"Crabby Patty"
A work in progress
This page is not dial-up friendly. Sorry. :(
Started 8/16/06. Playable and 90% complete on 9/21/06.
~~~FAQ~~~
What: A MAME cab
primarily for use by my then 11-year-old daughter and my wife. I later updated it so I could use it for
virtually any game I wanted, too.
Why: I
used to collect classic games. MAME cab is all the fun without the fuss and expense.
Where:
Texas, DFW area.
When:
Still a work in progress. Last
page update on 08/22/11.
Who: Me, a
native New Englander living in Texas.
How: With
help from the great site BYOAC and the fine folks there, limited
woodworking knowledge (many thanks to Pete and Drew all those years ago!) and a
knack for creating problems then solving them on the fly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It begins. . .
Picked up a DK Jr. cab, which was converted to a VS. PlayChoice 10 for $130 on eBay, local.
Home and ready to sacrifice itself so that others may live. After
parting it out on eBay, I actually MADE about $100.
More guts.
Let the Parting Party begin!
Staples, very few screws and wood glue hold classic Nintendo cabs
together.
Smoothing out the sides. Started by sanding the sides and filling
the bolt holes, etc.
Another shot. Note the heavy damage near the bottom of this side,
on the rear.
Close-up of the area in need of the most repair.
Clamped firmly down to the work surface, with a 2x4 bracing the
rear. Note the newspaper covering the 2x4. This is so the Bondo
only sticks to the cab side, not the 2x4 which is there, not only to brace the
rear, but to provide a smooth, finished surface for the rear of the cab's side.
Regular, autoshop Bondo.
I like to use this for any major repairs since it sets up nice and firm and, if
need be, you can even screw into it. Just something I learned back when I was
collecting and had to redo the front panel of a Spy Hunter II.
The slathering o' the Bondo. Just
applied it to any areas on the side that needed filling. In hindsight, would
not have used it for the bolt holes. This stuff is MUCH tougher to sand then
wood putty and the like. :P
Both sides with imperfections filled and sanded.
Close-up of the Bondo filler. Added
some wood putty for final touchup.
The bottom. Kept the original Nintendo bottom since it was in
very good shape. Those original wheels would turn out to be a MUCH greater help
than I initially thought as, by the end, this would be the heaviest game I have
ever owned, with Race Drivin' coming in a
close second - and that had a force feedback engine in it! The lighter colored
wood is new plywood applied by me to compensate for the added width of the cab.
Used some of the original Nintendo fasteners. Added four 2x4
supports to keep the weight of the sides from sagging the new plywood floor
which hung over the sides of the original floor and bore the weight of the
sides and top almost exclusively.
Hello, my name is John and I'm an overbuilder.
Hi, John. . . As I was pretty much making this up as I went, turns out
I should have rotated those two rear, tall 2x4s. The TV couldn't fit through
the opening and one had to be trimmed about an inch in width.
I didn't want to go with an arcade monitor (part of the reason
I'm building a cab is to get away from having to repair stuff monthly)
and a large computer monitor was just to pricey. This
baby is from WalMart and was $180 total with tax. Not
bad for a flat screen!
Um. . . okay, jumping the gun here. :)
No, seriously. Just trying to get a feel for where the CP would
be, etc. Again, just making it up as I go!
Screwing on the sides and countersinking the holes so they fill
nicely. Used a screw, which had a "built in" washer for added
support. Yes, I have a problem, but that's the first step in getting help! :)
Good shot of all the screws for securing the sides and the new
supports/floor.
And the inside of the right side. In hindsight, I should have
filled the area where the bezel used to be. Had to do that after the fact and
it was a bit of a pain.
Close-up of same area. Yes, screws, wood glue and brackets. It's
the framer in me. :(
Both sides attached and ready for sanding of the countersunk
screws. Should've just sanded both sides at once instead of filling/sanding the
bolt holes first - would have been easier than doing the whole shebang twice.
Sides applied and pretty much all framed out now.
Mockup of the rotating control panel. I can't stress enough the
importance of squaring/leveling everything as you go for all you newbie
woodworkers. This will prevent you from having a cab that looks like WACKO when you're done. Okay, so the results wouldn't be THAT drastic,
but if the thing is out of kilter by even a little, the eye will notice.
Leveling front to back now, after having already done left to
right. . .
The front and rear parts of the rotating CP. Plywood for the
sides and MDF for the visible panel surfaces. It's been mentioned before, but
bears repeating - USE A MASK WHEN WORKING WITH MDF. This crap creates a
ultrafine dust AND it contains formaldehyde. Ugh. Also, if possible, cut/route
outside!
One of the tops done. . .
