Hey everyone, it's Colin, how's it goin'?
Arcades have largely disappeared, but the games still have a strong retro appeal.
But not everyone has the space for a full arcade cabinet,
so this time, let's build one small enough to fit on a tabletop.
[♪ Music - Intro ♪]
Retro Built Games sent me out the PortaPi arcade kit to put together and review.
It features a 10 inch LCD screen,
real arcade buttons and joystick, and is all driven by a Raspberry Pi single board computer.
This video isn't meant to be a detailed assembly guide, but rather an overview of the process.
The kit includes everything but the Raspberry Pi.
Mine came with the buttons and joystick, cables and switches, a bag of nuts and bolts,
audio amplifier, power supply, and pair of speakers, the LCD, and finally, a set of laser-cut wood panels.
I started by laying out all the parts I'd need for the housing.
I used carpenter's glue to put together the lower part of the screen frame,
then clamped it while it dried.
Then I glued on the screen bezel, keeping in mind that it sits at an angle.
It then got glued to one of the side panels.
I then pulled out the control panel for the screen to check how it mounts in the button board under the marquee,
then I glued the board to the top of the bezel.
Next to get added was the other side panel,
followed by the bottom.
Some of these pieces use box joints to give 'em extra strength.
The front panel under the controls went on next,
and finally, the frame for the marquee.
I applied another bead of glue on the inside joints,
then clamped the cabinet together and left it for a few hours to dry.
I opted to paint my cabinet, though this is an optional step.
I put the top and back panels on, but I didn't glue 'em.
I just wanted to make sure that their edges got painted too.
I quickly went over the cabinet with a 180 grit sanding sponge,
just to ease the edges and corners a little.
I thought some stripes would add a bit of visual interest, so I used some blue painter's tape and paper to mask 'em off.
I decided to go with spray paint, as it's a bit less messy to work with
and gives a smoother finish.
I painted two of the stripes, giving each a couple of coats and a few hours to dry.
Then I peeled off the rest of the tape.
The edges of the stripes aren't particularly clean, because paint tends to soak under the sides of the tape.
I applied a layer of tape on top of the stripes I had painted,
then shot another coat of paint on top of the tape.
You'll see why in a minute.
The middle stripe got painted next, and once that dried, I masked it off too,
and trimmed off any extraneous bits of tape.
I propped up a couple of other panels so their edges would get covered evenly,
then everything got three coats of matte black paint.
Once the paint cured, I peeled off the tape.
Notice how much cleaner the lines look?
Spraying that extra coat of paint on top of the tape served to seal the edges.
It's not *quite* perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the results.
Okay, time to add some electronics to this thing.
I installed the internal screen brackets,
then mounted the display driver board to its panel.
I added some foam tape to the rear supports, so the LCD wouldn't shift in its opening.
I dropped in the screen, then added the rear supports.
I carefully connected the display cable,
then installed the driver board panel and tightened down the bolts.
Next was the LCD control panel.
I bolted it to the inner button board,
then dropped the board into the cabinet.
I installed the front trim panel,
then bolted it all together.
There are two push buttons that got installed next,
though I held off on wiring these up until later.
Then, I connected the LCD controls to the driver board.
Up next was sound.
The pieces for the speaker brackets got stacked,
then bolted to the sides of the cabinet.
I unboxed the 3 inch full range drivers,
and mounted them to their panel.
I added four nylon washers to act as spacers, then bolted on the amplifier.
A jumper needed to be removed from the amp to enable the external volume buttons,
then I started wiring up the speakers to the amp.
I soldered the wires to the speaker terminals, running 'em under the amp board to keep 'em out of the way.
I installed the side button housings in the cabinet,
then turned my attention to the control panel.
I glued the two layers of the panel together,
making sure that the pre-cut holes for the buttons were perfectly lined up.
I clamped it, and left it to dry.
The joystick got installed from the bottom using some through bolts.
I temporarily installed the knob and marked which switch got activated when you moved it.
A pack of multi-colored jumper leads is included with the kit,
so I grabbed a section of five.
The plastic part needed to come off of one end of each wire,
and I did this by prying up the little tab with a screwdriver.
Then I crimped on a connector to each of the wires.
The green wire was a little different though, since it's for ground.
I soldered it to another length of wire, then crimped on a connector.
I temporarily plugged the wires into the switches at this point.
