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Using spinner to play NG/JAMMA games

Thanks for the support guys, win win for everyone. Adapters I already had assembled have been shipped.

Got solder stencil setup yesterday and soldered the smd parts on. Will get the jamma connectors soldered tomorrow (kind of a pain). They then get ipa washed, rodi washed, heat cured and dried, tested. Will ship the rest owed on Tuesday :)
 
Hey guys,

Got a message from FrancoB this morning with the news his spinner adapter had arrived!

Earlier in the thread, I mentioned one case where a friend needed to add pull down resistors to the left/right signals. I didn't know what brand/type of spinner he was using.

When FrancoB first hooked it up, it did not work. A few messages back and forth and we learned not all Taito spinners have the pull down resistors installed on the spinner pcb.

Check out these photos:

20170704_100817.jpg
i-nDPkvVh-L.jpg


My spinner pcb on the left, FrancoB on the right. Looks like not all Taito spinners have the pull down resistors installed. For whatever reason, Taito did not include pull down resistors on some spinners...

I recommended to FrancoB to install 2x 4.7K resistors onto the JAMMA Spinner Adapter and report back.

Here is what he did:

i-HXVpT28-XL.jpg


This of course fixed the problem and my JAMMA Spinner Adapter is now working with his Taito spinner :thumbsup:

He will report back in this thread tomorrow with some feedback on how it works during game play :thumbup:

Thanks FrancoB for making troubleshooting easy!
 
I love this thing! 8o

Great support from Brizzo for getting this working. He pretty much straight away knew what was up and quickly came up with a solution. You can't ask for more than that! :thumbup: Note I have a spazz partially populated spinner. The mod shouldn't be needed on most spinners but if it is required it's only a couple of resistors.

Thought I would repay the help by taking a couple of photos and video :

i-jDWskXR-XL.jpg


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As you can see it plays really, really well. I've played Puzzle Bobble with it and that plays great too. The pulse rate isn't adjustable but it works great on those two games at least. I'm looking forward to finding more games to try playing with it :thumbsup:
 
FrancoB said:
Thought I would repay the help by taking a couple of photos and video
Click to expand...
What spinner are you using? I've been trying to get confirmation that an Arkanoid spinner will fit in a candy panel because they look like it might be too tall.
 
@FrancoB Thanks for sharing that video and giving shout out to Nightmare Tony as well.

Lots of good into in this thread now

I'm stoked that more people are going to get to play games with a spinner! :thumbsup:
 
@FrancoB Dude that looks awesome! I have only played Gunbarich with joystick so far, looks like the spinner is the way to go.
 
Derick2k said:
Would an encoder/spinner like the Spintrak by Ultimarc work?
Click to expand...
https://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.html

Product page explains it can be used with USB interface, or connected directly to the Opti-PAC. The Opti-PAC is an interface board specifically for inputs like a taito spinner, track balls, etc.

In theory the SpinTrak will work. I emailed Ultimarc to ask if SpinTrak is compatible with arcade game boards and outputs signal like quadrature spinners do.
 
brizzo said:
Derick2k said:
Would an encoder/spinner like the Spintrak by Ultimarc work?
Click to expand...
https://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.html
Product page explains it can be used with USB interface, or connected directly to the Opti-PAC. The Opti-PAC is an interface board specifically for inputs like a taito spinner, track balls, etc.

In theory the SpinTrak will work. I emailed Ultimarc to ask if SpinTrak is compatible with arcade game boards and outputs signal like quadrature spinners do.
Click to expand...
Sweet, if those work I am getting them. The taito ones seem hard to find at a reasonable price.
 
Man...Gunbarich is EXACTLY the game I was thinking of when I saw this...and FrancoB has a PCB, and I don't :(

Brizzo, can't tell you how much im looking forward to this.
My wife and I were playing Puzzle Bobble in the new Neo 29 cab I picked up, and she was pissed, cause she's use to sanwa/semitsu sticks, even though she doesnt know what they are...and the operator who had this candy had thrown in some 8$ happ's...(and drilled into my panel unfortunately), and she was having a tough time playing.

I told her just wait, cause we were getting a board that would let us use spinners, and her eyes lit up like christmas...and now I have to go find a couple spinners and a way to mount them into this panel, or a spare panel for another cab...:D I was just tickled to listen to her bitch about these crappy american joysticks....I've turned her into a snob!
 
bagheera369 said:
Man...Gunbarich is EXACTLY the game I was thinking of when I saw this...and FrancoB has a PCB, and I don't :(
Click to expand...
I've got you to thank for the idea, so thanks! :thumbsup:

There doesn't seem to be a lot of spinners kicking around. I was lucky and managed to pick up some NOS ones a couple of years ago but some of the other ones I had prior to that were pretty manky.

Maybe we could look to getting some repro/new assemblies made at some point. I made a few spinner tops back in the day....

i-6vLNxbF-S.jpg


i-R3DWN89-S.jpg


i-nG5KgQW-S.jpg
 
Twisted is looking out for me on some Taito contacts, and I'm gonna go look for a tempest one this weekend for testing. I know a couple of Atari Vector gods, so finding one shouldnt be an issue, and they are short, and mount to plates pretty easy....

Will let you know how that works out....because they have rebuild bushings pretty readily available.
 
bagheera369 said:
I told her just wait, cause we were getting a board that would let us use spinners, and her eyes lit up like christmas...and now I have to go find a couple spinners and a way to mount them into this panel, or a spare panel for another cab...:D I was just tickled to listen to her bitch about these crappy american joysticks....I've turned her into a snob!
Click to expand...
This is the kind of stuff that makes collecting even more worth while :)

SpinTrak

Got an email back from Andy @ Ultimarc, he has confirmed the SpinTrak outputs quadrature signal and is compatible to be used with arcade game boards.

Last night discussing spinners with a friend, who has a SpinTrak and told me it does work with game boards. He did comment it is very sensitive and too high resolution for his liking.

Ultimarc advertises the SpinTrak as outputting 1200 pulses per revolution. Assuming I got this right, the 4 gear Taito spinner would be 480 pulses per revolution.

Trackballs

Should also point out that track balls use the same optical quadrature interface as a spinner. It is possible to use a track ball for left/right as well :D
 
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brizzo said:
SpinTrak

Got an email back from Andy @ Ultimarc, he has confirmed the SpinTrak outputs quadrature signal and is compatible to be used with arcade game boards.

Last night discussing spinners with a friend, who has a SpinTrak and has in fact used it with game boards. He did comment it is very sensitive and too high resolution for his liking.

Ultimarc advertises the SpinTrak as outputting 1200 pulses per revolution. Assuming I got this right, the 4 gear Taito spinner would be 480 pulses per revolution.
Click to expand...
You think there be any way of adjusting the sensitivity/resolution on the Spintrak before it gets to your board?
 
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