Project attempt #2 - Mortal Kombat mame panel almost done

[Malenko]

You're welcome. Glad to be of help.

same

sorry I called it gain when I meant screen, glad it didnt mess you up

[Gatsu]

same

sorry I called it gain when I meant screen, glad it didnt mess you up

It's no problem man. I'm just glad I was able to find it and get it adjusted. Didn't mess me up at all because only one of the pots had a readable label and it wasn't Screen. So if it wasn't one it had to be the other. lol.

A little update today. Took the marquee off to get a look at the condition of the speakers. There is a bulb still in the marquee light, but obviously doesn't work. I'm not 100% sure but it probably turns on with the rest of the cab doesn't it? I didn't notice a switch and it looks like it's wired in properly. So I may go get a bulb today and test it out.







Also, sorry pbj, it is just a vinyl decal stuck to the plexi. So it's gonna either go in the trash when I peel it off the marquee, or I'll stick it to my gameroom bathroom mirror as a joke. 



I'll work on cleaning out the cob webs and vacuuming out the rest of the cab and give the insides a proper going over with some cleaner. There's about 22 years of dirt & dust collected at the bottom of this thing. lol.

Then I'm gonna sit down and type out a parts list and plan of attack.

Thanks again to everyone for their help. It is really appreciated.

[Gatsu]

A quick question from a Jamma youngling.

If I want to get rid of all the spliced wiring and all that in the cabinet, I know I'm gonna need to either rewire or just get a whole new Jamma & kick harness kit.

I was looking at Jammaboards.com at these two items:

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/jamma-full-cabinet-wiring-harness-loom-jamma-h1.html

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/mortal-kombat-1-extra-buttons-auxiliary-harness-midway-h2.html

Also, will these work with MK 2 & UMK3 as well? Or will I need to order a different style kick harness for those 2 games?

Or can I just order this and have it work with all 3 MK Games?
http://www.jammaboards.com/store/mortal-kombat-2-4-killer-instinct-jamma-kick-harness-midway-h1.html

Is there a better place to order them from? I've never dealt with this website so I don't know how reliable they are or anything.

Also, I have 4 black happ competition bat top sticks....I need red. Does anyone have the red bat tops and is willing to trade the black ones for them? I'd hate to order 4 full new comp sticks if I don't have to. Just need the red bat tops.

[Malenko]

Mk2 and mk3 have the same kick harness. Tunit mk1s also use that kick harness

[Gatsu]

Mk2 and mk3 have the same kick harness. Tunit mk1s also use that kick harness

Alright. I have a T-unit MK1 so if I order the MK2/3/4 version it should work with my MK 1 board.

Thanky! That'll save a little cash.

[PL1]

Also, I have 4 black happ competition bat top sticks....I need red. Does anyone have the red bat tops and is willing to trade the black ones for them? I'd hate to order 4 full new comp sticks if I don't have to. Just need the red bat tops.

If nobody has any to trade, Bob Roberts has them for $3 each.


Scott

[Gatsu]

If nobody has any to trade, Bob Roberts has them for $3 each.

Scott

Awesome! Thanks man.

Now onto the wall of questions.

I measured the plexi for the marquee and its 25" x 7". So is that the size I need to order when I order it from gameongrafix? Or is it actually smaller? Or does gameongrafix know the original size and I don't need to worry about it?

Later on I want to put a Mame pc in the cab with a 6-button control panel. So I know that I'll need to rig the pc with an ArcadeVGA card and the signal booster if I use an i-pac for controls.

So I have a couple questions about the ArcadeVGA & Booster. Ultimately I want to be able to easily restore the cab back to playing the MK1 jamma board and swap the control panel back for the original once in a while to make sure the Roms all work and to play the real deal instead of an emulation.

How would I need to rig the wiring for the sound and the monitor to make this somewhat easy to do without splicing and re-splicing wires every time I wanted to swap them around?

Also. I have a Smart Strip Surge Protector. One of those, you plug whatever device in outlet 1, when you turn it on it also turns on slots 3-6 or whatever. Would it be safe to plug the cabinet directly into that, so when I flip the switch to turn on the cab/monitor, it will turn the mame pc on as well?

I'm not near this point in the project, but I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row and I have the right info so I can make sure I get the right parts and all that over the next few weeks/months.

