[COCKTAIL] Living Room

[jman]

(inside)

(stainless steel)

SPECIFICATIONS:

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 3200+

RAM

GeIL 512MB DDR PC3200

HDD

Seagate 80Gb, 8Mb cache, NCQ, SATA

Motherboard

ASUS A8N-VM CSM

- GeForce 6150 onboard

- Dual VGA out (DVI-D & RGB)

- HD audio onboard

Monitors

2 x Samsung 172X - 8ms (1280x1024)

Network

Netgear WPN111 Wireless USB Adapter

802.11G (108Mbps MIMO Tech)

Sound

Sony Xplod amp - 50W RMS per channel

4 x 4" Sony Xplod 30W RMS speakers

Volume - 100k Log dual gang pot

Cooling

2 x Antec 120mm Red Fans

Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Heatsink

Anodised aluminium air vents

Input

16 x 30mm Pushbutons

Sanwa Joysticks

Electronic coin mechanism

Ultimart I-PAC 2

Stand

1.6mm 304 grade stainless steel

50mm square tubing

Brushed finish

Top

19mm solid pine - dark oak finish

16mm MDF base

Glass

6mm toughened safety glass

[jman]

Thanks,

It took me about 2 months of spare time.

I got together all the PC hardware, then did up some plans - aiming for minimal size, but still around standard cocktail table hieght:

I made the cab, then did CAD drawings for the frame, and sent the top off to have the glass cut.

Doing it in stages took a long time, but everything fits nicely.

With 2 monitors, 8kg steel and about 3kg glass it's not going to move if you bump it, but I'm sure it's lighter than a standard cocktail table (or standup).

No female influence - just after something practical and classy...

[jman]

Me being the lazy person I am, got sick of emptying the coin box every time i needed more credits, so I built a RFID scanner kit, and mounted it under the table top so I just have to pass an RFID tag on my keyring past it for credits.

I marked where the scanner is by placing another surface protector between the glass and the table top.

It's not needed, but I hooked the output up to a relay that's connected to my IPAC. The "clunk" of the relay sounds a little like dropping a coin in...

The only problem is that the output is designed to activate a doorstrike, and stays on for 5 seconds. Some games do not accept it as a coin (software anti-stringing or something...)

The processing of the 40-bit RFID tags is done by an 8bit 10mhz Atmel AVR microcontroller (itself worth $2), which can be reprogrammed with a serial programmer (about $50). I've downloaded the code used (as it was kindly provided by the makers of the kit) and recompiled it with a 100ms delay - which is how long the electronic coin slot closes it's output for. Now I just need to get the programmer and reprogram the AVR...

Tags come in credit card size, keyfob style, and mini dot size.

Here's a close up of the mini dot one:

I think I'll get an ash tray, and hide one under a felt lining underneath it...