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My MAME Machine

welcome to the home of my yet-unnamed mame machine... the plan of building a mame machine is actually what got me into this hobby, but i got caught up in collecting and didn't build mine as early as planned... this is actually my second mame machine if you count a cabaret ms. pac that i mame-ify-ed a while back, but that was primarity for ms pac... this is my first full-fledged mame super machine with ~5000 games to enjoy and all sorts of goodies...

i picked up this dedicated SmashTV in October 2002, and although it is too modern for my collection, i always liked the game and appreciated its robotron-esque roots... but it survived for one goal, mame! i figured i could make it an addition to this cabinet, so i wouldnt be ruining anything original, nor waste space in my "arcade" with a non-original cabinet... now this cabinet was perfect for a bunch of reasons: 25in screen (nice for horizontal and vertical games); big control panel permits lots of options; multijamma (included in the cabinet!!) allows playing SmashTV (and total carnage) on original hardware, or mame, all three at the push of a button... this is an ALL BOLT-ON upgrade to the dedicated cabinet... in an hour or so i can return it back to 100% original status... i recommend this procedure to anyone mame-ifying an original cabinet... any mame addition can be done without ruining a classic cabinet...

Control Panel Pictures

General Panel

Modular Plan

Controls

Cabinet Pictures

In Action

Assembly

Computer Pictures

Computer

Bootup

Specifications:

Future Plans:

In Progress

Modular Panel:

right trigger stick 1/2-panel with: trigger stick, 3 buttons (assault, battlezone, tron)

left trigger stick 1/2-panel with: trigger stick, 3 buttons (assault, battlezone)

spinner 1/2-panel, right or left (tempest or tron)

button only panel, right or left (tempest)

Ideas for Future Additions:

Build Spinner (or two, for modular panels)

Steering Wheel(s) (maybe a spinner attachment)

Pedal(s) (adapt roadblasters pedal i have)

custom optical adapter for t-stick pluses for rotary action (and minimal spinner) (instead of 12-way rotary with adapter)

1 Leaf Switch
per player - on general panel (which may become modular, who knows)

VFD Display
Serial or Parallel

Act-Labs Lightguns or Guncon2 with custom drivers i read about

Adandoned Ideas:

Joystick Triggers - REASON: modular trigger stick panels (may once again be resurrected for an ultimate non-modular panel)

Discs of Tron Panel - REASON: modular trigger stick and spinner panels

Rotary Sticks Panel - with mame circuit - REASON: optical adapter for t-stick planned

Assault Panel - 2 4-Ways w/ triggers - REASON: 2 modular trigger stick panels

Journal:

June 6, 2005
so there will be: right trigger stick with buttons panel, left of the same (two trigger sticks work up for assault, battlezone...), then add a spinner half panel, on the left with the right trigger stick, for tron... then a button panel (or left trigger stick with its buttons) with that same spinner half panel now on the right (for tempest)... hope that makes sense

June 6, 2005
ok, a new layout for pictures, now divided up... and a new plan brewing for the modular panel design... instead of cropped corners (to match) they will be plain squar, this will alleviate side problems as opposed to my ill-fated spinner spinner half design... design specifics in the next post

June 3, 2005
decided to double post to seperate these two updates... for the trigger stick i'm planning a split panel design, with two halves (for now two halves each with a trigger stick for games like ASSAULT... then later another left half with a spinner for a tron panel... i dunno if that makes sense, but its inspired by this guys Doc's Modular MAME, a VERY IMPRESSIVE design

June 3, 2005
redid the pictures on this page, now better organization and updated pictures, including a couple for my trigger stick prototype, its the handle from some old lame joystick that i happened to have three of in the attic (goodwill finds i'm sure) so i made one prototype and then when i'm back in machine shop next semester i will make new joystick rods the proper way (with a tapered size to adapt to the joystick handle's shaft's diameter... if that makes sense... also just a small allen wrench in a larger hole drilled through the shaft to keep it from rotating around.... a lot of play prevents any binding whatsoever, but allows a 15 degree or so slop... has no effect on play...

May 26, 2005
ok so i cleaned/updated/organized this page a little better... mame is up and running great right now, just waiting for some new controls... i added a relay to turn on and off the cabinet with the pc... and a momentary switch in place of the original power switch, as well as a secondary switch in the coin door for short people... and i plan to put pictures up real soon, i swear

April 11, 2005
haven't updated in a while but over the past month i re-did my mame machine's software... i had always wanted it dos-based for quick bootup and safe power down (without even quitting the emu) but i bit the bullet and tried an xp based system and am overall very pleased... boot time is just as quick, better network support (updates, remote access), the frontend is better (mamewah) and the emu plays the same and is more stable... i couldn't be happier... so i plan to redo the site and update accordingly

March 04, 2004
redesigned website and beginning of the mame machine journal

Jan - Feb, 2004
started piecing together parts for this mame machine, bought new pc parts, built cp, got it running... details from here out