Paradise Arcade - Part 3: Construction Begins

I started by cutting out a side panel.  I used a handheld circular saw for the straight cuts, and a small router with curve cutting jig for the rounded corners.  Getting one of these cutout and stood up was a great moment, I was really happy with how it looked.  I actually made an error transcribing my measurements to the wood at this point, but didn't realise until much later.

I got a second one cut out, and connected it to the first with floor and roof panels.  Now I could really appreciate the full size of it.

I got the control panel pieces in, with holes for the player one and two start buttons on the front and added the wheels.  As I mentioned earlier, the steel panel was a bit too narrow, so I had to route out a 2mm recess in some pieces of wood to fill in the gaps at the side.

Next I set to mounting the monitor.  My dad picked up these brackets as he thought they might work, and they were perfect.

With the brackets fixed to the sides, and some cross pieces, I could screw the 4 corner mounts of the tube into them.

The monitor was a really tight fit, I had to file a few millimetres off the edge of its mounting points.

I planned to put both a door on the front, beneath the control panel, and have a lift out panel on the back to provide access to the monitor tube and chassis.

This shows the support structure beneath the steel panel

At this point I had put in the T-molding slot with a slot cutting router bit, and I started putting on the undercoat, and the top coat of the inner surface of the side panels.  Most of the cab would be covered in vinyl, but the inner overhang on the side panels, and the speaker panel, would be painted black.  I got a special paint designed for rough surfaces that you paint on thick and then sand back smooth, it worked really nicely and completely eliminated the wood grain.  I actually shouldn't have started paining that black coat until I had more of cab built, and I would end up having to redo it because I scratched it during further construction.

 

One break from authenticity I decided to do was stick a decent sound system in it.  This was a nice upgrade that wouldn't be apparent from the outside, or noticeable when playing games, but with an AUX port on the back it could double as a living room stereo, or function as a jukebox if I setup that software on it.  I put in Dayton ND-91full range speakers, hooked up to a Lepai 2020 amp.  I bought these from Parts Express (https://www.parts-express.com/) and found all the information for speaker box dimensions, port size, etc, on there.  They have a LOT of really useful info, including forums, on their website.

 

Here I am testing the sound system for the first time.  It sounds bloody great, with thumping base.

At this point every panel that isn't a door/hatch is attached and the cab is fully undercoated

If you look closely in the picture above you may notice I have a larger diameter radius on the curve of the bottom back corner than the front corner.  This is to allow the cab to be tilted back on it's rear wheels to be wheeled like a trolley.  It has swivel wheels at the front, and fixed wheels at the back.  In the picture below you can see two rectangular holes in the top panel.  These serve as handles when wheeling it as a trolley (albeit a bit too high to do it really comfortably), and also as air vents.  They'll have plastic inserts placed inside later.

Next I added the wood grain vinyl and the t-molding.  Before adding the vinyl I painted the sides with a high gloss, because that's best for vinyl adherence.  This first picture shows one completed side, with vinyl trimmed and t-molding on.  I got a cheap vinyl off ebay.  It looks great, but it's very thin, and the adhesive is weak.  It sticks fine to the gloss black, but when I tried to bend it round the edges to tuck under the t-molding, it wouldn't stick well.  I had to go around the edges and add PVA glue to keep it stuck down.  I did a pretty good job but if you look closely in the flesh, you can find small flaws.  I wasn't comfortable just trimming it to the shape of the panel, it was such thin vinyl and the adhesive wasn't that strong that I was afraid it would peel up.  In future I would use a good brand of adhesive vinyl like DC-fix.  That stuff sticks to anything (including raw wood) and is tough as hell.  Could have saved myself a lot of bother.

This image shows the other side just after I put the vinyl on, and before I trimmed it and folded it over the edges.  What you can also just see is that the back of the cab (and the roof) is painted a matte black.

After this I put on the front door, and built the back hatch, but I don't have any photos of that process.  With those things done, anything that would create sawdust was finished, so I moved it from my dad's workshop into my apartment living room.

Control panel and coin door added.

