Woggy's First Project - The Noobergun

[Waaaghinator]

Here is my first arcade build, a Supergun.  This project likely will not be terribly sleek, fancy, or revolutionary, but at the end of the day, I will be able to fire up a JAMMA board on my CRT Flatscreen in the man-cave.  What I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm, so here goes...

The console box is going to be this cheap wooden craft box from Michael's.  Note the arch top.


Using my jigsaw, I removed the arch top.  I'll attach a flat piece of plywood to the top and, ultimately, the top plywood will be covered in felt so that the PCB can rest on top of the console during use.


I picked up two of these super cheap fight sticks.  My plan is to wire them into db15 connectors.  I figured that by starting out with this type of stick, I could save a little time with wiring, as surely all of the buttons were wired to a circuit board, and I could just remove the board and use the wires and switches.


I was very wrong in my figuring.  The buttons don't have any switches or any wiring.  Instead, they terminate in a small rubber plunger that makes contact with a circuit board.  I can't make use of any of the setup.  Thus, I'm scrapping everything but the joystick.  The button holes appear to be about 1 and 1/8 inch, because the Happ buttons I replaced in my MK3 cab seem to fit just fine.  Problem is that the Happ buttons are way too long.

Solution:  Cut the holes up with a razor blade and then sand, sand, sand.  Eventually 30mm Sanwa snap-ins fit inside.


I prepped the first control for buttons and wiring tonight.  I'll put a 25mm sanwa on each sidewall for coin and start buttons. I'll cover it all in vinyl graphics as well. 

Plan on prepping and priming the wooden console box tomorrow.  I'll update with pics when I can.

[Waaaghinator]

Noobergun Day 2.

Cut a super thin piece of plywood to make a top for the console.  I kind of rushed the jigsaw work and my line went a little wavy on the back end.  I'm not too worried about it.  I'll definitely go slower in the future.  The wavy line is in the far left corner in the picture.  I kind of hid it with the camera angle.


The box got some filler and was lightly sanded.  Then it went outside where it received a coat of Kilz Oil Based Sealer.  After drying for an hour, it got a reapplication of said oil based sealer.

Meanwhile, with the paint drying, I started on the guts of the NooberGun.  Wired up my power supply, and was pleased to see that it works.  I added a simple on/off toggle.  I'll test the whole supply later with my voltmeter to make sure each part of the psu is functioning properly.


I couldn't wait any longer, and decided that the Kilz was dry enough.  I was mostly correct, but not completely.

The color choice of the day is "Overpriced Forest Green from England."


Hit the box with a coat of green.  As expected... the ends of the boards soaked up a ton of paint, even after a double coating of Kilz.  There are a couple of spots (mostly around corners where the box was sitting to dry) where the Kilz was not entirely dry.  Those spots did not accept any green at all.  I'll let it dry over night.  Then I'll give it a good sanding.  Then I'll do one more coat of Caliban
.

[Waaaghinator]

So, after I sanded the first coat of green, I realized that I wasn't going to have enough Caliban to get the job done.  So I switched horses mid stream and finished up in blue.  It is what it is.


Put some Ork teef on there just to commemorate what a hack-job this whole thing was.


Meanwhile, while the paint dried...

I tried my hand at the audio attenuation circuit. 

It's a DPST switch; 1 connected to 4; 5 and 6 bridged with a 10 kohm 1/4 watt resistor; 6 connected to a 1 kohm 1/4 watt resistor that is soldered to a ground wire.  I soldered a single RCA cable to 1 as the audio out.  JAMMA 10 will connect to 3. 

Just like Google told me to.

Also, went back to the cheapo control mods...
Desoldered the stick switches:




Placed, marked and glued the break out board:


Said "Hello" to Archie:


and filled unused button holes with green stuff:



Once the green stuff dries I'll sand it down with the dremel.  Hopefully I can get it flat and somewhat sturdy before covering with my vinyl graphics.

[Waaaghinator]

Got some mail today!   



Ultimately this MVS Board will go into the Megashock Bartop kit that I ordered from Haruman, but while I wait for the kit to arrive... Neo Geo NooberGun.

Once I build the bartop, the NooberGun will be focused on CPS-1 and CPS-2 Capcom games, as well as standard 3 button JAMMAs.

[Kier]

I like the Blue far better than the green.

And NeoGeo is just plain awesome. Still want to build me a Metal Slug or Prehistoric Island cabinet.

[Waaaghinator]

Today I beat up the enclosure some more.  Added some 1 and 1/8 inch holes for wires.  Two in the back (AV and Power), and one on the side (JAMMA).


