Bubbles: Need pic of control panel wiring

TheShanMan

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Donor 2011, 2024
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I'm in the process of a deconversion back to bubbles, and I'd like to get the CP wiring as close to original as possible. I already have the harness (thanks to dokert) ready to wire in but the wires aren't cut to length nor do I know the routing. I'll be happy enough with a pic that shows the whole underside in pretty good detail including the entire run of the harness. I should be able to get pretty close to correct lengths and whatnot from that.

If anyone can help me out with a high res pic, I'll send you my email address if that's easiest. I'm guessing posting the pic here will shrink/compress the pic too much but I could be wrong.

TIA! And a thread with pics will be coming as soon as I get this thing completed. :)
 
I'm in the process of a deconversion back to bubbles, and I'd like to get the CP wiring as close to original as possible. I already have the harness (thanks to dokert) ready to wire in but the wires aren't cut to length nor do I know the routing. I'll be happy enough with a pic that shows the whole underside in pretty good detail including the entire run of the harness. I should be able to get pretty close to correct lengths and whatnot from that.

If anyone can help me out with a high res pic, I'll send you my email address if that's easiest. I'm guessing posting the pic here will shrink/compress the pic too much but I could be wrong.

TIA! And a thread with pics will be coming as soon as I get this thing completed. :)

If no one else posts a pic, I'll dig mine out tomorrow afternoon and take some pictures for you (assuming mine isn't all hacked).
 
I'm in the process of a deconversion back to bubbles, and I'd like to get the CP wiring as close to original as possible. I already have the harness (thanks to dokert) ready to wire in but the wires aren't cut to length nor do I know the routing. I'll be happy enough with a pic that shows the whole underside in pretty good detail including the entire run of the harness. I should be able to get pretty close to correct lengths and whatnot from that.

If anyone can help me out with a high res pic, I'll send you my email address if that's easiest. I'm guessing posting the pic here will shrink/compress the pic too much but I could be wrong.

TIA! And a thread with pics will be coming as soon as I get this thing completed. :)

Cant wait to see some pics.. Im jealous...:D
 
I took a few of mine, it's unrestored (which also means it's dead), never touched best I can tell. Let me know if you need anything else specific:

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Joey, THANK YOU. That should really help. Boy, didn't even think about metal braiding for grounding the metal. The chain is interesting. What's the purpose of that?

And yes, there is something else I need. Your optical joystick! You surely don't need it since your game isn't working, right? ;) Seriously, I think this is enough, but if I have any questions as I work on this, I'll let you know. Much appreciated!

I'll need to see if I can find another one of those support brackets. Mine only has one.
 
I have that chain on a few of my williams cabs.. It makes it so the panel does not drop down all the way..
 
Dokert is the shit..he made me one of the first bubbles control panel harnesses when I was converting back a dedicated bubbles a year or so ago....glad to see another being saved..I might have a few spare parts left over if you need something..but don't have a spare joystick from my memory...:D
 
I have that chain on a few of my williams cabs.. It makes it so the panel does not drop down all the way..

Oh, I get it I think. So it looks like Joey's is cut then, right? Should be longer and screw into the inside of the cab under the monitor shelf I guess?

Dokert is the shit..he made me one of the first bubbles control panel harnesses when I was converting back a dedicated bubbles a year or so ago....glad to see another being saved..I might have a few spare parts left over if you need something..but don't have a spare joystick from my memory...:D

Yes, he is. IIRC I have serial #1 of the repro defender harness and I was a "beta tester" before he officially started shipping them. Love his work. The DC harness was missing in my Bubbles but I replaced the AC harness too because this machine deserves the best! Unfortunately he said didn't have the right measurements from an original CP harness in order to make a proper repro but he sent me a raw CP harness. I just need to cut, route, and zip tie it as appropriate. Is that what he did for you, or was he making them and later discovered they weren't accurate perhaps?

I appreciate the offer to help with parts where possible. I think I'm pretty much covered as far as I can recall, other than a CP support bracket - have one? A CP chain might be a nice touch too, but far from necessary. I'll need to source some wire braid but my recollection tells me this stuff is available from pinball dealers.

I will definitely be on the lookout for an optical but I know it might be a tough search. A friend gave me an arch rivals 49 way before either of us knew how to distinguish them, and I'd happily trade that for an 8 way. :D

Couple general questions though while I have the attention of some Bubbles owners:

  1. The coin bucket I was given looks like the right one and I even saw a pic of a lid with rulers next to it, supposedly for a bubbles, which would indicate mine has the right dimensions. However, there is about an inch of lateral slop inside the coin compartment. Is that normal or do I actually have the wrong one? If it's wrong, I'd love to get a pic and dimensions of the right one because I might be able to track one down if I can identify it properly.
  2. What is the factory way that the monitor frame gets grounded? I have nothing running to the monitor to ground it currently. A pic would be worth 1000 words here. :)
  3. I was given a trashed joust blue button to use as a reference for replacement buttons. I bought 2 repro joust blue buttons from arcadeshop because I was told joust and bubbles used the same color blue. However, the repro buttons have more of a greenish tint to them than the underside of the original joust button (i.e. where no fading has occurred). Is the AS repro not that good of a match? What have other people done for Bubbles buttons? I have an NOS joystick shaft coming tomorrow so I'm really curious to see how the button color compares to it. Hopefully it's close enough that it doesn't bug me! I might be in the market for some original buttons otherwise.
Thanks guys!
 
