Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build
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@AndersHP looks like a great, solid build by any standard. I appreciate thoughtful details like bottom panel access to the controls. That will come in handy. Well done. Keep up the good work!
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That looks brilliant, I am planning a build for over the summer, where I live its impossible to go outside for two months since its so hot,
i love the bubble bobble artwork.
Im trying to work out what artwork to use on mine, I think I will go full retro and use painters tape to mask areas off and then make it look stenciled.I like your idea for the speakers, last night I took apart an altec lanseng 2.1 system to see how it would work.
I was wondering how to get the speakers to project correctly, Im a bit of an audiophile, im considering building a dropdown hinged door above the screen that opens up to behind the marquee, and putting a retro 70's car radio up there to run the speakers, then while im at it hide the controls for the lights etc up there, im planning to have lit switches and program an arduino to make them all flashy and stuff, lol
i will watch this thread closely, good work!
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@ortsac said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
I would very much like to buy this as a kit...not from those guys that sell Retropie for profit but people like us that does it as a hobby.
@TMNTturtlguy said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
@AndersHP do you have a template for the cabinet that you would be willing to share? This is really cool work. I have a few full size standups but i would like to do 3 or 4 of these that can be lined up all with their own themes! Cool and thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the interest, for both of you! I have partially rented some of the powertools, so the manufacturing wouldn't be something I could offer. But it's based on the templates from this site: Instructables
I just rounded the corners and prolonged the control panel a bit, whilst adding an angle to the front of the CP. I could perhaps draw some DWG files of the design if you like, but the PDF's in the link is actually possible to print out on A4 paper and then stitch together - that was pretty accessible I think!
@numotiv said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
Looks incredible! I was very gun-ho to build a bartop but ended up doing a retro console instead. Maybe the next project. Keep up the good work.
Thanks man! I can recommend a bartop, but actually I would like a retro console also :-P
@caver01 said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
@AndersHP looks like a great, solid build by any standard. I appreciate thoughtful details like bottom panel access to the controls.
Thanks! Solid it will be, it's starting to weigh a bit to say the least!
@spruce_m00se said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
I was wondering how to get the speakers to project correctly, Im a bit of an audiophile, im considering building a dropdown hinged door above the screen that opens up to behind the marquee, and putting a retro 70's car radio up there to run the speakers, then while im at it hide the controls for the lights etc up there, im planning to have lit switches and program an arduino to make them all flashy and stuff, lol
i will watch this thread closely, good work!
Sounds pretty cool! Please share, I wanted to do some arduino lighting, but I thought that maybe the project could get out of hand. Maybe in the next build ;-)
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@AndersHP arduino lighting would be pretty darned easy, if you have illuminated switches, just buy a few sub mini relays that can handle 1A for example, they would be tiny relays, then connect em up to the pins on the arduino.
My cabinet build is getting closer, i got paid, the mrs leaves in a month and I have no woman to moan at sawdust in the house for 5 weeks, GAME ON
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https://www.iliketomakestuff.com/arcade-cabinet/
this is THE cabinet to make, i want one, but it looks a bit beyond me to start with,
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@spruce_m00se But what about the software on the arduino? Have you got experience with this?
Only my coin buttons and marquee will be illuminated, but some dimming effect could be cool.Yeah, Bob's arcade project was what got me into this in the first place. Really cool videos!
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I have been using arduino for about 8 years now, I got my first one in order to make a drone flight computer with it, I can hold my own with it with use from the forums, I can easily program a program to do the lighting that bob has in that video, im not a great programmer but the arduino has a lot of space, so you dont need to be good at cutting code down when using simple code like this.
the pic I have attached is an idea running through my head that I just sketched out. you can see the plate above the screen move between the two images, this is the area i would hide my audio and lighting controls, but it occured to me whilst pooping that I can also use it to solve my issue of being able to have two screen angles, I want to use this as a feature in the bedroom or mancave, which means that the storage idea from bob is amazing, but i want to use KODI to watch videos and listen to music, hence the need for an audio system in it, and obviously the screen angle needs to change when watching video, so i would use dowels in the side panels to hinge the screen and top plate, then basically pull the screen forward and lock it onto the topplate to secure it.
i think it looks feasible and easy, what do you think ?
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@spruce_m00se Ah, so the dovels are placed on the topplate's back edge, and you then need some kind of brackets that either snaps to the marquee or the top of the screen. What kind would this be?
