Bunker Project Log

The recently acquired MAME Cabinet was sort of the dream fulfilled, but before that fell in my lap, I had decided to settle on converting my Make Trax Cocktail machine into a MAME cabinet. This was brought out to me by my Pa?a few moons ago. I hadn’t really had a chance of messing with it, because it was buried under? massive piles of junk (that now solely inhabit the Bunker Workroom.)

My previous plan was to make replicas of the wooden control panel base. These are basically a piece of longer than wide plywood, on which I can place the standard stick and 6 button combo.

Here’s the machine with the lid open, showing the full width of the panel.

From there, the rest would be the usual… gutting the box, doing cosmetic repairs on the outer shell, and replacing the monitor with a semi-modern CRT computer monitor.

So, here’s my plan:

1. Take the buttons from the “Ginormous MAME Box ‘o’ Death” (after building the “Ginormous Quad Panel of Enormitude”)
2. Fab the new control panels and mount said buttons
3. Gut the box, take the puny CRT that is currently sitting in the “Ginormous MAME Box ‘o’ Death” (after having been replaced by the “Jumbotronic CRT of Heaviness”)
4. Hook it all up to some PC I slap together
5. Sit back, relax and think of something else to do other than enjoy the groovy box I just made

Here are some other pictures for the deviants who enjoy the classic arcade nudies:

The Coin Door

Inside

The Manual

Guts

More Guts

As I mentioned in Episode I of the Bunker MAME project, there was some serious stickyage going on with?Player?1’s button set.?I felt that before I could continue on?with the project, this had to be rectified.

?Luckily, my 3 year old ensures an adequate supply of?disposable plastic cups, so?I loaded?one up with buttons.

Then I filled it with rubbing alcohol, taped on a second matching cup and made like a Martini and shook. (This is practically an ad for Olive Garden Kid’s Meals.)

Then for good measure, I let them float around in some regular old dish soap while I moved on to the switches. I hacked another cup and made an okey-doke in-place bathing station to dip these guys in. I have no idea if there is anything in there that will be eaten by rubbing alcohol, but anything is better than sticky switches.

Here’s a close up of the little guys taking a bath. I couldn’t get a shot that was both focused and well-lit, so you get the semi-focused too bright one.

In the end, everything thing came out clicky. I had a few degenerate gamblers over tonight, and after their poker game, they deigned to play a few games. According to them, it is arcade quality. Huzzah!

Now, I’m moving on to getting Maximus Arcade?working on the actual CPU. For whatever reason, I’m getting the error : “The following emulators have invalid media locations: MAME”. Pile that on top of the fact that the SB Live! card on-board flaked out, and I can’t save bios settings without resulting in a frozen box. I tell you, Nothing is ever easy.

I have been talking a good game about getting a Bunker MAME cabinet going for a while now. I’ve spent enough time with the software to?think it was eezy cheezy, but the?hardware has been a little daunting. First, I don’t really have the tools,?and second, I hate being reminded of all the dumb mistakes. In this case, we are talking about a piece of furniture that has to look?good.

?So this weekend, El Greco sends me a link to a Craigslist ad for a?homebuilt arcade?cabinet, with a control panel, but no MAME machine, for $150. The cabinet is made of veneered plywood, so it could be finished without much work.?To me, this is exactly what I’m looking for! The major building?is done. If there are?any screw-ups, I didn’t do them, so I don’t have to apologize for?them,?and finally, the keyboard interface (an?I-Pac) is already wired to 16?buttons and?two sticks. I can replace buttons,?change the layout, re-solder, re-wire, etc, at my whim.

?Mrs. Gangrene, however… ain’t buyin’ it. I got an immediate NO.

?Then… I bring it up again… and I get a “I’ll have to see it again.” Which, to me, is as good as yes.

?So I bought it. Which to all of you schooled in the husbandly arts know… was probably?hella dumb.

?However… I am going to make it my mission to make the most gorgeous piece of furniture in the house, and so friggin’ cool that she’s going to regret ever doubting it. In fact, she will beg me to make more. In every room in the house, in every unoccupied space.

?How will I do this?

?I have no idea. (But it may involve the color pink, and baby pictures.) Wish me luck.?

?Here are the nudies:

This is after we extricated my old MAME machine from the Workroom, at great personal risk to both of us. Here Pottse is diddling with something or other. (I was actually messing up Stub’s guitar and not really paying attention.) Of course, finding a monitor for this beasty will be at the #2 on my to do list.

Here’s the undercarriage with the I-Pac and all the buttons. The Player 1 set must have had a run-in with a can of Coca-Cola (at least I hope it was Coca-Cola) so, a further exciting episode will probably involve rubbing alcohol.

And… the top view of the actual control panel.

Special thanks to Pottse for going out to get this with me, and helping unload it, dig out my stuff, and help get the machine running.

Extra special thanks to Mrs. Gangrene, for only halfway ripping me to shreds when I got home. Trust me, it will be cool.