Oh, I get it I think. So it looks like Joey's is cut then, right? Should be longer and screw into the inside of the cab under the monitor shelf I guess?

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The chain attaches to a hook.. You can see where the hole is drilled on the black part of cabinet under marquee.. Hard to tell from the pictures the chain may be missing some length... Basically I think it was designed to protect the control panel when you open it.. It keeps the panel from dropping all the way down.. I Have seen a few wooden williams control panels where the wood has seperated. I believe that happened when someone unlatched the panel and it dropped open to fast..
 
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It looks like you have what you need, but do LMK if you need any more pics...I just happen to have my Bubbles pulled out from it's usual slot against the wall and fully opened up as I've installed JROK's board on it and am making some other adjustments.

Jon
 
The chain attaches to a hook.. You can see where the hole is drilled on the black part of cabinet under marquee.. Hard to tell from the pictures the chain may be missing some length... Basically I think it was designed to protect the control panel when you open it.. It keeps the panel from dropping all the way down.. I Have seen a few wooden williams control panels where the wood has seperated. I believe that happened when someone unlatched the panel and it dropped open to fast..

+1, you hook the chain up so you can freely open and close the coin door. if the chain isn't hooked the door will hit the cp when opened and/or visa versa.

the chain should always be hooked up when closing up the cp (latching it closed), so next time when you unlatch it it doesn't fall all the way open while the coin door is open.

edit: it looks to be the right length it's just ment to hold it open enough to hook and unhook the chain.

I'm also glad to see this all being put together i hope to someday own one of these myself.
 
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Again, thanks for the input guys. New question:

The cp has a pretty large hole for the joystick (~ 2" in diameter). What is done to hide the hole such as a dust washer, etc? Seems like a dust washer would have to be pretty big with that size hole, and seeing some pictures on the internet makes me wonder if there is something that's supposed to go in the hole. Now, my cp is hacked so I guess I should also be asking if the size of the hole is correct. It's possible the hole was enlarged. Need to get this figured out before I finish doing the bondo work and get the new cpo installed!
 
Bumping the question in the prior post, and also wondering about the Arcade Shop Joust blue buttons, which are supposed to be the same color as the Bubbles blue buttons. YellowDog says they used to be an exact match but the set I got has a slight turquoise tint to it. Comments anyone? Think AS did another run and the color of them are different in this run? Anyone have a nice set of original blue buttons I can buy?

The attached pic shows my NOS bubbles joystick, an original (but damaged) Joust button (flipped over because the underside is unfaded) which is identical in color to the joystick, and an AS button which isn't as close in color as I would have liked.
 

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Again, thanks for the input guys. New question:

The cp has a pretty large hole for the joystick (~ 2" in diameter). What is done to hide the hole such as a dust washer, etc? Seems like a dust washer would have to be pretty big with that size hole, and seeing some pictures on the internet makes me wonder if there is something that's supposed to go in the hole. Now, my cp is hacked so I guess I should also be asking if the size of the hole is correct. It's possible the hole was enlarged. Need to get this figured out before I finish doing the bondo work and get the new cpo installed!

The hole is correct for an optical joystick. I am not sure if it is correct for any other type of joystick (leaf or microswitch). With the optical stick there is no dust washer. The top of the joystick fits perfectly in the hole. This is the same with Sinistar, ArchRivals, Joust 2-way opticals.

ken
 
The hole is correct for an optical joystick. I am not sure if it is correct for any other type of joystick (leaf or microswitch). With the optical stick there is no dust washer. The top of the joystick fits perfectly in the hole. This is the same with Sinistar, ArchRivals, Joust 2-way opticals.

ken

The hole is only correct for the optical stick. The hole is incorrect for the non optical stick, and I am not sure if a dust washer is big enough to cover it.
 
Yeah, with that being mentioned I checked the optical Arch Rivals stick I have and it does fit in there perfectly. So this is a bit of a bummer. I guess I'm in the market for a blue optical 8 way even more than I was before! Anyone have one? Don't suppose that one is available, roadrunner? I'll be posting a WTB, but I think this might be a difficult search. :(

I think I'll have to come up with an interim solution. Maybe I can fill the hole with bondo, cut a smaller hole for the wico shaft, either paint the bondo or make a little color matched overlay for it, and then go with a regular dust washer. I'm open to ideas!!!
 
Well thanks to joeycuda I have an optical joystick! I'm finishing up control panel prep and should be able to apply the cpo very soon, but last night I finally was able to install the joystick and leaf switches so that I could complete the wiring. With these great pics as a reference, as well as the hacked original wiring that was on my panel, I was able to get the wiring pretty much perfectly like the original, so I'm quite pleased about that. After completing the wiring, we played a few games and enjoyed the new joystick, but now it's time to get the cpo applied so I can get this game moved into the game room! At that point I will most likely start a new thread to show some pics of the finished product.

The coin bucket I was given looks like the right one and I even saw a pic of a lid with rulers next to it, supposedly for a bubbles, which would indicate mine has the right dimensions. However, there is about an inch of lateral slop inside the coin compartment. Is that normal or do I actually have the wrong one? If it's wrong, I'd love to get a pic and dimensions of the right one because I might be able to track one down if I can identify it properly.

Can anyone help with this question? It's certainly not the most critical problem but it would be nice to get it right, especially since I use tokens in my game room so the coin buckets do serve a purpose for me!
 
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