My latest supergun build

JammaGuy

Previously I-d-o-s-k-8
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So recently I dragged out all of my stuff and showed my girlfriend how I can hook all of my boards to the living room television, and we can play arcade games, but she did not however enjoy the invasion of a switching power supply and all of the wires from the jamma harness routing to a million different things across the floor.

I started searching the web for supergun builds that were streamline, and beautiful, and she hated the ones that had the harness attached to a sleeve of wires, even though in all reality it still looks good sitting on your tv stand; but after some compromises (god love her, she supports me in the hobby as well as enjoys the games from time to time), we agreed on my current build "in progress" that I thought I'd share with you guys.

I found a nice enclosure from polycase it cost me about $20 after shipping, but I liked it, I know it has been picked before, but we agreed that it would look nice on the tv stand.

I bought most all of my buttons from eBay, as well as the db-15 solder type sockets, and my led power switch. The pushbuttons I found for my coin buttons were the only aesthetically pleasing ones I could find, but they were "locking" type pushbuttons, but I disassembled them, took out the locking mechanism, and put them back together, checked the leads for continuity with my multimeter, and they are now exactly what I wanted. :glee:

Now for some pics!

Here is the front plate, I hand cut the db-15 slots with a coping saw- I made an imprint in the backside by salvaging a db-15 and hitting it with a map gas torch and got it super hot, then stamped it into the plastic, it made the saw cutting super fast, and very easy. The cuts came out pretty clean!
Spoiler:
image1_zpshkktgptw.jpg

Here is the front plate after I cut out the power button placement. I was a little bit boozed, so don't judge my slight off-centeredness
Spoiler:
image3_zps5fxujcp0.jpg

And here is the back side:
Again, we agreed to no wires protruding, so the plan is to use an jamma extender harness to plug into the supergun, and pair to the mobo's. I'm sure ill wrap it, and probably do some fiberglassing around it to make it pretty, and fool proof so that she doesn't plug it in upside down accidentally when I'm not home.
Spoiler:
image2_zpscuc7aicg.jpg

The front is now complete, populated with two controller inputs, two coin buttons, and a power button:
Spoiler:
image4_zps5suamvtd.jpg

Got the backside outputs finished. I'm not going to run s-video because I wont use it.. and I left room for cosmetically appealing outputs for say CPS2 kick, although I'm not that huge on fighters or CPS2 unless its SPFIIT... I also haven't found the power supply input that I like yet, nor a power supply..
Spoiler:
image5_zpsrvn2run8.jpg


Still awaiting funds for the video encoder, and I'll also install a synch cleaner in this one. The power supply I'm in search of will supply +12VDC and +5VDC, and I'm looking an a negatron I believe that is what it is called that will convert my -5VDC for sound on certain boards.

I'm super open to suggestions, critiques, I'm not easily offended. The project is currently in soldering mode, I'll share pictures of my wire work when its complete, just know there is a lot of heat shrink tube in this one, its going to be nice... But also super time consuming...

I don't think that I'm currently leaving anything out, but I'd be glad to answer any questions, hope my work is inspiring, and people like how it turns out as much as I do!

-Bill
 

BIG BEAR

SHOCKbox Developer,
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NICE.
When I get around to doing one,I'm going to go for a large enclosure just for a place to rest the PCB
BB
 

Atro

Who?,
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It's very clean. I also love building those as time killers :cool:

NICE.
When I get around to doing one,I'm going to go for a large enclosure just for a place to rest the PCB
BB

I'd prefer that option not to rest the PCB's, but to fit an arcade PSU inside safely.
There are lots of PCB's that are beastly huge/dual layered that are bigger than most cases.
I prefer to have them aside tho ;)
 

JammaGuy

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I'd prefer that option not to rest the PCB's, but to fit an arcade PSU inside safely.
There are lots of PCB's that are beastly huge/dual layered that are bigger than most cases.
I prefer to have them aside tho ;)


That was my Original plan. I disassembled the switching power supply and layed the pcb inside of that enclosure, it fits... But I'd rather feel safe than sorry...
I was going to cut holes for a fan, and keep thinks cool that way, but still... It just seems smarter to stop that idea, and run an external power supply..
And thanks for the complements! Much appreciated!

And BIG BEAR, I was searching around online and there is a website called supergun.com I believe, just google supergun, and I'm pretty sure someone had those large surface area boxes already cut out and painted up all pretty, and I believe that they were for sale..

If I were to do it again, I would wish for CNC machined cutouts, it's just super difficult to get everything just right by hand haha.
 
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aha2940

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It looks nice and clean design, but how do you connect boards that have the jamma edge covered? like CPS2 for instance? that's the reason why I left the JAMMA cable hanging out of my SG, to connect stuff like that.

Regards.

P.S: I know EG "loves" my regards :keke:
 

Electric Grave

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I love 'em, regarding the SG, well I think in that type of situation he could use a jamma extender, so easy and wrapped on something slick to make it cool. Total Pro!

Edit note of utmost importance: So I'm noticing some members leave a little something, some leave their name or a cheeky dudats, I'm gonna start a new thing, like instead of a salutation, greeting or leaving my name, I'm just gonna do the opposite...I'll give it some thought, it's gonna be revolutionary in an demeaning kind of way.
 
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JammaGuy

Previously I-d-o-s-k-8
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It looks nice and clean design, but how do you connect boards that have the jamma edge covered? like CPS2 for instance? that's the reason why I left the JAMMA cable hanging out of my SG, to connect stuff like that.

Regards.

