Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle

General Chat => Galaxian Theater => Topic started by: HHaase on December 23, 2012, 10:08:26 PM

Title: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 23, 2012, 10:08:26 PM
After about 12 hours of driving round trip yesterday, I've added a Starblade to my own collection.
Right now it's sitting in storage, as we aren't moved into our new house just yet, so I won't get a chance to really dig into it for about a month.

(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-001.JPG)
(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-002.JPG)
(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-003.JPG)

I wonder how many Starblades were made, the serial number on this one seems a bit on the low side. S/N 117.

Mostly in good shape though the mirror does have a cracked corner on it.  It's perfectly usable but I would like to find a way to repair or replace it.  I did shoot Namco an e-mail just to see if there's some oddball chance there might be some floating around still.  I'm not holding out out any hope that they do.... Still, worth a try.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on December 23, 2012, 10:27:51 PM
Nice pickup!   :)  Looks to be in nice shape!
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: Muerto on December 23, 2012, 11:12:18 PM
Great pickup! - and welcome here!!
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 24, 2012, 02:48:07 AM
It looks like the biggest issue with Starblade in general is the dome.  Mine is cracked but usable, as I mentioned above, but I would like to replace it. 

Once I have more direct access to mine I'm going to get the measurements together for the dome.  Then I can start contacting some places to see if they would be able to do replacements in singles or small runs.  Some of the quickie estimate charts I'm seeing for deep hemisphere domes in the 40"-45" range are around $200+ if you order one at a time.   I wonder if going more shallow is easy enough to do, and if that would cause the prices to be higher or lower. 

No promises other than I'm going to try.

-Hans

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: DarthNuno on December 25, 2012, 10:27:21 AM
Welcome to you Hans, welcome to the very select club of Starblade owner!  :D

I may have a dome for you, but I can't imagine the shipping cost to sent that beast in USA (If you are in USA?) from Europe, the crazy job to package it, and the risk for a such item to travel so far without any damage...  :shock:

How important is the 'crack' on your dome, can you put a picture of it?
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 25, 2012, 05:37:55 PM
I may be able to repair this dome,  all the material is there it just has a crack along one corner of the viewing area.  I believe it is made of lexan, and I think Weld-On #4 can glue it back together nicely. The material should also respond very nicely if you use Plexus as a cleaner.  I've used Plexus in the past for various plastic lenses and such and It's a fantastic plastic cleaner for lenses and such. I also have found a few places that may be able to make them brand new,  but with the Christmas holiday this week it will take some time until I hear back from them.  I will take a photo of the crack tomorrow after I retrieve the game from my Uncles garage. 

I appreciate the offer on the mirror, but for the time being I'm going to try out some of the more local options.  I shipped a pair of door panels for my Land Rover from the UK to the US last year, and the shipping was $150. A starblade mirror will probably be the same amount. 

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 26, 2012, 02:34:31 AM
We had to drop it off in the garage of my Uncle the other night,  a 25mph crosswind was kicking my butt with the open trailer.  Then I still had to shovel a 3ft high by 15ft wide snowdrift to get access into the garage where we are staying.   It was too cold, too windy, and too late at night to do that much shovelling.  But I spent a couple hours yesterday clearing the snow, and towed the trailer the last 30 miles home tonight.

Now it's in the garage at the place we are staying for now.  No way I'll be able to assemble it or turn it on until late January, maybe early February.... but It's just on the other side of the driveway now, so I can get at it anytime I want.  Once I have time I'll be measuring the mirror for the plastic dome companies to give me an estimate.

-Hans

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 27, 2012, 05:40:11 PM
I finally found a supplier that does the work needed for the mirror dome.  It's a company that makes solar collector mirrors, plus domes for playgrounds and various other similar items.  They have the equipment to do both the dome, plus the mirroring too, and they can handle the dark tinted material too. It's deceptive, from the outside I was expecting a strange shape to the dome, but it's just a plain circle once I got the back panel off.

I'm just waiting on hearing back on a price quote before committing to it.

-Hans


Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: level42 on December 27, 2012, 06:23:38 PM
I bet it won't be cheap....
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 27, 2012, 10:00:37 PM
First place responded, they don't do mirroring or reflective materials.

