Defender MultiWilliamsPokerCabaret'ish thing. (10/27/13).

[chopperthedog]

  Done! I love it. Its got a certain classiness to it.
The before and after pic as of 3/29/13.
----------------------------

Bought my house in 2008 and upon the usual meeting of new neighbors one of them had a bunch of poker machines in his garage and offered me one (I'm not one for passing up free stuff). He said he saw me moving in my cabs and figured I might want one. And it has sat in the garage taunting me to do something with it since I got it. No monitor but board and supply are in the bottom (whatever) but wiring and other stuff will get hacked and go to good use. With spring about to break I don't want to take on my Frankenstein (budget and timing logistics). I've also been casually looking for a defender cab for quite sometime. But meh, the more I think about it, I don't need another labor intensive money pit (ala my DK cab) at the moment. Plus I'm adding a second mainline to the garden railroad this spring. So for shits and giggles I figured I would have some fun with this poker cab and fire off a quick little neat project. Plus there are so many horizontal games that I miss and haven't played since franky died 4 years ago. I've always really wanted a semi correct defender panel for years as well. Setting up a capcom 2 player fighter layout with defender sorta works (set up player 2 buttons in pattern) but it's lame especially with a bat top. Got a majority of the ingredients on hand or en-route at the moment. I'm actually gonna pay attention to the total cost (probably a big mistake) of everything. I'm aiming to keep it under $550 and doing good so far.



--------Accounting----------

http://www.thisoldgame.com/
45.00 Multiwilliams Defender version CPO http://www.thisoldgame.com/products/mult-williams-defender-version
65.00 Multiwillians side art. (completely not necessary but cool)
16.00 Shipping
-----
60.00 19" 4:3 acer 5ms LCD. Came from shady arab guy computer wholesale place near my work.
-----
http://www.ultimarc.com/index.html
43.00 I-PAC
26.00 qty 13 Mixture of GoldLeaf and Happ buttons. (giving the goldleafs a whirl, what the hey)
70.00 qty 2 Mag-Stik plus joys. Top switching 4/8 way was my main desire.
28.00 qty 2 red ball top handle for mags. Wouldn't be Williams'ish without em.
16.00 qty 2 JoyStick mounting kits. Needed for applying CPO right on the wood. Didn't wanna use carriage bolts.
29.00 Shipping (also ordered items for next project not included above)
-----
15.00 CraftyMech MiniSLG
-----
http://www.t-molding.com/store/home.php
14.40 40ft of 3/4 blk texture tmolding (20ft is for another project)
10.00 Shipping
-----
00.00 Cabinet
00.00 Computer (Originally free but retired from service within my ghetto GT cab)
00.00 Stargate plexi bezel. Free from OP friend (cracked, scratched, painted) but will serve my purpose.
00.00 16w 2.1 speaker system donated from friend.
-----
http://emdkay.net/catalog/index.php
36.00 Custom size defender marquee mounted to plexi
6.00 shipping
-----
Menards
10.00 Adjustable glides meant for a refridgerator.
5.00 24x8x1/2 black mdf shelf for construction of marquee box bottom.
13.00 16" led bar.
4.69 small can of "leather brown" paint for touch up.
7.99 2 lock sets
-----
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130477.0.html
25.00 Custom cut 2 color vinyl Defender front art.
00.00 Shipping was included in above price.
-----
Radio Shack
4.39 100K auidio taper stereo pot.
-----
Fed-Ex/Kinkos
1.80 Printing of coin button insert on transparency.
-----
http://www.gameongrafix.com/index.php
41.95 Custom size defender marquee mounted to plexi
8.25 shipping.
-----
Lowes
3.79 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/16" aluminum angle for marquee retainer.
1.19 small black bevel head screws.\
-----
565.05 as of 03\29\13


--------ugh--------


Over the last year of seeing the same $1000+ defender cabs throughout my area. A rough one popped up for $350 about 2 weeks ago and was gone in a tick. One week later this thing pops up from a local flipper priced at $1400 with a 60in1 in it. There is nothing proper about his flippage execution at all. /me shakes fist at this moron.

