Double Dragon Marquee cade (FINISHED)

[Locke141]

Photos added of the completed cab. 

Original first post below.

Since moving to Nepal, I have been with out a well equipped DT lad andwood shop to build in. That coupled with my new teaching job, that's out side of my subject area, has lead to a lack of new projects. But the Arcade building bug does not easily go away.

On 11.11 (Chinese Black Friday) I ordered a "Pandoras box 3" Arcade kit. I just got it this past Friday (Jan. 22). Unfortunately, I have already won a dispute with the vender and got my money back. I feel kind of bad getting it for free, even though it came with the older version 2 and not the listed version 3. And the black ball top should be blue. Still I am trying to work something out with the vender to get him payed.


Until I stop changing countries every few years, Arcade restorations are out and a man only needs so many MAME cabs. So this one will be a gift to a family that gave us a lot of baby stuff after our son's luggage didn't make it to Nepal.

First I presented them with an art concept.


They liked it but wanted Double Dragon, so I made some changes.


The idea is to build a whole arcade around what could be a marquee box. It will sit on a coffee table and be small enough to move from country to country. They use a projector as a TV in the living room so that will be the monitor. I'm pretty sure I have seen a Vector Double Dragon Marquee some where but can't find it. If one does not show up I may try printing this 21MB image. Ether way I did find a vector of the CP that I may use elements from for a custom CP.

I also bought my first Mini SLG (love it) and a 10 amp 220volt fused switch.


A amp (does JAMMA need an amp?) and speaker covers are also on there way.

This is my first JAMMA project and will have some questions. But first I need to get the power supply wired.

It's a Min Dong and came with no diagram. I have no idea which AC 1/2 is positive and negative. And whats FG, Ground?

[harveybirdman]

FG is field ground.


My first thought is that it isn't polarized and it doesn't matter, but let's make sure first. 

[PL1]

I have no idea which AC 1/2 is positive and negative. And whats FG, Ground?

Green: FG

White: AC1

Black: AC2

yeah in terms of electrical wiring for plugs and houses (in the US)

Green is the Field Ground/Ground

White/Grey is the neutral

and Black is the power aka "hot" aka "live"

FG can also stand for frame ground when grounding metal framed monitors, coin doors, trackballs, etc..


Scott

[Locke141]

Thanks guys,

That's a big help.

I found a place locally for printing. Also have an option with my new job to have things mailed to Florida to be shipped here for about $7 per LBS, so I may use a reputable state side vender for art.

[pbj]

FG = ground

Whatever the Nepalese equivalent is of green wire goes there.  Hot/neutral AC does not matter on that supply.

If you feel so compelled, you can reverse a chargeback.  I've done it exactly once.

[Locke141]

I got the power supply wired up, plugged it in, and the led lit for about 5 seconeds then when out, just as I grabbed the maltimitor. He power is getting to the converter corectly, it's set for 220, but no DC voltage.

My school has an on staff electrition. I'll ask him to take a look.

[harveybirdman]

I've heard the quality of those supplies is pretty janky, so I bought a Suzo/Happ, but I don't know if that's the problem.

Someone like Scott that knows more can weigh in, but should you run the supply with no load?

[pbj]

Nope, you shouldn't run it without a load. 

[Locke141]

Now you guys tell me.

Is this something I can fix?

[harveybirdman]

I'd go ahead and hook it up to your board via the harness and see if it works.

[Locke141]

So how do I test the voltage? I don't want to fry the board

[harveybirdman]

Turn it to the middle or all the way down if you know what direction is decrease voltage then bust out the multi-meter.  Do you have any broken boards to hook up for test?

[Locke141]

No on the broken boards. This is my first JAMA build.

I turned it all the way down, hooked up my board, and the supply is still dead.

Is there likely to be a fuse in the thing I can swap out? 

Could I use an old PC power supply?

[PL1]

should you run the supply with no load?

According to Ken and Andy, it depends on the supply.

Some power supplies don't need an external load because they have internal load resistors.

The Peter Chou screw terminal power supplies are an example of a well designed power supply that can run perfectly fine with no load connected.

Ken L is correct most PSUs will not be damaged with no load. Its really only very early switch-mode supplies which have this problem, when the designers had not yet got them right. They usually would make a high-speed clicking sound before blowing.

When in doubt, better to have a load connected and not need it than to need one connected and not have it.

IIRC even a 6v coin door light should be enough load on the 5v rail to keep the supply running.

So how do I test the voltage? I don't want to fry the board

Go ahead and connect the board, plug in the supply, and check/adjust 5v. (measure at the board, not the supply)


Scott

[Locke141]

Thanks Scout,

I had no idea it might need a load. Thought I was being cautious. That "high-speed clicking sound" thing sounds like what happened.

I tried it again with the XXX-in 1 hooked up and no power at the board.

I opened the supply and see a 220v 2A fuse.



 I don't see any signs of a burn. Do you think that if I replace it the this applied might come back to life?

[pbj]

Is the fuse blown?  Have you tested it with your DMM?

[Locke141]

Is the fuse blown?  Have you tested it with your DMM?

