Crystal Maze Cab

[david656]

ok hi guys,

i have a crystal maze cab im converting to a computerised cab.

so far i have the five buttons working, a light fitted and have got all three speakers pumping out sound.

but i need to get the trackball going im presuming opti pac need to be confermed, need a nice 19inch screen been offered a 19inch CRT PC monitor for £99 i think thats a lot but need advice to buy or not ASAP and sort of have a rust bucket of a pc in there which im hopeing i can do up a bit with more ram better bigger HDD etc.

1. i would really like some idea's off of guys who also have this cab on what they did with there's.

in conclusion the cabinet cost me £0 and was dilivered to my front door for £0 so i am determined to at least have a good go at it



p.s. the computer is a old tiny was 95 now 98se i just like it because it still has a crystal sounds ISA soundcard which im hopeing should replicate the games that use sound blaster's.

[david656]

Hellooo nice people 

please reply                       

[Fozzy The Bear]

Hellooo nice people 

please reply                       

The monitor is a bit over priced.... I picked up a Dell 21" PC Monitor locally in Cornwall for £40 in near new condition.

There may be nobody else who has one of those cabs Mamed.... They were only common to the UK. But if you want to know what else to do try looking in the examples section here. That should give you few ideas as to what is good and bad.

Your sound card might give you a few problems.... especially with Mame. Your processor needs to pack as much punch as possible if you want to run anything recent and you didn't describe which Trackball you have, so that one is difficult to answer. Pictures of your cab and trackball would help.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[david656]

cool cheers for that so in your opinion you wouldn't go for the 19" for £99 in (i forgot to say this) very well used condition.


will do bud

[hunty3000]

i have one of these machines but i havent got it working yet. have you still got the orginal parts for it because i would like to buy the payout tube wires from you because mine has all been cut  and i dont know where the wires connect.

[david656]

mate! are you my clone!!!!

i got the machine with the screen riped out the board gone and about  a 1000 wires dangling everywhere but there was a evil looking transformer and a headers board left which was absolutley worth nothing to me so took it all out and put it in a box just a load of chopped wires.

heres the sad part  the guy who let me have it said he was gonna take it down the tip and if i would of mentioned that i was after a machine earlier it was 100% working with screen power board coin slot all in tackt !!!!! i could of cried!!!        

[Grasshopper]

The monitor is very overpriced if it's second-hand. However, £99 is an OK price if it's new.

However, there's no reason to buy new because you should be able to pick up a decent second hand 19" for about £20. If you're lucky you might even pick one up for free.

Their intrinsic value is much higher than that but there's a glut of them at the moment because so many companies are upgrading to flatscreens. Hence the low prices.

[david656]

yeh this is second hand been very well used and he wants £99 i thought that was a bit much and apparently it was his sons so its probably on its last legs i will have to look out for one else where cheers again

[david656]

OK

i have the speakers A OK
buttons A OK
light A OK
PC well its a rustbucket but is ok
monitor well i dunno!!!

i bought a aparently 19" but it seems to be a large 17" more 18" so anoyed!! THEN i mesure and WOOPS its 19 across on the machine but the dimentions are different to your standard PC monitor and the screen is a lot smaller than the hole!!! but i may attempt to take out of case but i am 15 and do not have the fogyiest!!!

at the minute have rammed teh monitor in installed a wedge to hold teh darn thing in and when you look throught you see beefy baige when the monitor is the wrong thing for the job. i would like a duplicate of the original one which would fit for starters but that would work with a windows computer.



i mean tomorrow when i can get back to it i can wire it back up with monitor in and start to flaf about with the actually computer but i have been a idiot and lost the drivers for my sound card on it which is a pain but the computer is a old windows 95 TINY soo shocker!!!


i just like it because it supports ISA for the sound card for some old games of mine



help!!

[david656]

Ok so I have fitted the screen that is the wrong size but its ok for the minute!!

but I have been thinking hard and am going to buy a nice new screen the right size and have it professionally fitted and then am going to hunt down a coin mech for it.