********EDIT********



I just knew he would post the parts from what was a complete defender (with art) 4 weeks ago. I've seen this scenario played out over and over from this asshat.


good day.

[wp34]

I've been looking for a Defender or Stargate cabinet for some time with no luck.  I've got a JROK board that needs a home.

I'm anxious to see how this turns out.  That cabinet looks like it would be a good fit for a Williams Multi.  Are you going to put a coindoor on the front?

[TOK]

Looking forward to watching this one... I build a Stargate mini a few years ago when I couldn't find either a Defender or Stargate.
I lucked out about a year ago and found a solid Defender on craigslist. It was almost a miracle, since I rarely look there, and when I do its usually garbage.

[chopperthedog]

I've been looking for a Defender or Stargate cabinet for some time with no luck.  I've got a JROK board that needs a home.

I'm anxious to see how this turns out.  That cabinet looks like it would be a good fit for a Williams Multi.  Are you going to put a coindoor on the front?

Nah, no coin door. The bill acceptor will turn into a speaker port covered with stainless steel perforated material. The panel thing to the left of that will have one of the poker buttons lit up with a printed insert and volume control below it. Too bad GGG doesn't do paypal. Plus there were other items I wanted from them but all were out of stock so a $9 button in a single order isn't very practical.

I would love to snag a JROK board at some point. There seemed to have been some rumblings of another run soon. But with my luck I'll never have the opportunity the get one anyway.


good day.

[TOK]

I would love to snag a JROK board at some point. There seemed to have been some rumblings of another run soon. But with my luck I'll never have the opportunity the get one anyway.

Your rumblings are late, they're available now. 

[chopperthedog]

I would love to snag a JROK board at some point. There seemed to have been some rumblings of another run soon. But with my luck I'll never have the opportunity the get one anyway.

Your rumblings are late, they're available now. 

PM'd him on the 16th right after he made the post. Not holding my breath though. But it would be nice.


The cab had a ton of wiggle to it. Could be that the cab was built without a single drop of glue or staples. Seems proper since all these did was sat in the corner of a bar while some dumbass dumps a major portion of his paycheck into it. Plus I'm sure the confiscation rate also plays into the construction quality. There was bar that I used to frequent for Golden Tee purposes and they had a Cherry Master next to the GT cab. It doesn't take long to identify the people with issues.



Bottom was trashed and metal feet were doing a number on my floor


New bottom and glides and half of the back installed.

Spent about 4 hours working with the cab and getting everything figured out. Installed a new bottom with heavy duty smooth glides. Since there are 2 doors on the front I just sealed the back up completely gluing and stapling the back on so that the cab has a solid spine now. Top was also given the glue, clamps and staple treatment.












The existing panel was only 5" deep (twss) I wanted to have the new panel be 8" defender depth which meant the bezel had to be set back further. Used a chunk of black mdf shelf to create the marquee box bottom and slotted top for bezel retainer. Routed a scrap of wood for the bottom of the bezel. Trimmed down the startgate bezel to needed size. Ordered a defender marquee mounted to plexi (cause I'm lazy) from emdkay at a size of 23" X 5". Control panel blank is cut with new side mounts and clamps installed paying attention to the pitch of the defender panel from plans. The galaga paper marquee was for size test. Just need to find a chunk of something to put right above the door and below the control panel.

The cab is made from 3/4 particle board, but lacked a bunch of glue and staples. It's pretty damn solid now. Need to wait out CPO and stuff from ultimarc.


good day.

[Yvan256]

DefenderMultiWilliamsPokerCabaret

Would be funny to actually use that name. It's not without precedent either: Thundercougarfalconbird.

[chopperthedog]

Since I sealed the back completely I needed to figure out a way to front load the monitor. Also finished the marquee box with back, led bar and some foil tape for lighting coverage.



T-molding came in. It was sooooo nice to get that chrome crap off. I didn't wanna pull the old molding till I had new stuff in hand to reduce the risk of damaging the slot while I was doing cab repairs.


