Taito Ice Cold Beer scratch build

[McPit]

This is mostly a publicly visible duplicate of a thread on aussiearcade: http://www.aussiearcade.com/showthread.php/83150-Taito-Ice-Cold-Beer-scratch-build
(Unfortunately photos on aussiearcade are only visible to registered users.)

Thanks heaps again to Jesse from Helensburgh for letting me take all the measurements of his machine.

I'm doing a bit of everything at the same time, and I'm slow.

Rough timeline:
- Research work and parts ordering - started Mar 2016
- Electronic tests and glass art reproduction - started May 2016
- Cabinet building - started Jun 2016
- Many more months to go.


Parts:
- Vaccuum formed playfield channels repro from Ebay
- CPO from ChompingQuarters
- Generic joysticks and button from Ebay
- Generic wheels and belt from Ebay
- Custom glass from glassreflections.com.au
- Home made glass art and playfield art (to do)
- Pretty much everything else from Bunnings..


Electrics/electronics:
- Arduino Mega, protoshield extension board, microSD shield, 7 segments displays and driver, sound amp, LEDs all from Ebay
- Stepper motors and drivers from Ebay
- Second hand speaker from Gumtree
- Program by myself, sounds reaped from the original ROM
- Low operating force microswitches from Element14

[McPit]

More pics

[McPit]

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[McPit]

More pics

[McPit]

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[McPit]

More pics

[Ian]

This is awesome! I sunk some serious coin in this game.... it's tough and the damn thing breaks weekly at my local pub.

Ian 

[vwalbridge]

Whoa! A scratch built ICB?

At first I was like: "Why don't you just buy an ICB...it would be a lot cheaper and easier". But then I realized you are probably living in Australia and they don't have ICBs there.

Very nice work. 

[Le Chuck]

Looks great!  I'm excited to see what you post about the electronics.  We've been slowly slogging away at that end for a while now but always hoping to see a different approach!

[stigzler]

Loving this. Especially the finish quality. Is that black snakeskin T-moulding or something? The Cherry(?) vinyl looks great too.

[Wyo]

I'm getting a headache looking over the complexity of this build....which means it's amazing!  Great work so far, I'm ready for more pics! 

[McPit]

Whoa! A scratch built ICB?

At first I was like: "Why don't you just buy an ICB...it would be a lot cheaper and easier". But then I realized you are probably living in Australia and they don't have ICBs there.

Very nice work. 

Exactly. Extremely rare and expensive in oz. But to be honest building it is also more fun!

[McPit]

@Ian @vwalbridge @Le Chuck @stigzler @Wyo
thanks heaps for the nice comments.
And yes t-molding is just the leather textured one from t-molding.com.

[McPit]

Prototype board step 1...
Breadboard with 2 x stepper motor controllers and MAX7221 (segment displays controller), Arduino Mega, sound amp, micro SD board.

[McPit]

Segment displays

[McPit]

Let me know if anyone knows a (cheap and) better way to attach standard pin connectors to long ribbon cables..?

[opt2not]

Oh my I love this project. 

[PL1]

Let me know if anyone knows a (cheap and) better way to attach standard pin connectors to long ribbon cables..?

If you have a pair of ratcheting-crimpers with the correct crimping dies (keyword search "dupont crimpers"), you can crimp male or female Dupont pins directly to the wire.

 

There are a number of different cimpers that will work fine -- not sure which crimpers/dies will be in your price range.   

These are two options that work well for me.

The HT-225D is available here or here --  use the "24-30" slot for your ribbon cable.  (it is 24 gauge, right?)

 

If you have Harbor Freight, 236-series, or 336-series crimpers, the HT-236-2U crimp die set works fine -- use the "22" slot.




Scott

[McPit]

Lamps first test.
(I mixed up the LEDs.. Hole 10 should be red..  )

[McPit]

Segment display controller board.
Next time I might go with some home made circuit board etching instead... 

[cj138]

Wow! This looks amazing! Great work!

[Ian]

wow... I want one.

[yotsuya]

I love seeing prototype boards! I've done a few myself recently and really respect the process.

[Automark]

wow... I want one.

Me too, awesome project

In europe you wont find an icecold beer, so ....

Will you share or sell your plans and software when finished? Id love to build one too.

[McPit]

Audio initial tests (Very low volume, no amplification yet)
Audio ripped from ICB Mame ROM, converted using Audacity, stored as WAV files on SD card and played using "SimpleSDAudio" Arduino library. (I wasn't able to get the more common "TMRpcm" library to work..)

[PL1]

(How do I embed a youtube video on this forum?)

Don't use the "Embed" URL.

1.  Start with either the address from the browser URL window or the address from the share tab directly below your YouTube avatar.

2.  Change the "https" . . .

Code: [Select]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS4MemtY16g

Code: [Select]

https://youtu.be/WS4MemtY16g
to "http".  No tags are needed.

Code: [Select]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS4MemtY16g

Code: [Select]

http://youtu.be/WS4MemtY16g


3.  (optional) When you post, the video title comes up as "! No longer available". You can edit the title like I did above.


Scott

[danny_galaga]

Top work! How did I not see this on AA?

[McPit]

Return switch bracket. With return and errant ball switches.
A bit of guess work here based on the manual drawings, as I don't have reference photos of this one.

[McPit]

(How do I embed a youtube video on this forum?)

- Don't use the "Embed" URL.

- Change the "https" to "http"

Scott

Thank you!!

