I'd like to share my experience with Aimtrak and G/CON2, in case somebody is interested in adding a gun of this kind to his setup.
Recently I decided to spend a little time on my arcade controls and I took a look around to see what's the state of the art in lightguns.
I must use the gun on an LCD screen, so after reading a few reviews I went for the Aimtrak system by Ultimarc (I already have two Ultrastik 360 + a Spintrak).
Unfortunately, they seem to have ceased marketing ready-made guns and only sell OEM-kits, so first of all I looked for a Namco G/CON 2. In the past, I had a Playstation 1 with a Namco G/CON 1, which I gave away a few years ago; I thought that the G/CON 2 was a logical choice, since it sported a few more buttons and I was sure it would have been sturdy and durable like the first-gen controller. I searched on e-bay and found a used one in England for 18 Euro (not cheap, but it was the best offer, and the dark blue colour was what I wanted); while it was on its way, even though I didn't know the exact size of the gun, I decided to take the risk and order the OEM kit, the recoil kit and the box for the IR bar from Ultimarc.
When I received the gun, at first I was a little disappointed; it's a lot smaller in size than the G/CON 1, at least from what I can remember; anyway, it seems very solid. Besides the trigger, you have a button on the bottom, big buttons on both sides, two smaller buttons on the left side and a diamond pad where there should be the hammer.
At the beginning I thought that fitting the recoil solenoid would have been nearly impossible, but after a careful inspection I found that it was possible to mount it backwards (compared to the pictures on Ultimarc website), if I slightly modified the gun shell by cutting part of the old board, part of a black plastic bridge and level down a few extrusions on the bottom of the shell. Actually, after these modifications the solenoid fits just right and does not move at all; I used hot glue only to keep in place the recoil daughterboard - everything else was constrained in place by modifying the shell (solenoid) or using other existing parts in the gun (spyglass).
In the end, I used these tools:
- a Dremel cordless drill, to cut and level down plastic
- a solder
- tester
- hot glue gun.
Parts used:
- original Namco G/CON 2
- Ultimarc Aimtrak OEM Kit (includes USB cable)
- Ultimarc box for IR leds
- Ultimarc Recoil Kit
- an old power supply from a 14-year notebook, rated at 19 Volt (actually 20.3 V, as I measured)
- power cable and a female plug (I did not want to modify directly the power supply).
I had to keep most of the original boards, because buttons are an integral part of them; I only cut out a small part (lower right angle) of the main board, to accomodate the solenoid. Below you will find a few pictures: the first is the original, unmodified G/CON 2; the second is the finished work, with the Aimtrak and the recoil fitted; look at them for reference, if the following description is not clear.
It was easy enough to find the ground and the contacts for all the buttons, by following the traces on the existing boards.
You can connect 7 buttons to the Aimtrak mainboard; this is my configuration:
TRIGGER -> TRIGGER
AUX -> BIG SIDE BUTTONS
P1 -> BOTTOM BUTTON
P2 -> DIAMOND PAD UP
P3 -> DIAMOND PAD RIGHT
P4 -> DIAMOND PAD DOWN
P5 -> DIAMOND PAD LEFT
I sacrificed the two small buttons on the G/CON 2; I replaced them with a piece of white plastic shaped with the Dremel; it was necessary anyway, because I had to cut part of the board to make room for the solenoid and it was impossible to keep them.
I "paired" the big side buttons, so that they act as a single button; I simply made a short between two pins on the left side of the original board, where is connected the ribbon coming from the right big button (on the black bridge). Ground is common to all the buttons - I soldered it in two spots: the ground on the big right button and the ground on the diamond pad board. This board has surface-mount resistors before the (more accessible) output contacts, which are connected to the main board with a ribbon cable; to avoid problems, I completely removed the ribbon and soldered the cables directly on the input of the resistors (the side that gets the signal from the pad, where there is no resistance in the signal path). One of these resistors got disconnected from the board during the operation, so I had to solder the cable directly on a test point, which you will find under the grey silicone pad; if the cable is thin enough and you keep the soldering point very flat you will not have problems.
I removed the "spyglass" and the transparent lens used for focusing; I opened it (don't care about the plastic hinges: break them, because you will not need them), then modified it with the Dremel so that the Aimtrak board would fit inside and come out of it by 5 mm (more or less); I cut the spyglass where it gets narrower and opened a little the barrel on that side, to make room for the USB plug and the other wires coming from the Aimtrak. When the black barrel is closed, it still fits in the shell and the Aimtrak board does not move at all; when mounted, the IR sensor on the board is nearly aligned with the end of the shell (very important, since you must not "cover" part of the sensor).
Be warned that, while ground, P1, Aux and trigger are on a white connector with pre-crimped wires (so they can be connected very easily), P2-P5 must be soldered directly to the board and there is very little room, so you must be a little skilled to solder them right.
There is only one available spot to accomodate recoil daughterboard, as you can see in the picture; it's the only place where I had to use hot glue. Luckily, I did not need to extend the cables coming out from the solenoid. When it fires, it is stopped by the bridge and the board, so the movement is ok; its body is kept in place by existing plastic extrusions and screw posts; it could move a little up, so I used the silicone assembly of the removed buttons as you see in the picture. For strain relief, I used a plastic strap.
If you connect more than two buttons, remember you need Aimtrak firmware 8.15; my board was at 9.15, which is the firmware for the boxed retail version (2 buttons), so I needed to downgrade using their utility.
That's all, I hope you will find this information useful
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Topic: Aimtrak and Namco G/CON 2 (Read 3279 times)