Got the magstiks and buttons along with the ipac. Aside from mounting and cutting speaker grill and adding vol/coin button to front. I'm pretty much dead in the water waiting on the CPO from TOG. Same thing with the marquee from emdkay (was given a projected 21 day turn around time on my single marquee order ). I'll blow my head off if TOG takes that long.


good day.

[chopperthedog]

At first I had the thought to install the speakers in the front door. But once I started going through and picking out games I quickly realized that the proposed speaker placement was junk for stereo projection purposes. Came up with a pretty cool and great sounding solution by going with the speakers behind the bezel and adding slots. Not a bad little sounding 16w 2.1 system that a friend donated to my cause.



Made a cute Williams type coin insert for one of the poker buttons. (appears pink in pic but is deep red to eye)



good day.

[CraftyMech]

I'll be shipping your Aero PC back to you in the next couple days, with a mini SLG (PC version) in the box. Not sure if you need it or this build or not, looks like the project is coming along nicely.

[chopperthedog]

I'll be shipping your Aero PC back to you in the next couple days, with a mini SLG (PC version) in the box. Not sure if you need it or this build or not, looks like the project is coming along nicely.

Ship it slow and cheap. The OG miniSLG works great on this build with the computer being used. That aero may end up in a build for my nephew (Where the V2 SLG would come in handy). Thanks again.


good day.


 

[chopperthedog]

Baby steps...

This thread http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130477.0.html sparked an idea in my head to have the front defender art cut from vinyl.



Started with the front art image from the arcade art library and separated the colors into layers. Filled in some of the red portions so the yellow would overlay on top, also gave the red star top and bottom points. Vectored the 2 colors and sent the images off to SlammedNiss to get cut.



  Came out great!!! Gives the front of the cab a little pizazz.



good day.

[chopperthedog]

There isn't any Defender art in the same manner in which a Google search for "Donkey Kong or Space Invaders abstract" would yield. Did a little experimenting with a mala layout. I edited the ttf font file to not have any lower case letters (looks like I skipped the "Z" ). Not sure if I'm fully settled on it yet, but it's something to build from.



good day.

[chopperthedog]

Received the side art and CPO. Got the panel wired up and loving this cab so far. Oh man that Defender rush set in on the very first couple games. 



I added second buttons (the black ones) for both player 1&2 so that games like 1944 loop master, aliens, airwolf, nintendo VS stuff and a bunch of others could be played on this thing. I really really like the goldleaf buttons from ultimarc. First couple games of joust I was able to crush my old scores from my other machine that had micro switch buttons. I have not one complaint with the magstik plus joysticks from ultimarc as well.  Robotron and smash TV with the stiks are awesome, I love the short throw on these. One of the balltop shafts from ultimarc had the dust cover installed the wrong way and apparently the balltop doesn't unscrew very easily, so I'm awaiting a replacement from Andy. I'm very pleased with the way all the controls feel and play. Just need to install volume pot, find some way of covering that gap between the panel and door, do some touch up painting and continue waiting on the marquee. After 5 years it feels good to feed my horizontal gaming needs again with the added plus of a defender/stargate layout. 


good day. 

[chopperthedog]

After waiting 25 days (when ordered was given a 11~21 day turn around projection) I inquired about my order. The response came within 5 min. "This order is being prepared for our next batch of orders that we hope to have shipped out in about two weeks."  Da fuq!!! "hope" "about" "2 weeks"..... Got a refund. Let's try an order with GoG.



good day.

[chopperthedog]

The impatient little brat did get some more work done though. I was able to fill that gap between the control panel and top door, got the volume control added to the front (it's even with the coin button and the height on those was premeditated to be above knee level when sitting on a stool), got all the wiring tightened up along with a relayed smart strip and did some touch up painting (couple little spots i missed). I love me a good side by side before and after pic.

I WANT MY F'ING MARQUEE NOW!!!!! 

I'm ok....


good day.

[Jumpman64]

That is kind of a neat conversion.  Once the marquee is in it'll shape right up :-)

[yotsuya]

I agree. Looks like a prototype caberet.

