I'm getting some plastics lasercut to build the updated version of the Tron arcade mod using Jeremy's graciously provided EPS files from the pinhacks site. He put these files there as well as an exhaustive parts list for anyone wanting to make their own Tron arcade mod instead of buying a prebuilt one from him.

He made the files to miminize the amount of waste on each sheet of plastic, so the smallest order using his files would be enough parts to make 16 tron arcade cabinets. I plan on only building 1 (or 2 if I screw it up) and providing the rest to anyone else who wants to build one themselves. The cost would be around $15-$20 shipped for all the plastics parts of the cabinet. This would not include any of the wiring, electrical connectors, LED's, or OLED screen. It would just be the plastic cabinet parts.

I already asked Jeremy if he was ok with me using his files to get the plastics made and then providing the extras to anyone else and he's cool with it.

For the non DIY types, he is still planning on at least one more batch of fully assembled complete mods in June. So if you are not confident in your wiring harness building or OLED screen programming you might want to get on his mailing list to get one of his prebuilt arcade mods.

Please PM me if you are interested in a set of the plastic parts. First come first serve. I submitted the order yesterday and according to their FAQ it could take anywhere form 4 days to 4 weeks to get it delivered.

Thanks

Brian

Thanks to all those that responded. It looks like I have enough takers for the extra cabinets. Once they arrive I'll let everyone know how they look and fit and if there are any issues or not with the parts. Hopefully they won't take to long to get made. Thanks Brian

If somebody is familiar with adobe illustrator (or similar program) they could edit the files that Jeremy has created so that it would only make 1 or 2 cabinets per set then people could just order their own one at a time. There would be more wasted plastic per sheet but this may be ok since the cost of cutting it is more than the material itself.

For example the 15"x15" sheet of clear acrylic costs $4.44 but ponoko charges $28 more to cut all the pieces out of it (enough for 70 cabinets worth of the 3 clear pieces). So if the EPS file was edited to the minimum 7"x7" size and only 2 cabinets worth of parts were cut out of it it might only cost $5 to $10. If someone did this than anyone who just wanted to order a single set of cabinet plastics could just do it themselves to avoid the logistical hassles of a group buy.

Ordering enough for 16 or more cabinets at a time is still the absolute cheapest way though.

there are 4 different material you need so you need a separate sheet of material for each:
black delrin plastic - 2.3 mm thick - majority of cabinet pieces
clear acrylic plastic - 2.0 mm thick - screen cover, marquee, translight piece
blue flourescent - 3 mm thick - only used for joystick
purple acrylic plastic - 3 mm thick - only used for black light piece

There is also the base that the cabinet sits on, the exisitng files make one using black delrin, purple, and blue flourescent so you could add that peice to any of those sheets or not make it at all and use the existing base that comes from stern.

Since the sheet of flourescent blue is only used for the tiny joystick i though it would be could to make a platic sling shot protector on the same sheet. Since its flourescent it would glow along the edges once installed under the sling. You could make a blue one for the right side under the sam flynn side and a yellow or orange one under the clu sling on the left.

If anyone is unsure about programing the screen, it is very straightforward using the free software. (You just need the cable though). Although you might think you'd never use it again I've used mine a couple times already to tweak the code. You can do some custom stuff like put your initals on the high score table, add the name of your arcade on it, etc. Don't forgt that this is real video display so you could even play full video clips from the films if you wanted using the built in SD slot on the display.

If anyone was unsure about programming the display I will gladly program it for you for free if you just send me your display and include a postage paid package to send it back to you.

The display manufacturer has a free utility (graphics composer 3) to upload videos and still pics to something the display could use but I've never tried it. According to the display datasheet there is a sound output and they provide a schematic on how to hook up a speaker to it.

An even cooler feature of this display is a joystick input. Someone much smarter than me might be able to figure how to actually program the display to play the actual tron video game on the mini-cabinet using an external joystick (or tie it into the flipper buttons?). That would be the ultimate video mode.

From page 6 of the display manual:

Multiple buttons or a multi-switch Joystick can be
connected to the IO1 pin on the uOLED-128-
G1(GFX) module. Up to 5 buttons or a 5 position
multi-switch joystick connects to a junction of a
resistor ladder network that forms a voltage
divider. The A/D converter of the IO1 pin
internally reads the analogue value and decodes it
accordingly.

Full display manual can be found here:
http://pub.ucpros.com/download/uOLED-128-G1GFX-DS-rev3.pdf

I'm surpised no ones tried to mod more of these types of screens into other games. I've seen numerous TV mods that dsiplay stills but why not video? You could have a TV in simpsons playing itchy and scratchy clips or a a TV in monster bash playing trailers from all the classics universal horror movies. These displays are only $30 - $50.

The current code starts playing the video game attract mode screen at power up and just keeps looping it. I think playing videos is a whole different mode for the display. I wonder if there would be a way to have the display automatically toogle back and forth between the video mode and the drawing custom graphics mode? Or could you tie the input pins to an external button (or target on the playfield) to have it toggle between playing videos or running the attract mdoe code.

If you had video clips you'd be using the SD card slot on the back of the display so memory for these is not an issue.

The provided tron code for the attract mode is about 60K though? How does that fit is onboard mem is only 10K?

Stupid me, the 60k size is the human readable/editable ascii text file. When you dump it into the display it gets compiled and is quite a bit smaller.

The OLED screen in the new mod has 4 tabs around the screen that will fit into precut slots on the sides of the cabinet. The original LCD doesn't have these tabs. The LCD is alo a smidgen smaller (1.44" diagonal vs 1.5") but I don't thnk that size difference would be very noticeable once it was all assembled. I think you could attach the old LCD to the clear plastic pieces that sits infront of the display using some clear packaging tape on the sides. Or if you didn't want to retrofit it in you could probably sell your v1 mode to someone for more than a new OLED screen would cost.

There might be one other hiccup as well. The new screen uses a version of the attract mode code that is rotated 180 degrees. I think that was needed due to clearance around the connector pins behind it required the screen be physically rotated to fit in the cabinet. If you used your old screen you might need to reprogram it with the rotated code to fit as well.

Since there still seems to be interest in these I ordered another batch of cabinet parts. This new cabinet is much nicer looking and sturdier than the stern cabinet. If you are the DIY type and money conscious this is a great option. Cost is $30 shipped for a set of all the cabinet plastic pieces, brackets, screws and the decals. You will need to supply the electronic parts (screen, LED's, wiring, wiring connectors). For those who are unsure about screen programming, I can supply pre-programmed screens for an extra cost if need be.

If you have the version 1 mod (with the LCD screen) Eli has confirmed that the LCD can fit into the new cabinet with the simple addition of a plastic shim. He also confirmed it fits n the right screen orientation so screen re-programming is not required. So converting from a version 1 mod to version 2 just is pretty simple, you can re-use the screen, flasher and screen wiring. The only additional piece you'd need to supply would be the interior LED's which are a nice enhancement but not mandatory.

For those that don't want to bother with the LCD/OLED screen at all, just upgrading the cabinet alone with a sticker for the screen display (would be backlit by the flasher) is a huge improvment over the exisiting stern cabinet.

If interested just pm me.