Finally I am doing a cabinet! (Interplay donor)

[Martinb]

Right so I have finally got round to starting a MFME cab, I have had the bits for many years and never seemed to get round to it, but the Interplay cabinet I purchased recently is working out to be perfect (and the bits left over like the Mk7 PC, MPU6, Vega etc all have a role in other projects too!). 

So far I have removed most of the valuable bits from the Interplay, mounted the PC, mounted and wired the i-pac buttons up (7 of them), speakers connected (got a little amp for that and used the cab speakers and wiring), got the big touchscreen working (driver installed for touch and calibrated in portrait mode). I am using a intel nuc PC which seems to be fine, need a USB hub tho! 

I have managed to utilise the original loom so far (see pics) as the Interplay cabinet has direct connections to the buttons (not a matrix) and also the lamps (3 colour LED on these), this has made life somewhat easier and a tidy internal cabinet wiring too (well at the moment at least, we shall see at the end). I am not yet sure if I'll work on the 3 coulor LED's or go standard 5v, I would like to see if I can make it work but they are 12v annoyingly which adds complexity.

I am just at the stage of working on the pac drive now to get button lamps working then I will have the scary bits of coin mech and hoppers. I'll try and do updates as I make reasonable progress.

Might be asking for help along the way! I have read many other topics on this stuff so the forum has already been a massive help.

 

Edited February 8 by Martinb

[Ginge]

Looking good so far . Can I ask how much you paid for the cabinet ? and what size screen is it ?. Have you had to buy a coinmeck and hopper as I would have thought the existing ones are cctalk. Sorry for all the questions thinking of doing one myself in the future. 

[slotsmagic]

I was about to do some more work on mine today now I've just about finished Vegas Strip!

The original coin mech is fine - there's a bank of 2 switches on it that turn off the encryption, and it then functions fine using the 17 or 21 pin connector (I forget which) using the same pinouts as the SR5 and 126DFX builds.

 

My only real stumbling block will be the hopper. I've got the original metalwork e.t.c. and an old parallel Universal hopper that I could swap in - but it'll be harder to connect up than say an Azkoyen parallel.

Edited February 8 by slotsmagic

[slotsmagic]

37 minutes ago, Ginge said:

Looking good so far . Can I ask how much you paid for the cabinet ? and what size screen is it ?. Have you had to buy a coinmeck and hopper as I would have thought the existing ones are cctalk. Sorry for all the questions thinking of doing one myself in the future. 

Not sure about the OP but my Interplay was £400 delivered with a 7 or so game HASP. Really ought to sell the HASP but it'll have bugger all value!

Screen is either 31.5" or 32" open frame touchscreen, pretty sure it's just a 1920x1080 panel running in portrait mode.

Broke mine up as some errors annoyed me, game choice was limited, and it looked ideal for MFME

[Martinb]

21 minutes ago, Ginge said:

Looking good so far . Can I ask how much you paid for the cabinet ? and what size screen is it ?. Have you had to buy a coinmeck and hopper as I would have thought the existing ones are cctalk. Sorry for all the questions thinking of doing one myself in the future. 

They still fetch around the £400 mark for a good condition working machine depending on the licences, a non worker may go for a lot less: I was happy to pay as the Mk7 PC inside is valuable to me and they are now getting very hard to source. 
 

As for hoppers watch this space and I’ll let you know - coin mech and hopper will be the interesting parts I’m sure. I have plenty of mechs including the 126 so that should be ok. A steep learning curve awaits me. 
 

I’ll have to come back to you on the exact screen size when I’m in front of it again, it’s perfect for emulation IMO big touch panel and ultra wide format to get the height/portrait balance spot on. I’ve finally got my line up machine lol …. 

 

[Martinb]

14 hours ago, slotsmagic said:

The original coin mech is fine - there's a bank of 2 switches on it that turn off the encryption, and it then functions fine using the 17 or 21 pin connector (I forget which) using the same pinouts as the SR5 and 126DFX builds.

