Latest Project - Multipede

[FrizzleFried]

It is well documented...the fact there isn't ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- for arcade cabinets here in the Boise area of Idaho.  Hell,  I find more cabinets available up in Northern Idaho than down here.  So,  I was pretty excited to find a Calibur .50 for sale.

I called...talked to the lady (kid actually...i'd say 20-22).   She said she had paid $300 for it like 5 years before.  Said one control doesn't work,  but that the monitor worked fine.  Great.  I figure I'll check it out.  It's listed at $200 on craigslist...why not.

I arrive to find a pretty beat up looking cabinet (mostly superficial,  no structural issues) and a monitor that isn't firing red.  I start talking about how "on the fence" I am...that $200 was too much, etc.  The lady says "I'd take $125" and my cheap ass retorts with "If you'd take $100,  I'll take it". 

So now I have a beat up CENTIPEDE cabinet in my garage (I didn't realize it was a Centipede until I got it home and transferred the bastard to my garage...by myself).

Sound is screwed up...so the mainboard is likely not worth much.  The monitor looks decent enough (G07)...it has some minor Centipede burn-in...but it's not firing red.  The pot does nothing on the neckboard.  Probably a cold solder joint.  One rotary stick doesn't rotate and the other doesn't move left.  One side of the cabinet is painted (badly) black and the other side has been covered with formica which is pulled off at the bottom back corner.

But what the hell did I want for $100 in Bum ---fudgesicle--- Egypt Idaho?!?

[Ninten-doh]

Hey Frizzle,
Have you looked under the hood of the cp yet?  Is the non-rotating one the yellow one?  Just want to rule out that there's an LS30 (mechanical rotary) stuck in there instead of the Loop24 (optical rotary) that you need.  Or maybe it's just missing the harness. 

Anyhoo, good luck with the game.  I love Cal 50!

[shardian]

Looks like a pretty good score. $100 for the shape that cabinet is a fair deal IMO. Only an arcade person would buy a non-working machine in that area, and said arcade person would only pay about $100.

[FrizzleFried]

They are Loop24...at least that is what the wheel tells me?!?  I looked...didn't see anything obvious...but who knows.  The genius who wired up this CP friggin' SOLDERED everything together.  I have not had much time to mess with the cabinet yet.  I am debating what to do with it.  Half of me wants to turn it in to my MAME shooter cabinet.  The other half of me wants to restore it to a Centipede,  drop a multiboard in and go.  The new multiboards (60-in-1) support trackball and include both Centipede and Millipede.  I could easily make a custom Multipede+ as I did with the DKJr cabinet.

[Kremmit]

Hey Frizzle,
Have you looked under the hood of the cp yet?  Is the non-rotating one the yellow one?  Just want to rule out that there's an LS30 (mechanical rotary) stuck in there instead of the Loop24 (optical rotary) that you need.  Or maybe it's just missing the harness. 

Anyhoo, good luck with the game.  I love Cal 50!

Probably somebody just replaced the green knob with a yellow one.  Somebody'd have to be awfully wacky in the head to actually hook up an LS-30 in place of a Loop-24, since they don't have the same connector or number of wires.

Frizzle, if you do decide to de-convert it, Witchboard has been looking for a good deal on one of those sticks for a long time now- he's restoring a Cal. 50 machine.

[FrizzleFried]

Alright...the decision has been made.  I am restoring the cabinet to some extent.  I painted it white over the weekend.  I have new T-Molding on order.  I plan on installing a Centipede bezel,  Centipede Side art,  Centipede CPO and Marquee.  The CP will have a standard 2.25" trackball,  but will also feature a J-Stick joystick on the left with 3 buttons.  I will run a 60-in-1 in this cabinet (which supports trackballs),  so I will be able to play both Centipede and Millipede as they are supposed to be played plus the other 58 games (well, 53 but you know what I mean).

I thought I saw a kickass marquee somewhere that looked like a Centipede marquee but said "Multipede"...anyone know where I saw that?

Also,  who OTHER THAN ARCADE SHOP sells Centipede Bezels?

Finally,  will a Millipede Bezel or Marquee fit in a Centipede cabinet?

[leapinlew]

The genius who wired up this CP friggin' SOLDERED everything together. 

Thats how I roll....

I used to do quick connects, but I'm all about the solder now. Stuff doesn't budge.

