Author Topic: Star Wars Cockpit......SHE LIVES !!!!! (Read 158484 times)

Level42 · « **Reply #200 on:** August 18, 2007, 03:44:35 pm »

OK, did some last work before heading off for a well deserved holiday with sun,beach, booze and......my wife

Succeeded in getting the worn out bolt loose by using my Dremel, made a nice slid for a screwdriver with it in the bolt head, worked great. Opened the panels, everything needs some cleaning of course. Take some good shots of the cardboard bezel inside. The screen has some burn-in. Not surprising, but it's much less than I had expected. The screen is SO dirty, but I forgot to bring my cleaning stuff

Some interesting/annoying thing: I had already seen it but now it got clear what it was....the plexi in front of the screen showed some darker spots. They were like speckles a bit. It now turns out that the builders at te Tipperary factory were obviously not very careful when spray-painting => They have hit the inside of the plexi with some black spray paint !!! I can see a perfect clean/clear area AROUND where the plastic bezel is, but where the plexi is "open" there's spray all over !!!

Going to have to replace that plexi for sure, guess it will become glass.....

I also checked out the speakers behind the marquee. The marquee is glass with vinyl sticker on top. It is in very nice condition. I removed 1 speaker to feel the weight. They feel very light, means there is no serious magnet inside. I guess this confirmed that I am going to be replacing them at some point in time.....

Level42 · « **Reply #201 on:** August 18, 2007, 04:03:02 pm »

Guys, do we all have women that load up WAY too much stuff as luggage

Level42 · « **Reply #202 on:** August 18, 2007, 04:04:46 pm »

More pics of the bezel....needs some repair

ChadTower · « **Reply #203 on:** August 20, 2007, 10:16:34 am »

Back after a while off the boards... this thread makes me happy.

Keep it up, bro.

blueznl · « **Reply #204 on:** August 21, 2007, 02:16:43 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on August 18, 2007, 04:03:02 pm

Guys, do we all have women that load up WAY too much stuff as luggage

My solution:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~bluez/other/real7.htm#top

BrentRadio · « **Reply #205 on:** August 21, 2007, 04:56:22 pm »

I never realized the bezel was so deep. How far back is the monitor from the smoked glass?

Do you have any pics of your game with the glass removed and the bezel still in it?

If you could zip up any and all pics you have taken and send them to me that would be great.

Thanks,

Brent

Level42 · « **Reply #206 on:** August 23, 2007, 06:19:23 am »

Hi guys,

Thanks all !!

Witing this on the sunny isle of Lanzarote....just catching up on the internet.

The monitor is quite far back. It has to be, since the large plastic bezel else would cover some of the picture. My camera lost power when I was overthere while removing the stuff. I also wanted to make a pic of the screenburn.....anyway I will follow up as soon as I´m back home, but that will be at least a week still......heading back to my cocktail and sunny spot near the swimming pool

TheDriver · « **Reply #207 on:** August 23, 2007, 06:40:23 am »

Cab looks great, very jealous because I do not have the space for something like this! Look's minted.

Level42 · « **Reply #208 on:** August 30, 2007, 04:14:19 pm »

Quote from: TheDriver on August 23, 2007, 06:40:23 am

Cab looks great, very jealous because I do not have the space for something like this! Look's minted.

Thanks driver....I actually still have no space for it yet as well, it's still at a friend's shed.... :S

Just a quick note that I'm back from holiday in cold and cloudy Holland......

O well, Lanzarote is great, as long as you keep away from the really tourist places

But then again, there were quite a number of "arcades" on those tourist spots

Pics later...

I received an e-mail from Jed Margolin, one of the creators of SW. I quote most of the e-mail here. My questions are in italics, Jed's answers in normal font. Interesting stuff, and amazing that he was so nice to answer my questions about a game he (amongst others of course) created over 25 ago

QUOTE:____________________________________________________

However, there are still some issues with the picture, convergence (just a
bit on the lower side) and f.i. the letters sometimes seem to have open ends
etc....
I guess most of this is simply a matter of replacing electrolytic
caps and checking solderings and connections.

It could be the integration capacitors in the Vector Generator. Make sure to
use the correct type of capacitor. (I think they are polypropylene.)

It could also be a misadjustment of the BIP (BiPolar) controls which
controls the offset current into the integrators.

But what I was wondering about is that when there is a lot of text on the
screen, the picture starts to flicker. Is this a problem, or is this normal
? I figure that all that text needs a lot of calculation and movement of the
beam(s) and this could be causing it....

Yes, it is normal for the screen to flicker when there is a lot of text on
the screen during attract mode when it presents the storyline.

The choice was to either put all the text on the screen and have it flicker
or put less text on the screen and not have it flicker.

