Electronics for the Miniature Arcade Cabinet

Introduction

In a previous Instructable, I described how to construct a miniature arcade cabinet suitable for children to play. The cabinet is about four feet high with the control panel at a much lower height so children can reach it comfortably. In this Instructable I will go over the electrical components that make up the arcade game and how they are connected to each other. The control panel was already constructed in the previous Instructable.

· Used 19 inch computer monitor

· Arcade buttons

https://www.amazon.com/WGCD-Button-Microswitch-Jam...

· Power supply

https://www.amazon.com/BLEE-Switching-Supply-Arcad...

· JAMMA harness

https://www.amazon.com/RetroArcade-us-Standard-Cab...

· 4 inch basic speaker

https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Pinball-Machine-Ato...

· Classic Arcade PCB Board (60 games in 1)

https://www.amazon.com/BLEE-Classical-Vertical-Coc...

· (2) On/Off Rocker switches

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-shell-5-Pack-Rocker-P...

· Computer power cord

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Power-Cord-3-F...

· Joystick

https://www.amazon.com/Suzo-Happ-ra-joystick-js7-b...

· Regular power cords

· Misc. wood screws

· Small wire clamps

https://www.amazon.com/TOVOT-R-type-Fasteners-Tubi...

· 4 pin Molex power connector

https://www.amazon.com/12in-Molex-Power-Extension...

I used an old 19 inch computer monitor I had stored in my basement. It was an Acer model AL1916. If your monitor has a pedestal stand attached, it must be removed. Save the screws that were used to attach the stand. You will need them to attach the monitor to the wood mounting bracket you are going to make. The size of the screws are “4M x 0.7”.

We need to know the distance between each screw hole on the back of the monitor. For this monitor they were 4 inches apart. What I didn’t realize at first was that these holes were not centered to the outside edges of the monitor. Be careful of this. You will be mounting the monitor vertically, not horizontally.

Next, I cut a strip of ½” thick plywood about 6 inches wide. I then cut the length of the strip to 17 inches to match the inside width of the cabinet. Take your measurements and make sure the monitor will be centered to the cabinet sides. Drill your initial holes to the diameter of the screws and make sure all 4 holes line up with the back of the monitor. Since the plywood is ½” thick you must countersink with a drill bit larger then the diameter of the screw head of the original screws, you had set aside, engage the back of the monitor. I went down a depth of approximately 5/16 of an inch. If you don’t do this, you will have to purchase longer screws.

Before you attach the monitor to this strip of plywood, cut two ¾” x 2” wide pine blocks and attach them to the outside edge of the plywood, as shown in the photos. Make the blocks about 12 inches long. This will be your mounting bracket to the mini cabinet itself. Now attach the back of the monitor to this custom wood mounting bracket with the 4 screws you set aside.

Next, the mounting bracket is attached to the cabinet. Center the monitor vertically between the top marquee and the control panel. Place it into the cabinet far enough (depth wise) to allow for a bezel to cover the monitor. I had a tight friction fit with the bracket so it was easy to make minute adjustments to the position of the monitor. Once I was happy with the position, I screwed the bracket in place through the outside of the cabinet. I got lazy, this was easier then trying to screw from the inside. I just covered the screw heads with wood putty and then sanded and repainted the sides.

To finish off the monitor mounting and give your game cabinet a professional look, a bezel will be fabricated. The bezel will cover the monitor opening and only allow the computer screen to be visible. To give the bezel a positive seat to rest on, wood strips are glued to the inside of each side of the cabinet at the same angle that the monitor is mounted. The outside edge should be just above the face of the monitor so the bezel can rest on these wood supports. See the photos.

The bezel itself is fabricated from 0.2 inch thick plexiglass. The Plexiglas is cut to fill the monitor space between the sides horizontally, and between the marquee and control panel vertically. Once cut, test this piece in place to make sure it fits. Now mark the four corners of the visible computer screen on the Plexiglas with a marker. Take the Plexiglas off and use painters tape to define the four sides of the screen opening using the dots as your reference. Use scrap paper to tape off the rest of the opening. Use black spray paint to block out all the edges around the taped off screen opening. Let the paint dry and then remove the tape and scrap paper. Your monitor bezel is now done.