Second place responded, they can easily do it,  but I'd need to order 10,000 or so minimum.

Found another place that I think can both do the dome, and in the small numbers, waiting on a response. 

Just as an educated guess, I'd say a new dome would run around $300 + shipping.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on December 29, 2012, 06:27:54 AM
According to one of the game's developers they tested the mirror's power by taking it out back to condense the sunlight and succeeded in making yakinikku (grilled meat).  Guess you could use that as a feature request  :wink: :wink: :wink:!
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on December 29, 2012, 06:54:47 PM
According to one of the game's developers they tested the mirror's power by taking it out back to condense the sunlight and succeeded in making yakinikku (grilled meat).  Guess you could use that as a feature request  :wink: :wink: :wink:!

I believe it, with a reflective concave mirror like this.   My cabinet has a big label on the back saying to keep the mirror out of direct sunlight, to avoid starting fires, and to destroy the mirror when done with the game. 

And this is just with gloss black acrylic, not an actual mirrored surface. Can you imagine if it was a proper mirror? 

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: level42 on December 29, 2012, 07:27:53 PM
Mmmm, maybe borrow one or two from here.....they won't miss one or two ;)

http://news.discovery.com/tech/scaling-up-saharan-solar.html
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on January 05, 2013, 05:01:38 AM
Got a price quote back from a shop that can make an exact duplicate of the dome, better than I expected.
Not getting much interest from anybody else, so I'll just be doing a single piece for myself, but I have no problem sharing my source at all.

The company name is California Quality Plastics, and the website is www.custom-division.com
Contact I had was mholguin@calplastics.com


-Hans



Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on January 05, 2013, 05:27:38 AM
Got a price quote back from a shop that can make an exact duplicate of the dome, better than I expected.
Not getting much interest from anybody else, so I'll just be doing a single piece for myself, but I have no problem sharing my source at all.

The company name is California Quality Plastics, and the website is www.custom-division.com
Contact I had was mholguin@calplastics.com


-Hans


Nice work :)!  Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: level42 on January 05, 2013, 10:08:03 AM
Got a price quote back from a shop that can make an exact duplicate of the dome, better than I expected.
Not getting much interest from anybody else, so I'll just be doing a single piece for myself, but I have no problem sharing my source at all.

The company name is California Quality Plastics, and the website is www.custom-division.com
Contact I had was mholguin@calplastics.com


-Hans



Wow, no-one in the US interested either ? Maybe some guys on the KLOV forum ?
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on January 06, 2013, 04:14:24 AM
Wow, no-one in the US interested either ? Maybe some guys on the KLOV forum ?

Tried there too, they said 'Hey, have you tried dragonslairfans?' 

No worries though, at least I was able to track down a place that can make more anytime somebody needs one.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: level42 on January 06, 2013, 11:49:53 PM
Yep, very cool !
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: uncletom on January 07, 2013, 09:46:30 AM
Awesome, awesome, awesome,.. and awesome! Quality never goes out of style, even though some external details may fall off or crack, the program, hardware and good looks are eternal.

I actually had an intact mirror a couple of years ago, I gave it away to a friend nearby as I disassembled my Starblade, and a year later he binned it.

Let me give you one more clue where to find a mirror; you know these superspotlights? The big X000 Watt lamps that can light up the sky at night, they use a similar mirror (reflector) to amplify the light. There are several sizes I think, I'm not sure about the material, they should be real glass not to melt by the heat, or some special plastic ones. As for the radius/curvature you will have to speak with them. I think they manufacture these superspot reflectors in both America and EU. It should be just a piece of plastic single mold casted, black with the same shine on both sides.

I know that there's a large one like it outside the casino in Monaco, (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/France_-_Monaco_-_casino.jpg)
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on February 10, 2013, 04:56:35 AM
Finally, I get to start working on my starblade!  It has spent the last few months in storage, waiting for us to move into our house.  Now we are moved in, and starblade is sitting in my garage waiting for me.

I've had a chance to give it a good look-over, and it will be more of a project than I originally hoped for.  My main concern right now is the mounting for the monitor cabinet onto the mirror cabinet.  The wood is a bit delaminated and needs to be fixed.  I'm just too tired right now to deal with photos. Tomorrow.