No, that would have been smart before I closed it back up. I'm falling a sleep here, so am going to pick it up before I electrocute my self. I'll try again tomorrow. If any one has a suggestion, I'll check back tomorrow morning my time before asking my school electrician for help.

Thanks again guys.

[Locke141]

Ough,

I tested the fuse and it was fine. I brought it to one of my school electricians and he did a lot of continuity testing. At least one diode is passing power in both directions. I'm going to take it to a local electronics repair shop by my house. Maybe they'll have some luck.

I could order a replacement from the US or directly from China, either way it will take about a month to get to me. I'm thinking about using an old computer power supply. That would give me a stable 5v and 12v line with no problem. Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

On a more positive note, I went to a carpenter and got a quote for having the box made, with all the holes and glass. It came out to a little less then $28 USD. I think he was expecting to negotiate and was a little surprised when I said ok. I usually like doing the building myself, but with all my tools back in storage back in Tanzania/US and with little free time having it done is the only real option. 

Update: I'm adding the the plans that I'll give to the  carpenter below. The with of the CP is not in the images depth, it will be 9.5 inch. 

[Locke141]

Got the Marquee printed to day.







Not bad for a little less then $7.50 US.

Also picked up some nice bright LED's for a back light, dropped off the plans, and payed the deposit to the carpenters. 

After work tomorrow I'll stop by the store and pick out a colour from the limited local options. I would like to get the closest match to the grey from the original Double Dragon as possible.   

[Locke141]

I took the dead power supply to a local electronic repair shop. He found that 3 dead transistor  (they look like NPN/PNP). He thinks he can fix it and said it should be done tomorrow at a cost of $3-$4. I hope it works out.

I also made some progress with the CP art. I used the Vector elements from Vectlib image to make a costume CP for this build. I'm going for the look and feel of the original CP. Please let me know what you think.

In the pic above the outline in the 2 is black and the one around the 1 is white. I have fix them to both be white.

Illustrator file linked below.

[snakezone]

The marquee looks stunning, i love DD, one of my most precious original pcb

[markc74]

Nice work. I loved dd until someone showed me the elbow trick and now i can't play it anymore!

[harveybirdman]

It looks pretty good, but I would try to not duplicate imagery for the front since they are so close together.  I'd lose the portraits and consider a different background color.

[Locke141]

It looks pretty good, but I would try to not duplicate imagery for the front since they are so close together.  I'd lose the portraits and consider a different background color.

Thanks Harvey, I think your spot on with your feedback except you won't be able to see the CP and marquee at the same time on this build. Trying to stay close to the original CP but  agree about the back ground. I'm thinking a gray, the only issue is I need to find a way to leave an outline/back ground of the other images black. Here is an external link to an original CP.

In other news, I got an SMS from the local TV repair man this morning telling me my blown inverter is fixed.

Here it was when I left yesterday.


Here is one of the three transistors that failed.


Here she is fixed. I'm going to leave that LED strip attached to keep it always under load.


And here's the XXX in one board hooked up to the inverter. Not bad for a $4 repair.


Tomorrow I pick up the Box.







 

[Locke141]

I picked up the box from the carpenters today. I think it came out well.









I noticed that all my buttons dimensions were slightly off on my CP art/plans. It's a good thing I found mistake before getting my guide printed. For standard Happ buttons is a 1.3 diameter safe for planning my art? I know the hole is 1 1/8'' (1.25 inch) but I'm looking for clearances of the lip around the button for the CP art.

[JDFan]

I noticed that all my buttons dimensions were slightly off on my CP art/plans. It's a good thing I found mistake before getting my guide printed. For standard Happ buttons is a 1.3 diameter safe for planning my art? I know the hole is 1 1/8'' (1.25 inch) but I'm looking for clearances of the lip around the button for the CP art.

I'd give a bit more clearance between the red/yellow arrows under the buttons (bring them down 1/4" or so ) so the surround for the button doesn't rest on top of it and probably move the player 1 and player 2 text closer to the red outline on that section (to the left and right sides - as this would fix 2 things - first would avoid having any of the text covered by the buttons and 2nd would center the text in a bit wider area of the yellow rather than overlapping the red surround ) .

Then when printing turn off the layer with the button outlines and add an extra 1/2" black border to the entire thing. That way it gives you at least a 1/2 inch of play on each side to play with to get it lined up the way you want and it is easier to trim off any excess border than it is to leave it off centered because there is no border to play with and if you do need to move it to one side or the other the button(s) are not left with a small white circle showing since they did not line up with the cutouts.

[Locke141]

I'd give a bit more clearance between the red/yellow arrows under the buttons (bring them down 1/4" or so ) so the surround for the button doesn't rest on top of it and probably move the player 1 and player 2 text closer to the red outline on that section (to the left and right sides - as this would fix 2 things - first would avoid having any of the text covered by the buttons and 2nd would center the text in a bit wider area of the yellow rather than overlapping the red surround ) .