 

Thanks, yeah I am hoping the SR5e will be OK as I see Reg's post about the wiring for the SR5i and hope they will work - have you tried your SR5e in your other electrocoin cabinet and confirmed yours or have you got it working in the Interplay?

[slotsmagic]

1 hour ago, Martinb said:

Thanks, yeah I am hoping the SR5e will be OK as I see Reg's post about the wiring for the SR5i and hope they will work - have you tried your SR5e in your other electrocoin cabinet and confirmed yours or have you got it working in the Interplay?

Tested in my Vegas Strip, worked fine in that so I'm just going to use the other end of the spare loom I used in that but in the Interplay, once I've checked all the wires for continuity and whatnot

I replaced the PC in my Interplay last night for an identical one to the one that works in Vegas Strip, and am going to redo the wiring and relocate a few bits when I get back from my errands today

Edited February 9 by slotsmagic

[Martinb]

6 hours ago, slotsmagic said:

going to redo the wiring and relocate a few bits when I get back from my errands today

I managed to get the button and coin bezel LED's running today, I used the tri-colour ones already installed and they look great (without a 12v injection too!)

I have been using Labyrinth as my test machine what a great game! 

The video shows the buttons ignore the pathetic gameplay I was just showing the lamps lol (honest) haha

 

[slotsmagic]

26 minutes ago, Martinb said:

I managed to get the button and coin bezel LED's running today, I used the tri-colour ones already installed and they look great (without a 12v injection too!)

I have been using Labyrinth as my test machine what a great game! 

The video shows the buttons ignore the pathetic gameplay I was just showing the lamps lol (honest) haha

 

 

Good work! Kicking myself for not keeping the original loom, and the LED buttons! That really does look stunning with them. Have you managed to set the colours per-game, or are they running fixed colours across all games? 

I really need to rewire mine and get another PACdrive, it does have one in but it's not the 'special' model, so if I do add a hopper it'll spit loads of coins out when the cabinet it powered up. I was hoping the seller on eBay would have sourced some more - I asked at least a week ago and I'm sure they said the end of this week. Maybe there's a supply problem. They are available direct from Ultimarc but once they have added VAT and $10 for DHL (why? it's less than 1oz!) it makes sense to wait.

I was tempted to nick the one out of the No1Stoney cabinet but then knowing me I'd cock something else up in the process

I mean it works fine albeit without coin payout, but that would be the icing on the cake. Then again, as I'm sure you've found, even without coins in/out it is a nice cabinet to play on, albeit not with real money

 

[Martinb]

14 minutes ago, slotsmagic said:

Have you managed to set the colours per-game, or are they running fixed colours across all games? 

Sort of, well across 2 games I’ve tinkered with so far yes (for example a clubber with 4 reels I’ll use the 4th button as red LED 4TH hold). The big issue is the number of outputs needed for all colours would be 21 and I think it’s probably only ever the 4th hold that will need a colour swap. It’s nice to know it’s there. 
 

18 minutes ago, slotsmagic said:

coin payout, but that would be the icing on the cake

Yep agree. Mech is next for me but I am going to have a go using the hoppers after too! This is a brilliant cabinet for MFME, like you I ditched the real interplay content as it was buggy and apart from maybe 2 CAT C’s I liked everything else is better on a T7. I was lost for some time just playing Labyrinth and I’m well late to the party but I recommend anyone who can do it, does it! Makes such a difference from sat at a pc with a mouse to being stood hitting buttons. I appreciate the efforts of all involved in creating content and time for me to really enjoy it! 

[Martinb]

Quick update I now have a working coin mech (the original SR5e) which is working great! I found out is still has old pounds enabled too!

I am getting familiar with the design edit etc now too. I feel like I am stood in front of proper machines its absolutely brilliant!

