Blast City Club

[Chempop]

Are you signed up on Arcade Otaku? The europeans over there are way better at restoring their cabs, we americans actually like to leave a bit of the OG japanese grime, for provenance sake. Joking aside, the cab is looking great! The doors do seem a bit discolored just like mine, I personally didn’t bother with stripping paint, priming, repainting, and clear coating. I had to replace one of my coin mech doors and it happened to be repainted, sticks out like a sore thumb but I think it give a bit of individual charm

 

[Jonmkl]

Alright, enough of this light weight stuff, things are about to get nasty up in here.

Before pictures for your illumination.



Exterior Shots

Spoiler:

The speaker grills are pretty scratched up, but the main offender in my book is these cigarette burns.



I'm really not sure how to deal with these without repainting the shell. Moreso since I'm going to want to put fresh side art art on it anyway.



I was just mid replacing the locks so that's why one is missing.



The CP hinge seems to be bent a bit.

 

[Jonmkl]

Interior Shots

Spoiler:

I have some new controller looms on the way now, and a fresh new 001 loom already arrived from codecrank.



Mmmm.. check THAT out!



Interestingly there's a 220w transformer tucked in the back here, I'm gonna pull it out if anyone wants it.

That coupled with the 3/$1 coin slot decal and the $1 hong kong coins lodged into the back here give us some history on this guy.



And lastly here's the first thing I'm gonna clean up..



HURK! I grabbed a replacement fan as well, since the one in their now is making some very unpleasant noises.

I also picked up this stool I happened to spot while doing some other errands, it's 19" high and the seat is 14x14". Matches my room pretty well.

Spoiler:

 

[Stellarola]

I missed this. Where did u pick up that cab?

Interior Shots

Spoiler:

I have some new controller looms on the way now, and a fresh new 001 loom already arrived from codecrank.



Mmmm.. check THAT out!



Interestingly there's a 220w transformer tucked in the back here, I'm gonna pull it out if anyone wants it.

That coupled with the 3/$1 coin slot decal and the $1 hong kong coins lodged into the back here give us some history on this guy.



And lastly here's the first thing I'm gonna clean up..



HURK! I grabbed a replacement fan as well, since the one in their now is making some very unpleasant noises.

I also picked up this stool I happened to spot while doing some other errands, it's 19" high and the seat is 14x14". Matches my room pretty well.

Spoiler:

 

[Reclaimer]

Good luck with that cleanup jonmkl! I'm sure removing 90% of the gunk will have it looking great, and not be too hard actually. Just needs some love.

That stool is super rad. Nice pickup. Is it comfy? Sometimes stools are super comfy even when at first glance they seem otherwise.

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

I missed this. Where did u pick up that cab?

Windy gaming

Good luck with the cleaning. Simple Green, Magic erasers and some Novus 1, 2, 3 are your best weapons. I cleaned mine for a total of 23 hours and at the end, I wanted to burn my filthy hands off.

 

[Chempop]

Congrats on the cab! Pics of monitor running a game are always nice

Group buy cabs are always trashed (but that’s why they are so cheap, right?), part of the fun is cleaning them and getting them back into non-embarrabing condition
That one, I’d say take apart and go at each piece with everything you’ve got, refer to my albums I posted for inspiration. I used wet sand paper on the rusty bits. The hardest part might be getting all the bolts out of underneath the bottom of the cab floor, some of mine were unfriendly for sure (probably all that soda spilled inside the cab). I used a muffin tray and labeled each section so I knew where all the nuts and screws belong. Taking pix of everything you take apart also helps so you don’t get confuse putting it back together. You’ve got quite a long journey ahead of you Jonmkl, especially if you are going to strip the cab, prime, repaint, and clear coat. Good luck!

