Supergun finally FINISHED - Pictures added!!!

[Goblin]

Edit:Pictures added, see my second post below...


About 2 hours ago, I finally finished my Super gun. I'll try and post some photos sometime this weekend.

The design is 100% original. For the RGB to NTSC conversion I designed my own circuit, and then etched the board to build it. For the control panel I am using an old Playstation arcade controller made by Blaze that I've rewired to use a 25pin D connector. This plugs into the control box which includes the contoller conversion, built in speaker, and the above mentioned converter. For a power supply I'm using an older PC supply. Right now I can only play 2 button games since that is the only harness I had lying around, although I can easily wire in a new harness with about 20 minutes of work since I used terminal posts and already wired all 6 buttons on the control panel.

I've had the video converter board done for about 6 months, but trying to find a second SNES Championship stick made by C&L controls has been problematic, so it wasn't until this weekend when I got the Blaze controller that I decided to finish everything and throw everything into a box.

I'm glad to finally finish this thing, so I can move onto other stuff. At any point I probably have about 5 projects in various stages of completion. Then when I get the final piece needed I am able to finish it and move on. This will likely be my final gaming related project for sometime, as I plan to focus on a few other hobbies. Sad thing is I don't know when I am ever going to use it since I own a cabinet. I decided I needed to finish it up more as a challenge.

[Flack]

Wow man, impressive that you did your own circuits and stuff! I can't wait to see pictures. We should start a thread for everyone who has one of these to show off. I'd like to build one eventually, just because swapping JAMMA boards out is a pain in the ass in my cabinet.

[Captain Wrong]

Very interested to see what you got. I wimped out on the RGB -> NTSC and had a convertor made for me.

[Kid Ice]

:hail:

[Goblin]

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/control.jpg
Modified Control Panel. Output to a 25 pin D-Sub connector

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/side.jpg
Control Panel Plugs into here.

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/unit.jpg
Top view of the unit.

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/top.jpg
Closeup of the top, holes for the speaker output.

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/insidecopy.jpg
Inside of the Unit. Critical boards are labeled.

http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/inside2.jpg
A second view of the insides.

[Goblin]

The weekend post activity had this post has quickly slip to the back page.

I was curious to get some feedback and comments after I posted the pictures. So what do you think?

[KirbyStar27]

Nice Work on that @_@ :cheers:

[Boboduo]

The weekend post activity had this post has quickly slip to the back page.

I was curious to get some feedback and comments after I posted the pictures. So what do you think?


Nice - build me one! :D

[video_game_addict]

Most impressive!

The RBG => NTSC converter is typically the most expensive part of the puzzle. That's pretty cool you were able to build one on your own, imagine it helped cut the cost way down for the whole.

So what was the damage, excluding the Blaze stick? under 75? under $50?


I think it would look better in a larger inclosure that housed the power supply as well, kind of sloppy looking right now.

How much space you got in the controller? Think maybe you could fit most of it in there? You might could put the ps in the stick, and wire up the +5/-5/+12 leads back thru the db25? Then just add a port for a ps lead on the side of the stick, or route everything thru the db25 and have the lead going to the wall coming from your project box as well? *ponder*

I think if you had the space, I'd put everything in the controller, mount a db25 port on the side of the stick, then wire up a jamma harness that you could unhook off of that. Add a plug for a power lead, and S-video, composite, & audio ALL from the stick, so you have one self contained unit. That would be cool. There was a production Supergun/controller like that before, makes for a clean piece of hardware :-P

[Flack]

My first response was, "damn that's clean and small."

I agree about the power supply, it needs to be disguised or moved or something. I don't think it all needs to be in the stick necessarily, as that's the piece that's going to take the most movement (read: abuse), but a slightly larger box that contained both the parts and the PS would look super clean.

Again I say nice job.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Nice Job!!

[Goblin]

Most impressive!

The RBG => NTSC converter is typically the most expensive part of the puzzle. That's pretty cool you were able to build one on your own, imagine it helped cut the cost way down for the whole.

So what was the damage, excluding the Blaze stick? under 75? under $50?

I would say under $25, but keep in mind I scavenged a number of the pieces from various places. Had I purchased everything retail (or even discounted surplus) the price would have been closer to $50.



I think it would look better in a larger inclosure that housed the power supply as well, kind of sloppy looking right now.


Right now the outer case hasn't been finished since I also need a six button wiring harness. The one I have is only a 2 button one. I have a hard time paying more for a connectors and wires than I did for the entire project. (and my requests to trade for one haven't been answered.) Considering I plan to use this more as a test rig than for actual play, I'm not sure if I'll eventually build a case or not. I could easily throw both pieces in a larger case, I'm just not sure what I want to do with it.