Not that I need it, but I also found a source for replacement seats in the US versions. As it turns out, they used standard seats for race cars, and they are very easy to get.  I did also plug it in for a moment, without monitor or control yolk, and it does give me the "roger, out" when I add credits.  I still don't know if the video works or not though.

More updates as I can.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: uncletom on February 10, 2013, 10:40:03 AM
Exciting. The US Starblade is generally simpler and lighter in design than the original namco one built in japan and UK. They did vary the design some I've noticed. Mine was sort of a hybrid between the US and UK/JAP type.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on February 21, 2013, 11:04:45 PM
Been gearing up for a new board release in a week or so, and don't have the energy to do another entry after updating my own blog....

So I'll just link over there for now.

http://www.siegecraft.us/the_siege_blog/blog/2013/02/starblade-time-to-get-to-work.html

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on March 07, 2013, 12:54:08 AM
After repairing the upper monitor mount, I decided to have some fun.  So I hooked up the seat and wired in the controls,  without installing the monitor.

It plays blind just fine.  Coins up and starts a game just fine.  Seat vibration works fine, I THINK all 4 fire buttons are working, and the gun mounted flasher works fine too.   Only one of the two flashboys is working though, and probably a dead bulb judging by the frosty look to the lens.   Not a problem though, I can deal with that anytime.

Next step is to get some friends or bulky relatives over here and mount the monitor.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on May 25, 2013, 03:44:47 AM
FINALLY,  I got enough warm bodies over here to get this beast moved into the game room and assembled.  It only had about 1/2" to spare going in the doorway, and I had to hook the bottom floorplate around to do it, but it fit!  To make things easier, I pulled as much weight off the main cabinet as I could, including the back panel and the PCB cage.   This gave me a bit of a nervous moment, it didn't want to boot at all when I first tried it.  Turns out I had the wiring connector going into the PCB cage inserted one pin to the left of where it should be, but thankfully no harm done in this case.

It then proceeded to fire up properly, and we're playing some starblade!

(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-010.JPG)

All 4 speakers work,  monitor picture isn't perfect but is still quite good after a slight tweaking, seat is vibrating nicely and it's a blast to be playing Starblade again!

Not all good news though,  it still needed a few issues taken care of.   Two of the yolk buttons were no good, which made it impossible to update settings.... this was very bad too, as it was set on shields 8!!!!   I didn't have any OMRON's, but was able to get a few Alps keyboard buttons easy and cheap enough.  The circuit board accepted the ALPS buttons easily, but I had to shave a lot of plastic off the button bodies to get them to fit.  Attachment style is a bit different and wasn't a direct fit.   But they finally DID fit correctly, and my buttons are now 'clicky' too!

Looks like the power switch went bad at some point, as there is none anymore.  The power cord goes directly to the the power supply.  Plug it in, and it's running.  Anybody got photos of what the original power switch looked like, so I can try and track down a replacement?

Also, the light fixture under the marquee is totally missing too.  Ballast and starter are still in place inside the monitor housing, but the wires aren't connected to each other and everything is just hanging loose.   Everything also seems to be badly trimmed short, which I found out when I tried to mount some new lamp holders.  So this means I need a new ballast, and I guess I'll just track down an electronic ballast that doesn't need an external starter.  Either that, or I may go with some LED light bars.

Lots of bolts missing too.  Most of them I had already bought spares for, but a couple are missing still on the vibration motor cover, which is rattling like crazy.  I'll get new bolts on Monday probably.

Then, here's the mess in my coin door.... 
I don't know if the coin counter is original or not, but the audit settings are all still retained and show some very high numbers of plays, time, etc... so the 154,xxx credits may be correct for this machine.  If so, that's some serious income.
(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-009.JPG)


I've also got a flashboy out on the left side.  The housing is all frosted over, in comparison to the right side, so I think the light has failed..  I'll have to look into the method to rebuild these.
(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-008.JPG)
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: uncletom on May 25, 2013, 09:40:49 AM
Congrats on your Starblade there.

Just put any good power-switch with the same measurements in there, it'll work perfect.

You should disable the motor/rumble-pack while bolts are missing. Could otherwise turn into a nasty incident.

Ballast for marquee light, just use any fitting size armature, preferably some HF-ballast that doesn't blink when turned on.

