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Author Topic: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?  (Read 6735 times)

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M.Lanza

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Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« on: April 06, 2008, 06:35:20 pm »
For some reason today, I decided that I wanted one.

Is there some kind of site I can go to where I can learn more about them?
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Ken Layton

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2008, 06:41:56 pm »

M.Lanza

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2008, 07:04:04 pm »
Wow! more expensive than I thought.  :dizzy:

I may have to think about this a litte bit.

Thanks!
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Popcorrin

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2008, 09:37:54 pm »
I have a titanium for sale for $425 if you are interested.

M.Lanza

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2008, 09:01:22 am »
That is rather tempting.

What are the chances of finding an empty cabinet with the monitor
and building one over a period of time?

It seems I could find one on ebay if I look hard enough,
but the cost of freight shipping is a major deterent.
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M.Lanza

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2008, 03:39:26 pm »
Well... I now have a non working megatouch XL Gold.  ;D

It didn't come with the disc drive or software and as far as I can tell so far,
The touchscreen is cracked / broken.

I connected the vga monitor to my dreamcast to test it and it works.

I got a Titanium 2 upgrade kit from ebay, so I should be able to test
the motherboard once it arrives in the mail.

It would seem as though I have a new project.

I know it's not a MAME cabinet or jukebox, but can I post my progress toward
refurbishing this thing in the project forum?
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DJ Infinity

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2008, 04:59:24 pm »
I for one would be interested. The sell those at the auctions here. I was thinking of getting a base one at a auction then upgrading it.
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SirPeale

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2008, 08:32:54 pm »
Broken touchscreen?  Yikes.  They're pricey.

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2008, 10:53:02 pm »
What size screen ?
If you know what model monitor it is that would be helpful as well.

I might have one laying around. I just recently aquired a few "parts" units that are pretty well stripped out, but hey all still have monitors and maybe one of those screens will fit yours. I think these are all like 13"-14".
I have a few 19" from other games as well if needed.
Not a technician . . . . just a DIY'er.

M.Lanza

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2008, 08:05:06 pm »
What size screen ?
If you know what model monitor it is that would be helpful as well.

I might have one laying around. I just recently aquired a few "parts" units that are pretty well stripped out, but hey all still have monitors and maybe one of those screens will fit yours. I think these are all like 13"-14".
I have a few 19" from other games as well if needed.

The whole monitor, or just the glass touchscreen overlay?

The touchscreen glass is for a 13" monitor.
it's a microtouch, but i've read that an ELO would work with the microtouch controller
with some wire splicing.

Broken touchscreen?  Yikes.  They're pricey.

It doesn't seem that bad.
I've seen a couple on ebay end with no bids at under $50.00.
It was kind of tricky removing the touchscreen from the monitor without breaking it any more,
so I may end up spending 3 times as much and ordering one from the megatouch store.

Here's what i've got so far.

Both the male and female connector for the coin box are broken.
I've found all of the plastic bits, so I'm going to epoxy them back together.

It didn't come with any locks, but I have a couple from a wico coin door that
i'm not using.

one of the sides is busted, so I have to order a new set from here.
http://www.themegatouchstore.com/

When I started disassembling the machine I found this chip laying in the
bottom of the cabinet.



Later I discovered that it came from the zeus I/O board close to the left
side of the dallas key at U30



When this chip was removed it also ripped one of the traces off the board,
but that trace doesn't connect to anything so i'm going to try to solder the
chip back onto the board.

I've never soldered anything this small before, so it should be fun.

There is also a peice missing at C43 which I am assuming is a capicator untill someone
tells me differently.

I am also assuming that the value of these "capacitors" can be determined by their size and color?

I'm taking a guess that the "capacitor" missing at C43 is the same as the one at C53, but I
can't be sure unless someone can post a close up pic of that part of the board.

Maybe?

If my guess is correct, I found the same "capacitor" on an old graphics card that I can
transplant onto this board.

In the titanium 2 kit I got, there is a "centronics" cable included.
What is this cable used for?

I'm assuming that it would be used to update the hard drive with newer software,
but the titanium 2 is the last upgrade for the xl series and I can't think of any devices
that would connect to the megatouch with such a connector.



