Artwork and Perspex

I received the perspex (4.5mm tinted) the other day and got stuck into printing the artwork and instruction cards to be placed underneath it on the bezel.
I decided on the Space Invaders alien , Donkey Kong , and a Galaga Bug , as the artwork , as i think they are probably the most recognized ones , and I didn't want the area too cluttered with artwork.

Luckily the perspex was cut to the right size, so i had no problems there. (Had a little bit of fiddling around when I was installing the perspex for the marquee - it wasnt cut to the right size)


Now the machine is almost completed.
I just have to secure the lid of the control panel, as it moves a little when playing.

Press the button

Just a small update today , had a few hours to kill stuck inside with the rain pouring down today, so I decided to finish off the navigation buttons.

I had to pull them apart and get the blue diffuser piece and use that to use as the template to cut out the paper with the labels on it. I used glossy photo paper , as that seemed to diffuse the light evenly and still keeps the LEDs bright.
You just cant notice it that well in the pics , tho. :|

All Systems GO !

I have nearly come to the end of the construction of the cabinet. Theres only the matter of putting the volume knob of the speakers somewhere handy to access , and the perspex over the monitor screen.
To begin with , I had Win98 as the operating system , but decided to change it to XP. That brought a few driver issue problems, but I finally got everything sorted out.

I have installed a Sega MegaDrive emulator as well, and currently have about 20 or games for that. A few old memories there .... :) Still have to get a few more into that collection soon.

I have configured Mala to be totally controlled from the control panel joysticks and buttons, which is handy when you are trying to find a game in the MAME list - which is pretty big.

Done and Dusted

I managed to finish the control panel this weekend. I had to rout the edges of it to be ready for the t-moulding , and stick the overlay down before i could start on the big task of wiring up all the buttons.
The wiring seemed to go on forever, but I managed to get it all done sunday morning. A few of the wires that lit up the navigation buttons had to be re-done - that had me stumped for a little while.

So its all working well now. The games can all be started , and exited from , by using the triangle buttons , and theres no need to open the keyboard drawer.






Next I just have to print labels to go inside the blue buttons, and some arcade graphics for around the monitor bezel.

Control Panel work started

Well , I've started on the control panel today. I recieved the buttons and wiring from Ozstick the other day. Ive gone for a 2-player design , with navigation buttons in the middle for getting around the frontend , and selecting games.


Tomorrow I will rout the edges for the t-moulding and stick down the overlay, then the fun job of wiring up all the buttons.

Marquee

I recieved the marquee in the mail the other day , and the perspex arrived as well.
After putting it in place , I found that theres a bit of light bleeding through on both sides. I have some plastic that will fix that tho. So if im feeling better i might do that thisarvo.

More stuff done ...

Ive decided to fill in the area between the monitor screen and the bezel with black cardboard , as you can see into the cab from where you would stand when playing on the full size control panel. Its not noticeable from directly straight on as I'm just using my old joystick atm.

Ive installed the flouro light inside the marquee area , just waiting on the marquee to arrive early next week. That will be fitted using 2 clear pieces of perspex - they should arrive later in the week.

Work on the control panel has started. I took the wood to work with me the other night and cut the pieces up to size. Its assembled now, and having its first coat of primer done later today.

Insert coin....

Just installed the Push For Credit buttons.
They r hooked up to the IPAC with the coin mech , and everything is working smoothly.

I can tick that off my list of things to do... LOL

Ready ... Set .... GO !!

Ok , the cabinet is nearly completed.
The computer has been set up with MALA and is running pretty good .. i still have to organize my roms , as I've copied all of the ones from my main computer into the cab , but have to delete non working ones , and ones that are pretty power-hungry and run slowly.

I have installed an electronic coin mech and have received my Insert Coin buttons from Ozstick the other day, so they will go in this afternoon.
Im using my old arcade stick until i build the CP. But it does the job :)

Moving indoors .....

Gave the cabinet another coat of black enamel saturday morning , things seemed to be moving along nicely until the wind blew up and blew some sawdust on the side panels.
Enamel paint is very sticky in its early stages of life , so i have found out .. LOL
So after another round of sanding down I dragged the cabinet inside to finish it off.
The panasonic car speakers and the keyboard drawer have been installed , and the blue edging has been painted too.
Cant take any photos as the Mrs has packed the camera into her suitcase and is going away for a week.

Anzac Day

Having the day off, I thought i'd get into it and get the first coat of black paint done. Had it all done pretty quickly , and it looks nice and glossy. Had to buy the can last night as I knew Bunnings wouldn't be open for the public holiday.
Picked up the monitor (Samsung 1100p) from the guy i won it off from ebay - he only lived 5 mins up the road.. lucky that. :)
Theres a pic of the cab as it is now , I positioned the monitor surround panel in its place to see how it would look. - Thats been undercoated now , and I'll give it another coat tomorrow night.

Another weekend bites the dust.

Its starting to look like the end is getting closer now, I finished the second layer of undercoat on saturday and its just about all ready to be painted its final colour. The speaker holes have been cut and that panel is painted and placed in its position.
Had to make some minor adjustments - the coin door was cut for the full size but i decided to put a fixed piece about it , so it had to be cut about 90mm shorter. That panel will be for volume controls, headphone sockets , and I'll put a USB terminal there too.


Ive cut the control panel out now , so ill just have to start on the box.

Monitor aquired

I won a 21" monitor off E-bay last night. Never knew last minute bidding could be so furious !!! I think i placed the winning bid with about 9 secs to go !!!
I'll be picking it up during the week , so next weekend i can position the shelf.
Filled the screw holes and painted the first coat of undercoat yesterday, so ill sand it down and do another coat thismorning.

2nd weekend all done

Managed to get a good start on it on sunday , but I was under pressure as I promised the Mrs we would go out for lunch to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.
I had to get her to come out and give me a hand in the end , and she was quite happy with the way it was turning out.


.......

I havent installed the speaker shelf yet , as I have to get them this week sometime and cut the holes to suit.

Im waiting till i get a monitor off ebay before i install the monitor shelf , and also i might have to shorten the keyboard drawer depending on the angle of the monitor shelf.






Here is how it looks at the moment , i have put 2 rollers on the back and some large wooden feet on the front ( I'll get a pic of those soon)
Next weekend I'll putty the screw holes , and use some no-more-gaps and then it will be ready for the undercoat.
As it turned out , I didnt finish till around 1:30pm.... so lunch was a little late. :D

Late start today ...

By the time i finally started working on this today (after lunch) , I knew i wouldn't get everything done that i wanted to. At least i managed to plane the edges down on the 2 side panels , and apply the bracing to the sides.

I'm not going to put "T" molding on the edges , I'll just paint them in the offset color - blue, as the rest of the cabinet will be black.

Gotta make sure i start on this early tomorrow ....... lol

The end of day 1

I have based my design on Elvis' plans (here) , and a little on Knievel's Neon







After about 6 hours of measuring , sawing , double-checking and modifying the design, all the pieces have been cut out and ready for sanding.




So next weekend I will start the sanding, and start assembling the cabinet.

In the beginning .....

Well , the beginning of the end for my spare time has come.
After a week or two of studying plans and getting ideas , im about to start on the arcade cabinet.
It all began years ago when i came across MAME in a computer magazine. After downloading a few roms , i was hooked. But playing on the keyboard wasnt much fun , so I searched a bit and came across www.ozstick.com.au and bought a 4-button joystick.



I bought the panels the other day , and borrowed some tools from my dad.. (hope he doesnt want them back too soon. LOL )

I'll post some pics of thismornings work later on ...