The Green Stuff worked pretty well on the unused button holes.  I also dremeled out the spot for the break out board.


Used the Bob Roberts method to group and zip tie the JAMMA harness.


Layout for the guts.  Power Supply, female db15 break out boards, and a video encoder.  The encoder only supports VGA out.  I have an external converter that will change the VGA to composite.  This is a temporary card.  I've got an encoder on order from China that will convert the RGB directly to composite or s-video.  When I get it, I will change this out.


It's starting to look like... something.  I think I like the hacked up controller port holes.  Gives it character, especially wif dem grinnin' ork teef.

[Waaaghinator]

I like the Blue far better than the green.

And NeoGeo is just plain awesome. Still want to build me a Metal Slug or Prehistoric Island cabinet.

Hey thanks!  Aesthetically, I'm not sure that this build will be pleasing to the eye no matter the color.  But I'm learning a lot as I go, and hopefully it will go well enough that I'll be able to play some games with it.

As for Neo Geo... I'm super pumped about that board.  I've got King of Fighters, 3 Count Bout, Baseball, and Metal Slug X.  I can't wait to fire it up.      ...hope this thing works.

[Waaaghinator]

One of my main concerns on this build is the audio.

It's not that I don't trust the attenuation circuit.  It's that I don't trust that I can reliably wire an audio jack that will get clean mono signal to both television speakers.  I know how to do it in theory, but I have a gut feeling that implementation will leave me with a garbled scratchy sound.

So... I think I'm scratching the attenuation circuit and instead going with dedicated speakers for the SuperGun.  That way I can just put a quick disconnect on the audio wires in the harness, and some quick disconnects on the speaker cables and call it a day.

That leads me to another small speed bump.  I need 8 ohms of impedance, and the only candidates I have lying around as spare parts are these Samsung Theater In a Box Speakers.



Which, unfortunately are 3 ohm speakers, an absolutely useless impedance.



I'm going to run out later today and see if I can't find two 4 ohm speakers to run in series.  If not, then I'll run these 3 in series.  This should get me up to 9 ohms and protect the 8 ohm amps on the JAMMA boards.

I'm open to any ideas or thoughts from the community on this, or other viable audio solutions.

[Waaaghinator]

Picked up a cheap "Mini Stereo System" from Walmart. Manufacturer looks to be "Onn." 

It comes with 2 non powered 4 ohm speakers. Should work fine for what I need. Pics of speakers and wiring later tonight.

[Waaaghinator]

I have a few ice cold Yuenglings and a 3 day weekend. Thinking I'll wire this puppy up tonight.

I think my first step is to cut every wire in half. There is way more wire in that harness than I need for my project.

[Waaaghinator]

Well... that was a long night.

First, let's take a look at the two 4 ohm speakers I picked up.  Wired them in series to achieve an 8 ohm impedance.


The JAMMA Harness ready to go.


The box ready to go.


The controls ready to go (WIP but ready for testing).



Work space ready to go.


Power Supply adjusted and ready to go.

[Waaaghinator]

I started by wiring up the controls.  The wiring includes both a CPS-1 and CPS-2 Kick Harness.  I mirrored the breakout from the Male Controller db15 when I wired the Female Console db15.  Logically this feels correct.  The internet tells me this is correct.  I have faith that it is correct.

7/3/2016 Edit:  The above wiring is incorrect.  DO NOT MIRROR your db15.  Just connect 1 to 1 and 10 to 10, etc. etc.  My mirroring the wiring and trying to "outsmart the hardware" led to non functional controller.



Then I did A LOT of wiring, but didn't take any pics.  I wired a coin button to each db15; wired power; wired sound; wired video (more on this later).

Then I set everything up for a smoke test.  Installed a "Bad Dudes" JAMMA board that I know is working (Checked it in my MK3 cab).



Good News!  No Smoke. 

I have sound and I have a signal from my video encoder.


Unfortunately, I have no signal to my video encoder.


I found my main issue immediately.  I had hooked up my Video to the scart in on the encoder instead of the RGB.  (So that's why there was an extra wire in the encoder harness).

So, I removed the splice in the video wires and wired them into a molex connector to connect to the RGB Sync and Ground.
that should solve it right?  Nope.  Q_Q

I still had sound.  I hit the test/service button and heard a ding, so I know that is working at least.  Not sure about the controls yet.

At that point it was about 2 AM, and I was way too tired to troubleshoot the issue.  I've got some ideas that I'll try later, including trying a different encoder.  I've got some errands to run today, but I will be back trying to get a signal to my video encoder later this evening. 