[MK3FAN]

Alright. I have a T-unit MK1 so if I order the MK2/3/4 version it should work with my MK 1 board.

No. You have a Y-Unit based on your pictures. That LP/LK harness is a 12-pin. MK1 (T-Unit_ and MK2-4 use the 15-pin. As for the Jamma harness, stay away from the soldered ones. Buy one of these and you'll never regret it...

http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_178&products_id=500&zenid=je58ife0a9jq5r7btv0u4vfkp1

[Malenko]

No. You have a Y-Unit based on your pictures. That LP/LK harness is a 12-pin. MK1 (T-Unit_ and MK2-4 use the 15-pin. As for the Jamma harness, stay away from the soldered ones. Buy one of these and you'll never regret it...

http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_178&products_id=500&zenid=je58ife0a9jq5r7btv0u4vfkp1

Yeah that's why I specified T Unit, because it looks like you have a Y unit board.

[Gatsu]

Alright. I have a T-unit MK1 so if I order the MK2/3/4 version it should work with my MK 1 board.

No. You have a Y-Unit based on your pictures. That LP/LK harness is a 12-pin. MK1 (T-Unit_ and MK2-4 use the 15-pin. As for the Jamma harness, stay away from the soldered ones. Buy one of these and you'll never regret it...

http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_178&products_id=500&zenid=je58ife0a9jq5r7btv0u4vfkp1

   ah okay I'm confused. lol.

So I'll only need to order what you posted there MK3FAN, not the additional kick harness? Or do I need to order that and just the MK1 kick harness?

[Malenko]

  ah okay I'm confused. lol.

So I'll only need to order what you posted there MK3FAN, not the additional kick harness? Or do I need to order that and just the MK1 kick harness?

Hes saying if you want to replace the JAMMA harness, get that one. Its not the low quality cheap ones you see all over eBay. With a Y Unit MK1 you'll need an MK1 kick harness, the MKII(and up) one wont work. Basically Y Unit MKs used the street fighter harness, T Unit MK1s and MKII through MK4 used a 15 pin harness, same as Killer Instinct.

[MK3FAN]

This is the LP/LK harness you need...(don't pay attention to the sticker on the connector. It's a 12-pin if you count the pins)

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/mortal-kombat-1-extra-buttons-auxiliary-harness-midway-h2.html

This is the harness for the T-Unit and MK2-4...

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/mortal-kombat-2-4-killer-instinct-jamma-kick-harness-midway-h1.html

This is the Jamma harness you need...

http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_178&products_id=500&zenid=je58ife0a9jq5r7btv0u4vfkp1

[Gatsu]

Alright cool. Thanks for the clarifications guys. Apologies for having to ask so many questions.

[Malenko]

Apologies for having to ask so many questions.

Dont apologize, its the only way to learn bro 

[MK3FAN]

Alright cool. Thanks for the clarifications guys. Apologies for having to ask so many questions.

No worries. Always happy to help.

[Gatsu]

I ordered the Jamma & Kick harness just a few minutes ago, a long with the marquee from gameongrafix. Hopefully I ordered the correct size. I made a note in the order to print whatever the original marquee size is for that cab. So hopefully it'll be right. If not I got a cool wall decoration.

Also, turns out the marquee light bulb still works. It just wasn't sitting in the fixture properly. So huzzah!

Shipping for that Jamma harness was a little pricey I thought. $11.99 coming from florida to south carolina. Ah well. It'll be the last Jamma harness I buy for a while so hopefully it'll last.

This weekend I'm gonna strip all the current harness wiring out, replace it and rerun everything more neatly, hopefully install the new marquee and strip the control panel down to the metal plate and get it prepped for new artwork whenever I can order that.

On another note. It's really funny how my fiance has been acting about this project. Once we got the cab in the apartment, she's been offering suggestions and asking me all about it. She's almost as excited as I am about it. So that makes me happy. I was afraid she was gonna be really against it...especially considering how hard I had to push to get the cab in the first place. She never got to play the MK games growing up, or most arcade games for that matter. Her mother was ridiculously strict with that kinda thing. At least now we can both share in the nostalgia and I get to experience her enjoying these games for the first time. So that's pretty cool.