 

[todosnk]

Good timing! Funny to see at least there is someone else cleaning at the same time I do

Today it was turn for the CP again and also dismantled the PSU. I was shocked to see how many dirt the PSU can hold inside lol, seems it had never been cleaned before.... I'll be posting more photos on before/after cleaning when I have more time.
In the meantime, I noticed the PSU fan was not working at all. It is plugged and I cleaned everything, but still...
Is it something I should be worrying about? May be related to the power cable I am using currently (not grounded)?
Also when I plugged the PC at 640x480 directly via VGA the image is tripled. I will try with the JPAC tomorrow to see if it makes any difference.



I also posted the sound issue on arcadeotaku, still no suggestions there yet

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

is the refresh rate at 31 KHz? just because it's at 640x480 doesn't mean the refresh rate is right.

 

[todosnk]

Ahhh ... I assumed 640 is always 31khz - I saw this on other fórums but seems not always right then...
I guess JPAC will then just work setting the jumpers correctly.
How do you get into 31khz on Windows using the VGA directly without JPAC?

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

Ahhh ... I assumed 640 is always 31khz - I saw this on other fórums but seems not always right then...
I guess JPAC will then just work setting the jumpers correctly.
How do you get into 31khz on Windows using the VGA directly without JPAC?

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Soft-15khz

 

[ReplicaX]

How do you get into 31khz on Windows using the VGA directly without JPAC?

Windows XP 32/64bit set to forced 640x480.

Any newer version of Windows cannot do 100% forced 640x480 due to the Windows splash screen locked in at a higher resolution. No one has found a way around this naively through Windows Vista and up.

Most folks that do 31K MAME setups use WinXP 64bit.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Soft-15khz

Also why soft15k: for Windows 98*, 2000 and XP

 

[Lemony Vengeance]

I got soft-15k working on windows 7.

 

[todosnk]

Thanks! I'll give it a try tomorrow
Monitor looks great on this cab really, can't wait to play all these games on it

 

[Stellarola]

Are you signed up on Arcade Otaku? The europeans over there are way better at restoring their cabs, we americans actually like to leave a bit of the OG japanese grime, for provenance sake. Joking aside, the cab is looking great! The doors do seem a bit discolored just like mine, I personally didn’t bother with stripping paint, priming, repainting, and clear coating. I had to replace one of my coin mech doors and it happened to be repainted, sticks out like a sore thumb but I think it give a bit of individual charm

I had great success removing the yellowing from my Blast City main service door by applying bathroom cleaner with bleach. I think I ended up using a gel toilet bowl cleaner. Anyway just let it sit for about 20-30 minutes and it'll remove that yellowing like whoa.

 

[Jonmkl]

That stool is super rad. Nice pickup. Is it comfy? Sometimes stools are super comfy even when at first glance they seem otherwise.

Pretty comfy overall I'd say. I had a stool that had a little more give to it than this one and kind of leaned when you leaned and so forth, and after I played in it a while my back would hurt, but this one is rock solid sturdy and I don't seem to have that issue. I think your butt could go numb after a long while if you aren't used to sitting in wood chairs, but if you have your own built in padding it's not that bad .

Good luck with the cleaning. Simple Green, Magic erasers and some Novus 1, 2, 3 are your best weapons. I cleaned mine for a total of 23 hours and at the end, I wanted to burn my filthy hands off.

I've heard about Novus! Does it work on the whole body? Or only the plastic parts? Do you just use it after your done cleaning?

You’ve got quite a long journey ahead of you Jonmkl, especially if you are going to strip the cab, prime, repaint, and clear coat. Good luck!

Most definitely! I wish I had the time to get it all hammered out in a long weekend, but it's probably gonna bit by bit as it stands now! Wish me luck!

Oh also, your wish is my command!

Spoiler:

Here's some Soukyugurentai, since it's basically all I've been playing, non stop since this thing got here!

 

[codecrank]

Also when I plugged the PC at 640x480 directly via VGA the image is tripled. I will try with the JPAC tomorrow to see if it makes any difference.