And secured. I went with corner brackets and bolts with wingnuts to secure the tops of the panel. Why? Just seemed
to be very secure but also provided a tool-free
release when needed.
Again, countersinking. Note, also, the slight overlapping of the
MDF as compared to the plywood side. This is to lessen the gap between the
insides of the cab and the CP. Going flush with the MDF to the plywood would
have left a sizeable gap AND allowed you to easily see the lazy susan thingie.
The corner brackets/braces. Not only important for holding down
the tops, but also to provide much needed stability to the CP itself.
I opted to rig one of the front/rear panels with those rolling
cabinet catches. I can pop this panel off to allow access to the wiring if need
be.
The panel, completed and exposed with the removable section on
top.
Detail of the removable panel. Note the slight beveling of the
inside of the removable panel's sides. This allows it to slide in snuggly
without damaging the other panels it contacts.
More leveling, this time of the actual panel.
I opted to make the front door fold down, not only for access to
the insides but to allow the panel to rotate. If nothing else, the steering
wheel control needed extra clearance. Note the piano hinge at the bottom. The
red thing is a magnet/striker setup that I got at a hardware store for about
eight bucks and is perfect for holding the door shut with just the right amount
of force. I was concerned about it affecting the controls/screen but, in the
end, it wasn't strong enough for that.
Getting there!
Cutting in the coin door. For this, just simply laid the frame of
the door on and traced. Cuts didn't have to be perfect as the frame would cover
any slight overcutting, etc. Slipped right in. Done with a hand held jigsaw and
a circular saw.
Yup. It's a coin door in need of touchup. Still looking for some
nice new red inserts and the $.25 transparents.
Anyone???
Marquee area installed, more Bondo for
those aforementioned original bezel cutouts which I thought wouldn't be visible
but, clearly, now are going to be to some degree and the nice "sun
room" of our house being a holy friggin' mess!
I had also left in the original place holders for the bezel,
thinking I might use that design. When it became evident that wasn't going to work,
I had to remove them. Simply sawed them off flush with the cab using a sawzall. In hindsight, would have had smoother/better
finished results by removing the wood from the groove and just using Bondo. Still, looks plenty good done but it's one of those
things "only you notice" that could have been avoided.
Rain delay in the final interior/exterior sanding of the entire
cab.
The installation of the admin panel/backsplash. The 1P, menu,
pause, mouse button and P2 buttons will go on this. Did I know exactly
which buttons would go on it when I thought of it - of course not!
The admin panel flipped up to allow for the rotation of the
panel. The steering wheel, incidentally, will act as a "stop" to
prevent the entire panel from going a full 360 and eventually twisting the
wires to hell. In other words, the joys will fit under the admin flip up fine,
the steering wheel won't. And, yes, THAT part WAS by design! ;)
Plexi from the Depot. Also got the $3 cutting
tool for plexi. Just measure, scribe about 5-8 times
and snap. Easy.
Plexi test fit. Note the nice smooth dark
brown wood I placed on the admin surface - thought the plywood would look a bit
rough. I'll end up skimcoating the coin door panel
for that same purpose. Guess I could have gone with MDF there, too. *shrug*
Super stuff. Learned about this goop when I did carpentry - we
used it mostly for putting on the top of the floor joists before laying down
the subfloor. Kept the squeaking of the floor to a minimum in later years.
Strong, great stuff for nearly any project. . .
Such as this one. I had sanded the plywood to get it as smooth as
possible, then proceeded to put the bottom piece of the marquee box ON THE
WRONG WAY. Sigh. Instead of disassembling all that, it was Liquid Nails and waferboard to the rescue, just like on the admin panel.
Note all the wood putty used to seal up the seams to prevent light leakage back
into the cab.
Clamp, clamp and clamp when it comes to getting the best results
from any sort of adhesive. The strips of MDF aren't only to prevent any damage
to the nice smooth waferboard but also to evenly
distribute the force of all those clamps and wedges. This sat overnight. No
more knot! :)
Everything sanded, given several damp cloth wipe downs, dry cloth
wipe downs (old, plain white t-shirts work great for this stuff) and ready for
priming.
More of the same. Note that the CP was painted by itself in
separate sections to prevent gumming up of the lazy susan
sections by coat after coat of paint.
First coat of primer. That stand up light was most helpful and
was only $30 at the Depot. A Wagner Power Painter was used for spraying on Behr
sandable latex primer and, eventually, semi-gloss
black paint. The "fume room" was mandated by the wife and she was
right to demand that - the power painter creates LOTS of fine paint particles
which will just drift and drift if not contained.
