Almost finished now

This week saw the arrival of more vinyl, so I've covered the coin door now, I'm still looking for a coin reject button and cover, so if anyone has one of these going, and wants to post to NZ (for a reasonable price) please let me know :)

The end is in site (which makes me both happy and sad; happy because I get to invite everybody over and have a games night, sad because it means no more project for a while) with Side Art on order, and I was persuaded by (of all people) my wife to order new t-molding as what's on the arcade presently could probably do with a tidy up. In keeping with the rest of the arcade (red / blue / black colours) I've ordered the bright red, which is supposed to match the HAPP buttons, so I can but hope, as postage costs dictated that I couldn't realistically order a sampler pack and then choose, so hopefully I'm right out of the box, otherwise it's a costly mistake!!

So, only one new photo; I have covered the door on the front, and everything is looking much more like a real arcade again! I think next time; I will build my own from scratch (using plans I have found on the interweb) rather than restoring one, it's been a mission trying to figure out how the builder has put certain things together, (the U-Nails debacle still comes to mind at this point) and as this seems to be pretty much his own design, (based on a Neo-Geo by the looks of it) I've literally had to reverse engineer everything to figure out how it's put together, and of course; my own design flair has been added here and there to put the new stuff in, like the new control panel and the monitor mount, which is strong as houses! I reckon I could sit on it and not break it, which is definitely a good thing! Anyway, today's photo...

Computer fitted, and test run...

Artwork is on order, so we're on hold until that arrives now, then hopefully more or less finished so I can have people over for "game night" ... Winner stays on of course ... Best I get practicing!!

Anyway, computer has been requisitioned and fitted, and I've play tested it, and it is playing supremely well with the newly bolted down control panel, unfortunately; some of the filler came loose while I was drilling new guide holes, so back to filling a couple of screw holes tomorrow, but that aside... New Marquee also arrived and got fitted, so this is where we're at so far...

Obviously we have to have a look at the marquee first, as we've been waiting a while for that; this is with the lights out so fully back lit; looking very good methinks! Mucho thanks go out to Scott at Game on Grafix for this, he's been awesome about the whole thing after the first read Mr Draco's; a little disheartening at the time, but as Scott is such an awesome person to deal with, he made everything right in quick time, and I'm now loving the newly fitted artwork; if anything Game On Grafix are BETTER than everyone says! The Vinyl work is just amazing; even with the backlight turned off it looks awesome.

Then there's the computer, I must again thank my good friend for the donation; I can't with all honesty say I've double checked the spec, but I do know it's running Hyperspin well, and playing MAME games with ease now it's up and running.

Test run:

And now; to paraphrase The Emperor; we witness the power of this fully operational MAME arcade!

Should probably have opened the blinds to take that one, but hey; we live; we learn!!

The Side Art is going to remain a closely guarded secret until it's fitted, so everyone will have to wait for that!!

That is all.

ready for finishing...

Okay, so another landmark weekend this weekend... This saturday saw the migration into the house for finishing, as the shed is just to damp and rubbish. I've filled in all the screw holes, and any bumps I can find ready for artwork (will need a final sand down). I've sprayed the grill and the rear vent (just a gloss black... works for me) and I've carbon fibre'd (just to keep on my theme with the inner bezel) the metalwork, as it looked like it had been dipped in plastic before, and whilst I did try cleansing the metalwork; it didn't really go so well, so I've smoothed it and the put the carbon fibre over the top, as you'll see; it's actually not to bad.

If the filler has set and spot on when I check it out tonight, and I get the filler that's on the inside where the controller will sit painted, I should be able to mount the control panel tomorrow in its final resting place (for now anyway, I am discovering that it's very tempting to do more every time I do something, however until I have a big workshop (AKA re-purposed garage) this is it)

So, in the house, all fillered up... The bezel is all in place, and whilst it's not the final; I've placed the marquee in position to get an idea (at this point, it's not stuck yet, as the replacement is en-route from GameOnGrafix hence chopping off the top):

Finished mountings, all screwed down...

