Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => Arcade Lifestyle => Topic started by: ckong on November 23, 2009, 08:35:13 PM
-
I know, I should leave Vanguard alone until Centipede is done, but I just had to clean the parts of the cab a bit. So I did strip the cab parts completely.
Here is the marquee again, I love her round curves. As Level42 said, it’s a piece of art.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2295.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2298.jpg)
I polished the marquee holders with Commandant (before and after photo)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2299.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2301.jpg)
The PSU before and after some cleaning with water, soap and Commandant.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2307.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2314.jpg)
The same for the coin door:
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2304.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2306.jpg)
Now it’s time for a few ‘technical’ questions:
1. What is the purpose of this button? It’s mounted on the underside of the CP (there is a hole in the board), but it wasn’t connected to something (on the monitor chassis?). It has a green female connector of the kind you often see on a chassis. I don’t know if it is original because anybody can reach it easily during gameplay, a thing an operator would not want I guess.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2316.jpg)
2. Please look at the following photos. You see that some wires are cut from one connector, and that there is another ‘standard Jamma’ PSU present. I did check the wiring of the original PSU visual, and I didn’t see anything which could explain why some wires are cut. Why are the wires cut, and why is there another PSU? I did also notice that the wires of the coin counter, which runs on 6V DC were cut.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2283.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2289.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2311.jpg)
3. Does someone perhaps has technical documentation about the Zaccaria PSU (probably a long shot)?
-
wow! excellent job! you can allmost see your mirror image in the coindoor!!! :spaceace:
-
I know, I should leave Vanguard alone until Centipede is done, but I just had to clean the parts of the cab a bit. So I did strip the cab parts completely.
no, you shouldn't ;D working on just one cab is not a challenge ;)
I polished the marquee holders with Commandant (before and after photo)
looking good! what kind of product is COMMANDANT?
-
Now it’s time for a few ‘technical’ questions:
1. What is the purpose of this button? It’s mounted on the underside of the CP (there is a hole in the board), but it wasn’t connected to something (on the monitor chassis?). It has a green female connector of the kind you often see on a chassis. I don’t know if it is original because anybody can reach it easily during gameplay, a thing an operator would not want I guess.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2316.jpg)
This is a degauss button, it should be attached on your monitor chassis.
-
Now it’s time for a few ‘technical’ questions:
1. What is the purpose of this button? It’s mounted on the underside of the CP (there is a hole in the board), but it wasn’t connected to something (on the monitor chassis?). It has a green female connector of the kind you often see on a chassis. I don’t know if it is original because anybody can reach it easily during gameplay, a thing an operator would not want I guess.
This is a degauss button, it should be attached on your monitor chassis.
Yes that's what I think too.
The reason for putting a switching power supply (often simply called "switcher") is to be able to run some other game. Or maybe the original PSU died. Wait a bit until you find a PCB to see what powers it requires.
-
btw, that zaccaria version of vanguard is so much nicer looking than the american cabinet, the marquee alone is GOLDEN!!!
-
Yup. And much nicer than the German version too.
-
time to post something again about my Vanguard. Nothing much though.
I did some touch up work on the sidepanels where there were some little woodchips. I got pretty good matching paint and repainted a few parts of the panels. The following photo is of the side with most damage, and I am pleases with the result (photo 2). I did the same thing with the other sidepanel.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2391.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2417.jpg)
I also cleaned the cab from top to bottom, and made it real shine again with car wax polish. Good stuff. The exterior and the interior of the cab is now as good as it will get, only thing left to do is some electrical work. But that will have to wait until next year. I have to spend some time on other rhings now :(
By the way, on the next photo you see a little chain which is under the cab. Where is it for?
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2392.jpg)
-
I got one word for you: HARDCORE!
-
Nothing short of brilliant ! Can we make a deal, you do the wood-work on my cabs, I do the electrical stuff on yours ? ;) ;D
My guess about that chain is that is to prevent theft when it would be used in an unwatched location ?
-
Was wondering what kind of harness is in there right now. Is it Jammatized ?
If not, I saw that Bob Roberts sells Vanguard harnesses for 30 bucks....
-
Was wondering what kind of harness is in there right now. Is it Jammatized ?
