Arcade Cabinet Projects

Various arcade related projects

Cabinet Identification Chart

Posted by Andrew Burch on October 15, 2013
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While doing some research for an upcoming project, I came across this helpful arcade machine cabinet identification chart a few weeks back, but completely lost/forgot the link.

After some searching again today, I found it again, so have it bookmarked. It’s worth sharing also.

It covers Taito, Bally / Midway, Atari, Namco, Stern, Williams and more. It’s not complete and there are a number of classic machines missing – but still, very useful 🙂

Each chart can be clicked on to view a larger version of also.

You can read more [here].

Mortal Kombat I – Arcade Cabinet

Posted by Andrew Burch on October 5, 2013
Posted in: Mortal Kombat Arcade Cabinet. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

One game I have very fond memories of growing up with is the original Mortal Kombat. I never got the chance to play it at the arcades much, but did sink plenty of time into playing it on the Sega Master System, Mega Drive and Amiga 500. I recently came across an original arcade Midway Mortal Kombat 1 board set, with the sound board and couldn’t pass up the chance to buy it.

MK CPU board
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Pole Position Restoration – Some clean up

Posted by Andrew Burch on September 29, 2013
Posted in: Pole Position 2 Restoration. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

When I first opened the back of the machine, this is the sight I was greeted with:

Blocked

A number of things bothered me:
1) The bottom left corner of the game board was physically resting on top of the switcher. This has actually left some marks across the top of the switcher and some discolouration on the side of the pcb.
2) The middle of the PCB is physically resting on top of the fuse switch. Not a big deal but I don’t like the fact the PCB is actually resting on components of the machine.
3) The pcb isn’t sitting properly due to a makeshift foot (see the top right pcb foot), which leaves it on an angle.
4) Loose power cable hanging across the PCB
5) The frame holding the PCB in place is attached to the base of the monitor panel. While the pcb itself doesn’t have much weight (and any it does have is currently resting on the switcher) I want to reposition it so it’s away from the monitor and not in the way of everything. There is no way to access the speakers, coin mech or steering wheel with this set up.
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Pole Position Restoration – Namco Pin outs

Posted by Andrew Burch on September 25, 2013
Posted in: Pole Position 2 Restoration. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Locating information specific to the Namco Pole Position 2 pin outs proved to be a challenge. The Atari pin outs are easy enough to find and are documented on a number of sites (although a number of sites reference the same documentation). The Atari PCB uses a 30 pin connector on the video board and a 44 pin connector on the CPU board. The Namco board set however uses a 20 pin connector on its video board and a 36 pin connector on the CPU board.

After much Googling, I came across a YouTube video showing the exact Namco PCB I owned. Interested, I took a look and read the comments. Tucked away in the comments was a link to a Japanese website that supposedly contained the pin outs for the Nambo Pole Position board set. Returning to Google with the web address, I was able to view a translated version. I was happy to see that this was the actual pin out for the Namco board set!

I’ve reproduced the pin out diagram here:

– CPU Board (J4): 36 Pin

Component side Solder Side
+12V OUT A 1 +12V OUT
LOCK OUT B 2 START LAMP
COIN COUNTER 1 C 3 COIN COUNTER 2
SERVICE D 4 TEST
COIN 1 E 5 COIN 2
START 1 F 6 START 2
N/A H 7 SHIFTER
GND J 8 GND
SOUND 1 K 9 SOUND 2
SOUND 3 L 10 SOUND 4
SOUND GND M 11 SOUND GND
VOL GND N 12 VOL GND
GAS P 13 BRAKE
VOL VCC R 14 VOL VCC
+5V OUT S 15 +5V OUT
N/A T 16 N/A
STEERING 1 U 17 STEERING 2
GND V 18 GND

* connect the “START 1” and “START 0”

– Video Board (J1): 20 Pin

Component side Solder Side
SP FRONT R+ A 1 SP FRONT R-
SP FRONT L+ B 2 SP FRONT L-
SP REAR R+ C 3 SP REAR R-
SP REAR L+ D 4 SP REAR L-
VIDEO RED E 5 VIDEO GREEN
VIDEO BLUE F 6 VIDEO SYNC
VIDEO GND H 7 VIDEO GND
GND J 8 SOUND 1
SOUND 2 K 9 SOUND 3
SOUND 4 L 10 SOUND GND

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Pole Position Restoration – Servicing the shifter

Posted by Andrew Burch on September 23, 2013
Posted in: Pole Position 2 Restoration. Tagged: , , , , . 2 comments

One of the first things I decided to tackle was giving the shifter a service. The shifter is a basic high / low – 2 position shifter. It works (at least 95% of the time), but could certainly do with a clean and re lubricating. There are a few cases where it doesn’t shift into high gear correctly, but I suspect this will be corrected with the service. To make sure, I’ll replace any mircoswitches too.

The first thing to do was split the cockpit into two parts. The base is held together with two metal plates (one on either side) and 4 bolts. The tread on the bolts has just about worn thin from age, so using an Allen key will be required. For those that are interested, you can use an 8mm or 5/16″. The plates are in decent condition, but do require a bit of a clean. I will make some time to do that before putting it back together.

cockpit plates
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