How much space you got in the controller? Think maybe you could fit most of it in there? You might could put the ps in the stick, and wire up the +5/-5/+12 leads back thru the db25? Then just add a port for a ps lead on the side of the stick, or route everything thru the db25 and have the lead going to the wall coming from your project box as well? *ponder*

I think if you had the space, I'd put everything in the controller, mount a db25 port on the side of the stick, then wire up a jamma harness that you could unhook off of that. Add a plug for a power lead, and S-video, composite, & audio ALL from the stick, so you have one self contained unit. That would be cool. There was a production Supergun/controller like that before, makes for a clean piece of hardware :-P
Plenty of space, and the converter could easily fit inside the controller. I just didn't feel like doing that since there may come a time where I want to use the box in another way and the interface box gives me the flexibility.

[Bratwurst]

The use of ABS project boxes pleases me. :rocker:

[Tetsu]

the use of large gauge wires and big ol terminal boards is a great idea, will make it a cinch to add features to it later. i like it so much i will definitely be using a similar layout for mine when i finally get around to it. kudos on building your own video conversion circuit, that definitely takes some skillz. tell me, did you add or are you planning on adding pots to adjust the intensity of the colors, or does the ntsc conversion take care of that? i don't have any jammas, but from my experience hooking up consoles to my rgb monitors, sometimes the signals vary in strength and benefit from intensity tweaking [the genesis, for example, is a little to bright, while the signals from the snes are on the weak side and need to be amplified a bit with some caps to be acceptable.] i am assuming that jamma boards will have the same vid signal strength, but maybe if you want to add AES, STV, CPS, etc, compatability at some point, it might be a good idea to have a way to adjust the signals. great job, the compact size is mighty attractive!

[Captain Wrong]

Very nice work. I always try to tell people there really isn't too much to a Supergun and I think your clean and compact design illistrates that a little better than mine.

Is the speaker on the lid what you're using for sound?

You ought to post how you made the RGB->NTSC convertor, if you feel like sharing. I'm curious as to what you got in there as I was too lazy to go that route myself. LOL

[charitycasegreg]

good job my friend!! :-P

[Kejoriv]

Very nice job. Looks really good.

[Tom61]

What NTSC encoder chip are you using?

[Goblin]

tell me, did you add or are you planning on adding pots to adjust the intensity of the colors, or does the ntsc conversion take care of that? !
If you look at the picture you will see a little board which contains 3 pots:
http://home.comcast.net/~gamesfortrade/insidecopy.jpg
I use these to adjust the individual levels of each signal. As you mention in your posts the signal strength varies from board to board. I originally calibrated the circuit using SF2 as the test subject, but have found I need to retune it for each board since the levels vary quite a bit. The board was an after thought which is why it isn't part of the original circuit. Having to retune the circuit is probably my biggest complaint with the design, and I'm not sure if it is unique to my design or all boards in general.




Is the speaker on the lid what you're using for sound?
Exactly




You ought to post how you made the RGB->NTSC convertor, if you feel like sharing. I'm curious as to what you got in there as I was too lazy to go that route myself. LOL

I've thought about it, but I'm not sure if it would be worth the effort, since not too many people are into designing and etching their own boards. I'd be more than happy to answer specific questions, but I never actually drew a schematic so I can't even post that. I made a few notes on the back of an envelope and then I did the rest of the design on the fly.


What NTSC encoder chip are you using?

AD724

[leonk]

Here's a suggestion for you (as well as other supergun builders) ...

why not build a supergun into a 3 1/2 or 5 1/4 enclosure?? You know, those 40$ things you can buy anywhere that converts your hard drive or CD/DVD drive into an external USB2 or Firewire connectable device!

The great thing about these enclosures is:

- they look cool - otherwise no one will want to buy it
- it has a build in full functioning power supply (outputting all the required power!)
- it has a build in fan - to keep all the circuits nice and cool
- it's cheap!

[Kid Ice]

Sad thing is I don't know when I am ever going to use it since I own a cabinet. I decided I needed to finish it up more as a challenge.

If you're really scratching your head wondering what to do with it, let me know if you consider selling or trading for it.

[Goblin]

Sad thing is I don't know when I am ever going to use it since I own a cabinet. I decided I needed to finish it up more as a challenge.

If you're really scratching your head wondering what to do with it, let me know if you consider selling or trading for it.

Sorry I'm not looking to get rid of it at this time. I'm more likely to re-use the parts for another projects than sell it. If I were to sell or trade it, I would tend to price it based on my level of effort. And for the price I'd ask you would do better to buy a comercially released one.

I've had a couple requests but I'd rather not get into business making these as the profit margin isn't high enough to cover my effort. This project (actually the video converter) was an academic challenege, now that it's done I plan to move onto other projects. I'd be willing to help others by answering questions I just don't want to build anymore.