If not, I saw that Bob Roberts sells Vanguard harnesses for 30 bucks....
Thanks for the tip. Yes, it is Jammatized, and I will first do an attempt to change the wiring back to as it was originally. That shouldn't be hard to do, but if it doesn't work I will give Bob a 'call'.
-
Today I received my original Vanguard PCB, which I bought from Ebay (tested and working it said). :)
Although I said that the cab was jammatized, in fact it isn't. I was wrong, there is a 22pin connector in the cab which is standard for Vanguard. However, because there was an additional switching PSU in the cab, which is not original I believe, I will check all the wiring before I connect the PCB and try to fire up the game (I did some repair work on the monitorchassis, so I hope it will work. It will still get a capkit someday).
-
And be aware that the Zaccaria might have been a bootleg version of Vanguard and used a different PCB !!!!
A good example is my Asterock: normally any inputs switch to Ground. Also with Asteroids. Instead, Asterock inputs switch to 23V (which is reduced to 5V with resistors of course). Following, Sidam had to "change" the program and thought that would be enough to avoid any legal problems...anyway, even IF all the pin's were the same (which they're not) it would probably blow up all the inputs if you'd use an Asteroids board in the Asterock cab.
Vanguard may have been an official license, but it's still good sense to check before trying the board :)
-
Vanguard may have been an official license, but it's still good sense to check before trying the board :)
I sure will do 8)
-
I used to own a Zaccaria Phoenix and was quite surprised after tracing all the connections to find that the pinout was the same as the official board so it just plugged right in. I was expecting some kind of zaccaria/bootleg pinout.
If I remember correctly there was a small PCB in there for credit settings but it worked without it.
And, no, I don't know what that chain is for, mine had one too :)
-
That chain is to attach yourself in the case your wife/girlfriend is calling you come out of the gameroom and to stop gaming, so you have a good excuse not to come out of the gameroom ;D ;D ;D
-
A few weeks ago I got a Centuri Vanguard PCB. When I checked the wiring in the cab with a schema which I got from Mike's Arcade site, I noticed that it was not correct at all for the Vanguard game. I assume there has been another game in it.
Today I recieved a new edge connector and I rewired the harnas in the cab. However, when I turned on the cab, I got this image:
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/Cimg2462.jpg)
I tried to adjust the pots on the MTC 900 chassis for ver.freq, hor, freq. and others, but without any improvement. Could someone lead me to the way where to look for the solution.
-
That looks more like a problem coming from the board. Are you sure you wired the harness correctly?
Have you tested the board on another cab/rig/adaptor and/or tested the monitor with another game/source?
Are your voltages correct at the power supply?
-
That looks more like a problem coming from the board. Are you sure you wired the harness correctly?
Have you tested the board on another cab/rig/adaptor and/or tested the monitor with another game/source?
Are your voltages correct at the power supply?
I'm pretty sure I wired the harness correctly, but I will do a second check.
I haven't checked the board on another (jamma) cab, I have no wiring adapter for it. But I'm thinking of making a jamma adapter to check the board in one of my jamma cabs.
I checked the voltages, they are correct.
-
I haven't checked the board on another (jamma) cab, I have no wiring adapter for it. But I'm thinking of making a jamma adapter to check the board in one of my jamma cabs.
Proceeding by elimination tends to be the best bet most of the time.
When I need to do these kinds of tests I just wire up an adaptor with the minimum needed: power, video… I can always add credit, control and whatnot later if I need it (plus I really hate making adaptors :) )
-
Could someone lead me to the way where to look for the solution.
Before trying anything else, I recommend a double check of the sync signals to the monitor. Double check that you got the correct sync and eventual polarity, according to what the monitor sync input expects. Syncs can be separate (H, V) or composite, negative or positive. Most Jamma boards run on H- only, but some older boards don't.
Matteo
-
Yes, Matteo is right. This is _VERY_ likely a sync issue.
The Centuri Vanguard doc specs just "Sync" so I assume it's composite (H+V). The 900 has two sync inputs. It's the right-most pins on the signal connector (when looked from the back). Try the other ;D
I just watched some great video containing a lot of Vanguard. I never played the arcade version, only the Atari 8-bit home version (which was a great game already!). Can't wait to play it ;)
-
Matteo and André, that is useful information.
