27 replies to this topic

[Itchigo]

That wasn't a cart, that was an old stereo cabinet I repurposed at the time. Essentially it was an oversize gamepad. About the same height as a real machine it served it's purpose for a while. My new build is a minicab with pullout controls for mame underneath the cab. I'm very new to mame but I'd like to incude it due to lack of space. (Blueprint borrowed from Rascal and changed the specs).

Does that not look friggin real or what?

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•  tims_minicab.jpg   88.4KB   45 downloads
•  Wizard.jpg   485.61KB   51 downloads

Edited by Itchigo, 25 June 2012 - 01:29 AM.

[sternrulez]

That wasn't a cart, that was an old stereo cabinet I repurposed at the time. Essentially it was an oversize gamepad. About the same height as a real machine it served it's purpose for a while. My new build is a minicab with pullout controls for mame underneath the cab. I'm very new to mame but I'd like to incude it due to lack of space. (Blueprint borrowed from Rascal and changed the specs).

Does that not look friggin real or what?

WOW...that looks like it's shaping up very nicely...bravo! I would like to do something like that eventually but I figure with my inexperience in cab making it's best to start small and work my way up...that way I can compile the necessary knowledge and materials while still enjoying a few thousand playthroughs...lol! Sorry about the misread on your pic, I was thinking it was something along the lines of a microwave cart which is what I figured would be ideal for storing the PC components underneath. By the way, do you happen to know what program was used to create the first pic? I want to do something like that but I didn't want to go through the whole trouble of reinstalling autocad on this PC...I haven't used it in a while and I figured it would be easier to use something else that doesn't take up quite as much HD space.

I thought I would share something that I did with my current PC that might help with someone else's "build on a budget" project. I have 3 cats, and I was constantly worried about one of them knocking over my monitor should they jump up on the desk when I'm not around. I solved that problem by picking up 2 adjustable clamps at my local Harbor Freight Tools store...I think they were $5 for the pair. They came with protective rubber feet so that I wouldn't damage the monitor's stand. I simply attached one to each side of the central pillar, and now the only way this monitor is going anywhere is if you flip the entire desk over... I was planning on doing the same thing with my MAME build as it has worked so well for me in the past.

Again, way to go on your build...make sure you keep the pics coming!

Edited by sternrulez, 25 June 2012 - 02:15 AM.

[Itchigo]

Actually my cab is nothing more than a gamepad also. The computer is outside of the cab itself and runs the cab remotely. I have more vp stuff at my website if you'd like my tables or want to learn building.

[sternrulez]

Actually my cab is nothing more than a gamepad also. The computer is outside of the cab itself and runs the cab remotely. I have more vp stuff at my website if you'd like my tables or want to learn building.

I will take a look tomorrow...right now my eyes are crossing...lol! Thank you!

[blur]

Here are some updates for my paper cab build. For Pinocchio goal was not to be made of wood but to be real boy from real flesh and blood. As we all know for pinball cabs and so for my paper cab also goal is to be made of wood and my cab has made a step in that direction. If my paper cab was Pinocchio you could say that it became a real boy now So here are the pictures. Still few details missing like lockdown bar, side rails, glass, ...
I found a wooden box laying around the house, full of toys, with just about right dimensions so i thought, why not exchange it - toys for real boy, so i threw all the toys out, made some holes, and here it is Pinochio paper cab.

Hole on the bottom is where all the cables should go.

Dimensions are just right for my screen. Height is like coffee table so you can sit on the chair and play, and this is ideal height for kids also.

I tried to make analog nudge device (joystick turned upside down with weight) - but joystick on my gamepad got detached from all the movements, wires split, i will have to solder wires with longer cable. Until then i will try to configure physical digital nudging with some physical device like some tilt bobs. Pictures are coming into text...

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•  100_2.JPG   71.36KB   23 downloads
•  100_3.jpg   30.67KB   9 downloads
•  100_4.JPG   58.5KB   7 downloads
•  100_5.jpg   35.72KB   16 downloads

Edited by blur, 10 July 2012 - 01:02 PM.

[blur]

Blur, it's you that I've chosen to thank first..you've done an incredible job on your unit and it was because of you that the aged hamsters in my head started turning the rusty wheels...lol! I do have a question for you before I continue though: Did you run VP off the laptop in the back and if so how did you get dual screen output? I'm able to do that on the PC I'm using to write this, but only because of the graphics card, and I'm not aware of any lappy with the possible exception of something high-end that allows this. However, if you used 2 PCs for the dual screens, how did you sync the backglass with the table? Sorry to nitpick but I'm curious...

I'm glad you liked my proof of concept lure to pinball cabs world
for dual screen laptop can be any laptop you can find - every laptop has support for two screens - one integrated screen and the other external via vga or dvi
but graphic card has to be a bit stronger for fluid play - so maybe it's better to buy desktop if you are buying pc just for pinball cab - and cpu should be at least dual core over 2 GHz.

i'm currently playing with intel sandy bridge, before that i had nvidia quadro 140 GPU. Both on thinkpads.

[blur]

This wooden cab mod is now few months old, so i can say few words about it. Even though there is no glass and lockdown bar and side rails on it wood feels much better under the hands then cardboard, and buttons feel much better when fixed in wood. I had a busy few months lately going around country on spearfishing tournaments as a judge so didn't upgraded or played this cab much, but kids love it already. They can sit on the chair and play, just like me, and height is ok for all of us - which was not the case before when cardboard case was on the table - it was good height for me but too high for kids.

I've put only one button on each side - for reality, and because people were hitting wrong button all the time - so there is no nudging at the moment until i fix some analog device or put some weight on a gamepad stick. It's a pita to play without nudge but hey - maybe i'll learn to really play - without cheating with nudging Will have to do some nudge asap but then again - summer holidays are so close - and spearguns also have to be finished and ready for me and all kids ))

Maybe just some physical device for front left and right nudge for start - some kind of tilt bob - so that i can finally test how tiempofiltro in my core.vbs really works And later some gamepad to test koadic's new hacked vp. After all we have to test all available technologies to see how they work ))

Edited by blur, 10 July 2012 - 01:00 PM.

[blur]

during the weekend i installed physical nudging device for my paper cab

it is a 2 mm steel wire that hangs from the front of the cab with some lead weight on the bottom and two tunable contacts for left and right nudge
there is no front nudge for now, but it will come (I have to solder another wire to controller cause i used all 8 wires
I've put squished alu foil over lead so that it doesn't bounce too much when it hits contact and so that it doesnt bounce for five minutes after every nudge

pictures will come soon

i watched how this tilt bob behaves and i saw that if we nudge from right tilt bob goes to the right, and then bounces back and forth several times

to solve this so that i don't get tilt i cofigured tiempofiltro to 2 seconds, it could be also one second maybe, default is 200 ms which is too litle

another thing i noticed is that if nudge interval is too small tiempo filtro doesn't work good, but if you put both to 2 or 1 second it is ok - i've even changed the script so that tiempo filtro can be big even if nudge interval is small

also because first nudge is small nudge contacts have to be very close to the tilt bob

Edited by blur, 16 July 2012 - 02:50 PM.