Nucklez Bartop Arcade

[Nucklez]

I made this cabinet about three years ago I believe. I had also posted this on BYOAC, but I had changed ISPs and never reposted my original webpage. I built this from the ground up. I used parts from my local Happs Controls, and lumber from a local lumber yard. I'm no carpenter, but a little (LOT) of sanding and some wood putty and you would never know it. Let me know what you guys think.

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0683_1024x766.JPG
I'm using a 17" CRT monitor, with the back removed to fit in my cabinet. I also built it so a Dell slim line PC will fit directly in the bottom. This thing is packed full of goodies.

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0697_1024x766.JPG
Here she is running Hyperspin. The internal PC does power on some florescent lights in the marquee, and the fans in the back. I have a power switch, two satelite speakers, volume control and a headphone jack all on the overhang for the marquee.

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0682_1024x766.JPG
I hope to one day get the control panel and the bezel professionally printed. As you can see the seam from the two sheets of printed paper I have under the plexi glass now.

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0687_1024x766.JPG
This is a door directly under my control panel. I did a keyboard hack, and wow was that a pain to keep ghosting away. I'll have to find my old pics on how I ended up testing for ghosting with all of the key combinations. Took hours!

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0698_1024x766.JPG
This is the back of it. That is a shielded sub on top, and two super queit fans on the rear access door.

http://people.clemson.edu/~ddavis2/wp-content/gallery/bartop-arcade/HPIM0701_1024x766.JPG
Here is the rear access door. That is the PC on the bottom, the hacked up monitor on the shelf directly above it. That is an opened up Cambridge Soundworks amp on the right to power my speakers. A surge protector on the left.

[szantak]

very nice!
why do you need 8 buttons?
what about the keyboard puffer with the joy and 8 buttons?

[Nucklez]

I used 8 buttons to emulate PSX and N64 games, although a digital joystick doesn't work too well for most N64 games. It took several hours to get the keyboard buffers worked out to not get ghosting. I had found that the keyboard I was using didn't ghost as long as two keys were not used on the same row of the grid at one time. If I'm not mistaken, the keyboard grid was something like a 12x8. I think the row of 8 was the one that would ghost if you held too many keys on that row at the same time. I used a program to monitor keypresses, and drew out a grid on a sheet of paper. Then I shorted out as many keys as I could. I'd say that all of the main function keys and the joystick can be pressed at once without any ghosting. I also added the Select and Start buttons for consoles, and the three loan buttons at the top of the control panel are insert coin, player 1 start, and ESC for exit.

My brother and I are converting two full size cabinets to two player MAME cabinets with the same emulatiors as this one. We actually bought the Keywiz keyboard encoders for those. There would be no way to hack a keyboard for two players, each with a Select and Start console button, and six buttons each. I'll post those when i get some better pictures.

[BadBoyBill]

Looksd great, always wanted one of those, maybe I'll make one someday. Thanks for sharing.

[SophT]

hey it's good to see someone else cheap enough to use a keyboard hack :cheers:

I guess I'm the only person that hasn't had any troubles with ghosting though....
My matrix was like 17x11 - which allowed for a lot, I mean A LOT of 'null' keys and 'unknown' keys, but I didn't have any problems with ghosting. I used a really really old keyboard (ps with a ps2/ adapter) so that may have made a difference.

Very professional looking - I like that you have t-moulding @ a 90 degree angle on your cpanel. I was gonna try that on my next build but I wasn't sure if it could bend that far - even with the notching done. now I know it can :)

[Nucklez]

I like that you have t-moulding @ a 90 degree angle on your cpanel. I was gonna try that on my next build but I wasn't sure if it could bend that far - even with the notching done. now I know it can :)

If I remember correctly, I had to cut a 1/4" notch in the t-moulding to get it to bend that far, but you can't tell. I actually ran the t-moulding all the way around the cabinet. It wasn't too difficult at all. I think you are right about the older keyboards as well. Mine was a fairly new PS2 keyboard, and that 16x8 matrix was interesting.