Williams Multigame

[CheffoJeffo]

Since I first turned from MAME to the dark side, I have really wanted a non-emulated MultiWilliams, but the ones that have come up locally have all been minty and expensive.

Some years ago, I bought a Joust cocktail from Mike Ranger (aka Williams Guru) and we discussed Clay's MW kit. It turns out that Clay and Mike were both assembling Williams multigames at around the same time and corresponded on the subject. Being the great guy that he is, Mike threw a bunch of Williams boards in with the Joust. Some of these I gave away to folks who I knew needed them, some I traded and some I tucked away for my MW.

Cut to November 2008 and the release of jrok's SYSFPGA Williams Multigame board:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=83897.0

At last, an inexpensive (and disgustingly easy) way to get a non-emulated MultiWilliams!!!!

I ordered a pair of boards, used one in my Joust cocktail (was having sound and harness issues) and the other I installed temporarily in my MultiJAMMA cab.

And now, tanman is producing the Phoenix MultiWilliams art using the original screens!!!!

The planets are coming into alignment and all is well in the universe.

I had been waiting for a suitable donor cab to just fall into my lap, but recently decided to put out some calls and see if I could find something in time for the "parking lot swap meet" at the next Starburst/Playdium auction (this Saturday).

Last night I heard from a guy who has a Robotron cab that he was going to 48-in-1, except that the monitor sticks out the back when rotated vertically. He was going to drop an LCD in it, but decided that he would sell it to me instead. The monitor has some issues, but I can't tell if they are "real" issues (e.g. something not fixed by fixing pots and replacing caps) or "normal" issues. In any event, given the current shortage of 19" CRTs, it makes sense to pick up monitors as they become available.

So, after some discussion, we made a deal for the cabinet, monitor, spare chassis, JAMMA harness, bezel and CP, including 4" Wicos.

I pick it up on Saturday.

[CheffoJeffo]

For those who may not know the difference between the Phoenix MW art and the ArcadeShop MW art:

ArcadeShop:




Phoenix:




Since jrok's board doesn't run Moon Patrol (was different hardware and developed by IREM), the ArcadeShop art would be out of place. I also like the Phoenix art better, even though it lacks Sinistar and Blaster, which are both supported on jrok's board.

I am trying to decide what to do for t-molding and pushbuttons.

I am currently leaning towards red t-molding as I think that would pop nicely with the Phoenix art.

As far as buttons go, I am leaning towards lit translucent leafs, as seen in tok's Stargate Bartop:



and spacies' MultiWilliams:



If I could only get lit balltops on a 4" Wico shaft ... 

[CheffoJeffo]

OK, so where is the hotspot to get translucent leaf buttons these days -- Bob only has Red, Orange and Green left ?

I have one short blue and one short red in my Box o' Buttons, but that's it.

 

[RetroACTIVE]

OK, so where is the hotspot to get translucent leaf buttons these days -- Bob only has Red, Orange and Green left ?

I have one short blue and one short red in my Box o' Buttons, but that's it.

 

I have a few long blue I'd be willing to contribute to an uber cool Williams Multigame

[CheffoJeffo]

What a nice guy! Now get back to writing that article for GRM! 

It appears that Steve at ArcadeShop still has a variety of short translucents in stock and I need to order a flyback for an MTC-9000 anyway, which he also has in stock, so I may be OK, once I choose colours that is.

I am thinking of "white" for the P1/P2 start buttons, red, green, amber and blue, although I haven't entirely decided which colours should go where.

[CheffoJeffo]

Picked up the cab on Saturday ... in nice shape and does have 4" Wicos (even after everything that has been written, I still can't believe the difference they make for Robotron).

Monitor is a WG 4900 and I managed to work most of the issues out, but it still needs a capkit and general reflowing (which I expect will work everything else out).



More details about the auction in my Dominos thread

[RetroACTIVE]

Love the Dominos man!  Those oldies rock!

[RayB]

Wow, you've been busy this weekend!

[CheffoJeffo]

Sadly, after factoring in kids' illnesses and some volunteer work, that busy time hasn't included enough RealWork(tm), which is why I have been up and working for the past couple of hours and fighting the urge to power up the MW and play a rousing game of early-morning Robotron.

[CheffoJeffo]

This bloody monitor is possessed!

It behaves differently at different times -- sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's a little shaky, sometimes the blues run, sometimes it only displays every second line, sometimes it loses sync, sometimes it has a black Rorshack-looking blotch on the right side. All those changes without any adjustments or pattern (e.g. randomly occuring no matter how long I leave it on)

I don't have all of the caps that should be replaced in my Box o' Capacitors and have been too busy to run out and get some, so I'll probably just tack the capkit onto an ArcadeShop order ... assuming I get around to doing that.

[CheffoJeffo]

I finally managed to get the no-longer-new cabs down to the basement, which is now more a workshop than a game room. In order to fit games, I have had to add a center row of cabinets, so I should be able to fit another 6 or so uprights in. 

My immediate issues for this project were the control panel and the monitor. Once I get the CP laid out and the monitor working, I need to do some cosmetic work to the cabinet (which will, sadly, involve more sanding that I would have liked).

I have already said that the monitor is possessed and have been reading threads and articles to try and nail down causes of some of the specific issues. I could post a picture in the Monitor/Video forum and expect that Ken would take one look at it and shoot me the appropriate answer. For some reason, however, I am trying to do more and more of my own reading, which has worked out well in terms of additional knowledge gained.

In looking at the monitor, the most obvious symptom that I am not familiar with is that part of the screen is blank for a while until it warms up.



There are also missing horizontal lines, some sync issues, although I think I have the "running blues" under control (and think there is a bad drive pot).

The black spot seems to disappear for a while, then will reappear, as do a number of the other symptoms.



Just the other day, I pulled out my copy of Randy Fromm's Big Blue Book Of Really Great Technical Information and, while reading an article entitled The Time Machine (excellent article loaded with good info), came across a picture captioned The Weirdest Symptom.



Well, it seems that the failure of the bypass capacitor can give rise to all sorts of neat issues that defy standard troubleshooting methodologies. In the article, Randy explains how to identify the bypass cap and now I am set to go (was going to replace most of the electrolytics anyway, but now I know that one of the is most likely behind many of my issues). I pulled the standard cap list from ionpool and had most of them in my kit, so after a quick trip to the electronics supply shop. I am ready to roll.

I'm also going to reflow every joint and check every connector as I understand that the 4900s had problems in that regard.

For those who are interested, I highly recommend subscribing to Randy's Technical Department. The cost isn't nearly as high as buying his Arcade School materials and, to my mind, you get access to the best of his materials (including podcasts of much of the video material). I seem to recall the cost being $39.95 when I enrolled, but it seems it is $59.95 now.

Hopefully, I'll get to it tonight as Mrs. Cheffo returns to town and can tend to the little Cheffos so I can take some time to play with high voltage electronics!

[CheffoJeffo]

I replaced the caps in the monitor, including the bypass cap and reflowed all of the connectors and pots. Then it took me a week to get the monitor back into the cab, but it works like a charm.

Now I just need to see what is up with tanman and the artwork.

[Kevin Mullins]

Ironically we were just discussing a similar monitor issue over at Monitor/Video.
I had come across the same article from Randy.