Mini Arcade (version 2)
First copy hot off the assembly line (I would go on to build 6 of them)
Mini Arcade (version 2) in action!
Christmas gifts ready to be shipped out (Dec 2014)
I've had a lot of fun building version 2 (version 1) of the mini-arcade series. It required combining a number of different skill sets..electronics, woodworking and design skills all come into play. During November and December of 2014 I built 4 of them for Christmas gifts and worked with my two daughters who each built one to give as gifts for a total of 6 builds.
My main goals for the second version were to reduce the cost and time to build by at least 50%. I believe I achieved these goals as this version comes in at around $50 (parts costs) which is 1/2 of the cost of my first mini-arcade. And I estimate that the time to build has been reduced from about 25 hours down to under 10. If you'd like to try building one for yourself, the plans and parts list are linked at the end of this article.
Additionally this version contains 10 games, 5 more then the first version. I start with a Jakks Namco Arcade Classics plug and play Joystick video game box.
They can be purchased on Ebay for around $15. This provides the joystick, buttons and video game portion of the mini-arcade which is the main reason the parts costs are able to be kept down under $50. When building version 1 I bought a pro-style joystick and arcade buttons which added to the cost and wiring it up was time consuming.
Initially I started with the same video game electronics from version 1 and built a prototype box out of cardboard to test fit everything. Once I was happy with the dimensions and sure everything would fit I started cutting out the wood for the arcade machine box. I used 1/4 inch plywood which I was able to find in 12" by 24" sizes at my local Ace hardware store. I used about one and a half sheets per arcade. Around about this time I found the 10 game Jakks Namco joystick and switched to using it going forward with the project.
I would have loved to have the parts professionally cut out of plastic using a flat bed cutter but I decided to keep the costs down and simply use wood. Around about this time word putty and I became good friends.
When I built version 1 it was a labor of love since I was building only one for myself. This time however I was building 6 of them so, lets just say lots of wood putty, sanding and paint can hide a lot of mistakes!
Initially I just placed the joystick on the bottom wood platform mainly to keep costs down but later on decided to build this encasement around it which I thought made things look much more like a real arcade machine. I basically take the joystick apart and discard the bottom. This also let me separate out the plate that houses the coin reset button and on/off switch into this casement. I later was able to electrically tap into the on/off switch so that this one switch controls the power to the video screen and audio amplifier in addition to the powering the video game.
After struggling to build a few of these encasements,I realized that I could cut them from one piece of wood and then score them on both sides of the plywood and gently bend them around into a half circle which took a lot less time and provided a much better fit.
The joystick operates on 6 volts (4 AA batteries). I decided then to look for a video screen and audio amplifier that could also work with this voltage so I could power it all with an inexpensive 6 volt adapter which I was able to find on Amazon for $3.99. I experimented a little with a 5 volt phone power bank which is used to recharge cell phones on the go. There are many of these available on Amazon and they are surprisingly inexpensive. The cool thing about them is that you can easily use them to make the mini-arcade portable. However I struggled a bit because the voltage isn't quite high enough when powering all 3 items (video game, video screen and audio amplifier) I actually got 2 of the mini-arcades to work in this way which is cool. They are completely portable and you simply recharge the power bank which provides about 5000 mah, enough power to operate it for many hours.
I needed a small audio amplifier which would run on 5-6 volts which I found at SparkFun for $7.95. You can wire up a potentiometer in order to adjust the volume, however since it only puts out 1.4 watts into an 8 ohm speaker I found that I could eliminate the volume control as the sound level was just about right. Every little bit helps when you're trying to keep costs down.
I decided to give them all one coat of primer, two coats of flat black and final coat of clear. I found inexpensive paint at Ace hardware for $3.99 a can. This is probably overkill. You could probably get by with just a few coats of paint especially if you sand in between coats with a fine grain sandpaper (220 perhaps).
I found these little one inch 8 ohm speakers on Amazon for $1.00 each. What a bargain!
As I mentioned earlier I was able to wire in power going into and out of the Joystick to take advantage of the on/off switch. So basically the 6 volt power adapter simply powers the joystick and then I tap off the switched ground and plus power to power the video screen and audio amplifier. To simplify all the wiring I use RCA plugs for the video and audio. Also I use dc power plugs for power. So it all comes together easily by simply plugging in all the appropriate plugs when everything is ready. And the advantage of using simple plugs like this is if you do have problems you can easily mix and match parts, especially in my case where I was building 6 of them and when something didn't work quite right I could easily swap out parts to identify what was broken.
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Ready for the decals. This step can be a lot of fun as it involves a little design. Choosing which decals to place and where.
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| Finished Mini Arcade (version 2) |
P.S. I'm now hard at work on version 3 which will utilize Emulation Station and RetroPie running on a Raspberry PI within the same size arcade machine box. The parts cost will go up slightly but I hope to keep it under $75. With Emulation Station and RetroPie I'll be able to emulate 1000's of games, basically any video game made from the 1970's through around 2000. Of course I'll first see if I can get any of the games I wrote for the Apple II running. I'm searching out the best joystick to use since I'll be emulating a number of different games which originally ran on many different joysticks.
Links
Video screen- Amazon
Audio Amplifier- SparkFun
Jakks Namco Video game- Ebay
6 volt adapter- Amazon
Power plugs (male)- Amazon
Power plugs (female)- Amazon
Power jack socket- Amazon
Plans
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