MattG/Snyper2099 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Wow, you are my god. I have been contemplating building a minipacman for some time now. But, I want to use an origional PCB, wiring harness, ect., add acoin door, ect. I'm looking into the 70% option and have downloaded your .pdf plans dgo. Any tips for using origional components??? That 1/6th scale galaga is like the single coolest thing I have ever seen. I'm not sure which pdf plans you refer to, but I used these which are conveniently in png format and cover most measures. Though these are for a Ms.Pacman/Galaga cabinet which is a little different from the Pacman cabinet. As for components: I'm not really an expert in arcade components. I always use PC components. What I did see a few days ago, is one of those 9-in-1 arcade boards which are pretty cool. These host multiple roms on a single pcb which are flashable. pretty expensive though. But an original Pacman board is not too cheap either, is it? Why do you choose to use original components? Well, I have an extra 13 inch arcade monitor and working pacman pcb/harness. What else would I do with them??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 Wow' date=' you are my god. I have been contemplating building a minipacman for some time now. But, I want to use an origional PCB, wiring harness, ect., add acoin door, ect. I'm looking into the 70% option and have downloaded your .pdf plans dgo. Any tips for using origional components??? That 1/6th scale galaga is like the single coolest thing I have ever seen. ..... Well, I have an extra 13 inch arcade monitor and working pacman pcb/harness. What else would I do with them???[/quote'] Aah OK I see. I didn't understand you already actually have those components... Nice. So your looking for tips USING those components? So all you have to do is build a cabinet, print artwork (or have it printed?) and control panel then and wire the thing up. (and maybe a power supply & sound?). What other building/assembling options are you contemplating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 *Very* nice Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Your project is looking really great so far! Keep the updates coming. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 5, 2005 Author Share Posted March 5, 2005 (edited) Update day 4. I made a lot of progress again, although I'm afraid the pics aren't very sexy. Installed the pc I'm going to use Since this is going to be a vertical only cab there really is about one pretty fail safe & hassle free choice for a frontend: glaunch. Since it can rotate its menu thru directx, no additional driver (like pivot pro or something) are needed to rotate the screen. Mame doesn't like these kinds of drivers and you''ll waste a lot of time trying to sort it out. I'd really prefer to use Mamewah, which is IMO the best configurable frontend out there (not the current version though). But Mamewah cannot rotate its menu. I spent some time sorting out the roms for the system. I found an excellent tool to sort out your roms: Sortinfo If you want, say, copy roms which are vertical shooters with 4-way joystick without non-working roms and clones this is the program to use! It even lets you construct the needed batch files! Great software. I don't believe I never discovered it before. I also consulted this site which has good explanation about this method. Anyway, the pc is going to run XP, it just boots into glaunch, and shutsdown again when you exit glaunch. Simple enough. The PC is a Celeron 633 which just has enough balls to run all the classics. That 's all I want. No keyboard, mouse. Just a hd. (and a wireless usb dongle ) Stripped the pc and sorted out the placement of the mainboard and psu before further assembly of the cabinet. To get the mainboard of the surface, I just use these screws (same as used in computer casing) sorry for the blurry pics. Started with actual assembly of the cabinet When I fixed the monitor. I found out the sides of the screen template needed more sanding. So I had to protect the monitor. I sure hope no dust came under the plexiglass while doing this. A minor mistake. I'm using woodglue and screws. The glue really makes it very solid. Right now (pics tomorrow) the other side is on and everything's screwed. I'm so exited I can hardly sleep! Tomorrow it can stand on it's own feet. And I can get into some final woodworking, wiring schemes and marqueeing. Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 6, 2005 Author Share Posted March 6, 2005 (edited) day 5 Today I did the following: finished 1st stage ]assembly! Almost everything fits like a glove. Just a little sanding here and there to make the wooden panels straight. Then I had to redo the bezel. From the sanding of the monitor frame yesterday, dust came under the plexiglas exacttly what I was afraid of. When I wiped of the dust, I fucked up the bezel. Not to worry thought, the plexi is easy to remove. I'm waiting until I'm finished this time before I'm installing it. Artwork I completely retouched a scanned marquee I found using photoshop. (small version) I also edited a design for the front plate. Misc I added a the face plate under the control panel. I sized some aluminum strips for the front of the control panel and marquee and I cut out two pieces of plexi for the front plate and marquee. Front plate I printed out the front plate design on 2 x A4. (I'm not totally happy with that, you can always see the cut in the picture, but unfortunately I don't have an A3 printer). To be sure it stays in place after the plexi is on, I glue it to the mdf using Pritt I installed the front plate using magnetic contacts. It's conveniently removable that way. The result so far! and oh yeah, in the proces I scored a nice sealed NIB vectrex unopened Spinball on eBay last night. I also bid on a vectrex stand, but $1200 turned out a little to steep. damn. Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Wow! That is an amazing job, can't wait to see it completed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 (edited) Wow! That is an amazing job, can't wait to see it completed! I'm glad you like it so far! I can't wait either! Allright. Day 6. Reprinted artwork I found out I used the wrong paper setting (normal paper instead of glossy photo paper) so I did everything again(that's printing and cutting, sigh) because the colors were slightly off and not very vibrant. Final woodwork - I added a power button (to be routed to the pc's power button) on the lower backside and installed magnetic contacts for the back panel. - Installed a backplate in the monitor area (like the original cab). The wires from the Marquee (yes the light works!) are nicely out of sight behind it. - I installed an internal panel with three extra pushbuttons. One is going to be the 'record keystroke' button of the x-gaming keyboard encoder I use. The other two will be programmable like the rest. You can also see the three holes in the upper front panel. There's going to be three leds: Power/ harddisk / keyboard encoder programming active. functional and cool. This is the keyboard encoder I'm using (It's used in the X-Arcade joysticks). Very much like the I-Pac encoder. - I sanded the sides, and filled the screw holes with wood filler. The sawing/drilling and sanding job is done! Now it's just painting, wiring and testing!! Yoohoo!! Soldering and wiring - Extended the LED wires from the pc - Extended all the microswitch wires (12) to keyboard encoder - Extended sound wire (I don't use an amplifier this time or any additional speakers. Just one speaker in the top, wired to the MB. Volume setting is handled by MAME. here's the CP wired up and the extended LED/power button wire worked on the 1/10th scale model Since Galaga was my second choice.. (and one of my my all time favorites) It's not finished yet, but I added artwork, and plexiglas on screen area and Marquee. I still need to work on the edges. pretty cool huh And how about this little Marquee you can light up with a button on the back Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vb_master Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 That tiny one is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osbo Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 nice! makes me want to start my mame cabinet as well! (so bad I can't use a little one, I'm 6'2 220 pounds ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 nice! makes me want to start my mame cabinet as well! (so bad I can't use a little one, I'm 6'2 220 pounds ) I'm glad I inspire you! We share about the same measurements (I'm a little taller ) But what's with the weight? You don't have to sit on it right Are you going to build from scratch or convert ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Once again, I'm very impressed! -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osbo Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 nice! makes me want to start my mame cabinet as well! (so bad I can't use a little one, I'm 6'2 220 pounds ) I'm glad I inspire you! We share about the same measurements (I'm a little taller ) But what's with the weight? You don't have to sit on it right Are you going to build from scratch or convert ? thank you no no I don't have to sit on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 Once again, I'm very impressed! -S Thanks. Nice to know people care about this and follow this thread Today's been pretty terrible so far. I spend to whole afternoon trying to solve a problem with the keyboard encoder. Appearantly te mb I'm using doesn't like the X-Gaming encoder I use, so I can't program my buttons. Also I can't seem to use the keyboard thru the encoder. I just keep getting some bios beeps. I ruled out the encoder and the keyboard so probably some incompatibility issue with this mainboard. Damn waste of time and the first time I got really frustrated. I hate fuzzy wuzzy pc problems. Luckily the front end and mame are custumisable to the encoders default keys. So I don't have to wait for another encoder. I just can't reprogram keys. progress today no interesting pics today. Atm the cab is drying out from the first layer of ground paint. The holes screwholes are a pain in the arse to get invisible. I also did most of the wiring and actualy played some mame games to test. (before I runinto the keyboard