As André said, the Vanguard schematic just mentions Sync on pin 33 ( http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/board%20pinouts/vanguard.txt )
On the video connector in my harness a previous owner cut the wire second from the right (vertical sync):
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/Cimg2469.jpg)
The most right wire (horizontal sync) is intact all the way, and I did solder (only) this wire to pin33.
So what do you suggest? Repair the v-sync wire, combine it with the h-sync wire, and solder both
(combined) wires to pin 33?
Another question for André: I happened to view your first Star wars video today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJLPxdg7lvQ
At 2:10 min. you guys are talking about the high-frequent sound which comes from the deflection yokes. The MTC 900 produces the same sound. Is this a serious problem, or pretty normal for an old monitor? And what causes the sound?
-
So what do you suggest? Repair the v-sync wire, combine it with the h-sync wire, and solder both
(combined) wires to pin 33?
This is useless because both pins are already tied together on the monitor electronics (see schematics of the monitor). Repairing V-Sync would be useful only if your game board had both sync outputs.
If the monitor is a Hantarex MTC-900, there should be a jumper to change sync polarity. First try changing the position of that wire jumper and adjust H-Sync pot to see if you get a stable image.
At 2:10 min. you guys are talking about the high-frequent sound which comes from the deflection yokes. The MTC 900 produces the same sound. Is this a serious problem, or pretty normal for an old monitor? And what causes the sound?
First get a stable image, then worry about the sounds produced by the monitor. With an out of sync image the monitor produces an horrible noise.
Matteo
-
I stand corrected Matteo ! Thanks for pointing that out. I did check the manual for the connector but not the schematics.
And indeed a good sync-ed monitor will never sound like a vector :)
The sound is caused by the deflection signals going through the coils in the deflection yoke. Since these are AC signals they will make something resonate in the frequency of the signal in or around the coil.
It's probably the wires themselves moving a little bit or maybe the yoke itself. You've probably heard a transformer humming before, this is the same thing happening.
When there are few objects on the screen the frequency is low. When there are lots of (small) vectors to be drawn (like f.i. the scrolling texts on the attract screen) the frequency goes way up. You can easily hear that happening.
It happens only on vector monitors because the beam moves very quickly in all kind of directions. That doesn't happen on a raster monitor because on those, the lines are drawn left to right, top to bottom every line. So, the signals in the deflection yoke are more "linear" when compared to vectors monitors.
But in your case, the monitor is out of sync, thus also moving the beam like nuts (and thus giving this scattered image) and it's getting a signal that's not "linear" at all...
Hope to have explained it as clear as possible
-
Another old topic comes alive ;D
After I finally finished the Centipede cab last weekend, at least almost finished it, I now want to get on with Vanguard again.
As posted above I didn´t get the game running properly yet. I had to redo the wiring because it´s not original in my cab. I do want to get the wirtng original again, with the power supply etc, but I first want to get the game running with the present parts.
So, I have a few questions.
First of all, here is a picture of my (SNK) Vanguard PCB
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/SNKVanguardPCB-small.jpg)
At first I assumed that the pinout is the same as a Centuri board (it was advertised on Ebay as a Centuri board), but is it? If not, does someone have the pinout for my board?
Then, please watch this photo:
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/CIMG2283.jpg)
Does someone have the specifications of the wiring of the two biggest connectors (one of which has some wires cut)?
When reading the Vanguard topic of Robinholland, and seeing some pictures of the internals, it is obvious that my wirng is far from original. I do have the big metal block (what is it called?) and some kind of general power switching supply. What parts do I need to get the internals of my cab original?
Finally, there is 4-threaded cable present, coming from one of the connectors on the PSU, yellow-orange-red-brown. Mine isn´t connected to anything. Where is it for, and is it not connected in my cab because I have some kind of general power switching supply installed?