[shardian]

The genius who wired up this CP friggin' SOLDERED everything together. 

Thats how I roll....

I used to do quick connects, but I'm all about the solder now. Stuff doesn't budge.

Soldering is fine and all, but when it is done sloppy on a CP it is a nightmare. My top gunner CP was soldered...and BADLY. the ground loop was a bare wire, and it was shorting against signal contacts all over the place. Cold solder joints galore too. Once I desoldered that mess and rewired with quick disconnects, everything works perfect and looks MUCH better.

[SavannahLion]

You have to admit. Seeing the CP soldered together, even crappily, is mounds better than seeing the PCB soldered together. Isn't there a post around here of someone describing a bad solder job on their PCB where the edge card connector traces were damaged and lifted? Seeing that would break my heart.

Edit: Corrected typo.

[Apollo]

Man you think you have it bad in Idaho? Try living in New Zealand and being an arcade nut. During the arcade craze New Zealand had almost zero dedicated cabinets imported, almost every game was stuck in a generic tatio cabinet or similar. You seriously cannot find dedicated cabinets here because they were never here and what do think the import costs would be like to get one from the US?

[Angry_Radish]

If the g07 red problem isn't fixed by reflowing the solder joints, it's quite possibly just the drive transistor on the neckboard, had a bad one on mine as well (red too, go figure) 

[FrizzleFried]

It was an easy fix...swap out the chassis for a known good chassis!

W00t!

[Kaytrim]

Man you get all the luck.

[Angry_Radish]

Congrats!

You going to hang on to that bad chassis? :-)

[FrizzleFried]

Congrats!

You going to hang on to that bad chassis? :-)

Likely for now.  Who knows when I may get some decent glass with a completely obliterated chassis.

Question: Are the 13" and 19" versions of the G07 chassis the same?  Could I run a 19" with a 13" G07 chassis I have?

[FrizzleFried]

Alright...here are the latest updates...

Today I installed my first set of full side art.   While a "tad" low,  I thought they came out good...

Bezel installed...

Waiting on Multipede marquee...

Temporary control panel installed until I finish the custom CPO and have it printed with Scott at Mamemarquees.com.

I still need to paint the front a bit...and get some coin mechs.

The 60-in-1 works great except for some friggin' reason I can only get X or Y directions to work with the trackball...never X & Y.   So all games EXCEPT the two the game cabinet is based on are up and running.  I WILL solve the problem though.

[Mario]

I thought I saw a kickass marquee somewhere that looked like a Centipede marquee but said "Multipede"...anyone know where I saw that?

See this thread and this thread.

Mario

[FrizzleFried]

I am REALLY trying to finish up projects that I have previously got 90% complete (and working),  but never quite FINISHED...one of them is my Multipede.

Previously I had gotten it up and running and slapped on a painted plex CPO to cover some holes, etc.  A couple months back I made a custom CPO and had MAMEMARQUEES print it for it.  Since then it has sat on top of my Vs Excitebike just waiting for me to put it on.

I finally did.

Here is the result:

[fjl]

Looks awesome. I'd send pics to the previous owner just to show it off.

Btw, why is this in Arcade Miscellaneous instead of Project Announcements?

[Ninten-doh]

Hey Frizz, I can't believe that's the old crappy Cal 50 cab.  Terrific job!

The only tweak I would make is the dust cover on the joystick.  I would still keep it on the outside (I know you're getting comments about this over at KLOV), but I really like what HoopstarsGarage did on his Centipede with the dustcovers...




Just a thought!   

[leapinlew]

Ohio right? Damn, how far are you from 70? I should stop by - I drive between St. Louis and DC quite often.

You're getting quite a nice collection.

[FrizzleFried]

Ohio right? Damn, how far are you from 70? I should stop by - I drive between St. Louis and DC quite often.

You're getting quite a nice collection.

If yer talkin' to me it's IDAHO...not OHIO.

 

[leapinlew]

Ohio right? Damn, how far are you from 70? I should stop by - I drive between St. Louis and DC quite often.

You're getting quite a nice collection.

If yer talkin' to me it's IDAHO...not OHIO.

 

Damn, that makes a little difference.

WTF Idaho?

[Dmod]

Very clean.  Nicely done Frizzle. 

[FrizzleFried]

Thanks!

...and last night I wired up the Volcano buttons to light up.  They don't blink or anything,  but they are lit.