The ground connections will all be daisy chained,
so I went around the joystick and added a section of wire and another connector for each switch.
I disconnected the wires to get 'em out of the way, then got to installing the button housings.
The plastic nut holds 'em in place, but I left them a little loose for now.
The switches went in next. They hinge on a peg, then snap into place.
I grabbed another bundle of four wires, and added connectors to 'em like with the joystick,
then I continued with the ground wire daisy chain for these buttons too.
This next part is for an optional add-on.
I removed the wiring and buttons,
then peeled the protective paper from this acrylic control panel cover.
Retro Built sent along some SEGA-themed art to go underneath,
and the buttons went back in to hold it all in place.
Then, I could solder the wires to this smaller button.
I built another wiring harness the same way for the buttons on the side and top of the cabinet,
and then one more for the volume controls.
I snapped the switches into place. These black buttons are Start and Select,
and the white buttons are volume up and down.
I connected the harness after that and ran the wires up to the top buttons.
These have smaller connectors, so I opted to solder the wires this time.
After that, I hooked up the volume button wiring.
Time to get the control panel finished up.
I slid the spacer and cover onto the joystick knob,
then dropped it into the housing and flipped the whole thing over.
Then I added the square actuator and pressed down against the internal spring,
so I could snap on the retaining clip with a pair of pliers.
The control panel was now ready to go, so I set it in the cabinet.
It's friction-fit and won't come out during use.
Now, for the brains of the operation.
In my case, a Raspberry Pi 3.
It includes general purpose IO pins, and its these that the controls connect to.
I set the Pi inside the cabinet, then plugged in all the wiring into the appropriate pins.
Then I mounted the Pi to the cabinet by adding the spacer board and plastic standoffs,
then bolted it down.
Next, it was time to deal with power.
Everything in the PortaPi gets driven by one power supply
and the kit includes a splitter cable for the display and audio amp.
I connected the short HDMI cable between the video driver and the Pi,
then plugged in one lead from that splitter.
The speaker panel was slid in next, and gets held in place by those brackets installed earlier.
I could then plug the other power lead into the amp, along with the audio cable and volume button wiring.
Finally, the other end of the audio cable was plugged into the Pi.
Illuminating the marquee is another optional step, but I figured it would be worth it.
I used these 5 volt white LED modules to match the PortaPi's power supply.
I stuck 'em down with double-sided tape,
then wired 'em all up in parallel,
and bolted it to the speaker panel using some spacers.
At this point, I only had a little bit of wiring left to do.
I cut a MicroUSB cable in half, then stripped off the insulation.
Only the red and black power wires are needed, so I trimmed off the white and green ones.
I grabbed the back cabinet panel and installed the DC input jack into one of the holes.
A power cable is included with the kit, and it's what connects to that Y-splitter from earlier.
I soldered it and the USB cable to the input jack, then the wiring was complete.
Time for the final assembly.
I stuck a bolt through the speaker panel and screwed in a long standoff,
then repeated it on the other side.
I connected the power cables to the splitter and Raspberry Pi,
then I could put the back panel on, and thread bolts into those standoffs to keep it in place.
I bolted the marquee in next,
then snapped on the top panel.
It's got a snug fit, so glue isn't really necessary.
I downloaded a copy of RetroPie from Retro Built Games's website.
They added some software that allows the buttons and controls to work with the Pi's GPIO pins.
I imaged it onto a MicroSD card, then dropped it into the Pi through the cutout in the bottom of the cabinet.
All that was left was to plug in the power.
And... that's it!
All the controls worked right away and I was able to load some games into RetroPie and get playing.
Assembly for most people should be pretty quick.
If you give the cabinet a basic coat of paint or stain, the whole thing could probably get knocked out in a weekend.
Retro Built Games offers prebuilt cabinets too, but I'll leave my thoughts on the assembly experience
and the PortaPi in general, for a separate review video.
Be sure to watch it! I'll include a link down in the description.
But I will say this:
Going from a pile of parts to a fully-working mini arcade is pretty satisfying.
So if you're looking a retro gaming experience
with a slick interface and an extra hit of nostalgia,
the PortaPi is definitely worth checking out.
Big shout out and thanks go to Retro Built Games for sending along a PortaPi kit for me to build and review.
I'll include links to it down in the description if you're interested.