Just thinking out loud here.. What about making your topplate fixed, and ensuring it is a tangent to the circle with the center in the bottom hinge on the screen. On the back of the screen, you could have a sliding latch in each side, and have holes for this in the two positions.
This way, you wouldn't need to attach/detach the topplate, and I think the gap over the monitor in the KODI position would be smaller, or at least not leave the cabinet open.
I dunno. But the idea for the screen tilting is pretty good.
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@AndersHP This is wonderful - I've been very much planning to build a Bubble Bobble themed Arcade Bartop!
Where did you get the art done, if I may ask? I was in touch with the XCade folks but they didn't have any similar artwork, and most would be either generic or "aggressive" (i.e. SF2/Ghouls and Ghosts) which would make it not necessarily kid-friendly at home.
Well done!
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@pjft if you send me your bartop dimensions I can create custom art for you. You can pick out all styles/colors/design. I will provide you with the native photoshop file as well as PDF and jpeg. Getting them printed will be up to you!
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@TMNTturtlguy You're very kind for offering. :)
It'll likely be a October to December project for me, given that there's a chance we might be moving countries in a few months, so I'll hold off building one until that happens and things settle down again.
Still, when that does happen, and when I do have a definitive size and format, I may certainly reach out to you in case you'd still be up for that! And if not, it is - as always - perfectly fine. :) I am sure one such undertaking would take up a lot of time, so I acknowledge and respect that.
Thank you!
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@pjft Moving countries! Adventure! No problems, just keep me posted.
I love doing graphic art and design and something like this actually doesn't take that much time or effort. I could put together a similar bubble bobble graphic package in maybe 2 hours. The time consuming part is being picky and never happy! Finding the right high quality images is the trick and that can take time as well, but all in, it is fun and easy to do, so it will be no problem.
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@TMNTturtlguy You're too kind, and are likely underestimating the time and effort, but I appreciate the positivity :)
I'll keep this on the backlog, for sure. Thank you very much for the openness, regardless of the outcome!
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@pjft i too may be moving countries soon, i currently live 8000km from home maybe 6k cant remember.
if i make one next week then its a practice run for the real thing when i get home
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@pjft Thanks! Yeah my daughter really likes the artwork - "look at the sweet dragons" was her initial reaction :-)
I got it printed at http://rockstarprint.co.uk/
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@Rookervik What would it take to make you create some custom graphics for the coin buttons on my arcade, following my Bubble Bobble theme? :-)
See photo above for dimension proportions and my first attempt. It's not that it's really horrible, but I'd just really love to see what you might do...?
Only if you can spare the time, though :-)
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@AndersHP I thought yours looked great. Not sure how I could top it.
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@AndersHP
I have ordered some parts to make the lighting work better,
but so far I have taken this guys idea:
and I have coded it into arduino, I have made a series of different flash patterns that are randomly selected, and each flash pattern has on and off cycles which are randomly generated from similar values to what this guy has used on youtube, I have added a little flicker to the off cycle, and then programmed it to sometimes turn on normally and turn off normally, again randomly generated events.I have also added a multi jog wheel to it which I am using to adjust the brightness.
I am going to play around making the light fade on a bit when it turns on, to make it a bit more realistic.I am also planning to use the multijog to control the volume on the cabinet, that shoudl be possible, so I can select between volume or brightness from one multijog.
when I get the parts etc and its all working "impressivly " i will post a video, for now it is just controlling single LED's until the control board for the strips turns up.
In theory I could also make it control the colour for RGB led lighting,
And I plan to use the arduino to control the PI, I will use the push button "reset" script for the pi, and an output pin of the arduino to emulate the reset of the Pi, so the arduino turns the Pi on and off, and the user can shut down in the menu still if they like. Doing it like this, I can make the arduino turn off the lights when the Pi shuts down, and then with the realy board thats coming I can turn the TV and Speakers off with the Pi also, and then have the lights, sound and tv activate at any point duirng the Pi;s boot process.
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@TMNTturtlguy said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
@pjft Moving countries! Adventure! No problems, just keep me posted.
I love doing graphic art and design and something like this actually doesn't take that much time or effort. I could put together a similar bubble bobble graphic package in maybe 2 hours. The time consuming part is being picky and never happy! Finding the right high quality images is the trick and that can take time as well, but all in, it is fun and easy to do, so it will be no problem.
I thought it would take more than 2 hours. Very time-cosuming
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@Anniecrann I think once you have done it once and have the templates then it is just a case of finding the right artwork and putting it in the right place
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