Has anyone built an arcade machine before, (mame)

Not really. A bit of a fun project with the satisfaction of knowing you made it with your own hands. Knowing the build is made with quality parts, (I notice in all the ebay builds that they don't list components, especially the screen types), and put together well with full upgrade-ability already built in.
Already I reckon I could drop the cost by at least 2/3, probably more, by using cheap parts.

I built a shed last summer without plans, (there's a pattern here), and the final cost was about £500 all in. It's solid as a rock and fully lit and powered. Mrs Diamond told me we could have bought one exactly the same size for half the price. I told her this one would still be as good as new in 20 years time, (maybe some new felt in 15 years), whereas the cheapo shed would have been replaced twice in that time, too flimsy to have power inside, would warp after 1 winter and would have basically been "sh*te". Unfortunately once I get my teeth into a project I tend to go for the higher end spec, which costs.

 

I've been playing about with RetroPie for the Rasberry Pi3 with a keyboard and a few standard games. Today I put the joystick and 3 buttons onto a small cardboard box, wired them to the control board which is plugged into the Pi USB port. I had Space Invaders and Pacman running OK, (the screen you see in the picture isn't the one I ordered but an old spare). The kids are now showing a lot more interest!



Only thing that bothers me is that RetroPie doesn't seem to run all the old arcade roms that I want. I can run Asteroids on the PC version of mame, but not on the Retropie version/s so far. Looking into it a bit deeper it seems that Retropie might be the issue, so I'll be experimenting with a few different systems/emulators on the Pi3. The thing is that the system does work and I'm getting more confident with the software that's about, so the project moves forward.

 

Now looking seriously at button placement. After a long time researching, I think I like this layout:



There are templates out there to help, think this is the closest, (ignoring the last 2 buttons). From http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html.



Other buttons to consider are to add coins, to begin the game, side ones for pinball sims, select buttons for the software, a reset button and an on/off switch. Probably more.

 

I think your nob is a little small.

On more sensible matters are you going to include a trackball? I use one to help RSI and it would be great for missile command and marble madness.

And don't forget two heavy duty, replaceable buttons for Track n Field. I got through 3 Specturm keyboards playing Daley Thopmson's decathlon

 

If I go for the side controls in the future, (still not 100% on that), then a trackball would have to be an option.
I was trying out track & field last night on the PC, I forgot how d*mn hard the hammer throw was.

The more I play with the software the more I'm going off the Rasberr Pi for the project. Looks like I'll be breaking down a PC and going down that route.

The monitor I ordered came with tracking info. Yesterday Parcelforce said a delivery attempt was not successful, yet someone was in all day. ****s.

 

The monitor arrived today so I had a bit of a play. Wow, the colours are amazing, such a shame it's only going to be used on such cr*ppy graphics, but it's the screen angle that matters. Had a play with Mame and flipped the screen, apologies for the poor photos...




I took those at "sort of" the angle I'll be setting for the table. It really doesn't show just how good the picture is. I'm really pleased with the monitor.
What needs to happen next is to strip the monitor down and work out how it'll mount in the cabinet, (with angled wood at the edges, no idea what that's called).

I also had a rethink about the button layout. I think on each side I'll just be having a joystick and 3 buttons, that's more than enough for all except fighting games. If I do the side extension then those 2 player settings can have the 6 buttons each, (plus scroll wheel in the middle).

I've reloaded the old PC with Windows 7 and it's almost fully updated now, (it's amazing how fast they can boot up when they have a new OS), so I just need to work on removing all the services I don't need running and streamline it for performance.

So as it stands I have the cabinet, the PC, the (cheap) buttons, the controller board, the monitor and the software, (still to play with Attract Mode but...). I know how it'll all go together, (sort of), so it's a matter of finding some time to move on with it.

 

Beading or Molding. Take a wander into Wickes

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Decorating+Interiors/Mouldings/c/1000563

I'd actually use plastic and then you wont need to finish it.

 

Beading, thank you Meister. Used Wickes before for it so will pop down there over the weekend.

What people who have built these things have said is that mounting the screen beneath the 18mm MDF is simply too low.What I'd like is a hole that the monitor fits in to, bring it as high as possible and finish it with beading. I may have to strip the monitor down to get it properly flush with the beading but need to play a bit first.

 

Easier to rout out a recess in the underside of the top that the monitor case fits into rather than go to all the hassle of disabling the monitor casing. I know I've pulled monitors apart before.

If you haven't got one already something cheap and cheerful like this would fit the purpose and might even help you produce professional bevelled edges elsewhere?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/101748-Ele...ie=UTF8&qid=1496413733&sr=1-3&keywords=router

 

D*mn you Meister that's exactly what I need.

 

There's no feeling quite like buying a new powertool.

 

This afternoon I had a few hours free so cracked on with the top/lid/screen bit. I thought seriously about getting a router but thought I'd try the beading route first. I centered the screen and cut out the hole. It looked ridiculously small, (or the top looked too big), so I cut the whole thing down, (another resize job). The second attempt looked much better, so I also cut the end parts to shape, (not the corners until the glass arrives), cut the beading and tried it with the screen. It looked bl**dy good so I glued and tacked the beading in place, (now drying).

Here's the only picture I took today and you can see the shape of the top looks pretty nice, with the beading installed it looks much better as well.



I took your advice Meister and didn't dis-assemble the monitor. It worked out well. As soon as everything is dried and set I'll sand it flat and post a picture with the screen in place.

