Thread: An Arcade Machine...Work in progress

After doing so well in such a short time, I added on the base and wheels so that I can move the cabinet around. SWMBO wanted an entertainment unit, I figure this is what she meant....perhaps. Anyways here are some more pictures. Next step is to include the arcade monitor!

Martin.

This is like weres wally, spot the crownie in each of the photos and win a prize..

looking good. enjoying the WIP thread, keep the pictures comming.

Good luck on passing it off the SHMBO as an entertainment unit... I hope your shed is heated..

Originally Posted by Gra

This is like weres wally, spot the crownie in each of the photos and win a prize..

looking good. enjoying the WIP thread, keep the pictures comming.

Good luck on passing it off the SHMBO as an entertainment unit... I hope your shed is heated..

Plenty of crownies consumed during this job that I can assure you! I wish I had a shed, I do this out the back on the patio. As for my girlfriend (a.k.a SWMBO) she is very very supportive of whatever I am making which makes me a very lucky bugger! ....hmmmm think I need another beer!

martin.

The next problem....How to mount the monitor! SWMBO likes playing moon patrol which means the nobitor needs to be mounted longways (the same way a TV is mounted, but I like the classic shoot'em ups like Galaga that needs the monitor mounted lengthways. Now given that this thing (the monitor) needs to be rotated depending on what MAME/arcade game is being played left me with a problem. I needed to rotate the monitor in the arcade cabinet. The solution? Mount the monitor in a carasel so that it can be easily rotated based on the game being played! the solution is done by mounting the monitor in a circular lazy susan.

I've been busy again. The next step in this project is to create the control panels (where the joysticks, buttons and track ball go). But first I needed to construct the area where the control panels mount. Oh, for those who where wondering, yes I managed to find a couple of more crownies in the fridge during this stage so all is very well - hic

Looking good.
Sounds like you already have the buttons and joysticks but here is an aussie place that sells stuff.

www.ozstick.com.au

Originally Posted by Abug

Looking good.
Sounds like you already have the buttons and joysticks but here is an aussie place that sells stuff.

www.ozstick.com.au

I actually went shopping at www.happcontrols.com for most of my push buttons, coin door (which actually takes australian 20 cent peices) and managed to get some really cool stainless steel handles.

Martink,

Great work so far. While reading this thread I remembered looking into doing something like this myself. Started sreaching the internet and came across this web page.http://www.classicgames.com.au/index.htm

I hope it helps.

G'day Martink,

If you can take some shots of a Galaga machine, ala both sides and dead centre on the x and y axis, and also give me the dimensions of your machine, then I'd be happy to do the artwork as an eps file which you can then get printed at a shop that does large format printing.

For nix.

Originally Posted by Waldo

G'day Martink,

If you can take some shots of a Galaga machine, ala both sides and dead centre on the x and y axis, and also give me the dimensions of your machine, then I'd be happy to do the artwork as an eps file which you can then get printed at a shop that does large format printing.

For nix.

Hi Waldo,

Love the offer! I was thinking of having the sides with a lot of characters from different arcade machines since the cabinet will be capable of running lots and lots of arcade games...about 4000 odd of them. Perhaps Donkey Kong, a moon patrol buggy (For SWMBO...a.k.a. my beautiful girlfriend), galaga birds, pac-man etc scattered on the sides and then some art for the tops of the control panels - yes there is more than one - conpletely modular of course - and we all tought Ikea were the only ones to do modular design I'll PM you if you are interested in helping me out on the art front - I have the artistic skills of a 3 year old

Martin.

G'day Martink,

Sure, let me know the dimensions and maybe email me some jpegs of the characters and Ill work it up for you.

Originally Posted by DanP

If you don't have Space Invaders, Galaga or 1942 on it then it just wont be right.

Dan

Or "Pong" - had a mate waaaay back that made a real killing selling these machines, for outrageous prices, to most of the pubs in Jersey: 1000%+ markup :eek: The Mongrel

BTW there are a LOT of pubs in Jersey

I've already made the rotating monitor using an old PC monitor and mounting it in curcular pieces of plywood, the problem is that it's very heavy and not easily moved around when I wanted to start fitting it to the cabinet. The solution?

After giving it a bit of thought I made a dummy rotating monitor out of cardboard. Then the next step was to make the front mounts for the monitor and fit it to the cabinet. Am reasonably happy with the results, however the monitor seems to be a little high. I will double check this when I have completed the control panels that mount at the front of the cabinet - that way I'll get a better idea of the perspective of the monitor within the cabinet.

Martin.

This is the part that has me most interested. (Been following the thread... just had nothing to say. [shrug])

You say you're making a lasy-susan type carousel, I'm curious to see how well it works. You planning on putting bearings in to make it easier to rotate? I did something similar to an 18" monitor for a DTP setup a few years back but didn't give it enough thought... 'twas an absolute beast to move. Worse, the weight of the monitor hanging off the back made it wear badly with time'n'use.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

This is the part that has me most interested. (Been following the thread... just had nothing to say. [shrug])

You say you're making a lasy-susan type carousel, I'm curious to see how well it works. You planning on putting bearings in to make it easier to rotate? I did something similar to an 18" monitor for a DTP setup a few years back but didn't give it enough thought... 'twas an absolute beast to move. Worse, the weight of the monitor hanging off the back made it wear badly with time'n'use.

Yep, thought about the weight problems. The monitor is tilted back (at the same angle as the front of the cabinet). Further, most of any CRT (Cathode Ray tube - traditional monitor) is at the front which is supported by the heavy trolley wheels. The rest of the weight is pushing back onto the lazy susan - the place that has the maximum strength for the lazy susan. There is sone weight borne in a downward direction on the lazy susan but this is supported by a second set of trolley wheels. The point of the lazy susan is to control the forward and backward movement of the monitor so it doesn't "fall off" the wheels that bear nost of the weight of the monitor and plywood discs. The lazy susan I am using is a 140KG heavy duty job that is a huge overkill but didn't want any wear problems. Basicall over-engineered to last a lifetime

Martin