Project Specifications

System Components

Processor / OS

• DOS7 (Win98SE Lite)
• Wells Gardner D9200 27" Digital Arcade Monitor
• Diamond V770 Riva TNT2 32Mb AGP
• ASUS P5A/B Socket-7 Motherboard
• AMD K6-II 500 MHz Processor
• 468Mb PC100 RAM
• 3GB Quantum Hard Drive

Emulator Software

• AdvanceMame emulator
• AdvanceMenu frontend

Controls / Materials

• Ultimarc
• I-PAC control interface
• Opti-PAC trackball/spinner interface
• (2) J-Stik Ball Top 4/8-way joysticks
• 2 1/4" trackball
• pushbuttons
• led harness

• Happ Controls
• 1/2 Player Buttons
• Pushbuttons
• PCB Mounting Bracket
• Coin Door (via Ebay)
• Marquee Retainer

• Oscar Controls
• Vortex Spinner + Tempest knob

• T-Molding.com
• 3/4" black T-molding

Important Links

Project Links

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) - the emulator that started it all! 

Advance Projects - home of AdvanceMAME and the AdvanceMenu FrontEnd 

Build Your Own Arcade Controls (BYOAC) - excellent resource for cabinet plans, FAQ's, wiring tips, etc. 

Easy MAMECab - lots of info on setting up AdvanceMAME, plus learn how your CRT works! 

The Purple MAME Page - essential config for AdvanceMAME / ArcadeOS 

LuSID's Arcade Flashback - LuSID's cabinet was the base design for my cabinet, like so many others out there :) 

Arcade Vector Graphics - Eric Devaud's vector art library 

Interactive Control Panel Designer- excellent tool to brainstorm and validate control panel layouts

Manufacturer Links

Ultimarc - Home of the I-PAC, Opti-PAC, and ArcadeVGA interfaces 

Oscar Controls - spinners for Tempest, etc. 

Happ Controls - Joysticks, buttons, monitors, coin mechs and more! 

Wells Gardner - Best source for arcade monitors - right from the manufacturer! 

T-Molding.com - Best price on t-molding for your cabinet.

Construction Completed!

Well, it's official - the cabinet construction is complete! I have moved it from the garage into the front bedroom that is our library. The only thing left to do is troubleshoot the spinner (loose wire most likely), cull the rom directory for games I don't want/need, and finish the OS configuration. I plan to try to build a ramdisk and copy the program files and roms into it at system boot to speed up execution and get rid of hard drive noise when games load. I think that all the video modes are working well - I love the D9200! I have loaded some pics of the cabinet with different games running, and I have taken some other pictures with Paula's Minolta, and when they have been developed I will scan and post them.

Now comes the task of putting all of my notes together and trying to massage them into some sort of order. I hope to have that done by the end of the week as well. I have learned much during the last 5 weeks, and I want to share what I have learned with the community. Much of it is in the logs below, but there is more that I haven't had time to put down. This has been fun, and draining at the same time; it will be a while before I try to build another cabinet :) Now I can reap the rewards of my labor, and enjoy the experience of the arcade again!

Pics uploaded, ready for software configuration

Just uploaded a few pics - descriptions will follow, but as you can see from the pic above, it is just about done! The only thing left to do is install the monitor bezel and glass tonight after the last coat of polyurethane dries... then on to the software configuration phase ( and playtesting :) )

control panel assembly, first coat of polyurethane, front glass installed

Wow - the project is really coming to a head! I got the controls from Andy at Ultimarc on Thursday - a day earlier than I expected them! This good fortune allowed me to start work on the control panel a couple of days early - a good thing, as it turned out. After some consideration, I decided to use T-nuts to mount the joysticks and the spinner, which meant that I would have no bolt heads showing above the panel. This led to a much more professional look. I counter-sunk the T-nuts just enough so they would pull flush with the wood, and used 1/2" bolts + washers to attach the controls. Then I unmounted the controls, sanded the top of the panel and sprayed it with 3M #77 Spray Adhesive - this stuff rocks! The overlay went on perfectly, and I cut the holes for the controls with the trusty X-Acto knife. Then, using much care, I drilled the holes in the Lucite overlay with the 1 1/8' spade bit ...here's something I learned while doing the drilling: you *have* to let the drill and bit do the spinning, and let the Lucite kind of "pull" the bit through; *don't push*!! This will certainly shatter the piece! Just let gravity and the drill and the Lucite do their thing, and you'll have no problems. Definetly practice on some scrap first, if you can. I ruined the first piece of Lucite by rushing it and pushing the drill...