[Waaaghinator]

So after a busy Saturday, back to the grind.



I know that some of you are curious about what the guts look like.  Not perfect, but I'm not ashamed of it.


Funny story:  Turns out my "issue" getting signal is that I didn't switch the input on my encoder card.   
Pushed that little button a couple of times and voila!  We got glorious, glorious late 80s action.



Also, my SFII Champion Edition works.  Looks and sounds great actually.



So... Done, right?  Nope.  Controller doesn't work at all.  Not a single button.  I was worried that up would be down, or punch would be start, but nope I got nothin'.  Once I get that fixed, I'll look into why my little indicator light isn't shining when it powers up.  Also, my "test menu" button only gives me service credits when I press it.  I'm thinking this is a card specific thing, but I need to look into it.

[Aceldamor]

+1 for the use of Greenstuff, Wargaming paint, and Ork Teef....you need to add dags, checkers, and extra armor plates....and doesn't red make it go fasta?!?

[Waaaghinator]

+1 for the use of Greenstuff, Wargaming paint, and Ork Teef....you need to add dags, checkers, and extra armor plates....and doesn't red make it go fasta?!?

Haha. Indeed red ones do go fasta. Unfortunately no red in the garage this time around. I'll have to make do with regular speed on this one.

I contemplated adding checks along the bottom, but I'm super eager to play these games and didn't want to spend too much time on paint detail.

May go back and add it in later on.

[Waaaghinator]

I did a quick continuity check from the harness all the way down the connector cord. Continuity is good there.

Still no controls, though.

I'm thinking it's a ground issue with the controller wiring. I'll check (likely rewire the whole shabang) tomorrow.  I'm beat; calling it an early night.

[Waaaghinator]

The controller did not work because I mirrored the pinout from the male db15 and the female db15.  I figure it is easier to change the male pinout on the controller to the female pinout rather than rewiring both controller ports on the console itself.  Once my controller went from Bruce to Caitlin it worked just fine.

[Waaaghinator]

Now that the controller is working, time to test the Neo Geo.



Booted up and looks beautiful.  It's a shame I didn't pay close attention to my harness and that I don't have a "D" button on the NooberGun.



So, turns out I accidentally wired Player 1 to the right side port and Player 2 to the left side port.  This issue was easy to fix with a little white paint.   heh heh.  (Da best thing about orks iz dat orks iz good at problem solving).


You may also be pleased to know that the lid is going to get some checks and dags. 

This project is nearly finished.  I just need to wire up the second controller (female db15 pinout).  Mod both controllers for the start and coin buttons.  Apply vinyl to both controllers.  Figure out what is wrong with my indicator light (bulb probably?). Finish the checks and dags on the lid, and move to its more permanent location in the tv stand. 

For now, I'm off to play some arcade games.   

[Waaaghinator]

Took a little time with the lid.  Covered the outside in blue painters tape and then cut 1 inch squares out in a checker board pattern.


Did a similar thing on the front for the dags.  A little white spray paint and now we have checks and dags.




Started on the second controller.


For anyone curious, this is what the insides of these things look like.


You are supposed to program this PCB with software provided with the stick.  I'm going to hang on to this, but I'm not sure if I'll ever find a use for it.

[Waaaghinator]

Been a while since I've updated the NooberGun build.  Little bit it's I've been waiting on a few parts to come in.  Little bit it's I've been working on other projects.  Little bit it's I've been playing a lot of video games. 

Fixed the indicator light.  The old one was burned out and I just had to buy a new one.  Here it is running Street Fighter II Champion Edition.


Also, I received the vinyl artwork for the controls and applied them to both controls.  The second control is still not wired up yet, which I'm kind of disappointed about as I will have a house full of people this weekend.

I used a sticker bomb style vinyl, which is super easy to work with as there is no real beginning or end.  I picked out a couple of sections that I liked better than others and applied using a Qdoba loyalty card and a masking tape hinge.





I also received my new video encoder from China yesterday.  Thanks to BYOAC for helping me out with that purchase.  It is way smaller than the one I bought from Amazon.  I'll wire it and the other controller up next week.  That should wrap this project up.  Now just to (not so) patiently wait for my CPS2 boards to get here from Japan.

[Waaaghinator]

Finally received the CPS2 board. A and B curteousy of Marvel Super Hero's vs. Street Fighter.

The colors are too bright an wash out the screen. If I replace the video card it will give my build potentiometers for each color of the video signal.