Bartop Arcade – part 1

A Facebook post from a friend of mine triggered a new project… how cool it would be to build an old school arcade machine? I did some internet digging and found some examples, some plans, and even step-by-step tutorials. I already had a Raspberry Pi B which was unused, so it would be a cool way to put it to use.

There is a lot of info online, but the most important resources I’ve found to be quite helpful were a site with free plans, some videos and an Instructable  (check Resources below). I soon found out about Retropie (also link below), and burning an SD card with an image was quite easy.

1 – Design

First challenge…All the free plans I’ve found out would not fit the area I designated for the Bartop…so I went Rambo on it and designed my own plans in SketchUp! After some iterations and cardboard trials and I’ve finally found out a design which would work for me.

The design requirements were:

• Compact design
• Maximum height of 55 cm, in order to fit between the countertop and the cabinets
• Reduce the MDF cost to a minimum
• 90º cuts when possible, as my woodoworking skill are not the best
• It had to had some T-moulding for that old-school feel, but again reducing costs to a minimum

If you want the plans send me an email and I’ll get back at you!

2 – CPU+Display+Sound

As mentioned before, I wanted to use the RPi I’ve had with no special use, so the CPU was decided. I’ve burned a Retropie image to an SD Card and soon I had this running. Some games lag a little bit, but the NEO-GEO, SNES and MegaDrive work like a charm.

For the display, I’ve found a cheap used 19′ 4:3 display online, but it was only VGA. The output of the RPi is HDMI, so I needed a converter. Here an important tip, if you need a converter go towards a powered one, passive often don’t work properly.

Having this figured out, next step was the sound: no gaming machine is good if it’s silent… The RPi only has low-power outputs, so an amp was required. I found one really cheap online and also some speakers. I’ve used some parts I already had (USB cable for power + 3.5mm stereo jack with cable), and after some time soldering I got myself an audio system… It’s far from being and audiophile setup, but for what I’ve wanted and the money I was willing to spend, it worked like a charm.

 

In the end I’ll be adding a list of the things I’ve purchased, where did I bought it from and the costs.

3 – MDF

My woodworking skills are not the best… that being said, I wanted to make my life the easiest possible, and keep the costs low. This lead me to think mostly on 1 mm thick MDF except on the sides. Since I wanted to add T-Moulding, and also to enhance the structure of the whole thing as it’s bound for some abuse, I’ve thought on using 16mm. After some Tetris planing in order to optimize the use of the MDF boards, I’ve ended out with a setup that only required the following boards:

 

(to be continued… The planning phase is over and I have most of the stuff figured it out, nevertheless I’ll keep this project on hold for a little bit… I have several other which require my attention and it’s better to finish the pending ones before starting new ventures…)

 

P.S.: For those who want such a DIY, but don’t want to mess with the woodworking, search on eBay and you’ll find stuff like this for about 150€ or less… I just prefer to build my own, as nothing beats the “I built this!” feeling, even if the final outcome is not as perfect… 😀

 

Resources:

• Pretty cool Instructables post: link
• Free plans online: link
• Cool build with plans to buy, but great videos with some useful techniques: link
• Retropie webpage: link

Take care and be safe out there…

AGT

Word Clock

This project took me forever to finish… but still it is one of the best looking ones I’ve built so far.

Around 2012 some friends introduced me to the Biegert&Funk QLOCKTWO. I found this to be pretty awesome, and soon I was started thinking how hard could it be to build one of my own…

QLOCKTWO

I think it was by this time that I’ve found out about Instructables, and I’ve found this one.

As Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother would say:

I’ve started building the clock following the steps, but soon enough I’ve started making some changes:

• Printed a portuguese word clock layout in transparent acetate sheets in a local Staples, and stack them up for a dark professional look.
• Used the original IKEA RIBBA frame, as it was a pretty good enclosure for this project, and cut a bright green passepartout out of a sheet of thick paper.
• Used a perforated prototyping board for the shifters and the amplifiers, with lot’s of wiring…not the most professional look, but it was cheap and got the job done.
• The support for the leds and electronics was a piece of thick cardboard.
• Used an Arduino UNO, since I didn’t want to fiddle around with oscillators, etc, but mounted a power regulator so that the UNO and the Amplifier and Registers would get a stable voltage.

It took me forever to solder the Leds to the resistors…

Led to resistor soldering process

When finally I’ve ended all the soldering, I have to say that I ran out of motivation juice, and the project stood still for a while… until I thought to myself that I was not going to be one of those guys who start a bunch of things but don’t finish them.

After a lot of soldering (and patience) I’ve ended up with this:

Final hairy connections done.

I know, it’s not pretty…but hey, it works. 🙂

The Arduino code was relatively easy to write, and soon enough I’ve ended up with my own Word Clock. YAY!

I think the outside looks a lot better than its guts, but after 3 years it still works.

Backside with the hours and minutes set buttons

Here it is in its final position, close to my Batman vehicles and the first version of the Iron Man Arc Reactor (more on this later…).

Finished project!

Take care, and be safe out there!
AGT