Wednesday, December 19, 2007
There's not much new to report today - since almost all of the construction is finished on the cabinet, save for aesthetic appeal, it's hard to say what else I can do for a while. I'm still recovering from yesterday's horrific attacks and if you want to help, please donate either blood or money.
Although there wasn't any construction today on the cabinet, I did place an order with Happ Controls (now that their website is working once again after pages got reshuffled). I ordered quite a few extra buttons just to insure that I'll have what I need for the layout I want and I'll also have replacement buttons. Also, due to monetary constraints, I haven't ordered the trackball, but when I do order it, if I'm in need of some more buttons, I can order them then (due to the $25 minimum order requirement).
Below is the e-mail receipt I received from Happ. Also, I've added picture on the side of the parts I ordered - the top picture is the Horizontal Microswitch Pushbutton (LONG HORZ PB in receipt). The 2nd picture is of the 1-4 player buttons that are used (I'm only using players 1 and 2 (HORZ PB 1 & 2). The third and final is the Happ Super Joystick which I chose because of advice found on Build Your Own Arcade Control's joystick page.
Once the order arrives, I'll be able to put together a rudimentary control panel (I'll have to acquire some sort of material to use). I'll have the joysticks and all the buttons, so I'll be able to start on the wiring and using a mouse until the trackball arrives, everything should be testable.
Order Lines: Line # Item #
Description
Qty Price
Extended 1
58-9111-L1PLY HORZ PB WT WITH MS & NUT 1
1 $1.75
$1.75
PLAYER W/LONG WHITE BEZEL 2
58-9111-L2PLY HORZ PB WT W/MS & NUT 2 PLYR
1 $1.75
$1.75 3
58-9111-L LONG HORZ PB WHITE W/.187 MS
& 4
$0.95
$3.80
NUT 4
58-9122-L LONG HORZ PB BLUE W/.187 MS
& 4
$1.65
$6.60
NUT 5
58-9133-L LONG HORZ PB GREEN W/.187 MS
& 2
$1.65
$3.30
NUT 6
58-9155-L LONG HORZ PB YELLOW W/.187
MS 2
$1.65
$3.30
& NUT 7
58-9166-L LONG HORZ PB BLACK W/.187 MS
& 5
$1.65
$8.25
NUT 8
58-9177-L LONG HORZ PB ORANGE W/.187
MS 2
$1.65
$3.30
& NUT 9
58-9100-L LONG HORZ PB RED W/.187 MS
& 4
$0.95
$3.80
NUT 10
50-6084-00 SUPER JOYSTICK,4&8 WAY
BRACKET 2
$13.20
$26.40
,HUB,SUB ASSY BLACK SHAFT 11
58-9144-L LONG HORZ PB PURPLE W/.187
MS 2
$1.65
$3.30
& NUT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order Total:
$65.55 Also, I might be able to acquire a 25" TV for the project at no cost which will be greatly appreciated. The only thing I need the TV to be able to do is accept S-Video input. After I have the control panel and TV in place, I'll just have to work on the computer and get it up and running.
8:30am - I was rudely awakened by some road work happening just a few houses down and across the street, but since I was up, I decided to make the most of the day. I headed off to Home Depot where I wanted to pick up some slides for a drawer and some sort of latch. I ended up buying 2 sets of 12" European Drawer Slides at a cost of $4.98 each. For some reason I thought that each set would have slides for just one side rather than both (yes, a stupid mistake). I'll probably be taking one set back later tonight. I also picked up a magnet catch for $0.96 that mounted nicely and would hold the drawer close. I'll probably pick up another magnet when I return the drawer slides. Total cost: $11.74
9:00am - I came back and started to work on the keyboard drawer. I took the front coin door/panel and took about 2 1/2" out of it from which the front of the keyboard drawer would be made. It took a lot of trial and error and ultimately was probably harder to put in than it was worth, but I do now have a drawer in my cabinet directly underneath the control panel. As stated above, the drawer is held closed by one magnet, but I plan on adding another on the other side later today (see picture for magnet close-up). Here are a couple pictures of the drawer.
