The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: markrvp on May 09, 2005, 04:42:35 pm
-
THIS PROJECT IS NOW FINISHED.
-
I like how 1up made a play on word's with his marquee on the original PacMamea cabinet, so here was what I changed:
-
Very nice. You get my vote for Dad of the year!
-
I considered doing a Pac/Ms. Pac TV game combo for my mini-cab (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28595.0.html). How do you intend to switch between the two? Will you have both attached to the same controls at the same time or will that also be switched?
Will you have the 2 buttons necessary for the Ms. Pac-TV game? Will you have the turning joystick for Pole Position?
Looks like a good start! Good luck.
Al
-
I considered doing a Pac/Ms. Pac TV game combo for my mini-cab (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28595.0.html).
-
The way I was thinking of doing it was with an old 9-pin serial or 15 pin monitor A/B switch.
Wire the joystick and buttons to the common, Ms. Pac to the A and Pac to the B... all with easy to wire Dsub connectors. Put the A/B knob on the coin door or front of the CP or even on the CP itself.
-
Great suggestion! That's what I'll do.
Then I'll leave the potentiometer steering wheel connected straight to the MsPac pcb.
-
.......
I have shrunk them down to fit Ryan's 20" TV.
.....
"Mom, where'd my TV go to?"
-
.......
I have shrunk them down to fit Ryan's 20" TV.
-
...I have shrunk them down to fit Ryan's 20" TV...
Wait... why did you have to shrink anything on a cabinet that came with a 19" monitor in it to fit a 20" TV?
-
There was a bezel around the 19" monitor. The inside cabinet dimensions of the original Pacman plans from Jakobud were 23".
-
Very nice.
-
Pictured below is how I plan to interface both Jaks units to one set of controls. Thank you to MinerAl for the suggestion.
This box has 4 inputs, so I can also hack in Ryan's Spongebob handheld and his Spiderman handheld (these were a 2-pack from Sam's Club).
I got this on ebay complete with 4 cables for $11.95 plus shipping.
I like having 15 pins on the connector. Each handheld box will need these wires:
Joystick Up
Joystick Down
Joystick Right
Joystick Left
Ground
Button 1
Button 2 (and possibly 1 more ground)
Video +
Video Ground
Audio +
Audio Ground
That's 11 wires needed (and possibly 1 more ground).
I will need to hack these to a 6 volt power supply. I had planned on using one of the Wall Wart DC converters. A couple of questions here:
- Will the Wall Wart work okay (this has been some discussion in the Main Forum)?
- Can I hook all 4 handhelds in parallel to 1 Wall Wart DC converter?
- Should I hook the Wall Wart DC converter into the 4 port switch so 1 power source is switched to the active handheld only?
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
-
I would do separate power supplies and just have them all on all the time. I just wouldn't enjoy sending power through the switchbox. not that it's a lot of power, but still...
Take lots of pictures! The Disney TV game is a blast, better than spiderman maybe :)
-
I cut the sides out today, and BOY IS THIS THING CUTE!!!. I'll try and post pics on Monday.
I hope to have the cab construction complete and ready for sideart and wiring by Monday.
I've ordered orange T-molding from www.t-molding.com. Hopefully it will be here next week. That will be the last thing to go on.
The VGA switchbox has shipped and should be here Wednesday or Thursday, so expect wiring to take place next Sunday.
-
Change "Daddy" to "Dad" so his friends don't lay an ass-whomping on him when he gets a bit older and they come over to play.
-
Change "Daddy" to "Dad" so his friends don't lay an ass-whomping on him when he gets a bit older and they come over to play.
I was thinking the same thing. It will have more longevity with "dad"
-
Thanks for the suggestion guys. In a few years I'll just change out the marquee.
Ryan knows me as "Daddy" right now and I like the symmetry of the word as it matches MIDWAY better in length.
-
Here's where I am to this point. Sides are cut and curves have been sanded. I've got support pieces glued & screwed. All the other pieces are cut and ready for assembly.
From the images below, you can make out the unmistakeable curves of a Pacman cabinet.
-
Lookin good!
-
After 5 hours or stripping, soldering, and screwing (wires, not myself) last night I successfully hacked three handhelds: Pacman, MsPacman, & Spongebob. All are hooked into the VGA switchbox which feeds 1 control panel and the TV.