[chopperthedog]

Woot! Marquee came in and was able to plop it right in and screw on my marquee bracket with no other hassles. Also received the replacement magstik balltop shaft from Andy. It's funny how noisy the stik that had the dust ring upside down was. The two textured surfaces rubbing had an odd high pitch ring type noise while playing. I also painted the face of the speakers flat black (in previous pics you can see the silver peeking through the speaker slots in the bezel).




Here's a neat shot that puts the cabinet size into perspective. Keep in mind that I raised my DK cab 2 3/4" when I made my new base (I'm 6' 3" and DK cabs can suck for tall people). The front of the defender control panel is at 40 3/4" high which isn't that far off from a dedicated defender cab (41 1/2" I think). The existing monitor angle works well for both sitting and standing. I'm sure that was something taken into consideration with these poker cabs.




I left one little thing from it's former poker glory. The 2 carriage bolts there were used to "clear" the credits. After the payout was complete a bartender would use a coin to reset back to zero.
 



Not much to see here. Still haven't received any reply from JROK, it's a shame he only sells that board via PM. Either way it's not like I have an empty machine just waiting on him  . I'm using the very bottom part of the cab for storage i.e. mouse. kb, extra goldleafs in all colors (should one happen to fail in the future) and various other spare parts for my other cabs that are the important ones that can easily get lost within my other future gold/junk type parts tubs.




#firstworldproblems... If I close that doorway up I will be able to have a full size master bathroom instead of the small gutted powder room that is there currently. PLUS I'll be able to fit a 4th cab in my living room .

I did go over my projected budget by a couple bucks, but I'm am really really happy with the way it turned out and plays.


good day.

[thatpurplestuff]

Excellent work... love the artwork against the wood grain!  Very nicely done.

[chopperthedog]

That is kind of a neat conversion.  Once the marquee is in it'll shape right up :-)

I agree. Looks like a prototype caberet.

Excellent work... love the artwork against the wood grain!  Very nicely done.

Thanks guys. This cab has such a great little vibe to it. Can't wait to show the neighbor friend that gave me the cab to show him what finally happened to it. I know he has more in his garage. Might have to seek out another one that has a different style to it for a cabaret driver cab (been sitting on a pole position upright panel/shroud with shifter for the last 9 years waiting to get used on something).



Had 6 chums over on saturday for an arcade party to celebrate the new cab. Oddly enough it seemed to be 2 player joust and mario bros that was constantly being played the entire night. Since DK is a single player cab it worked better in the corner in front of my bedroom door (but I had to move it while drunk at the end of the night to go to bed ). I really liked that layout of the 3 cabs in a row and decided to blow out the closet to make way for the new bedroom entrance. Need to pick up a new door system right hinged with in swing. Thought about pocket door, but I'm to lazy to deal with the electrical and repairing the wall.




This is on the other side of the door that the DK cab is in front of. I gutted that bathroom about 4 years ago, but felt that it was pointless to finish off something so small that I would hate. The current size is 5' 7" x 5' and with sealing that door off will give me a space of 5' 7" x 9' 3" to come up with a pretty pimp master bath.


good day.

[chopperthedog]

Got a reply from jrok and the multi-williams board is in hand and installed!!!!!!  When I originally wired the cab I wasn't thinking about jamma (I knew I wanted a jrok board but I also wanted to play games in the meantime) and to be quite honest I really didn't know anything about jamma and figured I would crash course it when the time came. Upon investigating the hardware required for mame pc to jamma board switching options things were getting pricey. I was reading a review on klov about a jamma switcher and someone chimed in "why bother, do what OPs do and get a handful of relays and wire a switch to the 12v and have the relays switch video, audio etc...". I'm really surprised I didn't stumble upon someone else s mame/jamma relay project with the various search wordings I tried on byoac and google. Any-who, Took a quick trip to radio shack and snagged 6 relays, 2 1\8" TRS female audio jacks, 2 female 15 pin vga plugs and a low profile rocker switch. After some thinking and a good long soldering session I now have on the fly mame pc to jamma board switching for under 50 bucks OP style. When power is applied to the 6 relays from rocker switch on front of machine they handle the switching of video, sound, jamma +5 board power and toggle of ipac power in jamma mode. I used the ipac as a splitter patch bay of sorts to get controls needed to the jamma loom without having to muck up my current mame wiring. The timing in the game play of the jrok board is amazing. I know there have been some big changes in the williams/mame realm recently, but the 2.2 p4 I'm using isn't ideal for the up to date mame versions. This was a fun learning experience and I can finally call this project complete and full of awesome.