After installing the drawer to my satisfaction, I attached the base to one side of the cabinet along with one panel. I then stood it up and attached the other side of the cabinet to the base and the panel. I then took a little stepladder and added the top panel to strengthen the cabinet sides as I added all the other panels.
The cabinet is now almost fully completed and is quite sturdy and stable. The only thing that hasn't been put in is the monitor shelf (although I did add the two 2x2's that will hold the monitor shelf. I also reinforced these 2x2's with the L brackets that I bought on the 29th. See pictures below:
Obviously the control panel is not in place, nor is the control panel box as they will not be installed until all the controls are wired. Speaking of which, today my KE-72 arrived along with the IOX-36 and some cables that were ordered from Hagstrom Electronics. The box was quite heavily battered, which was not Hagstrom's fault, but rather UPS (although a FRAGILE sticker might have helped).
And finally, here are some pictures of the cabinet with all the panels in place and the drawer fully functional. Payday is Wednesday and controls should be ordered from Happ Controls then. Once those arrive, I can get them working with the KE-72 and my computer and then the final step will be to get the computer and TV for the cabinet. Of course the cabinet needs quite a few finishing touches still.
3:00pm - I just added the two pictures to the right - I made up a crude holder for the Speaker Panel (above the monitor panel). I also added two cross-supports for the monitor panel to prevent any possible sagging that could occur from the 25" TV that will be added later. In the pictures you can see the completed cabinet with the monitor shelf added along with the speaker panel as well as the control panel box and panel in place (although they are removable). Also, the two pictures show the drawer in use - it doesn't come out too far, but it's far enough to access the keyboard that will be placed there. I just have to find an acceptable knob or handle to pull the drawer out.
Sunday, September 9, 2001
Work has finally started up again. Today I headed over to Home Depot and picked up three 8 foot 2x2 pieces of wood and some Elmer's Wood Glue. Total cost: 3 x $1.74 + 3.97 + tax = $9.88. I came back and cut the 2x2's to the requisite length and then nailed them onto the sides of the cabinet (see pictures). The 2x2's were first glued into place via Elmer's wood glue and then when the glue had dried enough, they were nailed from the other side. Since I plan on covering the outer sides with a contact paper, or something similar, it doesn't really matter if there's nails on that side.
I also reinforced the bottom stand for the cabinet by putting some screws through the two endplates into the middle ones - it's now almost indestructible.
The pictures are:
- This is a shot of the side of the cabinet before all of the 2x2's have been placed on it. You can see how I had originally planned to use scrap pieces of the 1/2" particle board, but it was brought to my attention that 2x2's would probably work better (and I'm sure they will be infinitely better.
- This is a shot of the base of the cabinet. You can see the two extra screws that I put into it to further strengthen the base. As I stated earlier, this base holds over 250 pounds easily and is a great base plate. I had thought that I should add a "X" shape in the middle with some more pieces of the particle board, but it's so sturdy as is, I'll probably just leave it.
- A shot of the cabinet side with all of the 2x2's around it. They are all placed 1" in from the edge of the cabinet since all of the 1/2" pieces of particle board are to be recessed 1/2". The only piece that is not recessed 1" is the piece that will hold the controls - see bottom picture...
- A shot of the cabinet side (again) with the 2x2's glued and nailed in from the other side. You can see the control box sitting on top of the ledge which has a 2x2 underneath it, flush with the cut of the cabinet side. This will provide an easy target to hammer into when the time comes to put the control box on.
Tomorrow...the box might see some further assembly. I have to figure out where to put the 2x2's for the monitor/tv shelf. Once that is done, assembly can continue, but I'm pretty unsure as of now where to put the shelf. What I'll probably do instead is to work on a drawer that will go in the front of the cabinet for easy keyboard access. Oh yeah, my order from Hagstrom should arrive tomorrow (see August 31st entry), but I won't be waiting on pins & needles. There might also be a new design sometime soon.