THIS WORKS AWESOME!!! Thanks MinerAl for the switchbox suggestion. I will make pics later and post.
-
Sweet. Did you wind up using 3 power supplies or wiring the +6v through the switchbox pins?
Pictures!
What are you going to do with the 4th port on the switch? 20-in-1? :) It would be nice to have Mr and Ms Pacmen available. Actually, you could hack as many of the TV-games as you want to and have any 4 of them hooked to the cabinet at one time. If you could find an appropriately sized radio shack (or whatever brand) project box, you could have little modules with VGA cords hanging out of them :)
How many buttons did you go with? Which Joystick? Will you be doing the Pole Position pot as a separate control?
So many questions... sorry. I'm enthused about your project for some reason :)
-
I'll have pictures tonight or tomorrow. I'm using 3 different power supplies. I have RCA switchable DC converters. I tested the 6v setting and it was sending out 9 volts. No wonder so many people have fried these things. The 4.5v setting is the one I have to use. With a load it runs around 6.5 volts.
There are three handhelds hacked in now. I am going to hack in a 4th - Spiderman (which came as a two-pack with the Spongebob from Sam's Club).
The test panel I hooked up had an Ultimarc E-stick and three buttons. All of these handhelds have a button 1. All of them have a Menu button. I have these wired as Button 1 & Button 2. The Ms Pacman has a button 2 which is wired on the control panel & switchbox as BUTTON 2. The Spiderman handheld has 2 buttons on the box PLUS 1 button on the handle. I don't know if these are three different buttons or if the thumb button is wired to one of the other buttons as a redundancy. I'll find out tonight probably.
I will use the MsPacman stick with its own potentiometer for Pole Position. There is a carriage for this inside the box that you can unscrew and then screw into the control panel from underneath. I had to use my hacksaw to cut the balltop off the joystick after cutting through the outside casing top to get it loose. The shaft is 1/4" so any spinner knob from SlikStik or Oscar Controls will work. I think I'll order one from Oscar as SlikStik seems to be having delivery problems.
More later. You don't know how fun it was to play these things with real arcade controls last night!!!
-
Maybe now Ms Pacman will actually be responsive! I have one of those things and the 4-way was worthless. I ended up just playing Galaga on it. Can't screw up left and right.
-
Maybe now Ms Pacman will actually be responsive! I have one of those things and the 4-way was worthless. I ended up just playing Galaga on it. Can't screw up left and right.
Yeah, the joystick on that thing is worthless. My dad bought one for my kids for Christmas. I started looking on the internet for how to make it better (and to find my old Pacman patterns) which is what led to my whole BYOAC experience.
I put a lighter spring in the E-stick and IT WORKED GREAT!!! I'll probably put a Sanwa in the cabinet as it has the SHINY RED BALLTOP which all Pacman related cabinets should have. It is also 4/8 way selectable. You really need the 8-way for Xevious, but 4-way for everything else (except Bosconian maybe).
-
Have you seen the T Stick Plus from the ultimarc website? It comes with a bat top, but has a replaceable red balltop handle. It's 4/8 way selectable from above the control panel. You just pull up, rotate, and drop it back in the engage what mode you want to be playing in.
I've bought one, but it hasn't arrived yet. I could tell you my experiences with it when I get it. I'd like to use them in my upcoming classic cocktail cabinet. I heard it might have a long throw, though. We'll just have to see. I like the switching mechanism, though. Sounds really simple.
-
I'll probably put a Sanwa in the cabinet as it has the SHINY RED BALLTOP which all Pacman related cabinets should have. It is also 4/8 way selectable. You really need the 8-way for Xevious, but 4-way for everything else (except Bosconian maybe).
I agree 100%- I'm actually gonna put one in my mini galaga tonight or tomorrow after i get done painting it. The only thing I'm thinking about is whether i route the CP and put it on top or mount it underneath. The sanwa that ultimarc sells has a much longer shaft than the typical sanwas, so mounting it underneath my 1/2" CP is more like the original sticks- but I'm so used to having a longer shaft (i'm not as old as most people here).
