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PRIMAL RAGE... (er I mean primal rage) build

HornheaDD

HornheaDD

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Ive been a big fan of the non-fan-favorite Primal Rage since I first saw it in arcades as a highschooler. I know it doesn't have a huge fanbase, but its fans are out there.

Ive got a PR board that Ive been wanting to put in a cab but I don't want to put it in my Neo25 because the button placement (even with JNX's Rage adapter) just doesn't feel right on a Neo cab. I have a Chewlix, but the JAMMA edge on it is kinda finicky so I forwent it and just put a PC with some Brook boards in there to run Windows games as well as Batocera.

But I still have the board, and its sitting collecting dust. I eventually plan to put an acrylic cover on it, but haven't as of yet. I had been on the search for a PR dedicated cab, but I'm a little short on space in my home, plus a PR cab that was on the FB market place came and went (understandably) without my offer being accepted. Either way, as I said I'm short on space, and I don't want to deal with the weight of a 25" CRT. So I decided to build a scaled down cabinet for it. I have not built it just yet, I am in the planning stage for it.

What I decided was to build the cab, but in a smaller size. I'm working with someone who is going to draft up a DXF file for me so I can take it to a local CNC shop and have the parts cut out. I'm shrinking the cab to where it will fit a 4x3 20" LCD (CRT purists look away). Eventually I'll get with someone at GameonGrafix to essentially shrink down the official artwork for it, and apply it to the smaller cab. I'm not going for an Arcade1Up size though. I thought about getting a beat up A1Up, gutting it, and placing an entire JAMMA set up in there for the board, but I figured why not just build a 'real' one - just smaller.

I have no pics at the moment because I don't have any thing built, or cut out yet. So I guess this is a project announcement? Progress will be slow, as I don't have a ton of time with work and home life, but I'll post updates/pictures/progress when I can.
 
ekorz said:
Good luck! No matter how small you’re making the cab it still has to be large enough to fit the dang pcb itself! ;)
Click to expand...
lol believe me that is the first thing I thought of. I sent the measurements of the PCB to the guy helping me out to make sure it fit too :D
 
The board I have right now is just using the sound from the JAMMA edge. The previous board I had was like this too (and I didnt have the original cab then either), so it didn't have the extra booming sound. Plus it'll just be for my own home so it wont need to compete with 100 other cabinets at full volume.

I tested it on my Neo25 using a RAGE adapter from JNX and sound only came from one speaker (though both are working in NeoGeo mode) so its safe to say its in mono mode. Haven't checked the test menu to see if its changeable.

If anyone here has a PR cabinet, I'd like to see how the cab opens up from the front on the control panel. I know there is a lock up front, but Im not sure if it slides out like a Dynamo style cab, or if its a flip down like a Neo Geo Big Red cab. The guy that is getting the plans/blueprints ready for me looks like he's just getting the measurements from a model made in Sketchup by someone that is to the right measurements. Only problem is that person didn't do any of the innards. Just the 'box'.

So I'll have to figure out the supports, monitor mounts, etc.
 
Ah ok, so that does actually answer a question I had on it. Turns out the CP is metal like the NeoGeo cabs are. Thanks for the link to the vid!

I obviously won't be able to get a 1:1 repro for it from someone like Alberto, unless I find the absolute *exact measurement for it. It might just be easier making it outta wood. I'm thinking the cab is gonna look a little different, but the guy I'm talking to has gotten the plans to where the cab is basically about 4" smaller in each dimension, with the control panel being about 2" lower than a normal cab.

Im not a woodworker, so I'll have to see how I can make this happen. The board will likely not be right behind the CP. Since it's gonna be a smaller cab physically, I'll probably need to mount the board vertically inside somewhere. There should be plenty of room in there somewhere since it's not going to have a CRT in there.

I know the cab stands about 5'11", and it would probably be easier to get a full cab for it but since I cant find one anywhere, building would be the next best thing.

I don't exactly plan on getting coin mechs for it, but I'll need to try to source a used double door for it or something to at least have the appearance of one. Maybe if I can figure out how the sound connects to the bass box and all I can get some simple set up for that. But I'm not too concerned with that at this point.
 
Tiny update, still waiting on the engineer guy to pass over the blueprints to take to a CNC but in the mean time, Im in talks with a facebook soccer mom who is selling her kids Marvel Super Heroes arcade1up cabinet for $50. Ive got a spare 20" monitor for now so I think in the interim I'm going to put it into that A1U, upgrade the monitor to the 20" one I have (as planned) and then order some graphics online that will fit the A1Up shell.

Then down the road I'll build the PR cab.
 
Found a $50 home for the board for now.

galaga50.jpg


It was on craigslist as non-working for a few days, and made no mention of the riser (but it was included). When I got there it turned right on, but the player 1 or 2 buttons didn't work.

I let it slip that I fiddle with arcade cabs in general (as a hobby) said that it was probably just an easy fix like swapping out a button, etc. Id already paid him and was already loaded up but I could tell his from his dropping facial expression that it hadn't dawned on him that it might be a super easy fix and he sold it too cheap. Sorry not sorry bro.

Ah well. Galaga/Galaxian were before my arcade days (90s fighters are my era) so I don't really care about the games. I dont mind Galaga/xian but I wouldn't really spend more than a few minutes on each game, its just not my thing.

As stated in the previous post, the plan is to gut the cab, slap a 20" monitor in there and convert it to a real Primal Rage JAMMA arcade cab, much like Chris from KillerArcadeGames did for his MK4.

The Primal Rage PCB I have is just sitting in my closet waiting for the loves, and it needs a home. I don't have the room for a 3rd full size cab so into the little low quality A1U shell it goes. My plan is to get a full PR graphics kit from GameonGrafix and make it a PR cab, and when I eventually hear from the engineer dude about the scaled down "real" Primal Rage blueprints, I'll put it in there and toss this on craigslist for change.
 
I think that look on his face was actually guilt, for taking money from you for that POS! :P

Dude, will the PR PCB even fit in that thing? I guess you got the riser...

Your plan sounds like it's going to waste too much money and you should just buy a HAS (PM I have an extra) and hook up your PR to a TV to play!
 
Ah its all in the name of fun. Im not gonna be getting rid of the board anytime soon (made that mistake in the past, not again) so its no big deal.

As far as fit is concerned, yes the board will fit in there. It is just a teence too big to fit flat on the floor of the little cab, but I don't think I'd want to mount it that way anyway since it will need to be a place to put the PSU and whatnot. It fits just right mounted veritcally against one of the sides with room for the JAMMA harness and quite possibly the adapter board that the things came with.

To be clear, my PR board is a bare PCB. Whoever owned it before me stripped it of the RageCage it came with. So the board still has a pretty big footprint, but it's not as large as it would be with the metal housing.
 
Yes of course, I'm just picking on you in the name of fun. Those A1Up are crap, but hey serve a purpose!

I still think you get grab a HAS and use a TV for PR fun! That tiny cab will make it hard for two players to play.

Anyway you know I have the cab, so as your plans move forward, let me know if you need any help.
 
I appreciate that greatly!

As far as using a supergun it was an idea, but I really want the "arcade feel" for it so having it in a cab is ideal. I would put it in my Chewlix but after lots of back and forth I just abandoned the JAMMA side of the Chew and it has a PC in there (I can run Primal Rage II on MAME lol). Ive got a Killer Instinct A1U I got (yeah I caved on that one) and a friend of mine and I can still play it pretty comfortably and I'm not a skinny dude by any stretch.

I agree they are indeed crap, but serve a 'band-aid' type purpose.
 
Still havent started the build but Ive been looking at art sets to use on the cab and Ive encountered some minor artwork issues. It seems one place has a pretty good set (GameonGrafix) but then it dawned on me that the side art is not actually PR accurate. Its a cool image with Blizzard on it, but thats not what the actual arcade looked like.

1676922316502.png


See, looks cool but not accurate.

I found another place that has the right stuff but the front 'kick plate' art is sort of generic, and does not have the whole lava print over it so even IT seems a bit off.

1f4ae4_86c70519ff8b474db8df744bfd634304~mv2.webp


I wish I knew graphic design and had access to a good decal printer.

I almost feel like Im gonna have to mix and match from different sites and I don't really want to do that.
 
I do, sucka! :D

I mean I know this is an A1U cabinet and not an official one, but I think itll look better to match as close to the original cab style as possible. I got a reply from another graphics site who's been updating as we go and so far it looks pretty good. I honestly think this looks better than the Blizzard sideart:

-prod@inbound-mail-attachments.iam.gserviceaccount.png
 
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