The amount of time it takes to draw a vector has two parts. One is
determined by the length of the vector. The other is the overhead required
by the Vector Generator to set up the vector. Therefore, it takes longer to
draw lots of short vectors than it would to draw fewer but longer vectors
where the sum total of the vector lengths is the same.

END QUOTE
_____________________________________________

For those who send me questions/PM's, I hope to respond ASAP....

Level42 · « **Reply #209 on:** August 30, 2007, 04:16:08 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on August 20, 2007, 10:16:34 am

Back after a while off the boards... this thread makes me happy.

Keep it up, bro.

Hi Chad,

Glad about that

I'll keep it up

Level42 · « **Reply #210 on:** September 03, 2007, 02:58:44 pm »

Does anybody have an idea how to get rid of (really old) spray paint on plexiglass without hurting it ?

Thanks !

Pixelhugger · « **Reply #211 on:** September 03, 2007, 03:08:19 pm »

I've used those pure orange oil based "Citrisolve" type household cleaners to "dissolve" dried paint on old wood floors. I doubt it would react with the acrylic.... though you'd want to test that first.

Level42 · « **Reply #212 on:** October 06, 2007, 02:05:37 pm »

Thanks Pixelhugger, but for some €14,- I bought a brand new piece of perspex.

New RAM chips from arcadechips.com have arrived.

Parts from Bob Roberts should arrive any day now (thanks ArcadeFever !), including an Amplifone rebuild-kit (caps & transistors), ARII rebuild kit and Power Supply rebuild kit, incl. Big Blue...

More soon...

rovingmind · « **Reply #213 on:** October 09, 2007, 11:17:53 am »

For those of us aspiring to construct our own machines, any chance of getting some dimensions of those bezel panels and width of the silver stripes? It would be greatly appreciated and save much trial and error.

Quote from: Level42 on August 18, 2007, 04:04:46 pm

More pics of the bezel....needs some repair

Level42 · « **Reply #214 on:** October 11, 2007, 02:09:02 am »

Sure....hope to have some time this weekend...

rovingmind · « **Reply #215 on:** October 11, 2007, 10:08:16 am »

thank you

Level42 · « **Reply #216 on:** October 13, 2007, 12:29:21 pm »

I was thinking, instead of just measuring would scanning be better ?

Level42 · « **Reply #217 on:** October 13, 2007, 06:31:19 pm »

Worked on the AR2 board yesterday. Did I mention it's a very wise thing to make pictures all the time....it actualy saved me from a big mistake this time !!

See if you can find it

1) Bob Roberts' kit (thanks for the help Arcadefever !). The - indication on some of those caps were missing arrows, so what's the point on axial caps to have them ? Luckely the + is also indicated by the small dent on one side....

I decided to do the caps only and keep the active parts as spare. Also I think it's strange that the kits don't include thermal pads/mica for the transistors and regulators. Only 2 of them on this PCB.....

2) Before. Nichicon caps, a very well known brand, good quality

3) After. Xicon caps, never heared off......hope they're OK......did you spot the error ?

I really only noticed my mistake after looking at the pictures !!!

Bottom line, double, no triple check !!!!

O yeah, and I resoldered all the important solderings (connectors, big resistors etc.)

I didn't do a sense mod. It seems to work fine as it is (was)........should I do it anyway or not ?

arcadefever · « **Reply #218 on:** October 13, 2007, 06:58:28 pm »

the 2 caps on the left, both are mounted the same way

one should be + up the other one + down something like that

something that i notice, Bob Roberts does not include the 2 big black capacitors on the deflection board (for the b&w) vector monitor...

does the SW need it ? you may need to order 2

talking about that one:

rovingmind · « **Reply #219 on:** October 13, 2007, 10:05:24 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on October 13, 2007, 12:29:21 pm

I was thinking, instead of just measuring would scanning be better ?

either way would be fine, If there is a curve to it than scanning would be better, with a dimension on there as reference

Level42 · « **Reply #220 on:** October 14, 2007, 04:37:11 am »

Quote from: arcadefever on October 13, 2007, 06:58:28 pm

the 2 caps on the left, both are mounted the same way

one should be + up the other one + down something like that

something that i notice, Bob Roberts does not include the 2 big black capacitors on the deflection board (for the b&w) vector monitor...

does the SW need it ? you may need to order 2

talking about that one:

And the price goes to Arcadefever ! I guess I got confused because on of those caps, the + is connected to the big common lead on the PCB. So you kinda automaticaly expect the - to go there, but this cap is for the -22V section, so it figures the + is on the common.............duh ! I am embarrassed....