[PL1]

This weekend I'm gonna strip all the current harness wiring out, replace it and rerun everything more neatly

Will you be using the method Bob Roberts recommends here?


Scott

[Gatsu]

Will you be using the method Bob Roberts recommends here?

Scott

I hadn't seen that before. But I will definitely go that route. Looks really clean. Thanks for sharing Scott. I appreciate it. 

[Gatsu]

Some complications have arisen with the jamma harness...so it's gonna be a while before there is any progress with re-wiring the cab.

But I did take the control panel apart, remove the buttons and strip the old artwork off. I'm gonna have to scrape all the old adhesive off of the metal plate. There's also some warping around the 2nd player joystick hole. Not sure what to do about that other than maybe take a rubber mallet to it and hope for the best. There's actually a gap between the metal and the wood under the warp.

Here's the stripped control panel:


Here's the warped area:


And the marquee light works! Woo!

[Gatsu]

Decided to fire up photoshop and work on a MALA layout for the arcade pc today.

Got a couple of monitor questions though.

What is the resolution for an orignal MK monitor? 336 x 240? I was looking over at the arcade museum website and that's what it had listed for that machine. Assuming it's the original monitor & chasis.

Or can I do a layout thats 640x480 and have that work?

[Gatsu]

Little bit of an update.

The sound board may be borked. Someone ripped off one of the capacitors and half-@$$ed soldered it back. Only soldering one of the legs.

If the board is truly borked and not salvageable, is there a good place online to keep an eye out for working sound boards other than ebay? I've seen a few on there but they mostly say untested and I don't want to buy a 2nd full PCB set just to get a working sound board.

Also, I'm working on getting my mame pc setup. Decided to go with an older system to run just Mame in the cab. I'm gonna keep my higher end parts set aside for an LCD arcade cab that I'm gonna start building either later this year or next year. I've had a friend offer his garage space and power tools as long as I let him help me work on the cab and he come play on it occasionally. So that's awesome.

But in any case. The older system is a dual-core intel with about 2 gb of ram and is currently running Vista (blargh). I've just gotta get an ArcadeVGA card and signal booster and I should be good to go on that front. And of course build a mame control panel board for the cab.

So I have a monitor/frontend question.

I'm gonna use MALA as my front end because it's relatively simple to setup and I can use a custom theme. But I don't know what resolution to make my layouts because I'm not sure how the ArcadeVGA will adjust the size to fit my arcade's monitor. I read that GroovyMame is probably the best version of mame to use on the older arcade monitors. Is that the case? I do like how it already has the hiscore.dat and no nag screen in it.

After doing some reading, I think the MK monitor runs at 336 x 240. Can anyone confirm this?

If that is the case, do I need to make my layouts in Mala all that size? Or can I make them 1024x768 or 800x600 or 640x480 and Mala will auto-adjust according to what the ArcadeVGA card is set to? 

[Gatsu]

Alright so I received my marquee from gameongrafix. And while it looks really nice....its the wrong size. It's too big so I'd have to trim it to fit, which would cut into the letters in the logo...which isn't gonna happen.

Not knocking gameongrafix. The quality is top notch and it looks great. Just wasn't printed to the correct size...so I can't use it.

Seems like anytime I order something for this cab, something is wrong with it and I have to send it back. The jamma harness I ordered wasn't labeled properly and was missing components, now the marquee is the wrong damn size.

It happens, but it's getting frustrating because I can't seem to get anywhere with the project. I was hoping to already have a lot more done than I do. But things keep getting in the way.

Looks really good.


Just isn't the correct size.

[Gatsu]

Apologies for this project not having a whole lot of interesting updates. I just seem to keep hitting brick walls that keep me from making any significant progress. 

Decided I'm gonna keep the oversized marquee and build a lightbox for it to display in the living room. Make some lemonade from them lemons. Next one I order I'm making sure I specify the size. I just asked that it be printed to the original marquee dimensions...so totally my fault on that.

The lightbox will hopefully look something like this:


Shouldn't take too much. I've got an MDF board and extra plexi laying around so this'll be a relatively quick and easy afternoon project.

So tomorrow I'm heading over to a buddies house to borrow his tools, workspace to work on the light box and get the 2nd control panel cut out and the plexi cut for it and the original CP. Won't be able to do any drilling until I get the artwork ordered. But at least the panel will be cut, primed, painted and the t-molding slot cut.

