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Written by Jason
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Thursday, 13 July 2006 00:00 |
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Page 1 of 2
So it all started when I decided to buy my then fiance a Ms. Pac-Man Arcade for her birthday (she is an addict when it comes to the game). I did some research and found that good condition arcade cabinets are actually pretty expensive. So what is a hardcore geek to do ??? Well after a little Googling, I found my answer - Build my own!!! After all, if I can build my own waterbed, night stands, and a Car PC how hard could an arcade be ? :)
A quick FAQ:
- How long did it take to build ? Roughly 2 or 3 weeks, mostly weekends, but also week nights after work.
- How much did it cost ? The computer was made from spare parts, so all I had to buy was material for the arcade, and all the joysticks, etc. Total cost to me was around $1,200. A small price to pay for every Arcade game out there...
- How does the computer recognize the joysticks/trackball ? All the joysticks and buttons are official arcade style parts. Which means they are just "switches". They are wired into a controller provided by Ultimarc. The controller registers as a usb keyboard to the computer. The trackball hooks into a similar device, and registers as a usb mouse.
- Does the coindoor actually work ? YES! The coindoor, as well as all joysticks, buttons, the trackball, even the speakers are authentic arcade style parts, and can be purchased through Happ Controls
- Are you affiliated with either Ultimarc or Happ Controls ? No. I just found what I needed through them, and want others to be able to find them as well.
- How many games do you have, and where can I find them ? There are 3382 games on my arcade. They can be found all over the internet if you search for them.
- Can you give me the ROMS ? No.
- Do you have any shooting games / How do you play them ? Yes, I have plenty of shooting games. Until I get some Light Guns, I can use either the joystick, or the trackball to move a crosshair around the screen.
- Where did you get the plans for the cabinet ? Well, I started by looking at this cabinet, and went on to find many many examples. In the end, none of them were exactly what I wanted. So, I had to design my own, basing it on designs from around the 'net.
- Where are your plans ? On scraps of paper mostly. Some day I might take measurements and put them online.
- Are you running Windows ? No. I am a hardcore Linux enthusiast (Gentoo specifically). Therefore everything has to be Windows free.
My TODO list:
On to the pictures!!!
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First pieces of MDF - got the sides cut, you can see the general shape of the cabinet.
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Another angle of the side pieces
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Every single board is attached with "L" brackets. This was an easy way to hide all the screws
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Look at that mess!
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Attached the door on the back. Being a door, it's on hinges :)
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Couple more pieces...
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Got the base pieces together, the cabinet can now stand on it's own
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Side view of the standing cabinet
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Front and back doors open, you can see how the inside is accessed
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The 24" CRT on it's shelf to check positioning
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Cardboard mock up of the control panel, to check control placement, and height.
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Keyboard door in place
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Look how nice it slides...
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Wooden control panel cut, another test to see how the placement "feels"
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Quick game of Gauntlet to take the edge off...
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Templates taped down so I know where everything goes...(those who know the controls will notice a fatal flaw in my placement. You'll see...
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Started to drill the holes. There's that flaw again...can you see it ?
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First controls in place...going to be sweet...but here's the problem: I assumed the trackball sat in a symetrical fashion. It does not, I had it turned 45 degrees. The problem is, it did not fit the right way, so...
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I had to cut the control panel in half, and add a 6" space to make it fit.
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This also allowed me to bring the tracball, and the pacman joystick close to the edge, so in the end it worked out.
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The 6" spacer is a different width then the rest of the control panel, this is because I also found out the trackball is designed to mounted on a thinner piece of wood. Here is a closeup of how things fit together. You can also see the groove that will hold the rubber "bumper"
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To give the control panel that "finished" feel, I opted to use a counter top lamenate from HomeDepot. Here's the wood glue that will hold it. In retrospect, I should have used contact cement which provides a better hold.
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And here it is all attached. The control holes will have to be carefully drilled again...
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Light in the top, speakers in place, and control panel almost there...starting to look like something now...
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