And about the 2 caps.....no I won't be needing them. I didn't work on re-capping the deflection PCB yet, but as far as I looked at the cap-kit everything's there

!
Thanks for thinking along though !! Merci beaucoup

! (I noticed you post in French on Gamoover

)

Level42 · « **Reply #221 on:** October 14, 2007, 06:36:38 am »

My Power Brick "restoration". It doesn't come close to Brentradio's fabulous work, but at least it's clean now, and all the important parts have been replaced: "Big Blue", diode bridge, Fuse block and clamps.

1) The European/Irish Big Blue is actually grey and a lot smaller than Bob Roberts' replacement. I think it's smaller than the US version I've seen as well (on pics) but not sure about that.The original is at 16V only, Bobs' is at 25V so that could explain the size difference. The really great thing about Bob's "Big Blue's" is that they are newly manufactured. Lots of other sellers sell old stock. There's a good chance that a cap that has been in storage for let's say 10 years, is WORSE than the one that has been in use in the power brick for 25 years....

2) The old fuse block and fuses. Definitely needed to be replaced, amazing it worked anyway !

3) and the new one installed.

Level42 · « **Reply #222 on:** October 14, 2007, 06:40:16 am »

I had ordered the "full kit" , this includes a mains cable. Of course I knew there would be a US mains connector on it, but I wanted a completely new cord as the original is pretty bad. Just still have to go get a European plug, amazingly I had none in my stuff.....so I cut up a European mains wire and tied the two together, just for the testing of course.

Level42 · « **Reply #223 on:** October 14, 2007, 06:43:06 am »

Finished. It doesn't look as sexy as Brentradio's work, but it will have to do....

I tested all voltages, unloaded. The 10,6 V shows at 14,95V but I guess that's because it's unloaded. All AC voltages are OK too.

I had to bridge the connector going to the power supply to test it out of the cab....

Level42 · « **Reply #224 on:** October 14, 2007, 06:49:12 am »

Sidenote: I had ordered two capkits for the Power Brick and the AR2 because both are also in my Centipede cab, and I want to do those as well.

The strange thing is that one kit included a lot of loose fuses, the other a separate bag with fuses. There were a lot of wrong values. Most of them are 20A, of which you only need 1 on each power brick. There was also a 3A fuse, which is not used on any version of the power brick.

Also, but that's not really Bob's fault, there are 7A fuses included for F1, the mains fuse. The European (220/240VAC) version needs a 4A. I left the original where it was...just something to keep in mind

Level42 · « **Reply #225 on:** October 20, 2007, 03:17:15 pm »

Ah, what a great day !

Had a whole afternoon to work on my SW

Re-installed the Power Brick and ARII (and the PCB set of course). Game powered up normaly and played great. Checked voltages, had to increase the 5V on the ARII a bit, because it was now loaded of course. Glad everything worked OK.

Pics:

1) EVERYBODY loves a SW cockpit

(Not my cat, just a regular visitor at the place where it's stored now)

2) Replaced one of the VECTOR-rams with the new one from www.arcadechips.com. There were no errors on start-up so it passed the tests. Works great. I first wanted to change all the RAMs in one go, but then I thought......I'll keep the other 5 Sharp's as spare

The hardware test was also passed during the set-up screens....nice !!!! Thank you arcadechips.com !!!!

3) I adjusted the pots on the vector PCB to get the best picture. This is the best I can get. This picture is red and blue beam only. You can clearly see the convergence problem, especialy on the lower left corner.
Also, I wonder what is causing the pincushion. There are no pots for pincushion (which figures on a vector) but obviously this is not OK. I hope that it's caused by a cap on the deflection board. This is next up for the cap-kit job....

Level42 · « **Reply #226 on:** October 20, 2007, 03:25:41 pm »

1) Again, same test-screen but now with all three beams active...
2) Think I didn't put up a pick of the marquee yet. This is the Irish one, it's a vinyl on top of the glass. Looks almost perfect. There's a small damage on the S and a small spot on the right, otherwise 100%
3) Put in the brand new Perspex I bought (also see my Galaxian No.815 thread). This is thinner than the original, but about as dark. The plus is that it is gray, so no color. The original is bronze tinted, which I don't like personaly. Some may remember that the original plexi was covered with black-spray paint speckles (most likely from the factory !). THe new one looks brilliant !!!
I can't tell you the difference, this picture is not showing 10% of the real thing, colors are much richer...

Kaytrim · « **Reply #227 on:** October 20, 2007, 03:29:33 pm »

Looking good with all the baby steps an' all. I just love to see these old classics brought back to life.

TTFN
Kaytrim

Level42 · « **Reply #228 on:** October 20, 2007, 03:46:02 pm »

Thanks Kaytrim !!

It's so amazing how addictive this game is......I got a little better already ! I finaly succeeded in registering my initials into the Novram (place 3, but it's a start !!!) That was the first time a high-score was written into it's memory, about time after 24 years

There's one more technical problem I noticed: only the left audio channel works. Both on the speakers behind me and the one's in the seat. I measured the AC output on the ARII and both outputs seem to be putting out about the same voltages. So I guess it's a wiring problem somewhere. I have also exchanged the speakers in the backside, and both speakers are fine.

