clarkster Posted July 6, 2021 Report Share Posted July 6, 2021 Just trying to get a few bits together for an eventual cabinet build. Gonna start with the basics and see if I can get it all working before I think about putting it all into a final cab. I have had a play with setting up some basic arcade buttons. Now I’m looking to take it to the next stage and get a coin mechanism, payout hopper, along with some proper fruit machine illuminated buttons. From a quick research on a couple of existing threads I have put this list together. Any advice and input on choices would be much appreciated. Ipac Pacdrive Cashflow 126 Dfx coin mech Universal coin hopper mk4 Buttons, I’m thinking just order a set of used off eBay. Anything to look out for or avoid with these? Not sure about wiring and connections yet to connect everything together? Will also need some form of power supply for now as I am running from a laptop for the moment. Will purchase a second hand desktop in the near future. Any spec requirements with regards to processing/ram/gpu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davep180 Posted July 6, 2021 Report Share Posted July 6, 2021 The mk4 hopper will require a relay and a 24v power source. The azkoyen parallel hopper is far easier to setup (no relays and takes a 12v power source). You'll need a pack of leds to go in the buttons, reference to such is in 123's build i believe. Just make sure the pacdrive is the "special" as this powers up with everything in the off position, which is needed for hopper setup. The wiring loom that the people who sell the ipac/pac drive came in handy for me, as I am sh.....not so good at that sort of thing. Pre made wires with dupont ends on them from ebay came in handy too, but you can make these yourself if you are profficient and have the tools. @No1Stoney has done a diagram for the coin mech you suggested, which is easy to follow and works! People like @Amusements, @WibbleWobble, @Regand Stoney have all done great work on projects like this, and will probably be able to help you out more than i can! Good luck in your quest. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amusements Posted July 7, 2021 Report Share Posted July 7, 2021 8 hours ago, clarkster said: Buttons, I’m thinking just order a set of used off eBay. Anything to look out for or avoid with these? Most of the buttons around these days use LED's and will run on 5v-12v. All the ones I have ordered came with a micro switch & bulb. Maybe post a link before you buy. For me Ebay is usually more expensive than aliexpress, shopee, lazada, made-in-china, so shop around. 8 hours ago, clarkster said: Not sure about wiring and connections yet to connect everything together? I used female spade connectors, and shrink tubing for all my buttons/LEDS. My wire was cheap twin core, but I labeled everything as I went, and made a diagram for future reference. 8 hours ago, clarkster said: Will also need some form of power supply for now as I am running from a laptop for the moment Have a look for an arcade power supply, there are some with 5,12,24v combined. You should not need a 5v output as you can get that off your Pacdrive and Ipac. (One has a negative ground, and the other has a positive ground). Other ideas: A baking tray cut in half works well as a payout tray. A key switch to power the hopper on if it jams. Or to churn out coins at will. A 2 way switch to swop the opto outputs - if you are running 2 hoppers. Then you can switch between hopper 1 and 2 in MFME config. Esc key, F3 (full screen), F6 (random Game) buttons hidden out of site, come in handy. Anyway..Good luck:) 1 Treat every day like your last, because one day it will be! Fruit Machine <<<My new project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted July 7, 2021 Report Share Posted July 7, 2021 A MARS ME126 will work too! I uploaded a wire diagram. Got mine off BF74 from the Mecca and it's spot on! £20 ish and takes tokens too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted July 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2021 Quick update Gone with the following so far all on order azkoyen 12v hopper cashflow126 coin mech ipac2 pacdrive (special) added the wiring loom too and will order some more wire and connectors etc from eBay Probably gonna go with these buttons https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fruit-Machine-Button-Set-Switches-Monopoly-Hi-Roller-X-14-BLUE-/373620622161?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 will order some led lights to go with them Just need a power supply for now then I can see if I can get a working prototype together. Thanks for all the comments guys I will start a build thread when everything comes. Probably have a load more questions for you all too . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amusements Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 4 hours ago, clarkster said: Probably gonna go with these buttons https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fruit-Machine-Button-Set-Switches-Monopoly-Hi-Roller-X-14-BLUE-/373620622161?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 will order some led lights to go with them They already have bulbs in them. Check with the seller to see if they are LEDs. Treat every day like your last, because one day it will be! Fruit Machine <<<My new project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No1Stoney Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) You can use standard fruit machine bulbs but you need to power them directly to your 12v power source (a pc power supply that i spliced into is all I used for all of my devices). 5v leds do look really nice though and is what I upgraded to in the end. Ultimarc's website details how to wire either 5v or 12v bulbs to the pacdrive correctly. Also as for the hopper. You can buy a 24v version they still run from 12v just fine. The only difference is it might slow down if the hopper is VERY full. But I have them and notice no slow downs at all running at 12v Edited July 13, 2021 by No1Stoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 Or keep the front of the buttons and just get new back bits with LEDs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted July 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2021 Received everything bar the hopper as they only had 24v versions in stock. Thinking of ordering anyway but I’m unsure about the power supply. Could anyone please provide me with a link to a suitable one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No1Stoney Posted July 18, 2021 Report Share Posted July 18, 2021 On 16/07/2021 at 20:17, clarkster said: Received everything bar the hopper as they only had 24v versions in stock. Thinking of ordering anyway but I’m unsure about the power supply. Could anyone please provide me with a link to a suitable one? A 24v azkoyen hopper will work on 12v so don't worry about that. As for power supply you could just use the pc power supply that will be in your cab? If not, something that delivers 12v (as well as 24v if you want) will work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 Brief update Life got in the way of the build so had to put things on hold for a while. Hopefully I'll get things back on track in the coming weeks. So I managed to get all the stuff I need for a working prototype, except for a pc tower. Got everything up and running with