Tonight, since I had a couple of hours to spare, I decided to finish up a few of the little jobs before the arcade comes into the house... Mounted the 6 point extension, and since the mounting for the monitor has all been finalised (for a long time now, just haven't gotten around to screwing it down) I've screwed it down, so now you could literally turn the arcade upside down and nothing would move! I've also painted the little bits that can be seen through the bezel, all that remains is artwork (in progress) and the actual computer that's going in it, which my friend will be bringing over soon with any luck.

Not very interesting pics, but just to show how things are mounted:

So, as you can see the monitor mount is now screwed down; same in all four corners. I've used the existing mounts that the former CRT went into when I built the mount for the monitor, it's basically an upside down U so I have access to everything from underneath if required, but it's as secure as the former monitor. I've also put two bars each side for the inner bezel to rest on just to make sure everything stays in place, these have now been painted black, as the edges could be seen through the smoked glass (can't even see them anymore!).

I've also done the plug sockets:

This means all that will be seen out of the back is the one white cable from the power box to the wall; at the moment as it's in the shed, I've blocked it up to stop any "critters" getting into the arcade, as I did find when I stripped it that some kind of critter (either a mouse or a rat) had been living in it; unfortunately the hole was quite big formerly, but I'll be fixing that this weekend and blanking it out to stop anything getting in since all the electronics are going in bit by bit now.

That's all for now, hopefully in the house this weekend... woo hoo!

Control Panel Final 2...

Not got as far as I'd have wanted this weekend, however some hard yards and a hard decision has been made. I view this as a work of art as much as a project, so I've decided to commission artwork for the sides. Based on numerous recommendations; I've spoken to Vlad who does the custom work for Game on Grafix, and he's now working on turning my ideas into a workable side art ... Excited!

Also; as the title suggests we finished re-covering the control panel. I didn't get to spray the grills yet, but that can be this weekends work, and filling all the little holes and imperfections in the side ready for artwork now. Speakers still sound great, and waiting on parts again now. Few bits to fill on the inside of the cab too, just to make things perfect. But, of course; as always the proof is in the pudding, so pictures:

Mini Amp - Now fitted...

Ten minute job for tonight, as I'd prepped everything ready to accept this little amp, and wow did it turn out to be a powerful little beastie for something that claims to be only 20w RMS! Nearly blew the side off the shed when I first tested it, very nice, works very well with the 4" x-plod (sony) speakers I picked up from JB Hi Fi the other week. Anyway, since you can't appreciate how good it sounds; thought I'd post a photo of it sitting proudly inside the cab...

Also, as an aside; some more meddling with Hyperspin, and an untested theory on my part ended in a working version of Hyperspin; I need to put some time into figuring out how to build an accurate games list that applies in Hyperspin now though; I keep ending up with the default list, and I A: don't have half of those games, or B: want them! To many to scroll through!! But Yay to making Hyperspin work!!

Just in case you're struggling with Hyperspin (given that it's meant to be really easy, but I can find very little supporting documentation for it) easiest way I found to get things working was to make hyperspin on the C:\ so you don't have to worry about changing paths later, (especially important if you're going to migrate between machines, which I will be doing) and install a COMMAND LINE version of MAME into the Emulators folder in Hyperspin (e.g.: C:\HyperSpin\Emulators\Mame). The important thing to remember there is Command Line version! Not one of the GUI versions; at present, I'm using 136 as most of my ROM's work well with that from the last time I updated my list. My main mistake was thinking Hyperspin could use the GUI version of MAME. Clearly; it cannot.

Anyway that's all for tonight, and probably until the weekend again.

mini amp...

Mini amp has arrived a week early! Excellent; tested as working, not sure about the outputs yet, as I'm at work now, but will test this later when I get home :) ... Looking swish, almost a shame it's going to be hidden inside the cab:

Artwork / Software...

Another quick update...

Today I've dealt with Steve from gameongrafix and they'll be sending the new marquee out this Wednesday or Thursday (their US time, so Thursday or Friday NZ time). Unfortunately that means it won't be here for the weekend, but that's okay; have a few slight repairs to do to get the cab ready for artwork, still need to spray the grill and the vent to make sure everything's ready and paint the innards that might be visible from the outside after everything is finalised.