-
I'll probably put a Sanwa in the cabinet as it has the SHINY RED BALLTOP which all Pacman related cabinets should have.
-
Glad it's working for u :)
i got a 5 in 1 taito space invaders game it looks like a arcade panelw itht he balltop and 2 buttons.
Would be very simple to hack and i have a 5" B&W tv but i don't wanna do that cause it has other games with it.
If it just played space invaders it be great but having a choice of games like qix on a b&w monitor is bad i think. :P
-
Here are pictures I promised.
-
Here is the diagram for the Terminal Block I used on each Handheld.
-
Here is my test panel.
-
(and to find my old Pacman patterns) which is what led to my whole BYOAC experience.
Best PacMan guide and patterns I have found are here: http://www.mameworld.net/pacman/patterns.html
Note that the start of the mid-fruit pattern has an error and should be replaced with the attachment, and that they don't work with the Jakks (I think) but work great in MAME (or course).
-
These are very nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
If you connect all the joysticks to the harness, then connect the harness essentially to a monitor, where does the sound come out from?
-
He has the audio spliced into the harness as well, so the sound is coming out of the TV. He could also send the audio to some PC speakers or whatever. The audio, video, and controls are all sent into the switch box, so whichever position the switch is set to is the one sending those signals to and from his TV and controls.
-
These are very nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
If you connect all the joysticks to the harness, then connect the harness essentially to a monitor, where does the sound come out from?
Thank you for the positive feedback and interest in the project.
I'm not going to a VGA monitor. The VGA cables are just a convenient way to wire everything up. They have 15 separate conductors (14 + Shield) and readily available switchboxes ($11.95 on ebay including the cables).
Each handheld (joystick) has its own harness. I'm calling these the INPUT HARNESSES. There is another harness that goes to the control panel and the TV. This is the OUTPUT HARNESS.
What MinerAl said is right, video and audio are both going through the VGA cable using 4 separate wires.
-
I had a couple of hours today to go ahead and put the cabinet together.
-
Here is my Epson 7600 printer printing out the sideart on adhesive Vinyl.
-
Very nicely done!
Carpentry looks top notch. I wish i had a large medium printer :) Side art looks perfect!
-
Looks really great.
My baby sister has been hounding me to build her a cabinet (she saw me looking at the mini ms pac man cab) since I started construction on my own. I have been planning a mini-pac cab for her on the side for a month now and this thread has been great to watch. Thank you for taking so many pictures.
P.S. you wouldn't be interested in printing up a second set of prints for me (for a fee of course :D)
-
P.S. you wouldn't be interested in printing up a second set of prints for me (for a fee of course
-
Wow Mark that's looking really great, I'm in the process of planning one of these for my 3 year-old. Sure appreciate you sharing all the work you did in hacking those controllers.
My little guy is a Spongebob NUT, do you think the games on that one would be simple enough for him to play?
-
Lookin' cool. Seems like it's a very economical approach to BYOACing, and definately looks like a good alternative for someone who wants to build an arcade cabinet but doesn't want to deal with the complications and expenses of having a computer inside.
-
Wow Mark that's looking really great, I'm in the process of planning one of these for my 3 year-old. Sure appreciate you sharing all the work you did in hacking those controllers.
My little guy is a Spongebob NUT, do you think the games on that one would be simple enough for him to play?
I'm building this for Ryan who is 3 about to turn 4. He seems to play these games pretty well. The Spongebob handheld is pretty neat. I especially like the game where Spongebob has to pop bubbles by bouncing a ball off his head similar to Arkanoid ( or Breakout ).
-
Nice work Markrvp. I love the way you take pictures with the pure white background, very professional looking. I second the nomination for Dad of the year. You're definitely very skilled with the jigsaw to get those curves cut just so.
I want your printer.
Cheers,
KenToad
-
Those pocket screws are a different way of attaching panels, but neat nonetheless. Do you have a tool which cuts the pockets, similar to an electric biscuit cutting tool?
Wade
-
Yes, it is a Krieg Pocket Hole Jig. I'll make a picture later and post it. This is a great to make wood joints without having to drill through the outside of the cabinet.
-
Nice work Markrvp.
