Star Tech Journal

Issue: 1989-September - Vol 11 Issue 7

(
~ Happ
Spring Action
Joystick
Willianis Jokerz
Lanip Bus Failures
Tom Happ
Happ Controls, Inc.
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Mario Van Cleave
Pinball Doctors
Salinas, California
PROBLEM
PROBLEM
Several Jokerz pinballs are beginning to
The spring action joystick had failings in the
field due to the white switch protectors
breaking at their insert point.
SOLUTION
Happ Controls is pleased to announce an
improvement in their spring action joystick.
This has now been taken care of by using a
tougher plastic material. Previously these
were made out of nylon, now they are made
out of black super though nylon. This new
~,material will solve these breakage problems.
Happ Controls will exchange any of the old
type of switch protectors for the new ones.
Bally Blasted
Non-JAMMA
Bill Johnston
Johnston's General Store Video
Buffalo, New York
PROBLEM
Prepare to smoke your power supply if you
plug a Bally Blasted into your JAMMA-ready
cabinet. JAMMA it's not. G'bye -5 volts.
SOLUTION
Rewire the interface board to JAMMA very
carefully and you can then rotate the Pcb
~throughout your route safely. Bally took
dangerous liberties when they cooked up
this version of a JAMMA compatible edge
connector! This game was out 1-1/2 years
ago but some kits are still around.
appear with only half a lit playfield and
backbox.
SOLUTION
The General Illumination Fuses are located
in the backbox on the "Backbox Intercon-
nect Board."
F2 (5 amp) handles the left side of the
playfield while F4 (5 amp) supports the right
side. If 6VAC is not present at these fuses the
most common problem is an intermittent
connection at connector 7P3/7J3.
This plug/jack is located in the bottom of
cabinet about 6 inches from the Trans-
former. It is a white 4 pin-in-line connector.
The General Illumination 6V AC is fed from
the Main Power Transformer through this
connector to 2P6/2J6 on the Interconnect
Board. During normal operation this 4 pin-
in-line connector can get hot enough to
expand the mating contacts.
Replacement of both mating pins has solved
the problem. NOTE: Taxi may also experi-
ence the same problem.
East Coast Design UV-19 & UV-25 Cabinets
Frank "The Crank" Seninsky
Alpha-Omega Amusements & Sales
Edison, New Jersey
We finally ran out of cabinets after doing hundreds of
conversions these past few months. When I reviewed
all the cabinets on the market (taking into account
freight costs and time constraints). I placed a large
order with East Coast Design in Hammonton, NJ.
Gary DuBoff, VP Sales & Marketing for East Coast
Design had sent me one of their prototype cabinets
several weeks ago asking for my comments. East
Coast is more than willing to make changes to their
cabinet that are beneficial to the operator. There are
some things that I liked about this prototype cabinet,
and naturally there were some things that needed
changing. East Coast listened and quickly made
several changes, with the result being a cabinet that
I am very pleased with.
SPECIAL POSITIVE FEATURES
1. The 3/4" thick fiberboard sections are car-
riage bolted to a steel frame. This allows for easy
replacement of any damaged section of the
cabinet (like just the front bottom, if necessary).
East Coast sells each section separately.
2. The control panel locks into place via a
channel and two hold down clamps (very se-
cure).
3. The bottom casters are mounted directly into
the steel frame.
4. A daisy chain (electronically speaking) to
ground the player controls has been added.
5. Additional vents were added in the top (where
they should be). That's where all the heat is!
6. The on/ off switch was moved to the cabinet
top as per the AMOA standard.
7. The inside electronics were moved to the left
to make room for larger PCB's and the addition
of a bill acceptor unit when necessary.
8. I like the smaller female connectors to the
control panel (22-18 gauge) rather than the
larger 18-14 gauge connectors, which just fall
off. You can order what you want.
9. You get a choice of Wells-Gardner or Han-
tarex monitors. The Wells-Gardner has a black
level control on the remote board (to make ad-
justments frotp. the front of the cabinet) but
doesn't have a horizontal hold adjustment on
the remote board. The Hantarex has a horizon-
tal hold adjustment on the remote board but
does not have the black level adjustment there.
Boy, do these companies need AMOA Stan-
dardization! (Hantarex has joined the Stan-
dardization Committee; Wells-Gardner, where
are you?).
10. The control panel now has more configura-
tions (knockouts). The unused holes are well
protected.
11. The marquee is lit by two regular light bulbs
instead of a fluorescent. Light bulbs are much
easier to replace (and cheaper).
FEATURES WHICH NEEDED TO BE IMPROVED
1. Cabinet does not come with a coin meter,
although it is wired for one. This will be included
in the near future.
2. Cabinet only had a single speaker, but what
do we do for stereo sound? I would like to have
two speakers.
3. A phillips screwdriver (4 screws) holds on a
perforated plate on the back panel which must
be removed to get to the monitor adjustments
which are not on the remote board. This panel
is too small and easy to remove from the out-
side. People (I can't think of the correct negative
word for these culprits) can easily reach the PCB
when this panel is removed and mess up the
monitor, PCB or make their own adjustments.
How about a hinge plate with a lock (small
padlock). East Coast is in the process of making
a plate that is twice as large that can be locked
from the outside.
Overall, this is the cabinet we are using now. East
Coast is located at 700 Reading Avenue, Hammon-
ton, NJ 08037. 609/567-1700.

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