Basic Vertical MAME Cabinet

[CheffoJeffo]

About a month ago I picked up a couple of slim vertical cabinets (Arkanoid and Slap Fight) from a local who had bought them at auction and then not known how to get the them working. Both cabinets had monitor issues and that was about as specific as he got in his description. I yanked the seats out of the van and headed across town to pick them up and, thankfully, I was able to get them both in the van side-by-side on their backs.

Once I got the cabs unloaded and had a look, it appears that both cabs work except for the monitor issues. The Arkanoid cab was missing colours and the Slap Fight had a desperate problem with both the horizontal and vertical holds. At that point I decided that I would fix up (restore is a strong word) the Arkanoid and convert the Slap Fight to a vertical MAME cabinet.

This pic shows the cabs just after I unloaded them. You can see the sync issue on the Slap Fight if you look closely.

[CheffoJeffo]

Today, I finally got around to pulling the monitor (G07) from the Slap Fight in an effort to take stock of where the project sat. It took a little bit of tweaking and bending the pots back to get a stable, but clear, picture. It can use a Cap Kit, new pots and a reflow of the solder joints, but it is a nice monitor with only mild burn-in.

EDIT: Yes, I labelled the problems since I have a half-dozen monitors lying around in various states of repair and want easy reference for when I place my next order for parts.

[CheffoJeffo]

I also (with help from my staff) stripped everything else out of the cabinet.

It is going to be a nice cabinet to convert.

[CheffoJeffo]

The cabinet does need some body work, but I am going to defer most of that until the Spring when I can get it back outside (along with other projects that require similar work).

In the immediate term, I will:

• strip/repaint the marquee brackets and coin door
• fill and redrill the control panel (going with a single stick and 2-3 player buttons)
• rewire the cabient as JAMMA
• repair the marquee lighting
• configure the PC using JPac and ArcadeVGA to interface
• recap and repair the monitor

I am on a budget (which is why my dedicated projects have to wait as the missing parts are more expensive) and expect to be able to complete this project with parts I have on-hand, except for the JAMMA harness , G07 parts and marquee. I may or may not need to buy a hard drive for the PC in question. I may also need to buy/build a small amplifier circuit, depending on whether or not I have an amplified sound card or a set of amplified speakers to rip apart.

I need to find a good vertical front-end (been a while since I built a MAME cab), but will start by looking at the wiki. For the stick, I have a Wico 4-way that I have tweaked to allow me to hit the diagonals with a decisive stroke (kinda like Tron) and will be using recovered leaf buttons from my "Big Box O' Buttons"

Cheers

[leapinlew]

Great Project Cheffo -

Mala is what I used and it's a great FE. I use it and I have a vertical 4 way cabinet already set up. If you like, I can give you the list of games I currently have on it...

Good luck - it looks great. What about the paint?

[CheffoJeffo]

I stripped the control panel using my trusty heat gun to remove the overlay (which had been spray painted black!) and some Super DeGooper to remove the glue residue. The OP who assembled this CP rivetted the hinge on AFTER installing the overlay, which will require some attention to detail when cleaing up the hinge and installing a new overlay (which for now will likely be a piece of HAPPs Black Pica VInyl I have lying around).

It looks like this might have been an Arkanoid cab at one point and I don't like where the button holes are, so the next stage will be to fill in the holes that I don't want before drilling holes in more apropriate locations.

[CheffoJeffo]

Mala is what I used and it's a great FE. I use it and I have a vertical 4 way cabinet already set up. If you like, I can give you the list of games I currently have on it...

Good luck - it looks great. What about the paint?

Thanks, Lew.

It is a cheap and easy project (which I need right now) that I normally wouldn't bother to document, but I figure it may be helpful to folks who aren't looking to build the Sistene Chapel right out of the box (e.g. Knievel, McCoy and others come to mind as artists of that stature ... I'm just a mechanic) and just want to play some games in a cabinet.

Please do shoot me that list of games -- my priorities are the Pacs, Gala___s, SI, Burgertime, Dig Dug, and (perhaps surprisingly) Blueprint. Some 194x and schmups will be there as well.

EDIT: Forgot about the paint question. For the Winter, the cabinet will remain basic black (e.g until I get it outside and do the bodywork).I personally  don't mind basic black as it reminds me of arcades as I knew them -- a couple of cabs with beautful artwork and then a bunch of black boxes. Having seen GameCreature's cab, though, I will want a more vibrant and fun colour scheme (but not until I get the bodywork done).

Cheers.

[leapinlew]

My list does not include any 8 way games (like 1942, Xevious) and it does include a couple 4 way games that I like enough to deal with the horizontal resolution (like Popeye). I'll make that list and post it.

