Project BlueShift

[Lexiq]

Cabinet Wiring and PC

All the components are in place and ready to be connected. These are:

• PC
• Power button
• Coin door
• Control panel
• Amplifier
• Speakers
• Marquee light bar
• Monitor
• External USB ports

PC

The PC is the heart of the cabinet and everything ends up connected to it. I originally used an old Intel 2700k / Nvidia GTX 570 based desktop PC built around 2011. It worked well for a few months before I started to encounter difficult to diagnose issues and decided to replace it with something newer. I opted for a Ryzen 5600X / Radeon RX 6650 XT based system in an NZXT H5 case. It's a good balance of price and performance with a nice form factor, and easily runs both classic arcade games and more modern titles.

I also made two additions specifically for use with the cabinet. The first was to create a connector for the external power button. This was a short length of wire (1 pair) with a DuPont connecter on one end to plug in to the motherboard power switch header. I also spliced on a second male DuPoint connector so the existing PC case power button can also be attached. The other end exits the case through one of several available small holes and terminates with a JST socket, which the external power button leads will connect to.

The second addition was an external 5v/12v molex power socket that was included with a mother board from many years ago. It's mounted in any free PCI bay and internally, connects to the PSU wiring harness. The marquee, coin door lights, and the control panel are all powered from this socket, meaning everything powers on and lights up when the cabinet is switched on. It's important to ensure that the devices connected to this power socket use the correct set of pins to deliver the correct voltage.



Power Button

As mentioned in a previous post, I used a standard black gold leaf button, mounted around the back of the cabinet near the top, but within easy reach. The wiring is very simple - just a single pair that drops straight down through the monitor shelf and connects to the PC power button JST connection described above.

Coin Door

The coin door requires four pairs of wire - two pairs for each coin slot. The first set connect to the coin buttons on the control panel, and the second set connect to the PC power socket to power the coin return button lights.

This wiring harness has to travel from the coin door, around the inside of the cabinet and meet the main harness that enters the lower section through the hole in the monitor shelf. To get the lengths right, I started at the coin door with long pieces of wire, routing them around the inside of the cabinet, using cable ties and clips to keep them in the right place. I then cut the lengths to size and attached the appropriate connectors.





Control Panel

The control panel harness described in the previous post terminates in 4 USB-A connectors which are plugged directly into the PC, a connector for the coin buttons, which connect to the coin door harness described above, and a power connector which connects to the power harness that plugs into the external PC power port.

Amplifier

The amplifier sits in the draw below the control panel. It's powered by it's own power supply that plugs directly into the power board. It's connected to the PC using a standard audio cable that exits the draw through the hole at the back, along with the speaker wires described below.

The drawer is also shared with a keyboard, mouse, and a 6.3mm audio socket for connecting microphones for karaoke. The cables for these also exit through the same hole and connect directly to the PC. I use JBL microphones that connect wirelessly to a small receiver that plugs into the audio socket in the drawer.

Speakers

The two stereo speakers and the subwoofer are connected to the amplifier using lengths of speaker wire. The wires attach to the stereo speakers with spade connectors, and to the subwoofer box with banana plugs. The two stereo speaker pairs drop down through the monitor shelf (bundled with the power button wires and the marquee power wires) where they meet the subwoofer pair. All three are then fed through the hole in the back of the drawer where they are connected to the amplifier with banana plugs.



Marquee Light Bar

The LED light bar that I'm using came with a power cable with bare wire at one end and a coaxial power plug on the other. I attached a molex connector to the bare wire end to connect it to the PC power harness, and plugged the other end into an accessory for the light bar that allows the brightness to be adjusted.



Monitor

The monitor power and display port cables go through the hole in the monitor shelf. The display port cable connects to the PC graphics card, and the power plugs into the power board.

External USB Ports

The wires for these ports are not long enough to comfortably reach the back of the PC. Fortunately, there are a couple of USB ports on the front of the case. Because I have 4 external ports, I also needed a small USB hub to connect them to. Additionally, for some applications, having multiple devices connected to the same USB port (via a hub) can cause problems. This is definitely an issue when using two Sinden light guns for example. To avoid this, I connected the first external USB port to the second front case port instead of the hub. This happened to be a USB-C port which required a small adapter.

