Bartop MAME Cabinet - Finished!

So I finally finished my bartop mame cabinet. Actually I finished it a few weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to the documentation part :)

It turned out better than I expected, and my son loves it! I used a mini-itx mobo with an Intel Atom processor. This limited the front ends I could use. I wanted to use hyperspin, but it requires more than my little board can muster. I'm currently using mgalaxy, but I'd like to find something better (and free, I've already overspent on this project).

I did run into some problems during the build. I used weld-on plastic cement to fuse the main portion to the side panels, and it seemed to work well, but I needed to attach the monitor and the rear panel, and I just didn't trust the strength of it, so I ended up using screws. While it's not quite as pretty, I used stainless button head screws, so it's not bad looking. The other problem was with the monitor. I got it for free because it had a bad power supply, and it wasn't repairable (I tried). It ran on 12 volts, so I figured I'd just hook it up to the computer's power supply and everything would be fine. Well, the problem comes when the display and the computer share the same ground connection, and the video cable also carries a ground connection... Horrible lines on the display. I solved the problem by using a second, smaller power supply for just the display and then disconnecting its ground connection through the power cord. Even with these issues it came out really great.

Here's the specs for those who care...
21" LCD 1600x1200
Intel Atom Processor 1.6GHz
2GB RAM
120GB HD
Win XP Pro
mGalaxy frontend
I-Pac VE
2 8-way competition joysticks
18 Happ pushbuttons


Here are some pictures of the build...


Here's some of the button holes drilled. For the joysticks I countersunk some screws into small pieces of plastic and epoxied them in place. I then used the weld-on to attach them to the underside of the control panel for a seamless, no scew look.

Here's the control panel finished. In retrospect I should have waited until I finished drilling and working on the rest of it, but I just couldn't resist :)

This is the rear panel with the computer and power supplies mounted. I also mounted the speakers there.

Here's the back of the monitor and the control panel. You can see the speaker controls mounted just under the monitor on the left (from this side). I mounted the I-Pac to the back of the monitor since I found out that the sticky velcro shows through the acrylic :(

This is just the two pieces about to go together. You can see my ghetto L brackets. At least they are inside and can't be seen :)

Here's my son and my sisters having fun. I just need to figure out how to get them off it so that I can play!

If anyone has questions or ideas for different frontends, put them in the comments!

Bartop MAME Cabinet 3D Model

Here's the Sketchup model

Bartop MAME Cabinet

So here's my newest project. I'm building a bartop MAME cabinet. I've wanted to do it for years, and seeing the one at theTransistor (local hackerspace) gave me the push I needed. I decided to stray from the traditional building methods for a few reasons, the main one being that I already had different materials on hand. I'm building it out of white acrylic. I have most of the pieces cut out, I just need to glue them together and then lots of touch up to make it look good. Here's a couple pics of my progress so far. I hope to get it all glued together tonight.

This is the Main portion of the cabinet. It's on its left side.


This is one of the sides.

I hope you can see how it's going to turn out. I might try to embed my sketchup model.

Add a Reverse Switch to a Cheap Ride-On Quad

So wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything. I guess that's what a kid and a new house do to you. Anyway, I have a new project to share. For Christmas, we got our son a little motorized quad. Of course we got the cheap one because times are tough, but this meant sacrificing features of the more expensive models. That's fine for most things, but the killer feature was the reverse function because I'm sure my son would drive into a wall, and then yell until I came and saved him. As much fun as that sounds, I decided to do something about it.
So I added a reverse switch to his quad. It was a fairly simple matter, just a DPDT switch and some wire. The before and after schematic is below, showing how I wired in the new switch. The end product almost looks like it came that way, and now my son will be able to get himself out of trouble. I guess it's true that the best inventions arise out of laziness :)

Nikon Capture Free Update!

Good News, Nikon Capture Free is now on SourceForge! Here's the link...
https://sourceforge.net/projects/nikoncapture/
You should check it out even if you don't have a nikon d40, because it should work with most cameras that have a WIA driver.

Nikon Capture Free

Sorry I haven't posted new pictures yet. Life is good a being crazy at the worst times!
So I recently got a Nikon D40 DSLR Camera. To do time lapse photography, Nikon has a program called Camera Control Pro. This software is awesome, but pricey. I decided to make my own version of it, called Nikon Capture Free. As the title suggests, it is freeware. It currently has many options for time lapse photos and can give limited info about the camera. As of yet I can't set parameters on the camera from the computer, but hopefully in the near future it will be a possibility. So for now, you just set up your camera the way you want it and then run the program and it automatically takes pictures and transfers them to your computer. I'm waiting on Sourceforge to approve the project so that it will be available there, but until then you can get it here... http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/5/27/1932782/Nikon%20Capture%20Free.zip
The Visual Basic source code is included.
I know that it probably has bugs, so if you find any please let me know and I'll try to fix it asap! Also, if you make any modifications, please send me a copy so I can integrate it!

NOTE: I designed the software for the Nikon D40, but it should work with any camera that has a WIA driver. (shows up as a camera in My Computer, not as a mass storage device).

Finally some pictures of the printer!!!

Here's a few pics of the 3D printer...

This is an overall picture of the printer.

This is a close up of one of the drive motors and shows the wiring.

Here you can see the other axis and the hot air nozzle.

This is the car jack that supports the adjustable platform.

This is the Freeduino board and breadbord with driver chip.

The X and Y axis are made out of scanners. I cut it apart leaving only the drive motor/belt and the shaft the carriage rides on. I picked this type of scanner because the motors are unipolar, making them much easier to drive! If this is going to be your first project with stepper motors I strongly suggest you stay away from bipolar motors, as the circuitry is complicated to say the least.

The hot air nozzle is the guts from a cheap $5 wal-mart soldering iron. I put a 1/2" copper pipe cap over the end after drilling a small hole in it. You will want to experiment with different hole sizes to see which one works best for you based on airflow (I tried a few before finding one that worked right but that's ok beacuse they're only about $0.50). For the air I used a standard aquarium pump, also from wal-mart. I connected one end of the tube to the pump and just stuck the other end in the tube of the soldering iron (so that the air blows past the heating element). I covered the soldering iron tube in aluminum foil and then sealed it up with electrical tape. It works pretty well.

The car jack is used to raise the bottom up and down easily. I got it from Checker for $20, which I think is a pretty good deal. I drilled holes in the top and bottom plates and screwed it down to the base board and bolted it to the movable platform.

The controller I'm using is a Freeduino, which is the same thing as an Arduino Diecimila. The driver chip to provide power to the motors is a ULN2803A. I'm still working out software for the microcontroller and the computer.

It's almost finished, the only thing left is a liner for the inside of the box to hold the sugar and a place for the sugar to go when I scrape it off the top. I'll post more pics when I finish it and get the software working.