problem). Tomorrow I'll be painting the actual color layer. Opposed to it's original counterpart, it's going to be yellow. Also I'll be sorting out the rest of the wiring and re-install the artwork. For tonight I'm done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 (edited) Some pics from yesterday and this morning while I'm waiting for the paint to dry and the next update. More detailed pics of the internals will be posted later. Yesterday's testing session. The internal monitor works too Ground paint First layer of black and yellow Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 You're really moving right along on this. It took me moths to complete my MAME cab and I converted an exisitng cab, I didn't do a scratch build like you. This is going to be a great little toy when it's finished. You're really making me want to build a small scale cab for my ofice. Where did you find the little monitor? -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 (edited) You're really moving right along on this. It took me moths to complete my MAME cab and I converted an exisitng cab, I didn't do a scratch build like you. This is going to be a great little toy when it's finished. You're really making me want to build a small scale cab for my ofice. Where did you find the little monitor? -S Yes it's moving along pretty well. I DO work on it pretty continuously as I got the time atm. And yes I suspect it's going to be a very nice toy to play on starting tomorrow ( or is it secretly turning out to be some sort of proto ) Small (CRT) monitors are pretty hard to find, even new. They are produced in low volumes so they cost a relatively small fortune ($250-300). I couldn't retrieve a link just now, but sometime security shops or POS solutions use these sizes. Now that everything moves to plasma/lcd they'll become even rarer. This is an Axion 9 inch SVGA. I got it used of a local marketplace which is probably your best bet. Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I keep meaning to ask you, is it going to have a coin door? -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 I keep meaning to ask you, is it going to have a coin door? -S No, I figured it would look very oversized. I contemplated printing it, but that would look too fake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Maybe if you used only the top portion of an over/under door it would look proportionally okay. How large is the front panel? -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 Maybe if you used only the top portion of an over/under door it would look proportionally okay. How large is the front panel? -S it's 26.4 wide and 31 high. ( that's 10.39 x 12.20 inches) In the printed artwork however, the space for a possible coin door is only 8.5 x 19 (3.35 x 7.48) and that's calculated on an Atari calculator so it 's correct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I've got a NEO-GEO with an over under coin door. I'd be happy to measure the top door to see it it would fit the space you have if you like. I'm pretty sure it's less than 8.5 inches wide. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 ok thanks I'd be interested in that size. I guess a coin door would make it even more authentic looking.. btw here's the galaga finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 The top door measures 8x10.5 inches including the frame. When I look at your pics again though, it looks like it might not close properly because of depth clearance issues. Of course if you didn't want it to be functional, that wouldn't be an issue since you could always remove everything from the inside. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgo Posted March 9, 2005 Author Share Posted March 9, 2005 (edited) Stingray: That sounds pretty promising. What coindoor are we talking about exactly? Day 9 The good news: After a couple of days of painting/sanding (*4) and wiring etc it's done. dgo's ms.pacman mame minicab is finished!!! :) (well, except for some sideart and a coindoor maybe) Here's some first pics. (The back was off, the light creaks behinfd the screen don't show when it's on) inside front The inside from the back But now for the bad news I can't play it (yet) boohoo It seems the X-gaming keyboard encoder has a incompatibility problems with some mainboard giving a lower current on the keyboard connector. The solution they offer is buying a USB adapter @ $29.95. I think they should give that thing for free to solve their product defect. And I don't want USB in the first place because I heard some stories about latency problems etc. So I now have to wait for an I-Pac which has to be shipped to the Netherlands first. Damn damn damn. I hate the wait. Luckily the wiring of this thing is easy so installing will be a walk in the park. Here's the damn thing (if it works it works ok) I'm glad it's finished though. Back to normal life. In a dust covered house with tools everywhere, smelling like paint, cleaner, sawdust etc.. With normal sleep, meeting other people again, getting outside Edited September 21, 2005 by dgo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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