2/8/08

Updates
The last two months have literally flown by.  I did not get to start my control panel rebuild yet as I blinked and missed January.  Maybe March now.  I've sold all but one of my trackball controllers and once that one has sold, the store will be officially closed for now.  Another individual purchased my remaining stockpile of new trackballs as I'm trying to thin my inventory of parts.

Scott hasn't quite got his cabinet's software perfect so that is another task on my list.  I hope to find time 'soon' to finish up the second set of plans. 

12/9/07

Philip's Surprise Project
Philip B has been busy.  Last month he sent me pictures of his latest project, a surprise Christmas present for his sister's boyfriend, Henri.  I held off posting this until Philip gave the okay- which he now has.  From his email:

"I've used a 17 inch lcd screen and made it using mdf sheets. I had the use of a nice sized workshop to build and paint it from my gf's sister (Big Props to her!) . I also fitted a dvd drive to the side of the machine so a music disc or dvd can easily be inserted. This machine also has a subwoofer fitted as well as two 100 watt speakers with the volume controlled externally. There is a 80mm fan fitted to the back and I've fed this with 5 volts to keep noise from the fan very low. I used a cold cathode light to light up the marquee, this worked really well because there is a nice white light with little or no heat generated (highly recommended for narrow marquees) I used chrome trim all round inc. the control panel, this looks excellent with the black finish.  The control panel and marquee were supplied by Scott from mamemarquee.com ( he did a great job and to exact specs too! ) . It has jukebox mode, karaoke mode, dvd, mame, emulators, radio, picture display, weather reports and just about anything else I can cram into it! All in all its a nice machine and I will make another some time in the future. It worked out at about 80 pounds so it is quite heavy but it makes up for it in size, its neat enough to fit in any room really and that was one of the biggest objectives for this project. As for the painting I put 6 layers of white paint on it and then 6 layers of black paint, I didn't use any sideart, that's for Henri to decide whether or not he wants to have it on there."

Great job, Philip, and thank you for sharing.  Henri will be thrilled to receive such a fantastic present.  I have included a few more pictures on the Visitor Page.  Philip also created a youtube video of the project.

11/9/07

Cabinet Update
I am still working on finalizing the control panel and assembly pages, a few minutes at a time. Rather than waiting until I finish, the pages are a work-in-progress, so please forgive the choppiness.  Scott has been busy getting the panel completed. Once complete, he will tackle the remaining tasks such as wiring the coindoor and installing the software, then I'll get the plans up-to-date. Scott has also found a local sign company to print his sideart, which he hopes to purchase and install in early 2008. We can see the light and the end of the (long) tunnel.

Looking into early 2008
A project that I hope to find time for in early 2008 is a rebuild of my control panel. Although I like the layout of my panel, there are a few spots I'd like to correct.  Having seen the pinball buttons on Scott's panel (and maybe a button for the plunger), I'm now envious. In addition, I'd like to add in the balltop J-stick he is using as well. With several years of experience under my belt since the original build, I'd like to correct some of the errors of this first project.   I already have all supplies on hand, and will be reusing most of the parts from the existing panel.  Plans are for the control panel to be laminated, with the trackball plate recessed such that only the ball itself will show. There is also an outside chance I will add a real pinball plunger with a circuit to track the plunger release. Very cool. As with the single player panels, I will work up a document on the build. Free, as always.  Stay tuned.

10/27/07

Hector Q's Cabinet
Hector dropped me a line this week with a few pictures of his cabinet build.  He used a 20" monitor, and hopes to add a coin door soon.  He is an avid Street Fighter fan and is extremely pumped to have completed his very own cabinet.  Congrats, Hector, you did a great job.  A couple more pictures are on the Visitor Page.

10/22/07

Cabinet Update
Scott and I spent a good portion of Saturday in the shop getting the control panel into shape.  We built the base, and got the top in great shape.  Scott learned how to use (and fight with) a 1-1/8" spade bit, as he drilled all the button holes.  He still has a good amount of work ahead of him at his place but to say he was happy when he left my place would be an understatement.  He plans to paint the base and the underside of the top (after a little work with wood filler and sandpaper).  Then he will attach the joystick bases, wood putty the tee-nut holes, sand, then apply the blue vinyl he has for the top.  Wiring and blue molding will complete the panel.  He's hopeful to have that complete in the next couple weeks.  In the meantime, I am working on getting the plan pages into shape. 