After I got the lucite and the overlay in place, I installed the controls, and started wiring. First I did the trackball and spinner, connecting them to the Opti-PAC interface. Then, I used spade terminals and built the ground network first, daisy chaining the grounds on each side of the board separately. Finally, I wired all the buttons, then the joysticks. Once it was all wired, I installed the control panel and wired the coin door / free play buttons. Of course, I *had* to fire up AdvanceMAME to test the setup :) but before I could do that, the monitor was mounted in the cabinet. The monitor mounts fit like they were made for it (hmmmm....) and I only had to drill out three holes to get the bolts to fit - that monitor is not going anywhere! I also had to add some spacers for the VGA connector bracket in the back - the cable stuck out too far and wouldn't allow the door to close.

Once I had played a few games, the only problems I encountered were:

1. X2 / X2 were reversed for the spinner
2. X and Y were reversed for the trackball

Both were easy enough to fix, but the trackball problem was probably caused by my mounting it 90 degrees out. Oh, well, it works now :) The rest of the controls worked perfectly out of the box - I am really satisfied with the I-PAC and OptiPac interfaces from Ultimarc! This would have been much more difficult without them. Unfortunately, I was so intent on getting the panel done that I took very few pictures, and none of the control panel overlay installation procedure. Sorry, but I hope my descriptions are detailed enough - if anyone has questions, just email me. I also got the side art mounted, using the spray adhesive to mount them. I'll cover them with polyurethane for protection.

Today, it was less humid so I was able to put the first coat of polyurethane on the cabinet, and do some touchup for the scuffs I made while working on the monitor bezel and front glass. The bezel is made from foam board I got from the school supply section at WalMart, and the front glass is actually smoked 0.8" Lucite. It really makes a difference - contrast is improved and it helps the bezel do its job of hiding the ugly bits.

Second coat of paint applied, graphics, the story of ZEN

Painting is really going well - I got the second coat on tonight, and should be done tomorrow night with the third coat. Friday night I will mount the graphics and do the polyurethane. I was really pleased with the job that Diane did at Kinko's; it cost about $75 (at $10 / sq. foot) for the control panel overlay, and 2 18" sideart logos - I increased the size at the last minute, and I am glad I did - they will really look good, and will be the only graphics on the side. I am going to test the polyurethane on a piece of scrap I have been painting, to see what it looks like over a test logo I printed up. If all goes well, I may not put plexiglas over the control panel, but just coat it in poly - ill just have to see.

I was cleaning the brushes when the thought occured to me to sign the cabinet... I decided to do it where it wouldn't be obvious - the only way you'll see it is if the monitor is removed, or you use a flashlight and mirror - a kind of easter egg. I have been putting ZEN on high score tables since 1986; my roommate at Cameron Univ., Greg Ellis, and I used to play 1942 in the snack bar of the Shepler Center (The Aggie Barn, for those who remember)... anyway, one night we were taking over the high scores, and I goofed putting my initials, entering a Z as the first letter... after a few seconds of thought, I completed the entry as ZEN, the only 3-letter word I could think of at the time. Then, Greg came up with the idea that we could use the high score display to leave messages (did I mention we spent a *lot* of time in the Aggie Barn? :) ) So we kept playing, tailoring our scores and entries so that, hours later when we left, the high score table had the following entries (no, I don't remember the scores :) ):

1. ZEN
2. I S
3. THE
4. WAY
5. M Y
6. SON

Goofy, I know, but it was the best we could come up with, and ever since then I have been putting ZEN on the boards.

Sanding started, new marquee light

I didn't have a lot of time to work on the cabinet this weekend due to an impromptu trip to Oklahoma to see my folks, but I did manage to get some things done. I finished the initial sanding and started applying the primer, installed a new marquee light, and reworked the wiring harness. The 12v power supply is gone - since the new light uses 110v AC, I'm pretty confident that I can run the coin door lamp on the 12v line from the motherboard power supply. I also used some spare molex connectors from old pc parts to make a wiring harness for the coin door. I had to be diligent in labeling the lines, since the coin door uses yellow/black for the coin switch wiring, and the power supply uses yellow/black for 12v DC :) I just connected the yellow/black at the PS end to red/black in my harness by swapping the yellow and red pins in the molex connector, and labeled them accordingly - the molex connector will make sure I don't put 12v where doesn't belong :)

prep for sanding, preparing side art

Today I covered the screw heads and filled the gaps and dings with wood filler, so it will have a good 2 days to dry before I start sanding the cabinet in preparation for painting. I have also chosen a control panel layout, one that I found on Eric Devaud's site that matches the rest of the cabinet. I am going to take it to Kinko's to have it printed, since it is 12" x 27" and I don't want to spend time matching edges for at least 6 sheets :) I am also going to have the main side graphic printed there. Other graphics and the instruction cards will be printed here on my Canon i560 color photo printer.

