like that font for this so I'll give it a shot.
-
I'll do one tonight with a lowercase c to see how it looks - I thought the same thing - I really like that font for this so I'll give it a shot.
I like the font as well. It looks like the 'C' is out of place... It looks too far to the left. (What about a "K" instead?)
-
maybe do something other than -cade?
How about Cattle and Quarters? A Fistful of Cowhide? Top-Grain Arcade?
-
maybe do something other than -cade? How about Cattle and Quarters? A Fistful of Cowhide? Top-Grain Arcade?
Arcade Roundup, Yee-haw! Arcade, (Hee-Haw Arcade?) Man, the ideas are endless.
-
well.. imo the arcade is looking great but the marquee throws it off a bit. Arcades are usually laminated.. sometimes you can see the wood, but you don't see marquee with a laminate or wood background. If you want to keep leather in the background.. Maybe if it was one solid color? Reminds me of a circus tent.
If you're going with leather for sure might as well use actual leather and burn the name of the arcade into it ;)
-
If you're going with leather for sure might as well use actual leather and burn the name of the arcade into it ;)
That would definitely give it some brand recognition!
:laugh:
-
I was gonna get the Marquee printed on DuraTrans Material so it is properly back lit. I wanted to make my own out of leather as suggested but I'm not sure how it would illuminate. Back to the drawing boards I :dunno guess
I guess I'll do some tests?!?!?
-
branding the name into the marquee would be very cool.
what about scraping away the backside so its translucent then using colored lights?
-
Brand the marquee, then paint the logo with invisible UV color and put a UV light at the bottom? Or have LED "studs" spell out the logo?
-
Took a break from the Marquee for now - I think I'm going to revisit it completely. I like the LED/Burn Idea. I have an artist that works for me that does amazing freehand burning into leather. He makes amazing things using a burning tool and his painting skills. We messed around with a few things at work today and he's gonna mock something up for me over Thanksgiving break.
I had some free time today (about 2 hours) and didn't want to start a new job so I had another idea... This one I'm really excited about - everyone in the shop thought it would be a great idea. I had 2 first grade shagreen skins (stingray pelts) in a cream color. Not enough for a job, sitting on the shelf and begging to be used. Yeah, I could have made a box with bone trim with them or any other decorative object but they screamed ARCADE!!!! So, my assistant and I fabricated 2 coin door blanks and covered them with the most exotic skinz on the planet. They came out perfect. I cant wait to add them to the cabinet this weekend!!!!
Friggin swishy sweet!
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00531.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00527.jpg)
Oh and you can see my desk pad underneath with Gold and Blind tooling. I need a new one - it's old. :laugh2:
-
hmmm. That is strangely awesome.
BTW, I was checking out your companies website, and I noticed a typo. I feel a little weird pointing it out to you, but what can it hurt... under that leather covered furniture section the first word "wether" should be "whether". So yeah... Do I get an award for most random post of the day?
-
Stingray! That's pretty cool, I really am excited to see what you come up with for the marquee.. sounds like it's going to be pretty sweet.
-
BKD - Thanks for spotting the typo - I'll send the correction to the web guy first thing Tuesday morning - Nice catch.
For the marquee, I'm going with the LED lights mounted in small holes to spell out the name - Which I haven't decided on (since everyone hates leathercade). Been watching youtube vids on how to wire individual LED's with resisters etc.
This hobby is the friggin BEST - Learning so many different new things. Very gratifying.
-
After all the feedback on the marquee - I came up with this photoshop mockup. Cover the Marquee with leather, drill holes and mount LED's from the back. Freehand branded Skinz letters with gold and black or blind tooling around the outside. We'll see what happens. To be continued...
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/Skinz.jpg)
-
Whenever I think about your cabinet, I imagine the leather covered marquee being blank, with the letters suddenly 'appearing' as though they were branded into the leather... I know it's impossible, sadly. It would be severely cool, however.
-
Whenever I think about your cabinet, I imagine the leather covered marquee being blank, with the letters suddenly 'appearing' as though they were branded into the leather... I know it's impossible, sadly. It would be severely cool, however.
