Possibly the final update for this machine. I got everything working, finally!
Got those wheels and footplate installed!
The issue that took the longest to solve was getting a clean 240p image out of a windows 10 computer. In a nutshell, I used CRT emu with super resolutions and MAME, along with a J-pac. But I kept getting noise on my video signal.
You can see a lot of white spots around Sakura and the dark blue background. It doesn't look that bad from the screenshot, but in a moving game it really bugged me. I tried so many different things. Checking grounds all over the cabinet, adjusting software settings, bypassing the j-pac, different GPU, different power supply, different computer, none of it worked.
What it ended up being is that the signal needed a low pass filter between the computer and J-pac. I got a THS7314 RGB amplifier that has a LPF built in. Since I couldn't have both the J-pac and THS7314 amplifying the signal, it required a LOT of pulldown resistance both on the input and output sides. I spliced the LPF into the VGA cable. For more info on this stuff, check out my thread over on arcadecontrols.com.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,162118.0.html
The signal cleaned up nicely!
The coil squealing from the chassis came back unfortunately, even after shoving a toothpick underneath it.
I tried finding a replacement for it, but all I know is that it's a choke coil. Not enough to go on. So I bought a busted Nanao MS8-25F chassis.
I replaced the coil, and it's quiet again! I'll use that chassis for spare parts if anything else goes wrong. I also wanted to fix the convergence on the lower right corner of the screen, so I got some convergence strips from ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CRT-Yoke-S...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
But the magnets were so weak, I couldn't move the picture enough. While I was back there though, I did find a magnet that came loose so I taped that back on.
For the front end, I wanted something simple, nice looking, and effective. I didn't want a ton of artwork ripped from various games floating around the screen with videos and sounds effects. It's just tacky to me. So I used "Arcade Flow" with Attract mode. Just big thumbnails, no sound, no video, and the background color changes based on the thumbnail highlighted. Perfect.
It also needed an audio amplifier, so I got one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/PM2038-2X5W-Stereo-Audio-Amplifier/dp/B01NABJTDJ
I considered wiring everything up for stereo, but the j-pac only supports mono, and I'd have to make a set of switches to go from stereo for the PC, to mono for Jamma boards. To me, it's important that I keep the cab capable of plug and play Jamma.
Someday I'll completely disassemble, repair the fiberglass, and repaint the entire cab so it'll look new again but for now, I'm happy with where it's at.
Now if only the Dreamcast/Naomi emulator's 15khz mode worked....