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UenoArcade's Chewlix adventure

tDRG said:
How are the electronics overall?
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Cheap :) The monitor is nice but some components are bargain bin quality. The fans are very loud, the PSU is "acceptable" but delivers about 350mv over the published value in DC. For example, 5.5V is really 5.83V. The amp works great with the Pandora but really struggles with the audio output from either the monitor or the PC via the 3.5mm jack.
tDRG said:
ow do the buttons and sticks seem, genuine Sanwa?
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Seem genuine.
 
I received my cabinet on Friday Feb. 24th. It was a group order with someone else so there are 2 crates
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The machine itself was wrapped in bubble wrap but otherwise not secured inside the crate. This is going to be important later.
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The unit was packed using the traditional Vewlix shipping L brackets
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Unfortunately, the cabinet had a hard time inside the crate and the frame bent; cracking one plastic piece
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I tried disassembling these parts to see if I can click them back into form but to no avail. I'll have to live with the panel gaps.
The cabinet marquee LED wasn't wired up. I asked Chino about it and he mentioned that all cabinets are like that and the marquee isn't connected (!?!?). I asked the other guy who also got a cab and his doesn't have the gaps and his marquee is connected so I went back to Chino and he will send the proper cable to power the marquee LED
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Chino will also send a replacement acrylic "top" because mine is cracked. Nothing he can do about the bent frame.
 
Setup was easy and the instructions provided by the seller were easy to follow. The cab came wired to the Pandora box. It really struggled with old games but that's because the "HD Filter" is on by default:
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Once I turned that off the speed was acceptable but the Pandora box isn't really a great way to use a cab. The button mapping isn't intuitive and some games are basically a NES port with a timer running at the top. Since it's a JAMMA connector wired for "CHAMMA", buttons 7-8 don't work. Luckily for me, I ordered a "PC Kit" from the seller. The harness accepts a JAMMA connector and has extra wires for buttons 7-8 and other "utility" buttons.

The controls now show up as PS4 controllers. Interestingly enough Player 1 is "Controller 2" but I guess it depends on how Windows sees them at first.
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The adapter is hooked up to a mini PC running BigBox. Mame games are fun to play and I even installed Steam so we can play TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. I needed to disable Steam Input for that game and the in-game menu let me assign buttons.
 
Upgrades and some shopping

Fans
The two fans that exhaust hot air from the cabinet are pretty loud. The one at the bottom is a tiny but mighty 12V 80mm fan while the one behind the monitor is a quieter but still annoying 12V 120mm fan. The top fan has a standard 3 pin connector with 12V and GND. The bottom fan is a bit more interesting. They spliced it directly into a red/black wire but also have an unused connector from the cabinet next to the fan. I assume they broke the fan connector and just decided to splice it?? In any case, if anyone know what that connector type is, I'd like to do it properly and buy the male version.
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I've had a good experience with Noctua fans in the past so I placed an Amazon order for 2 non-PWM fans:
The fans will arrive Wednesday and I'll keep you updated

Amp
The AMP takes stereo RCA connectors so I purchased this Amazon Basics 3.5mm to 2-Male RCA Adapter Audio Stereo Cable - 4 Feet. The audio coming out of the Pandora Box was loud enough but when I connect the monitor's 3.5mm output or the PC's 3.5mm output to the AMP, the sound is pretty muted and somewhat muffled. I double checked that the PC was outputting at 100% and even tried with headphones. I asked the other guy who purchased a cabinet with me and he mentioned that the amp is terrible. Looking around in this forum, I saw that the Fosi TB10A is well regarded so I order this from Amazon: Fosi Audio TB10A 2 Channel Stereo Audio Amplifier Receiver Mini Hi-Fi Class D Integrated Amp 2.0CH for Home Speakers 100W x 2 with Bass and Treble Control TPA3116(with Power Supply). Being a 12V device, I'm hoping I can use the arcade PSU instead of the brick is comes with.

Light Guns
Like I mentioned in my first post, my first cabinet 23 years ago used a 27" CRT TV w/ S-Video and 2 ACT-Labs Light Guns. I have fond memories of these shooters and wanted a similar experience but the market frankly sucks... I decided to purchase 2 Sinden guns with the understanding that it's very much not "plug and play" and per-game adjustments are required. By all accounts the drivers are terrible (1 process per gun?!) but version 2.0 is in Beta testing and it seems to address the initial feedback. I'll be sure to post my initial impressions, then make a follow up after I got it tamed :)

Stickers & Marquee holder
I ordered a sticker set and marquee holder from Arcadeartrepro.com last week. They have 2 marquee holders: A Vewlix and a Chewlix. They seem to be very similar, with the chewlix having slightly longer "side legs". I sent pictures and measurements to the owner who recommended I get the Chewlix version. I placed my order last week and I'm hoping it ships soon.
 
Congrats on the delivery man!
Sorry to hear about the damages though, that's a serious drag.

I'm excited to see all the mods and progress getting these things tweaked!
 