Well you could cut out your logo in a bit of mdf or whatever in the negative, then use some material that looked like leather but was more stretchy and semi translucent, then when the machine turned on have a vacuum pump reduce the pressure behind the stretchy translucent leather stand-in so that it forms down into the cut away logo beneath, then perhaps if you had a layer that it pressed up against which was dark enough it would show through the stand-in material to give a 'burned effect'. If it's stretchy enough you could texturize that sublayer to give it a different appearance.
Nothing's impossible if you consider the impractical :D
-
Well you could cut out your logo in a bit of mdf or whatever in the negative, then use some material that looked like leather but was more stretchy and semi translucent, then when the machine turned on have a vacuum pump reduce the pressure behind the stretchy translucent leather stand-in so that it forms down into the cut away logo beneath, then perhaps if you had a layer that it pressed up against which was dark enough it would show through the stand-in material to give a 'burned effect'. If it's stretchy enough you could texturize that sublayer to give it a different appearance.
Is that you, Adam Savage?
;)
Holy hell, man. How did you even come up with this idea? That's amazing! (I was thinking 'LCD marquee', but that idea - while not original - is so far beneath yours!) I love that idea.
:notworthy:
-
(stingray pelts)
Hmm.
-S
-
Hmm.
Don't worry. I'm here to fix it.
(stingray pelts skinz with fruit)
Fix'd!
;D
(oh, and in all seriousness, they're pelts from the stingray that killed The Crocodile Hunter. So it's all good.)
-
I can actually do that with leather by getting a high plate made and blind emboss it so it looks like negative space. I'd have to get the plate made - it's like $50 and would do just that. I kinda don't like that idea though because I see it so often... ...For me, burning by hand is much more hand made and much harder to do. I'm actually doing the negative space thing for 3 podiums for a company at work. Its Meh, to me - alot of people like it, but it is an arcade for me. I mentioned it to my wife and she said "You don't want to do anything that cheesey, do you?" - so that settled that - Whatever it is at least I'm on board with all of you to make it out of leather. So, Rick that is not impossible - very doable, just not my thing.
-
Your Wife called my idea cheesy.
:-\
(I'm just kidding with you. It's your cab, and you do what you like! I'm sure - seeing your past work - that it will be amazing. And certainly not cheesy.)
;D
-
ROFL!!!!!!!! :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
-
Well you could cut out your logo in a bit of mdf or whatever in the negative, then use some material that looked like leather but was more stretchy and semi translucent, then when the machine turned on have a vacuum pump reduce the pressure behind the stretchy translucent leather stand-in so that it forms down into the cut away logo beneath, then perhaps if you had a layer that it pressed up against which was dark enough it would show through the stand-in material to give a 'burned effect'. If it's stretchy enough you could texturize that sublayer to give it a different appearance.
Is that you, Adam Savage?
;)
Holy hell, man. How did you even come up with this idea? That's amazing! (I was thinking 'LCD marquee', but that idea - while not original - is so far beneath yours!) I love that idea.
:notworthy:
It was just the first thing that popped in my head. (:
-
Has Stingray seen this thread yet? ;D
Excellent job so far, and quite unique too. Looking forward to the finished product. As to the marquee, I was thinking of LCD too when I read Ricks post...
-
So one of the video cars TOK sent me works - Soft 15K instals right away - Best I can do is install 15K an 31k and the screen finally fits into the monitor but its split screen. Wasted like 4 hours but at least got something to show on the screen. I tried a bunch of resolutions and none I tried so far work. When I install 15K only and put it on 640x480 it works but only about 1/4 of the screen is visible. So it might work???!!! Anyone have any tips on what to try? Grrrrrr.... :angry: :angry: :angry:
-
Has Stingray seen this thread yet? ;D
Nope.
-S
-
Ok - Got the control panel cut and leathered.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00076a.jpg)
Got the Shagreen mounted on the coin doors.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00102.jpg)
Got the controls and micro switches in the control control panel and mounted.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00100.jpg)
And got leather on one of the sides. Took forever and got too dark to do the other side.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00106.jpg)
Tired - Gonna order Chinese... More to come.