Retroblast is Back!
From the Retroblast website:

"In a move some might say more foolish than bold, RetroBlast frontman Kevin Steele is handing over the keys to the RetroBlast.com website to a bunch of slack-jawed good for nothing punk kids. This will allow Kevin to continue to focus on the mammoth amount of work that he has been putting into GameRoom Magazine .
Don't worry Kev, we'll take good care of her!

Kevin has been kind enough to let us publish the full archive of his original RetroBlast content (articles, reviews, videos and all) and evolve the site to meet the needs of home gaming enthusiasts everywhere. We plan to continue bringing you news and reviews of the major happenings in the retro-gaming community and more."  Read the rest on Retroblast.

10/13/07

Our Cabinet Construction Progress
We finally have some progress to report. Scott and I were able to meet for several hours a few Saturdays ago and made some progress. We got the cabinet assembled in his house and had it to the point Scott could do some work where I wasn't needed. And do some work he did! Over a few evenings he was able to get the door on, coin door installed, marquee installed, speaker grills, mesh, and speakers themselves installed. He got the PC setup inside, monitor shimmed and locked down. He ordered and installed the monitor glass, then finalized his bezel artwork, had it printed, matted and put in place. I know I'm missing some of the tasks he finished up but the point is we are getting close. As I find time, the Cabinet 2 plans are slowly being updated and added to, and you should start seeing some new pages soon. We have scheduled a shop day in another week to construct the control panel.  Then we'll just have to get it painted, wired, installed, and get the finishing touches complete on the cabinet. We might actually hit the (original) target date of Christmas... just the year being 2007.

Charlie's Project
Charlie and his dad are building this cabinet straight from my original set of plans (with the usual number of slight mods).  Although he took a little coaxing, his dad quickly got into the project.  This picture is after three Saturday's of work.  The P4 he is using was saved from the recycler by Charlie, and he is using a 21" CRT.  Still to do (from his email):

"Still to do - aside from the obvious (marquee, front door, glass) I want to add routered grooves in the marquee area so that I can remove the very top and slide the marquee straight down with no need for the marquee clips (will also enable marquee switching on the fly, if needed). Also, I'm going to wire the PC's power button to a small "doorbell" button hidden somewhere on the cabinet (or maybe rig the coin return to start the PC), and a friend turned me onto the "Smartstrip" powerstrip http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/Hardware-Cable/Item/LCG1/
which will turn everything else on when it senses the PC has been turned on (speakers, marquee light, etc). This cab will also have a section for headphone jacks and a volume control which I'm going to remove from my PC speakers and mount. I may add a hidden webcam behind the glass facing the player so that I can take surreptitious shots of people grimacing like fools as they play the games. I was also thinking of splitting the video signal and having a video projector set up in the top of the cabinet to shoot the game play onto a room wall which would be pretty cool at a party - everyone watching you suck at Pac-man!"

Click on the cabinet picture to see his animated, 3D tour of his build (warning: slow on non-broadband users).  I'm looking forward to seeing the completed pictures soon.

9/3/07

Retroblast gone
One of the great MAME hobby sites, Retroblast.com, has shuttered its doors.  Citing a number of issues, Kevin Steele has decided to shut down the site.  I find this sad but completely understand his reasons.  It is indeed time consuming to keep a site up and current.  ArcadeCab has infrequent News items and even less frequent project postings because there just isn't enough time left over after my real day job, and then spending time with my family.  Family time will always take precedence for me.  That said, I will miss Retroblast.  Check out his home page for more details.

8/10/07

Chris B's Cabinet
Chris B emailed me a link this week to his cabinet project.  He slightly modified the original cabinet plans to account for his height, and used a TankStick variation from X-gaming that I was unaware even existed.  The cabinet uses XP as the OS and Chris is running Gamex for the front-end.  Chris has also started up a new website, where he has included a large number of construction pictures in addition to other MAME-related information.  I like how the cabinet turned out.  Go check out his site.

8/7/07

Joel N's new BarTop added to the Examples Page
Joel has nearly completed yet another BarCade, this one running Wah!Cade and a slew of console emulators.  It features a spacious 17" horizontal monitor for the "old school console games".  He includes a bunch of construction shots, a list of materials, as well as a page detailing his software installations.  This time around he chose to use Ubuntu 6.10 as the OS and the software page will help anyone looking at that option.  Finally, he used kreg fasteners to construct the BarTop, so there are no external screw holes to fill in.  I've included a couple more pictures on the Visitor Page, and there are many more on Joel's page.  Nice job!

