My Mame Cabinet Build

[ArcaneMagik 0]

I decided to make a thread for my build as well. In no way will this compete with Lambo's build... seriously amazing work there.

 

I have been collecting parts for a standing cabinet for a little while and now it's starting to fall together.

 

I have a Philips 19" LCD which I grabbed off catch of the day. I always felt a 4:3 screen was required for arcade, and I am not 100% sure on a CRT just yet.

 

I have my old computer with a NF8 Mobo, Athlon 64 2400, 1Gb of Ram, and a 200Gb Sata drive. Video comes from the HD3850 AGP I won through Atomic late last year. I have been wanting to put it to use in this task and never really had the money free to go for it. Not that it's going to be abused in this build, but it leaves my options open.

 

Thanks to Chancellor I also have a SoundBlaster Audigy to go along with it which will be proving the sound... as I want it to be able to handle being a jukebox for parties.

 

I spent today with Chancellor installing Windows XP, and I have chosen to run GameEX as the MAME front end. GameEX runs as a media centre as well as handling MAME nicely, also it should be easily controlled via the joystick and buttons. (Is it just me or does everyone else love 3 second start-ups?)

 

On Friday I ordered a nice selection from Replay Arcade

 

2x Standard Arcade Button + Microswitch (Black)

4x Standard Arcade Button + Microswitch (Red)

4x Standard Arcade Button + Microswitch (White)

4x Standard Arcade Button + Microswitch (Yellow)

1x White Player 1 Arcade Button + Microswitch

1x White Player 2 Arcade Button + Microswitch

1x X-Arcade 2x Joystick Pack

 

For my board at the start I will be running a joystick with 6 buttons (white, yellow then red), players 1 and 2, and player credit buttons. I will leave space for a central mounted trackball or other controls.

 

Also I bought an I-PAC2 PC Interface from OzStick.com.au.

 

It can handle up to 32 inputs so it has more room to move then the other interfaces on the market, and any of the inputs can be edited and it will keep the edit when powered down.

 

Both these packages will be turning up this week.

 

On to the cabinet;

 

The design I am stealing from PeP's Linux Arcade build.

 

His design was taken from Project Arcade, build your own arcade machine by John St Clair, but he has all the measurements in metric so might as well use his plans. I will also be grabbing Project Arcade as it has all the details for assembly. I am sure I can muddle through it but as I never did well in Woodwork at high school and don't want to be too much of a burden on Chancellor during the assembly, I think I will need to read up/

 

The cabinet with the control panel removed should fit through doorways with a width just over 630mm (though this may be fiddled with to get it a touch narrower for ease of moving this thing). As the whole cabinet will be built and painted offsite (I live in a flat on the ground floor) I need to be able to move it in the back of a Ute.

 

So next Saturday hopefully I get around to sorting out the MDF.

[Lambo 2]

Good onya for having a go at building the controls yourself. I chickened out and bought the tank stick.

 

Your local Bunnings I found was the best place to source the MDF.

 

Good luck.

[morris 11]

Ooooh good to see some more arcade machines coming together :D

 

EDIT: The IPac PC Interface looks like a winner. I might consider the i-PAC4 if I ever get around to making a 4 player machine.

Edited July 19, 2009 by morris

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Thanks guys. Next update will be when I get the I-PAC and controls.

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Little bit of an update. The buttons and joysticks have turned up, but there was a little trouble with the I-PAC2 interface. Just a note for everyone, if you order something make sure the order is done in the same name as the Paypal details. I think I confused that guy thoroughly.

 

I will get my first real look at them on Saturday, and hopefully get the 3 bits of MDF sorted on the same day. If we have time, we might be able to get a few of the measurements done and be ready for the next weekend off.

[ArcaneMagik 0]

An Update!

 

 

Buttons

 

 

 

I-PAC2 Interface with button for scale

 

 

 

Joystick

 

 

I checked out Bunnings for raw materials. 3 sheets of 2400x1200 is in order, but the issue is how to get them back to Chancellor's place. Something will get organised in the coming weeks.

