magnetik's 2 player mame / console bartop

magnetik

magnetik

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I finally started my bartop mame cabinet build.. I still have the marquee to think about.. I gutted a case I bought on newegg for $55. It had removable brackets and small p/s that worked out great. If it doesn't look like a bartop .. it's because it's on my subwoofer. :)


UPDATES ON LAST PAGE.
edited: added specs

Specs:

24" Dell 2405FPW (all I had lying around that was bigger than 19")
Opteron 144
1TB Hitachi storage drive
74GB Raptor boot drive
IL / Happ Competition J/S & Buttons
Ipac2 keyboard controller
Wifi (external antenna) & GigE
2 x 4" Phoenix Gold RSD (had them lying around too)
external usb hub (not in pics) for console controllers
Sunbeam Theta fan controller (controls fans through software)
Quickcam 4000 (to stream my living room or anyone that's playing using ActiveWebcam) hehe
Griffin Powermate (volume controller) hid when not in use.

(EDIT: "upgraded to an FX55 and dumped the raptor. I also added a pcp&c 750 and an 8800GTX in SFIV. (get's an A with the in game bench)

Overall it was a pretty easy build. I made some mistakes that I won't do next time but overall my friends get a kick out of it. I will post more pics when I get the control panel lit up.

Notes:

- using Maximus Arcade as the FE which has worked great so far.
- I was real surprised on how easy the keyboard controller was to hook up. I was also pleased on how my marquee from Mame Marquees turned out.
- used 4 cold cathodes powered by the PC to light up the marquee and put a button on the back to start the computer.
- powering the speakers with an amp ripped out of a set of dell speakers and control the volume with the knob in the pic of the control panel.
- accidently bought solid core wire, which actually turned out great since I could bend the wire anyway I wanted. Just have a good set of crimpers.
- ordered a set of Electric Ice buttons since they are in stock now and will be lighting up the control panel soon.
- installed a set of stainless dragon joysticks (not pictured)
- used a sheet of Lexan for the screen with velcro. I also used leftover laminate for the bezel
- everything is removable from the front by opening up the control panel and pulling out the bezel. May make it changeable in the future.


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with the bracket, I can get a couple of drives and a cdrom.. they are removeable too.

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still trying to decide on a marquee.. plus I need to decide if I want to power the cathodes with my pc or just get an undercounter type.

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widescreen is usually a shunned on a mame cab but I am going to jam my modded xbox and plug into it, plus it was the only other monitor (2405FPW) I had lying around. I have a Lexan bezel that will finish it up nice. It will be velcroed in so I can remove the monitor and work on the system later.

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test firing everything up...

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I have yet to design the control panel but it's going to be the typical 2 player 6 button layout with 2 side buttons. Its also going to be hinged for easy access. Since I am going to have a wireless kb/mouse and wifi, I can just load movies or games whenever I want.

I will try and post more pics as I get the rest of my parts..
 
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to me what is a case is simple:

Case = Computer containing device.

So yes I think your mame cabinet is a case. I have been thinking about building a mame unit to go with my TV and I think yours will turn out great.
 
I love it! I remember lurking in the DIY forums when I had the itch to do this about a year ago. I was very close to going to a super auction to get an empty arcade cabinet for cheap. I like what you have done here, looking forward to updates.
 
I'm not into retro american arcade machines but shit, that's pretty damn cool. Did you cut/make the "case" yourself?
 
lowteckh said:
I'm not into retro american arcade machines but shit, that's pretty damn cool. Did you cut/make the "case" yourself?
Click to expand...

yeah.. I just measured how wide I wanted it then drew the sides out on paper. then I cut a trace of the first side. the rest is bracing.. pretty easy actually.. even without a table saw if you stay with a standard size like 24" since the biggest cuts from home depot that fit in my car was 2x4's heh. I also learned how to install t-molding.. it makes it look a lot more finished

here's what it looks like with the lexan bezel. I just made the border with rolled vinyl laminate from parts express.