7/14/07

Mamewah instructions for setting up the new release 1.62B13
I have been having an increasing number of Mamewah questions of late.  It seemed that my instruction page was out of date.  So I headed to Mahwah's download site and pulled down the newest release and set about installing it on my cabinet.  Boy, were there some changes!  After a length of time I got it working fine and detailed how to do it.  I have also included all the files that were needed to get mine set up so you can have a working example.  Give the picture above a click.  I hope it helps. 

Dark Tower Flash Game
I remember playing Dark Tower at a friend's house for hours upon hours.  It was before PCs (do you remember that far back?), and it was a great addition to the board games we played.  There's a fantastic recreation of this board game online now.  I've played it a few times over the past months and it does bring back some memories.  Give it a look if you remember the original.  Or check out ebay to see what the originals are selling for these days.  From the site:

"Do you remember Milton Bradley's 1981 hit board game? If you do, then this game needs no explanation, but if not then give this classic treat a try.  This hot Flash game faithfully recreates Dark Tower's single player experience."

7/3/07

How Slow Can You Go?
Discovered an interesting blog on Aaron Guile's site.  Aaron is a MAME developer, and is currently the coordinator for the MAME project.  His site has some interesting articles, and I found value in this one where he benchmarks PacMan performance from MAME v.37b through 0.113.  There are some good responses that are worth reading through, too.

6/25/07

Chase Michael is Born!!!
We have a new addition to the family.  Chase Michael was born this morning at 5:49.  Weight: 7-11, height: 21-1/2".  Mother and baby are doing well.  Here are three pictures.  More are on Alex's page.

6/16/07

AdSense Revisited
I have decided to retry adding some Google ads to the site.  When I originally tried it out, there were fewer relevant advertisers than there are today.  A visitor's remarks got me thinking.  I have begin to add them to the pages that include enough arcade-specific terms to get the relevant ads.  This includes so far many of the original cabinet plan pages.  I hope these don't distract you too much.  I'll give them a couple months to see if they generate more benefits to me than distractions to you.

6/14/07

Philip's Project
Philip B, from Ireland, has finished his first cabinet.  Philip is another Mamer who is using an X-box to drive his system.  He is using the X-box Media Center as the front-end and absolutely loves it!  The following is excerpted from his email:

"I used a Samsung 19 inch lcd in part because it was on sale but more because the screen was nearly flush with the full bezel which meant I could get the glass right up against the entire screen and it turned out brilliant.   The front end i used is called Xbox media center;   you really wont believe how incredible this program is, and it's free!  From that front-end I can launch mamedox [...] For neogeo and cps1 and cps2 I use both kawax and fba-xxx  emulators which are incredible.  Other emus I have on the machine are genesis, nes, snes, gba, Atari 2600 and Nintendo 64. Also of course the real Xbox games work; Dead or Alive on it looks like the real arcade machine running it [...]  I also have a Belkin wireless adapter fitted inside the cab and connected to the Xbox. This gives me my full collection of movies, pictures and mp3's streaming from my pc from anywhere in the house! This also provides rss streams flowing across my front-end; if I choose to do so I always have the latest news. It also provides me with my local weather and previews of all the Apple trailers available. I have a 200 watt sub woofer in the base and two speakers overhead the screen, volume controls are beside the joysticks and there is also a headphone socket available. I used your links to get the t- moulding (which saved me a lot of money ) and the marquee i got from marquees.com."

Philip had some help with the construction from his son.  What a great father-son project.  He hopes to build another one soon, but make it shallower so it takes up less floor space.

Great job, Philip!  More pictures on the Visitor Page.

5/26/07

Answer to a popular question
For those persons using the X-arcade in their cabinet, the original plans are vague as to where you put the T-molding for the X-arcade area.  My plans are designed that you place T-molding on the back- and front-sides.  This allows you to firmly wedge the X-arcade into place, where it will stay quite well.  In addition, the rubber molding protects the X-arcade's covering.  I have provided a picture to the right that might make this clearer.  You can use the same method if using a TankStick.
 