Hoppers next - I have a couple of parallel hoppers (universal and a money controls insert for the compact) to replace the original so that all the metalwork etc will work and the coin routing is already done for me. I have done the wiring all ready thanks to @davep180 posts here, this forum is amazing so glad I joined. 

I cant wait to get the hoppers going, I suspect thats going to be fun to configure as some games pay in 20/10's £1's 50p's - I am hoping 2 hoppers £1 and 10p will work on most games but welcome any wisdom on that topic to those who have already done the hopper parts?

Oh another quick question, on Line-up she is an old girl that will only accept max 50p coin, do people program £1 to just give change or is that just a case of know the limitations? presumably inhibit isn't an option as I shorted them all to ground. Again wisdom from those before me very welcome.

[davep180]

10p and £1 is what I use too. To help with which machine pays what, have the diag box open in the background with misc ticked. It’ll then show you which triacs are firing, if possible watch the machine as it pays, you can often see if it’s paying in 10’s 20’s 50’s or £1’s from the way it counts down the cash amount. Then switch to diagnose to see what it says. Most mpu5 will just fire from hopper 1. Watch out for some scorp 4 machines, as they often just dump the contents of your hopper, as 1 and 2 are the wrong way round to mpu5, so it never gets the signal to stop!

[Martinb]

2 minutes ago, davep180 said:

Most mpu5 will just fire from hopper 1. Watch out for some scorp 4 machines, as they often just dump the contents of your hopper, as 1 and 2 are the wrong way round to mpu5, so it never gets the signal to stop!

Cheers Dave, is it a case of swapping them round in config or are some games basically not hopper friendly?

I'll have a look at the diag box, this is all new to me I have always just played the emulator on a PC with a keyboard and never gone any deeper. So much to learn.

Once I master the cabinet/emu workings I will consider front end stuff but one step at a time eh.

[slotsmagic]

3 hours ago, Martinb said:

Quick update I now have a working coin mech (the original SR5e) which is working great! I found out is still has old pounds enabled too!

I am getting familiar with the design edit etc now too. I feel like I am stood in front of proper machines its absolutely brilliant!

Hoppers next - I have a couple of parallel hoppers (universal and a money controls insert for the compact) to replace the original so that all the metalwork etc will work and the coin routing is already done for me. I have done the wiring all ready thanks to @davep180 posts here, this forum is amazing so glad I joined. 

I cant wait to get the hoppers going, I suspect thats going to be fun to configure as some games pay in 20/10's £1's 50p's - I am hoping 2 hoppers £1 and 10p will work on most games but welcome any wisdom on that topic to those who have already done the hopper parts?

Oh another quick question, on Line-up she is an old girl that will only accept max 50p coin, do people program £1 to just give change or is that just a case of know the limitations? presumably inhibit isn't an option as I shorted them all to ground. Again wisdom from those before me very welcome.

You aren't hanging about

I was cheekily hoping you'd get the hoppers going and then I could follow your build - it was just the board with the relay e.t.c. really - I'd hate to get the wrong one and blow something up

Afraid I can't help with the Line Up question, MPU5 and onwards is my era, but I will try and put some classic MPU4 and Scorp 2 on as well.

Edited February 11 by slotsmagic

[davep180]

2 hours ago, Martinb said:

Cheers Dave, is it a case of swapping them round in config or are some games basically not hopper friendly?

I'll have a look at the diag box, this is all new to me I have always just played the emulator on a PC with a keyboard and never gone any deeper. So much to learn.

Once I master the cabinet/emu workings I will consider front end stuff but one step at a time eh.

Sadly you can’t just swap them around on scorp 4 because the pac drive is looking for a certain keystroke on each hopper. @Amusements had a method which sorted his, but technically, was above my head lol. You will probably be alright, as I’ve seen your work with real machines on the Mecca. Me, not so much. As for line up, it was pre £1 coins so I think you are stuck with 50p max. I just play with tens on those old school ones. If anyone does know a workaround, I would like to hear it. I think I tried having 2 50p inputs, but I don’t think it read both? It’s been a while since I messed with this stuff. 

