Control Panel construction (cont)

Mounting the Namco joystick onto the drawer has one drawback, I'm loosing four buttons. I set them up to handle coin and P1 start as well as ESC (to exit back to the front end) and TAB (to make changes inside MAME OSX. I have a few options here, the first is to drill holes in the drawer and just add ordinary pushbuttons to replace them but I'm not to fond of that idea. Instead I've been looking at some other options. 

1) Navimec navigation buttons:

I really like this one for frontend navigation but it doesn't make sense in-game where I need insert credit and start buttons. 

2) Art Lebedev's Optimus Mini Three:

This is more interesting but also more expensive. Since the keys are actually tiny monitors the images inside the buttons can change. This means I can have up, down and select buttons for the front end and Insert credit, start and ESC buttons for MAME. Also, it will probably look amazing with some nice artwork. The downside is that I need to add a USB hub and, of course, the price...

Time out

Coffee break at work. When we move to our new location we will have a dedicated game room, between us we have a Naomi SD, Astro City, Egret II, Defender, Donkey Kong JR and a Star Wars pinball. Can you spot the Mamebook in the picture?

Vertical vs horisontal

The reason I went for a vertical screen had simply to do with the viewing angle. Usually laptop screens have a wider viewing angle from the sides than from the front. Since the screen will be on a flat surface it works best vertically. Also, since I want to play mostly vertical games like Donkey Kong and Pac Man this suits me fine!

Plastic smoke

I bought a sheet of smoke coloured PVC to put between the glass and the bevel. It's primarily to make the table look nice(r) when the Mamebook is turned off.

Fifty-fifty:


With:


Without:

Control panel construction

Researching different types of cocktail cabinet control panels I decided to go for a classic vertical mount instead.  The joystick will be mounted into the front of the drawer, this time by a professional carpenter. So, stay posted, this will probably be ready beginning next week.

Below are two types of classic control panels, I will go for the top one but at 90°. A protruding control panel will destroy the look of the cabinet so I wanted to try this first. I can always adjust the angle later.

Control panel construction

I made a quick drawing of how I wanted the control panel using the parts from the Namco joystick. Basically it replaces the Ramvik drawer. Eventually I decided against it - it looks too clunky. Back to the drawing board...

Control panel construction

I've been thinking about how to replace the drawer with a proper control panel. Dismantling the Namco joystick was pretty easy and I decided to try to use the parts for my control panel.

Mamebook

Speakers

The weak built in Powerbook speakers will be replaced with Labtec Pulse 285 2.1 speakers. I choose the Labtec for several reasons, they were the cheapest, the subwoofer is small enough to be built into the top of the Ramvik, out of view and last but not least, it has a wired volume control for easy to reach volume adjustments. The satellite speakers will be mounted inside the control panel that is to replace the drawer.

Todo

I have a few things I want to do before I consider this to be finished.

1) Smoke coloured PVC foil between the glass and the bezel.

2) Speakers

3) A proper control panel

4) Select a few vertical games that work well. 

5) Play!

Mamebook cocktail

Ramvik

I decided to use Ramvik from IKEA as the base of my Mamebook Cocktail. The best part is that the tempered glass is included.

Mamebook tablet

The portable Mamebook!

Photo by Geekporr

Cocktail Mamebook