TankStick Modifications
A long time ago I promised to provide details for the mods required to use a TankStick with my plans.  I contacted Ash (see 5/2's News item) for the measurements that he used and he quite graciously sent me the information.  The key measurements are shown in the diagram to the right.   Ash also expanded the width of the cabinet from the 21-1/2" (20" interior + 3/4" ply + 3/4" ply) to 25-1/2" to account for the larger controller.  This makes the TankStick's sides flush with the cabinet, as in the original design.  All the interior pieces will have to increase from 20" to 24".  Ash also discovered another small change he had to make.  From his email:

"One other thing... I had to alter the design concerning the keyboard drawer. You used a piece of wood between the bottom of the controller and the top of the drawer face but the Tankstick is larger than the Dual joystick, and that buffer piece of wood doesn't work with your measurements. I didn't realize this until I was actually building and installing the drawer, but it turns out that it's no big deal to just leave off that extra piece of wood and have the drawer top flush with the controller bottom. My drawer face is 2 1/2 inches high, with 1/4 of an inch of space between the bottom of the controller and the top of the drawer face to account for the little 'feet' on the bottom of the controller. The bottom of the keyboard drawer face up to the top of the front of the controller, just where the front face meets the bottom of 3/4 inch surface, measures 5 inches exactly. The front of the drawer, measured out horizontally to the front edge of controller slot portion of the cab sides, is 2 inches. In all other regards, I pretty much used your measurements."

I want to thank Ash for the great information he's provided.  I hope this helps.  I've also created a tweaked complete cab side diagram for use with the TankStick.

And finally...
Just to remind you, when you purchase an X-arcade product from my site, I do get a small commission.   These commissions have pretty much paid the fees to keep this site up.  So if you do plan to buy one of these products, if you use one of the links on my site, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks to everyone that has done so in the past.

5/13/07

Cronin's Arcade
Earlier this week I received a link to a site that might interest you.  I occasionally  receive emails about new websites that have been put up.  As a rule of thumb unless they have used some variation of my design, I do not post them.  But I've waived this rule in this case, as  Jason has put together a very nice cabinet building PDF document.  He provides an explanation on the steps with 3d drawings throughout, and includes a number of detailed, measured drawings at the end.  It is apparent he spent some time creating this as a way to give back to the community. 

One item to mention is that my ancient copy of Adobe Acrobat 5 couldn't handle displaying the pictures throughout, but a (free) copy of the newest Acrobat Reader made everything all better.  Give the site a look.

5/4/07

Rich's Cabinet
Rich S has completed his cabinet. He is using an X-box to drive the system, includes a 20" monitor and smoked glass in front of the monitor.  He uses a NTSC transcoder so the X-box can display the images as VGA. He included some cool touches.  Open the coin door and you can reach the X-box on/off switch, transcoder, and the in-line volume control.  Open the front door of the cabinet, and you can remove the X-box itself.  He has generously offered to provide the marquee image file to any interested parties (contact me and I'll forward the request on).

Rich is another Mamer who found this site at the start of 2005 but wasn't able to start the project until now.  Talk about patience! 

Nice job!  You can find more pictures of his build on the Visitor Page.

5/2/07

Ash's Project
Ash has nearly finished his cabinet and has sent along pictures.  Ash is one of the earliest visitors of ArcadeCab, having first found the plans way back in 2004, but had to wait until he had the money (and time) to build it right.  He has modified my original design a bit to house the X-gaming TankStick, with the intention of eventually building his own.  Being the artist  that he is, he will be hand painting custom graphics on the cabinet sides as well as the Tankstick (he has painted it black in preparation).  The graphics will be completed once he gets settled into his new home several states away.  He's using a 21" monitor and has angled it somewhat, which is a cool effect.

The in-progress marquee is looking great as well.  From his email:

"I am using a Roger Dean font for an old school look (if you are familiar with the bands Asia and Yes, you'll recognize the style of the font, Roger Dean did cover art for those bands - he and his brother Martin also designed some custom arcade cabs back in the early 80's, coincidentally). The marquee isn't finished yet, I still have to design a cool looking background. However, this is the part I have been looking forward to as art is my forte (I have a degree in computer animation) and I didn't want to use any of those pre-designed mame marquees that I see online. The name of the cab is 'Emuasylum', named after the emulation site where I am a moderator (http://www.emuasylum.com). Emulation Asylum... get it? Anyway, I thought it would be a good name for the cab.

He's graciously sent several photos that I've included here.  Great job and I'm looking forward to seeing your custom artwork.

4/19/07

Jens In-Progress project
Jens V, another visitor from "across the pond",  has been communicating with me frequently since he discovered the site in January.  He has made great progress on his cabinet but has had to put off the completion until after classes let out.  (The dreaded real world strikes again.)  He has begun wiring the control panel and has one side active.  He has a site which is tracking his progress which includes a number of nice construction shots and some humorous explanations.  He's looking forward to June- I'm holding off adding his cabinet to the main Example page until he finishes the beauty, as an additional incentive.  I know- I'm evil.:-) 

Pop over and give his site a viewing.  It can be found at http://users.pandora.be/werrez/.

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