Wet sanding with 600 grit waterproof sandpaper after the first
coat of black. The front door needed another skimcoat
of "mud" to help it smooth out a bit more, too. Again, damp wipe
downs and dry wipe downs until NO residue is left between each coat. You'll
need lots of t-shirts. :)
The sections of the control panel ready for sanding off of the Bondo/wood putty, then painting. Both the section laying on
the top there will eventually overlays instead of just being gloss black. The
lazy susan thingies were taped off to prevent paint
from getting in the workings.
Sham of a mockery of a sham of a CP. (Been waiting a long time to
use that line!)
The main "girl" from Girlcab
(that was the working name) playtesting Millipede. A
Mini-Pac from Ultramarc was used for the interface. Highly
recommended. Also, do yourself a favor and get the wiring harness for it like I
did. Made the whole wiring thing a snap. A cheap $12 shipped All-In-Wonder is
used to interface the PC with the television.
Practicing cutting out the trackball pattern on a spare piece of
MDF. ROUTE MDF OUTSIDE AND WEAR A MASK AS WELL AS EYE PROTECTION. Can't stress
that stuff enough. Nasty, nasty stuff. :P
The underside of the main control panel, all marked out for
cutting. I didn't use any computer software, templates or whatnot. Just simple
math to divide the CP in half width and length wise, then figured out the width
of the holes needed for the buttons, joy and trackball. Don't get
"analysis paralysis!" Just do it but do check it twice before
drilling and whatnot. :)
Cuttin' and routin'
out of doors in the 103 degree Texas heat. OH, YEAH!
Hey, it's a dry heat, tho! :) The "ribbing"
under the hole for the trackball is actually cardboard which I had underneath
the CP with the very top layer removed by the router.
Routing out the channel for the wires.
The "ball" or "bullet" catches installed to
help hold the panel steady and in place when rotation has stopped. This was
where the lack of in-depth planning hurt me the most. Much swearing and other
unsavory behavior in trying to layout the total of four catches I used.
The top of the finished main CP. Simple layout with one trackball
and four buttons per player. They didn't want a spinner and none of us are into
the six button mashing fighters so here you have it. My wife actually only
wanted two buttons per player but I managed to twist her arm for the four per
"just in case."
Since all the dirty work is now done and it is mostly just
electronics, the cab moves into the house. Note the, ahem, "amending"
of where the wire channel had to go based on where the ball catch plates ended
up. Like I said, the lack of planning REALLY hurt in regards to them.
The admin panel taking shape. Again, no weird templates or
whatnot, just simple math, dividing the panel by width and length, sketched out
on the back of the panel.
And the pretty buttons.
Two Happs for the 1P and 2P buttons and
some Nintendo buttons I had from the original CP that came with the machine.
Adventures in alternate trackball mounting! I guess of all the
stupid "no-plan-just-do" things I came up with on this project, I'm
the proudest of this. I originally intended to mount the ball with bolts from
the top, countersunk. After routing, however, I realized that I had very little
wood left to put these bolts through and, therefore, provide support for the
ball. Fearful that the wood would crack near the mounting bolts from the
pounding a CP takes, I came up with this.
Everything except for the grounds and trackball all wired up and
ready to go!
The control panel - done. That black button was added after
determining that that was the perfect spot for a "hyperspace" button.
Sadly, it gets whacked regularly with trackball use. :( So, before the overlay
is applied, it'll be filled in.
The underside of the main CP. It ain't
pretty, but it works!
The finished trackball mounting. Very simple, very secure.
Oooooh. . . Aaaaaaahhhhhh.
. .
Almost playable!
T.V. behind the bare plexi. Note the
markings for the corners of the screen. The plexi
comes with a protective plastic film on it. I marked, taped and cut
appropriately before spraying. Again, a bezel with artwork will eventually
replace the plain black one.
Marked and ready for gentle cutting to remove the plastic
protector on all but the center section, where the picture tube will be.
Like so.
Backside of the completed bezel. Note the bezel drops into a slot
at the bottom, is held in on the sides from behind and is held in simply by a
piece of wood at the top. Solid and clean from the front is all that matters!
The sides of the section where the tube is ended up with this weird,
"paint seeping in" effect but the top and bottom didn't. Not sure why
just the sides ended up like that, but I actually liked the look so I kept it.
And, it's doneish! Still have to do
side two of the CP (steering wheel side) and pedal, apply the t-molding,
overlays and artwork as well as blacken up the case of the TV right around the
tube.
This site, like the game itself, is a work in progress. Any
questions, please contact me!
:)
Go to Page 1: Girlcab
Go to Page 2: Steering_Mechanism
Go to Page 3: Der
Shifter
Go to Page 4: Modular CP