Friday, September 7, 2001
Today I had a final in my Economics class and treated myself afterwards with a trip to Frys. There I priced motherboards, processors, RAM, and a new hard drive. It seems as if the best way to go is a bundle motherboard/processor/ram which I will most likely get for $180. Then I just need to add a power supply ($30), video card ($70) and a hard drive (I'll be replacing one from my current computer with a bigger sized one, so the cost is minimal). I'm not sure about a sound card yet - the motherboard has an on-board sound card, but I'll most likely go with an authentic Sound Blaster Pro 32.
Construction continues tomorrow...can't wait (as I'm sure you can't either).
Wednesday, September 5, 2001
10:30am - I got to work early this morning on cutting the third piece of wood which included the second side to the cabinet along with the monitor/television stand and a back panel. With some experience cutting the first piece last week, this cut session went quite a bit faster. After making all of the requisite cuts, I started in on the base panel. I wanted it to be extra strong since it would be holding up the whole cabinet - computer, television, controls and all. The original plans called for 4 support beams beneath the main base panel, which I have completed, but I plan on adding a couple more stabilizing supports. I would be working on it right now, but while doing preliminary construction work on the sides of the cabinet, I misfired with the hammer and caught the side of my finger, right near the fingernail, breaking the skin apart from the nail. Once bandaged, I put in the last nail I was working on and called it a day. Construction will continue this weekend. Pictures have been taken and will be posted in a couple of days.
5:30pm - Work continued on the project. I took the two sides of the cabinets, and cut out the angled/curved section where the monitor face will be. I had waited on this because I wanted to get both sides of the cabinet equal before attempting this fine cut. On the first side, I used a sliding protractor and made a 1/4 circle which then angled down to the point marked for the cut and then towards the side. Once you see the pictures, you'll know what I mean.
The pictures are:
- This is a shot of one side of the cabinet. I made the final cuts including the part that curves near the top. I also put in 3 reinforcing pieces of wood to which I will install the pre-cut panels. These three panels should provide ample support for the cabinet as I install it to the base (see right column pictures).
- A close up of the other side of the cabinet - same as the first...
- Just a shot of both sides of the cabinet back-to-back. The final construction should go quite smoothly as the panels seemed to fit in perfectly.
- A shot of the cabinet base from the top. It's quite strong which surprised me. Both a friend and I were able to stand on it without the slightest hint of it giving way. Regardless, I'm going to add one more cross beam.
- This is a shot of the cabinet base laying on its side. You can see the two supports that reach all the way from the "bottom" to the "top" of the base. The two cross-supports help as well. Each of the 4 supports is held in place by 3 screws. One more thing to add is a screw or nail through the side supports into the middle supports.
- A shot of the base lying upside-down. Looks pretty good don't it?
Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Today, work continued (finally) after much more research. I didn't have enough time to pull out the saw or do any woodwork, so I took out the control panel board and proceeded to figure out how I was going to lay out the buttons. I took the control panel templates from LuSiD and modified them extensively. They were essentially used for a crude layout and for approximating the sizes of the boxes (trackball and joystick). The basic layout mirrored the 1st mock-up I did but instead of the "1" button being between 2 & a, it is slightly below "a." This way, I am able to use 2, 3, 4 & a, b, c for fighting games that take 6 buttons and use 1, a, b, & c for NeoGeo type games. For games with only two buttons required, buttons 1 & a can be used. I figured out that I'll place 2 buttons above the trackball and then the spinner will be above those two buttons. I have some pictures of the first layout and spent some more time later tonight finalizing the layout. Pictures will be coming in a couple of days (my camera-to-PC cable is in San Diego and the cabinet is being built in Orange). I also sketched out some blueprints for future use by others who need some sort of guide to go by. Scans will be coming soon as well (scanner is in S.D.).
