NAMCO Arcade Light Gun converted with AimTrak for MAME cabinet

[Flyover12]

Hi All,
Finally signed myself up to the forums after spending numerous time searching the wealth of information on here,
thought I would pick some brains on an upcoming project to see if its plausible or has been done before.

I have always believed the recoil of a NAMCO arcade gun is what makes arcade light gun games so enjoyable, Point Blank, Time Crisis, etc.

Problem is that no solution recorded or available provides this answer.

I have read nearly every thread and review regarding lightguns for use with a MAME cabinet.
From the mod of guncon2 ps2 lightguns to work with tv's, act labs unusual ray gun, the HK EMS Topgun, optigun board, and finally to the newly released AimTrak which requires hacking a suitable older gun (usually an original guncon).

I have tried the HK EMS Light Guns and while they look good, the recoil is pathetic and have always had issues with the calibration (also hated having to hide to giant sensor bars in a mame cab).

Only issue I have with the AimTrak is that in all the photographed hacks I have seen the module looks to exposed in the gun barrel (but then how many people are gonna be looking down the barrel of the gun)

What i want to do is purchase two NAMCO arcade guns and fit them with the AimTrak module and setup some type of circutry to power the solenoid for recoil every time the trigger is pressed.

I know having the solenoid activated from the trigger not from a piece of software will have issues in games like T2 where the trigger is held down constantly.

I have figured so far that I am going to have to run 2 cables from the base of the gun, 1 for the aimtrak and 1 for the solenoid power but believe this can be hidden / transformed into one cable using a metal wire casing (like on real arcade machines).

Any help or thoughts on this project welcome.

Thanks,
Stephen

P.S sorry for the shear number of 'I' ' s in this post 

[DirtyDachshunds]

I have also played around with this idea.  Let me know how it works out for you.

You will need to shield the power wire for the recoil from the control wires going to the aimtrak.

[Flyover12]

Got a quote for main parts for this project if anyone else is considering similar:

Complete pink and blue namco gun cases and solenoids from Happ Controls: $418.50 (£265)

AimTrak Units from Ultimarc: $80 (£54.40)

so about $500 (£320) <-- not that user friendly compared to the rest of my cabinet build

-----------------------

Does anyone know of a cheaper way to get hold of old namco arcade guns other than cheap time crisis / point blank cabs from ebay?

[Flyover12]

Also just found the supplier happmart (china based) with replacement namco guns for $120:

http://www.happmart.com/Products.aspx?sid=71

does anyone know if these are a reliable company?

or if the recoil is the same as the original NAMCO guns?

would drop the construction price to about $300 for the pair which is alot more viable and closer to realisation

[trevski]

How about a couple of Happ guns if you want to keep the cost down?

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-WORKING-PERFECT-HAPP-GUNS-/170523078904?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

They did come without the recoil solenoids too so you'd have to verify that they are fitted before buying

[Flyover12]

Thanks Trevski for the link,

unfortunately those style of Happ guns are solid units (no recoil),

think im probably gonna place an order with happmart as they are the cheapest option

[DirtyDachshunds]

I'm really interested to see how this works for you.

Keep me in the link.

[Nado]

I am going through the same process you are. I have an old Innovation Jolt Gun (looks identical to namco gun but black) which has a solenoid in it. (had it since time crisis on the ps1)
I havent had a chance to really get the project going, but i'm looking at using a 555 timer circuit to send a pulse to the recoil each time the trigger is pulled, otherwise the solenoid closes
while the trigger is pulled in and releases when released.. only issue is going to be with automatic weapons, and it'll recoil when the ammo is empty.


as far as power is concerned.. I'm not sure how it'll go, but i was planning to fit rechargeable batteries to it.. not sure how successful this would be yet.

[Flyover12]

Hey Nado,

Interesting you mentioned the Innovation Jolt Gun,

been trying to find reviews of the recoil on that light gun as some claim its as powerful as the arcade guns and that it uses a separate power supply for the recoil,

Can you confirm this? <------(youtube video would be best)

I originally picked up a Logic 3 P99L to hack into my mame cab, so far it has the best recoil in a home lightgun i have found, but still dont think its arcade standard (close but no cigar)

Wouldn't worry about the recoil on the reload as i believe that happened on some of the time crisis games anyway when selecting new guns (must get down to an arcade and confirm this),

Good idea using a pulse circuit i was batting the idea around how to stop the solenoid staying active while the trigger was held,

Will eventually beg some gifted software buddies to develop a driver solution that can combine an electronic circuit with the trigger and aimtrak module to get rid of the recoil in reload,

while it is tempting to hack up an old lightgun im probably gonna go with the happmart namco time crisis gun replica looking to place the order end of next week,

[Mark Thomas]

This is exactly what I want to do with the Namco Arcade guns. Did you have any luck with this project?

[matsadona]

(also hated having to hide to giant sensor bars in a mame cab).

This shouldn’t be any different from mounting the Aim-track sensors, since it is basically the same – I.e. a number of IR LED’s.
The first thing I did with my EMS gun was to strip the sensor bars and just use the LED’s, mounted on a wall for use with a projector.

By the way, can't Mame Hooker be used to trigger the recoil?

[Mark Thomas]

Could you please explain what's Mame Hooker is? 

[MacGyver]

I put Aimtraks in a pair of Happ guns too, a red/blue set, with the heavy triangle metal cable things.  I had to cut the large end off the aimtrak USB cords to feed them down the small holes in the cables, and used a dremel and hot-glue to show-horn the sensors inside the barrels of each.  Put them as far forward as you can, leave just enough space to put a cut piece of black film from a negative as a lens (it's dark to visible light, but see-through to infrared).  Leaf-spring U-bolts work well for holsters.  I did not put solenoids in them, you might need to use very small gauge wire to get the extra wires down those metal-braided cables, you would need at least 7 wires (5 usb, 2 solenoid, not using trigger wires to trigger) if not 9 (5 usb, 2 solenoid, 2 diode isolated from the trigger to trigger) per gun.  I'll try to post images tomorrow. 

[matsadona]

Could you please explain what's Mame Hooker is? 

Sorry, maybe that should have been explained since the name could be sending the wrong signals
It is an application (made by Howard_Casto here at the forum) that can be used to monitor outputs from MAME, and then use that to trigger LED's, lamps, relays, solenoids etc. You will find more information here: http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutmamehooker

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks buddy I'll check link out