Here is an update of what I got done today, I got the cab painted (still needs another coat(s) painted), put a power switch on the back (no pic yet), and played it some. The monitor bezel came out really nice.
Okay, so on Sunday I decided that I wanted a bartop arcade machine. I’m spur of the moment like that, so I went to Home Depot and bought some wood, and Wal-Mart to buy some corner brackets that evening. Later that night I had the sides, top, and bottom made, and a basic shape formed. Here it is on Wednesday and I’ve got a working unit that I just came in from playing. Simply put….IT IS AWESOME!!!! I used a LCD monitor that I had laying around, and luckily it had the screw holes in the back for a VESA mount, so I just used some angle aluminum and made some brackets for it (I love that stuff), to mount the computer I used 2 pieces of flat aluminum stock for mounts that I tapped and threaded some motherboard spacers into. For a monitor bezel I used a piece of plexli that I cut the protective covering on it to the viewable area of the monitor, and then painted the rest black to give a nice border. (all this is on the back side so it can’t get scratched. The computer is a spare P4 with 512 MB DDR that I had laying around. The keyboard interface, buttons, and joystick I had from previous arcade machine work/building. The hinge I used on the control panel was off an old slot machine that I parted out (I had several), but it was too wide and got in the way of 2 of the L brackets, so I had to cut it some. Anyway, I’m not done yet, close, but not yet. I will post again when I can!
Here is an update to an almost done power supply. For the sides, top, back, etc I used some roofing flashing that I had laying around. It worked out perfect because I had 10″ flashing, and the depth of the psu is 10″, so I only had to cut the ends of it. My printout ended up not being to scale so you can see a few spots that shouldn’t be there, and on the power on indicator its a bit hard to see the “power”, but I think a nice red glowing lamp gives you the idea. The dials are also off because of the scale problem, but its fine…I’m not going to worry about it. I installed a spare 120mm computer fan that I had laying around for cooling, and it worked out quite nicely. I actually took pictures as much as possible, so there are several pictures of things you could think of. (plexliglass before I cut it). Anyway I really think it came out nice, way better then I thought it would have. I’m planning on making another one with digital gauges and I would like to use 2 pushbuttons to adjust the voltage, but I’m not sure how to do that, if anyone has any ideas please let me know. I’m not quite sure on the total cost of this right now, I will total everything up later and post it. I’m sure I left something interesting out, just ask.
So I need a variety of voltages for a variety of things, what electronic enthusiast doesn’t? Instead of buying a power supply (anybody can do that) I decided to build one!
I started thinking what I needed and what I would like.
I NEED:
At least 1 variable output
12V out
5V out
Voltage display
Fuses, switches, power light, other such items.
I would LIKE:
Ammeter
Dual variable outputs
Unregulated output
Print money
Tell me the winning lottery numbers
I managed to get everything that I wanted in here. The ammeter and voltmeter are older style analogue round meters. The power on indicator is a neon indicator light from Radio Shack Rip-You-A-New-One Shack. The meters I ordered from china (cheap). Everything else came from Electronic Goldmine (as far as electronics are concerned)
I wanted the ammeter to switch between the two variable outputs, being how ammeters need to be in series with the output this presented a small problem. A problem that was easily resolved. I used a 4PDT switch to switch between variable 1 and variable 2 and it should work out fine. The voltmeter is easy, just a DPDT switch will work for it. All my outputs come out to banana post/binding post combo after going through an appropriately sized fuse.
The 5v is provided from a 7805 12v from a 7812, and the 2 variables from LM317′s. All Items are heatsinked and will have a fan blowing directly on them to cool them. There is also a 20000µf capacitor on the inputs.
Since I have the older style analog meters giving an older style look, I decided to keep the look going and ordered some chicken head knobs for the two variable outputs.
Anyway here is what I have so far.
Anyway, I won a case in a giveaway this morning and I am so freaking excited, I hardly win anything, but here lately I’ve almost won a new computer (with the help of Trevor). Trevor and I won quite a bit of hardware at Quakcon (read below) which provided my AMD quad core processor, I won some Kingston HyperX DDR3 Memory, I won the case today, I had an optical drive, hard drives, and am borrowing Trevors GTX 285, and I bought the motherboard and PSU, so I came out pretty good on it.
Bad thing is, yesterday I added a fan into the bottom of the case for some airflow for the video card, and I’ve got the ghost window, CCFL lights, LCD screen, and spent quite a bit of time yesterday doing some cable mangement……ONLY TO GET A NEW CASE….Oh well.
Anyway, back to topic…..I will just let the pictures do the talking….I’m sure you’ll figure out which ones are before and after. Keep in mind that I have to power everything, run 12v to the fans (cant run off motherboard) and have 5 HDD’s and 1 optical drive that need power/sata. Enough yapping…pics!!!