[spa]

Im just waiting for you interplayers to get them finished and help me after lol!

[Martinb]

2 hours ago, slotsmagic said:

You aren't hanging about

I was cheekily hoping you'd get the hoppers going and then I could follow your build - it was just the board with the relay e.t.c. really - I'd hate to get the wrong one and blow something up

Afraid I can't help with the Line Up question, MPU5 and onwards is my era, but I will try and put some classic MPU4 and Scorp 2 on as well.

I'd be happy to help on the parts and wiring for the hoppers, I am delayed tho as I am waiting for the hopper parts but I will keep you posted. 

1 hour ago, davep180 said:

Sadly you can’t just swap them around on scorp 4 because the pac drive is looking for a certain keystroke on each hopper. @Amusements had a method which sorted his, but technically, was above my head lol. You will probably be alright, as I’ve seen your work with real machines on the Mecca. Me, not so much. As for line up, it was pre £1 coins so I think you are stuck with 50p max. I just play with tens on those old school ones. If anyone does know a workaround, I would like to hear it. I think I tried having 2 50p inputs, but I don’t think it read both? It’s been a while since I messed with this stuff. 

Cheers Dave I will keep you posted. 

1 hour ago, spa said:

Im just waiting for you interplayers to get them finished and help me after lol!

Its a brilliant cabinet for conversion IMO including the massive screen (touch of course as you know), loom, mech, buttons, PSU, speakers, fans etc - the RGB buttons are the best part (an unexpected/unplanned advantage I have to say), as an example Line Up has its hold buttons on the right after start where as most others have start, exchange collect (or similar) then the 3 holds so you can move them as needed to suit layouts and light them red in each instance! Same goes for a club machine just light the 4th hold RED when layout needs!

Edited February 11 by Martinb

[spa]

Just had a look. I put my first video up of mine on April 4th 2014! It won't owe me much if I destroy it

[Martinb]

7 minutes ago, spa said:

Just had a look. I put my first video up of mine on April 4th 2014! It won't owe me much if I destroy it

Lol yeah time flies doesn't it, I think I remember watching that very video

You don't have to destroy it if you are prepared to interface to the existing looms it just depends how much work you want to put into it - I have to be honest and say I was really disappointed with the Interplay content (the few games that were not on T7/8 anyway) so it was an easy decision for me to convert, even tho thats really what I bought it for anyway as an MFME project (and its Mk7 PC too as a bonus).

[spa]

Yes, not enough games for it. A few are on the T7 too.

The parts are worth a decent bit these days.

[slotsmagic]

1 hour ago, spa said:

Yes, not enough games for it. A few are on the T7 too.

The parts are worth a decent bit these days.

I really should have sold my black PC by now, but I kept it as a spare for my sit-down Encore cabinet which has a Vertex HASP. I'm assuming the PC and graphics card is probably worth about £200. 

1 hour ago, Martinb said:

Lol yeah time flies doesn't it, I think I remember watching that very video

You don't have to destroy it if you are prepared to interface to the existing looms it just depends how much work you want to put into it - I have to be honest and say I was really disappointed with the Interplay content (the few games that were not on T7/8 anyway) so it was an easy decision for me to convert, even tho thats really what I bought it for anyway as an MFME project (and its Mk7 PC too as a bonus).

I was planning on keeping mine running, but then the PC gave me some issues, then I refurbished it and got it booting again, then I started getting errors (which it turned out were because the cabinet fans were knackered!!) and that was the final straw, snap decision really. But yes, the games were not amazing. I had a reasonable HASP, but the games I really wanted to run wouldn't work with it (the Red games that look like DONDs - the Hot Hot Hot worked though which was interesting).

