New Project

Started on a new project this weekend. Virtual Pinball machine, plan on using a 42 inch tv for the playfield, and a 32 inch one for the backglass and 19 for the DMD display.

Have ordered most of the hardware now, just need a few odds and ends like fans for cooling. All the main parts have arrived though, so I began cutting out the cabinet this weekend, plan on making 3 machines in total.

Computer I plan to use is quite powerful, 6 core system running two 6850s. In this picture you see the bezel of the Sanyo 32 inch TV I am using for the backglass. Here I'm just testing the backbox for fit, I used a wobble blade to groove channels into the wood which the TV bezel sits in and will eventually hold the decased LCD in place.

Should have the backbox completed shortly, and then will start on the main cabinet. The board below the TV will eventually be cutout to hold the DMD display (19inch monitor), and a couple of speakers.

Scorpion Pinball Machine

Picked up a Scorpion Pinball machine about a month ago, one of the first early wide body cabinets. Not a bad game, like the drop down targets, but the game play definately isn't as fast as my Firepower machine, and it does lack something without any voice sounds. I do like the dual flippers though, and it does remind me a little of Black Knight with the two almost seperate playfields.

Was a bit of a mess electronically, even had a fuse wrapped in tinfoil, needed a number of repairs. Battery box was defective and needed to be replaced. IC19 5101 was dead, and had to be replaced so I installed a new IC with a socket. Most of the male pins were no longer soldered very well, so I resoldered the 40 pin connector.

Replaced switch 06, was causing poor flipper operation .

Cleaned all contacts using diagnostic tool # 3 and found a number out of adjustment. Now corrected .

The following transistors all needed replacing:

TIP 122 Q33 /10 loose and broken stopped sound number 10

Tip 122 Q37 / Q36 stopped sol 13

Tip 122 Q6 /Q5 stopped top left drop down sol # 4

There were quite a few other issues, but one of the main ones was that none of the displays were operating. This was fixed by replacing the resistors which were out of limits.

Firepower Pinball Fixed

Everything is working great now on the pinball machine. Pretty amazed with how complicated the play scenarios are. Quite impressive how the multi ball countdown works, and also the control of spelling F-I-R-E by using the right flipper.

Last remaining issue to fix was a previous repair that had been done to the driver board. After removing the wires that were connecting pins on IC5 and IC4, repairing the traces that had been cut, installing new transistors and replacing one of the 7408s chips controlling solenoid 7 everything is now working.

Glad the shield is working again, tough game without that.

Next I'll be buying some acrylic paint and touching up a few rough spots on the play field, will also try to find some new targets and order new stickers for them.

Shield or Solenoid 7 not working on Firepower Pinball

I have a 1980 Firepower Pinball machine, wouldn't go into attract mode but replaced IC19 RAM and resoldered the 40 PIN connector and everything works great now. There were a few issues with the playfield but mostly contact points. Couple transistors were also missing, but replacing these restored sound.

Only thing not working now is Solenoid 7, for the left shield. The driver board has been played with, not sure why someone would do this, but pin 6 of IC5 has been connected to pin 1 of IC4. Pin 1 of IC4 has been stripped so no longer connected to pin 17 of IC5. Could this be related or why would someone jumper pin6 of IC5 to pin 1 of IC4?

Testing Solenoid 7, it seems when I check the transistor in the diagnostics mode, it never gets a ground and just has a constant voltage, if i ground it the solenoid works fine. For the solenoids that work their transistors get an alternating ground.

Considering replacing the solenoid peripheral integration connector PIA IV (8620), or one of the 7408s chips that control solenoid 7. Not entirely sure if IC2 is the 7408s chip that controls solenoid 7.

Pinball Switch Testing

Pinball machine didn't want to come out of attract mode, some research on the internet suggested that the three switches that detect the pinballs in the ball trough are often the culprit.

Tested the switches and found that 2 of the 3 were not working. Cleaned them with some switch cleaner and now the game would start.

