Scratch Build – In Progress Monkey Arcade Racing Cabinet - December 2011

I hope the Mods/Admin dont mind me posting this, I thought some people on here would be interested in my project.

this is a project that i've been doing slowly over the last couple of months, but my Step Dad set me a challenge the other week, which was have it playable for Xmas Day as he's comming over for the day and wants to play on it.

so a fury of activity has happend over the last few days. i've dated each post to keep an idea of how log its taken to get so far.

life, weddings, work, lack of money, too much beer all got in the way of the creation of this project. i hope you enjoy

29 August 2011

Background

This is the First part of the Monkey Arcade, I am going to build hopefully 3 arcade machines, and this will be the first one.

This is going to be a racing cabinet, mainly for Arcade racing and not simulation, but It will be able to do simulation.

I am going to be as detailed as possible, as I may help someone else achieve the same or better, as well as give me a log of what I’ve done.

the room is going to be turned in to my Arcade/Games room, its not “that” big, its too small and on the wrong floor for a dining room, its on the wrong floor to be a bedroom, its is the only real access to the garden, so I didn’t want to turn it in to a “private” room, like a study, and I wanted it to be a communal room for when I have people over and have BBQ’s etc. I live in a Town house (3 Floors) and the living room and Kitchen is on the first floor, the bedrooms on the second floor, and the games room, garage and utility room are on the ground floor.

so a games room was the only logical choice, and surprisingly when I told my G/F my idea, se agreed and has let me have the room and do what ever I want.

The spec:

Screen :40” rear Projection Samsung SP403JHAX screen 16:9 format
Cost : £21.53 from Ebay

The auction


Source: Playstation 2 and PC, not sure on the PC as I haven’t bought it yet
Cost: nothing, as I had it from years ago

Steering Wheel and pedals: Ferrari Branded Thrustmaster,
£10 from CEX, it was cheap and does the job for now, I will get a G25 when I have the cash, but for now the Thrustmaster is good enough.



Seat : I have a choice of 2, one from a Rover 200 Coupe, or one from a MK2 Ford Capri, both in good condition, it will go down to which one is more comfortable

Origionally I was going to use my PS3 and my “gaming” 26” LCD,



the ideas

But when I saw the cost of the LCD rear Projections, I knew I had to have one, and I had to go large. When I got it hone and plugged it all in, I realised the TV only has Scart connections, and the PS3 does not look the best at low res via Scart. The text is all blurred, but the games (especially the Outrun Arcade) looked fine, I then realised I have my old PS2 kicking around, I tested it and it look really good.

The other reason not to use my PS3, was that I wanted to build the everything into the cabinet, and that the cabinet was purely for racing games. I thought that was a waste of my PS3, as i play other types of games on it. But I will add a couple of ports on the side so I can plug it in, as well as other stuff if I want to.

I’m going to put a harddisc in the PS2 and have all my games load from that, it says in the internet that this reduces loading times. I will also be putting a PC in so I have arcade emulation of some other racing games.

This is the setup now, the screen in BIG



I have been “testing” Gran Turismo 4 and Colin McRae 3, and its all good
Colin McRae 3, cockpit view
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This is my test setup

Ikea Poang Chair , the sterring wheel is on a Ikea laptop table, tie wrapped to a Ikea Coffe Table, which the screen sits on. This was to check everything worked, and to workout heights, etc of everything. All of the Ikea stuff I was given when I moved out



the Pedals are screwed to a “rally” co-pilots foot rest, I bought this years ago for my Almera, and took it out when I sold it, it makes a good base for the pedals. I just used this to test the height and angle. I will put a proper pedal box in when later when I get the G25



oh and don’t worry, in the Utility room next door I have a fully stocked beer fridge, a proper one from a pub, it has a light and everything.




to do

The Design

there isnt one. its being designed on the fly.

The screen isn’t in its prime, the bulb needs replacing as the picture is dim, to get the best from it, it needs to be played in a dark room, the contrast has been turned right up, which is “blowing” the whites, I will sort this as I can get a replacement bulb for between £50 - £80. Also there is some discolouration on the screen, not sure why this is, it look like smudge marks, and can only really be seen on a pure white screens.

The first job was to take the screen apart and give it a clean

 

12 September 2011

got the back of the Screen, and my god is it full of dust/dirt.

Tempted to just jetwash it LOL



The back of the screen the trapezoid shape is the Mirror, they marked the back with a red do, it looks dull, but that’s because of the dust, remove the dust and its just like a normal mirror. The front is not as dusty, but its still dusty



There was cobwebs inside, and a nice layer of dust over all the optics

You cant really tell from this pic, but it is bad



The full optics assembly, with the bulb removed (it fits in the right hand side, and the case from the optics removed



The 3 coloured filter’s you can see the dust on them

[img width=640 height=478]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HigrdGowLTQ/Tm5AuMyh42I/AAAAAAAAAUM/ztltF9-WQuU/photo%25252026%252520800%252520x%252520600.JPG[/img]


The bulb, this is about £50-£80 to replace, and I think it needs replacing, there is a weired residue on the inside of the glass.