Overview of main board with relays. **added new pic to show extra relay added**


PC and jamma board sitting in the tree.....


Low profile rocker switch used.



good day.

[ebarlow99]

Woot! Marquee came in and was able to plop it right in and screw on my marquee bracket with no other hassles. Also received the replacement magstik balltop shaft from Andy. It's funny how noisy the stik that had the dust ring upside down was. The two textured surfaces rubbing had an odd high pitch ring type noise while playing. I also painted the face of the speakers flat black (in previous pics you can see the silver peeking through the speaker slots in the bezel).




Here's a neat shot that puts the cabinet size into perspective. Keep in mind that I raised my DK cab 2 3/4" when I made my new base (I'm 6' 3" and DK cabs can suck for tall people). The front of the defender control panel is at 40 3/4" high which isn't that far off from a dedicated defender cab (41 1/2" I think). The existing monitor angle works well for both sitting and standing. I'm sure that was something taken into consideration with these poker cabs.




I left one little thing from it's former poker glory. The 2 carriage bolts there were used to "clear" the credits. After the payout was complete a bartender would use a coin to reset back to zero.
 



Not much to see here. Still haven't received any reply from JROK, it's a shame he only sells that board via PM. Either way it's not like I have an empty machine just waiting on him  . I'm using the very bottom part of the cab for storage i.e. mouse. kb, extra goldleafs in all colors (should one happen to fail in the future) and various other spare parts for my other cabs that are the important ones that can easily get lost within my other future gold/junk type parts tubs.




#firstworldproblems... If I close that doorway up I will be able to have a full size master bathroom instead of the small gutted powder room that is there currently. PLUS I'll be able to fit a 4th cab in my living room .

I did go over my projected budget by a couple bucks, but I'm am really really happy with the way it turned out and plays.


good day.

great work! I love it

[chopperthedog]

great work! I love it

Thank you sir... Looking forward to hopefully ordering a gt pedestal flat pack from ya. 


A little PC / JAMMA switching with relays update:  During game play in mame some funky things would happen with keys locking up and kicking me out of games and shutting down mala. Since the controls for both ipac and jamma board are in parallel I narrowed the issue to only interrupting +5 with a relay to cut the jrok board power in mame mode with my original set up. I added another relay so that both +5 and ground from the regulated ps are disconnected from the jrok board in mame mode. Just went through a 3 hour gaming session switching back and forth repeatedly with no issues in mame again.


good day.

[chopperthedog]

JROK board looked like ass on the LCD screen. Added a new shelf and dropped in a 19" CRT that looks so much better. I also got tired of my initial mala layout and came up with one that fits the defender theme better. It has some scrolling landers for animation along with info windows and text at bottom for joystick and 1&2 button hints. Seems the tired old P4 I'm using for mame can only do 2 scrolling overlays (3 becomes slow).



Shot a little video showing the layout and the switch over to the JROK board and back. I have the JROK board set to boot right to Defender upon power on and fast boot is enabled for each game (no long carpet boots).





good day.

[Jumpman64]

Love the Mala layout, and also being able to switch between Jrok & PC is awesome!   

[LeedsFan]

This is a very cool project! Love the little cabaret and the side art is mint.  I did consider a multi Williams project myself, but my only concern was that it might not play Defender so well.

Defender nearly always has the ball top just above the panel. This is so that it's easier to rest a thumb above reverse button. If the left stick is long then how does that play? I can't imagine a good defender player liking that.

[drventure]

Very nicely done 

Woodgrain, but with perfectly matched up art. And the Mala layout fits in great with the defender theme.

[BobA]

Great little cab and the switching with relays is excellent. 

