Main > Project Announcements
Project A-kab = FINISHED!
csa3d:
--- Quote from: Zobeid on May 03, 2008, 11:31:54 am ---The Electric ICE pushbuttons are not high-quality buttons, in my opinion. They are made of a hard material that rattles and feels cheap. I also have great difficulty disassembling some of them. While trying to push the tabs into the button body, they really didn't want to go -- and I ended up bruising my thumbs and bending the tabs before they finally gave up.
The only positive thing I can say about these buttons is that they look fabulous when lit up. Which is what they're made for, of course. I just wish it wasn't necessary to sacrifice so much to get that effect. Why can't they be made out of milky white nylon, instead of this cheap material? (What is it, styrene?)
I have considered getting some Happ translucent buttons. They wouldn't look as cool, but I'm guessing they would work okay and feel better.
--- End quote ---
I'm feeling exactly the same now that I have the cab playable. The pushbuttons are rarely ever smooth feeling when depressing them, a few of them stick super bad, and to top it off, while installing the button nuts a few of the nuts just WOULDN'T go on. I literrarly felt like I was breaking the plastic screws off when tightening them.
Where would you get these translucent buttons from? I'm also considering getting a clear billard ball to match the E-Ice 2.25" trackball if I go this route.
-csa
Zobeid:
--- Quote from: csa3d on May 04, 2008, 09:57:44 pm ---Where would you get these translucent buttons from? I'm also considering getting a clear billard ball to match the E-Ice 2.25" trackball if I go this route.
--- End quote ---
Translucent Happ buttons available here:
http://www.lizardlickamusements.com/pages/pushbuttons.shtml
Strangely, they don't seem to be available on Happ's site. I wonder if they are being (or have been) discontinued?
Namco:
Did you try Wizard of Wor yet? It really does have awesome sounds. :)
Zobeid:
--- Quote from: Namco on May 08, 2008, 07:57:50 pm ---Did you try Wizard of Wor yet? It really does have awesome sounds. :)
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I tried it, the speech is pretty funky. "Find me . . . the wizard . . . of Wor!" I remember playing that game ages ago in the arcade. I think it uses the same hardware as Gorf.
Astro Blaster has good audio and speech. "Fighter pilots needed in sector wars! Play Astro Blaster!"
Defender, Stargate, Joust and Joust 2 have great sound. Something going on with Williams games, I guess? And of course Typhoon 2001 is fantastic.
The BANG when you crashed your car in Rally-X was always really loud and startling on the original machines. I wonder if they had some special hardware for that? It's pretty loud on my MAME rig, but it doesn't make me jump like the original did.
Zobeid:
This morning I got the CP graphics, so I spent the whole afternoon tearing down the CP and rebuilding it. I had to cut the vinyl graphics sheet with a hobby knife, then slot-cut the CP with my router, which I'd never gotten around to before.
While I was at it, I swapped the Electric ICE buttons for Happ translucent buttons. I had to drill them for LEDs -- first a guide hole with the dremel tool, then 3/16th drill. Then I moved the diffuser discs from the old buttons to the new ones.
I like how it came out. . .
I had to reconfigure all the LEDs because the Happ buttons transmit so much more light, they were annoyingly, distractingly bright. Basically I divided all the intensity values by four. So anything that was 49 became 12, anything that was 24 became 6, etc. Now they look pretty good, and (as noted earlier) they feel better than the Electric ICE buttons.
I also finally got the tinted acrylic bezel/window for my LCD monitor. I was following the advice of others who said this would improve the black level of the LCD. . . I'm not sure if I like it, it's really dark and is taking some getting used to. I turned the contrast up to maximum and I'm still not sure about it.