A basic arcade power supply is used to power the Arcade Classics game board. A power wire harness is fabricated with the proper Molex connector to fit into the female receptacle on the PCB game board. You will need a 5-DC, 12-DC and ground feed off the power supply. Also, a standard 110 volt power cord must be connected to the appropriate terminals on the power supply to give it power.

If you have access to a solder gun, I would solder fork connector terminals to all wire ends that connect to the screw terminals on the power supply. This makes for much cleaner connections.

Use four small wood screws to attach the power supply to the inside floor of the cabinet.

I mounted the game board vertically to one side of the mini cabinet. Mount it with the JAMMA connection at the top. This is the copper picket fence like side of the PCB game board. I used four #4 diameter wood screws that were ¾” long. They pass through the 4 mounting holes on the corners of the PCB game board. They pass through the 4 mounting holes on the corners of the PCB game board. I used a 3/8” long piece of plastic pipe or straw as a spacer to keep the game board elevated off the wood surface. See the attached photo.

I used a standard 9 foot long extension cord with 3 outlets to bring electricity to the mini arcade cabinet. On the part of the extension cord that will be inside the cabinet (outlet side), the hot wire needs to be sectioned. About 3 feet of 110-volt rated wire is spliced into each side of the sectioned wire. These two wires will be brought up to the control panel. Spade connectors should be soldered on to the ends of these wires so they can be easily attached to the rocker on/off switch that is located in the control panel.

You will need to drill a large diameter hole through the bottom of the rear plywood bracing piece to get the extension cord to the inside of the mini cabinet.

Two arcade buttons are placed in the bottom bracing piece of plywood on the back of the mini arcade cabinet. I used a 1 1/8” drill bit to drill the holes for the buttons. They are placed behind the cabinet so they are not easily accessible by small children. These buttons will be the “Text” and “Service” switches. These two buttons will allow you to get into and maneuver around the Setup Menu.

In “Setup Mode” you can change and set many game defaults such as game difficulty, what point total you get an extra life and whether “free-play” is selected. You can also disable any of the 60 games that you know you will never play.

The JAMMA harness is an industry standard that has been around since the 1980’s. It stands for “Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association”. It is considered a 56-pin female connector with 28 pins on each side. The connector is plugged into the 60 in 1 arcade classics game board. It is plugged in with the “component side” on the PCB side that has all the chips and connectors in place. All the standard connections for your monitor, speaker, power supply, joystick and game buttons come out in a standard location. The Arcade Classics PCB board follows this standard.

1. The two wires that were attached to the hot side of the game power cord are brought up to the control panel and attached to the on/off rocker switch. Push the spade connector onto each male post on the switch.

2. The power cord for the VGA monitor is plugged into the power cord outlet strip on the cabinet floor.

3. The power cord for the power supply is also plugged into the power cord outlet strip on the cabinet floor.

4. Connect one end of the VGA cable to the back of the monitor and the other end to the arcade classic motherboard (VGA female connector facing the back of cabinet).

5. Plug the power harness 4-pin Molex connector into the corresponding female connector on the arcade classics motherboard (right next to the VGA connection).

6. Place the JAMMA harness on the copper strip at the top of the arcade classics motherboard. Make sure the key slot (#7) is lined up on the motherboard.

7. Follow the pin out diagram from the Arcade Classics PCB User’s Manual. The end of each wire coming off the JAMMA harness has a spade connection that you push onto the male connector on the corresponding buttons momentary micro-switch. This is a “NO” or normally open type micro-switch.

8. Connect a black “ground” wire spade to the second male connection on each of the arcade micro-switches.

9. Connect the joystick in the same way. It has 4 direction connections (up, down, right, left) and a ground connection.

10. At pin #10 the positive and negative speaker wires come out like you did with the power cord. Cut the positive wire and attach two 3 feet pieces of speaker wire spliced into each side of the sectioned wire. These two wires will be brought up to the control panel. Spade connectors should be soldered on to the ends of these wires so they can be easily attached to the rocker on/off switch that is located in the control panel. This will allow you to turn the speaker on and off.

The outfitting of the miniature arcade cabinet with all the electrical components needed to enjoy hours of playing the classic arcade games is complete. Make sure you have the power switch pushed on the monitor and then turn the main power switch on the control panel and enjoy!