I got a pack of 5 locks and keys off ebay, one would go on the coin door, one on the larger front door, and one on the lift out hatch at the back

Monitor added

Joysticks and buttons added

Still a bit of work to do, but actually having a recognisable arcade cabinet sitting in my living room at this point was a huge buzz, even if it would still be a while before it was operational and complete.  Next comes the bezel, artwork, marquee light, computer, software and other finishing touches.  Almost there!

Paradise Arcade - Part 2: Plans and parts

Everything in the previous post happened while I was overseas, once I got back to Australia I started acquiring parts and making an accurate 3D model.  At this point I should mention that I joined the Aussie Arcade forums (https://www.aussiearcade.com/forum.php) which became an incredibly valuable resource for for both acquiring parts and for figuring out how to go about building, or hooking up, particular features of the cab.  That helped a lot when making a proper set of plans to build from.  My initial model had the look I wanted, but there were many details such as wheels, doors, marquee lighting, etc. that I hadn't thought about.

The first thing I had to do was turn my basic model into something that had actual dimensions.  I didn't really know what the dimensions "should" be.  I did a lot of standing around with a tape measure, next to different pieces of furniture (e.g. a kitchen bench) and resting my hands on them to see if they seemed like the right height for the control panel.  It seemed like if I could decide on the height and angle of the control panel, the rest would pretty much fall into place.  And that's basically what happened.  I decided that a control panel height of approximately 1010mm from the floor to the centre of the panel felt right, with a panel angle of 15 degrees.  Once I had those dimensions I took a side view of my initial 3D model,



imported it into a drawing program (Inkscape - an amazing program!), and started to modify it based on some real world dimensions.  Once I had a rough idea of the monitor dimensions, and the marquee dimensions the rest fell into place, sort of...  The process looked a bit like this:



I actually spent a long time on this.  There was something about that initial model that just looked so "right", but some of it's proportions weren't appropriate.  For example, the marquee was far too short relative to it's width, which would have made the marquees of most arcade games an impossible fit.  There were many small things like that, but eventually I got something as close to the initial concept as I could with sensible dimensions.

So I went into SketchUp (another awesome piece of software) and started to build a proper model.  Here are some pictures from the more or less final plan:

That model includes some details that weren't actually decided at that point, specifically the bezel.  At that stage I had sourced a TV with a 29 inch tube which I got for free off a guy on Aussie Arcade.  The removed tube:



But I couldn't actually decide whether I wanted a 29, or 25 inch screen.  I designed the cab to be as narrow as it possibly could be while still accomodating a 29 inch tube, which would still look perfectly fine if I ultimately decided to go with a 25 inch one.  This resulted in a cab that was 615mm wide between side panels (which add an extra 19mm each for a total width of 653mm).  I had initially decided I wanted the cab to be no more than 600mm wide between panels, so this was only a slight increase in size while keeping my options open.

You will notice that this plan is clearly not complete.  There were some details that were difficult to decide without having a physical cabinet and parts sitting in front of me, so I decided that I had enough worked out to begin construction and the rest I would figure out as I went.  For some things this was fine, e.g. the precise location of the coin door, but other details were more crucial, such as how I would mount the monitor glass, and if there would be enough room between the monitor and the glass for the screen bezel.  Not working that particular detail out ahead of time would bite me in the arse later...

While all this was happening I was ordering parts.  I got the coin door and some coin mechs, the MCA sticks, and the keyboard encoder (IPAC VE from https://www.ultimarc.com/), and ArcadeVGA video card (also from https://www.ultimarc.com/) and a few other generic bits and pieces.  I couldn't get a Coin Controls over under door, they were very hard to find in decent condition, so I settled for a single door Coin Controls door which was in nice condition, and had a Capcom sticker in the middle which I thought was cool.



I decided to go with red player one and blue player two joysticks and buttons.  And I decided on the following layout for my buttons, which I decided on mainly for aesthetic reasons rather than ergonomic considerations:

A friend of mine to lasercut a stainless steel panel for me.  I actually got this cut before I decided to widen the cabinet to accomodate a 29 inch tube, so it's 15mm too narrow.  Here's the panel (protective film still on) with the buttons screwed in and the joysticks held on with zip ties.  This felt good to put together :)



They actually made a slight error when they cut this, placing the left and right most buttons for player one at the same height.  but I decided it was good like that, given that when two people play they will both be grabbing the controls at a bit of an angle.