-
Nice work there skinz, but would it not look even better with the trackball mounting plate, mounted below the cp? :applaud:
-
We tried it both ways and thought it looked better like this and would help protect the leather from everyones little greasy fingers. I like it a lot. LOL :afro:
-
Stayed up late last night and replaced all the original wiring - New Jamma harness, crimped a new daisy chain ground and bastardized the old CP to get the bits we needed. Scored 100 packs of the quick disconnects for $2.99 per 100 on SleezeBay. I got 2 packs (200) and used 2 quick disconnects :laugh2:. Props to my buddy Miggitymac for help wiring up the monitor,etc. Some basic solders this morning an it should be all hooked up - Got the CP all wire an working - all buttons and joysticks working (already not sure I like the 8 ways - they feel weird). Now we just need to find the damn zip ties and make it look pretty inside - We couln't find them last night so we used some masking tape to separate everything. I bought a huge pile of ties - Can't find them>>>>>YET. LOL
Again, we got soft 15k working and still everything is way too big - Can't figure out what I'm supposed to do - Do I Install all the stuff on Soft 15K like 31 etc. Hating this part - Still.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/DSC00113.jpg)
I'll try and take a video after work today of the monitor issue - I really need help on this.
-
Wow, that cab looks luxurious! Sorry, I don't have a clue about the monitor deal. I think you should post it up in Monitor/Video.
About the LED's, are you going to wire them up in series or parallel? I've never had to wire up more than one at a time.
-
So close yet so far away. Could hardly believe we got the AGP Garphics card to work with soft15k. Atleast to a degree. Now projecting to Arcade monitor but in the wrong resolution. The entire CP works perfectly after getting that all wired up. I also did the soldering for the RGB, Sync and Ground to the old arcade monitor. Works fine. It was a great weekend of work. Lots got done as you can see. Thanks Skinz! Always my pleasure to work on this project with you. Its so darn cool....
-
Watched a million Youtube videos on wiring LED's. Pretty interesting stuff out there. I'm want use a breadboard setup like this and put the LED's in the back of the holes and see how it looks. This kid is where i started. A lot of info in a short video.
LED Wiring In Series Tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A3wsChgGUo#ws)
I got a gift card for Radio Shack so.... ...I need approx 75 LED's (on a 12v)????
Does this look right?
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk308/SkinzKR/LED.png)
-
Sweet! I think we can handle wireing up the LEDs like that no problem.
-
Again, we got soft 15k working and still everything is way too big - Can't figure out what I'm supposed to do - Do I Install all the stuff on Soft 15K like 31 etc. Hating this part - Still.
What exactly do you mean "Way too big"? You realize that things on a desktop will look larger as the resolution goes down, right? Did you adjust the various size pots after coming up in 640x480?
Also unless you have a tri-sync monitor, you should only be using the 15kHz button, not the 25 or the 31.
-
How would we know if our monitor is Tri-Sync? Sorry, I'm a newbie and still learning as we go. I work with Skinz on this project. Also, can you explain in more details where to adjust the size pots. I am unfamiliar with this. Is it something in MAME to adjust or is it something onthe monitor itself? :dunno
-
As an MK/Tekken 3 cab, it is almost certainly NOT a tri-sync. It'd be a standard resolution monitor which only does the 15kHz modes.
The H-Size, V-Size, H-position, and V-position pots should be on the monitor itself.
Did you ever look to see what model monitor it is? I don't recall seeing that in the thread.
-
Ya we allready messed with the pots then. I didn't know they were called that. But yes, we adjusted those many times allready. Not sure what monitor it is, we will have to look again. Probably will be like two weeks before we can get back to working on the machine. Well let you how it goes.
-
I just looked and I have no pix of the monitor - I know im an idiot and it's gonna be 2 weeks til we get back there. What happens is it projects on to the screen but only about 1/2 the screen is visible in 640 x 480. We see the top half of the screen and adjusting pots doesnt do it - Should I just try every resolution bigger than 640 x 480 and see if i can fond one that works? The monitor also obviously needs a cap kit which we will do after we figure this part out. I remember trying higher resolutions and not being able to get a green light sync on the jpac. Sigh. Next time we are there get the monitor info - or take pix and post to identify it. I'll also take some video of what we see on the screen so I don't confuse anyone that is trying to help me (much appreciated everyone by the way). In the mean time I will work on marquee mockups etc. til i can get back working on it. We can play games on it now but we have to look over to the right at a computer monitor. Still fun as hell!!!! I forgot how much i loved Crystal Castles. LOL
-
Lower resolutions, not higher. Think 640x288
-
I tried those but couldn't get a sync - I just read a post that said I should try a new video card LOL Full circle :hissy:
-
Figures someone would say its the graphics card. :angry: Maybe its because it only has like 36 meg of video ram...Anythoughts?
