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:
- X2 / X2 were reversed for the spinner
- 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.
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