A Very Merry Andy Blair Progress Blog

[A_D_BLAIR]

I've been really wanting to share some of the things I've been working on. Instead of posting pictures and things haphazardly I've decided to start a blog thread. Here goes...

Initially I came to the DK forum hoping to start building a raspberry pi cabinet and begin working on tackling my personal bests. Maybe one day reaching a kill screen. Maybe a million points.

After checking the submission rules I've found the things I would have to tackle to get a raspberry pi machine working up to snuff was just too frustrating.

Digging through the submission rules and what not I figured the route I could take would be to build a Bartop cab  on a 60 in 1 Jamma board. My practice and training is on hold while I am in production of a machine, but I am near completion!

The game itself is run off of one of those Chinese iCade 60 in 1 Jamma boards. The game when booted displays just 1981... No Nintendo (c) etc... Hopefully this is legal for submissions.

I have all the other games locked out so when the machine is flipped on it goes straight to donkey kong.

The monitor is a 15" dell lcd. And the power supply is an atx ripped out of an old computer.

The controller is a Sanwa with the 4/8way restrictor plate... The restrictor is flipped to 4 way to lock out diagonal movements. The buttons are wired to only input jump, insert coin, player 1 start, and player 2 start. I did not wire a service or test button as of yet. I set the machine up without soldering those buttons to the harness so I could save space later within the cabinet.

Still to do is cabinet art and the marquee. T molding trim is on its way. I am figuring a way to hook up a decent speaker. I will also be rigging LED lights to light the marquee.

Hopefully within the next two weeks I will be finished with the build and onto figuring out how to stream a game and get some scores submitted.... So far my personal best which isn't official because I have no recording and it was on an emulator on the raspberry pi is 114k. I hope to get it made official on this homemade cab!

Pictures to follow

[A_D_BLAIR]

Here are a few of the progress pictures...

the matched sides made of MDF, home depot shelf special


Tried to find a nice Donkey Kong style blue paint. this went on decent and easy.


I found a local electronics supplier and made do with the available edge connectors to make my own Jamma harness..


As you can see I'm really just cobbling whatever I can find together


Heres the back of the Dell monitor and a "custom mount" to hold it at the right angle and position inside the cab.


trying to stay organized. you can see how close the ATX power supply will be to everything. Worried it may get hot in there.


My dog helping me with joystick control panel fabrication... Im terrible at drilling plexi... don't worry this was a practice run


I modified the monitor bezel to fit my cabinet. I also mocked up a new control panel in photoshop to fit the proper size.
had these printed by a vinyl sign place and meticulously cutout the screen area... 20 bucks and they look sturdy and professional..


quick setup to check monitor angles and depth(needs adjusting) ignore the control panel ... its since been redone.


Control panel redone. joystick parts installed... the speaker is on top... still thinking of where it will best be mounted.


the underside of the joystick... restrictor plate is flipped and turned to 4 way to block out the diagonals. had to route out the board and make a weird bracket to get it to hold properly and have enough of the stick actually protruding from the panel.


thats all I have so far. If you have any advice I would really appreciate it. This has been a learning experience for sure.

[marinomitch13]

Wow, this looks sweet! Any chance you wouldn't mind totaling up a list of costs you've spent on this project so others can have an idea?

[A_D_BLAIR]

Wow, this looks sweet! Any chance you wouldn't mind totaling up a list of costs you've spent on this project so others can have an idea?

The rundown of what I've spent on materials.

The Jamma 60 in 1 PCB  I snagged off eBay was $40

The edge connector and wires used to make the harness $20

I found the monitor at a pawn shop for (led and lcd monitors of this size are cheap on eBay craigslist also)  $15

The atx power supply I was lucky to drag out of a computer tower that was going to get recycled.

The MDF board I likely spent $30

The plexi gets expensive and I've definitely messed up a lot so far $60

The Sanwa joystick and buttons I found on eBay for $30

I have some truck bed led lights I'm going to rig up for the marquee $20

The control panel, marquee, and monitor bezel art was printed at a sign shop for $40

T molding on its way for $20

Paint and primer I'd say about $40

I probably spent the most money buying a jigsaw and router, but you could likely borrow these or already own them.

Time... The costly and hard to find stuff... I've worked on this a little every day for two weeks and it's driving my dog (priority) and girlfriend(meh) crazy.

Overall I'd say I've probably dumped about $300-400 on the real beef of the project.

[YesAffinity]

That is really sweet!  Very nice project. 

[timhett]

Your dog is a good helper.
FrankerZ

[A_D_BLAIR]

T-molding came today. still working on the marquee/LED box. getting ready to start sealing this box up!

[A_D_BLAIR]

I started work on the back hatch of the machine today...

I took some metal pipe strap (not sure of the terminology?) and mounted a small round bluetooth speaker that has an audio in port. The speaker can be seen in the top right corner. All those cords are getting tight in there. I will likely mount a fan somewhere on this back door...


I drilled some holes in the back piece of panel so the speaker noise could escape without being too muffled. I also attached a gate hinge at the top. I will likely add some magnet drawer clasps on the inside.



I don't know what my dog thinks of me or this project but he has been silently judging me the entire time.

[A_D_BLAIR]

I made a custom marquee for my cabinet (image attached). If you're familiar with kids in the hall I bet you'll get it. 

[aarontruitt]

Such a cute dog!

[A_D_BLAIR]

For the most part the cabinet is finished! The only things I feel I'd like to add later on will be a scan line generator to make the LCD monitor display more like a CRT, and possibly some side artwork. I may take the whole thing apart at that point and give it a poly acrylic  protective coat and also blast some of the saw dust that has lodged itself between the artwork and the laminate.... If I can find a LED tv/monitor for cheap I may replace the monitor with that also just to have it brighter and viewable from differing angles more reasonably.

I'm going to try and practice now for a few weeks and hopefully get some submissions in.

[A_D_BLAIR]

[f_symbols]

 

Looking great sir, I'd imagine for a reasonable price you could find a nice low-lag, 20-odd (  ) inch, new old stock monitor, that was designed for gaming, on ebay. I believe the newest version of mame has a scan-line option.  Keep going good sir.

[A_D_BLAIR]

If anyone is wanting to watch something tonight other than the United States presidential debate... heres a video of me trying to beat my personal best (which i didn't get) I'm mostly just trying to survive to start out. If anyone has helpful critique of strategy feel free to post here on my blog or in a private message (both will be appreciated)  video here ---->https://youtu.be/Vuh0Bb3HAqo

[aarontruitt]

Couple of things for your barrel boards:

1. Don't ever take the small ladder on the left from the 2nd to 3rd girder. Makes for difficult barrel combinations and can be very risky.

2. Steer barrels! Are you familiar with how steering works? Steer them down the broken ladder away from you and steer them into groups together so that they are easier to handle. If you don't know what I mean by steering, I'm sure there is a thread in DK strats about it.

At your level of skill, points are the last thing to worry about. The longer you survive, the better your score will be. If you don't already, STREAM!! This is the best way to get feedback from seasoned players. Good luck and keep going good!