Act Labs Gun Owners Please Help !

[Minwah]

OK, here's the story:  When the gun came out I bought it and played with it for a while...then I took it apart with a view to lobbing the guts into a PSX Namco gun I was given.  It looked a bit tricky so I put in a cupboard...until now!

I had the urge earlier to do it, so that's what I've been up to for the last few hours.  I have had to extend some wires, but I did make 1 possibly major alteration, to use the switch (already in the Namco gun) to reload instead of the two microswitches that are in the Act Labs gun.  This involved joining some wires here and there - I thought I had done it OK  

I plugged it into my old 333 (didn't have the nerve to plug it into my current PC).  It passed the first test, it didn't blow up  The problem is it doesn't seem to 'aim' when I hit the trigger, it just flashes and the cursor seems to 'right click'.  Hitting the reload button also does the same, minus the flash.

It has been a long time since I used the unmodifed gun, so I have a couple of questions:

1) What happens when you aim at the desktop and hit the trigger?  I think it should flash the screen & move the cursor to where you aimed.  It shouldn't 'right click' and bring up the little menu, right?

2) When happens when you hit the reload button (aiming at desktop)?  Should it flash (& aim)?  It should now bring up the 'right click' menu right?

FWIW I know the sensor is working because when I go to the calibrate screen, I can see a slightly darker 'band' moving around the screen as I move the gun (I don't recall this happening before tho).

It seems as if when I hit the trigger, it is as if I hit the reload button, except that the screen does flash.  It could be that I wired something wrong, or just that I have a bad connection...

Thanks for any help guys

[NiN^_^NiN]

Well i dont have the gun but im just curious u didnt hook BOTH buttons to the reload button did u? if so that might be your problem but what happens if u go into a mame gun game what does the gun do?

I would say u need to take apart the gun and desolder both buttons then attach 1 (just clip or twist the wires to it) and see what happens when u push the button for just 1 not 2 it might help as the button could be canceling out the left click and thats why its doing right click

altho if u dont have both buttons hooked up to the 1 then im wrong

[Minwah]

Thanks for the reply, I'll try and explain:

The trigger button is straightforward - I have not changed that at all.

Now, the reload button on the gun has 2 microswitches -they appear to be operated at the same time if you press the button 'square', but I think it is possible to operate one at a time.  Anyway, from looking at the small circuit board these two switches are soldered to, there appears to me to be only 2 separate connections (1 white wire on it's own &  4 black wires + 1 brown which seem to be connected all the time).  So I wired these (white + black/brown) to a switch from the Namco gun - so the Act Labs original 'reload' switches are not used.

I cannot see the point of having 2 switches for reload.  It is done like this either because a) it just makes the switch work better (if say you don't press it square), or b) I have completely mis-understood how it works.

I *think* it works ok apart from actually aiming when the trigger is pressed - it is quite possible I have a bad joint going from the trigger to sensor, or trigger to calibrate switch.

FWIW here is a pic, it is quite tricky to see properly tho:

[Minwah]

Come on guys...I know you've all got guns  

Should the cursor 'move' on reload?

[anthony691]

Come on guys...I know you've all got guns  

Should the cursor 'move' on reload?

Sorry Minwah, I didn't understand what you were asking...

No, it should NOT move the cursor (like in windows) it should right click wherever the last shot was fired. It in itself Does NOT track, but only send a button press...

Does that answer your question?

[Minwah]

Sorry Minwah, I didn't understand what you were asking...

No, it should NOT move the cursor (like in windows) it should right click wherever the last shot was fired. It in itself Does NOT track, but only send a button press...

Does that answer your question?

Yes, that's it, thanks

I have 2 problems then:

a) the pointer doesn't move when the trigger is pressed (it flashes tho),

b) it 'right clicks' when the trigger is pressed.

Sounds like the trigger is doing something wrong.  The reload button + calibrate switch seem to operate correctly.  Back to the old drawing board...  

[anthony691]

Sorry Minwah, I didn't understand what you were asking...

No, it should NOT move the cursor (like in windows) it should right click wherever the last shot was fired. It in itself Does NOT track, but only send a button press...

Does that answer your question?

Yes, that's it, thanks

I have 2 problems then:

a) the pointer doesn't move when the trigger is pressed (it flashes tho),

b) it 'right clicks' when the trigger is pressed.

Sounds like the trigger is doing something wrong.  The reload button + calibrate switch seem to operate correctly.  Back to the old drawing board...  

Problem B leads me to suspect incorrect wireing : (

[Minwah]

Problem B leads me to suspect incorrect wireing : (

I think you're right  

The odd thing is, the only wiring I thought I'd changed was for the reload button, which seems to work OK.

I did 'snip' and discard one red wire coming from the trigger switch...there are two, and they appeared to be connected to the same spot, so I just split from this 1 wire to the 2 destinations (sensor & calibrate switch).  I will double check that point.  Other than that I dunno, I'll just check everything...

[anthony691]

Problem B leads me to suspect incorrect wireing : (

I think you're right  

The odd thing is, the only wiring I thought I'd changed was for the reload button, which seems to work OK.

I did 'snip' and discard one red wire coming from the trigger switch...there are two, and they appeared to be connected to the same spot, so I just split from this 1 wire to the 2 destinations (sensor & calibrate switch).  I will double check that point.  Other than that I dunno, I'll just check everything...

Hmm... maybe it ISN'T a GOOD idea to "discard" any of these wires?

I don't know though... I wouldn't think there would be any overlapping because of increased costs...