[javeryh]

This cabinet is so clean it makes me want to puke. I love popping in here every few weeks to look at the pics and read up on all of the details. 

[Lexiq]

Marquee

I've covered the marquee light box in an earlier post, but not the installation of the marquee itself. I left this until near the end because I didn't have the graphics yet, and once it's in place, access to the light box area is restricted.

Graphics

I designed the marquee graphics after I'd finalized the design for the control panel graphics. I used the same colours, but added a few more details. I wanted something that would evoke the 'old school' gaming feel, taking inspiration from the vaporwave aesthetic (the grid and gradient stripes, although not the palette), but also have a space / physics theme. The swooshes and circles might represent orbital paths and planets, or electron orbits and particles. The name BlueShift is also consistent with this imagery, and provides a connection between the visual theme and colours.



Printing

I had a couple of options when printing the marquee. The first was a fairly thick but flexible plastic light box material, and the second was Lupo paper, which also has good light transmission properties. I chose the Lupo paper in the end because the thicker light box material was going to be a bit too thick to fit between my sheets of acrylic in the space behind the marquee retainers.

Overall, the Lupo paper has worked quite well and I'm happy with it, but I think there are probably better alternatives. The finish is quite fragile and easily damaged during installation, especially around the edges when cut to size. Being paper, even though it's quite thick, it can be hard to get it to sit perfectly flat, even when mounted between sheets of acrylic.

Mounting

My first attempt was to just cut the marquee to size, place it between the sheets of acrylic and install the assembly behind the retainers. The result was pretty good, but I did have some light bleed at the edges. To solve this, I used a strip of electrical tape on each side. It sits behind the front piece of acrylic, over the graphic, and wraps round behind the back piece of acrylic. The tape forms a light seal between the marquee and the sides of the cabinet, and also helps to keep the graphic aligned during installation.

Installation

With the cabinet assembled, the tolerances are too tight to allow the marquee to be positioned between the sides of the cabinet. To make this possible, the bolts around the top of the cabinet all need to be loosened (but not removed completely). Then, the sides of the cabinet need to be spread slightly wider so the marquee can easily fit between them. This can be done using two lengths of wood and two clamps inside the cabinet, as shown in the photo. One clamp keeps the pieces of wood together, and the other clamp applies outward pressure against the sides. There's enough flex in the wood that this doesn't risk damaging anything, and the sides only need to move slightly for the marquee to fit.

I installed the lower retainer first, not pushing it all the way in, then placed the marquee assembly into the slot between the retainer and the speaker panel before pushing the retainer the rest of the way. I then installed the upper retainer and secured it in place with the screws along the top. At this point, the spreader can be removed and the bolts inside the cabinet can be tightened. The bolts in the light box area can now only be accessed by reaching under the light bar bracket, which is slightly awkward, but not too difficult.

[Lexiq]

Drawer Contents

Although the contents of the drawer will be hidden most of the time, I wanted to keep the cabinet theme going here too. I was able to find a nice compact mechanical keyboard from Akko that matched my colours perfectly.

For a PC / Windows based cabinet, having easy access to a keyboard and mouse is very useful during the setup phase, and even afterwards for making adjustments, or installing new software.

The drawer is also a convenient place to put the amplifier. I did consider mounting this so the knobs were externally accessible - I probably would have positioned it next to the external USB ports, but in the end, I decided to keep the exterior as minimal as possible.

Also included is a wireless microphone receiver that connects to the PC audio microphone port, and some coins, for an authentic experience.

[TapeWormInYourGut]

That looks really beautiful, and I like your matching keyboard

[minorhero]

Very clean install! As someone going through a lot of setup stuff right now, I really appreciate having a dedicated space for keyboard and mouse. I think I've dropped my mouse at least half a dozen times in the last 24 hours alone.

[Lingwendil]

That matching keyboard