I convert my old Ion iCade into a Bartop Raspberry Pi Powered Arcade Machine! 'How to' guide inside. UPDATED 12/2/17

Why have you got a pi 1?

Just something I had kicking around the house.

Another update: Pac-land works :toot:

I'm completely happy at this point (a few others work but most still don't).

EDIT: Set up a MAME2003 command line emulator on my PC to test the roms as I figured it was easier than on the Pi. Turns out a lot of the roms that kick back to the menu are doing it because the .zip file is the wrong name. Must be that earlier versions of Mame have some kind of internal database of roms that it has to match up to. A few renames and now I've got a few more to mess around with. Some of the renames now have missing rom files though :fp:

Glad I started so early now.

Just a mini update today. Spunked £80 on a MDF flat pack from ebay which is on it's way over. Also ordered up another USB interface and just need to get another set of buttons. Also going to pick up some T moulding at the same time, my intention is to spray the cab black so I'm thinking either a chrome effect T or (more likely) black.

Got 30ish games all working at this point

Still have some I need to get to work, Rainbow Islands, Galaga, Alien Syndrome, X-Men and there are a couple of others I want to add as they occur to me (Kung Fu Master, Mr Do's Castle).

So once the cab has arrived then I think there are only a couple of things I still need to work out. Power distribution within the cabinet (a simple multblock would probably be best but bulky), lighting for the marque and graphics (Green Gecko - is a multi layered vinyl going to let light through? I'm guessing black is fairly opaque but what about white and a light blue?).

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Rex Kramer wrote:Just a mini update today. Spunked £80 on a MDF flat pack from ebay which is on it's way over. Also ordered up another USB interface and just need to get another set of buttons. Also going to pick up some T moulding at the same time, my intention is to spray the cab black so I'm thinking either a chrome effect T or (more likely) black.

Got 30ish games all working at this point

Arkanoid
Asteroids
Bionic Commando
Burger time
Choplifter
Commando
Defender
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr
Elevator Action
Frogger
Gauntlet 2
Ghosts and Goblins
Ghouls and Ghosts
Mr Do!
Ms Pac-man
NBA Jam
Pacland
Rampage
Rampart
Street Fighter 2
The Simpsons
Space Invaders deluxe
Sunset Riders
Tetris
Track & Field
Xenophobe
Xevious

Still have some I need to get to work, Rainbow Islands, Galaga, Alien Syndrome, X-Men and there are a couple of others I want to add as they occur to me (Kung Fu Master, Mr Do's Castle).

So once the cab has arrived then I think there are only a couple of things I still need to work out. Power distribution within the cabinet (a simple multblock would probably be best but bulky), lighting for the marque and graphics (Green Gecko - is a multi layered vinyl going to let light through? I'm guessing black is fairly opaque but what about white and a light blue?).

Black and other colours are very opaque, bearing in mind it's only 70 nanometers thick.

White, I'd say matt white and certain grades would act as a diffuser and if the light is even wouldn't be noticeably translucent in in normal settings. But if it is lit with hard light directly behind then yes some will come through, and so you want it to be evenly lit. I suggest an SMLED panel that will produce even light, or a small florescent might work (don't know why you want to do that due to power demands though and the need for a starter).

Here's a random piece of indoor grade gloss white vinyl.

2x large led torch, a bit dim, 1 in shadow of finger

In front of high powered daylight florescent (thanks geckos)

In front of daylit window (overcast)

The backing sheet with the grid on it gives you some idea of opacity.

You could easily adjust the distance of the light and the brightness of it. Of course any print method is going to produce some degree or translucency. Or if that's what you want then great, save for ordering a fairly tacky looking transparent sticker it's a great way to do it. That's exactly how they make backlit signs the world over, or at least one of the ways. The type that are white light boxes or some other colour with text and logos on.

No Ad7 means I guess I'm the only person posting here. :cry:

And I really wanted to know what his 2 player solution for his cab was.

Anyway, busy weekend. Slapped a couple of coats of primer on the mdf and picked up some black spray paint for next weekend (weather permitting). Also hacked apart my 2.1 speaker system and realised that I probably can't use the flat panel speakers as I'm pretty certain that mounting them face on will stop them vibrating. Arcadeworld do some cheap speakers that'll probably do the job so that's going on the next order along with some chrome t-moulding and the 2nd player sticks/buttons. Picked up a cheap £8 LED cabinet light kit from Ikea, just need to work out how to wire between the lights as they're supposed to fit in a single run and I could do with them being parallel.

The shopping list is now down to power switch and stand offs (probably Amazon) and then I just need to work out some kind of bezel to fit in front of the monitor. Cardboard might be the best option as I'll be able to cut a nice shape out of it better than MDF. Sprayed black should look ok.

Rex Kramer wrote:No Ad7 means I guess I'm the only person posting here. And I really wanted to know what his 2 player solution for his cab was.

Same here.