-
Probably not. In this instance you don't need any more ram on that videocard than you actually need for the framebuffer. All the rest of it is essentially going to go to waste until you start running things in real Direct3D/OpenGL like the new Street Fighter 4.
Now some videocard drivers might give you a 'virtual' desktop of a higher resolution than your current 'viewing' resolution. Sometimes this is called 'auto-panning' and when the cursor gets near the edge of the viewing area, it pans around the larger virtual space. That might be what's happening here.
How are you setting the resolution? Are you using a tool like QuickRes?
-
We tried Quickres to get to 640 x 480 but the screen would flip - I'll wait until I can take a little short video clip of what happens to show you guys on screen and behind the monitor - Isn't fair to ask you to guess - til then...
-
OK so this is what happens if anyone can help.
Monitor issues #1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcbSRHqo64Q#ws)
Monitor issues #2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR3SM7yzzb8#ws)
-
That bright line at the bottom the screen probably means you still need to adjust the vsize pot.
I would recommend also installing something like UltraVNC so you can operate the machine over the network remotely while its connected to the arcade monitor. The will also let you double check that it's outputting the resolution you expect. I get the feeling that isn't really 320x240 when it comes back up.
-
Wow :applaud: :applaud: your leather finish really pops. Clearly a work of art.
-
We tried all kinds of settings but what you see above is the best we could get it! :banghead: Its really the only thing holding us from finishing this project..Please help us.
-
install UltraVNC or your VNC build of choice.
Connect to it while it's running on the arcade monitor, and try different resolutions. I really don't think it's coming back up in 320x240, and with the screen off the bottom like that you'd have a hard time getting to quickres.
It's possible you can't adjust the screen enough because of it needing a capkit. That's worth doing as well.
-
cotmm68030, thanks for the suggestions. I have no idea what you are talking about but this has still given me hope. I know the monitor needs a cap kit but the pot adjustment would have to off a crazy amount for that much to be missing on the screen. I have a feeling you are right and it really isnt coming back up the resolution we think it is. I don't know what VNC or UltraVNC is but I'll look it up and get it going... ...you are also 100% correct, we can't get to quickrez after the machine comes up so we have to uninstall 15K and reboot to even get it back on the regular monitor to try again - this makes each rez change take about 15 minutes each. I'm also considering another video card (AGAIN) to see if that works but will try your suggestions first.
If anyone else can watch the videos above and shed some light I'd appreciate that as well. We are truly at a stand still now. I want to also note that the Tekken 3 PCB shows up perfectly fine on this monitor - even though there are obvious cap issues.
Thanks again everyone!!!! cotmm68030, thanks alot!!!! Still trying!
I re-posted my vids showing the issues in the monitor thread - Maybe someone sees something we are missing.
-
cotmm68030, thanks for the suggestions. I have no idea what you are talking about but this has still given me hope.
UltraVNC (great program) is a remote access software, so you can 'dial in' to your arcade cabinet remotely, and view it on a different pc/screen as if you were on it locally. Another good program - which is what I use now, because UltraVNC is blocked by my work firewall - is LogMeIn. You can get this at LogMeIn.com, and sign up for the 'free' version. It's similar to UltraVNC, but doesn't have the ability to send/receive files back and forth between your pc and the cabinet.
-
But keep in mind the firewall issue is non-existant if you're just going across your own network; that should only apply to accessing the machine from across the internet.
http://www.uvnc.com/install/installation.html (http://www.uvnc.com/install/installation.html)
-
cotmm68030, I think you are right about the resolution. I didn't even realize, but once we rebooted the PC, QuikRes got turned off, thus the setting is probably not set at 320x200. I had an idea. Perhaps we should add QuikRes to the StartUp items so that it automatically launches. Also, we can set the default res on it to 320x200. So everytime we start the PC, it will automatically start QuikRes in 320x200 mode. Does this sound like a good idea? Also, one thing we didn't try was simply setting QuickRes, then simply plug in the arcade monitor without rebooting the PC. One more thing. We don't have another PC to use UltraVNC on. We only have Mac's... Is there a Mac version that we can use? Perhaps something like Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. I know I can connect to my work from home on my Mac to my PC at work using RDC. Is UltraVNC the same thing and is it available for Mac?
