Supergun, Jamma, Any Good Test Rig Plans Around?

Thomas

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I been looking around this morning trying to see if I have enough parts to build a jamma test rig. I have also been looking to buy a nice pre built setup as well. Do you guys have any good links to build a test rig? Do you know where I could buy a nice rig at?

Here are a few links on the subject that I have found.

What the hell is this? http://www.vogatek.com/ it looks like a complete solution on a board.

http://www.multimods.com/superguns.html

http://www.arcadecollecting.com/info/supergun.txt

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=91479.0

http://therealbobroberts.net/jig.html

http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/superguns.htm

http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/retroranch/supergun.html

http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4#

http://www.google.com/search?q=jamma+supergun&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS322US322&sa=2
 
Here is a material list

http://www.multimods.com/SGmaterials.html

Anything you guys would change on that list to make it better?

Do you have a better list of parts?

Would it not be easyer to use an atx power supply than a arcade switcher because of the fan in the atx?

What would be a great choice to put all this into?

Desktop, Mid tower or and Old Router? (Add your Idea)
 
I don't know how useful a step-by-step guide would be, seems like it would be constraining to follow a set of premade plans. Build based on what you have. A Jamma test rig is nothing more than a convenient box with a Jamma harness, isolation transformer, power supply and buttons. The way I built my rig may not be how you would like to build yours.

That said, I used a computer power supply, isolation transformer and a good quality Jamma harness. I mounted it all onto a piece of wood, and made a front panel with coin, start, and test buttons (I used square poker machine buttons) on it, along with some toggle switches for controlling power. I built it so that a computer monitor stand bolted nicely over the whole thing. For a monitor, I use an old Apple IIgs color monitor. To save space, I used modified Sega Genesis controllers instead of building a control box.

Build it however you like, use what parts you have laying around.

-Ian
 
For reference, here's a quick picture I just took of my test rig. My camera seems to be going flakey, hence the horizontal line in the picture, but you get the idea.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg280/RetroHacker/testrig.jpg

Note that I never got around to labelling the buttons or switches on the front. The left column of three are test, service and slam, and the grouping of four are coin1, coin2, start1 and start2. The toggle switches control the computer power supply power, monitor power (switched outlet), isolation transformer, and a spare switched outlet for other purposes. In case you're wondering, the board in the picture is Mortal Kombat. I don't even have the sound board for this game, but it doesn't matter, I use this board for generating test patterns on acade monitors. On the back, I have a dsub connector for hooking up a homemade cable to plug into a standard arcade monitor header.

On the right side, near the back is a standard duplex wall socket (brown faceplate, you can just see it in the picture). This is isolated by the isolation transformer, and allows me to power arcade monitors on the bench. I just have adapter cables that go from a wall socket plug to an arcade monitor connector. And of course, these adapters should only be used with the isolated socket...

Inside the test rig is a small speaker for sound. There's a jack on the back that I can connect an external speaker to if I need to, or an aplified set of PC speakers for games without audio amps.

The bottom piece of the thing is just a piece of plywood. The metal top was originally a computer monitor stand, I do believe it was supposed to be part of an early laptop docking station.

-Ian
 
Thanks for the posts!

What would be the best kind of isolation transformer that could be adapted to all monitors. I have one in an old mspac. Would that be enough for 19 inch monitor and to small for a 25 inch monitor? Would one from the mspac be to much for a 13 inch monitor?


Btw is that an old rotary phone I see?
 
i want to build a supergun and have all the parts that i need except for a video encoder. i want to be able to test medium resoultion games. any suggestions.
 
Thanks for the posts!

What would be the best kind of isolation transformer that could be adapted to all monitors. I have one in an old mspac. Would that be enough for 19 inch monitor and to small for a 25 inch monitor? Would one from the mspac be to much for a 13 inch monitor?
The transformer in Ms. Pac is more than just isolation. It's also the power transformer, producing the 7 and 14 volts AC for the game board's onboard power regulator. As such, it's much larger and bulkier than you need. The one I used is simply an isolation transformer. I scavenged it out of a junked Jamma conversion. It's about the size of your fist. I have never had a problem running 25" monitors on it, they really don't draw much more current than a 19" monitor - remember, these chassis boards are very similar. And you won't have to worry about having too big of a transformer. The one from Ms. Pac should work just fine, it'll just have a lot of unused windings.


Btw is that an old rotary phone I see?
Hehe. Yup. That's my workshop phone. Nice loud ringer, stays put on the bench, never gets lost, no batteries to run down... I love rotary phones. Got one on my computer desk too. :)

As for medium resolution games, I honestly have never worked with any, but my rig would work with medium res - I would just have to connect a medium resolution arcade monitor in place of my little computer monitor. The wiring for medium res is the same - just different monitor.

-Ian
 
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