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M.Lanza

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2008, 06:56:49 pm »
It's almost operational!

I managed to re solder the chip on the board and replaced the capacitor.
When I was straightining out the legs on the chip, I broke two of the legs off.
One of them was the one that attached to the broken trace on the board that
didn't go anywhere, so I didn't mess with that one.

The leg on the top right hand side of the chip did connect to somewhere so I
used my rotary tool to remove some of the plastic of the chip so I could have some
kind of metal contact point to solder to.



I'm not going to say that it's not ugly, but it works.

I just kind of made a big solder blob on the board trace and streched it over
to the exposed metal contact point on the chip.

I also replaced that capacitor with one from an old graphics card.

I'm kind of embarassed by that soldering job.

Anyway... I reassembled the computer hardware of the machine and managed to
reflash the U12 eprom with the software from the cd that came with the titanium 2
conversion kit.



Then I installed the hard drive and rebooted the machine.



It looks like it's working.

I don't know what that the chip and capacitor do, so I won't know if my sloppy repair
job actually did anything untill I get a new touchscreen, but it looks promising so far.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2008, 07:00:23 pm by gimp_hand »
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DJ Infinity

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2008, 11:35:58 pm »
Good Job!!
I wish I knew how to solder  :hissy: Keep us informed  :cheers:
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SirPeale

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #12 on: April 21, 2008, 06:15:39 am »
Good Job!!
I wish I knew how to solder 

I really hate when people say this.  Get an iron (you can find cheap ones easily enough) get some solder, get a broken dead board of some kind.  Read one of the 1,000,000,000 tutorials regarding proper soldering, and  P R A C T I C E.  It's really not hard at all.

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2008, 03:47:14 am »
It's almost finished!

I bought a new touchscreen a week ago from ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260232105508&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=016

I wasn't expecting to get a "new" touchscreen considering how little I paid for it, but it was indeed new.
I think I may get a spare if the seller lists another.

I still have a couple more things to buy for it before it's finished, but I can play it as is right now.
The only thing I "have" to buy are the new side panels.
One of them is broken an I can't repair it.

I'm also going to get a 64 meg ram simm and a new fan for the processor hsf since it's kind of noisy.

I mad a gameplay video with my psp.
It's kind of hard to play boxxi while concentrating on centering the camera.



So i've still have unanswered questions and some new ones.

I still don't know what the "comtrex" cable is used for.

Where can I find the lable for the dbv?
Happ doesn't have any for the mars validators and a web search doesn't turn up anything.

How can I backup my hard drive? I know it's possible because people on ebay are selling
the software on compact flash cards.
I just don't want to be SOL when my hard drive dies, but if I cna't get an answer,
I might just upgrade to a maxx or a classic force.

Anyway, this this is awesome. I don't regret it at all. It's a very unique peice.

My wife to me she thought I was nuts when I brought it home, but now that it's playable,
she thinks it's cool and she's glad I got it.  ;)

She's played on it almost as much as I have, though she doesn't know about the "nudie" games yet.
I think i'll just leave those disabled.
 :dunno
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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2008, 08:12:44 am »
(Norton Ghost) may be able to back up the hard drive?

Not sure though?

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2008, 09:43:39 am »
Happ does have the labels listed on their website unless they are out of them.

http://www.happcontrols.com/validators/250057025.htm

The centronics cable connector is used for hooking up a cd rom to load software onto your hard drive

Heres a link for the cooling fan you need.

http://www.happcontrols.com/electrical_supplies/80000615.htm

Check out this link it can answer alot of questions you may have.

http://www.meritgames.com/new%20support.asp

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #16 on: May 04, 2008, 10:43:47 am »
(Norton Ghost) may be able to back up the hard drive?

Not sure though?

I think the hard drives protected in some way.

Happ does have the labels listed on their website unless they are out of them.

http://www.happcontrols.com/validators/250057025.htm

The centronics cable connector is used for hooking up a cd rom to load software onto your hard drive

Heres a link for the cooling fan you need.

http://www.happcontrols.com/electrical_supplies/80000615.htm

Check out this link it can answer alot of questions you may have.

http://www.meritgames.com/new%20support.asp

Thanks.
I didn't see those labels there the last time I checked.