Please do keep posting, I'm enjoying it. I'll keep responding if it helps reassure you that someone's reading :simper:

Rex Kramer wrote:No Ad7 means I guess I'm the only person posting here. And I really wanted to know what his 2 player solution for his cab was.

Anyway, busy weekend. Slapped a couple of coats of primer on the mdf and picked up some black spray paint for next weekend (weather permitting). Also hacked apart my 2.1 speaker system and realised that I probably can't use the flat panel speakers as I'm pretty certain that mounting them face on will stop them vibrating. Arcadeworld do some cheap speakers that'll probably do the job so that's going on the next order along with some chrome t-moulding and the 2nd player sticks/buttons. Picked up a cheap £8 LED cabinet light kit from Ikea, just need to work out how to wire between the lights as they're supposed to fit in a single run and I could do with them being parallel.

The shopping list is now down to power switch and stand offs (probably Amazon) and then I just need to work out some kind of bezel to fit in front of the monitor. Cardboard might be the best option as I'll be able to cut a nice shape out of it better than MDF. Sprayed black should look ok.

Cardboard worked best for me. It was surprisingly one of the hardest things to get right though, no matter how careful we were it didn't look right. Not sure if it was fatigue or madness after working around MDF dust.

I think it's definitely going to be about getting the right kind of cardboard, I don't think corrugated will cut properly. Anyways, that's way down the round at this point.

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Use mountboard.

You could also get some acrylic cnc or laser cut.

Black A1 mount board at hobbycraft for £3, good call.

Managed to cost myself an extra fiver by trying to be smart. Swapped my 19" wide-screen monitor for an older 4:3 model as I thought it would handle the display better. Only problem, no dvi. Bought a hdmi to via cable but obviously that didn't work. Had to spend a fiver on a hdmi to vga convertor instead. :fp:

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Do any of you guys need CNC routed parts? Because I'm adding one to the shop next week.

Currently spraying the cabinet before assembling but I've got pretty much all the parts I need now (aside from some stand offs that are coming from China off Ebay). Need to decide on T-moulding, any suggestions? I got 4 samples from ArcadeWorld (red, grey, black and chrome), not entirely happy with any of them as I quite fancied yellow (I'm considering some Pac Man/Pac Land inspired artwork) but they don't do that in a 1/2".

Black is probably the safest choice.

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I would say red or black but yellow could be nice if you can live with it.

Green Gecko wrote:I would say red or black but yellow could be nice if you can live with it.

I think red would be quite a good compromise (black too boring, chrome to shiny/tacky), but it'll need artwork that kind of matches. I've got an idea....

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I'll be able to mill custom parts/plates in about 2-4 weeks btw.

An update:-

Wanted to round up where I am at the moment and give a bit more information on what I've bought/scavenged and any bumps in the road I've come across along the way.

So, from the start I had a Raspberry Pi B, 2.1 speaker system and a monitor kicking around at home. In addition to this I've bought

A pre-cut MDF bartop cabinet from ebay for around £80. I specifically wanted one with the grooves cut for t-moulding. Went with this one - ebay link

Also needed 2 x sticks, buttons, nuts and bolts for mounting sticks and a couple of speakers etc which I ordered from https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/ (probably around £30)

2 lots of the USB interface that Ad7 mentioned back a while (6 quid each I think) - Another ebay link

LED lighting strips from Ikea £8 - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/ligh ... -50302712/

Aside from that, I've needed a couple of cans of matt black spray paint, some white primer, nylon stand offs, some M2.5 bolts, cable ties and a HDMI to VGA convertor.

Couple of pics from recent stuff. I had to figure out somewhere to mount the sub woofer from my speaker set. Decided to cut a hole in the side panel which was a little scary given the cost.

Lighting kit was a little tricky as it consisted of 3 strips that you plug directly into each one. Destroyed one of the strips to get the connector and wired it to some bell wire to give me 2 parallel strips. Might be a bit too bright but I'll see what it looks like once it's behind the marquee.

So now I have lots of bits which are all wired together (state of that strawberry floating workspace). Tested all the controls, sound etc last night and it all works!!

To do list:-
Wire in the IEC switch on the back of the cabinet and then find space inside for the pi, extension block and speaker psu.
Put the cabinet together, mount the lighting board and monitor
Finish the marquee artwork
Order up some red t-moulding
Decide on artwork for the sides (not sure if the sub speaker will be an issue)
Work out if I need a bezel for the monitor or not.

Looking great Rex!

Little update on mine - I started working on it again at the weekend (had done nothing since getting the speakers). I've prototyped the screen bezel and cover, plus the angled speaker holder so i've now got a clear and accurate set of templates for laser cutting. Coincidentally we've just found a local-ish place that can do laser cutting through work and we're going next week for a look, so i may be able to get these done while i'm there as a sort paid test.

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I convert my old Ion iCade into a Bartop Raspberry Pi Powered Arcade Machine! 'How to' guide inside. UPDATED 12/2/17

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