Further, I examined the plexi's on the top. Both are also 3 mm thick (like the new one I got for the monitor). The top-most is a simple rectangular sheet. The back one is simply the same, but of course there are two bends made in it. I am pretty confident that the company where I got my plexi (http://www.stoutperspex.nl) can easily recreate the back sheet. Both plexi's are pretty much scratched and there are the obvious cigarette burns/melts. Also, I think grey would look MUCH better than the bronze that is has now........it fits better to the black paint IMHO.

Has anyone with a Cockpit ever removed the the complete top ? I am asking because I am thinking of getting all my cabs in my attic, but I can't get it there in one piece. Removing the top would probably make it fit through the window in the roof....

[Edit] I just looked at Stout's website, they can do anything you can imagine with the plexi. Just to name one: Computer controlled oven for bending...... think that would do the job fine

polaris · « **Reply #229 on:** October 20, 2007, 04:58:25 pm »

the way you're picking up cabs id think less about moving cabs into your attic, and more about moving house

in sort of seriousness, could you honestly see yourself cutting up your sw cockpit at all?

Level42 · « **Reply #230 on:** October 20, 2007, 05:59:18 pm »

Haha...yeah, you got some extra money for me ? Thing is I live in a fine house, great location and great neighborhood. Don't want to move really. Only problem is some space for the cabs

....... a guy couple of houses further suggested getting a divorce as the cheapest option, then I could move everything into the living room

Cutting ? Who's talking about cutting ? The Cockpit is more or less three parts: - the body where all the electronics are, the back with the seat and marquee, and the top with the plexi's.

These are bolted/screwed together as far I can see now. So if it's relatively easy to unscrew the top, this would be really good

Level42 · « **Reply #231 on:** October 20, 2007, 06:06:12 pm »

Here's some video footage I shot today. Things to notice:

1) My 5 year old son Mark and his very first try on Star Wars. In no-time he was shooting tie's and almost every death start exhaust port he could reach

Of course on the easy level, but not bad

2) Video showing the convergence problem and the pincusion problem. First blue and red, then all three colors.

3) Attracht mode, look at the Star Wars logo, the letters are now closed. They had "open ends" first. This was corrected by simply adjusting the X and Y Bipolar pots.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=byQqY541dAU[/youtube]

Level42 · « **Reply #232 on:** October 20, 2007, 07:15:52 pm »

Cleaned the bezel.........this is in mint condition !!

Level42 · « **Reply #233 on:** October 21, 2007, 03:54:29 pm »

Looks like removing the top can be done:
http://andysarcade.de/data/picseries/sw_restore/overview.html

... although I'm not planning on a full disassembly like this !

Also, I could even bend the plexi myself, just need some heat - wire:

http://www.tapplastics.com/info/video_detail.php?vid=7&format=quicktime&

Also look at the other videos, some nice idea's.....

patrickl · « **Reply #234 on:** October 21, 2007, 04:13:59 pm »

Quote from: Level42 on October 21, 2007, 03:54:29 pm

Also, I could even bend the plexi myself, just need some heat - wire:

http://www.tapplastics.com/info/video_detail.php?vid=7&format=quicktime&

That looks really cool, but where do you find the heating element?

Level42 · « **Reply #235 on:** October 21, 2007, 04:47:32 pm »

Well, I'm not planning on spending 60 bucks for that heating element they show.

My first option to bring the original to Stout Perspex and ask nicely if they can duplicate it for me. I trust it won't be very expensive, it's not like hours of work...and they got professional tools.

If it IS too expensive I think I will build something like shown in the video, but use a resistance wire instead. This should be available at any electronics shop OR I could get it from an old hairdryer or electrical heater or something like that.....

General Vergel · « **Reply #236 on:** October 21, 2007, 09:45:17 pm »

I've been lurking for about a month now, just recently registered an account, and I have to say you are one of my heroes due to this project. I've been a hardcore Star Wars fan since I was but a wee lad, and seeing you putting this baby together is freaking astounding. Keep up the awesome work!

Level42 · « **Reply #237 on:** October 22, 2007, 01:05:59 pm »

Welcome Vergel, and thanks for the kind words......never imagined I'd be someone's hero one day

Level42 · « **Reply #238 on:** October 23, 2007, 04:59:57 pm »

For those interested: I scanned the cardboard bezel. This version is ONLY used in the cockpit.

I sent the files to Zorg who promised to stitch them together and make a good file of it.....

Further I have acquired an accessory that should not be missed if you own a SW:

rovingmind · « **Reply #239 on:** October 23, 2007, 05:21:23 pm »

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY


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