Cosmetic damage is disappointing, sorry to hear about that. Looks like you've been enjoying it though! I ordered one without the electronics, thanks for posting links to the replacement components you went with.
 
Question, how were you able to track the freight? Did Chino provide this information for you?
 
I got tossed the ships information.
You can track it using a naval tracker, but you'll lose it for about 2-3 weeks once it's a few miles off the coast.
 
Both fans definitely brought down the noise to an acceptable level. The PSU is now the loudest fan in the cabinet but when it's fully enclosed, I can hardly hear it.
The amp was another major win. The amp that came with the cabinet was so light and cheap that it struggle both with power and clarity. The Fosi TB10A is currently powered by its own power brick because I don't have a compatible DC Jack. The Fosi TB10A takes a 5.5mmx2.5mm jack and I measured its length to be 10.25mm. With these measurements in mind, I ordered this cable from Amazon. I hope going from 24V to 12V is enough to drive the speakers.

The brackets that are holding the monitor were mounted with tiny screws and they went through the metal slot. So the monitor wasn't held against the glass but was loose inside, rocking back and forth with any movement. This is another $0.10 oversight that is really annoying to fix. I bought some washers from Lowes and remounted the brackets. Normal screwdrivers don't fit in the space above and I couldn't open it because it was all rivetted. So I used a Leatherman multitool angled at 90 degrees.
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Notice how small the screw is. It's supposed to hold the monitor in place with friction when mounted inside the cabinet. Unfortunately, the next picture shows that the screw is barely bigger than the metal channel in the cabinet so the slightest bump in transit and the channel bends and the screw goes right through...
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The 12V DC cable I ordered from Amazon works very well despite being 12V. The amp takes 12V or 24V and I only need to set the volume knob to 1/3.
I have also received by 2 Sinden lightguns. I installed the beta drivers and worked on this for 1 hour yesterday but don't have them working how I want to. This is the approach I'm taking:
  • I'm using the Beta drivers released in March. It seems like it will be promoted to stable in April so I might as well start with that one.
  • I've installed the Mame Sinden Bezel Pack and tracking seems to work OK.
  • I did the mame.ini and "mousegun.cfg" changes in Mame but changing the Mame input to use it is near impossible. I must be missing something and I'll continue to work on it:
    • The light gun shows up as "Gun 8" but the default input in Mame is Gun 1. In the Inputs menu, I tried setting the X and Y axis but making the gun only move in the X or Y axis is impossible so Mame registers "Lightgun X Axis" as "Gun 8 X + Gun 8 Y". It makes no sense and super frustrating
    • I need to figure out the reload mechanism for Area 51. I know it's supported and there's a Wiki for it, I just haven't gotten to it. Pointing the gun off screen puts the crosshair at the edge of the screen. My understanding is that the Sinden lightgun maps an off-screen shot with "Button 2" but Button 2 doesn't do anything in Area 51.
 
Quick question, how long before receiving your cabs were you notified of them shipping out to you, after landing in US?
 
My Chewy came with some misaligned panels too. I took everything apart and reassembled and it went back together much nicer. Not perfect, but like 90% there.
 
tDRG said:
The boat mine's on was scheduled to port on the 20th, I'll let you know when I hear anything.
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Already got mine. Boat docked the 25th of March, received them on the 12th last week here in Florida.
 

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tDRG said:
Mine just arrived! How did you guys get them out of the crates?

@rtaveras423 recommended a Gresdent Trim Puller https://a.co/d/cAaiACa, I'll see what I can use to pry a side off.
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I got under mine with a pry bar, knocked the largest side off, and then slid both units out.
It wasn't easy, but nothing lights a fire like a light drizzle and a condo HOA that doesn't appreciate the sidewalks being blocked :D
 
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Odwalla said:
I got under mine with a pry bar, knocked the largest side off, and then slid both units out.
It wasn't easy, but nothing lights a fire like a light drizzle and a condo HOA that doesn't appreciate the sidewalks being blocked :D
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Nice! Haha yeah, I tried to take my time, but it's always good to have some extra motivation. I didn't make much progress with the pry bar, but I used a wedge to get it started and the pry bar to pop a side off, that was pretty easy.

Looks good so far overall! A few small manufacturing defects but no shipping damage. I got it without a screen, speakers, controls, and electronics since I planned to upgrade it all anyway, so I have a little bit of work to do before it's playable. Shouldn't be too much work.
 
tDRG said:
Nice! Haha yeah, I tried to take my time, but it's always good to have some extra motivation. I didn't make much progress with the pry bar, but I used a wedge to get it started and the pry bar to pop a side off, that was pretty easy.

Looks good so far overall! A few small manufacturing defects but no shipping damage. I got it without a screen, speakers, controls, and electronics since I planned to upgrade it all anyway, so I have a little bit of work to do before it's playable. Shouldn't be too much work.
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That's wicked!
I would have totally gone that route if I had known I could have negotiated that.
Definitely looking forward to seeing the build you put together!
 
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