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DIY arcade build - tips, tricks, precautions?


carlsson

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So our club has three PCBs with various games: Galeco World Rally Championship, Ghosts 'n Goblins (probably a bootleg) and a 6-in-1 multicart (modern with optional VGA output). We only have one cabinet though, with a rather worn joystick and buttons in dire need to get replaced.

 

I have raised the suggestion to build at least one more cabinet, perhaps table model instead of upright. Now I wonder how much work there is to build one from scratch, if we can find or create drawings. Which type of wood would we use - plywood, MDF, solid wood? We don't have access to a lot of tools or workspace, but imagine that perhaps the place where we buy the wood can help us cut out profiles. How do you file down the edges so those are smooth, is that possible if we use some fiber based material or is it better to use solid wood? Do you put strips on the short ends to cover for rough edges?

 

Do you need plexiglass to cover the monitor? Vinyl film around the joysticks and buttons instead of just painted wood?

 

Also what is the typical power consumption of a JAMMA board? I understand a standard PC AT supply should be enough, but I've also got a few Meanwell PT-65A supplies that may be useful unless they're too weak. On the video side, we got plenty of both 14-20" CRT TVs and VGA monitors in the same sizes. Since I'm in Europe, getting a JAMMA to SCART adapter doesn't seem like a big issue, supposing those work well enough. As I mentioned, one of the boards already has optional VGA out, so we'd have to install extra speakers in that cabinet.

 

Since we're going to order joysticks, buttons and cables anyway, we probably would order all sorts of adapters and peripherals we need to finish off the build(s).

 

We already found places that sell pre-made kits, e.g. someone in Spain which sells on Amazon but those kits seem to be designed for flat screen monitors which not necessarily is what we're going for. There may be kits for CRTs too, just that I didn't look. Importing wood from the US seems like a waste of money, but rest of the EU probably would work.

 

Feel free to give your advice what to do and what to not do, and links to various sites which may have drawings and DIY hints.

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19 hours ago, carlsson said:

Now I wonder how much work there is to build one from scratch, if we can find or create drawings.

The answer to this is rather nebulous because it depends on so many different things, but if you've never built such a project before and/or your experience level and selection of tools is low, then my answer for how much work a scratch build is would be "probably much more than you think."  It's still lots of fun if you're into it, but it takes time. 

 

19 hours ago, carlsson said:

plywood, MDF, solid wood

Any dimensionally-stable, reasonably sturdy sheet materials will work. 

 

Plywood - make sure you get veneered stuff for a smooth/paintable surface, not exterior grade.  It's strong and easy to work with. Probably what I'd recommend, personally.  

 

MDF - I built my first cabinet with this stuff.  It definitely does the trick, but it is MESSY AF when you start cutting it.  Weighs a fucking ton too, and has near ZERO tolerance for moisture. 

 

Solid wood - in theory it would work, but it seems like an extremely expensive choice, at least if you want wood that is smooth and looks good. 

19 hours ago, carlsson said:

We don't have access to a lot of tools or workspace, but imagine that perhaps the place where we buy the wood can help us cut out profiles.

  

Lack of tools and space is probably going to be a problem unless your project is physically quite small.  

 

19 hours ago, carlsson said:

How do you file down the edges so those are smooth, is that possible if we use some fiber based material or is it better to use solid wood? Do you put strips on the short ends to cover for rough edges?

Finishing cut edges is definitely something you want to plan for.  The gold standard in arcade building is to hit all edges with a slot cutting router bit and install t-molding.  I strongly recommend this approach.  It's not difficult, looks "right," and is very durable.  

 

19 hours ago, carlsson said:

Do you need plexiglass to cover the monitor? Vinyl film around the joysticks and buttons instead of just painted wood?

Plexiglass (or some sort of transparent plastic) is not functionally necessary, but it can provide a much more finished look and opens the possibility to do custom bezels, etc.  Without it, it will probably just look like a TV inside a box.  

 

Similarly for the control panel - film with artwork, etc. is not strictly necessary but really helps the project look better.  I guarantee you'll be disappointed with painted wood.  It will show all kinds of imperfections when the light hits it from different angles (which will only get worse once skin oils get deposited all over it, etc.)  A simple-but-clean solution I've used is to take a thin piece of acrylic and spray paint the underside of it.  This way you get a glass-like solid-color control panel that is quite simple to do, easy to wipe down, and looks very clean.

 

19 hours ago, carlsson said:

We already found places that sell pre-made kits, e.g. someone in Spain which sells on Amazon but those kits seem to be designed for flat screen monitors which not necessarily is what we're going for. There may be kits for CRTs too

 

I totally understand why you're leaning toward CRT; it's what I have used on most of my projects.  But I'd recommend not writing off LCD yet, as there are definite advantages from an integration standpoint.  MUCH easier to fit into a design, mount in a sturdy way, etc.  CRTs are bulky and heavy and their "depth" requires a lot of space to house them in a cabinet.  If you're strongly leaning toward a bartop type unit, a 4:3 flatscreen is a great choice, IMO (if you can find one.)  It will be much more portable and you'll have a lot more latitude with the shape/size of the cabinet.  

