FAQ about Arcade DDR

Tomo_kun · Trick Member Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Location: SE-WI.

Just an update to the 221 pounds thing. that is PER side
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Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

The Game II · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2004 5:36 pm Post subject:

Had a question...

The left and right sides of the screen in our machine curve in (I'll find a picture of it so you can see what I'm talking about).

I was wondering whether anyone knows where I can make the screen adjustments. If someone could answer this question, that would be great! I'm running a tournament in three weeks, and I didn't want the screen to be a problem.

Thanks.

--GCII
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Ho-Man · Contributor Joined: 04 Mar 2002 Location: Noblesville, IN

It sounds like you need to adjust the pincushion setting on the monitor.

The adjustments for the monitor are inside the coin door.

You can see the controls arranged vertically along the right side of the panel in the picture above.

However, I do not believe that there is a pincushion adjustment among those controls. The four in the top section control horizontal and vertical positioning and size. The five below are for brightness, RGB levels, and contrast.

It's possible that those controls might help the problem you're having, but I wouldn't count on it. Sometimes just turning the brightness or contrast down a little will help to clear up some distortion in the picture if the monitor is being driven too high.

There might be some additional controls for the monitor, but they're probably inside the cabinet. Be careful if you're going to muck around with the monitor directly. There's enough voltage in a monitor to knock you out...or even kill you if you're exceptionally unlucky.

If the machine is an older model, the inside of the coin door area won't look like the one in the picture and I don't think there will be any monitor controls there at all.

The one other possibility is that the monitor has been replaced at some point, in which case the controls may be totally different and/or in another location.

Bottom line, it sounds like what you want is a pincushion adjustment, so see if you can find such a thing.

Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

Like you said HM, it depends on how old/what region your machine is from.

If your machine doesn't look like that picture, you likely have two knobs, a meter and two square buttons without any of the smaller knobs. You'd have to open up your machine and look for a green board (like just about every board in there) that's about 3x5 inches with up to 9 dials on it.

This is a standard monitor control board for just about any cabinet that uses Jamma.

If you do need to actually *TOUCH* the monitor, TURN THE SYSTEM OFF then use an extremely long screwdriver with a plastic or rubber handle to de-energize the sucker. As HM said, they hold an insane amount of voltage and a good amount of amperage (and being shocked isn't fun, I've done it to myself putting a light in a skeeball machine, weird feeling) that will knock you on your buttocks. Also keep yourself grounded, just like if you were working on a computer.

Make sure you have some help if you have to replace the monitor, they're surprisinglly heavy.

I won't be adding this to the FAQ, it's a VERY specific question, and isn't very frequent.
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LouieT · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:04 am Post subject:

two knobs, a meter and two square buttons
You mean that thing that looks like an odometer?
What is that for anyways?
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Ho-Man · Contributor Joined: 04 Mar 2002 Location: Noblesville, IN

That's the coin counter. It counts the number of coins that the machine has accepted. So in that sense, it is somewhat like the machine's odometer.

The Game II · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:15 pm Post subject:

Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

Regarding your matrix walk thing: whoever did it should be shot on top of being electrocuted. If they managed to crack the monitor, it's possible they could be shocked. not likely with a shoe on though.

As for hte pad cleaning, it'll take me about an hour to give it a thorough cleaning if I don't get interrupted. But that's taking every arrow apart, cleaning, and puttting it back on, on top of vaccuming off the I/O boards in the pad. Sometimes I even seperate the pads to clean out betwen them.
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ollec2004 · Trick Member Joined: 31 Jul 2002

sfetaz · Vivid Member Joined: 02 May 2002

Betsons website is http://www.betson.com

Baka of the Orochi · Trick Member Joined: 26 Jan 2002 Location: Chicago area

Haha, it's common sense, you NEVER touch the back of an unprotected montior, especially if it's on. That thing will give you one HELL of a tingle, and we're not talking sticking-your-finger-in-a-lightbulb-socket tingle. Except when your manager gets shocked. Then it's just funny.

If your shoe does go through, unless the electricity jumps part your shoe, I doubt you'd have to worry so much about that, rather that worrying about your leg getting caught on the glass that you just shattered.

Cleaning a pad, that varies on how dirty it is, and what materials you have handy. Plus, if you have people helping you, it really speeds up the process (as in, other can help you unscrew, which really cuts down the time).