-
pinout is the same (i have the same pcb) only the roms are different
http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi?action=url&type=pinout&page=Vanguard.txt
The pcb use NEG Sync
Check on the hantarex monitor if the pos\neg kabel on the pcb are on the neg sync jumper
-
Etienne made a wonderful Tutorial for my Powersupply:
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=3489.0
If you need more infos please ask,
My power supply is ready for measurements;)
Cu
Digi
-
That "4-threaded cable present, coming from one of the connectors on the PSU, yellow-orange-red-brown" goes to your monitor
That is the powersupply cable for the MTC 900
Will go to the other threat now to answer the rest :D
ps, i have a full harness here for a minizacc, i dont know if its the same as the full upright, but if youre interested, and it can save your zacc, its yours ;)
-
I also like to confirm the "red button"
it is indeed the degauss button.
Here you can see where its located on the mini zacc, and where the cables connect on the mtc 900..
-
ps, I have a full harness here for a minizacc, i dont know if its the same as the full upright, but if youre interested, and it can save your zacc, its yours ;)
Thanks for all the info, and for the spare set. ;D
In the meanwhile, I started checking the functioning of the transformer, but there is something wrong with it. The fuses are OK, including the main fuse, and the main power lead is also OK /checked it on connector CN1. But there is no juice coming out of it, on none of the pins, as shown in the other topic.
If I still have some time before my holidays, I will dismantle the transformer and try to find the cause of the malfunction.
-
There is a metal pin near the ribbon cable on the upper board (SK6), you have to connect that to -5V if you want to hear the game speaking. ;)
-
ps, I have a full harness here for a minizacc, i dont know if its the same as the full upright, but if youre interested, and it can save your zacc, its yours ;)
Thanks for all the info, and for the spare set. ;D
In the meanwhile, I started checking the functioning of the transformer, but there is something wrong with it. The fuses are OK, including the main fuse, and the main power lead is also OK /checked it on connector CN1. But there is no juice coming out of it, on none of the pins, as shown in the other topic.
If I still have some time before my holidays, I will dismantle the transformer and try to find the cause of the malfunction.
Thats probably the reason why they cut off all the wires and placed a switcher..
I got a working spare transformer also ;)
-
:)
I´ll bring mine with the rest of the hanass
-
The refurbishinh has come to an end. :D
Thanks to Etiènne my cab has the original secundary transformer back in place, and most of the other wiring is brought back in original status also.
And because I couldn't solve the issue that the game wasn't playing correctly (see pics earlier in this topic), I visited THE PCB DOCTOR yesterday. I just brought my whole cab whit me to Ridderkerk, where the doctor did some surgery on the MTC-900 monitor chassis (replaced a cap and renewed a bunch of solder joints) and on the game board (cleaned all eprom pins because the game halted at boot and the doctor said it could be because of bad connections with the eprom pins). The degaussing circuit was also not working and the doctor saw right away that it was because of a little breach on the power pcb of the monitor chassis. Voila, within a minute it was repaired again.
And yes, the game is running now!! :lol:
The repair looked so easy, but I guess you just need to have the experience to locate the logical error spots. Anyway, thanks Robin, you made me a happy man. I will put the cab together again this week and post some photo's of it.
-
Nice fix, seems like we have a well trained Doctor. ;D
-
Here is a picture of the internal of my Vanguard. As you can see the ugly power switching supply is gone and replaced by original equipment donated by Etiènne. Thanks, mate.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/P1030831.jpg)
The only thing missing is the metal plate behind the game board, but I can live with that.
And here a few pictures from the frontside. I love the effect of the monitor bezel, it gives a lot of extra atmosphere when you are playing a game.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/P1030836.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/P1030837.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/ckong65/Vanguard%20Refurbishment/P1030838.jpg)
As so often, the photo doesn´t do justice to the game picture. In reality it is very crisp, colourfull and the screeen has no burn in.
After the fix of the main game board by Robin last weekend, I still had an issue with the speach synthesizer board. Yesterday I noticed that it was not working good, there was a lot of sound distortion. But Robin showed me that a simple cleaning job of the eprom pins could solve a lot. So I cleaned the eproms on the synthesizer board and yes ...... speach is now working 100%
Last small things to do is adding a coin door lock, getting some new light bulbs in the coin door (is there a Dutch retail shop where you can get 6.3V bulbs with bajonet fitting?) and cleaning the CPO according Robin´s magical treatment. (Flatten it with a hair dryer and get rid of cigarette burns through sanding and polishing).
