Rally-X

This was a free cab that I got from a local guy after it had been gutted. The paint was peeling badly, worse than the pictures show, but the cabinet was solid and the graphics acceptable. I didn't feel that it was worth a restoration effort so I started the conversion to Mame. I won't convert a cabinet that is worth restoration. This cab was built on the cheap. Almost all of the parts were either free or stuff I had laying around.

Picture of the way I got it-

It came with the power supply and wiring harnesses. I stripped that stuff out, sanded the paint, cleaned the coin door and painted the cab with some leftover paint I had. I also printed a Marquee and cut some plexi to hold the Marquee in place. I was lucky that the marquee holder, the glass and coin door were all there.

There was a lot of talk on the message boards at BYOAC (Build Your Own Arcade Controls) http://arcadecontrols.com about hacking joypads. That site is the definitive resource on the internet for building arcade controls. Since this was only going to be a one player panel and I had already done 2 Ipacs I thought I'd give this a try. The sidewinder is supposed to be easy to hack so I ordered a few. I fried the first PCB I tried to solder on so I had my brother do the soldering on the secound one. I had ordered 3 just in case. With shipping they were $5 a peice. In theory much cheaper than a $50 Ipac from Ultimarc, http://www.ultimarc.com, interface. The Ipac is a far better and easier to use interface but the sidewinder is cheap. If you can't afford the Ipac this is a viable alternative if you can solder and its much better tha a keyboard hack. I wrecked the first PCB while soldering it. I had my brother solder the secound PCB. Its not pretty but its working. I don't think it was worth the hassle that was involved plus you lose a lot of functionality. I could have almost bought a Ipac for what it ended up costing me. True the soldering iron can be used for other projects but those other projects aren't likely to be joypad or keyboard hacks.

$10 - 2 sidewinders $5 each with shipping (not counting the extra one)
$15 - Soldering Iron
$2  - Extra tip
$3  - Solder
$2  - Flux
Total- $32

It took me about 2 hours plus 2 trips to the store (I didn't get flux at first) and 45 minutes at my brothers house. I also burned 2 of my fingers. I think I'll buy an Ipac or key whiz for the next one.

I built the control panel with 3/8's plywood, covered it with vinyl and overlayed the top with 1/8 plexi. I used a t-stick from Ultimarc, http://www.ultimarc.com, its a joystick that switches from 4/8 way via a toggle switch on the side. I can reach the toggle from the coin door. I really like the action of this joystick, especially in 4 way mode.

The Cabinet is turned on and off via a power strip with a remote button mounted on top of the cab. The black button next to it is to shut the PC down. Once the PC is shut down you can turn off the power strip. When you turn on the power strip the PC automatically boots up. I'd like to hack this power strip to use a relay from the PC and I will be able to power up and down with the single arcade button.

This is the completed cab-

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