This is the LCD, the LCD itself is approx 30mm wide and projecting on a screen approx 1000mm wide, so there is a lot magnification going on, and the smallest mark on the LCD or any part of the optics will show up



I ordered 1 litre of isopropnol alcohol (IPA) 99.5% pure, and 4 litres of distilled water, I’m going to clean all the optics with it, by rinsing/bathing the filters/lenses in it, and wipe (very gently) the LCD and magnifier. This hopefully will remove the discolouration.

 

9 October 2011

Finally!! I have been able to start building, Life work etc was pushed to one side for a couple of days. The progress hasn’t bee as fast as I would have liked, mainly due to designing it as I build it, hitting a problem and having to either rethink what I am doing or re-do what I have already done

A couple of pics to show what I’m working with, apologies for the crap phone pics

Wood; 2” x 2” to become the base,



Car parts, Yes I am going to be putting a Nissan 200SX S13 dash in with centre console and get as much of the dash working



Dash



Cup of tea, you cant build anything with out a good cup of tea, my cup hold about 4- times the typical amount of tea than a standard cup.



This is the start of the base, its in 2 parts, 750mm x 500mm and 750mm x 1100mm, the smaller part is for the seat and arm rest and the bigger part is for the dash, computer, PS3 etc all the workings mainly. I need to build a third part for the screen t sit on. The reason I am building it in 3 parts is so I can move it through the doors from my garage into the room I want it in and incase I move house next year, I want to be able to move it with out taking it all apart. I will be securing all 3 parts together so it becomes 1 solid cabinet when in use

I am fitting castors to the base when its finished 75mm draper ones





I wanted a nice sturdy base to work from, over the top of this I have put 1 sheet of 18mm chip/particle board.



Once the base was done, it was time to start to size things up

Checking the height the armrest needed to be to be comfortable and functional, as well as positioning the temporary pedals to make sure I have enough room





Once that was done it was on to build a frame for the armrest to sit on

This was made out of 22 x 19mm wood with some scrap melamine on top



I have on purposely made it narrower as it is the right width at the back but the front widens, and I wanted space to build the finished board to match the contours



A quick test it check it fits and is comfortable



Next dash, I didn’t want the full dash, I dint need the passenger side, as this will only be 1 player, so 5 mins with ha jigsaw had me a cut down dash. This is not the finished width, but it made it easier to manage



A quick test fit to make sure it wasn’t too high or low



All Is ok so I can start on building the frame for the dash. When I got the dash I took the support bar, as it will make it easier to fit the dash to, and if I need to remove the dash for any reason in the future I don’t need to take the cabinet apart

I also cut the support bar down







This is the temporary support on the left (right hand side of the dash. It all fitted and was comfortable







The more eagle eye of you, will have noticed the seat has changed, a friend had a spare Capri seat he was going to bin, and as the rails are designed on fit on a flat bottom it was going to make my life a lot easier mounting it, an it has a tilt mech, which will come in handy for plans later on

I offered up the screen to get a feel for it height, I had a panic moment, when I thought the screen was going to be too high to be comfortable, and thought you’d be looking up at it



Drivers eye view



No, im not playing with my self lol.

One thing was how curved the back of the dash was, and its not really noticeable until to put a flat surface up against it. No worries a jigsaw cant solve

Half way through



Finished – sort of





I have got to tidy up the edge and make perfectly flat.

 

11 December 2011

why cant i just spend all my avaliable time on doing what i want?

life, work, shopping etc stopped me from progressing this build. but a challenge from my old man, saying that he wants to play on it when he comes over on Christmas day, put a rocket up my arse.

so i bought a Logitech G25 from Redlinezak :thumbs:

and Unknown Source donated the rest of the dash part i needed in exchange for some manual labour.

the real main factor for not progressing was needing the G25. picked it up on Saturday.

i realised that the original (non) design was wrong, it wasnt wide enough.

i hadnt taking into consideration the fact that the steering wheel needs to be in the centre of the screen, and because the dash is offset to the right, and not central, i need it to be wider.

so i went alot wider, i also thought about the design, building the screen support into the base for extra strength. anywahy some pictures

seat base and screen support half done and the main base



from the other angle, with seat



dash put on



you can see that the seat base is off set toward the left hand side of the dash,



screen test fit



when i offered up the screen, i realied how crap i cut the dash, i will probably be able to bodge some thing to mask this up, and TBH you only see it if your looking for it. no photos of that

now, my first major challenge

i need to extend the distance from the steering wheel to the main body of the G25.

i think i know how i'm going to do it, but that will have to wait till tomorrow to see if it works, as i need to buy a few things. my problem is i cant weld, if i could i would knock up an extension in 10 mins. but as i cant i need ot find ways round it.

if you have any ideas let me know.

any wat G25 with wheel removed



back of steering wheel



thats it for now, i have tomorrow off work to do some more. i'm hoping to have the steering wheel and pedals mounted tomorrow for a test.

