Author Topic: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project  (Read 639 times)

xelement5x

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The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« on: November 18, 2019, 05:16:59 PM »
So I was working with Sadler on trying to figure out/diagnose what's going on with his Turbo Cab and decided it made sense to document along the way and also ask for help where we could find it.

Overview: Several years ago I helped him pick this up from a local guy, it appeared to work at the time but now seems to be pretty unresponsive.  What he got was a mainly complete cabinet, but it was missing the PCE Arcade hardware which goes inside. (this thing: https://www.tg-16.com/pce_tg16_JAMMA_conversion_kit.htm)

Here's what it looks like:





The overall goal is to keep it as stock as possible but still get it up and running again.  Ideally we could use the existing wiring and make adapters off the molexes on it to connect it to a JAMMA harness, so that we could hook up an RGB modded PCE, or another JAMMA compatible game.


Insides:
It has a regular power plug that comes into the machine and uses what looks like a Cherry E69 switch on the back.  Currently you have to hold down the switch to get the power to stay on, which seems incorrect.  My guess is the wiring should be for NC instead of NO so that it works as a reset.

When the power is active, it comes into this:


The four outlets on the box are used for various things we think, one of which is running a fan on the inside of the unit. Probably also to plug in the PCE hardware.

Off that, the power from wall goes into this:


It's a Peter Chou power supply on the bottom, that is currently not really doing anything.  Testing the output when it's on we're having a hard time getting everything lined up.  I think it was 13.8V, 5.5V, and -4.2V for outputs and dialing up or down wasn't really getting all three into 12V, 5V, and -5V range.

On top of that is a 3P87 isolation transformer:


I'm not really sure what the purpose of the transformer is, but from what I can tell tracing the yellow and white wires out of the isolation transformer, it looks like the go up to the monitor to power it.  The monitor is a Hantarex MTC 900E and we're getting no indication it's coming on.  We're trying to diagnose the status of the monitor first and move from there.

I was thinking that it's possible that either
1) the transformer is bad and not powering the monitor (I don't know how to test this)
2) the caps in the monitor could need to be replaced. 

The monitor has some slight burn in but nothing too bad, so advice on the best course of action would be appreciated!

« Last Edit: November 18, 2019, 05:19:33 PM by xelement5x »
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Necromancer

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2019, 07:26:33 PM »
Cool beans!  I hope you guys get it running.
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Gredler

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2019, 07:31:53 PM »
Wow this is so bad ass thanks for sharing!!


Sadler

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2019, 07:59:39 PM »
Thanks for posting this and thanks for your help! It may take a solid decade, but that cab will live again!  :)

AkumajoTonyX

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2019, 12:59:36 AM »
These would definitely enhance the experience methinks.



Turboschmuck

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2019, 10:07:40 AM »
Already looks pretty nice even without the fillings. I'm assuming you guys have used voltage testers and the like to see if there are any bad traces?

gex

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Re: The TurboGrafx 16 Arcade Cabinet Project
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2019, 03:27:57 PM »
Oh no way! I was trying to put something together like this last year. There's an issue in Computer and Electronics monthly that talks more about this. It looks like it's just missing the actual Jamma kit/head piece? Syphic has a signage piece he originally thought was to come from a kiosk, but i think it's the headboard that comes with this.

So cool this is all original. I was hoping (at best) to just find a jamma and instal it onto a cab, but this takes the cake. Hope you guys get it to work. This is better then the Jamma kit imo, as they are out there.

http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/TurboGrafx_JAMMA/index.htm