Switches for handle buttons; as you say, any ones that fit, preferably with a soft 'click' I'd say would be best. I never liked the original quiet Sanwas for this game.

Off to the hardware store mate, and don't forget to isolate all electrics properly.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: DarthNuno on May 25, 2013, 12:10:44 PM
I didn't have any OMRON's, but was able to get a few Alps keyboard buttons easy and cheap enough. 

I still have original OMRON for sale.

Looks like the power switch went bad at some point, as there is none anymore.  The power cord goes directly to the the power supply.  Plug it in, and it's running.  Anybody got photos of what the original power switch looked like, so I can try and track down a replacement?

Not sure if it can help, but there are some pictures on that area, when I had to replace... the power supply on my Starblade, right here (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=4550.0).

I've also got a flashboy out on the left side.  The housing is all frosted over, in comparison to the right side, so I think the light has failed..  I'll have to look into the method to rebuild these.

I also have few original *brand new* Flash Boy but they are very expensive (see here (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1306.0)), contact me if you want some.

Otherwise, great to see you playing Starblade! This game is so incredible, and timeless!

 :spaceace:
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on May 25, 2013, 05:15:12 PM
The switches I used are very close to the original Omron's,  they just needed a small bit of plastic removed to fit, and are working perfectly.  

However, your flashboy bulbs are different!   I have found this part number in a few catalogs in Japan, and it is even more expensive than the ones you purchased,  over 6,000 yen per bulb.
It looks like there are many subtle difference between US and Japanese versions of Starblade.

It looks like Ushio has a number of different versions available, with different colors too.  They recently released an LED style replacement too.  I wonder if I could come up with a multi-color LED board to replace the strobe, and perhaps add some additional effects to it.  I need to look into how strobe lights function.

(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-011.JPG)
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on May 30, 2013, 06:24:51 PM
Well, the good news is that I found the problem with the left side Flashboy.   It was pretty obvious once I opened up the casing...
I have a few board repairs coming in, so I'll wait until I have a decent sized parts order before I get a new capacitor.

(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-012.JPG)

I also sorted out the marquee lamp issue.   When I got the machine, it was missing the lamp holder completely.  I originally tried just putting in some new endcaps, but both the ballast and starter were fried.  So instead of spending all the money on a replacement ballast for a T12 installation, I picked up an inexpensive T8 from WalMart that cost only half the price that a new ballast would have cost.

I gutted the new fixture, taking out the power switch and cord, then hard-wired the Starblade cabinet wiring direct into the fixture from the backside.  This made a very clean installation once I put the cover back on the fixture, with much less components than original.  Now my marquee lights up again properly.  I had also considered an LED light strip, but they are just too directional, and wouldn't have lit the marquee properly.

(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-013.JPG)
(http://www.siegecraft.us/Arcade/starblade/starblade-014.JPG)

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on May 30, 2013, 06:29:35 PM
I'm also starting to think that this game would benefit from an LCD screen conversion if the hardware can support it. Normally I'm all for keeping things original, but in this case you can just tell that the generated polygons are much crisper than the CRT can represent.  But you definitely need something with a very high contrast ratio, get it as black as possible in the background.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: vrAx on June 02, 2013, 09:56:59 AM
Just stick with CRT. the LCD is still basically interpolating those "crisp polygons" to fit it's fixed pixel display anyway ..much like a CRT's shadow mask.

If the tube is serviceable, just rebuild the monitor and it'll last a long time anyway.

I'm just catching up, but when you see flashboys with the "frosting" or some brown gunk visible in the lens it's just leakage from the flash cap. It's always the caps.
as long as the tube isn't silvered or browned-over, it's fine. Starblade and Galaxian Theater use similar flashboys, and the tubes aren't really hit often enough to really have worn them out.  The only ones I've seen that ever really need replacement are the tubes in the flashboys from Galaxy Force that flash continuously 5x a second for years.

It looks like you've desoldered the tube on your pic.. just stick it back in, but make sure you wipe it clean first to get your skin oils off it. Considering they aren't fired that much, I'm sure just regular low-ESR caps are fine in a a Starblade flashboy for home use, in lieu of photoflash grade (lowest ESR posible, so they don't get hot and possibly leak sooner.)

