A noobs adventures in cab ownership!

[tt_rage]

With regards to the bezel, Muddy has suggested getting hi-res scans to him rather than posting the glass through the mail to him, so working out how do get that done to a high enough quality.

 

[deanzor]

For a supposed 'n00b' you're doing lovely work here, bud

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Looking very tidy. I miss my 6 Slot.

I do recommend these for EL panels. Plug and play

http://www.neogeoledmarquee.info/product/6-slot-electrocoin-3-x-2-kit/

What I would say is the typical panels are cool white (which wasn't even a thing when these cabs were out). I requested warm white panels and they look/work great.

There are cheaper DIY ways of doing it, but IMO these are worth the cash.

I’ve actually spoken to the bloke who makes those! I’m hoping to get some panels made up for the U4 (which doesn’t actually have EL panels as stock). Grabbed a replacement credit board and memory card/headphone board too.
Good to know on the colour of the panels, appreciate the info!!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Yeah sorry.  Been ever so busy with work still.  Still trying to clear the massive backlog due to the lockdown.  With paint my brother who is a car bodywork mechanic does the spraying for me.  Comes out looking like a showroom car complete with reflections.    But i would probably just go for the sandblasting and powder coating for durability if i didn't know him.  And re galvanising any metal pieces rather than sanding it down.?

I still got your Vendetta!  

Blinding! I look forward to a chin wag when I pick it up. Still in no rush at all but give me a PM when it suits and we’ll arrange it

 

[ChrisBEANS]

I'll fit the viyl over the unpopulated CP.

Should be taut enough that I can then lay the washer inside the larger hole, cut out the vinyl fron the center of the washer and then mount the stick... I hope... We'll see I guess??

Are you planning to attach the washer somehow, or are you relying on the stickiness of the vinyl to keep it in place.

I'm thinking that joystick movement might be enough to wiggle the washer and twist the vinyl.

I think the vinyl should be fine. There shouldn’t be any rotational force on the washer at all, and it’s pretty thick, sturdy vinyl.

I guess I could bung a bit of superglue around the edge and then sand it flush?? It can still be easily punched out and sanded clean again in future if needs be?

I’m certainly open to suggestions though.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

With regards to the bezel, Muddy has suggested getting hi-res scans to him rather than posting the glass through the mail to him, so working out how do get that done to a high enough quality.

Ah cool. I’d have zero idea about how/where to get that done, but again if you need anything from me to make it happen, just say the word

Lastly, cheers Dean. These are my first cabs, so I’m trying to be thorough! Most people on here could do a much better job much more quickly!ChrisBEANS2021-05-21 18:25:58

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Got to say, MuddyMusic nailed this vinyl!




Took me ages to line it up before I was happy to actually apply it, but I'm pretty happy with the result.




There were a couple of bubbles, which was strictly down to my poor application, but they were sorted eventually.




I 'might' have to redo it at asome point, as I'm looking into solutions to invisibly mount the sticks, but I had to do it this way first as this is the original aesthetic.




The sticks are obviously different to stock, and the buttons are totally different to the concave leaf switch things that came on the cab, but I think they're in keeping with the rest of the intended look.

ChrisBEANS2021-05-22 08:00:45

 

[chris2922]

Lovely job that

 

[TonyC]

Enjoyable post to read Chris, keep them coming, it’s going to look ace !

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Cheers for the interest guys. It’s a really fun project

Does anyone have any knowledge/thoughts/experience in replacing the PSU on these things?
It is SO loud!!

It’s certainly not something that I can’t live with, and it’s actually a bit of a fun idiosyncrasy of the cab, but the fact it sounds like a low powered hoover isn’t the best...

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Still a shed load to do, but we're really getting there. Hopefully I'll be playing some Metal Slug later today!

ChrisBEANS2021-05-22 11:14:05

 

[Majik]

I can barely explain how massively jealous I am of this cab and the job you’re doing on it. Fantastic thread.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

I feel like this post might get more responses if it was given it’s own thread, but I’ll try here first... Anyone know anything about the EL panels?

I was intending to get them all replaced in any case, however it seems some of them work and others don’t. Is it at all possible to salvage the original SNK parts??

The video below shows it in action, but what happens is as the MVS cycles through each game EL1 off/faulty -> EL2 very dim -> EL3 off/faulty -> EL4 off/faulty -> EL5 apparently fine -> EL6 apparently fine.

So as it’s not completely knackered, anyone have any ideas on what it might be and whether it can be saved?

While we’re at it, slot 3 of the six slot board has some graphical interference. Almost like snow. A bunch of white dots/pixels all across the screen. Minor, but there. Any ideas?

Just to cover the obvious, I’ve blown out the slot, I’ve tried different carts in it. It is consistent with slot 3.

In fact, when the MVS is in hardware mode, and the EL test moves to panel three (which doesn’t work, see above) the same ‘snow’ appears even without a cart in the slot.

You can see it briefly in the video above.

ChrisBEANS2021-05-23 13:44:42

 

[K1ngarth3r]

There is nothing really to salvage, you just de-solder the original faulty EL panel and solder the new EL Panel in place keeping the original boards you solder too.

That is unless you replace it all with a new solution.

For mine I just replaced the actual EL Panels and kept everything original in terms of boards and cabling.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

There is nothing really to salvage, you just de-solder the original faulty EL panel and solder the new EL Panel in place keeping the original boards you solder too.

That is unless you replace it all with a new solution.

For mine I just replaced the actual EL Panels and kept everything original in terms of boards and cabling.

Hmmmm, so I've found someone who has panels specifically for this task, but they're £25 each plus VAT (so about £180 total), then I'd need to solder them on myself (which I'm up for trying, but I'm not double confident with it), and then that assumes that the control board is faultless too, which I can't know until I have a full compliment of working panels...

Or

There's the full kit here http://www.neogeoledmarquee.info/product/6-slot-electrocoin-3-x-2-kit/ for £125... It's a shame, but I'm ditching the original parts.

 

[K1ngarth3r]

You can check the voltage to each connector to check if your control board is working ok.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Right, after an absolute shedload of dialling in on the Electrocoin screen, I’ve got the colours and contrast right.

All good.

However, it’s just not bright enough. Notices more in some games than others, but it’s definitely too dark.

The brightness is at max, and the ‘screen’ dial is where it ‘should’ be (I.e. with the video cable unplugged from the chassis, it’s tweaked until the screen just turns black).

The only way to get the brightness any higher is to turn the screen dial up, but this of course means blacks aren’t black anymore.

No amount of tweaking RGB gains and cutoffs can eliminate that, and in any case, after a colossal tweaking session I’ve finally got the colours correct.

Is this something that a chassis service is likely to correct, or is there something else I’m missing?

 

[thegreathopper]

Its probably an old screen and has done a lot of hours, I would try increasing the screen volts a touch on the fly back and then reducing the 3 cutoffs down a bit to get your black back.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Fair enough. It's perfectly playable, in fact in certain games it's perfect. I'm just trying to do the best job I can, but I have to accept that with old hardware you have to draw the line somewhere

In all of this, it's easy to forget that the whole point is to play these games!!

0 continues (1 death)

Still got it!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Some quality of life stuff today that has made a massive difference!!

Swapped out the extremely loud (and probably 30 year old) fans from the chassis and PSU for nice new high pressure and silent Noctua fans.