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Geddon

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Figured I would start a thread to compile some general mods people do to their vewlix cabs and I’ll document what I do in case it can help anyone.

Step down transformer. I was told it is a good idea to use a step down transformer with these cabs. I use this 500 watt one and it has been fine. Just one outlet so I use with a surge protector to have more outlets. https://www.amazon.com/VCT-VT-500J-Japanese-Transformer-Converts/dp/B000PC4JL4

First mod is fans. They are too loud. I’m not sure how many fans are in this thing and which are the worst culprits, but I plan to quiet this thing down. It is silly loud next to my blast city cabs which now have some noctura fans installed that I can’t even hear. I will document the sizes and fans I end up using when I get around to it.

Next little mod is I plan to add some buttons for service and test somewhere easily accessible. I’m thinking on top where those raised sections are next to where the coin slot is. Anyone know what those are for and why it is like that? Alternative location might be kind of hidden on the back side of the control panel. I’m not sure if I just want to use tiny buttons I can drill a little hole for or maybe a small project box I attach somewhere with 24mm buttons and just make a tiny hole to get the wires in the cab. I also will probably end up putting a volume knob somewhere easily accessible. I don’t like having to reach in the coin door for anything. I’m not sure about the wiring for that if I can have the coin door volume and another knob or if I just jack the wiring to the coin door knob since there will be no real point in having two volume knobs anyway.

Next mod might be some sort of buttons wired to ps/2 to send alt f4 to the x2 multi for easy game switching. For now I found a small ps/2 keyboard on eBay and will have that handy.

Next mod might be some sort of in line eq for the audio. I like having bass and treble controls. I’m a bit of an audio snob and I have audio mixers hooked up to my console setup for this purpose. I find it really helps dial in a good sound for some consoles so hell why not have it for my arcade cabs. This should be easy because I can just put the eq between the audio out of the x2 and the audio line going to the cab speakers. I actually have a little 10 band eq I can test that might be a great fit for this.

Some sort of sticker where the yen sticker was next to the coin slot. The yen sticker there was all screwed up on my cab so I pulled it. Not sure what I want to put there now. I guess an ashtray for coins might be the best thing.

New coin slot! I can’t find one so far so if anyone has a source for a new one that will drop right in and has a nice big slot that will take larger coins I would like to know. For now I strippe the metal sticker crap off of mine because it was mostly worn off, then I spray painted black matte. It looks ok but a new metal slot would be better.

Art. I ordered a sf4 set off eBay. I’m considering laminating the exposed portions, but that is kind of a pain. I suppose the office stores could do it. In the meantime I’ll prob just use two sided tape. I think I’ll always just leave sf4 art on it since that is the marquee game.

Octagonal gates. An easy must have for me as I hate square gate.

That’s all I can think of for now. I’ll document what I do as I go here and am open to any suggestions and what others have done. I don’t know if I’ll ever bother trying to get the cab to take jamma boards or deal with installing a scaler, since I have other cabs for standard res, but who knows. Also I’m sure putting a console in the cab is a common mod and probably not that difficult. I might do that some day but for now I’m content with the x2 multi.

Edit: forgot the first mod I did. 2 player panel. I ordered the panel and overlay from Taito direct.
 
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Thanks for the fan suggestion.

I wish I would have thought of the coin slot when I ordered a 2p panel kit from Taito. It’s a fair amount of hassle for one small part.

How do you attach the art? Two sided tape? I’m going to try laminating the three exposed pieces and will report back how that goes.
 
It really is a pain for just one small part.

I've tried two-sided tape as well as that blue sticky stuff. Maybe laminating will help!
 
I found what looks like a good solution for making it easy to switch games for the Taito x2 multi. Keywiz

https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=199

So plan is to have test, service, ALT, and f4 buttons easily accessible. Really i think I can wire up one button for alt and f4 and it would be a good idea to have x2 reset as a button also just in case a true reset is needed. One of those fancy flip cover buttons would probably be good for that function. With all of that it should be possible to exit back to the menu for any game or reboot the thing. And I’ll have a little ps/2 keyboard in the cab just in case.
 
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Nice thread; I just ordered that fan @rewrite! I’ll be getting around to some recap work (like this year, not immediatley) and will post that stuff (cap maps etc) unless someone beats me to it.
 
@Geddon those are from a Korean cab manufacturer. They don't seem to offer them separately from whole cabs.

@ekorz my LCD case has two stripped screws so I never got around to that sort of thing. It SUPER needs the dust cleaned out of the glass :/.
 
I installed the fan, it’s thinner than the stock one so I was considering swapping out the bolts to smaller ones to compensate, but just left them anyway.