Does anyone know:

1. What coin mech the Crystal Maze SWP second version machine take?
2. Where can I get one

After thinking hard if I can get the screen and mech sorted I am going to temporarily put it maybe in my sixth form area at my school and any money put in the machine will be donated to St. Peters hospice and then after 3/4 years when I leave I will move it somewhere else.


so finaly if anyone has a mech that will fit my machine OR knows how i can get one it will be much apresiated

[Fozzy The Bear]

so finaly if anyone has a mech that will fit my machine OR knows how i can get one it will be much apresiated

Depends what coins you want to take through the mech..... A fixed price one coin mech say 10p will cost you relatively little. I believe that that machine had a universal mount.... A photograph of the area where the mech fits would help here.

If it's a fruit machine mech, then there are a variety which you could use, if it's an arcade game mech, then probably a "coin controls" maybe something like an SR5 would do the job if it's programed up in advance for you.

The down sides to all this are,
1) that I don't think you appreciate the amount of maintenance that you're going to have to do in that environment.

2) Regardless of the fact that you are donating the money to charity, you would be breaking the law, by running unlicenced roms in it and having people put money in it. Even on Freeplay it may be illegal

3) Your cab is going to get WRECKED in the space of a year, let alone 3 years. Not to mention that it will be a target for thieves (cashbox and machine)

Good Luck!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[grantspain]

the original coin mech in crystal maze are coin controls c435a which can be interchanged with mars me126,the original mech is front entry bottom reject and utilises a coin seperator which diverts the coins to the correct path,if you do not wish to use a payout unit you could use a standard mars/coins controls mech without the coin seperator so that all the coins are diverted to the cash box
it is very easy to fit any coin mech to any machine,in the case of a c120 mech all you need is +12v,ground and coin signal(be it 10p,20p etc)

[blueznl]

Buy a main board and some Neo Geo cartridges and it's a bit more legal. You may still be not allowed to exploit such a machine though...

[Teebor]

On the monitor front you can buy 19inch LCD for just over £100 and 21inch LCD for less than £150 but these are probably unsuitable for what you may be trying to achieve.

I would take a look around a bit more for monitors, maybe pop to a local computer fair and pick up a cheap second hand one

[david656]

WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

i never thought about the fact that it might be illegal BUT as i haven't put anything on the HDD yet its ok for the minute BUT if i buy say 5 boards and then get the 5 roms and put on there is that still illegal???

im thinking this is either going to cost me major bucks or i'll be breaking the law!!!!!!!!!!! how is that fair!!

ok thanking and responding

thanks teebor as i explained i so say got a 19" CRT for £50 but it doesn't even seem to be 19" AND the whole in the bezel for teh monitor isn't standard 19" PC monitor size anyway as i have a 19" LCD for my main pc so i would have to get a giant monitor for a relitivly small hole!!!!  and thanks i will have to check out the fairs around the bristol area UK.

thanks blueznl for point out the fact its illegal as i never cared to think about the law i mean who does!! I would like to at least do something with this machine for charity as i got it for free and have spent quite a bit of money on it case no one knows im 15, 16 in Nov. so £39 on the keyboard adaptor, £10 on the light and wiring, £50 on the screen that doesn't fit, money on the speakers i ripped apart to get the amp out of to connect to the original speakers that were left in it!!! so £99 plus bits and bobs i have put in it like a new fan for the door etc that i had lying around my room!!

grantspain AHHH your back to help :-) ok now thats for pointing that out that confims what this eBay guy is saying to me. he has the mars ME126 and said for £25 inc. P&P i can have it. as its got a PC in it i presume it won't be paying out and i don't want it to pay out as its gonna play a few games like SMS games etc that i at least have on cartridge! soo +12v a PC can out put taht can't it? i no it does 5v but i thought it did 12v to??