 

As I got unfairly "murdered" in the werewolf game I had a few hours spare tonight. I sanded the beading level and it looks really good, (IE I won't need much wood filler). Due to the new size of the top, I cut down the sides to match/fit. I much prefer this size. The picture below doesn't show it but it's held together with tape just to get the photo.



Here's the top part with the screen inserted. Again really happy with it but will have to deal with the Dell logo and buttons before the actual fitting. What I really like about this is that from the normal seating angle you can see all of the visible screen. That's something I picked up as important by reading about other people's builds.



Rear side. Should be a doddle to hold in place.


I finished by cutting the bottom of the side panels to give the unit 4 corner feet. This will let me have a cheeky light underneath the unit to look really cool .

 

What's happened? You can't just leave us hanging with no update for a week!!! That's like watching Flash, Green Arrow or S.H.I.E.L.D. and they leave you hanging at the end of every episode.

 

Apologies Markoa$. Been remarkably busy this last week. Hopefully Sunday will see a bit of time on the build.

 

No need to apologise mate, just glad you're still working on it.

 

Is there an update?

Really interesting project; hope you've made it work.

 

No update apart from a full on few weeks so all the parts are still in the shed!

 

For £50 you can get this, dual core, ddr3, onboard intel chipset and of course it's tiny, add a 60Gb SSD and it will truly fly. For not much more dosh you can get a quad core micro atx.
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asr...241ghz-soc-ddr3-ddr3l-on-board-intel-hd-graph

 

(Can't edit so I've replied to myself)
I'll just point out this board's processor and graphics are passively cooled and it should need no more than a laptop power supply making it completely fanless ... I'm that impressed that I plan to use it for my next build.

 

Fascinating thread, although I'm reminded of the Johnny Cash song "One piece at a time" ........

 

Cool - looking forward to the next update!

 

So almost 5 years later the project is back. Life seriously got in the way for a while but recently I carved a little time out to move it on. Currently this is the state of it:



Software is running as a test setup at the moment. I've got a PS4 controller, a keyboard and those buttons wired into the rasberry pi 3, (the buttons via a 3rd party interface), as I get used to the workings of retropie again. Even managed to get some sound out of it last night, but oddly when trying space invaders only the UFO makes a noise. Pacman works beautifully.

The fun of this, and the whole point of the project, is to overcome the issues to get a machine that works well and looks good.

You see these things advertised with literally thousands of games but my intention is to just have the very best arcade games of my youth available. Will update with progress.

 

I like your toaster.

 

Came free with that microwave. We're clearing the house of all baby/kid stuff as Mrs D has recently changed career. Most of it going straight to the dump.

 

After a week of playing around with the Raspberry Pi and the Retropie software I've realised that it's way too much work to get every game running as I want. On my old laptop I can run the games with ease whereas the Retropie software is just too fiddly and simply doesn't run all the games, (despite the hours meddling with it).
So right now I've got an old dog of a PC installing Windows 7 and will get that installed into the table and tested. I forgot how painful Windows updates used to be, basically the whole day today is waiting for updates to be done, (which is still more interesting than the Burnley game).

 

The other option is to just shoehorn an android tablet in. I had an app that had loads of Spectrum games on it.

Doing a bit of digging here's a decent site for a run down of emulators:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-game-emulators-android/

Better still an android TV device could plug into the monitor you already have. You could end up playing asteroids, switch to Horace goes skiiing and then switch to a bit of N64.

 

Interesting idea. Spent some time looking at this after reading the above as I've got a firestick but it all comes back to supported software and front end, which does appear to be a painfully small choice.

 

Now there's a thought. I currently have a 4K firestick plugged into my 60" TV. I can side load apps as well.
Now going to spend the evening get Ironman Ivan Stewart's Off Road racing workign on it and then maybe BurgerTime.

For the above you could get an HDMI splitter if the monitor only has one port and do both.

 

What about the arcade table joysticks and buttons? How to support those?

 

Good point. There's this
http://ipega.hk/ps3ps4series/76-442.html

However if you're handy with a soldering iron, there's loads of cheap digital BT joypads out there that are android compatible. I'd be tempted to open one up and bypass the buttons to a classic microswitched joystick sadly I got rid of my competition pros a few years ago but any microswitched joystick should work.

So you basically just replace the buttons of a supported joypad with something more arcadey.


Posted for nostalgia purposes.

 

I dont remember seeing this thread before, would love to see all the old pictures. The unit looks great Diamond.

 

Good news and bad news:

It's been painful. Getting a PC to work the games in table mode, (so screen is in portrait mode rather than landscape), is horrific. I've literally installed 5 different systems with varying degrees of success, (from completely cr*p to not so cr*p). I eventually gave up and went back to the raspberry pi which then needs a small tweak to get it running in landscape mode, but that small tweak means some games don't run well as the "tweak" takes a lot of processing, (meaning asteroids doesn't run).
Even now, every single game seems to take a lot of tweaking to get right with the pi software but I have the classics running well, (Outrun is awesome).

So, I have a cumbersome and very heavy table that's not setup how I like it mainly due to screen rotation issues and I'm starting to get fed up with it. It's not working out as I expected even o the 2nd attempt, (which has been going on since I resurrected this thread). I seriously think I need to ditch the table idea and got for a more portable setup that means I can get the screen in the position it should be, (landscape), then nearly every problem goes away.

I'll update soon.

 

There must be a fix for the PC.
I worked at a place once where a graphic designer had a monitor which could rotate 90 degrees on it's mount for layout proofing. It must have been handled in the monitor driver.

 

Alternatively Android has rotation built in to the system.