Motherboard mounted, control panel ready to drill

The PCB bracket from Happ came on Friday, so I was able to mount the motherboard, as well as the hard drive cage and the risers. I still need to secure the power supply, probably with heavy-duty velcro, and run the video cable to relieve stress on the video card. The cdrom and floppy drives will only be temporarily installed to load software; during normal operation they will not be needed. I am fairly certain that the cooling will be adequate, but I have an auxillary fan that I can install in the event it is needed.

I have finalized the control panel layout, and it is ready for drilling and routing. I had room to use a 12" deep panel instead of 10", so I was able to move the spinner above the trackball - this was my original plan, as it centers both controls, but my initial design used a 10" panel which couldn't accomodate that placement. This new arrangement allows a more symmetrical button arrangement, which will be great for 2 player games such as Raiden and Twin Cobra; it will also allow ambidextrous configuration for games such as Centipede, Tempest, Galaga and others, which is nice since I am right-handed and Paula is left-handed :) However, I will not drill any holes until the final order from Ultimarc is here; I want to confirm that the dimensions on the actual parts match the ones given in the docs. I also have the Lucite cut for the panel, and will cut the holes in it at the same time as the wood.

Tomorrow I will start filling gaps and screw holes with wood filler, and prepping the cabinet for painting. I will paint the interior of the cabinet where the monitor sits first, and then mount the monitor. The rest of the painting can take place once it is mounted, and that will let me fit the monitor bezel and monitor glass while the exterior is drying. I am going to use either smoked glass, or smoked Lexan, whichever I can find at a good price. Also, I am going to start work on the side art and instruction cards tomorrow - I will post examples when I have finalized the design.

I am really trying to hit my target completion date of 31 May, so there is a lot going on now - but it is really going to be worth it!

Coin door installed, marquee created

The major woodwork is done - woo hoo! It has only taken a month to get to this point - I am rather amazed; I expected it to take longer. Tonight I re-assembled the rear panel, connected the coin door light to the 12v power supply, and created and installed the new marquee. I used a vector image from Eric Devaud's library, opened it in Adobe Illustrator, and printed it on Office Depot Window Decals for ink jet printers (#212-881, about $10 for 10 sheets). These are like static stickers, so it was easy to position the different pieces on the lucite. I printed the image in reverse, and backed it with 24# inkjet papaer. These are sandwiched between 2 layers of Lucite. The biggest problem is that you end up with bubbles, but they are not too bad - I think for the next version I will use transparencies instead. Next on the agenda is mounting the PC, creating the monitor bezel and ordering the rest of the controllers. Estimated time of completion is the end of May.

Controls have (mostly) arrived; wired for light and sound

I got the spinner, the marquee retainer and most of my buttons over the last 2 days. By the end of the week I should have the PCB holder and the rest of the Happ order. Note to me: next time, tell them to hold and ship everything at once if there is any backorder... I got the speaker enclosure finished, and the wiring for the marquee light and the sound system is finished. The subwoofer has been mounted, as well as the amplifier and the 12v power supply for the marquee light and the coin door lamp. The cabinet really rocks now - I tested it with our portable CD player!

Yesterday I got the cam lock installed in the rear door, and I found the best thing to cover the vent holes - Lowes had a roll of plastic gutter screen (to keep the leaves out) for a bit over $2! It is black, and is just the right width - I just cut with shears and tacked it down. Now I don't have to worry about things getting in thru the vents :)

Wal-Mart had black foam board (for art projects) that looks like it will be perfect for a monitor bezel - I will post pics when I have it finished.

Almost ready to sand & prime the cabinet

The woodwork is mostly finished - the monitor shelf and bracket are done, the kick-panel and rear doors have been hung, and the top vent holes have been cut. The only major woodwork left is the control panel, which will wait until all the parts are here. The next phase is to fill all the screw holes and gaps with wood filler, sand it smooth, and prime the cabinet; that will begin this week. Once it is primed, I can begin installing the PC and wiring the cabinet for sound. Also, I will begin producing the artwork for the control panel, side art and marquee. You can see the new pics in the Project Pics section.

cabinet assembly begins

Well, it is starting to look like a cabinet! Last night after work I attached the battens to the sides and then attached the sides to the base. Once that was done, I attached the top and angle panels for stability - tomorrow I will trim up the other panels to make them fit and install them. I will then begin the task of mounting the monitor. There are lots of new pics in the Project Pics section now, with pics of the new W-G D9200 monitor as well.

For those wondering, I based my cabinet on LuSID's version 7 cabinet (see link above); it was the best plan that would handle the 27" D9200. I originally wanted a Defender-type cabinet, but the original cab dimensions were too small so I modified LuSID's plans. I goofed on the marquee though - it is only 7", not the standard 8", so I will have to tinker a bit, but it's okay - it will still be a sharp cab :) I also made the coin door / panel different, as well as the mods to the control panel. I really wanted to have some unique touches to the cabinet, and it's been fun re-learning woodworking skills I haven't used since high school woodshop.

w00t! the monitor is here!!!

