Darkstalkers minicade

[dshickman]

Hey guys, i've recently gotten one of those creativity bugs and decided to make a mame arcade. While I was looking for frontends I came across hyperspin, and was blown away. So I knew I wanted to make an arcade and I new it was going to be running hyperspin, but for the look and theme I was indecisive.

I had built an arcade a few years back, and really enjoyed the whole experiance. Here is and unfinished pic.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2522&stc=1&d=1245479814

It was my first stab at carpentry and electrical, so all in all it turned out pretty good.

My next project was a racing arcade, one that would go great with my new 47" monitor and PS3 a few months later. I really wanted to play GT5 in style:) Little did i know, GT5 isn't even out now, so I would have to settle for Prologue. I wanted it to be something that could be movable and feel like your really driving in a cockpit. So I welded a racing frame of a sort and bought a race car seat and finished it all off with a Logitech G25 racing wheel.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2523&stc=1&d=1245480651
Please forgive the graininess, i took these with my cellphone.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2524&stc=1&d=1245480793
The 5.1 surround really makes you feel like your in a car:)
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2525&stc=1&d=1245481036
Thats my dad driving, he really liked the 6speed shifter

Anyway, enough with the past. With my current project, I want it to be different from my first mame cabinet, so I searched for ideas and came across this webpage.
http://bartoparcade.katorlegaz.com/
Once I was these I found my inspiration. They are small, portable, and just plain awesome. But I wanted to go even further with mine, I wanted to make one as small as I could so it would be able to fit on a computer desk and not take up too much room. Also, I decided it would only have a one player control scheme. So here are some built pics...
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2527&stc=1&d=1245481858
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2529&stc=1&d=1245481928
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2530&stc=1&d=1245481949
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2531&stc=1&d=1245481984
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2532&stc=1&d=1245482123
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2533&stc=1&d=1245482275

I used 5/8" plywood for the cabinet, and I also ordered some 5/8" t-molding to go with it. As for the monitor, i bought a Fujitsu 12" lcd at 800x600res. Apparently its a touchscreen too, I need to figure out how to get that aspect to work, that would make this build even sweeter. I can't find any info on this particular model though, its weird.
For the pc part of the build, i ordered an Intel Atom Mini-Itx cpu mobo combo from newegg for about 60 bucks. Im looking for something small, not something that can play crysis at 120fps:) But still, i love this little board, its a perfect fit at a little of 7x7in. The PSU is a generic 500watt supply I already had, and those extra watts are going to come in handy for powering the leds in the buttons and it also powers the LCD screen, which is double nice, sense I dont have to put a power strip in the case. I bought a 2gig stick of ddr2 ram for the mobo, sense it only has one mem slot.

Anyway, I've gotten as far as cutting the control panel, so wiring is next, uggh! It wouldnt be so bad if it was just buttons, but i have leds to sort out this time. Oh well, it will be worth it in the end......... I hope.

[dshickman]

Im going with a Darkstalkers art style, specifically Morrigan:) she's hot....like you didn't know that already;)

here are some designs im working on.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2534&stc=1&d=1245483960
This is the side art.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2535&stc=1&d=1245484068
And this is the marquee.

I got all of these art sources from deviantart, im just editing them to fit my needs. That being said, there are some really talented people out there.

I haven't finish any of the artwork yet, so any suggestions would be helpful. Also, if you are more talented than me and would like to come up with your own designs, i might use those instead. I really want this case to pop:)

[BadBoyBill]

Lookin sweet man, cant wait to see the final finish. Thats cool your into racing setups. I made one myself last year. Lots of welding and lots of speedrail, I need to upgrade my wheel though, you have the better one. But the seats a real fully adjustable racing seat, yours looks like that also. Thanks for sharing.

[koolbrez67]

That is sweet

[dshickman]

thanks guys. I finally finished the construction part of the build. Only things i need to do are add t-molding, marquee brackets, a little putty and another layer of paint, then ill be ready for artwork. The wiring was awful. I got a ledwiz-GP with 16 inputs and 16 leds, but nothing seemed to work right. I tried everything. The leds just didn't work, so i just wired them up to stay on all the time. It was what i was originally going to do anyway. Even using LEDBlinky didn't help, oh well.

But its all good, everythings working as it should now, so no complaints here.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2539&stc=1&d=1245558555
here it is running hyperspin.

[BadBoyBill]

Lookin sweet, only thing I see it needs is some kind of monitor bezel.

[dshickman]

yeah, im going to make a bezel for it pretty soon. I would like to order one, but sense this screen is only a 12in, i haven't found a place that makes them that size. Its also a touchscreen, so I want to figure out how to get that to work too, so no plexi over it i think.

I can't find any documentation on this model fujitsu screen, so im not sure if it is plug n play or needs software to work. I emailed fujitsu but the person i contacted didn't know anything about the model i have. Its a POS monitor, so that makes it even harder to find info on it.

[BadBoyBill]

You could just make one, I made one for my pincab. Just find some material at home depot thats hard but cutable and spray it black. It will come out great.

[Dazz]

You could get some foam poster board from a arts and crafts store. It comes in Black and you would just need to measure the screen and cut it appropriately.

[dshickman]

I think ill try both ideas. The bezel will only be an inch wide around the borders, so it will need to be cut perfectly.

[lemoncade]

some people also paint the back of the glass. cheap, and works in cramped spaces.

[dshickman]

I decided to paint the white frame of the monitor instead. This way, i can still use the touchscreen functionality and i won't have to worry about cutting and fitting a bezel.

[dshickman]

Ok, here is the finished screen bezel, it came out pretty good.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2569&stc=1&d=1245874954

all thats left is t-molding, marquee and lighting, and side art.

[BadBoyBill]

Cool, I was noticing how small that cab looks, if you get a chance I'd like to see something sitting next to it for reference.

[dshickman]

Here is the mini arcade sitting next to my old full size. The full size is 72"in tall. The mini arcade is 17" tall.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2575&stc=1&d=1245891886

[billpa]

You could also just get the dims of the bezel and bring it to a framing store and have them cut a matte out for. You could probably choose from a ton of different styles. you

[Nucklez]

WOW! That is awesome and tiny! My bartop is like 80 lbs, and I believe it's around 30 inches tall. I like your idea a lot, good job man!

[dshickman]

Thanks for the complements, i wanted to make the smallest bartop i could make. Even as small as it is now, I could probably make one half this size. But that would be too frustrating, working with all those tiny parts in a cramped space.

I think my next project will be a mini bartop pinball machine:)

[Nucklez]

You know, I never thought of a mini pinball machine. I was wondering how I could get the funds for a 57" wide screen TV like the Hyperpin preview shows off. Wide screen 17" LCD and a 15" LCD for that other part that stands up in the back. I'm a total newb when it comes to pinball though.

[dshickman]

yeah, me too. I know next to nothing about pinball setups, but it will be a few months before i start building one at the soonest. That should give me enough time to get to know the basics, i hope.

[billpa]

once you do it you will never play your arcade games again! :D

[dshickman]

That sounds just awful :laugh:

[dshickman]

Alright, I finally got my marquee printed and ordered some brackets. Sorry it took so long:) Anyway, i got the brackets from happ, but they were too large for my mini arcade. So i had to trim them on the front facing edges by 1/2in so they wouldn't cover up too much of the marquee. I trimmed them with my table saw, kinda hard to get a clean edge, but they came out pretty good. Here's some pics...
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2809&stc=1&d=1247887991
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2810&stc=1&d=1247888013
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2811&stc=1&d=1247888030

All thats left is the side art.