I was pretty sure that was what the centronics cable was used for,
but I don't understand what kind of device would connect to it unless
you can update the software through your computer's printer port.








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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #17 on: May 04, 2008, 04:51:33 pm »
If you look at the other side of the connector you'll see that it has an ide and a 4 pin molex power plug branching off of it.  There is a cable, which is pretty much the same,  that can plug into the centronics connector that has an ide and power connector on it that plugs into a cdrom.  You really don't even need to use it.  You can just hook a cdrom to the ide and a power plug and it will still work.

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Re: Thinking about a megatouch bartop. What do I need to know?
« Reply #18 on: May 30, 2008, 10:17:24 pm »
If you look at the other side of the connector you'll see that it has an ide and a 4 pin molex power plug branching off of it.  There is a cable, which is pretty much the same,  that can plug into the centronics connector that has an ide and power connector on it that plugs into a cdrom.  You really don't even need to use it.  You can just hook a cdrom to the ide and a power plug and it will still work.

I'll just look for the other end of the cable, i'll probably make use of it if I decided to upgrade the machine
in the future.

I got some more work done on it and so far, it's nearly finished.

I found a set of replacement side panels on ebay.
I took a chance on them not knowing what condition thay would be in.

I don't have any pictures of the panels as I received them since I was excited
that I was able to finish a major part ot the cabinet.



I stripped off the old t-molding that was fairly chewed up along with the maxx ruby
decals that they came with and used carburator cleaner to remove all of the dirt and gunk
along with most of the nicotine stains.

Then I applied some dark blue t-molding that I had left over from my tetris plus project
and applied the new decals that came with the titanium 2 kit.

The only major flaw is that one of the lower corners of this panel is kind of chewed up
though the other panel is fine.
I'll just smooth it out with bondo or nail putty, that touch it up with silver paint than buff and wax it.
It will barely be noticable then.



I then assembeled the panels with the the metal top / lid; then installed the fans and fan guard.



After some minor adjustment, I attached the assembly to the machine, connected the fans to the
power harness, installed the drain tube, and attached the monitor control board to the lid with velcro.


Everything fits together nicely and the lid opens and closes smoothly.
I used a lock cylinder from an old coin door I had since the old locks didn't come with working keys,
but the lock cylinder isn't quite long enough to completely lock the door, so I have to find a better replacement.



Just a pic of the other side panel.



Pic of the side with the slightly chewed up corner.

I didn't have a lock for the cdrom drive cover and it was no longer needed anyway,
so I made a mounting plate under the monitor and used a carrage bolt and washer
to keep the cover in place. It's holding pretty strong. the only way that cover's comming
off again is to remove the monitor first.



Finally, the front of the machine.
I attached the new marquee holder that came with the kit and got a new label for the bill validator.
I looks quite nice now.

I learned quite a bit about this machine while I was working on it.

It would seem as though this machine wasn't on location for very long.
The manufacturer's plate shows that this machine was built in '98 which
leads me to belive that it was shipped from the factory as a gold since
it seems like the older xl's didn't come with bill validators.

The date sticker on the monitor shows that it was built in '99, so the original
was replaced with this one some time before 2003.

There's a sticker under the lid that says ELO touchscreen, but it came with a
microtouch controller when I got it, so I think that it was replaced along with the
monitor.

This, along with the original busted side panels lead me to belive that this machine
was either vandalized or dropped causing damage to the monitor, touchscreen, and side panels.

The other things are that the bill validator firmware was never upgraded to accept the
2003 series $5.00 bills. I think that would have been in the operator's best intrest to have this done
unless the machine was off location at this time.

The machine was quite dirty when I dismantled it, but there was an amost complete
lack of cigerette tar and nicotine that seem to be quite prevailant in pictures of other
megatouch machines similar in age, especially in the types of enviroments that these
machines usually occupy.

Now that this machine's nearly finished, I can get back to figuring out why my tetris plus board
isn't saving any high scores, though I'm starting to think that it would be cool to have two megatouches
set up for head to head play.

My favorite game on this machine so far is boxxi.
I still keep trying to beat my high score of 1,441,800 points.






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