[Vanne 1]

mate, the I-pac is /THE/ way to go, esp if your talking multiplayer. Keyboard hacks work fine for 1 player setups, but anything more than that and things get out of hand with ghosting.

 

Putting the joysticks/fire buttons together is a piece of cake, and very simple to do. Not only that, but that way you can decide where to place your /stuff/ on the control panel.

 

Seriously though, dump that LCD screen, just grab a piece of shit old CRT from ebay. 20 inchers are cheap as chips and then set up scanlines. Will give you authentic arcade look. (or grab an old telly and use video out. :)

 

anyhows, ill be keeping a close look at yours and Lambo's build logs. Great to see you guys rocking it on!

 

good luck in your builds guys, and remeber, its not /all/ about the finsihed product, its also all about the journey.

 

V.

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Wow. Finally got something done on the build that didn't just involve me mail ordering stuff.

 

After being stuck completely due to inability to get the wood onsite to do anything for the whole cabinet, I decided to just get enough wood to build part of it.

 

The control board was always going to be removable to assist with getting through doorways. The cabinet itself will be about 632mm wide, and that will easily fit through all the doors in my place.

 

So I grabbed a sheet of MDF from Bunnings and got them to cut it so I could get the blasted thing in the back of the civic. (Civic could easily fit a 1400x800 sheet I have found out)

 

With massive amounts of help from Chancellor and his Dad, we spent the Sunday afternoon piecing together the plan and sorting out a few other bits and pieces. While the plan was great to use as a working point, we changed a few bits on the way as we wanted the box to have a clean profile and some of the numbers didn't add up right.

 

 

Board is going to be finished with a Perspex top and T moulding around the edge. The underside of the board has been routed to ensure the joysticks are not affected by the addition of Perspex to the board. The buttons should all be fine for the extra thickness... except the black buttons... they are a "touch" shorter then the rest of the buttons.

 

 

 

 

 

Buttons in for checking out placement and colour scheme.

 

 

Underside of board... yet to add all the micro switches.

 

 

 

So next Sunday (hopefully) is the wiring of the board and getting that all sorted, then we can get the rest of the wood to start on the cabinet itself.

[dumpst0r 0]

nice work on the CP it reminds me of the xarcade CPs, one day i will eventually get my cab built.

[thesorehead 0]

Wow that's looking good!

 

Didn't know about this Replay Arcade website - bookmarked. Also Project Arcade. And that frontend. Those joysticks look good too! Got a spare Pentium D sitting around here somewhere, and heaps of old PATA HDDs begging to be useful again ...

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Okay, Needing some real input from Mame heads...

 

 

Chancellor has got me rethinking the LCD. He thinks a bigger screen is needed. Something to fill the cabinet space. I am thinking I want a CRT for the image it gives.

 

Now the question is do I get a CRT monitor (max size is about 22") or do I get a 25" CRT TV and use TV out?

 

I like the benefit of having a monitor as it makes higher refresh rates available. But the 25" CRT TV will fill the space available for the screen in the cabinet. By fill I mean a few centimetres between the sides and back.

 

Comments welcome!

[Chancellor 3]

I am turning towards thinking a CRT is a better idea too, but still believe that a bigger screen will be better so that there is not a 150mm gap on both sides.

 

How would a flat screen crt tv work out?

[thesorehead 0]

CRT would be better generally, for a bunch of reasons. Downsides would include weight and size of course - how often will you be moving it around, and will you always have help getting it from here to there?

 

Avoid "TV Out" like the plague unless it's at *least* up to S-Video standards. Ideally you'd be able to use component - perhaps a converter box of some sort would suffice? Srsly, there are a few large computer monitors on eBay - should be one near you! :--]

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Got the TV!

 

25" Sony CRT of eBay for the small sum of 50 bucks and a 1 hour drive.

 

I go to pick it up tomorrow.

 

Now due to lack of confirmation I am still not 100% sure I have a S video input, but I know that similar looking Sony TVs do, and that Sony put them on everything pretty soon after they came out. So I am about 85% sure it will have one.