-
One thing that frustrates me is the amount of detail work that you have to put into the cabinet before getting to the fun stuff (like putting in the controls and playing the D^%N games). I hate painting, but I knew it would look a lot better to go ahead and cover up anything that the vinyl might not. That means the entire insides and the back.
I was lucky enought to find a yellow paint at Home Depot that matches very well. It is:
BEHR 350B-7 CHICKADEE and I chose Interior Latex Semi-Gloss Enamel.
1 quart was enough to cover the inside, back, and the inside door and shelf (not pictured).
-
Tonight has been very successful.
-
Wow ... that looks fabulous ... very nice !!
Cheers
-
There ain't nothin Average about that Cade. Looks fantastic!
-
That thing is looking great. Is that snazzy printer from your shop?
You're very smart to do the art first and then worry about getting it all put together. I got my first MAME machine functional and never finished the marquee or sideart. ::)
-
man you got all the cool tools.
Looks fantastic...
-
Is the little hole off to the right by itself where the knob to switch games will be?
-
The little hole to the right is for the 1/4" shaft that goes to the Pole Position Potentiometer. I'm using a full size arcade button for switching games (menu button). It is the first button-hole to the right of the joystick. It sticks up higher than the other two buttons.
-
Lookin' great! :)
-
Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I'm really excited about this project. I may stay up all night to try and finish it.
Alan, the printer is from my photography studio. It has been REALLY useful for my arcade projects.
-
Wow Mark that's looking really great, I'm in the process of planning one of these for my 3 year-old. Sure appreciate you sharing all the work you did in hacking those controllers.
My little guy is a Spongebob NUT, do you think the games on that one would be simple enough for him to play?
I'm building this for Ryan who is 3 about to turn 4.
-
Thanks for the positive comments everyone.
-
I would definitely consider it. It all depends on what it is.
Would you ever consider doing some contracted work? Or is that too much of a hassle?
-
I just ran into my first major snag. In order to keep the perspective of this cabinet reasonable, I made the opening for the 20" TV as tight as possible. It appears I made it 1/8" too tight. I went to slide the TV in and it hung up at the top outer edges of the case.
So . . . here is today's cabinet building tip:
A BELT SANDER IS A GREAT TOOL FOR REMOVING PLASTIC FROM THE BOTTOM OF YOUR TV CASING.
It still fits real tight, but now I don't have to make additional braces to hold the monitor in; friction is doing all the work for me.
BTW, the orange T-molding really gives a polish to the overall appearance. I'm really glad I didn't skip that.
-
I'm always impressed how all of your pictures have a perfect white background. It's almost as if you were taking them in a studio! ;)
Yup! that's a tight fit. Looks good, though. Are you gonna cover the TV with something to make it look less TV-ish?
-
I'm thinking smoked glass with no bezel. How will that affect the regular TV picture for when Ryan's watching TV?
-
I got the marquee mounted. There is an "under the kitchen cabinet" type fluorescent fixture lighting the marquee. The artwork is printed on Epson Premium Lustre paper and sandwiched between two pieces of 1/8" plexiglass. The marquee is held to the cabinet with HAPP marquee retainer on the top and bottom. The cab looks really nice now except for no glass or bezel.
(http://www.rashphoto.com/minipac/minipacmarqueemounted.jpg)
-
It is time to start mounting controls and electronics in the cab.
-
Looks fabulous Mark. Maybe you could find a ball race bearing to fit the shaft of that stick? You could glue the bearing into a hole in the panel and run the stick through that. Heck, even a nylon bushing would work. The stick wouldn't move at all then and the turning wouldn't be restricted. If you can't find something like that at Home Depot, try a hobby store that sells RC car parts.
-
I'm thinking smoked glass with no bezel.
-
Looks fabulous Mark. Maybe you could find a ball race bearing to fit the shaft of that stick? You could glue the bearing into a hole in the panel and run the stick through that. Heck, even a nylon bushing would work. The stick wouldn't move at all then and the turning wouldn't be restricted. If you can't find something like that at Home Depot, try a hobby store that sells RC car parts.
GREAT IDEA! There is a place here in town that has bearings. I'll go check it out this afternoon.
-
Your cabinet looks fantastic! Finishing the artwork and painting is a must for cabinet construction. Here's my daughters short Pac-Man, 8 months after getting it playable...