I have a question about the control panel. there's a z-shaped metal bracket that runs a long the top of the panel that has a thin bit of foam padding on it. It fills in the space between the CP and the bottom of the monitor area. Is there anywhere I can find this particular bracket? Or will I need to get one made? Or does anyone that has a couple of MK cabs have a spare one they would be willing to sell me? The rest of the mounting bits I'm sure I can just take into home depot or lowes and find.

The soundboard is borked. There's a crystal apparently missing that was cut off of the board, and a few other caps that need to be replaced. My electrician buddy says that those parts are easily found & ordered, so he's gonna find them and try to get the board going. But if he can't, I'll need to invest in a new soundboard.

I'm not too broken hearted about that. I was intending on getting a T-unit board for MK1 anyways so I can upgrade to 5.0 at some point. So it just means I'll be looking for a complete MK1 set. Those aren't rare thankfully. Will just have to set some money aside and keep an eye out.

Also I started working on my MALA layout. What do you guys think? It's 800x600, so hopefully that'll work on the monitor once I get the ArcadeVGA installed and all that.

[Gatsu]

 

It rained all day today. So....not a damn thing got done to the CP yet. I did start stripping the vinyl off of the back of the CP box. So I will need to find some new vinyl to replace it. Shouldn't be too hard.

So crossing fingers and hoping that I can get the new CP cut tomorrow. Ordering the artwork for it tonight.

[Gatsu]

FINALLY a little bit of an update.

I am going to continue restoring the cab, but I will be retro-fitting it to work with a Mame PC until I can afford to get all of the artwork printed and get the sound board working again. Nothing that can't be undone will be done to the cab. So it can be returned to a dedicated MK1 cab at any point with little effort.

I got 2 new CP panels cut, and the Mame - 7 button art layout for the control panel printed. I decided to give a local printer a try and it ended up costing about $30 to get the vinyl print and a drill template copy. So not bad. The reason I got 2 panels cut out, one of them is for the mame pc, and the other will be for other arcade systems like the Neo Geo MVS and Sega Naomi. I eventually want to acquire those systems.

Here's the Mame panel temporarily fixed with the drill template on it to see how it'd fit. Looks pretty good. I wanted to keep the original style artwork since this is also a restoration project.


And the new artwork printout. I won't be applying this until I get the holes drilled, the t-molding slot cut, and the board painted.


Here's a jpg low quailty version of the 7 button mame panel layout. The reason for 7 buttons....well. 6 buttons for Street Fighter stuff, the run button for traditional MK3, UMK3 and MK4 and then the bottom row with the run button can be used for Neo-Geo stuff.


I also started stripping the black material off of the control panel box. Not sure what would be a suitable replacement. But the reason I'm removing it is because the material has started bubbling up and coming off anyway. So I figured it'd be better to strip it off completely and apply a new layer of material.

Would anyone suggest something suitable to use for that?

Also. The metal brackets on the MK control panels, does anyone know where I can get those? Besides buying a complete panel on ebay?

And finally...the coin door only has 1 mech in it. Where can I get another mech that will fit this particular coin door?


I google searched the number on the mech itself and just got an ebay auction based in Canada. And it's a little out of my price range. lol.


That's it for now. I have to buy a new drill and a flush trim bit for my Ryobi router before I can do any more to the control panel. That may be a couple weeks from now. Been having some health issues and the doctors visits are gnawing on my wallet a good bit.

[Gatsu]

Managed to get a little bit done today. Blood sugar was kinda high so couldn't do all I wanted, and the drill I was borrowing from a friend to use, wasn't quite powerful enough to do the job I needed.

In any case. I got the plexi mounted to the mame panel board and trimmed with the router & flush trim bit. (I <3 my router). Took all of 5 seconds once I got it setup.

Drilled all the plexi mounting screw holes, and the guide holes for the joysticks and button holes. Managed to get 1 & 1/2 holes drilled out with my 1 1/4" spade bit. But the drill wouldn't power through it. So I have to either see if I can try to use my dad's drill press, or find a more powerful drill. Or at least one not battery operated.