Then when printing turn off the layer with the button outlines and add an extra 1/2" black border to the entire thing. That way it gives you at least a 1/2 inch of play on each side to play with to get it lined up the way you want and it is easier to trim off any excess border than it is to leave it off centered because there is no border to play with and if you do need to move it to one side or the other the button(s) are not left with a small white circle showing since they did not line up with the cutouts.

Thanks, I'll do the adding to the border and moving the arrows down. The white circles are just for planning. I'll turn off everything but the circles, with an added X in the center, for a cutting diagram then to the opposite for bringing the CP.

I'm also a little concerned about the corner of the the red that outline the P1 P2 area. It's a little thing but I would rather get it right before printing and cutting.

[Locke141]

Been very busy at work so haven't been posting much lately. I've slowly but surely been making progress where and when I can.

Ordered these speaker covers on E-bay.


Here she is after 3 cotes of primer.


The next 3 are all of the first coat of black. It looks better in person. I had to use a flash light in the garage to take these.




This is about as far as I'll get until my Mother-in-law comes from the US with some needed items. Including the polycarb laminate CP art ordered from Brad Bowman (Lucian045). I haven't seen it first hand yet but in photo's it looks really good. Based on the photos, how it looked when Face timing with my Mother-in-Law, the quick turnaround, and his excellent customer service I would highly recommend him to others (I'll update to confirm when I actually get my hand's on it) (looks amazing). I attached the AI vector art file below, incase anyone ever wants to use it.


I also have in coming, a new 1 1/8 inch forstner bit, a mini amp, nice volume nob, and two Hand-Candy™ Joystick Ball Tops from Andy at Groovy Game Gear.

[Locke141]

It's 99% completed. Thanks to my little helper.

I posted that pic a while back in the "NOT A PROJECT III - Thread" but something came up and I didn't gat around to writing an update. Yesterday, as I was working he lined up all his toy cars on top and said "I helping". It made me laugh and think of LT's warp zone build.

Here's where it was about two weeks ago.


All the laying out of the internals was done, but the paint job was not right. I was sanding in preparation for a 5th couldn't paint. It so happened to be a carpenter working in the garage of my apartment building. He suggested add in some chalk to the paint, to make a layer to smooth some of the imperfections then sand/repaint. I ended up just paying him $5 to do it and it came out great.



Then I applied the CP.




And here she is mostly finished and working.





Issues still to be resolved are blacking out the back of the coin mech and speakers, getting the coin button on the side to work when the meck is attached (It did at first but stopped shortly there after, now if the meck is attaches the button I added to bypass it stops working), and fig your outwit to do with the 7th button. I thought the XXX-in one had a button mapping feature that I could use for the SNK games but it doesn't. 

[harveybirdman]

Looks cool bro!

[Locke141]

Looks cool bro!

Thanks Man,

Are there any pending updates for Anybody got a quarter? I love every update on that beautiful build.

[harveybirdman]

Pat at KLOV is getting a new shipment of "nomotes" in mid April.   I'm going to grab one and finish the switcher mods now that I have the tools to do  it  elegantly.  Hopefully there will be a nice update after Zapcon.

Oh and there's a major surprise that the Vulcan Bros have under development that could potentially take the build to the stratosphere, stay tuned.

[Locke141]

Pat at KLOV is getting a new shipment of "nomotes" in mid April.   I'm going to grab one and finish the switcher mods now that I have the tools to do  it  elegantly.  Hopefully there will be a nice update after Zapcon.

Oh and there's a major surprise that the Vulcan Bros have under development that could potentially take the build to the stratosphere, stay tuned.

Sweet,

I have a brother in Phenix. I been trying to talk him in to going to zapcon. I wish I could make it but the flight from Nepal is not really doable.   

[Locke141]

Finished. Well actually it's been done for a while but I had to travel to South India for work and am just now getting to posting. Anyway, I was at the cab's new home last night so I could take some photos of her in action. We ended up playing through The Simpsons. It's a big hit and has been getting near daily use.

Here is the new owner's enjoying the build. (Note: the Marquee looks better in person)
   



The only thing that might change at this point is if the Pandoras box 3 ever arrives it will be swiped in. I worked out a deal with the vendor that if they sent the Pandora's box 3 then I would approve the payment. That was over two months ago and I won't feel to bad if it does not show up and the vender gets nothing.

Please feel free to let me know what you like, disliked, would have done differently, or what ever. I appreciate honest feedback to help me improve future builds. 

[pbj]

Fixed the light bleed on the left and right edges of that marquee.

[Locke141]

Fixed the light bleed on the left and right edges of that marquee.

Will do. I have to show him how to remove coins from the box anyway.

[harveybirdman]

I meant to post earlier Locke, it looks really great!  Congrats 

[Locke141]

Thanks Harvey,

My wife thinks it's the nicest one I made to date.

[wp34]

Nice job.  That's a fun original build.  I like that it looks a bit like a center channel.

[stigzler]

Here is the new owner's enjoying the build. (Note: the Marquee looks better in person)
   

That looks like a 70s catalogue advert for the new magical world of arcade games in your own home. Soon, they say, controls will get so compact that they'll sit in the palm of your hand.