-
VNC is based on open source software; it's available for everything from Amigas to Z80 based computers. Yes, there will be a Mac client you can use:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/)
You would NOT want to use RDP as it will 'log off' the current session and only draw the screen on the remote machine. VNC shares that screen so it's mirrored on the server as well as the client.
QuickRes is not responsible for changing the actual resolution, it just provides a quick way to access resolutions available to the machine (and probably displays some that are not available on teh regular properties menu, though I haven't checked that to be sure). Either way, yes it should be put in the startup just to go ahead and make it available.
-
GOT THE MONITOR TO WORK!!!!!!!
OK so we're 90% done with this project. All the leather is on, just need to make a marquee and some finishing touches. Can't believe we got it on the screen! Pics & vids to come next weekend - My buddy was taking the vids and pics on his camera.
Very Very excited though to finally play on the arcade monitor.
You guys were right though - it needs a cap kit - which we will do once everything else is complete.
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
-
:cheers:
-
So what did you end up having to do?
-
Cotmm you were right - It wasn't rebooting in the correct res. We moved the windows task bar at the bottom to the top and added quick res and everything we needed to access when it was booted up - Found the correct rez, adjusted the pots and like magic it was there. Basically we did exactly what you said (after six million tries) but without the Remote desktop program. It was next though if this didnt work. Thanks for everything really - your posts made me keep trying - I couldn't be happier!!!
My buddy posted the video up on facebook and I cant figure out how to get it. I guess I have to wait for this weekend so I can post it.
Again - thanks a ton!
-
We moved the windows task bar at the bottom to the top and added quick res and everything we needed to access when it was booted up
Genius. That's so much simpler.
-
:woot :woot
-
It really is working well...and the old arcade monitor looks great! Like Skinz said, it needs a cap kit, but other wise it looks great. So I guess it was worth all the time and headache after all.
-
that turned out great.. and being leather should last a long long long time compared to a paint job.. :)
chris.
-
Sweet - Miggitymac uploaded a video to photobucket :applaud: this was the first thing played when it came up! Metal Slug 5!!!! Woot
http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g408/munster126/?action=view¤t=VicsArcadeMachine.mp4 (http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g408/munster126/?action=view¤t=VicsArcadeMachine.mp4)
-
Took a surprisingly long period of time for the game to come up to the nag screen... Do all the roms load that slow?
-
Not all but some do...It does work really well though I must say.
-
Which version of mame are you using? I use mameuifx and I've got a romcenter tool to check them all. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that rom in particular, but it will go through and check out some of your other roms. Games usually load up instantly as far as I can tell, I'm running mine on a pentium 4 with 1 gig of ram and it doesn't take that long to load up the roms.
-
99% of the roms load instantly - I chose Metal Slug 5 for the test because it's one of three games I could find that actually take long to load. I loaded that one on purpose. That game actually shows a progress on the screen while loading 1%...25%...50%...75% etc. That game and a couple that needed Chud files take longer to load.
The main reason I chose that game for the test was because we were hearing skipping in the audio. We installed a new video card and a soundblaster max card that I got for free (SCORE!!!) and that was the first time we were going to run Metal Slug 5 since the new hardware was installed and the video was on the screen.
As the video shows theres no jumping in the audio and the game plays fine. I'm going to use this game for testing on everything because it makes the machine work a lot harder than running Pacman for instance.
This is the only game I will have on my play list that doesn't load instantly. I'll put up another vid once I get back up to the house tomorrow so you guys can see its fast and awesome :)
-
Everything is now inside the cab. All hooked up Check it out. :applaud:
http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g408/munster126/Arcade/?action=view¤t=ArcadeVid.mp4 (http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g408/munster126/Arcade/?action=view¤t=ArcadeVid.mp4)
-
I have a little a few monitor issues I need to post pix of but one problem is the same at this guys post
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=107613.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=107613.0)
We adjusted 2 pots on the flyback (I think) - One was a focus and one was a brightness - Black little box with the red wire connected to the monitor cup thing.
