ProtoMAME #4
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I decided to try again to make a mini-MAME machine (see the first Mac MAME machine I built).
Unlike the first machine, I decided to go for a "mini upright".
In this way, the machine more closely resembles the second MAME
machine, but with a good deal less bulk.
And here is a good photo of the guts of the machine. The 14-inch display lays lit up on the table driven by the (more or less) all-in-one motherboard. With no keyboard or touch-pad, I have to attach a device via USB (mouse here) in order to configure the machine. My idea is to place the motherboard horizontally in the bottom of the machine. The motherboard is small enough that this will still keep the footprint of the thing within reason. |
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I always make cardboard prototypes of the box I'm about to build. Obviously this helps me
figure out if things are going to fit. Problems in the past have been too short of a display
cable (between display and motherboard) problems with the button switches not having enough
clearance....
The photo shows you basically how it turns out. Upright with speakers placed below the 14-inch display. Control surface at a slight angle with a smattering of controls. As I suggested, the idea here is to place the motherboard within the bottom of the box. |
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Meanwhile, here is the machine making progress, side by side with the cardboard prototype.
The speakers came from those Apple "ball" speakers and have been moved into the final machine. Also holes have been drilled and three buttons have been fit for driving the UI of the games. The green button acts as both the "coin slot" as well as the way you get from the Mac MAME frontend into the specific game (mapped to the Enter key). The white button is (not clear in this photo) the 1-player button. I decided to forego any 2-player option on this cabinet. Finally the red button is how you back out of a game (mapped to the Escape key and Mac MAME modified to allow Escape to exit the game). Wood-working-wise, the control panel is missing as is the back door. Otherwise, it is almost there. |
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Here then is the machine ready for final sanding and painting.
The control panel was done with a black formica surface and is hinged along the front. A
single hasp on the right side holds the control panel lid shut. The display is in place (I
will later add a Lexan cover). The buttons are not final colors.
After the final fitting (oh, please, everything fit!) the hardware is stripped off and the
cabinet gets copious and tedious amounts of paint and sanding.... |
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Done. A piece of Lexan protects the display (children). Small fan gaurds protect the speakers
as well (children). I have used a sort of "domino style" button scheme for all my machines.
The centers are all black (but for the pesky 1-player button).
It sounds good, plays good, is sturdy, small, and even fairly light weight. But for the
rather reduced control set, this is a fine playable machine.
In fact, this is the first machine I took the trouble to solder a connector between the control
panel and the USB interface (I-PAC). It's tight, but I think I can make an alternate control
panel with a pair of joysticks (and perhaps a spinner or trackball in the center). In this way,
it is a simple matter of pulling a couple screws out where the hinges mount to the panel, pulling
the connector and swapping in the new control panel/connector. |
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