Tested everything out going through the diagnostics modes, see firepower pinball for a how to. Most of the game is now working, there are a couple of solenoids though that aren't firing. One unfortunately is the solenoid that kicks the ball onto the ramp, this one is pretty crucial, and the other is solenoid 7, that acts as a shield, and stops the ball from going out of play on the left side. Not sure how a player activates the shield, but it looks like the diode there is bad.

Will try replacing the diode on switch 7, and also the transisters for these two solenoids on the driver board.

Firepower IC19 RAM replaced

The RAM chip at IC19 has now been replaced, game boots into attract mode now and no longer gets stuck in audit mode. Not entirely sure if it was replacing this RAM that fixed things, or re soldering the 40 pin connector between the boards which is also frequently sited as an issue with these machines.

Game will display credits now when coins are inserted, but for some reason won't start. Pressing the start button seems to do nothing, suspect that the problem rests with the three switches that detect the balls in the trough. Have read that the machine must detect that all three balls are in the trough before starting, and that issues with these switches frequently cause the game to not start.

There is some test mode that will allow you to trouble shoot those switches, so next steps are to read up on how that diagnostic mode works, test the switches, and go from there.

Super Mario is more fun with the Retro Arcade Stick

Super Mario played great using the arcade controls. The games that ship with the Super Joy are definitely an odd lot, they are all pretty close to the originals but if you look at this title screen you can see a few of them are just ever so slightly different. Pretty sure royalties were never paid, and thus some of the names of the games in the title list are also quite strange, like Galaza instead of Galaga for example. Oh well nothing like a bootleg game controller.

Overall though pretty happy with the list of games, nice to have several times more than what shipped with the Retro Arcade Stick.

Testing the Super Joy/Retro Stick Combo

Installing the joystick back into the arcade was a bit of a pain, and required a couple of wires to be wired back on as they were pulled off during the installation.

Once everything was back together it was great seeing the 78 game list that came with the Super Joy up on the screen, all accessible and playable with the terrific controls that come with the Retro Arcade Stick.

Super Joy Mated to Retro Arcade Stick

Connecting the Super Joy to the Retro Arcade Stick did not prove to be too difficult. Hardest part was probably soldering to the connectors on the Super Joy board.

Here you can see the Super Joy on the left, and the inside of the Retro Arcade Stick on the right. The red plastic holds the 2 buttons of the retro arcade, and the white plastic is where the joystick rests, there were 4 connections required for the joystick portion with a common ground to all 4.

In addition to wiring the joystick and buttons up, I also wired the start button, and on/off switch from the Super Joy to the switch and coin button on the coin slot of the Retro Arcade Stick.

Now that the controllers are connected, they will be mounted into an 18 inch cabinet.

Connect Super Joy to Mini Arcade Joystick for 78 Games

This weekend I dismantled an old Super Joy I had that came with 78 games pre loaded on it. There are several old Atari games, and also many Nintendo and arcade titles. Few of my favorites on this joystick include Dig Dug, Galaga, Super Mario Bros, Contra, and Joust. Of course I have played them all yet, so imagine there are some gems on there I have yet to come across.

Purpose for dismantling the joystick was to see if I could connect it to one of the 12 in 1 game systems I use for my mini arcades. I like the joysticks on the mini arcades a lot, very good quality, and work great. There are only 12 games though, so I thought a little more variety would be good, and I hadn't touched the Super Joy in about 5 years since I hated the joystick and the short cable to connect to the TV, so figured I might as well see if I could get some use out of it.

Opening up the joystick was very easy, they aren't exactly the best quality things out there, and looking at the buttons and d pad it looked pretty easy to connect to the other controls. Essentially just a carbon pad that shorted out on the circuit board contacts when pushed down by a button or one of the directional controls.

March of the Mini Arcades

Spent a few hours and created a few more mini arcades this weekend. No differences to the design other than now also using a bezel for around the monitor which cleans them up a lot.

Firepower Pinball Cabinet

Looks like the problem with machine is on the CPU board. Top left of this image, RAM5101 at IC19.