Where is this "Screen" pot?????? I'm pretty sure they are retrace lines because my picture looks exactly the same but my lines are green.
I guess my question is where is this 3rd Pot on the flyback? I don't see it.
I also have a 1/2" wavy spot at the top of the monitor I'll need to take pictures of. I'm sure this is common.
Cap kit? :badmood:
-
in the context of the flyback, the 'brightness' is the screen pot. There will only be two on the flyback: focus and screen.
The lines may be green because you need to adjust the green drive on the neckboard of the monitor. It might be just a little out of balance and you wouldn't notice until a defect draws your attention to it.
Edit: after watching the video above, the green is definitely up too high. What should be black has a green tint to it.
You'll be interested in the greyscale adjustment at the bottom of this article:
http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Setup_Adjustments_For_CRT_Colour_Monitors (http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Setup_Adjustments_For_CRT_Colour_Monitors)
-
Also measure the B+ voltage. If it's low it'll wave something like that.
With my wavy line problem how do I check this B+ voltage.
And Cotmm thanks for answering- OK so there are 6 pots on the neck - 2 of each color - of the 2 green which would be the drive? I just don't want to mess it up and turn the wrong thing - The monitor scares me - I also think the neck is cracked and leaking (its grounding itself with a little screeching from time to time. - can that be replaced?
-
I also think the neck is cracked and leaking (its grounding itself with a little screeching from time to time. - can that be replaced?
If the neck was cracked the vacuum would be gone and it would not be working. The capkit will help the screeching probably. I bet you'll smell some ozone back there too.
-
OK so my monitor looks EXACTLY like this guys - I have a WG 7194 just like this guy and I have the EXACT wavy line at the top of the screen. His problem was never resolved properly. I don't have a Chassis to replace mine with and was wondering if anyone else has seen this problem.
Thanks
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=99163.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=99163.0)
-
I had the same problem with one of my monitors, although not as bad.
(http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=53770&d=1290463962)
After asking about it on KLOV, adjusting the Horizontal Hold pot straightened it right up.
-
I'm pretty sure that pot is the one you need a special tool to turn buried in the middle of the board right? its the only pot we havent touched. I hear its very sensitive. Any tips on moving the pot?
-
You sure you don't mean the hard to get to horizontal size pot?
-
Nope, it was definitely the Horizontal Hold pot. My monitor is a WG 19K7601. The Horizontal Hold pot was hard to locate on mine (had to look hard at my manual for a while but finally found it), but it took just a phillips screw driver to turn it. It wasn't very sensitive...took about 1/3 of a turn to get it into adjustment.
Edit: I would recommend downloading a copy of your mointor's manual if you haven't already.
-
This is what my monitor started out like (can't really see the skew on the top in this pic):
(http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=53764&d=1290460245)
And pot adjustments took care of all the issues with my monitor.
-
Is it this thing???
-
I got the manual and downloaded the schematics. The hard to spot yet easy to get to pot with no knob on my monitor is the 50-60hz pot and can be turned easily with a small philips screw driver - this one doesnt fix my problem - the pot in the post above i made the cheesy little pic of is the Horizontal size pot.
It and my boards pot layout can be seen on page 4 here >>>>> http://americangaminginc.com/technical/pdf/Service/K7000.pdf (http://americangaminginc.com/technical/pdf/Service/K7000.pdf)
Its the only thing I haven't turned yet - Is turning this bad?
-
Looking at your manual. There is a row of pots on the back of the board, all facing back, not up. The Horizontal Hold pot is the second from the left.
-
Yeah, that pot doesnt fix my problem - but the coil pot in my picture i posted is the one im asking about - should i touch it? I tried the H Hold pot.
-
That coil is for Horizontal Size...I don't think it will help your problem. Does the Horizontal Hold pot improve/worsen your problem at all?
-
it does wiggle the wave around but doesnt fix the problem
-
:dunno You might try the KLOV's monitor forum, you'll be able to get better answers from them than me.
-
Yeah I have a similar post running there - no one answered yet.
-
I found yet another person with the Exact monitor and the Exact problem - He just did a cap kit and the wave is still there.
:banghead::badmood: :badmood: :badmood: :badmood: :badmood: :badmood: :banghead: