| Keg + MAME: An arcade machine that dispenses beer. |
| MAME / Arcade - Keg + MAME | |
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This project started as an idea I got back in college, to combine two of the things I love: beer and video games. It features a keggerator housed inside a steel framed arcade machine. The beer line is actively cooled and plumbed to a beer faucet on the side of the machine, thus allowing players to grab a frosty pint while they play their favorite arcade games.
   This is a "grown up's" arcade machine. The connotation goes further than beer, though. This machine is built for two adults to comfortably play a game, side-by-side, looking straight ahead at eye level. Materials were chosen for aesthetics over sheer durability, and the beer faucet is something that all beer enthusiasts can appreciate. Buttons and joysticks from Ultimarc and Happ controls are interfaced with a PC, running Ubuntu Linux, in an Antec Fusion HTPC case. The computer is connected to a massive 26" HD monitor and an audio system. A small VFD on the front of the computer displays the beers on tap and storage temperature. The coin door on the front of the machine won't take coins, but the "reject" mechanism acts as a coin-in button when playing arcade games. Trim panels are made from wood, metal and fiberglass, and the whole thing is wrapped in red and black vinyl.
When not in use as a game console, the computer is useful and conveniently located in the kitchen. It can stream music and video via WiFi, browse the internet, burn DVDs, etc. So in addition to providing refrigerated adult beverages and providing endless hours of gaming fun, it also is a convenient place to look up a homebrew recipe or check e-mail.
More pictures and a more in-depth look at the build up... I kicked it off by purchasing a relatively inexpensive keggerator from the local Fry's. After sufficiently 'breaking it in' and weathering hurricane Ike, I began design and construction of what would be a large, fairly awesome project.I started by putting the dimensions of the keg fridge into Google Sketchup. For the unaware, Sketchup is a 3D design tool that's very easy to use, with a watered down -but free- version available from Google. I then sketched-up the shape of a machine, based loosely on items that I wanted to build it around, like the Antec Fusion media PC case, which had been given to be by a friend and lay useless around the lab.
 The original 3D prototype.
 A 3D model of the frame, used for construction. With the help of my Dad, we built the frame from the drawings out of tube steel.
 Grinding away on the steel frame.  A 3D model of the control tray, sent to Uber-Stealth  The parts returned from UberStealth, along with the HTPC and fridge for a test fit. I used the same process to make trim panels. A helpful friend printed out the CAD drawings of the panels on a plotter. I cut them out and used them as templates to fit and build the trim pieces.
 Test fitting the trim panel template, the control tray is full of loose parts.
I taped the template to 1/4" MDF and cut them out with a jigsaw.  Cutting trim panels from the template.  Fitting the panels to the machine. They're attached with self-tapping metal screws. After most of the trim panels were fabricated, it was time to mount up the beer delivery system. It was as simple as drilling a hole in the side of the machine and attaching a shank.  The beer tap installed, fridge in place. After some correspondence with the beer dispensation experts on the Micromatic forum, it was obvious that the line leading from the fridge to the beer faucet would have to be cooled, not just insulated. Commercial applications with long runs from the keg are often cooled using a recirculating glycol cooling system. Tubes containing coolant are run along side the beer lines, keeping everything down near serving temperature. We adapted a cheap eBay purchased computer water cooling system to achieve this. Edit 5/5/2010: The cooling system was scrapped. It created too high of a heat load for the small fridge to handle. Additionally, the plastic line was not effective - I would use copper or another good thermal conductor. The lines are just insulated now, so a portion of the beer that's dispensed comes out warm if it has been sitting for awhile.  Coolant lines run alongside the beer line to keep beer in the hose nice and chilled.  The first beer poured from the machine, fitting that it be the first glass of our own homebrew ever poured! At this point I started upholstering the panels. I started with the control drawer, then wired it up to the Ultimarc Ipac interface. The panels are upholstered with outdoor type vinyl. A heat gun helped get it to stretch over the curves and edges.  The control surface, upholstered with red vinyl, buttons and joysticks installed.  Buttons and joysticks wired to an Ultimarc Ipac interface I upholstered the side panels with black vinyl, and replaced the self tapping hex head screws with nicer looking stainless Phillips screws.  Upholstering the side panels.  The monitor mounted in the unit.  Unpacking a large .rar file in Ubuntu Linux
After finding the ROM files for Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition (which I legally own) I fired up the emulator to test it out. Just think... if I owned any number of games, I could play the ROMs from this machine!   Success! To "insert coins" on a MAME machine, you have to either use the computer keyboard or wire a little button to the coin-in connection on the interface. On the last MAME box, there were two little red buttons. In this machine, I connected the interface to two microswitches, attached with superglued to the back of the coin reject mechanism built in to the coin door I got from Happ
 Pushing the coin reject mechanism puts a coin in the emulator!  Wires run back to the keyboard interface to make the switches functional. I broke down and upgraded to TWO beer faucets. The kegerator can accommodate three 5 gallon kegs, after all. The front trim piece was originally supposed to be a flat shape, but after firing up the machine and using it I realized that the monitor would have to be tilted down toward the player. This put the screen off of the 15 degree plane that everything was built on, so I decided to do fabricate a nice molded fiberglass piece. I started the process by building the basic frame and shape out of cardboard and hot glue. Edit 5/5/2010 - this piece was scrapped after a long and laborious process of fiberglassing, sanding and upholstering. New trim panels are in the works.  Monitor bezel and computer trim piece fleshed from scrap cardboard and hot glue.  Trim piece ready for the next step. My workbench here is an old Pac-man cocktail machine. It was all but destroyed when I got it, we examined it for possible restoration but it was too far gone. I immersed strips of woven fiberglass cloth in resin and covered the cardboard frame with them. After curing, it was nice and rigid, if a little ugly. I used a file to take off major burs and deformities for the next step.  The cardboard frame, now reinforced with fiberglass. After curing it, I stretched a piece of spandex over the shape. This was saturated with fiberglass resin, and gave the trim piece a nice smooth shape. I learned this technique making molded kick panels for a car audio setup.  Spandex cloth, stretched over the fiberglass/cardboard frame and partially soaked with fiberglass resin. After hardening, I cleaned it up a bit and test fit it back on the machine.  Test fit of the fiberglassed spandex trim piece. After making sure everything would fit, I began to use Bondo body filler to make the shape harder and smoother. This was by far the most tedious part of the project, repeating a process: mix small amount of body filler, apply and smooth, wait for it to harden, sand smooth, repeat. Update 5/5/2010 - Unfortunately the fiberglass trim piece never did fit correctly, and was scrapped. The move took its toll on the various parts as well, marring the vinyl. Don't fret though! The entire cabinet is getting a facelift. The marquee will be removed entirely, and a new front trim piece with simpler geometry will be created. Additionally, the control surface will be replaced with a new configuration that will feature buttons and joysticks for 4 players, a track ball, and an integrated keyboard.
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