[leapinlew]

Astro Blaster
Burger Time
Dig Dug
Dig Dug 2
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Jr.
Frogger
Galaga 88
Galaga
Galaxian
Jr. Pacman
Klax (Horizontal)
Mappy
Mario Bros. (Horizontal)
Moon Patrol
Mr. Do
Ms. Pac-man
No Mans Land
Pac-Man
Pac-Mania
Pengo
Phoenix
Popeye
Punch-out (requires 3 buttons for game play)
Qix
Satans Hallow
Space Invaders
Super Pac-man
Super Punch-out (requires 4 buttons for gameplay)
Tapper
Tetris
Timber (horizontal)

Thats whats on mine. There may be more games, but thats what I remember playing at the arcade. Games that are 8 way and vertical - I play on my other cabinet that is in horizontal mode but is 32" television.

Keep the updates coming on the project!

[CheffoJeffo]

Thanks, Lew -- great list (and not too long, which is rare around here) -- I had forgotten about Phoenix, Tapper and Astro Blaster.

I originally tweaked the leaf switches on that Wico 4-way because I wanted a controller I could play the classics on for my notebook. I also wanted to be able to play some 8-way games. It took some doing, but I got things so that I could hit the diagonals with a deliberate diagonal stroke, but still play Donkey Kong without problem.

So, to your list, I'll add Blueprint and Juno First (tks to RayB), take away the horizontals and Super PunchOut (maybe Punchout if I don't go with 3 buttons) and add some 194x and vertical schmups. Will be a nice little cabinet just in time for the holiday (Christmas, since we have already had our thanksgiving here) gatherings (assuming that I don't just let it sit and fester) ... and it means I don't have to finish the Pac restoration to give my wife's sisters their Pac Man fix.

Thanks & Cheers.

[theCoder]

It is a cheap and easy project (which I need right now) that I normally wouldn't bother to document, but I figure it may be helpful to folks who aren't looking to build the Sistene Chapel...

I can appreciate the desire for a cheap and easy project.  My first was a conversion.  Things were simple then.  I would add Zaxxon to the list of classic verticals.  Have fun with the build.

[CheffoJeffo]

I can appreciate the desire for a cheap and easy project. 

Yeah, the alternatives are troubleshooting the Tron boardset, fixing the Pac board, rebuilding the Joust sound board or, as of this morning, fixing Asteroids ... I'll take the easy victory for 200, Alex.

Cheers.

[TOK]

Sweet project!

I guess it has to do with the games I grew up playing, but I love the beaters. An older machine with cigarette burns and scars on it has a ton of character. I'm also about 80% done a vert cab based on a 25" Dynamo cab. It was originally going to be totally black, but I pussed out and put colored buttons on there. 

I built it mainly for shooters so I used inductive sticks, but I've gradually added a lot of vert classics to it. Qix, Pooyan, The Deep, and Rescue are just a few of the unusual vert games I've been playing.
I'll post my complete game list if you're interested, but its heavily biased toward shooters. I'd like to add some more classics if anyone wants to post their lists.

Here is my vert project... I have the speakers and full width grill on it now (originally was mono).

[arcadefever]

nice,

i see that as usual, you are busy on some cool projects...good continuation..

[CheffoJeffo]

Not too much to report.

- Played with MaLa a bit ... WOW ... nice, clean and easy as sin to configure. Will definitely be using it as the FE for this cabinet.

- Scavenged a spare JAMMA harness from another project, labelled the wires and will rewire the cabinet over the weekend.

- Picking up a couple of G07 capkits from Grauwulf at Wolf Electronics tommorrow at the SB auction (capping a G07 is a fun way to spend a Saturday night ... must remember to discharge the big cap so I don't get bit)

After playing with MaLa, I am really looking forward to getting this project done.

Cheers.

[CheffoJeffo]

I guess it has to do with the games I grew up playing, but I love the beaters. An older machine with cigarette burns and scars on it has a ton of character. I'm also about 80% done a vert cab based on a 25" Dynamo cab. It was originally going to be totally black, but I pussed out and put colored buttons on there. 

That is a beautiful looking machine -- just right and nice monitor!

Cheers

[CheffoJeffo]

I just finished capping the monitor (what to do with the rest of the evening?) Chassis was filthy and I was going to drop it in the dishwasher, but with my recent run of bad luck (RAM problem on Asteroids, speech board went on Flight 2000, blew the head gasket on my van), decided against it and wiped it down instead.

Was an easy monitor to work on and Grauwulf included everything needed -- great vendor, highly recommended. 

About the only issue of interest is the fact that the polarity of C302 is mislabelled on the bottom of the chassis (is fine on the top). Grau's instructions noted this and I always do one cap at a time and check polarity before removing the old cap, then check the board, then check the cap map. And, once I'm done I check against the cap map and board again as I sometimes get confused when flipping the chassis around.