 

12 December 2011

Well bugger me, i managed to acheive what i set out to do, and a little bit more.

first up today is fitting the pedals.

started off with this



un bolt them from their plastic housing (16 screws held the top of the plastic case to the bottom, plus 12 holding in the pedals)

after alot of measuring etc, i screwed them to a piece of wood.





after alot of buggering around, screwing in, testing the height and angle, etc i settled on this as their final position





happy with that, i turn my attentions ot the steering wheel setup. i took the base unit apart to see whats inside, a couple of heafty motors, some wires and a circuit board, and some air



to my surprise. the unit fitted in the dash, without comprimising on space anywhere,



with with the whole dash on



still not sure how im going to or out of what i will make the steering column.

and this is how i left it for tonight



visually not much different from when i started, as most of the stuff i have done is internal, but the dash is now fully screwed in its final position, and the arm rest "pinned" for now.

next is to sort the seat out, take apart the gearstick arrangement and make it work and look like a real car, and lots of soldering.

 

13 December 2011[/u

woh, steady on, 3 updates in 3 days - i'm really motoring now.

i decided to fit the gearstick and buttons. as i dont have the buttons i want to finally use, and i need to get the rig setup to test i temporarily fitted the gear stick and buttons.

first off what you get out of the box.



and now with the casing off



the top section



close up of the circuit board - i've got to do alot of soldering on this board, not looking forward to that as the connections are alot smaller that i thought, and am comfortble soldering.

back



front



as the gearstick uses the housing to hold its self together, i thought it was best to retain it, but as it was formed, it wouldnt fit in the rig. so after some fun with a jigsaw and nearly cutting my fingers off i ended up with a couple more parts than i started

bottom section cut



top section cut



i then put all the bits back into each section, and screwed them into the dash

again, this is not the final setup/positions for this, its just for a test, when i do finish them off they will look like a S13 setup



i also too alot of measurements of the steering base unit and back of the steeringwheel so i can design a steering column and brack arrangement. i'll draw these up when i'm at work tomorrow and throw up the design to see if anyone has any better ideas.

so thats it for now. i need some supplies now, cable, connectors, heatshrink, more screws etc and more wood to get this far enough to move out of the garage.

the plan is to move it out by the end of the week as the frame will be almost done.

 

Wow! This is awesome! I would love to have one of these (ignoring the fact that I'd have literally nowhere to put it). Can't wait to see how this comes along.

 

Nice This looks sweet!

 

I am tempted to buy a bigger house to have a go at one of these!

Good luck with the crimbo deadline.

 

That looks awesome cant wait to see the end result

 

Ooooh, actually recreating a car cockpit in a SimRig? Yes please. Subbed, keep up the fantastic work.

 

Cheers, unless your saying my wood work is shocking, which to be honest it is LOL

its taken me a while to be able to build this, and to convince the G/F it is something we need in the house. how she ever agreed i dont know.

Thanks

Do it, you wont regret it

the deadline is close, but there isnt much more i need ot do before i can test it now, i just need to make a steering column then its ready for a test. it will be moved in to the games room at the end of the week where it will live and stay, as i can do the electronics in there, and its warmer than the garage

Thanks

i cant wait either LOL

thanks

 

doing well so far!

 

Subb'n for sure!

 

Awesome project you have going there. Keep up the good work.

 

My mates got a rusty old S13, he spends a lot of time over on SXOC, I'll put him onto this

 

Thanks

Cool, i think, i hope thats a good thing

thanks

LOL, i'm already on SXOC and so is this project - i used ot have a S13, and i will get anotherone next year, thats why i went for S13 interior, i like it, i can get hold of it easily and cheaply as well.

thanks though

 

Cooooool! Wish I had the room for that!
I saw a few more people building something similar.. but none are so detailed and realistic as this!

I love how you put the pedals upside down, and how you fitted all in this interior.. amazing work man!

Subbed!

 

well today was more productive than i thought.

i unbolted the dash, i wasnt happy with the angle of it, it was tilted forward, which meant the arm rest part didnt line up right, so a bit of moving, rescrewing etc got it just right. surprisingly the front needed lifting my 25mm to get it just right.

the reason i didnt do anything last night, hence no update, was i had to go and purchase some stuff. and that took longer than expected.

this is what i bought

first of 2m of 5mm UPVC drain pipe



2 x 50mm UPVC 50mm push fit pipe couplings



and 2 heavy duty 190mm bars and 1 flat plate (i had started to work on these before i took this photo)



i also bought a shed loads of lock nuts and bolts no pic of those.

anyway after a bit of measuring, thinking and re thinking i started

what could i be making?















A Stering Column!!!!

using the existing mounting bracket for the steering column, and some creative drilling, i mounted the plate and bars, cut the pipe to length and used the couplings as ends.

surprisingly everything fits perfect, its like Logitech made their wheel to be extended using these exact parts

Bracket, and column connected to base unit.



side view



top view



this is just a prototype and a to test with, once i'm happy i'll get a proper metal unit build with a bearing in the brace, but for now its perfect for the job.

with the dash and wheel fitted, the long screws/bolts will be either cut down or replaced tomorrow,



drivers view of the wheel



a little bit left to do to the steering column, then its done, should be able to easily do that tomorrow night.