I was actually in a Galaxian Theater a few hours ago and all the flashboys in it were working fine.. not much else in it worked.

You've already figured it out, but these are similar screw-base ones, before & after with tubes & caps:

(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j205/1980b/flashboys_open_zps566613a2.jpg)

I saw that thing on the MSP CL, and was in Minneapolis for most of December of last year -- was thinking of grabbing it and just stuffing it in the hangar until I could drag it back to the east coast. I didn't think anybody would actually buy it! Glad it found a home.. I had one for 12 years and am already missing it.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: DarthNuno on June 02, 2013, 10:08:58 AM

I was actually in a Galaxian Theater a few hours ago and all the flashboys in it were working fine.. not much else in it worked.


More details please?  :P
Where? What (Zolgear or Dragoon setup? Or the poor 'AIR RAID' conversion in D&B) ?
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on June 03, 2013, 02:34:08 AM
I had to de-solder the tube on one end to get access to the board, there was a reflector sheet between them and I had to remove the power wires to even get it out of the housing.   Otherwise the tube looks fine, and I was planning on treating it like a halogen bulb in that I'm going to give it a nice rubdown with isopropyl alcohol prior to closing it all back up.

I've also got a new power switch on the way as well.  Between that and the flashboy repair, it should have me up to 100% functionality.

The monitor isn't bad actually, not enough issue with it that I'd even want to do any work to it.  I was able to adjust it to a very nice picture, and it has only minimal burn-in with a very nice contrast to it.  Good DEEP black background, and the colors are popping pretty nice now.  I actually just don't know enough about monitors yet to venture any attempts at working on them.... I'm a pinball guy.  Eventually my Galaga does need a tube swap, so I do have to learn it all at some point.



Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: vrAx on June 03, 2013, 09:54:46 AM
Ahh right.. the older flashboys run the wires through the holes. Flashboys from Galaxy Force are like that as well -- I was always able to pull out the PCB screws without having to pull the reflector whenever I pulled those apart, but the tubes are often pretty tired anyway since they get so much use. They smartened up a bit and just notched the reflector in the newer units, so it's easy to remove (after Ushio bought Tokyo Xenon, I guess.)

That's nice the monitor looks good! Unless it's been swapped, it should have a K7000 in it. They often have color bleeding issues when turning up the contrast, which can be problematic in Starblade. Some monitors are more susceptible to bleeding than others though.

It's easy to say this, coming from anybody with experience.. but monitors are pretty easy, all things considered. It's always just discharging the CRT that can be scary for those not used to it -- electronic failures beyond aging caps are typically limited to only a couple parts in K7000 & earlier monitors. If you have a working one, just swapping the caps will be trivial to anybody used to pinball board repair, once the chassis is out.

If you haven't done so, I'd recommend capping it; that monitor is over 20 years old!
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on June 03, 2013, 07:48:03 PM
Nice work! :)

Out of curiosity, do you notice any 'interference' in your monitor image?  I see some in mine, and wondered if it's because the video cable is about a mile long in the cabinet and also has the power/degauss running through the same connector.

I haven't tried much to trouble shoot it, other than unplugging the fan and the like to see if it made a difference, and it didn't.  It's also persisted across monitors.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: level42 on June 03, 2013, 08:06:13 PM
Are the video wires twisted ?
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: vrAx on June 03, 2013, 09:45:13 PM
do you notice any 'interference' in your monitor image?

It's probably the power supply.

IIRC, It's just a common 9-pin supply, they're available for $45 in the USA from Happ or Betson.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on June 03, 2013, 10:09:26 PM
Are the video wires twisted ?

Not that I recall, but it's possible, I'll double check that.  IIRC, the video harness goes all the way to a connector in the top of the cabinet, then down to a connector on the monitor frame, which branches off to the connector on the monitor chassis itself.  Actually, I think there's even a filter board of sorts within the cage.  It would be interesting to see what the resistance is through all that.  This may also explain why the video is a bit dim, even after monitor re-cap.  As HHaase said, it's important for the video to be bright with dark backgrounds.

It will be tricky due to the layout of the PCB cage, but I could also try building a short cable coming directly from the PCB to confirm it's not something in the video generation circuitry itself.



It's probably the power supply.

IIRC, It's just a common 9-pin supply, they're available for $45 in the USA from Happ or Betson.

