Posted by Jay McDannell on February 08, 2002 at 15:27:01:
I've just finished (OK, it will never really be finished) my Arcade Classics cab project. First off, as a perpetual lurker to this board, I wanted to thank everyone who takes the time to post and provide the information that lets people like me stand on the shoulders of all the work you've done in creating your own projects. It took me two weeks of free time to complete a cabinet from scratch that some of you have taken months or years to perfect. I just used your best ideas and avoided (most of) your mistakes by reading your experience and checking out your websites.
So . . . that being said, let me toss in my two cents on a variety of subjects, some of which I had found out some about, others I had not. Hopefully I'll be able to help someone else who is considering this project.
Cabinet building.
I had originally intended to buy a cabinet. Then, after questioning my manhood, fearing a little carpentry and realizing that it would be hard to find a cab that would fit a 27" S-Video Monitor, I decided to go for it myself. I used the consensus favorite, MDF (I wanted 5/8" but ended up with 3/4 - it worked fine, but I need to get 7/8" T-molding instead of 3/4"). The single biggest key to building the cabinet for me was the side panels. A very simple suggestion I read, proved very helpful - Clamp the two side panels together and do them at the same time. I had used someone's cab plans as a guide but made several alterations to the shape. Having the side panels together allowed me to make on the fly changes without having to worry about making sure the changes got reflected on both panels.
Anyway, other useful bits - T-molding is very cool. Get a 1/16 slot cutting router bit to cut the groove for it. 1/16" may be a bit small, but you can always make two passes. You don't want the slot to be too big. BTW, you won't find this bit at your local Home Depot (at least I didn't) so plan ahead and find someone online (www.carbide.com was where I got mine and they were very helpful).
Parts
Used all the standard people - Happs, Video Connection. I recycled an old computer I had laying around so I only needed a video card with s-video out (go to www.pricewatch.com) and a 27" TV. After looking around at Best buy, etc. for a few days, I finally found a great deal on Ebay. I got a quasar 27 with S-video for $150, $200 shipped. It was used (theoretically) but it looks almost new and works beautifully. It even has auto power on (which I'll explain the importance of below).
Artwork
For me, this was the fun part. There are a lot of great resources out there. The arcade flyer database is awesome because it has so much stuff, and the images are pretty high quality. For my marquee I did my main title at www.cootext.com for free. I then added names of classic arcade games around the edges. For the CPO, I used the names and logos of the manufacturers of the games (Midway, Bally, Capcom, Romstar, you get it), mostly pulled from Flyers at the arcade flyer database. Both look awesome. For the side art I'm using characters. This is a little hard to do, since its hard to find good hi res artwork to use, but I'm using multiple characters at as res that will look good when printed at about 8x10. I'm just printing them out on good paper on my printer at home, and then using clear contact paper to attach them to the cab. (still don't know if this whole process will work.
Control Panel
After reading some suggestions, I built a replaceable control panel that is a two player 3-button set up (not into fighting games, so I really don't need the extra buttons. The one key here is that Lexan is some pretty cool stuff. The large boring bit went through it easily, and the laminate bit I used to trim the laminate for the sides of the cabinet worked great to cut it with clean edges and no cracking or shattering. I didn't attach it with anything, only the buttons are keeping it in place, and that seems to be working fine.
Front End / Electronics
The last issue I learned something about in this was the group of issues surrounding my desire to have this cabinet be as user friendly and non-computerish as possible. My goal is really to have people wonder how its done, not to see windows 98 and know. I had some trouble with front-ends at first (if this starts another ArcadeFX and RD fight, I'll explode), I tried pretty much everything, but settled on EmuWizard. It was very clean, easy to skin, and provides the environment that makes you forget that your dealing with windows. On a related issue, I was somewhat fanatical about my desire to have this whole thing turn on with the push of a button. I finally figured out how to do that by using the info I found here, and some outside the box thinking. First, remember that an ATX power supply has a switched monitor power plug on it. While it is a goofy female universal plug, I was to find goofy female universal plug to regular old three prong outlet adapter (mine through www.cablesnmor.com). To that plug I put a power strip, powering the TV, marquee light and speakers. The TV still would have been a problem (TVs don't like to magically turn on when they get power). I had read that some TV's will work if you hold down the Power button. That did on mine, but then it shut right back off again. So, I consulted the manual, and sure enough, there is a auto power on setting, that is designed to turn the TV on when it gets power (a lot of cable boxes have switched outlets too). So the moral is - check your manual if you are trying to do this. instead of trying to wire a new switch for the thing, I just cut the wires for the switch in the ATX case. Drilled a hole in the top of the cabinet, mounted the switch so that it was accessible and push-able from the hole, extended the wires, and viola!, Everything magically turns on with the push of a button, that button being the computer's power switch. I did a similar hole drilling thing on the other side of the cabinet for the volume control. I duct taped a dowel to the volume control on the speaker unit and put the dowel through the hole. A low -tech but extremely effective solution to that problem.
Well, I think that's all I have for now. I hope some of this helps someone with their project. If you have any questions about anything I've mentioned or even something I haven't, please feel free to email me. I'd be happy to (try to) help.
Thanks again to everyone who blazed the trail.
Jay