In the "After cap": picture, you can see a bit of curl in the upper right corner. I am going to wait to see if the curl still happens with the ArcadeVGA/JPac and, if it does, perform this upgrade to to the sync circuit.

I may or may not get to rewiring tommorow as I just got a request to fix my Brother-In-Law's GT2K i preparation for his wife's 40th birthday party next weekend.

Cheers

EDIT: I looked at the before and after pictures as posted and the effects of the cap kit are not as apparent as they are in person. I guess I still haven't figured out how to photograph monitors yet. There is still a bit of burn visible, but it vanishes behind the tinted plexi.

[CheffoJeffo]

Well, had to let this sit while I sorted out some other things, including RealLife(tm). I did manage to fix the GT2K ... 6 hours later. Flight 2000 is talking again. Asteroids is still down. New van should arrive in the next few days.

Finally turned back to it today.

Just as I was about to patch the CP, I noticed that the Arkanoid spinner on this cabinet's twin was hacked in with a homemade adaptor. I pulled the other CP apart and it is perfectly set up for a 1-stick, ambidextrous 2-button layout. So ... I am going to swap panels since this one is perfect for Arkanoid. Stripped the CP, but need to sand the panel down still.

Also looked at assembling the PC, which went together nicely (although I had forgotten what a pain it can be to install/update Win98 without a network conection). Dropped in the ArcadeVGA and the machne is running perfectly on my test bench. Still need to tweak together a skin for MaLa,tweak some game resolutons and hide some Win98isms (I'll be consulting the wiki entry for that.

Hopefully, I will transplant the monitor and PC into the cabinet and get the CP wired up before the next round of RealLife(tm) comes in.

Cheers

[arcadefever]

what is wrong with asteroids ? i'm fixing one now ...

[CheffoJeffo]

what is wrong with asteroids ? i'm fixing one now ...

RAM Error ... I was hoping it was voltage-related but everything looks fine (and I dropped in a new big blue 2 months ago) and connectors are all clean ... maybe time to order some RAM and sockets ...

What issues are you seeing with yours ?

Cheers.

[arcadefever]

what is wrong with asteroids ? i'm fixing one now ...

RAM Error ... I was hoping it was voltage-related but everything looks fine (and I dropped in a new big blue 2 months ago) and connectors are all clean ... maybe time to order some RAM and sockets ...

What issues are you seeing with yours ?

Cheers.

i send the pcb to repair, wasnt working at all, recap audio board, and drop also a big blue, i recap the monitor...

it's a cocktail version ...

[CheffoJeffo]

So , I did swap the panels. Cleaned up the second panel, laid down some black vinyl as an overlay, installed my happy leaf buttons and tweaked 4-way Wico.

Went to install on the cabinet and found that the panels are different freaking sizes, by 1/2" ... of all the stoopid mistakes to make ... ah well, swapping panels was the right thing to do, so maybe swapping cabinets is also the right thing to do.

So, I stripped the "other" cabinet (a tough proposition since the idiot op had mounted the monitor so that you HAD to either pull the tube and chassis seperately from the frame OR yank the nailed-in supports) and transplanted everything.

At this point, I needed a wired CP and amplifed sound, so I dug up a handy-dandy 1W amplifier kit I bought on my last trip to the electronics surplus store. I forgot how bad I am at "little" soldering (e.g. sockets). Ah well, everything ended up working fine, so next step (dare I say today?) is to mount the amp board and connect it to the Speaker inputs on the JPac (and so to the cabinet speaker via he JAMMA harness) and finally wire the CP (now that it fits the cab).

I may have a real deadline on this now as my wife has now noticed that this cab plays LockNChase ...

Cheers

[Cornchip]

Your audio amp brings up an interesting question that I have. My cab uses a  set of PC speakers (4 ohm) and a built in volume control. I can't see an easy way to remove the volume control with out ruining the speaker. So my question is...can the audio output jack have some sort of 'inline' control added. I'm guessing that the audio jack is low level and has to remain low level as the speakers already have there own amp. What would such a device be called?

[CheffoJeffo]

. So my question is...can the audio output jack have some sort of 'inline' control added. I'm guessing that the audio jack is low level and has to remain low level as the speakers already have there own amp. What would such a device be called?

Quite a while ago, I picked up such an in-line amplifier from Radio Shack. I don't know what happened to it, but it boosted the power, purportedly for using mulitple sets of headphones from a single source.  Had a single mini-headphone jack for input and three mini headphone outs. Ran off of a single AA battery, IIRC.

Dunno if it helps, but I did use it inline with a set of PC speakers without noticable distortion.

Cheers