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[edit: replaced with higher res pics]
 
Very cool and retro.
Might I suggest, the top panel where the game controllers usually are, put he board in and cut it out so a keyboard an roller ball mouse can be mounted up from underneath.
That would look cool and keep w/the video arcade game theme.

Again, very cool idea.

oops. just read your going wireless.
Oh well. just a thought.

-:D
 
That is frakin sweet dude. If I had the space and time to take on something like this. Id love to build a Box with every Street Fighter/Capcom/Snk game. Id pretty much never leave the basement.
 
Very sweet. I would lay the keyboard in the front lower section. Keep the arcade style game controls if they will be usable, and put the keyboard and mouse below that more hidden.
 
Looking really good. I'd love to see the final product all set up.

Quick question though... How do you turn the monitor on?
 
everything looks great so far.
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I would like to build a mame some day.
 
Rusty4560 said:
Looking really good. I'd love to see the final product all set up.

Quick question though... How do you turn the monitor on?
Click to expand...

I could either leave it on all the time, turn it on with a smart surge strip (has a socket for the pc that triggers the other outlets to switch on), or just pull the bezel off (velcroed on) and turn it off that way. I think I may go with the smart strip.

.. more pics..

slot cutter for tmolding.. way too thick so I had to hot glue the tmolding in. got to remember to go with 1/16 width instead next time.
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brain storming.. along with my controller templates.
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my controller parts came in!
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a mistake.. had to cut slots in the bracing so I could slide the bottom of the marquee in. easy fix though. I went ahead and cut the hole for powering up the marquee light.
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coming together.. Still need to router the backs for the joysticks.. I put in a pushbutton on the back to turn on the computer.. will work on it more when I get back from Chicago. I should have my speakers by then. Still deciding on artwork.

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some more pics.. I got the joysticks wired up and got the speakers and marquee installed. For the amplifier, I ripped apart some old dell speakers. Worked out pretty well. I also installed a hinge to make it easier to work on. I really like the fact that I can pull everything out from the front if need be. I used 4 white cathodes for the lights that turns on and off with the pc. I added an old sunbeam theta to control the fans (not pictured) on the rear. It was a little loud before I added the controller.

Finally.. I added a couple extra buttons on each side so I can play neo-geo games right and hooked it up to an ipac2 keyboard controller. It took a lot of crimping but it was a breeze. Just daisy chain a ground around all the switches and the ipac2 has a single wire that goes to each button. I took some closeups. Hope everyone likes it.. I know my friends have gotten a kick out of me whippen their ass in SF2.

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Sweat!!!

That looks awesome dude. That device all the buttons and joysticks are connected to, does it emulate keyboard commands with those buttons? If so is it limited on how many buttons can be pressed at once?
 
nlancaster said:
Sweat!!!

That looks awesome dude. That device all the buttons and joysticks are connected to, does it emulate keyboard commands with those buttons? If so is it limited on how many buttons can be pressed at once?
Click to expand...

Each connection correlates to a key on the keyboard. It is set to mame by default but I programmed exactly like the hanaho hotrod joystick since it's supported directly in multiple emulators. The controller is from Ultimarc. It's doesn't have ghosting problems at all. According to the manufacturer..

"The I-PAC uses a Cypress CY7C63413 programmable microcontroller chip . There is no multiplexing or sharing of input ports, all inputs have their own dedicated pin on the chip hence absolutely no ghosting, blocking etc. "

It works great and even programmable. I wanted to add a trackball but didn't have enough room. I plan on adding a spinner though for the Tempest / Arkanoid type games.
 
woah! a really nice case u got there! really like the retro-ness! good job! :)
btw what is the heatsink that u r using? and where did u hide the optical drive, and so if u try to use it... how?
 
KeymaN said:
woah! a really nice case u got there! really like the retro-ness! good job! :)
btw what is the heatsink that u r using? and where did u hide the optical drive, and so if u try to use it... how?
Click to expand...

thanks! the hs/f is this one. An 1U that I had for my old opteron.

As far as the optical drive.. I decided to ditch it and put in a 1TB drive instead. Since I have the mame cabinet wired into my gigE network, I never thought I would ever use it. I can always hook up one if I decided to.
 
