MORE Interior Pictures!!

Since I know you can never really have too many of these...

You can see that there are a ton of wires inside - I don't know how some people maintain such neatly wired cabinets. The speakers and subwoofer were the main culprits - there is a power cord, two cords to the individual speakers and a cord for the volume control unit (which you can see just sitting in the coin box - I haven't decided where to mount it yet). I just ended up bunching the wires with ties - I guess I could have cut the wires to the proper length and reattach them with some electrical tape but that seemed like a lot of unnecessary work.

The power supply wires to the fans were also hard to keep neat and I also have an extra wire running from the underside of the third CP to the motherboard (the twisted black and green wire) for the power button to the computer. One press turns everything on and another press powers everything off. I really like this feature - it makes it easy for just about anyone to operate (assuming you know where the button is hidden!).

I will be posting more miscellaneous pictures a bit later. Thanks for looking!

Technical Crap

OK, since so many of you are dying to know exactly how I hooked everything up I created the diagram below to explain exactly how I did it. I have to warn you that it's pretty technical and probably can only be understood by less than 1% of the arcade-building population though. It should give you a good idea how everything fits together and how truly great the Smart Strip is. All you have to do is press the "on" button and the entire cabinet fires up - the motherboard, speakers, monitor and lights (when I get around to installing the LEDs).

More progress pictures are coming soon - I'm almost finished!!

Quick Update - INTERIOR PICS!!

More details later - I'm busy this weekend but wanted to post some progress.

Computer Installed - It Works!!

Well, I don't have any new pictures because I can't find the camera (again) but I managed to install the computer inside of the cabinet this weekend. I haven't mounted the monitor yet - that will probably be the last thing I do but I have connected a computer monitor so I can tinker/tweak the software and front end.

Holy crap what a mess - I even used ties to bunch wires together but somehow it still looks messy. I haven't even really started wiring the controls yet but I think I can keep that pretty organized since I am the one determining wire length (I can run wires along the sides of the cab instead of stretching across the middle to power a fan or connect the HDD to the motherboard, etc.). Damn, pics would really help...

It's my first computer build and I'm pretty proud that I got it to work (with help, of course). Tomorrow I am going to drill the final holes in the cab (after painfully taking everything out):

1. 4.5" hole in the bottom for third fan
2. 1/8" hole for power switch
3. 1/4" hole for volume control (I have to cut and then splice the controls after threading the wire through the hole)

Once I get this done and everything back in there I can wire the controls. I imagine the trackball and spinner will give me the most problems...

Computer Parts and Miscellaneous Items HERE!

The finish line is actually in sight. I've ordered what I believe to be the last pieces to my arcade cabinet besides the artwork for the tabletop.

Computer Parts (from www.newegg.com):

Power Supply:
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply -Retail
Item #: N82E16817103937

The power supply also came with a ton of wires to power all of the fans, the harddrive (with a SATA connection) as well as the motherboard. I will probably also use one of the wires for some lighting effects behind the plexiglass above the player 1 and player 2 control panels and to light the coin slots on the coin door. Here's a shot of all the wires that came with it:

RAM (I ordered 2 of these for 1GB total RAM):
CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS512MB400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145026

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822135106

This finishes off the computer!

Internal Wiring / Connectors (from www.mouser.com):

For some of the internal wiring I decided to order some Molex connectors. These will allow me to easily disconnect the control panels instead of having to unscrew every wire from the iPac.

I ordered 10 plugs (female) and 10 receptacles (male) with room for 4 wires (in-line) and 10 plugs (female) and 10 receptacles (male) with room for 6 wires (matrix). The size is .062" which is good for 18-24 gauge wire. I also ordered 100 pins and 100 sockets to use in the plugs and receptacles. I hope everything works OK. If anyone is interested, this is where I got everything from: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/626/1079.pdf

This weekend I am going to install everything and configure the computer, including the monitor. I am going to try my hardest to get everything completed so the arcade is fully playable. I will install the Molex connectors next week (they probably won't arrive until Monday) but that should be easy enough to do after the fact.