Project: Blue

[SirPeale]

http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/newmame/index.php?cat=6

Well, I've been working on this in my spare time (what little of it I actually have) and its' nearly complete.  It's just a Dynamo cabinet, but when I got it was completly empty.



Still needs monitor glass and the rest of the wiring hooked up, but other than that it's done.  Here's what it looked like when I got it.

Click The Images

Total cost for this project?  Under $100.

• Cabinet - free.  No back door.  Luckily the control panel and JAMMA harness as well as an iso xformer were still inside.
• Monitor - free.  Some monitor I can't identify.  Was given for free on RGVAC, all I had to do was pick it up.  It was blurry, so he thought there was something wrong with it.  Turns out the focus was off.  The only other problem is that there's a problem with the neck board.  It comes up fine, but picture dies off when it heats up.  If you press lightly on the board, it comes right back up.  Connection problem of some sort, but I haven't figured it out.
• J-PAC - $70 (the most expensive part, except for the time involved)
• Back door - free.  A friend dumpster dived a piece of plywood for me.
• Blue joysticks - $1.00 each.  Came in a lot of sticks I bought on eBay.
• Blue buttons - $1.25 each.
• Black start buttons - $4.00
• Locks - $4.00 each x 3
• Black vinyl - $3.00
• Computer - free.  The motherboard was given to me by a member here a year ago.  Has onboard video (with NON-SHARED MEMORY!!!) via ATI Rage 3D, and Crystal sound.  It's not in the cab yet, but will be running DOS 7, since I have the drivers for the sound.

The marquee is not staying.  For one, the one in there is too small. I just put it in to make it look more like a cab.  I've got a request in the artwork forum, and then I'm off to Kinko's.  For sideart, I thought about using the Classic Arcade montage.  We'll see.

And yes, there is no T Molding on the right.  I took it off just before I snapped this picture.  Replacing it with new t-molding.

[Edgedamage]

Ahhh refreshing to look at a nice simple control panel.

[SirPeale]

I was going to put more buttons on there in a Mortal Kombat format (I was going to convert it to a Mortal Kombat cab with real boardset) but the start buttons were in the way.

If I could find NOS Dynamo CPs and cut my own...

[Acids]

Ahhh refreshing to look at a nice simple control panel.

I agree, uncluttered control pannels are becomming rare.

[SirPeale]

I may not be keeping the joysticks that are on there.

I hooked up a PC last night to give it a test run (and test my wiring) and you really have to wail on the sticks to get any respose out of it.

I'm going to try to replace the switches, but failing that it's going to be black bat tops.  

[SirPeale]

Replacing the joystick switches helped - a lot - but you still require a lot of effort to move it around.  It's too stiff.  I suspect that this joystick is acutally two joysticks the previous owner stuck together, and it's not quite right.

In wiring it last time (since I was using the original JAMMA harness) I had put the joysticks in upside down, so down was up, etc.  After I fixed that, had myself a nice round of SideArms.  Completed level one before I shut it off.

[SirPeale]

Left the cab on all night last night.  Went down to check it, and I find the screen is completely off.  The guy that gave me the monitor told me it needed a cap kit, and I was hoping to put it off, but it looks like I can't any more.  Damn!

[Edgedamage]

Are the guns still glowing?

[SirPeale]

Eh?  Oh, I should choose my words more carefully.  It still displays a picture, but the picture is off.  There's a small part of the screen that looks normal, then the rest is brighter and off focus.

[SirPeale]

Replacing the joystick switches helped - a lot - but you still require a lot of effort to move it around.  It's too stiff.  I suspect that this joystick is acutally two joysticks the previous owner stuck together, and it's not quite right.

Well, I found two problems with the joys I had in there, and that's why I was having to wail on the joys.

1) they're four way joysticks.  Explains why I couldn't hit diagonals.  Funny I didn't notice this before.

2) the actuator was broken.  Slightly chipped, it lowered it enough so it wasn't hitting the switches.

Swapped it out for a couple 8 way leafs and viola!  Nice game play.

The only problem is they're Wico leafs, and you can't get the switches any more.  I broke one, but luckily had another broken one I could use for parts.  But man, they sure are smooth.

Monitor has developed a severe problem, but Bob Roberts says a cap kit should help it.  Now I just have to pull the board and count the caps.

[SirPeale]

Ended up swapping the monitor out for a WG4600.  I got it for free from a BYOAC member.  Needed a cap kit and a flyback pot.

Updated the first post for a direct URL.  Have been updating my site.

[SirPeale]

I had this cabinet out on my porch for Halloween this last year.  One kid said "this is the coolest thing I've ever seen, and I've been doing this for like six years!"  Had it running Ghosts and Goblins.

I had a yard sale today, and while I was waiting (and waiting, and waiting...) for customers, I took the time to clean up my wiring.  It was a MESS.  I had done just enough to get it working, but didn't secure anything down.

"Borrowed" monitor bezel and plexi from work so I could cover it up, need to make my own bezel and get a real piece of glass for it.  The plexi is just...WRONG.

[SirPeale]

Symptom: cab will not boot unless I remove the cap trick plug I made and short the pins directly.  And when it does boot, I have to hook a keyboard up to bypass the settings.  Since this is using an actual arcade monitor, I can't read what's going on.  Since we've been playing this so sporadically, I've just been living with it.

Solution: replace the motherboard battery.  That's a no-brainer for the BIOS settings, but oddly that's also what was causing the motherboard to not boot with the cap trick.  Once I replaced the 2032 battery it boots, every time.