The monitor came yesterday afternoon - boy, was it hard not to take a half-day from work :) After unpacking it, I set it up on the test bench and fired it up - wow! It is worth every penny. Now comes the task of configuring all the modes, but there is plenty of info on that on the Easy MAMECab site. Also, it looks like the monitor will fit with plenty of room, so I will be able to begin assembly of the cabinet tomorrow. I'll put some pics of the monitor in the Project Pics section this weekend - just bear with my crappy digital camera :)

Controls ordered, monitor still in transit

I used templates I found on BYOAC to validate my keyboard layout, and everything looks good, so I have placed the order for the Vortex spinner and Tempest knob from Oscar Controls, and the order for buttons, marquee retainer, and a PCB holder from Happ Controls. The order from Ultimarc will have to wait for a bit - it's the most expensive because not only does it have 2 joysticks and a trackball, but it also includes the IPAC and OptiPAC interfaces. Things are really starting to come together!

In other news, the monitor has made it to Austin according to the tracking page, so it should be here sometime today... or tomorrow. At least it will be here by the weekend. I think :)

Where's the monitor? plus T-moulding groove cut

The t-molding came yesterday, and cutting the groove proved easier than expected - after a couple of trial cuts on a piece of scrap, the grooves for the t-molding were knocked out in about 60 seconds, for both sides... it really helps to have the right tools :) I have also measured and drilled most of the holes for the 2x2s that I will attach the panels to, but I cannot start assembly until the monitor arrives, so that I can take actual measurements for the mounting brackets. It is really going to be a close fit! I have also finalized the control panel layout - it will basically be a Stargate layout, with an extra joystick (for Robotron and the odd 2-player game), trackball and spinner. I will have to learn how to use the spinner left-handed though - hope an old dog has room for a new trick :) The Emery Worldwide tracking page shows that the monitor is somewhere in DFW Airport, and has been for over a day now... I have no clue when to expect it - I have never dealt with Emery Worldwide before.

Wood is cut, Coin Door arrived, Monitor has shipped

All of the major cuts have been done, and now I only need to cut the groove for the t-molding and I will be able to start assembling the cabinet. Also, the coin door arrived today! I got a great deal on a Happ Single coin door + 25¢ US coin mech on Ebay. I was really surprised to see the door in the mail - it was shipped on Friday from California! (Why is it that a package can be shipped from CA to TX in 3 days but across the state takes a week?) The t-molding is scheduled to arrive tomorrow from T-Molding.com, and the monitor should arrive on Wednesday according to the Wells-Gardener rep. Looks like everything is starting to come together... I just need to practice cutting the slot for the t-molding some more :)

Be sure to check out the Project Pics!

Lumber acquired, tools purchased, monitor selected

The lumber and cabinet hardware are in! I went by Home Depot on the way home from work and picked up 3 sheets of 3/4" ash that was on sale for the same price as pine - nice! Also picked up a circular saw, router and the assorted bits and blades I needed to build the cabinet. Tomorrow I will go looking for Lexan or Plexiglass, T-molding and a light fixture for the marquee. The control order may have to be delayed, but that's ok... it looks like I will be getting the Wells-Gardener D9200 27" monitor! Expensive, but I believe it will be worth every penny... and it is cheaper from the W-G site than anywhere else I have looked.

Tax return is in! plus OS/Software verisons

Well, looks like our tax return came in, so I will be gathering parts soon - the 25" TV that my brother was going to donate to the project turned out to be a bust - it doesn't have any inputs except the coax for the tuner! Wow! I didn't know any like that existed still - not even a composite video / mono audio input! So, it looks like I'll be going the arcade monitor route - which will be more expensive but easier to work with and better visuals to boot! Also, gonna start placing orders for the controls, and a trip to the lumberyard is on the horizon as well - looks like this bird might fly after all! On the OS side, I am back to DOS7 + AdvanceMAME/AdvanceMenu; I just have to knuckle down and tweak the settings now. Plus, I have to resolve all my version conflicts between my romsets. Fun, fun, fun....

OS testing and speakers

Ok, so no pix yet - I have been battling with the PC that is the guts of the machine - trying to find the best combination of OS and emulation software for the games I want to run. I originally wanted to use AdvanceMAME with AdvanceMenu on DOS7 (Win98 minus the GUI), but I ran into issues with my video card, so I decided to load Win98SE... then found that I seem to have misplaced the CD Key.... oh well. I picked up the speakers today, Altec Lansing desktop speakers plus subwoofer... should be a good sound for the cab.

The adventure begins!

My spring project this year is to build an arcade cabinet, using an existing PC running MAME to emulate the classic video games of the era. I will be uploading pictures as the project proceeds, as well as construction notes and other comments.