View attachment 21955

iirc, this will happen if run 480p while your remote board's dip switch setting are set to 15khz. set it 31khz. see manual.

you can feed the video through the J-PAC if you wish , but the j-PAC also has dip switches, so make sure you set the j-pac to allow 31khz, else it will convert it 31khz to 15khz and give you split screen picture as well. the default only allow 15khz if I recall properly.

modern hardware has become a real bitch to deal with, high res bios, high res splash screen... I wish someone would come up with a dongle that filters non 480p signal and provide EDID at the same time... sigh

 

[codecrank]

I had great success removing the yellowing from my Blast City main service door by applying bathroom cleaner with bleach. I think I ended up using a gel toilet bowl cleaner. Anyway just let it sit for about 20-30 minutes and it'll remove that yellowing like whoa.

hmmm, interesting that's a common issue with many blasts, it's like they used different paint formulas, some UV safe, some not.

 

[Stellarola]

hmmm, interesting that's a common issue with many blasts, it's like they used different paint formulas, some UV safe, some not.

It was night/day difference. I did it on a whim and considering the doors are metal I wasn't worried about the cleaner eating away at plastic, etc.

I would do it again if I had another Blast, thats for sure.

 

[skate323k137]

iirc, this will happen if run 480p while your remote board's dip switch setting are set to 15khz. set it 31khz. see manual.

+1

 

[todosnk]

My switches are:

OFF-ON-ON, which according to the manual should be 31khz

Using the JPAC does not make any difference. At most what I get is the same tripled image, but flickering. Direct on the VGA imput at least there is no flicker . Installed soft15khz with same results.

I am using a Geforce 750 2GB DDR5 and Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate.

If I switch to Windows XP 64 bit will it make any difference?

Seems I am cursed

 

[Stellarola]

My switches are:

OFF-ON-ON, which according to the manual should be 31khz

Using the JPAC does not make any difference. At most what I get is the same tripled image, but flickering. Direct on the VGA imput at least there is no flicker . Installed soft15khz with same results.

I am using a Geforce 750 2GB DDR5 and Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate.

If I switch to Windows XP 64 bit will it make any difference?

Seems I am cursed

View attachment 21992View attachment 21993

Are you positive the desktop resolution is set for 640x480?

 

[todosnk]

Yes, I set the windows desktop to 640x480 60Hz 32bit colour on a normal PC monitor, once set, I shut down PC, plugged the VGA into the cab, powered on the PC, and after 20 seconds (time for windows to load), I powered the cab monitor on.
Or do I have to select again 640x480 once the image displays triple in the arcade monitor? Just wondering maybe windows detects a new "type" of monitor and does not set the resolution correctly the first time and I need to do it manually again?

EDIT: I received the NEMA 5-15 grounded cable today. I tested it but same result as far as the sound goes. Is it possible that Blasts do not output mono sound on Jamma with the default wiring? ( I do not have the 001 loom). The seller mentioned they tried the Blast with an Atomiswave PCB and sound was working fine.
Found the below thread on arcadeotaku, but my wiring is not hacked (from what I see)

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22594

Also the PSU fan is not working. I thought it was due the ground as well, but seems it is not

The good news Received the Novus 123 today. More cleaning waiting from now!

 

[skate323k137]

If you don't have a 001 loom, JAMMA mono is default

 

[codecrank]

Yes, I set the windows desktop to 640x480 60Hz 32bit colour on a normal PC monitor, once set, I shut down PC, plugged the VGA into the cab, powered on the PC

we ran into a similar problem on my buddy's blast with windows7 , it keeps defaulting to a higher resolution. I'll check with him.
in the mean time, after you set windows's res to vga, just move the cable over to the jpac ( make sure your jpac is set to NOT split 31khz )

my jamma sound use to not work in on my blasts, ended up the cable going to cn5 or cn10 was loose. worth trying to disconnect and reconnect them.

as skate323k137 said, the jamma loom only does mono.

PSU fans are known to crap out in these. too much dirt. click the link in my sig, the replacement part number is on there.