 

 

 

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A useful reference:

I'd be sure to make it easy to rotate the monitor somehow. This is one of the few things that I find inconvenient about my New Astro City: the monitor weighs like 35kg or something like that and lacks a rotation mechanism like what the Egret II has. I do want to play games using both monitor orientations, but the thought of having to halfway disassemble the Astro and then risk hurting my back lifting that heavy monitor out of there to spin it makes me not want to rotate it. Build some sort of something to assist with that if you can so you aren't stuck with only one orientation.

 

I'd specifically recommend avoiding a CRT just because of the weight; you will have to support that weight with your build, and if you want to rotate a heavy CRT, you may want to consider getting several other humans to assist you so you don't kill yourself or mess up your back or whatever.

 

Also consider the button layout carefully; make something comfortable, which means NOT the 2 rows of 3 buttons in a straight line. That shit sucks. You probably should read about button placements here: https://slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

 

As usual, my recommendation is Astro City, which looks like this for 1P side

 

sega1_s.png

 

and like this for 2P side

 

sega2_s.png

 

If you don't need the 2 buttons on the far right, just ignore them and use the 6 to the left; the 6 button layout is what you'll typically see on an Astro, but if you need the other 2 buttons, there you go.

 

I'd also consider the Namco Noir layout if you want something like Astro City but with more space between the stick and the buttons, as Astro City and Noir are very similar, with the major difference being the placement of the stick on Noir is significantly farther to the left, as there are only tiny differences in the spacing of the buttons to the point where the buttons are almost identical.

 

For the stick itself, I'd get the Seimitsu LS-32 if you can, as that's my favourite stick. That's what I have in my New Astro City, and it's way better than the Hayabusa lever in my PS4 arcade stick, which feels rather loose after playing on the Astro, and the Sanwa thing in my other arcade controller. I'll probably replace those other sticks with the LS-32 soon.

Edited by Steven Pendleton
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do you have zero access to arcade cabinets?  Do you really want to build one?  If you have access to a cnc machine, you can probably find the plans to a dynamo hs1 and have it cut.  then its just assembly.  If you build a dynamo hs1. you can probably buy multiple control panels for customized configurations.

 

if your running a crt, you dont have to cover the tube. atari did not cover it for gauntlet,  sega did not cover it for die hard dedicated.  but you probably should make sure your running an isolation transformer and the cab being properly grounded.

 

if you can find any cab in your area that already has a tube and has isolation transformer ect, you might be better off than sourcing it locally.  Maybe you could find someone to gut a cabinet and send you all the wiring to save you some effort.

 

maybe you could find an old pc crt and use that there were many 20" 4x3 monitors back in the day. if you find a multisync monitor, you can more boards.  sony made many impressive monitors in the 80's-90's. look for sony pvm series. pvm2030, 2530. you can also search for sony medical line monitors.

 

if your not trying to power say 6 boards at once and using a switcher to change them,  just about any power supply will work. A real 80's- 90's arcade PS is 10a.  I dont think you need more than 3a to run a board. probably more like 1.5a.  its not until the later pcbs that you started to see 15a power supplies or larger that powered pcbs with hdd's. here is an old atari sticker from a 70's-80's I think thats 2.5a  most atari games here will say 3a.

19.jpg.56f3e3bffb3749a8084398744eafe1ad.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

If you have never made a cabinet before, your second one will be better then your first. 😉

 

You will learn a lot with your first cabinet build and when you get done with it there will be a lot "I should have done this" or "I should have done that".

 

I personally like using 4X3 LCD monitors as they seem easy to find in second hand store (at least here in Ohio). All my games (ThinCades) are running on Pi's using AdvancedMAME. So far I have four arcade machines I've made. Each one I make I think of something I will do different on the next.

Here's a link if you are interested (it's on KLOV):ThinCade: DIY arcade project.

Here's a video walk around of my first two machines. I've since added "YieAr Kung FU" & TRON:

 

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For the record, nothing has happened on our arcade front. Then again it is expected since it is only just over a month ago the idea was raised and we all got $DAYJOBS and families taking up our spare time. I have noted your suggestions so far, in particular to consider using LCD/TFT monitors instead of CRT in the first project at least.

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"Day jobs", Thats funny man...Ya, it doesn't work like that, building cabs is an obsession, you HAVE to build it, You have to get it out of your head, or you won't eat, you won't sleep, you will stay up late, probably get divorced a few times like me, Live on popcorn and coffee for weeks at a time,  Sleep on it sometimes...Hell you would probably even keep working if you had a spear through your head if you really wanted it bad enough.

Edited by Jenni
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20 hours ago, Jenni said:

Those are nice cabs friend...You must be up on the food chain over there at Klove, I got booted for my Star Wars build, aparently they ONLY do restorations, or so they said in no uncertain terms.

No I'm not up on the food chain over there. Most of my post over there is in the Emulation section.

 

20 hours ago, Keatah said:

Klov is a clique and reminds of scientology. Just wierd.

Funny thing is I didn't know anyone over there and had no problem getting an account (I just had to wait a few weeks). I will admit there are some people over there that is "nothing but original will do". To be honest I don't really post that much outside of the Emulation section since my ThinCade are based on emulation.

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  • 1 year later...

Heh. I had forgotten I posted this thread. As it turns out, absolutely nothing has happened in the past year, but your words of wisdom still remain. Actually we were about to cheap out and get an Arcade1Up Pacmania 14-in-1 at Costco since they were selling for "American prices" compared to Swedish prices which are twice as much for the exact same item, but the warehouse was sold out when we got there.

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