At this point, I purchased a sheet of 19mm plywood, and began building.  Which I'll cover in the next entry.

Paradise Arcade - Part 1: Initial Concept

Since the moment I found out that arcade games exist, I wanted an arcade cabinet in my home.  As a child, this was a dream that seemed as unattainable as being able to fly.  As an adult, such dreams are possible.  But even when I first realised that building a fully authentic arcade machine, capable of playing hundreds (thousands!) of arcade games was doable, it still seemed very hard, too hard to seriously consider.

I overcame that "too hard" feeling and replaced it with determination after visiting Funspot (https://www.funspotnh.com/), the largest arcade in the world, when I was road tripping around the USA as an exchange student in 2012.  The inspiration for going there, and the reason I knew the place existed, was the awesome documentary The King of Kong (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ - check it out!).  I could write a whole blog just on the experience of visiting Funspot, because it really was special, and it is a place that I recommend everyone visit.  But this is a project blog, and the main point of mentioning this is to say that I had such an incredible time the two days that I was there playing arcade games non-stop, that I became determined to build my own Mame cabinet, even if it was a daunting task.

Back in 2012, I didn't have any soldering or electronics skills, but was experienced with woodwork, and the first project on this blog (the Raspberry Pi Nes) was actually something I undertook as a bit of a warm up to this project.  I finished this project back in 2015, but I'm only just getting round to blogging it now.

It probably goes without saying that I'm a nostalgia junkie, so the point of a project like this is to evoke the memories and feelings of childhood, when I stood at arcade cabinets having my mind blown by the incredible graphics and gameplay that were so much more advanced than anything we had at home.  To that end, my goal here was not to recreate a particular arcade cabinet that existed, but rather to recreate the cabinet that my memories conjured up when I thought back to my childhood.  But I have a pretty good memory, so what my mind conjured up would be pretty faithful to the real thing.  I really value authenticity in these types of projects, so that the cabinet appeared authentic, with authentic parts and details was extremely important to me.

The first thing I did was start to mock up a 3D model, no particular dimensions, just something that "looked right" as a starting point.  I built the following model in Wings 3D (http://www.wings3d.com/) which is a really nice program for doing more artistic modelling.

I was pretty happy with that, it had the shape and proportions that I thought looked right.  I went with a standard two player 6 button setup that works for the majority of games.  I definitely did NOT want some frankencabinet that has the controls for six different types of games on it.  Nothing nostalgic about that.  Next I slapped a basic texture on it, and was even happier with the overall look.  The SF2 marquee was just a placeholder.  At this point I wasn't sure what I would do in terms of artwork, I was thinking I would just put the artwork from one of my favourite games on it.

As I made this model, I was thinking about details, and started making a list of required features, that were as follows:

1.  A CRT monitor (a big one!), but not a huge cab - There is no way I was putting an LCD in there.  LCD might be easier and more convenient in so many ways, but there is simply NO comparison if one wants the authentic experience.  I also wanted the screen to be big.  When you're a kid, the screen seems so big and in your face, so I needed to have that feeling.  But I also didn't want a massive fat cabinet.  So I planned to keep the cab as slim as possible, while accomodating a large screen.

2.  MCA sticks - I didn't actually know what an MCA stick was by name at this point, I had to ask a friend of mine that used to work in an arcade.  I was confused because none of the arcade sticks in Funspot had been like the arcade sticks I remembered in Australia.  My friend told me that the vast majority of the arcade cabinets I played on as a kid were built by LAI - Leisure & Allied Industries and used a particular kind of joystick.  The company still exists today (https://laigames.com/about-lai-games/) and is an Australian company that built it's own cabs, and often made it's own artwork, for the Australian market.  The LAI cabs back in the day had this logo:



I didn't know what LAI was until I chatted to my friend, but I recognised that logo.  The MCA sticks look like this:

They have an all plastic exterior, with an internal metal shaft, and instead of a spring they have a rubber bushing around the pivot point to provide resistance.  Apparently they are practically indestructible.  They feel great, with a short sharp throw, but they are a bit too stiff for some.  They are made to be mounted in a 2mm steel control panel, so my choice to go with these sticks automatically meant I would have to fabricate a steel control panel.

