Jump to content

My Bar-top Cab (Thats not so much a Bar-top!)


BoyBanter

Recommended Posts

Hello Arcade Enthusiasts!!!

About me:

I currently work as a IT Infrastructure Support Specialist and have always wanted to re-live those nostalgic memories of of 8bit and 16bit gaming.. I always wanted an arcade cabinet but never knew which game to get and where I could find space to put it. I then decided one night whilst playing Ghouls and Ghosts on a terrible laptop that couldn't do much more, to Google building my own cabinet. It was there and then when I came across HyperSpin I wanted nothing more than to start a project to build my very own multiplatform Cab.

What I've done:

I saw a lot of people on here buy Bar-top cabinet's or build Bar-top cabinets and later find they want a full height cab and decide to part with it and start again .. I set out to combine the two!

I decided do this from scratch due to space constraints, and here's what I came up with..

I initially brought an already cut bar-top shell and decided to take measurements and start construction. As you can see here I installed the controls, speakers and sprayed my bezel

(click to enlarge)

post-63629-142870598002_thumb.jpg

I then built the base from MDF, this was later painted with brilliant white satin to match the texture and colour of the Bar-top foamed PCV

post-63629-142870598004_thumb.jpg

After this I connected the LED lights, VDU and completed additional PCB wiring up for the top half ready for assembly

post-63629-142870597999_thumb.jpg

I then constructed the full cabinet combining the two half's and set out to apply some finishing cosmetic touches such as the marquee and chrome trim.

post-63629-14287059799_thumb.jpg

Then its on to the hardware that I'd already configured and setup to my requirements prior to starting the cabinet build. It's spec is nothing too special but has enough to run Hyperspin comfortably and all the emulators I wished to use.

this fit perfectly as planned and sits nicely within the cab for load balancing.

post-63629-142870598016_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598021_thumb.jpg

Now i'm all done... and here's the finished product taking pride and place in the corner of my dining room without over powering :) ...

post-63629-142870598005_thumb.jpg

I also created some mock-up loading screens for each system, I chose the darker one of the two in the end. I also customised my build to shell Hyperspin completely and hide the existence of my

Windows 7 OS (the only thing that give's it away is the BIOS screen). I also amended some scripting specifically for my setup and tweaked a lot of the customisable's to suit my needs.

post-63629-142870598023_thumb.jpg

I hope you like the above, If you have any questions or queries and would like some advise if you're planning to do this, then please ask away.

Thanks for looking..

Happy Gaming!!!!!

post-63629-142870597982_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597985_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597987_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597988_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597989_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597991_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597992_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597994_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870597994_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598001_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598007_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598009_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598011_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598013_thumb.jpg

post-63629-142870598018_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it!

The picture that you posted that shows your button layout etc, when during the boot sequence does that show?

I'd love to have something like that for my cab, I was trying to figure out where to put some info on the cab itself with that information but I may not need to now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Guys....

Hi MrVestek, The image pops up to hide the emulator loading up. It fades in upon selecting a game from Hyperspin.. It then fades out a few seconds later to review the start of the game loading. (I have a different screen per system)

It's done as part of the loading screen feature/option that the Hyperspin Developers included with HyperLaunch. If you search Loading Screens on these forums there are plenty of tutorials on how to achieve this type of thing.

If you require any further info on specific setup or build just hit me up.. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ahh right, that would actually be perfect for my own build!

I'll have a search of the forums to see how to achieve that functionality properly.

I don't suppose you'd have a copy of the PSDs that you used to create the loading screens? I'd love to have something to work off of to make my own. If you wanna keep them though that's cool, I totally understand! :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Ahh right, that would actually be perfect for my own build!

I'll have a search of the forums to see how to achieve that functionality properly.

I don't suppose you'd have a copy of the PSDs that you used to create the loading screens? I'd love to have something to work off of to make my own. If you wanna keep them though that's cool, I totally understand! :-)

Hey Man,

Sorry for the late reply, do you still want these? I'm not sure I have the original picks just the final BMP's, I did most of it using gimp and ended up doing the final versions in PowerPoint believe it or not.. happy to send you what I have if you still want them.

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking very nice bro!

Thanks for sharing that with us.

I plan on building a stand for my bartop as well, except that won't be that seamless as yours.

How's the panel working out with two players at once?

Hey man,

Yeah works fine with 2 players.. not loads of room but enough so your not knocking each other. dimensions below

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love what you did with the volume control. How did you do that, and where did you get that knob?

Hey man,

I Brought an amp for £10.. around $7 from Tecso (UK Supermarket) and took the whole thing apart.. I came with 2 small speakers and this knob for volume... I tool it all apart and mounted it separately

Regards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...