The fan I actually need to replace is the one above it near the monitor. But that one looks much harder to get to, so im guessing I leave it until I’m ready to pull the whole monitor out. Yeah?
 
The stock fans are indeed too loud.

In my Vewlix there were 2x 60mm fans from Panasonic giving sonic booms:

qKOvQ1v.jpg



These are connected to 12v fans, so you just wire a regular PC fan to it, which I did (connected a molex connector):

Mf0RVW3.jpg


Replaced the Sonic Boom fans with Noctua 60mm fans, which got good CFM and very quiet:

OCIcwAV.jpg



Both Noctua fans installed:

NHnDIy6.jpg



Much quieter like this!!!

But there are two more fans attached to the monitor that makes a lot of noise :(

MZg9hua.jpg


I can't reach it unless I take the whole thing apart, so haven't done that yet.

To give an extra touch, I sticked a RGB LED strip at the entire back:

Z3wNBkV.jpg


Movie clip:


I got the following PC in the cabinet:
ASROCK B85M-ITX
i7 4790k BX80646I74790K
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB
KFA2 GTX970 4GB Black Edition
250GB Samsung 840 EVO
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced

This mini ITX system fits perfect the Vewlix:
rmutrAQ.jpg



Used extended external power switch cable from the PC to the control panel:
WIqHHE6.jpg



So I can easily turn on/off the PC:
Wp03Vzx.jpg




To power everything on/off (Vewlix, PC, subwoofer, LED strip) I'm using a super handy smart master/slave power block:

So if the PC turns on, everything turns on automatically.
And when the PC turns off, everything turns off.
So I don't have crawl to and over the ground to toggle some switches :P

zssqeBG.jpg


It works like this:
_150_dpi_automatic-master-slaves_2permanent-grafik.gif


:D


Very happy with my Vewlix :)

Bvv6JjV.jpg
 
Nice! It isn’t too bad taking the monitor out. I had to do it to clear some Dust. Let me know if you find replacements for those fans too. I definitely want to make my cab close to silent.
 
wow, that old fan looks awful! (I bet mine is the same... it is whining and I need to replace it too). Do you have a 24v replacement? That's all I can think would be the issue.
 
Stock fans are indeed 24v.
Maybe your 12v fan gives a RPM below a certain treshold and therefore you get the alert message.
 
Alrighty. I’m ready to do some work on this puppy. Anyone know the specs on the volume knob? I got my keywiz max so I’m also planning to wire that up to some buttons for functions.
 
Step down transformer. I was told it is a good idea to use a step down transformer with these cabs. I use this 500 watt one and it has been fine. Just one outlet so I use with a surge protector to have more outlets. https://www.amazon.com/VCT-VT-500J-Japanese-Transformer-Converts/dp/B000PC4JL4
Next mod might be some sort of buttons wired to ps/2 to send alt f4 to the x2 multi for easy game switching. For now I found a small ps/2 keyboard on eBay and will have that handy.
Thanks for all the helpful information!

A few quick questions, mostly about the transformer:

  • Do you use that 500 watt transformer with a stock TTX2 unit inside the Vewlix?
  • Is the switch on the back of the transformer set to 120V to match the wall outlet, or 100V to match the desired output?
  • Do you plug your surge protector into the 100V "Japan Voltage" outlet on the right, then plug the Vewlix into the surge protector with a regular 3-pronged PC cable?
  • What happens if you forget to turn the transformer on before you power on the Vewlix? Does it simply not supply power, or does it harmfully pass the full wall voltage to the Vewlix?
  • Does the transformer work without issues for a full day of play?
  • Were you using a keyboard plugged into the PS/2 port on the back of a stock TTX2 unit, to switch games using Niko's multi software?

I planned to use a TTX2 unit in my Vewlix cab and wanted to make sure you're basically doing the same with your 500 watt transformer and your method of switching games.
 
You only need to use the step-down if you're using the wei-ya PSU. Since it is super hateful of 120v.

If you're using the outlets inside the cab and using a TTX2, computer, PS4, etc etc it won't make a difference.

Edit: I should *really* put the disclaimer that I'm talking about in the US and other 120v standard countries. You 220v people absolutely need a step-down.
 
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You only need to use the step-down if you're using the wei-ya PSU. Since it is super hateful of 120v.

If you're using the outlets inside the cab and using a TTX2, computer, PS4, etc etc it won't make a difference.
Thanks for the explanation! These wonderful cabs seem to have their share of interesting properties. [astrocity]
I wouldn't need to reconnect the cabinet's PSU to get TTX2 hardware up and running with the coin mech and everything?

What is the cabinet's PSU typically hooked up and used for?
 
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