Fozzy The Bear  thanks again i said taht to my dad why he suggested the idea that it would get WRECKED and yeh the machine would have to be bullet proof to stop the money walking off!!!

well if you all could give me more advise that would be great but i am thinking this whole idea could be a bad one. i may end up maybe keeping it in teh house and getting all my mates to cough up some of there money to play it  if i get there favorites on there!!! but either way i want to make good of it and not have it sitting in my garage as it is!!


FINAL COMMENT:  the monitor! the one thats in there at the moment althought its to small in screen size its poking out the back of the dam machine!!!!! and im not gonna take it out of its case just yet untill im 100000% sure i no what im doing as one of you guys did point out how you had a hair raising experience with a monitor of some sort!!

thanks

[david656]

www.arcadejukebox.homecall.co.uk


for pictures on where the coin slot should be and scroll down to the limk saying coin slot picture here or something like that

hope that helps they are pictures i took like 20 mins ago bit blurry lol

[Fozzy The Bear]

grantspain AHHH your back to help :-) ok now thats for pointing that out that confims what this eBay guy is saying to me. he has the mars ME126 and said for £25 inc. P&P i can have it. as its got a PC in it i presume it won't be paying out and i don't want it to pay out as its gonna play a few games like SMS games etc that i at least have on cartridge! soo +12v a PC can out put taht can't it? i no it does 5v but i thought it did 12v to??

Fozzy The Bear  thanks again i said taht to my dad why he suggested the idea that it would get WRECKED and yeh the machine would have to be bullet proof to stop the money walking off!!!

An ME126 is a fruit machine mech. You will also need a "credit board" if you are connecting it to a Mame PC... otherwise you will not be able to tell it how many credits relate to what coins.

You will also need someone to program that mech for you, so that it understands what coins you are telling it to accept. With an ME126 this requires a "Mech Programmer" which are not easily available.  ALSO if you are buying it off e-bay especially at £25 it's probably not in good working order. It's probably very worn and tired and will give you a great deal of grief. A new ME126 costs around £250 with a reconditioned or service exchange one costing at least £120.  A credit board is going to cost you another £50 on top of that.

At the end of the day, what we're all actually trying to tell you is that this is a very bad idea! It's no good saying that the machine will have to bullet proof. The whole idea is just a non starter. Your cab and controls WILL get destroyed by this. On top of that you are constantly going to be called out to fix it.

You have no experience of a machine in a semi commercial environment.
You have no experience of machine maintenance.
You have no experience of coin mechs and coin jams (which are frequent and to be expected)
Your machine will be broken and needing repairs within a matter of weeks.

DON'T DO IT!

Go get a Saturday job, working for an arcade instead if you can. You will learn why this is a bad idea.

I'm giving you this advice as an arcade professional. It's not worth the hassle and costs involved. Forget about it! keep your cab at home.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[david656]

ok! thats sounds not so fun or cheap!!

ok im keeping the machine at home (hands off)!!

but i would still like to at least have some sort of coin mech 

all i want BASICS you put 50p in and it plays anything more or less no good.

i would like it to do amout up to 50p but i no thats probably complicated. thinking about coin jams i remember like as a young kid going on holiday and there were always coin jams in like 60% of the machines so i see what you mean btw you have to be 16 to have a job!!

i mean is the above possible for a low ish price say £50 as i have that in my pocket lol


i understand why your saying no don't get me wrong it is a bad idea but i would still like to try at having a basic mech for getting money out of my so called mates that ow me anything from £6 down probably more in some cases!!!

[Fozzy The Bear]

ok! thats sounds not so fun or cheap!!
ok im keeping the machine at home (hands off)!!

OK Good call.

but i would still like to at least have some sort of coin mech 
all i want BASICS you put 50p in and it plays anything more or less no good.

Take a look at the ones offered by Ultimarc
http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html#cabparts

For £27 GBP plus shipping, you'll get a coin door and a mech, that will do exactly what you need it to do at home. They're not ideal in a commercial environment, because they can only take one coin type (which you set by fitting an example coin into it), but great for home use and you won't need an additional credit board to get it to work.

