Test rig finished

Cmndr Brain

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I was sick of pulling my games away from the wall, just to plug a board in to test it. So, I would like to thank those who helped me with my test rig build, especially "Jeff F", "RetroHacker" and "MaximRecoil". Here's the finished product.
 

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Looks great John! :beerchug:

I'll be bringing all my non-working boards to you tomorrow... just to help you iron out bugs. :)
 
Very nice!! I assume the LCD on the front is the current +5 voltage reading?

Yes. I don't have a pic of it, but there is a hole in the side of the case, to insert a plastic screwdriver to adjust the +5v as needed.

Looks great John! :beerchug:

I'll be bringing all my non-working boards to you tomorrow... just to help you iron out bugs. :)

It's all set up for standard Jamma. Still working on the adapters. Almost done with the konami adapter.
 
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Looks pretty cool! I was thinking of doing a simple panel (without a case) for a test rig. I have had my eye on these little five way buttons for the joysticks.

http://www.parallax.com/Store/Senso...List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/615/Default.aspx

27801-M.jpg
 
I love posts like this. Looks great. I am (one of these days) going to make a "nice" test rig on my bench. Not necessarily portable like yours though.

Great job!
 
I was sick of pulling my games away from the wall, just to plug a board in to test it. So, I would like to thank those who helped me with my test rig build, especially "Jeff F", "RetroHacker" and "MaximRecoil". Here's the finished product.

Looks goods! You should seriously consider patenting this. I am sure you could sell a few on here and charge triple on ebay!!!
 
I really need to find me one of those little LCDs that can be hacked for testing...
 
Looks goods! You should seriously consider patenting this. I am sure you could sell a few on here and charge triple on ebay!!!

I would love to, to help the community. But, the screen and the case are extremely difficult to get. I guess another case would to, though not as fancy, but the screens are quite difficult to obtain. Unless there is an operator that would be willing to buy them in bulk, I can't find them very easily. Have to hack apart something that has that particular screen. i.e. Pachinko machine.
 
This is just cool. I was thinking of mass producing something like this, but the sticking point was the LCD screen.... No problem with the case, it was only the LCD screen. I know how people want to pay as little as possible....well, those screens put the price over the top for a portable test rig, IMO. (ie: I didn't think anyone would want to pay for one).

But, it sure is cool to see other people make them!!
 
This is just cool. I was thinking of mass producing something like this, but the sticking point was the LCD screen.... No problem with the case, it was only the LCD screen. I know how people want to pay as little as possible....well, those screens put the price over the top for a portable test rig, IMO. (ie: I didn't think anyone would want to pay for one).

But, it sure is cool to see other people make them!!

How much were the ones you were looking at?
 
I was trying to sell my "rigs" at a price point of $150, but the LCD's alone were ringing in at $80ea. After it was all said and done between the LCD, power supply, case and everything else, the price was $40 over my proposed selling price. I didn't think anyone would want $200 or $250 portable rigs, so I dropped the idea.

Now....if I could get the price of the LCD's down and maybe those power supplies, too... we'd be back in business. Then again, if people were OK with the idea of $200/$250 per unit, maybe I could just pick up where I left off and make a small (<100units) batch.

How much were the ones you were looking at?
 
What kind of LCD is that? does it just take CGA or something?

Do you have a log you kept while building this thing? It's pretty cool.

What did you do to get the 5v reading?
 
There is a knockoff Playstaion LCD that you can use.....

It is 7 volt supply.

So you just use the +5 as ground and 12 as supply.
 
I was trying to sell my "rigs" at a price point of $150, but the LCD's alone were ringing in at $80ea. After it was all said and done between the LCD, power supply, case and everything else, the price was $40 over my proposed selling price. I didn't think anyone would want $200 or $250 portable rigs, so I dropped the idea.

Now....if I could get the price of the LCD's down and maybe those power supplies, too... we'd be back in business. Then again, if people were OK with the idea of $200/$250 per unit, maybe I could just pick up where I left off and make a small (<100units) batch.

Maybe you cut a bulk deal with the earthlcd.com guy in San Juan Capistrano. He has some 5.8" LCDs for $66 that should work based on the data sheet.

http://store.earthlcd.com/s.nl/it.A/id.4095/.f?sc=7&category=10
 
What kind of LCD is that? does it just take CGA or something?

Do you have a log you kept while building this thing? It's pretty cool.

What did you do to get the 5v reading?

The LCD screen was a 5" from a pachinko machine. It takes a CGA input right from the pcb. Powered by +12v, but the brightness is wired through some resistors and the pot from the +5v.

The 5v LCD is just a cheap Panel voltmeter. Do an ebay search for "LCD Voltmeter". All sorts of colors. I just thought the red would go w/ the black finish on the case.

I didn't keep a log because, I thought, it was just a simple build. Power supply, buttons/switches, screen and connectors. But, if anyone has any questions, keep the post going or pm me.
 
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