It looks like in the pictures that the spade bit messed up the plexi, but it did not. I did decide though (just in case) to remove the plexi and just use the guide holes I drilled to make the holes. I'll just the flush trim bit later to flush out the button and joystick holes. Shouldn't be a problem. I forgot that's how I did it with all the joystick projects I worked on a while back. It's easier than trying to push through the plexi and mdf.

All that's left is drilling out all the holes, cleaning up the edges, cutting the t-molding slot, putting the artwork on, mounting the joysticks and buttons and wiring it all up.

Now pictures. 



Mmmm. Flush.

[pbj]

You own a router but not a drill?  Man up and spend the $10 at Harbor Freight, dude.

[Gatsu]

The router was given to me as an xmas gift a year or so ago. I had a drill, but it died. Which is why I was borrowing one from a friend until I could afford to get a new one.

So get off me dude.   

[Malenko]

so the marquee from GoG was too big or too small?

[Gatsu]

Marquee ended up being too big.

[Malenko]

Marquee ended up being too big.

razor blade will fix that

I asked because I just picked up a Mortal Kombat cab, and Im missing the marquee (and I need a CPO too)

[Gatsu]

nah it won't really fix that. If I try to cut it down to size, it cuts into the lettering of the logo. So I'm gonna have to get it reprinted at a smaller size.

[Malenko]

that makes me sad cause now I dunno where Im gonna get the art from

There is a guy on ebay....

[Gatsu]

You can tell GoG a custom size you want printed. In my case, the description for the marquee said "printed to original size", so I put in the instructions, print to original art size, instead of the actual measurements because I figured...it if says printed to original size it'll be right. Apparently you can't take that for granted. Which was my fault really because I could have just told them 25" x 7" and it would have been okay.

So just tell them the dimensions you need and you should be alright hopefully.

[Gatsu]

I'm trying to clean off the original control panel. Pulled up the old graphic and it left behind all the adhesive goop on the metal. So I went to home depot and got some Goo Gone. Sprayed it down and let it sit for about 4 hours. Came back to it and tried rubbing some of it off with a rag, none of the adhesive came up.

Should I just put some more on and let it sit longer? Or try to go at it with a razor blade or paint scraper?

[Malenko]

Heat gun and a scraper. Then get what's left with goo gone. I've never let goo gone sit for that long though

[Gatsu]

Heat gun and a scraper. Then get what's left with goo gone. I've never let goo gone sit for that long though

I tried letting the goo-gone set overnight to see if it made any difference. Nope. So I'll give the heatgun + scraper combo a try.

Did get the t-molding slot cut on the mame panel. But had a major setback because the spade bit I was using to drill the plexi out, cracked the ever living h3ll out of it. Basically what I did was drill a small pilot hole, then was gonna use a spade bit that is about the same size as my flush trim bit to drill a little bit larger hole, dip the router in there and flush trim the button hole. But the spade bit I used has an odd tip that gripped the plexi as it went in and twisted it enough to crack. So...bummer. That bit is going back to home depot this evening.

Thankfully I have enough plexi left for a re-do. But it was disheartening enough for me to call it a day for today. So I'll be tackling it again next weekend. I've gotta order some wire and disconnects anyways because apparently nowhere in my area carries 22 gauge wire and the female disconnects I need.

[Malenko]

I just use a dremel to do the holes on plexi.

As for wiring... Just buy a $10 jamma harness from ebay then cut the wires off the edge connector. Saves SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much time.

[Gatsu]

I just use a dremel to do the holes on plexi.

As for wiring... Just buy a $10 jamma harness from ebay then cut the wires off the edge connector. Saves SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much time.

What bit do you use on the dremel for that? Hopefully I've got it already.

Jamma harness. Yes. Dude. Thank you.  You saved me a butt load of time and headache. They even come with the ground wire chain and quick disconnect already on. 

[Gatsu]

Got a little more work done on the control panel today. Though sadly the artwork I had printed wasn't cut straight, so it wouldn't fit the panel. So next time (since I'm using plexi over it anyway) I will get it printed with a bleed, and without the adhesive backing.

But I did get everything routed and ready. So the joysticks will fit nicely, recessed under the panel.

Got the control panel box completely stripped. I'll probably be stripping the front section around the coin door tonight.

For the sideart, should I remove the original artwork first or just put the new artwork overtop of the old?

Here's a couple of pics of my small amount of progress.