Home made Megatouch

[Paladin]

I thought I'd post up a little project I did several months ago in case anyone was interested.

I bought a batch of 3 semi and non working Megatouch XL bartop games just to play around with.  I had never even played one before, I just thought the touchscreen technology would be fun to mess with.  I bought some assorted Megatouch parts off ebay, and managed to get all 3 of the games working.  After selling all 3 games I had a working boardset left over and enough knowledge of how they worked to make a cabinet for myself.

First thing I did was buy a 15" LCD touchscreen off ebay.  These were used in photo printing kiosks.


Next step was to use some cardboard to mock up how the cabinet and parts would go together.


The biggest pain in the neck was to route the backside of the frame for the monitor to sit in.  These monitors aren't one piece, the touchscreen glass is normally held in place above the actual monitor by the plastic frame.  I had to remove the frame, then figure out how to keep the touchscreen glass and monitor lined up straight and still work properly.


I mounted the Megatouch motherboard to the back of the monitor with computer motherboard standoffs.  You can see in this picture how I accomplished the rounded edges for the cabinet, and what a tight fit everything was.

[Paladin]

I made a bottom panel to house a couple cooling fans, power, touchscreen calibration and setup switches and speaker.



I designed some simple side panels, with a cutout at the bottom so I can reach under and access the power switch and setup buttons.  Here it is with the side panels attached.


I bought a 'Titanium Upgrade' hard drive off ebay, and managed to copy it to a compactflash card with IDE adapter.  This allowed me to eliminate a CD drive or hard drive.  It also uses less power, creates less heat and has no moving parts.  This picture shows how everything is mounted.  The bottom panel is held on with 4 wood screws, and can be removed for access.


Testing it out to make sure it works!

[Paladin]

Finally I used some leftover T molding, primer and blue paint I had on hand from when I built my last arcade cabinet.  It weighs less than a real Megatouch bartop with CRT tube and metal case, and I think it looks a lot nicer if I do say so myself!

[stormrider]

Let me be the first to say WOW Great Job..
I love to see these kinds of projects I have also wanted to tinker with the touch screen stuff
but with the wife's honey do list and other slot projects forget it.
Thanks for sharing and K+

[Forrhouse]

Excellent Job. very nice.   

[stayouttadabunker]

That is bloody great! Awesome!!!!!!
I love it people come up with their own designs and
make their own machines...fabulous!

[CaptainHappy]

That looks really Good!  K+ for taking the extra effort to share your details!

CaptainHappy
  ADMIN

[tjkeller]

Outstanding job Paladin! 
Thanks for sharing! 

[slotsteve]

Great job  look out merit <  megas have really dropped in price they are almost as much fun as have your own slots

[StatFreak]

You did a great job fitting all of that into a compact design that both looks good and is functional. K+ for sharing your project with us.

[knagl]

Wow, that's excellent!      Thank you for sharing your pictures!  K+ and a job well done -- I'm jealous, as I love those games.

Out of curiosity, how much would you say the project cost you (for the screen, the drive, etc.)?

[Paladin]

The touch screen was purchased off ebay for just under $100 shipped.
The hard drive was purchased off ebay for just under $40 shipped.
The AT power supply was purchased from a used PC store for about $3.
The Megatouch motherboard and I/O board were around $30.
The compactflash adapter and memory card were purchased from Newegg for around $30.

Left over parts from other cabinets and PC's were:
speaker, speaker grill mesh, fans, switches, T-molding, paint, most of the wood.

So it was about the price of buying a used Megatouch, but it's got a nicer and larger screen (they come with 13", the LCD is 15") weighs less and looks a lot better.  Besides that, the tinkering is 3/4 of the fun!

My next project is a touch screen Jukebox that also runs the Masque slot games.  It had a 17" CRT touch screen in it, but the monitor is pretty worn out.  Even after replacing around 100 capacitors, it's still just 'passable'.  I bought myself a used 19" LCD touch screen for my birthday, and it looks great!

[jdkmunch]

 

It looks really great!!

[dpalmi]

My next project is a touch screen Jukebox

Which software are you gonna use for the touch screen Jukebox?

Dan #2

[Paladin]

I've got Masque Slots 'Little Green Men' and 'Texas Tea' loaded right now, and I just bought the Williams double pack but haven't installed it yet.

[dpalmi]

lol...I was asking about the Jukebox software itself - the software you use to play music/mp3s...

Dan #2

[Paladin]

Ha, right after I posted that I thought to myself 'I don't think that's what he was asking'

The software I'm using is called Freebox/E-Touch.
The website is:
http://www.freeboxjukebox.com/

It's free to download and is fully functional for around 30 minutes of use, then quits.  It's $25 to register, which I plan on doing this week now that I have it set up and running right.  The hardest thing about setting it up is getting your MP3 tags in order.  I've never worried about my MP3 tags, so I had a lot of work to get things set up to show properly.  I still have some work to do, but it's over 90% there. 

The program I'm using to fix the tags is called MP3Tag:
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

The program I'm using to download album cover art is called Album Art Downloader.  It's available at several sites, I can't remember which one I got it from.

[dpalmi]

I want to do this same thing - make my own touchscreen MP3 jukebox.  On the side I am a wedding DJ, so I have a HUGE MP3 collection - would love to have a MP3 jukebox that people can use in my basement.  I also work in IT for my day job, so finding a computer I can dismantle and use is a piece of cake.  I just bought a ELO 15" USB Touchscreen from eBay minutes ago - $53 shipped - guy has more available too (see link below) - $40 BIN - I will let everyone know if it's any good once I get it.  Any tips for me in making this thing???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130331270950

Dan #2

[Paladin]

What would you like to know?  I'm still just getting started on it, but I'll answer any questions I can.

[rilaw]

I want to do this same thing - make my own touchscreen MP3 jukebox.  On the side I am a wedding DJ, so I have a HUGE MP3 collection - would love to have a MP3 jukebox that people can use in my basement.  I also work in IT for my day job, so finding a computer I can dismantle and use is a piece of cake.  I just bought a ELO 15" USB Touchscreen from eBay minutes ago - $53 shipped - guy has more available too (see link below) - $40 BIN - I will let everyone know if it's any good once I get it.  Any tips for me in making this thing???


Dan #2

I just bought one of these too and I'm curious, how do I connect the USB-B connector on the monitor to the serial connection on Megatouch?
Thanks..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130331270950

[a69mopar]

I just saw this thread and have to say, what a great job!

Thanks,
Wayne

[Thor777]

Has there been any more progression on these current touch screen projects,  All of the $40 ones on Ebay are gone but I have 2 on the way...  The ideas for these are non stop...  When I finally get them and decide what I want to do with them I promise to post details and pics of the progress. 

   I really like the jukebox idea, I have been busy researching TS software.  What I really would like to do is make some kind of desktop or "bar" style cabinet that has a onboard computer with software that could control a "main menu" through touch so as to select maybe jukebox, pictures (DVD Movies?), MAME games and or slot games.  In otherwords a complete touch screen entrainment system for the home.  Would make one hell of a Christmas present.

[jay]

I have a cocktail version of mame that I am in the process of dismanteling.
I like it but its foot print is too big for the home.
I was going to take a nice (existing) coffee table and route out a spot for a 19" flat panel and for a computer I am going to use a laptop with a broken screen.
I am now thinking of using a touch panels instead of a regular LCD.
This would allow the table to be used for other funcitons than just mame.

[RayV]

Nice job on the home made MegaTouch.
I made one myself using a PC with a touch screen overlay on a LCD monitor, its is a pretty big hit when we have parties.
I will try to post some pics.

Another good program for a touch screen jukebox is Album Player.
Really nice interface.

http://www.albumplayer.com/

[Sparky23]

Any way you can post some pics or just explain how you got the megatouch board to reconize the touchscreen you bought?  I have an old ruby megatouch that i'd like to convert to use the touchscreen that I bought off of ebay and before I start tearing it apart I'd like to make sure I can get the touch part working.