P.S: I know EG "loves" my regards :keke:


ElectricGrave said it correctly himself. I don't plan to plug any board directly into my supergun via the jamma edge, but I will doctor up a nice looking jamma extender harness that can easily be stored away in the drawer rather than hang out. So in a sense I will still have wires that stick out of it, but during down time... I can hide them and she can have her perfect spotless house again...

Thanks for all of the complements! They go appreciated!
 

aha2940

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ElectricGrave said it correctly himself. I don't plan to plug any board directly into my supergun via the jamma edge, but I will doctor up a nice looking jamma extender harness that can easily be stored away in the drawer rather than hang out. So in a sense I will still have wires that stick out of it, but during down time... I can hide them and she can have her perfect spotless house again...

Thanks for all of the complements! They go appreciated!

Nice, lesson learned if needed some time in the future :)

Thanks! (and regards).
 

Electric Grave

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Pay attention and stop getting all cheeky with your love notes.
 

JammaGuy

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Project is currently on hold. Just moved three towns north from where I started the build. Soon enough I shall be back on it. The spare bedroom is full of a bunch of boards, and wires that I'll need to be re-organized..

But a cool idea came to mind; I work on motorcycles for a living, and it's all a 12v DC world, and in this world we have things called relays, and I plan on using a "triple switch secondary, and a single primary" this will allow me to provide power to one switch safely, and until that switch gets turned on, the other 3 voltages will not have any chance of receiving their power until the switch is flipped and activates the primary side of the relay! So I will have 12vdc sitting at my switch, and when flipped, the other side of the relay will hold +12vdc, +5vdc, and -5vdc. It's the best idea I can come up with that doesn't require leaving partial power on the board, this will ensure that no power reaches the board until the relay activates. Any cons to the idea?
 

GohanX

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Just so you know, JammaGuy, I'm blatantly stealing your design for my own supergun :D I'm going to have a few things in different places than you, but the concept (and case) is the same.
 

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
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You guys never saw "The Reaper" made by Pixeljunkie? It is a nice case though.

reaper1.jpg
reaper2.jpg
reaper4.jpg
 

JammaGuy

Previously I-d-o-s-k-8
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Just so you know, JammaGuy, I'm blatantly stealing your design for my own supergun :D I'm going to have a few things in different places than you, but the concept (and case) is the same.


Go for it! The enclosure is killer! And if you like the flush jamma edge with an extender, I'm honored lol.
 

rhiohki

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This is lookin slick thus far. I wish I had the know how and time to do one of these.
 

JammaGuy

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Thanks. And as far as know how, there are countless resources for the information needed to build, supplies are mostly cheap supplies from eBay.. And as far as opinions and if you were to want help, posting pictures of your build on here will get you where you need to be..
 

GohanX

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Alright, here's my stab at it. I used the same basic design but put the buttons and plugs in different places. Also, no video encoder, just a XRGB mini compatible RGB out and an audio jack.

attachment.php


There's the front, the black buttons are credits, the red button on top is the test switch.

attachment.php


Here are the AV connectors. I'm going to have to stop using that headphone jack. It looks nice, but doesn't mount into plastic that well since it's a snap in and it wants to come out when you unplug something.

attachment.php


The DIN on the side is for my power supply. On the back you can see the kick harness connector and the jamma connector. I didn't mount it flush though, so that a board can be plugged directly in if I didn't have a jamma extension handy. It's still tight though, I wouldn't recommend using it without one.

attachment.php


I had to cut up my jamma extension since my regular harness sucked, but the Atlas adapter makes a nice substitute until I can get another one.
 

JammaGuy

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Super cool choice on the enclosure my friend! I like it! A little tip; take it or leave it. Your "snap in" audio jack... Leave it there, but mix up a little bit of j.b. Weld and adhere it on the inside. That will give it the rigidity that your looking for and not leave your pretty enclosure with an eye sore hole.

All of my components are actually j.b. Welded... If there is ever a failure and a need to replace, it grinds off easily with a Dremel tool and the correct bit. I just wanted a seamless "no visible hardware" look. I do like your setup! As for your edge connector, do you actually always butt it right up to your boards? I'm guessing that's what your saying, but have you tried it with an extender harness? Any feedback on how you like or feel about it?
 

GohanX

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The pgm board will fit plugged directly in, but it's a little closer than I'd like. The Atlas adapter I got from Xian Xi for the Pandora can work as a jamma pass through, so I've been using it. I need to order an actual extension cable, if I had a pcb that wasn't the same height as the pgm and Pandora I'd be in trouble.
 

mehguy

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Looks quite nice. very sleek design without having cords flying everywhere.
 

aha2940

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Hey guys

Here's my first attempt at building a supergun. It does not look half as nice as the others in this thread, but I like it. It also works very nice. Features:

- Internal Power supply
- Neobitz encoder
- Component, svideo, composite ouputs with their respective jacks and direct RGB output for connecting the gonbes RGB to VGA encoder
- JROK sync cleaner, with switch to enable/disable it
- Switch to choose JAMMA/MVS audio
- Voltmeter with switch to choose +5V or +12V displayed
- Switch to choose JAMMA/MVS test button
- RGB pots

Pics:





Sorry, I won't put pics of its insides, because honestly I am ashamed of how it looks. It's way worst than the outside, trust me.

Regards.
 
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mehguy

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Sorry, I won't put pics of its insides, because honestly I am ashamed of how it looks. It's way worst than the outside, trust me.

Regards.

Im still curious of what it looks like on the inside. Im sure its not that bad.
 
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