!!!New Project!!!

[killr0y]

Hi folks,

I'd like to introduce myself.  I have been an avid arcade junkie since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  When I heard about MAME a few years ago, I was too enthralled with PC games and the current consoles to really care about MAME.. As more and more people began building their own cabinets, I became more interested and as I am in a more financially able position to build one myself I decided I was gonna go for it and bring a little bit of my childhood back to the present.  My plans are to build a 4-player cabinet with a trackball.  I'm going to use a 25" television set and have not yet decided which PC hardware will wind up in the box.  I purchased a 4-way coin door off ebay for $25 (it looks like it may have only 2 mechs but I don't have it yet so only time will tell).  I also have an i-pac4 and an opti-pac.  My controls are the HAPP Super's (went by the reviews on this site) and I bought the horizontal buttons from HAPP as well.  After visiting a local arcade and testing the buttons out, I wasn't happy with the cheap feel of the buttons I ordered from HAPP.  I decided to take them apart so see if I could do something about it.  What I did was to stretch out the spring, being careful not to pull on the dead coils (flat coil at each end that stabilizes the spring).  This made the button press more responsive.  I then took a 1/2" x 1" piece of bubble wrap, folded it down its lenght, then stuffed it inside the spring.  This absorbs any reverb from the spring.  After putting it back together and installing the microswitch I noticed a HUGE difference in feel and spring response.  


Has anyone else tried this?  I'm interested to hear if anyone has tried anything different.  Anyway, I plan on documenting my project and if anyone has suggestions for a 4 player layout (2 w/ 4 buttons, 2 with 6) with a 3" trackball please let me know!!!

Thanks guys!

[Stein]

just make sure you don't put the trackball too close to the joysticks

well I've got the Happ Ultimate buttons too, both the horizontal mount and the vertical mount... the vertical mount has a smaller spring and doesn't 'reverberate' as much, it also sits just a little higher out of the case too. I tried what you're saying with the buble wrap on my vertical mounts first, and I think it improved things, made the button a little quieter too.

Stein