 

I am preparing myself to be slightly annoyed if it doesn't. More a myself.

 

Due the the use of a 25" screen, the cabinet will be expanded to roughly 700mm wide. This will still fit through all the doorways in the house.

[TechHeadFred 0]

Looking good there ArcaneMagik!

 

Damn you for lending me that book, I'm now mentally designing two possible IKEA hack cocktail cabinets!

(Plans coming soon to a thread near you...)

Edited October 26, 2009 by TechHeadFred

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Small update. I have a couple of photos... nothing really major.

 

So the TV I got, seems it's quality is kind of poor for this kind of graphics. But Chancellor complete agrees with me now on CRT. Well mostly.

 

So we are hunting down a 27" CRT (recent model) with confirmed S video and component inputs. This means that we need to strip it from the case before putting it inside the cabinet. Which will be fun. We tried on a TV Chance has which is a similar model and the graphics were perfect for our needs. Right feel to the image.

 

Chance wanted me to ask; Anyone here had experience pulling apart CRTs and is it something we should attempt if have seen videos on how to discharge the anode? Would you recommend we have someone experienced the first time we try it?

 

The control board is all wired up and has been tested. Chancellor cannot make it crash in a fighting game, which is awesome. I also love the feel of fighting games. The buttons sound a little too "clicky" but we should be able to get felt or something to deaden the giant acoustic box they are in.

 

Once we have a confirmed screen we can start work on the three sheets of MDF.

 

27" is going to be huge.

[VannA 12]

27" is huge, yes.

 

You just mean removing the casing, right? Not attempting to disassemble the tube?

 

You two aren't stupid, you should be ok.

[Chancellor 3]

I still have nfi how I got it to crash. Skill I guess.

 

Yes Vanna, we would only be removing the case so that it fits and can be properly mounted into the cabinet.

[TechHeadFred 0]

I think provided you're not disassembling the monitor further than removing the casing you should be OK.

Not done it myself but I have opened up and fiddled with a few old TVs in my time and not been electrocuted.

 

Just a thought - make sure the monitor is still properly earthed after fitting in the cabinet!

 

If you need the services of a qualified sparky or tester I'm sure there's an atomican out there somewhere who fits the bill...

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Just because I can't be stuffed with the extra effort of pulling apart a CRT, widening the plans so it could fit said CRT, and really want to get moving with it...

 

We are going back to a smaller screen. We are going to be looking for a 21" CRT monitor (not a TV) and using the plans as we have them.

 

Today Chancellor and his father did most of the cuts. I stood around and held pencils where I shouldn't have and hit my head on clamps. But they got the majority of the cuts done, we have a few cuts to do tomorrow and then we will have the cabinet ready to assemble.

 

Sure we don't have a screen right now but we are moving along and getting stuff done. By tomorrow afternoon we should have all the final cuts done, and be ready to assemble the base at least. The sides being their right shape would also be nice.

 

 

God this is a long build, but we are building some momentum now and only need to keep it up.

[Chancellor 3]

Today was a little more constructive, and now the cabinet is taking shape.

The sides as cut:

 

From the bottom:

 

Casters:

 

The standing cabinet, including the control:

 

 

As you can see we still have a lot to do, but things are progressing.

[ArcaneMagik 0]

Yay photos. Came out rather nicely on your new camera.

 

Most joins are held with 1x2 pine, and the cabinet sits square or close enough. Cutting the shape of the monitor and speaker shelf would have been the hardest part. Just lining up the cuts and in what order. We still need to chisel out the corners.

 

 

It's getting there, be nice to see when the door and drawer are on.

[Madeleine 0]

looks good guys, it's so big!!

[gun_sl1nger 0]

I have a black Dell/Sony Trinitron 21" CRT sitting at my mums house which you can have for free if you are willing to pick it up.

 

_sl1nger

 

EDIT: Its a Dell with a Sony tube

Edited December 30, 2009 by gun_sl1nger

[ArcaneMagik 0]

You in Sydney? Holycrap man that would be awesome