Thought I should post a little project I have been working on for well over a year now. I showed this little unit at a meeting a long time ago, a few members got a look at the first (raw) version of the machine working.

This unit (once fully completed) will let the user test 90-95% of arcade boards out there. It is also fully portable. It only needs a connection to a regular power outlet.

It has a 5" built in monitor for viewing the games, which is very helpful when running around testing boards. No need to look for a monitor to plug into. But while you don't need another monitor, the unit (in the rear) has connections for an arcade monitor. So you can view the game on a bigger monitor and also lets you test an arcade monitor at the same time

The unit generates pretty much any voltage needed for an arcade game. I won't list all the voltages as the list is pretty long (some old games took some pretty weird voltages). But sufficient to say, it wasn't easy getting them all together in there.

Another thing I really wanted was built in basic test equipment in the unit. Why have a portable arcade board testing unit, without testing equipment to find out what might be wrong with a board if it doesn't work? So integrated in the front, is a multi-meter, logic probe, and continuity tester. Nothing too fancy, but it can help diagnose most arcade board problems. The terminals at the bottom let you connect up probes for doing the testing.

Naturally the unit also has a built in speaker and volume controller. You do need to be able to hear the game to test it out too. Also in the rear (not installed at the time of the pictures) will be a jack for earphones in case the place your testing the board is very noisy.

As for connecting to the board(s) there is a set of molex connections on the front of the unit. A cable is built to plug into the molex connector for the certain board. Some boards like JAMMA for instance all use the same setup, so only one cable would be needed for all JAMMA boards. But most older boards have custom voltages, or cable setups, so they will get their own made.

Not built yet is a small control panel with a joystick and buttons for being able to actually play the game for further testing. Will be made compact but functional for testing a game, nothing fancy. I will also make a bracket for it to mount on the side of the tester unit when moving from place to place.

Other than that, it is pretty basic. Nothing super fancy. Just thought people would like seeing it

That is a test rig to the n-th degree. Too cool.
*big thumbs up*

Quoted from BattlezoneMan

This unit (once fully completed) will let the user test 90-95% of arcade boards out there. It is also fully portable. It only needs a connection to a regular power outlet.

Oh that's what it is.... I thought it was some sort of geek lunch box at first.

See, it's not so nice to be teased is it.

BTW, excellent work my friend.

Adam

very, very cool

neat stuff.
would love to see pics of it in action when finished

What a great idea, I love it! More pics of it in action please.

VERY nice !!! and compact !!!

Now all ya need is a couple of joysticks poking out of the top of it, and some buttons too ....

ToMMy

Thanks for the very nice comments guys. I put a lot of thought and effort into it, and I am glad you like it.

I should have some pictures of it in action in about a week. I am redesigning a board inside (increased circuit protection and a few adjustments), so it is not working at the moment until I re-install it. I will at least get it working with something simple like a JAMMA board for you guys to see it in action. The monitor, even at 5" still displays the games very well. Hell I even plugged in and played a game Skins 2000 (a 3D golf game) with the unit a while ago. After a while I forgot I was playing on a test unit and not an actual arcade machine

I am also currently designing an expansion kit for vector monitor games for the unit. Will be an added module to let you plug a vector monitor in to test games with. Still in the design phase, but is getting there.

BZM

You should be selling these.  I bet you would sell a few for sure.

Here is the non-portable version:

Houston, we have ignition.......Lift off.

Just had to applaud this project and add that this is just another example of a Macca member doing some very cool stuff.Keep up the great work.

hey i seen one like that before!!!

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Here is the non-portable version:

Houston, we have ignition.......Lift off.

Ya I have seen that unit before. Two big problems with it are that it only does boards that have +5V, -5V, and +12V (ie mainly JAMMA boards, and a few others). Another problem is the price. I was told they were asking 2,000Euros for it (~$2900CDN). Which is way too much for a unit that only does that. But still looks cool, has a nice case

Thanks again for the continuing supportive comments. Really makes the project worth wild when I get the comments I am getting about the unit. I wasn't sure if I should post it, but a few members (especially one very annoying member, yes you know who you are ) said that I should. Glad I did

BZM

So when does production start? I am sure $2900 CDN is cheap for your unit! Think you can produce and sell it for that much? The first one is always VERY expensive but I wonder how many people would need it.  In other words, is there a big market for it?

keep up the great work.  unreal....   portable unit that i can take with me to check out machines with dead monitors and other uses as well.  think in the long run the unit would pay for itself, in saving time and getting the best product your paying for.

