Small CRT MAME Cabinets

Overview

A chance haul of brand new free 15" CCTV CRT monitors (x5) has sparked my desire to design and build a standardised small MAME cabinet to fit them and to make the design available to anyone who wants to take part.

CRT

• The heart of the project
  • the most expensive single item
  • the heaviest and bulkiest item
  • the position of the monitor high up in a floor-standing cabinet will require a very stable cabinet design (not on wheels unless really well thought out!)
• Raspberry Pi RCA output from 3.5mm jack: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jack-to-3-RCA-Adapter-Cable-Audio-Video-AV-3-5mm-Jack-TV-Cable-Cord-Wire-Adapter/111852720137
  • 3.5mm jack Pi pinout: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=577977#p577977
  • http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/07/raspberry-pi-model-b-3-5mm-audiovideo-jack/
  • BNC connector on monitor video input A
  • My adapter is Video (on Red), Ground, Right, Left going toward tip of the TRRS
  • Had some trouble on first try - probably due to config.txt - so since using NOOBS press shift, 2, 3 repeatedly during boot and flip between composite modes
  • http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/tags/config.txt/info
  • set #hdmi_force_hotplug=1 and hdmi_ignore_hotplug=1 and sdtv_mode=0 (for normal NTSC) and all fine

• 

  Using NOOBS shift,2,3 to flip modes at boot

• 

  Now boots to NTSC composite output

• Audio also! Test speakers on monitor.
  • # Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835) dtparam=audio=on
  • using aplay to send wavs from Scratch (find in /usr/share/) from the console - sounds fine!

Cabinet

• hefty chipboard bases and 2x4's as per the big cabinet
• laser etched outlines where possible
• laminated panels made to fit quality T-molding

Major purchase BOM

• T-Molding: http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/categories/Arcade-Parts/T-Molding/
  • the dimensions of the T-Molding would dictate the lamination of the side panels
• Zippyy joysticks, buttons, encoders, etc.