Posted by matt(v) on July 12, 1999 at 20:25:33:
In Reply to: Caving in to the HotRod SE posted by Tony Perkins on July 12, 1999 at 20:24:46:
When I first saw the $200 price tag on the hotrod I thought to myself "good golly ms
molly, no one is going to pay two hundred bucks for something thay can make
themselves for far less" and laughed myself silly.
I was thinking recently exactly how much I have spent on my control panels (I've
built two) and after a bit of adding I reached the conclusion that I have spent a
(large) fortune on them, waaay over 200 bucks a peice.
Because I have been paying out my money a little here, a little there it had never
seemed like much but the sad fact is that I could have bought a couple of arcade
machines with the money I have spent making panels for my PC.
When you look at it the hotrod is actualy an exceptionaly good deal to make the
same at home you would need the following
An old keyboard
Joysticks and buttons (hard to get in new zealand)
The ability to make a keyboard splitter
the ability to make a box for it all to go in
doesn't sound like much.....
let me tell you my story. The first thing I made was stephan hans excelent
keyboard splitter, having had no previous experence with electronics I went to the
libary and learned how to read his circut diagram then went down to the electronics
store and spent 40 bucks on parts and a soldering iron/solder. Made the splitter ok
(after blowing up my computer testing it another 50 dollars)
Arcade parts were a little hard to get, I had to drive all over town and eventualy got
what I needed for around 60 dollars.
I also bought the metal control panel off the front of a SF2 machine for 20 dollars,
an INCREDABLY lucky buy, I thought it was a rip off at the time but they are damn
hard to make yourself.
so we are up to what $120 plus around 100 solid hours of work to learn what I
needed, map a proper matrix, make a keyboard splitter, negotatie with arcade
opperators, build a box for the whole thing to rest in.
I now had a working arcade control panel, problem was it looked like shit. At about
this time I saw an early prototype of the hotrod, saw its sleek lines, its seductive
curves and decided I would have to start over.
I would conservitavely estimate I have spent a total of $650 so far with no end in
sight, I have two functional but not great arcade panels and a great deal of
experence.
if you want a great control panel buy the Hotrod, you are getting a deal. If you want
to get some experence with computers, electronics and working with your hands, as
well as make lots of freinds in the arcade industry (as I have). AND you have more
money than sense (as I had) then give building your own a crack. As it turns out I
am now contemplating just buying a hotrod and having done. My next project it a
Varth restoration, the local op wants $90 for it in working but awful condition.