I should probably paint it at some point :-[
-
That looks great! Are those Wico joysticks?
I had to really discipline myself to work on this cab in the steps needed to finish it. I'm so close it hurts. It will definitely be done this weekend.
-
The trick is to get everything in position, but DON'T HOOK IT UP! Otherwise it'll never get finished. :)
I never made a marquee or proper sideart for my first machine. I also never installed the t-molding around the front of the CP.
-
That looks great! Are those Wico joysticks?
I had to really discipline myself to work on this cab in the steps needed to finish it. I'm so close it hurts. It will definitely be done this weekend.
All NOS leaf Wicos :) She refused to play it at first (she does not accept anything less than perfect...and did not like losing) But now she is hooked on Pac-Man and variables. The problem now is that I want to pull it apart and finish it, but she want's to keep it in working order. (She's going to lose the battle in about 3 weeks or so ;))
I will not wire my next MAME cabinet until it is cosmetically complete. I've learned my lesson.
-
Tonight is a great night!
First I mounted the original Ms Pacman joystick shaft and cage to the right side of the control panel. By suggestion fom DIRE RADIANT, I used two nylon inserts to stabilize the 1/4" shaft. I used hot glue to hold the cage to the bottom of the control panel long enough for me to put 4 drywall screws into it to hold it secure. I'll get pictures of this tomorrow and post them tomorrow night (or Sunday at the latest). Then I mounted the Ms Pacman PCB and wiring harness to the bottom of the monitor shelf.
Second I wired in all the controls. I have two yellow pushbuttons on order, but they haven't arrived. I couldn't wait any longer, so I swiped a pair off of my 4 player panel on my MAME cab. So, on the control panel I have an Ultimarc J-Stick (Sanwa joystick), 2 game buttons (yellow), 1 menu button (black) and an Oscar Controls Black Anodized Spinner Knob on top of the original Ms Pac joystick which connects to a potentiometer for steering in Pole Position.
Before mounting the other games I went ahead and hooked both the PCB and the control panel into the VGA switchbox. I hooked everything up to the TV, and, VOILA, instant PACMAN!!!
Here it is ready to play:
-
Now Ryan's going to get to play some pac-man in style!
He is going to be so happy, kudos to you markvp. :)
-
That is a thing of beauty, MarkRVP.
Ryan's a lucky boy!
Cheers.
-
Ryan's a lucky boy!
I think all the Boys/Girls that have DAD's from the 80's are all lucky. My kids get to injoy a FULL SIZE Arcade, wish my DAD buid me of this then....
Anyway, nice looking mini-cab there....
-
Great cab, looks great! I'll bet you're his hero right about now. ;D
One thing I suggest is that you might consider devising some sort of bezel similar to the one on the Qausicade, with a hinged section at the bottom over where the controls and such go. Just something to consider...
-
Great cab, looks great! I'll bet you're his hero right about now. ;D
One thing I suggest is that you might consider devising some sort of bezel similar to the one on the Qausicade, with a hinged section at the bottom over where the controls and such go. Just something to consider...
Do you have a link for that?
-
I wanted to share the wiring and mounting inside the cabinet.
-
The electrical wiring for this cabinet is much different than a regular Arcade Cab for several reasons:
One: This is a TV stand primarily. As such, power needs to be available at all times for the TV, VCR, and DVD player. These are turned On/Off by remote control just as you would in your living room.
Two: The marquee light would work well for a night light, so the ability to turn it On/Off independently is nice.
Three: The game PCBs should all be switched On/Off together as having to switch all three on separately would be a pain.
Here is my solution:
1 plug strip that is always on, 1 switchable plug strip for the PCBs, and one switched output for the marquee light.
I made a dual switch box that pulls power from the plug strip that is always on. This box switches power independently to another plugstrip for the PCBs and one A/C pigtail for the marquee light.
-
Okay, I can't stand it. This thing has to have a bezel despite my attempts to ignore this fact. I'm going to print one on my big inkjet paper and mount it to 1/8" photo mountboard which is similar to foamcore, but heavier.
I took the original Pacman bezel which was designed for a vertical screen and rearranged the graphics into this one that fits Ryan's TV.