3.  Illuminated coin return buttons with the coin slot integrated into the translucent red button - This sounds like a very strange requirement, I know.  There are a variety of different coin door/coin slot/coin return button styles, but for some reason this particular type stuck out in my memory, so I had to have it!



With further research I learned that this is a Coin Controls coin return button, so I would have to look for Coin Controls coin door.

4.  An "over under" coin door - again, no particular reason, just a style of coin door I remember and one I think looks good.



*Spoiler* this ends up being the one feature I compromise on due to difficulty tracking down a Coin Controls over under door.  It wasn't so important, the style of the actual coin return buttons was the important bit.

5.  Wood grain laminate/vinyl - I had to have that fake wood grain look, it's just wonderfully retro, and so many cabs had it back in the day.

6.  T-molding - of course, what authentic cab wouldn't?

7.  Square perforated metal grills over the speakers - a lot of cabs I played on had this.

That was pretty much it.  So with those requirements in mind, I started to accumulate parts, and began putting together a proper 3D model with accurate dimensions to build from, which I will cover in the next post!

Raspberry Pi NES - Complete!

It's taken a surprisingly long time to polish this project off. Although initially all seemed well I had endless problems with the power switch. I was getting crashes, premature shutdowns, and other issues that seemed to increase in frequency as time went by. For a long time I thought I must have needed better quality USB cables so I kept trying different cables, but that didn't make a difference, and eventually I realised the only possible explanation was the power switch circuit. I bought a second switch circuit from Mausberry Circuits and they were nice enough to include two switches in my order to make up for the broken one, but before it arrived I also purchased a different switch circuit from LowPowerLab called ATXRaspi (http://lowpowerlab.com/atxraspi/). This is a really great circuit, it works similarly to the Mausberry one but only works with a momentary switch and has some extra features.

New power switch

First I had to change the NES power button from a toggle switch to a momentary switch. This is really easy, as you can see in the picture below there is a small copper coloured metal plate and wire on top of the power switch housing (just behind the spring).  These can be easily pulled out, and they can be removed without damaging them, so this is not an irreversible modification.  I didn't know this would be the case so I actually bought a spare NES power/reset button assembly and modified that.

The ATXRaspi is larger than the Mausberry circuit and it has connections coming in from 3 sides, so it takes up significantly more space so I mounted another piece of acrylic to screw it to.

The ATXRaspi has some nice features.  Press the button once to boot up, to shut down hold it down for a few seconds.  You can also connect the NES LED to it and this gives you a bit more feedback; The LED starts to pulse when it starts shutting down and then pulses even more rapidly when it's finished shutting down and before it cuts power completely. Also if your Pi crashes you can hold the button down for 10 seconds (I think) and it will hard reset. I haven't had it crash yet so I haven't tested this but in theory it's a nice feature to have.  I highly recomment this product, it's really great, and the guy who sells them is extremely responsive and helpful via email (Thanks Felix!).

I must confess that having the button as a momentary switch instead of a toggle does bother me slightly as it's less authentic, but it's a minor thing. I do now have the replacement switch from Mausberry Circuits but setting it up requires soldering and I need to replace the tip on my iron because it's not tinning properly at the moment making it a nightmare to use. At the moment I Just want to screw the NES case closed and enjoy the games, but I'll rig up the other switch at some point and then decide which one I want to use.  Doesn't hurt to have different switches, I'm sure I'll come up with other Raspberry Pi projects to do.

Cartridge slot facade

One last little touch I wanted to do was to clean up the cartridge slot so that it didn't looks so amateur. To do this I just cut a piece of black plastic (cut from the cover of one of my uni notebooks) and hot glued it in place.  The cutout around the hub is a little rough if you look closely as my stanley knife is blunt as hell right now, but it's still a massive improvement.

Big improvement.

So that's it, the project is done.  Now back to Punch-Out!!