Anyone have an arcade cab?
Hi Folks,
I've been trying to justify an arcade 1up MK/Streetfighter cab to myself for ages. I started looking at the mods you can make, ie replacing the logic board with a pi, replacing the screen with a 20" LCD, replacing the joysticks etc, but then I realized I already have a spare Pi 3b, an X-arcade tankstick, and few old screens etc lying around.
Is anyone aware of a barebones DIY cab that will take an X-arcade stick with very little modding? I'm happy to do basic wiring and software config, but my woodworking skills are non-existent, so making something myself is a no go.
I don't want to go too outrageous because of:
1) Wife
2) Space
3) I have loads of other half finished projects
But it would be cool to have a go on some retro ROMs the way they were meant to be played!
Something like this would be great, but maybe not quite so expensive (and available in the UK)!
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
I can't say about making one to contain the X-Arcade stick, although you might be able to take it apart and reuse it in something else, however I built a table top cabinet a few years back.
https://i.imgur.com/jCsiknP.jpg
I did some extra modding on the cabinet, 2 USB ports on the front, Ethernet on the side, kettle socket on the back.
I bought a kit, rather than trying to cut my own, and stuck a screen, pi, controller, speakers and amp, and a back light behind the top panel, its fun!
Here you can see the insides:
https://i.imgur.com/Xw1imp2.jpg
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BobF64
I can't say about making one to contain the X-Arcade stick, although you might be able to take it apart and reuse it in something else, however I built a table top cabinet a few years back.
I did some extra modding on the cabinet, 2 USB ports on the front, Ethernet on the side, kettle socket on the back.
I bought a kit, rather than trying to cut my own, and stuck a screen, pi, controller, speakers and amp, and a back light behind the top panel, its fun!
Looks brilliant, nice job.
b0redom this is the closest thing to a barebones as I could find without destroying the bank account.
Found another but they're asking £1k+
https://bitcade.co.uk/collections/ar...28379179745374
One thing of note is that the button/joystick holes are pre-drilled you might be able to ask them not to do that, or do it to the spec of yours.
They also do bar top varients
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kumagoro
Exactly where mine came from, although mine is the 19" non-widescreen version which they no longer sell.
Also got the buttons, sticks, amp and speakers from them too.
The mains in goes to a junction box, which then powers the monitor, backlight and PSU brick, that in turn goes to the buck converter to power the 5v components.
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Yeah.... wood work.... no.... :crazy:
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
@BobF64 - how did you chose the buttons/sticks? Looks like they have a ridiculous amount of options.
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Any local woodworkers? Sure they could knock you up something to spec for not that much. Could probably advise on materials as well.
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
The woodwork is the easy part, especially if you're doing it in plywood or (shudder) MDF and have power tools, or perhaps something like pine if you're more into your handtools. OSB could be interesting...
I'd struggle more with all the finishing statges, like getting a decent coating and sticking the plastic trim on straight.
I'd still love to have one. Got a nice corner in my den where one would fit perfectly. Would need a headphones jack so I could play it at night, though!
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
b0redom
@BobF64 - how did you chose the buttons/sticks? Looks like they have a ridiculous amount of options.
I picked the kit i wanted, the IL 2 player + controller, and went with that.
Ultimately, the sticks and buttons are just microswitches, with a common ground wiring loom that connects to the controller board.
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
Oh, there is also the IKEA arcade table, that requires very little wood working skills, but is mainly a 1 player item, unless you have a bigger table.
Re: Anyone have an arcade cab?
I had a Sega Rally cab for a few years in the late noughties. It was fun but I got bored of it eventually as, once you learn the course and where each car is going to be, it's quite easy to finish first.
I then replaced it with a Hard Drivin' cockpit in 2010, which was an awesome bit of kit. That and its successor (Race Drivin') were my favourite games during the heyday of arcades. It needed a fair bit of maintenance to keep the various mechanical parts working well, including the hefty force-feedback motor, H-gate gear selector, clutch and brake pedal sensors, and the magnetically locking seat. Fortunately, one of HD's original designers from the Atari days (Jed Margolin) was really helpful when I emailed him with a ton of questions. Really nice guy.
Transporting it wasn't easy - it was huge and weighed about 300kg, so took 3 of us to manhandle it into my garage. Even then, one of my mates swore he'd never help me move it again :D
It was great fun though, especially the stunt course with jumps, loops etc. It was one of the first polygon-based games, when we were used to flat sprites in stuff like Out Run and Hang On. Atari also brought in a racing driver to help them fine-tune the car's handling, so with practice you could get lift-off oversteer when cornering. It was really the first attempt at a proper driving simulation.
https://i.imgur.com/bKh1ABD.jpg
For anyone who's interested, especially if you like your electronics p0rn, here are some random photos I kept. They're mostly gratuitous shots of the various PCB's which handled the game's sound, physics, graphics, the force-feedback motor, etc.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...lp?usp=sharing]
If you're not familiar with Hard Drivin' (or are too young to have been wasting your evenings in arcades in the early 90's) here's some YT footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftfERePINcI
Sadly I had to sell it a few years ago after divorcing, as I no longer have a garage to keep it in. Gone, but not forgotten :)