-
Hehehe, I had a feeling that sooner or later you wouldn't be able to resist the urge. ;D
Looks great though. I can't wait for your next update. :)
-
I feel like one of Santa's Elves the week before Christmas.
-
No, a coin door wouldn't have looked right on such a cab. You did the right thing.
-
It looks fantastic! Your son will be oh-so-happy :)
I am seriously considering hacking some of those games now that you have taken all the work out of figuring it out. The hack now consists of three steps:
Step 1. Log on to BYOAC
Step 2. Find this post in the Projects page
Step 3. follow the consise instructions, paying close attention to the professional photographs.
It couldn't be easier!
Thanks for posting this.
Dave.
-
Excellent.
-
That looks awesome. Good work and great documentation. I hope I can be as thorough.
-
Excellent work! Looks awesome. :)
-
what is this photo mountboard? is that the stuff one uses in picture frames to put around the picture?
it sounds like exactly what I need in my mini galaga to keep the plexi from flexing downwards. can u get it at a home center or walmart?
phenomenal job by the way. i hope my pac looks half as good
-
It's a peel & stick board that you mount photographs to. I order mine from a supplier (for my portrait studio). It's not very rigid, so it won't work to keep your plexi from flexing. I actually bent mine around the TV front for a close fit to the screen.
Thank you everyone for the great compliments! :D
-
Great little project. First time I saw one of these games at the local Wal-Mart I thought about putting one in a cab. Well thought out and very nicely executed.
-
Congrats - a great idea and it looks amazing! Good work.
Hmmmm I wonder if the wife would notice another cab in the rec room...
-
Awesome job!!!!
I was going to post something about PacMan looking better with preserve aspect ratio turned on, but then remembered that it was made from a Jakks, and stopped myself before I looked like a total idiot.
But I guess that also means it could pretty well pass for a MAME cab, which is a pretty good compliment.
Really nice work!!!!
-
I think that once I'm in a bigger house I might consider making a mini-Mortal Kombat cab using hacked Jakks Mortal Kombat TV games. If I ever get around to it, I'll definately use this for reference. :)
-
That thing is fantastic! Very nice. I'd say you really improved the quality of Jakks controllers. You should consider printing for all of us Texans :).
I didn't see that you ever posted the link or pics of the Kreg pocket jig. The website is:
http://www.kregtools.com/
I assume you probably have the K2000 ProPack? That's what I have and it is one of my favorite tools.
-
Here is the happy birthday boy with a very proud papa and his mother and brother. This was the best birthday ever!
-
Awww. :)
-
Oh my goodness -- what a fabulous project! Thanks for sharing it with us! I have been planning to build a small cabinet for my little boy (who's just turned 1 -- so I have some time!), and it will be a huge help to have this project to refer to.
I can't imagine Ryan could be any happier -- and you can see it in his smile!
Congrats, Dad -- you done good!
-- Chris
-
I have been planning to build a small cabinet for my little boy (who's just turned 1 -- so I have some time!), and it will be a huge help to have this project to refer to.
You can never start to early. My oldest son got an electric train and a remote controlled Jeep for his first Christmas when he was only 1 month old. I kept them running for him until he was old enough to play with them. ;)
-
You can never start to early.
-
can you tell me (us) what the name of the material you used to laminate the CPO with? it appears to have a matte finish and texture just like a NOS CPO.
please let me know.
thanks.
keith.
-
This is great great great stuff.
Nothing compares with a happy kid. And he looks happy.
Very fine work.
-
Very impressive. I bet the designers of the Jakks joysticks never imagined anyone would hack them in the way you've done.
-
Hey mark, I read this a while back, and didn't see how you were hooking this up for power, but I was at Wal-Mart today, and they started selling the wall wart plugs for these things. Around $8 and packaging says it's supposed to be good for any of the ones that say "play on your TV" or whatever the JakkPac's said.
-
Hey mark, I read this a while back, and didn't see how you were hooking this up for power, but I was at Wal-Mart today, and they started selling the wall wart plugs for these things. Around $8 and packaging says it's supposed to be good for any of the ones that say "play on your TV" or whatever the JakkPac's said.