[chopperthedog]

Thanks guys! It was fun, all my friends love it and want one till I show them the OP with the tally up and say that doesn't include labor or the JROK board . Subject gets dropped real fast. I friggin' love it. The multi williams layout is a new refreshing option introduced into my own little gaming realm along with having totally different control types. My other horizontal cab has 2 happ comps and 6 button capcom layout per player, the magstiks and goldleafs are perfect for the multiwilliams cab.



@LeedsFan: From control panel to bottom of ball is only 13/16". I'm no defender snob by any means, but it's actually not an issue for me. After playing my cab solid for almost 3 months I was able to play a dedicated cab a couple weeks ago and it didn't phase me. The magstiks with a 3/4" panel end up being not to tall for defender or joust and not to short for robotron and smash tv, they are perfect for this cab. Best decision I made was adding the 2nd black buttons for each player, really added to the list some great 2 player co op games. Who doesn't love a good heated battle of Timber?



good day.

[WindDrake]

Nice work, chopper!

That said, I recognise Bolingbrook Prince Arcades. Those dudes are complete asshats, and snatch up everything in the area that's cheap. They spam the living ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of CL also. Annoys the hell out of me, makes looking for good deals in this area a complete pain.

[McHale]

A buddy just bought a cab from them yesterday (looks just like the one chopper used for this project).  All they had in the warehouse there were 3 mini cabs and a REALLY bad Galaxian cab. 

It is nice to see others from the local area on here though. 

-Mc

[jprocess]

Awesome job! I love the jrok to PC setup. I have a cabaret cabinet that I'm putting together. Jrok is on the way. Do you happen to have any schematics for the setup you have there?

Thanks!
Steve

[chopperthedog]

I don't have a schematic but you just need to have an understanding of a double pole relay and thinking of how the signal path needs flow.

I ordered a second jrok board a couple months ago as a backup/future project potential. I plugged it in to test it and discovered the video output to be close to double than my original board from May. With my original board and the pc crt I had the brightness maxed out but it seemed it needed more and with the new board I had to back the brightness down to about 65% and was still wonderfully bright. PM'd 1500points about the brightness differences which also lead to the mod being documented by Sean Riddle. http://seanriddle.com/wsfbrightness.html

There was a deal on klov for no burn 19" Vision Pro cga crt's for $200 shipped. Ordered one up and when I first plugged it in the picture was a mess. Performed some fly-back, convergence rings and yoke adjustments to various test patterns I got this thing nice and tight now. Looks amazing. Mounted the frame to a couple 2x2's leaving them long so they run into the back of the cab to keep the neck board safe.














Next up is to finally get around to recapping the Sanyo 20ez for my DK cab and get the lcd out of there.


good day.

[opt2not]

This project is cool, and that relay switch is an excellent idea. I'm gonna steal it!

[chopperthedog]

Just had my highest score ever on Robotron. I Love this new monitor.


good day from my galaxy nexus.

[chopperthedog]

Re-did the control panel with some new (eerrrmm, old) parts. The goldleafs were ok but I've recently discovered that nothing beats some original buttons and leaf switches.





The higher plunger on the older buttons and properly tuned leafs are amazing for defender game play.

Some other insight: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,136985.0.html


good day.

[1500points]

did this awesome machine get one of the new 2015 JROK MWS's pcbs, yet?

[chopperthedog]

did this awesome machine get one of the new 2015 JROK MWS's pcbs, yet?

Board in transit as I type this. Got myself on the list in February and received a pm from jrok last week.




Was able to piece together a decent panel from a total of 4 defender panels that I picked up from a local collector about 6 months ago. Since my cab is narrower, the areas that were ash trays got trimmed off. Joystick was put together using the best parts from each panel. I've tried emailing mantisamusements 3 times to order the joystick rebuild kit with no reply at all (genesis). I had to place an arcadeshop order and saw that they have em. The electrical tape trick was getting old. One of the shafts was so worn, it looked like the way a beaver takes down a tree. Obviously added the extra button to accommodate stargate.




Another thing in the works is a robotron panel with 4" wico's (which I have) and the correct placement / spacing. I've been able to stagger my way through gimp to come up with a couple designs for a cpo and I find myself leaning towards the "defender" style art.



good day.