40 Pin connector between the CPU and driver board also appears to be bad.

New Ram chip has been ordered and soldering new connectors now, will see if this gets the game out of diagnosis mode and into attract mode.

Pin Repair website is a great resource for those troubleshooting one of these older System 7 machines http://www.pinrepair.com/sys37/index.htm

Side Art for Upright Joust Cabinet

Side Art for the Upright Arcade cabinet, would have been nice to save the original Joust art but it was too far gone. May stencil it back on one day.

Completed this full size arcade a couple months ago. Was originally a Joust machine that had been gutted, I basically stripped all the paint and filled the wood for painting. Went with a Soul Calibur theme.

Machine is running Gameex for the front end, and several arcade and console emulators. Controls are wired up to a I-PAC for the PC interface. Originally was using a keyboard hack, but found that certain joystick/button presses would interfere with each other when playing two player games like Street Fighter 2.

Happy with how the project turned out except will probably revisit the button layout at some point.

Firepower Pinball Restoration

Picked up this 1980s Firepower machine in trade the other day. Currently the machine is stuck in diagnosis mode, using some online guides though I believe I've traced the problem to a defective integrated CMOS Ram Chip.

Chip is on its way so hope to get it installed with a new socket and be playing soon!

Once this is working and in my basement I'm looking into building a Visual Pin.

Video overview of the Cabinet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FqBXXSE8tQ

Additional Side Art

After applying the first round of art it felt like the arcade wasn't quite complete, so printed up a bezzle for around the monitor, and also a ghost for the side with the controls. Really finished everything off and the cabinet is now complete.

Cabinet with Artwork Applied

Big thanks to TPH Direct in Calgary http://www.tphdirect.ca/ for printing the artwork, they have great staff and really great ordering system. Artwork turned out really well. Making a couple more pieces for the bezel and also a smaller image for the other side, but close to complete now.

Also thanks to Trebeck who made his really awesome 8 bit looking retro graphics available on arcadecontrols.com http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=100360.0

Mini Arcade Build - Radio and other controls

Here is a side shot of the arcade with the radio and other controls. Unit also came with a remote control which comes in very handy.

Nothing left to do on the cabinet now except install the artwork I'm having printed.

Kick plate, marquee, and side art.

Mini Arcade Build - First Game

Eventually got everything together and as luck would have it the thing actually worked.

Games are quite fun and I like that I can use the arcade machine not just for playing the 12 games that came with the controller, but also as a radio, iPod player, and even a regular TV.

Back of the cabinet has a coaxial input, and also a composite one so very flexible with the input options. Imitation coin slot lights up which is also a nice touch.

Mini Arcade Project - Electronics

Installing the electronics after dismantling the TV and controller was easily the most difficult and time consuming part of the process. The TVs I had purchased although great because they included a radio, and so many other features, did turn out to have a lot of wiring and circuit boards that needed to be located somewhere inside the cabinet.

Turned out to have just enough room when all was said and done, and was able to neatly route the wires and solder everything back together.

Mini Arcade Build - Finishing

After assembly the cabinets were filled with wood filler and then spray painted. Went with Krylon spray paint from Canadian tire. Each cabinet took an entire can of spray paint to complete.

They turned out quite shiny, almost plastic looking, which was the look I was going for.

Here is the first painted cabinet.

Mini Arcade Project - Build

Cutting the cabinets out was pretty quick using the table router and band saw. Having a jig really allowed me to save time and ensure that each cabinet was exactly the same. Will also come in handy if I ever want to build more machines.

Here is how they look assembled.

Mini Arcade Build Projet - Inception

Came across a great idea to make a mini arcade on the web last week. Good opportunity to use power tools and modify electronics, what could be better?

Started with a rough design and the parts I planned to use.

TV comes with a radio, and a couple of composite inputs. Game controller comes with 12 games and plugs into any TV.

Based on this design a jig was made and the cabinet pieces were rough cut with a band saw. Finished cuts were made with a table router, which was also used to bevel the sides. Everything fit quite well and I had enough MDF board to make about 4 cabinets so cut the rest out.