Recent Posts

if you choose to filter games with "available" it should do exactly what you need it to

That thing is crazy looking!
Never saw one.

And I love it when James finds more tools.
How much was that desoldering thing?

TacoTownCharlie picked up that hat at a vintage clothing store on one of his visits to Houston.  Glad to see it’s found you well.  The machine looks spectacular.

 

Been a while since I have been on this forum and have lost contact. Grant Spain, Joey(Jonah) John at Pnl and others I have lost your contact info . Please feel free to email me nvdmonitorguy@yahoo.com

Looking for actual technicians who service this board? This one s Rick Nieman of Nieman Video displays. I am very deep into a number of these boards. Have schematics recreated by Franck. Numerous boards that have bad q955 (necj448 p channel fets). Ordered replacement Fets but as they are obsolete non of those received are good? Going to try J459’d. So here is the scoop all have bad Q955’s all have good Q901’s all have good Q501’s(hots). All have good caps on the secondary B+ lines. At power up the 180 volt climbs rapidly to about 220 volts and shuts down. Please note this board has at least 3 shut down circuits. Any suggestions or has anyone had failures with Q955.

Namco put 25" monitors in them and that is WAY too big for the cabinet -- it just looks clumsy to me

I can't imagine shoehorning a 25" into my Galaga or Pac cabinets.

Cheers.

Hi. Quick question...If I were to put a new OLED monitor in my cab *only*  for vertical orientated games like Pac-Man, Galaga, etc, I'd obviously install and rotate it for "TATE" mode. So with that mind, what size monitor would you recommend for this purpose?

Sick. Did you make the metal control panels too or order replicas?

This is still one of my holy grails.

 

Hey guys, i am new to all of this and made me a 4 LED Setup with my 58 Inch TV. It is to big, i have to stand behind the Couch and point to the TV. sitting on the couch, i am way to near. So i ordered a Fisheye-Lens and hope this will fix the problem with the distance.

BUT i have antother problem. When I calibrate the gun with 4 LEDs, the Wiimote has to be rotated a little bit to make all 4 Points inside the zones.
I made pictures and put my phone on the wiimote so you can see how angled i have to turn the wiimote to make it horizontal.

I have a Theory why certain Japanese cabinets used Curved buttons.

Their cabinets likely needed more control panel space for each players arms

Also.. as far as Ive seen... their buttons are either Flat Topped, or Convex (raised bump)
(I personally hate flat or raised buttons.  Convex is so much nicer feeling)

Being flat topped would make it less of a problem to press a buttons anywhere on its surface, rather than its center

Add to that, micro-switches that take less activation force.. might allow them to lay their hands flat, while playing
(I cant confirm this, because Ive only owned a Japanese stick.. not their buttons)

But even if all that is true... its still vastly inferior to simply bending your fingers vertically over the buttons...
because you get a superior mechanical advantage.  Better strength, speed, and better control.

Again, you never lay your fingers flat, when typing on your keyboard


Another thing that partially may have effected Japanese Cabinets... is that they are Sit Downs.   The problem with
a sit down fighting cabinet... is that if you are too short, your hands/wrists might be strained, trying to angle them
upwards on the Control Panel.   This is why most US Standing Arcade cabinets have a slight Angle on the Control
panel... to allow people of shorter heights (children), to be able to reach the controls with comfort.. rather than
their forearms being scraped on the sharp front edge of the cabinet.


But As said... even if you were to use all Japanese buttons / parts... Id still recommend using a Straight Line
alignment.   Its simply easier to tell where the buttons are, without accidentally hitting the wrong button...
and you get better strength, speed, and control, with slightly bent fingers.

Ohh, and As Ive said before... if you are not planning to use Japanese parts.. you can use wood for the control
panel.. rather than having to have a new metal part cut + drilled.  This also means, if you wish to change / remake
a control panel... its that much easier.  No need to ever cut metal again.

Dont Do it !!

I once built a control panel with a Curved button layout like that.  It was AWFUL.

It looks like it would fit your fingers Ergonomically.  However... the problem is.. you dont lay you
hand Flat, when using buttons.

 When you type on your Keyboard.. look at your fingers.  They are vertically bent downwards at the
first knuckle.  Thats why every key is in a straight line.. so you know exactly where they are, even
if your eyes were closed.

 When you try to use a Curved button layout on a Control Panel... you end up hitting the edges
of the buttons, instead of the center of each button.  Also.. you might even accidentally Miss the
button altogether

 You would not save more than any inch of space, by curving buttons.  And, you would seriously
regret doing it.  Just use the Straight Line rows.  Trust me on this.

 Many people have made the same Mistake... but they are too proud to rebuild their control panels,
and have suffered for it, as a result.

My plan now is to build a box out of scrap with easy change deck (or whatever you call the top) to try a few patterns out before I try anything with the metal on my cabinet. Not even worried about saving space since the Atari Showcase 33 has such a large playfield. Waiting for the buttons and sticks (yes I bought a few to test) to build it. Also just had a melt down over my printer not printing so now i'm waiting on a new printer as well lol.