Cabinet #2 - Time To Tackle Arcade Monitors!

For my second proect I wanted to use as many "original" parts as possible from my JAMMA cabinet. This meant getting to grips with the Arcade Monitor and the JAMMA loom so that I could create a MAME machine that could easily be converted back to running standard JAMMA boards. Fortunately there are products on the market designed to make this a little easier and they can be found at Ultimark (check out my links page for further details).

As before I started with a well used JAMMA cab which I aquired on eBay. Bodywork wasn't too bad, but it did have some nasty holes where security bars had been fitted and the control panel was finished in a cheap metal plate which had to go. Initial tests showed that the monitor worked but had a little screen burn and tearing at the top. The PSU had been recently replaced with a new unit and the JAMMA loom had been hacked at some point in the past for an alternative sound configuration.

I stripped the whole cabinet back to the bare wood so that I could examine each of the components in more detail and also carry out the repairs to the bodywork. I had planned to use the original control panel, but on closer inspection I could see that this really wasn't an option. The joysticks were both good but the buttons were badly spaced and not standard, so getting others to match was going to be difficult. I decided to strip the panel, fill the holes created by the original buttons, drill new holes for 6 new buttons per player I was going to use then top the whole thing off with a new custom built ayrilic sheet. The job took longer than I had expected, but I was very happy with the end result and because I had used the original panel as a base it fitted the cabinet perfectly. Before fitting the panel I sprayed the under side of the acrylic sheet with black and gold to match the artwork of the cabinet.

During the restoration I repaired, stripped and repainted the coin door. I resprayed the glass marquee holders and replaced the worn rubber on the kickplate with new matting. A new lock was fitted to the coin door and I repaired the two locks on the rear door which were previously not working correctly.

I took some pictures of the restoration in various stages and these can be seen below....

The arcade monitor was not in good shape - chassis had been hacked at some point in the past.

Body stripped - repairs made - primed and ready for painting

Back in the workshop with the new control panel fitted. Note "wavy" picture on the old monitor.

Once I had finished the main restoration job I began to configure the hardware to work with MAME. The PC I was using had an AGP slot, so I was able to use the ArcadeVGA card from Ultimarc without any problems. The JPac card was simplicity itself to install and configure, and the whole thing went together in a matter of hours thanks to the knowlege I had gained on project #1.

Testing the configuration I became less and less happy with the quality of the picture I was achieving on the original monitor. the coours were bleeding badly and I was unable to achieve straight lines in either the horizontal or vertical planes. I spent a few long days trying to resolve this by adjusting the monitor and the software but in the end I decided that the results just weren't good enough and the old monitor had to go. Fortunately, I have a number of JAMMA Cabs in my workshop and I knew that one had a very good Hantarex monitor which would fit perfectly. I substituted this monitor for the old one and the results were much better.

I set up the PC to run with Windows 2000 and MameWah straight from boot, and configured the Jpac to work with the additional buttons I'd added to the control panel. After that it was just a matter of tuning the system for maximum performance and adjusting the monitor for the best picture.

I'm really pleased with the finished cab. It looks stunning in high gloss black with gold detailing and the matching control panel really does look like it was built with the machine. Playing games on this cab is a real pleasure and the sound I was able to achieve is even more authentic than on project #1. The original joystics feel less precise than the new X-Arcade ones I'd used before, but that actually makes the machine feel more "real" and I prefer the way they respond to more subtle movements. Playing the ROMS on an original arcade monitor is easier on the eye in my opinion and although the Windows desktop is not as crisp the games do look better when they are running.

The finished item.

Bodywork looks great

Defender never looked so good :)