Well I finally got off my butt this weekend and got to work again on this project. I had been having problems with one of the power supplies for a while (inconsistent voltages, excessive heat, etc). Found a new one on ebay which was more reliable, more compact and more features. Was also cheap at $20 brand new.

Been working on it both sat and sun. Replaced the power supply with the old one, after modifying the new one with new connectors for the unit.

At the moment, just for testing, I made the cables come out the front of the unit where the digital multimeter usually sits. Much easier to just have them stick out of the unit there, then putting them in and taking them out of their final holes every 5-10 minutes as I work on it.

Unit is working great as you can see. Monitor is working perfectly and the image is crisp and colorful. Sound also works very well with the volume nob on the front of the unit. Note to self though: Make sure the sound is turned down before turning on the unit not to scare the hell out of you when the game starts with the sound all the way up (not the first time I have done it)

In the pictures, I have it connected to Area51, a shooter game. Works great on the little screen, even with the guns. You would think that it would be hard to play a shooting game with a small screen, but it works surprisingly well.

Enjoy

BZM

P.S. The graininess in the close up pics is actually the game, not the image quality

One more pic.

Just in time for Christmas eh.
You're not trying to compete with the new PS3 are you.

Nice work BZM.

Adam

Na the PS3 has nothing on my unit. I am going for the retro feel

Played a few games on the unit last night, Pretty fun. Still have to finish work on the controller unit (need to drill some holes, order some new buttons, etc).

Hopefully I should have it finished for the next Ottawa meet to show it off

BZM

Hmmmm pretty amazing!!

this  would be helpful ^^

Worked on the unit again this weekend. Got it all wired up and the connectors were put back into their proper places (instead of just sticking out of another hole in the unit)

Used it to test a few game boards I had lying around. I had picked up some pcb's 2 months ago when I stripped some converted cabs. Had no idea if they worked as the cabs they were installed in were all screwed up. Was fun to just plug them in and turn on the unit to see if they were working.

Found that two of the boards worked great. While one of them has a little video problem (a few faint white lines in the background), the other works perfectly. The last board was really screwed up, didn't work properly at all. No idea what the game even is, as it is a cheap jamma conversion game with no name printed on the board.

I couldn't find my good digital camera (naturally you can never find it when you need it). So was only able to take one okay picture of the unit connected to the board. I will take some more good pics of the unit working with various games as soon as I find the good digital camera. I will probably also take a little video to show the music playing and a few functions.

Next step is to work on the input/controller unit for the joysticks and buttons to test actual game play.

BZM

Worked on the control unit for the test station today.

Haven't done too much except drill a few holes and test fit a few parts, but is getting there.

I installed a joystick and a mini-trackball that I have. The joystick and trackball should let me test the vast majority of games out there. If I could have, I would of installed a spinner, but that would have taken too much room.

I have ordered some buttons for the unit. Regular arcade ones would have been way too big for it, so I ordered some smaller ones which will do the job.

These are some pictures of the "rough" version of it so far.

BZM

this will some 31337 test gear I dont think there is anything comparable in this group.

Well here is another update, that's if anyone cares.

Did a little more work on the control panel. Made some square holes to install some buttons in. Not a whole lot, but is some more progress. Also installed a connector on the back which will let me connect the tester unit to the control panel. Didn't take a pic of that as it is nothing special.

All that is left is to fix up the placement of the buttons a bit (two or three are a slight bit crooked). Then install some black vinyl on the top (for looks and durability), then wire it up inside. All pretty simple stuff.

For the buttons on the control unit, I went pretty basic. For the top row, the black button is for credits, and the other two are for Player1 and Player2. The other four buttons are just the standard action buttons. I only went with four, as the vast majority of games take four buttons or less.

This was the easiest part of the tester unit to build. Nothing fancy here, but is still fun

BZM

kinda looks like something out of a old james bond film something that the villan would use. I like it.

Quoted from JD3

kinda looks like something out of a old james bond film something that the villan would use. I like it.

Well I do have the evil cat

Okay I was bored when I got home from work early today and decided to do something. Found a cpo for my control panel. Shouldn't be too hard to see what it goes to

Anyone still interested in this project? Should I bother to post more about it?

BZM

Quoted from 278

Found a cpo for my control panel. Shouldn't be too hard to see what it goes Anyone still interested in this project? Should I bother to post more about it?

Hmm... Walt Disney Productions eh...
Oh, I know, Was it from your Ultra rare Escape from Witch Mountain game?
I heard they only made 3 of them but stopped the project due to the fact that the kids turned out to be real Aliens and the goverment wanted things hushed up.
You sure have some cool stuff.

Hell ya, I'm Interested and I want to be entertained. Isn't that enough?

Adam