I still have one question though, both Robin´s Vanguard and my Vanguard have a lot of static noise when showing the attract screen. But when you start a game, this static noise disappears almost completely after a few seconds. Until ´game over´ that is. Why is that and what can we do to get rid of the static noise?
-
Very nice :spaceace:
Just a hunch on the sound issue, it may be that there's some sort of "mute" circuit in place that isn't working properly (bad cap perhaps) when the game is in demo mode. Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with that particular PCB.
EDIT: I didn't really see any "fixes" for this issue, but the following is kind of an interesting observation. If it uses discrete circuitry for some sound effects (like Donkey Kong, Asteroids) it could be a failure in one of those circuits:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!searchin/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/vanguard$20sound/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/Rpy2df7U3DQ/KVZq7FGhjmUJ
-
Nice job!
The chain underneath is to bolt the machine to the floor so it can't be tipped over so easily (either in shipping or on location).
Vanguards have quite a bad sync output for driving some monitors. There is a small mod that can be done on the PCB to get a better sync out of it.
Paul.
-
Looks great!
-
Very nice!
That static noise is also present in my Vanguard(s), I guess it is originally like this, doesn't disturb me too much, it makes this game unique. :D
-
I think the chain underneath is for ground the machine , not for stealing the machine
-
Dutch source for lamps: http://flipperwinkel.nl/winkel/contents/nl/d81.html
Belgian source: http://www.cedermangameparts.be/index.php?item=&action=page&group_id=10000075&lang=NL
This is Carl Jacobs' site, great guy, if you are looking for pinball parts not on his site, drop him a mail and he may have it. Very fair prices. Sells cheap 110V ballasts too and shipping within Europe is cheap.
-
Great to see the PS getting a new life in a zacc !
Looks like you cleaned the fan a bit ;D ;D ;D
Do you have anything leftover from the old harness ? and was this harness wired correctly that i gave you ?
It was Konami wired since it came out of the cab with Timepilot 84 playing in it
I just dont know if there is a difference in harness with a full upright and a mini zacc..
How many lamps do you need ?
I think i have my original bulbs still here..
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2126.msg26561#msg26561 (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2126.msg26561#msg26561)
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/crazykong/fase2/105.jpg)
My local electronic shop has the 6.3V bulbs new, i can buy a few for you.
I dont know if flipperwinkel has shipping ?
-
nice, i was looking for those lamps too, is possible to get me 4?
-
..... There is a small mod that can be done on the PCB to get a better sync out of it.
Thanks. I don't know if I need the mod, but what is it?
Very nice!
That static noise is also present in my Vanguard(s), I guess it is originally like this, doesn't disturb me too much, it makes this game unique. :D
Yep, you're right about that. Let's say that it is original, and we all like original, don't we? :D
.... Looks like you cleaned the fan a bit ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, it needed a good clean. ;D
I have some bits andd pieces of the harnass left, I will bring it with me. I didn't use your game board connector, I just rewired the one that was in my cab.
And it would be great if you could get 6 bulbs for me from your local dealer. My 'local dealer' is 25 km's from where I live!
-
Was at the local suppier today for a "creditswitch" for the minipong, and in the same time i bought the lamps.
They had 9 on stock, so i bought 9 of them.
I assume the #4 is a spare for you Gyruss ?
Anyway, i have 6 for Ckong, and 3 for you Gyruss (3 per zacc coindoor)
They also had them in "bulb format, but i don't know if they fit through the hole then..
A good thing of these Bulbtypes is that they are cheaper.. but as said, i dont know if they fit.
(http://www.kleinspul.nl/products_pictures/ba15s_bol_klein_2.jpg)
These are the ones i bought :
-
Cool thanks, those will go into my moon patrol..
-
I love the hardcore gaming 101 website, they very often have nice articles. This time a recent one about Vanguard: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/vanguard/vanguard.htm
And I just 'ordered' the A2600 version, with my price money from the Eurocade Nibbler contest. :)
-
Vanguard is a real cool game !
-
I love the music when you hit the "energy"
Flash Gordon:
https://youtu.be/SBe1hwg7V-M?t=17s
-
I love the music when you hit the "energy"
Flash Gordon:
https://youtu.be/SBe1hwg7V-M?t=17s
Me too. Didn't know the FG connection. Nice, so retro!