Unfortunately only the plug & play games made by Radica seem to come with a socket for a mains adapter. The Jakks ones have to be hacked.
-
Hey mark, I read this a while back, and didn't see how you were hooking this up for power, but I was at Wal-Mart today, and they started selling the wall wart plugs for these things. Around $8 and packaging says it's supposed to be good for any of the ones that say "play on your TV" or whatever the JakkPac's said.
Unfortunately only the plug & play games made by Radica seem to come with a socket for a mains adapter. The Jakks ones have to be hacked.
Actually, Drew's right. Jakks Pacific now sells a widget that jams up inside the battery box and runs off a wall wart. It works on most of the joystick shaped ones, but not on some of the others that may have weird battery configurations. I have one each on a Ms. Pac and a Pac, and I've used them on my Spongebob and spiderman, and a few others. It does not work with the frogger nor space invaders ones (not from Jakks Pacific, so duh).
Which, I guess is a hack, which is what you said, so I got nothing.
-
I have no idea how I missed this back in May, but this kicks butt. Awesome work Mark.
-
Awesome job Mark. I guess I spwmd too much time in EE and missed this first time around. I gonna have to start hacking the Jakks controllers instead of using pc's for cabinets I build friends. It would really cut down on having to do service.
-
Mark,
bringing this thread back up from the dead, I'm wondering after a year of game play how are the Jakks PCBs holding up?
especially the control for the pole position?
-
I don't know how much use it gets, but the one I gave to my sister's kids for Christmas 2004 is still running strong. The stupid fluorescent light keeps burning out, but the game and TV work great.
The T-Stick+ is still perfect, and the steering wheel-topped jakks' steering mech from the joystick still functions same as new.
Mark, how much use has Ryan put on his?
-
thanks MinerAl... I'm considering building some bartops using these and was curious how well they held out.... Of course I better finish my other brazillion projects first....
-
The MsPacman and Songebob PCBs still work great. The Pacman PCB has some garbage in it. The only guess I have on what happened to that one is that the 6v DC adapter is feeding too much voltage to the PCB and it fried something.
The Pole Position mechanism is still great and works perfectly. The joysticks and buttons all work great.
The fluorescent light just burned out after 17 months.
Ryan honestly doesn't play this too much as he prefers the games on his Gamecube. He does watch TV on the cabinet every day though. Like I said earlier, this is a glorified TV cabinet (albeit one that took a helluva lot of work). ;D
-
I bought a 4 in 1 or 5 in one joystick that had galaga and a few other titles on it. After a couple of weeks of play, the graphics started to get screwy and I couldn't really play anymore. :soapbox: I'm glad to hear that this problem isn't typical.
Bill
-
Would markrvp mind reposting (if he has them) some of the images that seem to be missing in this post? I am thinking of converting an Mac SE (and adding some parts so it has a control panel) to a mini-cabinet as a thanks for helping me set-up my cabinet. I am mostly interested in the wiring pics, especially those that show the soldering on the gameboards and the connections that connect the boards to the push buttons.
Thanks for your time
-
hmmmm weird some are gone, but others aren't I PMed him hopefully he still has them....
-
This is bizarre. Not only are some of the attachments gone, but also some of my remarks - especially the ones where I have quoted someone and responded. I don't know why that happened guys, but I'm sorry.
-
I'm really interested in this project. Is there anything I can do to help you post it?
-
mark, I know this is way too much extra work to throw on you when you have current projects/work that take most your time, but perhaps you could revisit this thread and recreate it in the wiki. Many people have used this thread as a resource and it would be a shame if it ended up lost forever. At least throwing it, pics and a summarization or even a step by step tutorial would be beneficial to other members who take one such a project. I know I will eventually use some of your ideas you've posted here when I get around to building a bartop using the Jakks plug and plays.
Just a thought.
I went to revisit Ixliam's BYO Skeeball thread and found it has lost some very important pictures making that thread less helpful than it was before. I realize his pics were hotlinked and his site is gone, but I'd hate to see the boards lose these pics by some unforseen event.
-
And when you're done with that, you can come to each of our houses and build one of these for us.
(j/k)
-
Did the wiring pictures ever end up being posted again somewhere? I love this project. I'd like to do something similar for my son this Christmas.