Buttons and other stuff

I didn’t work all night tonight, so I took the opportunity to take some shots of the arcade hardware that I will be using. Here is the spread:

So we have the main buttons, player 1 and 2 are going to be red v blue, 2 and 3 will be green and orange:

There are some nice 1up, 2up, 3up and 4up buttons, also in this shot you can see the I-PAC and the OptiPAC – these are the keyboard emulator for the buttons (including joysticks) and the controller for the spinner and the trackball:

The joysticks are Sanwa are feel really great:

Other than that there is the spinner, and the (huge) trackball:

One neat find from OzStick is the coin button:

The buttons came with pretty good micro-switches. In the overview you can also see the hook-up wire, spade connectors, the various bits of mounting hardware and the couple of USB cables. There are also 4 other white buttons, 8 black buttons, and 8 yellow buttons that I will probably put near the rotary controls (need at least a couple to the left of the trackball). Looking forward to getting the deck top cut out so I can wire up the switches and test out the controller boards. Must be patient though – need to measure the exact size once the console is built up.

Bring on the weekend! (Plan is to get the front panels on, the rest of the top rail in and maybe get the doors on.

Vote 1 MAME

Just a small update today. After having to do my civic duty and throw my vote away I only had a couple of hours this morning to work in the shop.

I made the sides, which have a chamfered edge to accommodate the front panels:

 

Due to the problem with two of three sheets of the ply being 19mm rather than 17mm, the piece that I had roughed out for the front panels is not going to be suitable – the doors and other door frame parts are 19mm which would leave the doors 2mm proud or would have them inset to sit flush which I don't care for either. Unfortunately, the only piece that I have left of the 19mm that is big enough for the front panels has the grain running in the direction that would be up and down the panel, i.e. along the bend, not around the bend… I had a go of bending the sheet in that way, but it is just far too brittle.

I am going the have to go with a corner there after all. Back to sketchup then to figure out the exact dimensions.

Here is an overview of today’s progress (short day, but at least I did get to use a hand plane… mmm):

Now, GO VOTE!

Sunday is MAME day!

Managed to spend about 5 hours in the workshop today.

Did some test bends for the front case elements. In doing so I discovered that not all of the 17mm ply sheets are 17mm thick. Two of them are 19mm! This will put all of the measurements out, but I should been able to adjust most of them as I work. The main thing that I can’t adjust now is that the base with the sides attached will be 2mm wider on each side… I will be able to get back a little bit when I assemble it and I am hoping that the rest is taken up by the thickness of the t-moulding when applied. In the end, the whole thing is painted anyway so you are not going to be able to see small gaps in the joinery, and they could be filled anyway.

I am a bit disappointed with the quality of the ply. It is certainly better than Bunnings (they can’t even supply flat stock), but this is no furniture grade stuff. I have future projects planned that will use ply finished like regular timber, and this stuff with great pink putty filled gouges and scallops of veneer patches even before you start is not what I would expect for $71 a sheet. Looks like you have to really go for the BB (this is CD) which is over $100 a sheet.

Anyway, pics or it didn’t happen…

This is what I got done today:

What you see here is the base (completed last week) now joined to the back with its console deck support rail and the inner frame. The hole at the bottom is where the doors will be, the one at the top is the drawer. The whole thing is pretty sturdy already, with the front and sides attached it is going to be a solid unit. Definitely a two person lift. Anyone know how big the elevator is? (Just btw…)

Here is the plan overview for this stage (oriented for easy comparison):

A couple of joinery close-ups. The cross pieces are what will hold the shape of the assembled cabinet, and are securely joined with 4 pocket screws each:

You can also see there the flush cabinet screws I am using where I can – here on the back rail, and also to join the base to the back from underneath. There could be quite a bit of load on the members that the doors attach to, so they are a composite joined in an L shape:

Probably with far too many pocket screws :) Here is a small detail of how the front part of the frame connects to the front-to-back members:

Fastener placement has been working out ok so far. I didn’t really plan the screw joints at all, just the joinery joints so, so far so good. The pocket screws are really good to use, they are pretty easy to get in. With the impact driver they are quick to go in even with one hand, and they are nice and tight when the joint is edge to face – they are less secure edge to edge, I do have some slightly longer screws though that I have used once or twice when the first one hogs the hole out too much. (They are too long for an edge to face join though – the point will come out of the opposite face)

So, what’s next? Well I don’t have a lot of time next weekend, but having done the bend test today I might be able to attach the sides and front bent elements on Saturday morning.

MAME Cabinet

Have been working on a MAME project for use in the break room at work. I have a mass of buttons, joysticks, switches, wire and other electronics. I also went out an bought plywood and other hardware. I have made a plan in SketchUp over several design iterations.

I broke down the three plywood sheets last weekend to get them to more manageable sizes. Today I made a few design tweaks and got started on the construction for real. Here is a pic of the very first completed component part. It is the base panel:

You can see the roughly cut pieces for the top, front and doors behind the saw, and the other remaining ply on the right.

Here is most of the other hardware that I will be using:

Left to right you can see the latches that will hold the control console down to the base, the slides for the keyboard drawer, hinges for the front doors, various screws for joining the ply and attaching the other hardware, including some Kreg screws for pocket screwing, and of course it has got to be black!

Here is an overview of the design (the left door is hidden as is the keyboard drawer front to give a bit of a view inside:

The front is indicated as an angled join but it will be a kerf bend in the actual piece, the front ‘corners’ of the control deck will also be curved rather then exactly as indicated. Here is a closer view of the main player control spacing:

The final positions of the trackball and spinner are yet to be decided. There will be a row of button along the back edge of the deck for coin drop, 1up to 4up, start, etc. etc.

Most of the joints will be concealed pocket screws, visible in this shot of the first two pieces actually to be joined together:

After today’s session, the base is complete, here is an underside view showing the box bracing:

Here it is on the floor:

The cabinet back needs to go on next, and then the inner frame can be constructed in place and after that the front skin panels, which reach to the floor concealing the spaces in the box work underneath the base.

Lastly, here is the reasonably final construction diagram for the next piece of work – the internal frame and back. (What is missing is a cross piece for the drawer to close against, the short members at the top of where the sides should go I forgot to delete from the diagram, they are no longer needed as I removed a bent member across the top of the front to make the construction a bit simpler).

Stay tuned for more updates, including some shots of the buttons, sticks, trackball, spinner, keyboard emulator, rotary control boards…