You will have to modify your cabinet a bit to take it, and fit a blanking plate where the original mech was. But it will do the job for you with the minimum hassle.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[david656]

well i am not looking for a fight here but!!!

i looked at that coin mech you sent me and for the cab i wanted it would of been ideal but for this cab its no good, if you download the pictures of where the slot is on my cab you will see why i want one to replace where the original one would of been.

i have stated to the guy the following:

ummm just checked the website and it says that as i am a totaly
> newbiee and the fact that i haven't got a clue whta im doing its a bad
> idea, they also say i need all these boards and stuff umm!!!!
>
> do you think its possible for me to fit it and get it to work, how
> good a condition is the mech and what do you think the total price inc
> P&P would be for me to:
>
> get a coin mech that plays a game for 50p or amount up to 50p
>
> thanks again for your time


he said:

Hi again ,coin mech is £20 + £5 p& p tested & working , regards,John.

and

The validator is the coin mech & seperator , the piping as you put it it is
the routing,you need the £coins to go into the £coin tube & the other coins
to go to the cash box,it probably is the correct mech for you ,

and this:

I dont know if it is the one but this mech fits almost all
fruit machines & if you are programming a pc to play like a machine you need
a validator to pulse the credit side of things,regards,John.




now i don't no what to do i don't really want that coin mech you showed me and thanks for that btw bit o don't not want a mech atall......

is it worth trying the one this guy is on about selling me???

i so want to belive and trust him.... but if i definatly need something apart from the mech then thats gona cause problems


again thanks for your time

[Fozzy The Bear]

I dont know if it is the one but this mech fits almost all
fruit machines & if you are programming a pc to play like a machine you need
a validator to pulse the credit side of things,regards,John.

David.... That is what I said to you yesterday....

The "Validator" he is talking about here is the "Credit Board" that I told you you would need. "Credit Board" or "Validator" it's the same thing.

The reason you need a "Credit Board" or "Validator" is because you can't just connect that mech straight to the PC. The PC will not understand the signals that it is putting out.

For example:
1) Lets say that you put 5 X 10p into the mech. The mech will send out 5 pulses on the 10p line. The Credit Board will receive and count those pulses and send 1 X credit pulse to the coin input on your key encoder, only when it has seen 5 pulses on that line.

2) Lets say you put 2 X 20p and 1 X 10p into the mech. The mech will send out 2 X Pulses on the 20p Line and 1 X pulse on the 10p Line. The Credit Board will count and add up those pulses and say OK I've had a total of 50p put into the mech now, so I'll send one credit pulse out to the coin input on your key encoder.

3) Lets say you put a 50p into the mech, The mech will send out one pulse on the 50p line, the credit board will see one pulse on the 50p line and think OK I've got a total of 50p and it will then send out one credit pulse to your coin input on your key encoder.

As I said yesterday... You WILL need a "Credit Board" also known as a "Validator" which will cost you another £50. You can get them from "Suzo" in the UK which is part of the "HAPP Group"

On top of that, you WILL need to have that mech programed, if for any reason it is not set up correctly or if it is badly worn. For that price, my professional experience tells me you'll be buying a piece of junk, which will end up costing you a huge sum of money.

I'm not arguing with you David, I'm just giving you the advice you need, so that you don't find that you end up with expensive parts that you can't use. You clearly don't understand what it is that you are buying and when you buy an expensive bit of technology without understanding it, then it's only going to get even more expensive when you find that you can't make it work.

You can choose to listen to the advice being given to you, or you can choose to ignore it. It's entirely up to you. At the end of the day it's your money.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[david656]

WOW 

thanks for that i now totaly understand, as much as i would like a mech if i got to spend all of that!! to get like my £6 back off my mate then i think i'd  rather let it drop!!!! 

again i thank you for all of that i will let the guy no that after enquiring i wil decline his offer

any ideas on how to improve the cab for my use..... i want to add a external control panel/box as the built in one uses a trakball and 5 buttons not much use if you want to use the best arcade games (joysticks)

i have the buttons and micro switches and joysticks, i just need to mount them in something external  and connect up......


thanks again