Software wise; I've not been having much luck with HyperSpin which a lot of people swear by, and it does look like a piece of software I'd really like to use, just have to figure out if it's going to be viable. I've also been testing a few of the others to see if I like any better. I actually quite like the built in listing with Mame 0.84. Works very well, and easy to select a game, obviously not perfect otherwise I wouldn't be experimenting, but unless I can get something spot on; that may be the one for MAME, and I have no problems setting up folders / shortcuts and building my own in VB if necessary.

That's all for now; no more actual work being done on the cab right now, still waiting for the amp to arrive (has it been three weeks yet?) so I can install and test, and a friend of a friend is working on sideart I think, though if all else fails; at the moment favourite is the Missile Command sideart, looks very retro and funky, and think it would go well, but of course; there are other options. Both Gameongrafix (http://gameongrafix.com) and digdug (ebay seller) have some excellent products, and get excellent feedback. Suggestions welcome.

That is all.

Saturday... Construction day again; not so much of a big one today, more details than anything. Marquee and Outer Bezel have arrived, unfortunately the Marquee is incorrect, so I'll be waiting on a reprint; companies mistake, but from all of their awesome feedback, I'm sure they'll be sorting it out for me soonest :)

To start the day, I decided it was time to get a bracket to hold the bottom of the glass in place should the arcade be tipped; so off to Mitre 10 we went... A 600mm metal rule, metal saw, and a 20mm by 20mm by 1000mm L plate later and we're headed home again! I still have enough vinyl to cover brackets and the like, so I made the 600mm bracket from the 1000mm sheet, having 400mm left over to do whatever with. Test fit is good, covered in vinyl, as are other detail parts now.

The big part of today's project was removing that front plate from the old control panel, this proved to be much more difficult than I had envisioned, as I could only see two screws that had been filled over, and I had assumed (given the overall construction) that this would be all there was and maybe some glue along the bottom; oh how wrong I was! I don't think I have ever been so wrong before!!

For starters the filler may as well have been cement, and in the first side, when I managed to cut away enough to see if I could unscrew it; nope, not a chance! Screw was cemented in there good. Next effort = let's just drill the screws out, so away we go in true gung ho style, one broken drill bit later; I learned a valuable lesson not to try and go to hard straight away! Eventually, I managed to drill out the old broken useless screws, but still no movement. Frustration sets in, as there are no other visible attachments, so I broke out the chisel to see if I could just knock out the piece of wood; about 10 minutes later, and surpringly little damage, I had the right hand side free, and found to my disgust 4 u nails were holding it down, and the same had been used all along the bottom to hold it in place! So a lot of levering later; it was now free. Unfortunately the left side didn't fair as well, and that will require some filler to fix, the rest just needs a sand down and is ready to take the controller.

So a quick recap on today: Fitted the outer bezel, created a new L bracket to make sure glass doesn't fall out if machine is tipped, removed front panel from old controller (at least now I know why arcade selling guy didn't take that with him... I think it needs to be burnt in some kind of ritual to cleanse the arcade of filth as that was the last remaining remnant of the "old" before starting fully on making over the graphics.

That meant we got to quickly test fit the control panel; somewhere along the lines, I measured an extra inch, even with all my careful maths, but that's okay, because it actually looked really good when it was all in, and it holds the L bracket perfectly like this, so the perfect mistake! It's a little over sized, but I like it so it stays! Glad I over engineered it now, and only a couple of modifications left until the control panel finds a permanent home... So, the real reason why you're here... Pictures of the day:

Looks really good, but spot the mistake, hopefully should get a reprint shortly:

It's a bit of a shame, as we could have had complete bezel / marquee installation today, but not to worry, Scott from GameonGraphix is on the job hopefully.

Bezel looks spectactular though, as did the test fit...

As you can see, slight modification needed in that I wasn't expecting the CP to be visible at all, so hadn't done complete side coverage (just that 10mm or so, shocking, should have just covered it!) so now I have to recover the whole thing. Might take the opportunity to get a heavier grade vinyl to be honest, but you can see in the photo how well it holds the glass in place, and the outer Bezel just looks so good, with the grid just focusing the attention into the monitor from the control panel! Just need to do some minor repairs to make it ready to take the CP permanetly, and prep the sides for art now, then once I have a computer in there; it's all systems go!

That is all.