I had considered this as well, the Japanese version (which I have) uses two separate switchers, one for +5V and the other for +12.  I replaced both with new ones as the old ones were beyond repair when I received the machine (same specs as the originals).  Oddly enough, there are no transformers in the base of the cab.  The monitor has a built in isolation transformer, and there's no filter caps or the like in the cab.

Anyway, I didn't mean to derail your thread HHaase!  I'll go stick this back in my Starblade thread.  Thanks for the input, guys! :)
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on June 04, 2013, 05:44:48 AM
Also consider that the ballast and starter for the marquee lamp are mounted right behind the neck board, though could be arranged different in yours with the Japanese cabinet. Another thing to look at is how close the speakers are to the tube in your setup. Can cause some oddball stuff to a picture if you have any kind of magnetism near it.

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: ataritoobin on June 04, 2013, 08:52:36 PM
Also consider that the ballast and starter for the marquee lamp are mounted right behind the neck board, though could be arranged different in yours with the Japanese cabinet. Another thing to look at is how close the speakers are to the tube in your setup. Can cause some oddball stuff to a picture if you have any kind of magnetism near it.



Good idea - I'll check that out too.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on June 08, 2013, 03:22:12 AM
Trying to get the power cord situation sorted out.  Internally the machine is wired with European color wiring.... Blue/Brown/Green-yellow for the AC power input.

The power supply has been replaced at some point, and the new one is find with US voltages.  However I can't find any external fuses anywhere on the AC power.  There appears to be one on the power supply already, but without dismounting the whole thing I can't see it well enough to figure it out.   Power supply is an Exactron BC200.

Sigh, this stuff always ends up more annoying than it should be.  I can always add an external fuse, but hate making things messier if I don't have to.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: guruguys on June 29, 2013, 09:31:48 AM
Wow, no-one in the US interested either ? Maybe some guys on the KLOV forum ?

Tried there too, they said 'Hey, have you tried dragonslairfans?' 

No worries though, at least I was able to track down a place that can make more anytime somebody needs one.

-Hans

I picked up a second StarBlade, however those who shipped it didn't remove the reflector dome and it blew out...

Did anyone actually find a company to make new ones, and how much was it if so?

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on July 12, 2013, 06:19:21 AM
The link above, they were more than willing to make them,  I just didn't have any outside interest from anybody to justify the outlay for it.
I'm more than willing to gather up a group buy of some type still.



Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on July 12, 2013, 10:20:56 PM
Ahhh, finally.  A fresh capacitor in the flashboy, and I've got two working strobes again.   Sealed it up with some Weld-On #16 acrylic cement, which worked great.
I also relocated the power supply, which was covering the hole for the power switch, and was able to properly mount the switch and cord plates, so the power situation is all taken care of.

Now just to deal with the issues around the coin door and service switches, and I'm done working on it.   The good thing is it's been fully playable for a while, so I can go have some fun any time I want now.

-Hans

Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on August 28, 2017, 11:44:47 PM
Well, I moved houses, and after the headache of disassembly, moving, and re-assembly of my Starblade......It's dead.

Goes through the initial checks, gets to DSP RAM,  then re-starts.   

So looks like I'll be having to do some repair work.  Not much out there for diagnostics on this boardset.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: DarthNuno on August 29, 2017, 07:04:37 AM
I've recently moved my StarBlade into an other room, and yeah... this was a total nightmare because of that 'monitor block' which is as heavy as an horse!
Regarding your issue, rebooting board is often due to a wrong/too low voltage , but I presume you already checked it?
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: retrocab on August 29, 2017, 06:27:57 PM
first i would check the psu indeed
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on August 30, 2017, 12:13:15 AM
Haven't confirmed voltages yet.  Still digging out a few of my tools and haven't come across the multimeter and head-lamp yet.

-Hans
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: HHaase on October 01, 2017, 10:59:04 PM
Finally had some time to work on it.  Re-seated all the boards and connectors, fired right up.

I think the board cage isn't quite mounted in the right spot and the power connector bumps the cabinet when it flips out,  which is probably what the problem was.
Title: Re: Another new Starblade owner
Post by: retrocab on October 02, 2017, 08:58:13 AM
cool ;D