the laptop for now (after a few swear words and some trial and error) with corresponding buttons lit and flashing correctly. Next on the list is the Hopper and Coin mech. I'm assuming that I wire the power supply unit to the 240 mains and then wire the Hopper and mech from the psu. Then wire the Hopper and mech to the ipac and pacdrive to provide the correct input/output for payouts and credit Can anyone give advice on the wiring scheme for getting these devices connected correctly and safely? I have plenty of wire and connectors so hopefully it'll just be a case of getting the wiring correct. Also, if anyone has a suitable tower they are willing to sell for a decent price or can recommend anywhere to purchase one with suitable specs feel free to contact me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 4, 2023 Report Share Posted March 4, 2023 On 06/07/2021 at 17:20, clarkster said: Just trying to get a few bits together for an eventual cabinet build. Gonna start with the basics and see if I can get it all working before I think about putting it all into a final cab. I have had a play with setting up some basic arcade buttons. Now I’m looking to take it to the next stage and get a coin mechanism, payout hopper, along with some proper fruit machine illuminated buttons. From a quick research on a couple of existing threads I have put this list together. Any advice and input on choices would be much appreciated. Ipac Pacdrive Cashflow 126 Dfx coin mech Universal coin hopper mk4 Buttons, I’m thinking just order a set of used off eBay. Anything to look out for or avoid with these? Not sure about wiring and connections yet to connect everything together? Will also need some form of power supply for now as I am running from a laptop for the moment. Will purchase a second hand desktop in the near future. Any spec requirements with regards to processing/ram/gpu? 2GB graphics card will run MFME and 4K layouts fine. My setup with the a 2GB graphics card is 8GB ram, an i3 with 128GB SSD, it is not slow! Its probably over-specked. Coin mechs, if you want something easier than a 126 cashflow see my cabinet build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted March 9, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 On 04/03/2023 at 08:34, Road Hog Mad said: 2GB graphics card will run MFME and 4K layouts fine. My setup with the a 2GB graphics card is 8GB ram, an i3 with 128GB SSD, it is not slow! Its probably over-specked. Coin mechs, if you want something easier than a 126 cashflow see my cabinet build. Thanks Road Hog Mad I'm gonna order a tower on ebay with similar specs. Already have the 126 so will try and get that going first but will take a look at your build anyway as I'm still trying to get my head round the wiring schemes. I have the Hopper wired as shown but can't seem to get any life out of it. Ipac is set to [ and corresponding pacdrive connector to Hopper 1 but nothing from pressing test or when collecting from a machine. Can anyone comment whether this set up would cause the common ground issue and is there a way around it whilst I wait for a tower? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cja272 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 (edited) There are people more experienced than me on here but I used a separate psu for the power for the hopper and it didn’t work as it did not share the same ground , I ended cutting my laptop cable for the hopper / coin mech power and all worked ok . Edited March 9, 2023 by cja272 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cja272 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 5 hours ago, clarkster said: Thanks Road Hog Mad I'm gonna order a tower on ebay with similar specs. Already have the 126 so will try and get that going first but will take a look at your build anyway as I'm still trying to get my head round the wiring schemes. I have the Hopper wired as shown but can't seem to get any life out of it. Ipac is set to [ and corresponding pacdrive connector to Hopper 1 but nothing from pressing test or when collecting from a machine. Can anyone comment whether this set up would cause the common ground issue and is there a way around it whilst I wait for a tower? Common ground problem! Earth your I-PAC 'GND' to the PSU 'GND' as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted March 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 18 hours ago, Road Hog Mad said: Common ground problem! Earth your I-PAC 'GND' to the PSU 'GND' as well! Connecting the psu to the ipac gnd has solved the problem to a degree. Testing the Hopper spits out the coins perfectly fine. However, collecting from the machine layout doesn't give any results. I'm sure it's just a setting somewhere I may have missed but can't seem to narrow it down. Dip switch issues maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 It's not an MFME dip setting. If you have collected in the past and it hasn't paid out simply pressing 'r' on the keyboard should reset it (it'll probably spit previous coins out that haven't been paid out). "However, collecting from the machine layout doesn't give any results." In what way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 Just now, Road Hog Mad said: It's not an MFME dip setting. If you have collected in the past and it hasn't paid out simply pressing 'r' on the keyboard should reset it (it'll probably spit previous coins out that haven't been paid out). "However, collecting from the machine layout doesn't give any results." In what way? @clarkster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 'r' on the keybourd while roller coaster is loaded if that's what you've played last and had the payout problem with. this is my setup.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 @clarkster change it to triac hopper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkster Posted March 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 1 hour ago, Road Hog Mad said: @clarkster change it to triac hopper 1 Thanks Road Hog Mad that seems to be working perfectly now. I'm guessing it's a case of trial and error with some of the layouts having different Hopper settings. Next job is the coin mech wish me luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davep180 Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 If you click on the Diag box then misc before payout, it'll tell you which triacs are being used. The newer machines will be hopper 1 and hopper 2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davep180 Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 5 minutes ago, clarkster said: Next job is the coin mech wish me luck Good luck. Follow @No1Stoneydiagram found on several threads and its dead easy. I found hoppers to be way more annoying lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Hog Mad Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 29 minutes ago, clarkster said: Thanks Road Hog Mad that seems to be working perfectly now. I'm guessing it's a case of trial and error with some of the layouts having different Hopper settings. Next job is the coin mech wish me luck Yeah.. old machines are triac and newer hopper. You'll be fine with the coin mech, but if you fancy a simpler option see my thread about my home build where I use an old style coin mech. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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