For event mode, all you need to do is hold the Service credit button (S-Coin) while you hit start to re-enter Game Mode from the Service Menu (with Free Play on of course). Event Mode won't work if Free Play is off (instead, the machine will credit itself). Also, with Event Mode, you cannot access Extra Stage, nor can you enter your initials for Nonstop/Oni modes. You can also reset the game to the title screen at any time by hitting all three buttons on the machine (left+right+start).
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circfan2 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Hickory, N.C

ahhh!!!help!im planing on buying a machine.(cause theres nothing like the arcade machine)can some one link me to a site where konami sells them?one more thing..dose any one know how many watts that stero system is inside of the arcade machine?

Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

^^^ Your first question was answered in the faq. (Konami does not sell directly to the states/public)

As for the wattage on the speakers, I'll have to do some digging on that one. Lets just say that with the volume halfway up, you can hear the musc (through several walls) about 5-600 yards away.
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The Game II · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:15 pm Post subject:

Cleaning the I/O boards...when is this necessary, or is it? Is this something I have to worry about when cleaning out the pads for a tournament? How much does this affect player's performances?

Thanks.

--GCII
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Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

the I/O boards will get dirty at about the same rate as any given arrow. If there's a crapload of dust, it might cause some problems, but it's more of a cleanliness thing.

Just pop em open when you clean out the arrows.
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The Game II · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 4:36 pm Post subject:

The local arcade has an old cabinet which has the two nobs and buttons.

Ho-Man · Contributor Joined: 04 Mar 2002 Location: Noblesville, IN

Most likely you would access such things through the access panel on the rear of the machine and not by taking off the front glass. Honestly, I don't know why you'd ever take the front glass off unless you were going to replace it.

You'd be looking for a board that has lots of tiny little pots (or knobs) on it just like the ones you can see on the right hand side of the picture several posts above.

Damage · Basic Member Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Location: Dublin, GA

I just got done cleaning our pads for the first time in at LEAST6 months and it took about 3 hours total time. Here is the pattern I used and it worked fairly well.

Clean them one side at a time. Take the center plate off, vacuum along the edges of the brace under that so you can see the 4 smaller screws holding it down, then take that plate off and vacuum the well under that and the insides of the tubular steel on that brace. Put the brace back in but don't put the plate back on.

From there I moved to the right arrow, took it off and cleaned the backside of the arrow with windex. Before you vacuum the arrow well out, check for screws that have vibrated out of the L bracket on the sensor/loose screws in the same and re-attach/tighten said screws. The screw assembly that goes into the L bracket consists of the screw, a bushing, and a washer.

Vacuum the inside of the well and lightly run a cloth over the neon to clean the dust off them. Vacuum between the plastic square shield and the well walls, then around the sensors. I found a jewelers screwdriver was the perfect size to run between the sensor and the wall to loosen up the dirt there.

Once this is done, leave the arrow off and move to the down right plate and repeat the steps for the center plate. Then to the down arrow and repeat the steps for the right arrow.

Once the right and down arrows are done, then I went ahead and put the covering plate on the down left corner. Work your way around in a clockwise direction replacing arrows and plates as you finish the bordering squares.

I left the center cover plate off until last as it made it easier to get the inside edges of the arrow wells. A good shop vac will get most of the covering dust off of the wiring and I/O boards with very little to no contact, although the I/O boards are fairly sturdy so don't panic over a little bump unless you knock a cap loose

In response to why you would take the glass off, video game monitors get EXTREMELY dirty over time. Taking the glass off and cleaning the picture tube and the backside of the glass is necessary to keep the sharpness in your image. There is no need to turn the game off for this. All of your voltage is on the backside of the monitor running through the thick wire that looks like a spark plug wire. It runs from something that looks similar to an automobile distributor cap, except with only one or two wires coming out of it (called the flyback transformer) to the monitor, where it ends in what looks like a suction cup. Around the flyback transformer is fairly safe, but there are metal leads under the suction cup that plug into the picture tube. Those leads are the most dangerous part of any arcade game (usually) and you WILL know it if you touch them and there is still a charge in teh tube

Damage

Yeehaw McKickass · Contributor Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Location: Chicago Area

Damage, it sounds like your pads were pretty nasty. I generally leave that middle plate on, and just use a smaller flathead screwdriver to wedge the dirt out. Doesn't do any damage to anything unless you're a twitcap and jab the driver through the sensor. Also, make sure you clean ALL sides of the arrows, they get nasty.
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