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Design

 

I based this design on three designs that I thought were quite good. The Lusid Design, the Scott’s Unicade Design and the Build your MAME cabinet in 24 hours design.  Here is a picture of the www.byoac.com web site that acted as the knowledge base for this MAME cabinet build.. I would personally like to thank all those who gave me advice and answered questions on the byoac forum. I rely on helping others like others like others have helped me...

I ended up on using mainly Lusid’s design with a few modifications. I liked the fact that he put the cutting pattern in with his plan. That, plus his cabinet had the look I was after (albeit with a few modifications). I spent many and many an hour researching all the Upright Mame projects that are currently housed there.

 
 

 

Here is tbe www.byoac.com website with a copy of my cabinet design on the keyboard…

Here is my cabinet side panel layout diagram. This is Lusid’s design except for the cutout of the bottom-right hand side of the cabinet to give it a Neo-Geo look…

I will scan this picture in later when I have access to a scanner.

 

Here is a rough sketch of the control panel. I wanted a panel that could play spinner type games (tempest, arknoid) and a trackball game (marbel madness, football, etc). I also decided on a super console where I could have a 1 and 2 player console, as well as a single player station that could play all games for 1 player. All controls (spinner, trackball) are available here.

Note: Lusid’s Control Panel is very deep. (18”). I think I should cut it down to 12”-15” inches instead for the 1-Player Control…Something to think about…

 

 

Placing the Order

I knew I was going to go with the  I-PAC and not a keyboard hack from the time I discovered it. Maybe I will play around with the keyboard hack at a later date, but for now, I wanted reliability, and not something depending on a Garry hack to a Dell keyboard (remember, I'm a woodworker, not electronic genius).  I-PAC, based on my research,  has the best ratings out of them all. I figured I might as well get everything now and not do it over time. Everything is shipped from the U.K, so best to pay only one shipping charge. I read a couple of reviews on the T-Stik Plus and it got rave reviews. It even allows you to flip it over from a true 4-way to true 8-Way Joystick. Not electronically, but physically. I still do not believe this and I can’t wait to get the joy-sticks. I’ll let you know how they work.

Note: I received the Ultimarc Joysticks very quickly. I was surprised at how quicky they were sent from the UK. I ordered them Dec 29, and they were received Jan 08, 2004. The mechanism is physical. When you light the joystick up and over, you push a lever that physically switches the joystick from True 8-Way to True 4-Way. Very Cool!!! The foolowing pictture illustrartes this very well...

 I am interested in fining out if they work like Happ Super (Round jorstick feel) or the Happ Competition (can feel the diagonals). Again, I’ll let you know. Got the Opti-Pac as well (for the Trackball) as well as a few other odss and sods. Here is the BOM (Bill of Materials)…

What I bought from Ultimarc

Qty.

Desc.

 

 

1

I-Pac/2 with PS/2 Cable

1

Extra USB Cable for I-PAC/2

1

LED Harness

1

PCB Mounting Feet

1

Opti-Pac with USB

1

Serial and Power Cable for Opti-Pac

1

T-Stik Plus Red

1

T-Stik Plus Blue

 

 

                                                                        =====

Here is the part list of what I bought from Happ (through starburstcoin.ca). For you Canadian out there, this includes the specific Canadian Parts you will need to make your cabinet run on Canadian currency...

Happ Part No

Qty.

Desc.

 

 

 

49-0998-00

100’

T-Molding (for the Cabinet edges)

56-0100-12TI12

1

Happ 3” Translucent Blue Trackball

55-1101-00

1

Happ 3” Translucent Blue Trackball Mounting Plate

40-0038-10

1

Over/Under Door
 

42-3115-00

  

2

  

CANADIAN .25 cent COIN MECHS.

YOU NEED THESE IF YOU ARE CANADIAN AND BUY THE COIN DOOR! THESE ARE THE THINGS WIHCH ACTUALLY ACCEPT/PROCESS THE CANAIDAN QUARTER, WITHOUT THIS, THE COIN DOOR IS USELESS!!!! So, the door will REALLY cost you $164.00 (plus PST and GST...)

The good news is is that .I tested them with a CDN penny, nickel dime, loonie/twonie (both physically don't fit) and an American quarter, They were are all rejected (hmmmm....wonder what a slug would do?????).

EACH COIN MECH IS $17.00 CDN  = $34.00 Total cost of ownership., This really caught me by surprise! But, it does give it the Canadian touch!

 
Coin Door Light Bulbs 2 YOU NEED THESE IF YOU BUY THE COIN DOOR. My coin Door did not come with the 14V #161 required light bulbs. Luckily, there is a Regent shop down the road (a local pinball/video game supplier in Ottawa), and I was able to buy from them .65 cents a piece. I bought 4 of em just in case.

Make sure you order these now, they are cheap, and order more than you need for likely burned light bulbs in the future.

 

50-6084-00

2

Happ Super-8 Black

50-6070-10

1

Happ Competition r-8 Red

50-6070-12

1

Happ Competition-8 Blue

50-8000-10

1

Happ Super w/Fire Button 8-Way

58-9122-L

10

Red Horizontal PB

58-9100-L

10

Blue Horizontal PB

58-9166-L

6

Black

58-9144-L

4

Purple

58-9111-L

4

White

58-9133-L

2

Green

58-9177-L

2

Orange

58-9155-L

2

Yellow

58-9111-L1PLY

1

1Player Pushbutton

58-9111-L2PLY

1

2Player Pushbutton

20-10229

4

3" 12V Fans (to vent the cabinet). These were on Sale at 4.50 each!!!. I went to Radio Shack and saw them retailing for $23.00 and a local Electroinic dealer for $12.00. Guess there is quite a flux in prices out there!!!

30-3141-KD

2

Lock Cams + Keys (on special...

 

 

 

 

Canadian Tip...

If you are going to place an order for Happ controls, and are Canadian, then order them through http://starburstcoin.com. These guys are the resellers for Happ in the Canada. Write down your HAPP part numbers from www.happcontrols.com and order all your parts through dave@starburstcoins.com. He was great to deal with. Dave will include your order with his overall order to Happ and reduce your overall price.

I places my order with Dave and in 3 days received my order! Some of my parts are on backorder with HAPP, but Dave shipped te parts that he had in stock (thanks Dave).  I should receive the remaining of my order somewhere near the last week of Jan. This will include the trackball, t-molding and Happ Competition joysticks. I'll keep you appraised of the situation.

 		  

January 19, 2003 - Received Happ Controls...

Today, I received the Happ controls. What follows is a discussion of the various controls I ordered from HAPP (via Starburstcoins.com) and Ultimarc. Please note: I ordered from Ultimarc on Dec 28, 2003 and received my cmplete order including an I-PAC, OPTI-PAC and T-STIK-Plus hardware on Jan 08, 2004. Since I had decided on using HAPP buttons.

 		  
 

 

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