3 hours ago, Martinb said:

I'd be happy to help on the parts and wiring for the hoppers, I am delayed tho as I am waiting for the hopper parts but I will keep you posted. 

 

No problem at all, I still need to order a PACdrive and stuff. I could try and work it out myself - but as said above would hate to blow stuff up. Wish I'd kept the original loom and LED buttons but seem to recall I broke one microswitch, and was also unsure about the ratings of the LEDs, so figured it was safer to swap to 5V LEDs and run them direct off the PACdrive.

Edited February 11 by slotsmagic

[Martinb]

4 minutes ago, slotsmagic said:

I really should have sold my black PC by now, but I kept it as a spare for my sit-down Encore cabinet which has a Vertex HASP. I'm assuming the PC and graphics card is probably worth about £200. 

I would keep it they are getting unreliable now so a spare is good!

5 minutes ago, slotsmagic said:

 I'm assuming the PC and graphics card is probably worth about £200. 

Easily I'd say yeah, maybe more if you were patient!

 

Regarding the hopper - I was actually wondering being as the operation from the pac drive is so crude (literally ON or OFF) why cant we just wire direct to the motor of the hopper and keep the CC Talk model? I might have a peep at mine to see if that would even work but it can't be that simple, or can it?

[Amusements]

12 hours ago, davep180 said:

Sadly you can’t just swap them around on scorp 4 because the pac drive is looking for a certain keystroke on each hopper. @Amusements had a method which sorted his, but technically, was above my head lol. You will probably be alright, as I’ve seen your work with real machines on the Mecca. Me, not so much. As for line up, it was pre £1 coins so I think you are stuck with 50p max. I just play with tens on those old school ones. If anyone does know a workaround, I would like to hear it. I think I tried having 2 50p inputs, but I don’t think it read both? It’s been a while since I messed with this stuff. 

I use a 3-way key switch to cross over the opto connections (coin output sensors), and a separate 3-way switch to cross over the hopper connections from the Pacdrive.

There is a setting in MFME Config to swop the optos over for AstraSYSA1, but not for scorpion 4/5 or impact. IE:

Monopoly Deluxe, Very Rich Geezer, Wild Jackpots (scorpion 4)
Baking Bad (Scorpion 5)
Club Frame & Fortune, Club Big Top, Club Red Hot 6 (impact)

The following need the Opto and the hopper switching over:

 

 

[Amusements]

7 hours ago, Martinb said:

Regarding the hopper - I was actually wondering being as the operation from the pac drive is so crude (literally ON or OFF) why cant we just wire direct to the motor of the hopper and keep the CC Talk model? I might have a peep at mine to see if that would even work but it can't be that simple, or can it?

In a nutshell, the PacDrive fires 5v to the hopper relay, which gets the hopper spinning. However, it stays on until the opto senses the coin output, and in turn fires a relay, which connects 2 pins on your Ipac, which makes the "[" or "]" key press on your PC. 

For triac payouts, you can do away with the Ipac as it does exactly as you say. I use an aduino R3 and route the opto back in to the arduino to stop the hopper spinning.

[Martinb]

4 hours ago, Amusements said:

In a nutshell, the PacDrive fires 5v to the hopper relay, which gets the hopper spinning. However, it stays on until the opto senses the coin output, and in turn fires a relay, which connects 2 pins on your Ipac, which makes the "[" or "]" key press on your PC. 

 

Thanks for your help and wisdom much appreciated - yeah thats exactly what I meant but if I drove the motor direct (from the relay) the opto should still output, shouldn't it? or on a CCTalk model is that counting just not happening the same as a parallel and it sends the data back as its serial protocol messaging I wonder - I suppose I could wind it round and see I will have a little look when time next allows might save me a few quid. There are definitely opto outputs labelled on the hopper identical to the post from Dave I linked above.

It cant be as bad to strip down as a smart hopper, what fun I had changing a belt on one of those recently