Killer job bro! Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Very nice, I had a similar setup, only mine looked like garbage, I just wanted it to feel like I was in an arcade :)

I'll see if I can dig up some pictures.
 
wait till you guys see what I did.. I have to wait till I get my led controller though.

All the main buttons will be lighted with RGB leds and will change according to what system I choose. 4 for neogeo, 6 for SF2, etc. May make them dance/pulse while not being played too. I also have some chrome joysticks from here to replace the shafts from the happ competitions.
 
just out of curiosity, is this cheaper to build then just buying the whole thing from the store or something?
 
P!rate said:
just out of curiosity, is this cheaper to build then just buying the whole thing from the store or something?
Click to expand...

you could always buy one from mameroom if you don't have the tools to work with wood and put one together at home to save $$$. Bartops are pretty rare out in the wild compared to full arcades. A lot of people buy older cabinets and gut them too.

I built it out of parts I had lying around. The monitor will probably be the biggest expense if you don't have one to use already. Joysticks/Buttons were about $50 and the marquee I made in PS4 and sent it off to get printed. ($50). I also used old cold cathodes to light up the marquee and an old dell speaker set to power the 4" speakers I used. (also leftovers). The keyboard controller was about $40 also. Other than that.. the wood and stuff are pretty cheap.. I also used cheap rolled laminate from partsexpress and tmolding from ebay. Doesn't have to be expensive. I see custom arcades on ebay for over $2000 most of the time. I think outside of my pc.. I put $300 or so into it.
 
UPGRADE the CPU and VID and Get SF4 ready so i can mash you and the rest of [H] out
 
d50man said:
UPGRADE the CPU and VID and Get SF4 ready so i can mash you and the rest of [H] out
Click to expand...

you happen to know what the specs are going to be for SFIV PC? Because the joysticks are uberexpensive right now and would rather play on my arcade when it comes out.
 
Dont know the specs. of SFIV PC, but heres the specs of arcade machine version:
TAITO TYPE X2 HARDWARE ​
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Embedded
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400／Pentium 4 651／Celeron D 352 (up to latest Core 2 CPUs supported by the chipset)
Chipset: Intel Q965 + ICH8
Monitor: 720p/1080p/1440p HD LCD Monitor
RAM: DDR2 667/800MHz (512MB/1GB, up to 4GB)
GPU: PCI Express x16-based graphics. Support cards include ATI RADEON X1600Pro/X1300LE or nVIDIA GeForce 7900GS／7600GS／7300GS, up to latest graphic cards (Radeon HD 3800 or Geforce 9800 series)
Sound: Onboard Realtek HD 7.1 channel Sound (supports add-in sound cards)
LAN: 10/100/1000 BASE-T
I/O ports: 1x JVS, 4x USB 2.0 (up to 8), 1x serial (max 2), 1x parallel port, 2x PS/2, 2x SATA
Audio inputs: AKG C535EB Stage Microphone, line-in (Surround 7.1)
Audio outputs: 7.1, SPDI/FX
Expansion Slots: 1x PCI Express x16 (used by video card), 1x PCI Express x4, 2x PCI
Storage: 2x 80 GB 10k RPM SATA Hard Drives
Media: 80 GB 10000 rpm Hard Drive
 
^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks a bunch!

doesn't look so bad. I may need to swap my video card out but I have a 7800GTX 512 lying around I can use. Dunno about the cpu.. hope an old FX55 will work..
 
That is really, really cool. How many hours/extra dollars did you put into this?
 
Just upgraded so I can get ready for Street Fighter IV pc release. Added an 8800GT and a pcp&c 750. I also rotated the motherboard so I can access things easier and added a fan for the hd. (need to find a better mount) heh I also removed the raptor 74. Didn't need it with the Hitachi 1TB I put in. Plus having only one hd will keep it a little cooler.

I have some more parts to add too.. will update when I have a little more time..

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now that is pretty cool.
Needs coin slots and stuff though :O
 
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