As a side note, I've been playing way to much
Bump 'n' Jump lately.
Addendum: I continued my work on the control panel and finalized the positioning of all the buttons - there will be 4 spare buttons located on the control panel for future ease of use and I'm thinking about putting two buttons on the side of the control panel box for use in pinball-type games. I have finalized the blueprints and will put them up online once I have them scanned in.
The pictures are:
- A shot of the control panel as it lays outside. Note the trackball in the middle, bottom with the two player controls on each side. Each one features a joystick and 7 buttons.
- The control panel inside - I thought it would work better without the sun glare.
- A close-up of the right-side player's control panel. Note the slightly offset 2nd buttons (top and bottom) with the more offset 1st button on the far left.
- A close-up of the left-side player's controls. Same as the right. Both players are expected to be right handed or proficient with these controls as a lefty.
- A close up of the trackball and left-hand controls. You can see that the controls are on a 22.5ยบ angle coming off of the trackball outline. From my impromptu tests, the controls will work quite nicely.
- These blueprints are the layout for the control panel that I will be using. In the middle, on the bottom is the trackball with the spinner above it. Between the two, are two buttons (left and right click for the trackball). On the top line are 8 little slashes - these are all buttons. 4 of them will be used, 4 will be left as spares - the buttons will be Player 1, Spare, Esc, Spare, Spare, Pause, Spare, Player 2.
- These blueprints (on yellow paper) is the layout for the joysticks and buttons. This layout will be placed within the first layout - there are two hashes indicating their locations. The large box is the joystick (4/8 way) and the buttons are laid out as can be seen. The first button is offset from the others by 1/2 inch and the two buttons in the middle of the 6 are offset by 1/4 inch. These layouts have not been tested, but should work out quite well.
Monday, September 3, 2001
Thanks to the extremely quick replies from Kelsey working at Oscar, I have figured out how I am going to set up the spinners for my cabinet. I will most likely go with model 1 which can be connected to the serial port. Alternatively, I could go with the model 2 spinner and connect it through an OptiPAC which would then again be connected through the serial port (up to 4 spinners can be connected to an OptiPAC, allowing for further upgrades in the future). The problem is, that if I buy a model 1 and then decide to upgrade in the future, I could run into some wiring problems, thus a model 2 would probably be the smart way to go, but the OptiPAC controller would have to be added to the cost of the spinner.
As of September 3:
Model 1 = $49.00
Model 2 = $45.00
OptiPAC = $39.00
Therefore, Model 2 + OptiPAC = $84.00 for a spinner with future upgradeability...
Model 1 = $49.00 - no upgrade ability unless modifications to the spinner were made.
It's a toss up right now and might be a spur of the moment decision when I decide to purchase the spinner, but I'm definitely going with the spinner from Oscar. I just haven't run across a dual-spinner cabinet, nor do I see a reason to add 2 spinners. Playing games like Arkanoid requires only 1 spinner, so until I find a reason to have 2 spinners, I might just go with Model 1 using a dual-mouse driver.
The top picture to the left shows the know I'll probably go with (there are other knobs available). The 2nd picture shows a Model 2 spinner connected to an OptiPAC.
I also had a bit of free time on my hands, so I made a new mock-up of the control set-up I'll probably use (very bottom picture - old mock-up is the 3rd picture). I used a NeoGeo template for the layout of the red button along with the top row of yellow, green, and blue. I then looked at a Streetfighter layout which has them laid out in a row of 3 with another row directly below. I'm not quite sure which one I'm going to use. The 1st mock-up (with the numbers and letters) probably is more ergodynamic with the buttons in the 2 rows slightly off-set to make up for the different lengths of your fingers, but you have to think that the people who design the arcade games know what they're doing when they lay out the game for a massive rollout. I'll probably end up using some scrap wood to test both layouts and see what works best. But I've pretty much settled on the fact that each person will have 7 different buttons, each configured for each separate game.