[McPit]

Main power switch

[McPit]

Control panel wiring

[McPit]

24VDC power supply (stepper motors and solenoid) stepped down to 12VDC (Arduino and audio amp)

[McPit]

Mosfet/solenoid test

[McPit]

Return solenoid

[McPit]

Sliders.

The two metal sheets were hot-glued and jigsawed together, then separated with freeze spray.

The belt clamps have sandpaper glued inside.

No welder handy so the nuts are epoxied to the surface.

For the holes to be of the exact right diameter and to slide smoothly without any play, I filled them with Builder's Bog (plastic bondo), greased the end of the rods, inserted them in the holes, let it all dry and then just pulled the rods out. Now all nice and snug. I still had to polish the rods quite a lot and flood the whole thing with lithium grease but I'm now happy enough with the result.

[McPit]

Reference photo I used.

[stigzler]

Great work. You're a true factotum!

[McPit]

Ball rod. (Edge of outer tube was since bevel-filed to ease the ball transition.)

[McPit]

Playfield insert.
(Just before someone announced a repro on Klov.) 

[McPit]

Ball gate
(yes, ugly solder..)

[Xiaou2]

Mcpit,

 Even with your sanding... that drop off is too steep at the connection between pipes.   You need thinner tubes.  There is no way around this, as playability will be severely hampered from that drop off.


 Im not sure if this is the correct diameter..  as Im going by sight / memory.     But here you can see the tubes at a local hobby shop,  that fit into each other with perfect precision.   Tight enough to fit well.. yet loose enough to slide freely.   I used the same kind of tubes to rebuild my ICB machine.   (had to sell it)


 The company seems to have a website,  and Ive also seen them selling on Amazon.  (not sure if its a reseller, or them directly)

 With a small amount of metal polish,  these babies will look like a million bucks.

 The height difference is like a fingernails difference.   You wont even notice it, as the ball rolls over it with quick ease.   Anything greater than this... and you will certainly have ball-sticking issues... and control problems.

 *edit

 Also note.. that ICB's often had failure issues at the connection joints where the pipes are attached.   To Eliminate this on my machine.. after I rebuilt mine,  I filled the ends of the tubes with hot glue to stiffen the pipes up.   I think I also glued and or affixed the tubes with glue to the brackets as well.  Filling in any areas, to firm up the whole thing.

[McPit]

Hi mate,

Even with your sanding... that drop off is too steep at the connection between pipes.   You need thinner tubes.  There is no way around this, as playability will be severely hampered from that drop off.

It actually works nice! Contrary to the original, I made sure the outside tube was *no shorter* than the full width when in horizontal position. As a result the ball never needs to "climb" the joint. The outside tube always gets "pushed under" the ball when the slope changes from left to right.. if that makes sense..
Result is pretty smooth!

Im not sure if this is the correct diameter..  as Im going by sight / memory.     But here you can see the tubes at a local hobby shop,  that fit into each other with perfect precision.   Tight enough to fit well.. yet loose enough to slide freely.   I used the same kind of tubes to rebuild my ICB machine.   (had to sell it)
 The company seems to have a website,  and Ive also seen them selling on Amazon.  (not sure if its a reseller, or them directly)
 With a small amount of metal polish,  these babies will look like a million bucks.

You're right I had great troubles finding the right material and diameters and ended up going with aluminium and slightly larger and thicker unfortunately.
Whereas the ones you found look like spot on! I'll see how far I can go with my current setup. If need be I'll switch to yours, now I have the exact reference numbers! Thanks heaps for that!!

Also note.. that ICB's often had failure issues at the connection joints where the pipes are attached.   To Eliminate this on my machine.. after I rebuilt mine,  I filled the ends of the tubes with hot glue to stiffen the pipes up.   I think I also glued and or affixed the tubes with glue to the brackets as well.  Filling in any areas, to firm up the whole thing.

Lucky consequence of my thicker tubes is that they're quite stiff and strong. My problem at the moment is more that the side brackets don't slide smoothly enough (just too much grip + belt too stiff + steppers too weak), I'll post a video. 

Thanks!

[McPit]

Ball rod control first test.
Stepper motors a little too weak for now, you can hear the left one missing steps. Will need to address that, somehow.

[thiagomax]

you can share your project?

[luquio2008]

you can share your project?

Or the image to be able to print and make the holes?

I need if possible playfield design please.

thank you very much!

[hyunkhel]

Bravo! Excellent work

Is there a chance to have the project plans with the design and the program? 

I have a software version but it will be so cool to have a mechanical version

Thank You Very Much 

[plastiqmanb]

Seconded on the electrical work I'd gladly supply some commissions for the info!  I'd like to build one myself but get hung up on the software elements.

[tnjent98]

wow, great project!  Can I get the full size printout of the hole locations on the game board? I will pay for postage!
thanks
tom

[lucky_mike]

@McPit this is super cool!  I've been trying to obtain the original sound files for both ICB and Zeke's Peak, do you mind sharing how you were able to extract them from the original rom?

[sjleto]

Hi - Awesome build. Would love to see some updated videos and pictures! I am just starting my own. I found someone locally who was selling the glass for $50. That really kick started the project. I have a few questions I hope you wouldn't mind answering:

Did you ever look into using screw rods instead of the pulley system?

How has the Arduino held up during normal game play?

Do you happen to know the angle of the backboard?

Like the post above are you able to share the audio files or describe how you pulled them from a ROM? I tired a few times without luck.

Do you have a more detailed component list - stepper motor driver, audio shield, amp, power supply?


Thank you!