Updating the first post here to keep different projects on track and sorted for new readers. Originally this thread was for just a couple products, but why clog up things with a lot of new threads. I'll just run one big one. Helps keep me on track better this way. New batch of designs just hit the bench and are either ready for some beta testers or will be very soon.

The short version is that when I need beta testers for new products, I'll send out a call here. Eventually I'll get better at keeping track of all this but it can get chaotic at times. Do know that I skip around at times, not everything makes it to production, and sometimes it can take a while depending on how complex things are. I'm more of a manufacturing guy than a design guy, and this is a home business in addition to my regular job.

I hope you guys find all this stuff entertaining, or at least useful. Even simple boards can be a pain so the more input I get the better. Will also give a bit of a window into the world of my design work.





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Finished Beta Testing Projects

New style Williams bench displays. (Universal bench display)
-In production and available now with Williams 6-7 digit code.
http://www.siegecraft.us/presta/index.php?id_product=64&controller=product&id_lang=1

Gottlieb System 3 Game Control Board A26 "tournament Board".
-In production and available now. New manufacture volume pot makes a world of difference.
http://www.siegecraft.us/presta/index.php?id_product=72&controller=product&id_lang=1



Temporarily inactive

Gameplan LDU-2/LDU-1 LED compatible replacement.
-First few tests were promising, but having some issues with some circuits not working properly. Will diagnose further when I get a chance, but keep getting pulled in other directions.



Currently Active Testing


Gottlieb System 3 5v power supply.
-Currently doing burn-in testing on my own machine. Found out I had the pinout wrong, so need a new revision.

Gottlieb System 3 Solenoid Output Tester.
- Boards are here, ready to assemble, will be doing initial testing soon.

Yet Another Williams System 3-6 drop target attempt.
-Using reed switches and magnets instead of the horseshoes. First batch worked but needed big dimensional changes. Have new layout ready for my next PCB order coming up.

Bally 6803 Trough Opto Boards
-First test batch is assembled, haven't started testing yet. If things work ok on the bench they should be ready soon.

Wish I could, but that's Steve's design, not mine.

Hell yes you're in.

Somebody told me he's on youtube or something, and you can always trust youtube.

For everybody else, I'm keeping track and will make my decisions in the next couple days here.

-Hans

Vid, you're also another guaranteed slot for a bench display. Always been a huge help in the past.

-Hans

Time to pick the first lucky(?) winner on the Gameplan. I'll do that tomorrow. Due to the cost I'm only doing one right now, with more if this one works.

The bench display I need to program before I start testing. Assuming it works I can do up 4 of these for testers. Again, tomorrow. Time to wind down for the day.

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IMGP5698 (resized).JPG

Whoops, wrong style programming header on the display tester, not able to easily upload the initial boot loader....... and they don’t like backwards power. Fried the first one.

Doing another one tomorrow.

Of course, right after I posted this, Marco's sent me a big order. So I've been stuck working on that for a few days.

Going to take another crack and the bench display this weekend.

First reports coming back on the Gameplan board are sounding good, but a couple things to troubleshoot, so the test victim wasn't able to get a game ready in time for Expo. These are a bit more spendy, so I only had parts for one, going to build up another one next week.

-Hans

Figured out my problems, long list of minor changes to make for the next PCB version, but I did finally get one working properly. I'll be ordering more displays here shortly and will have 4 beta units to ship out hopefully by the end of the week. Will send PM's to folks when I have them ready to go.

-Hans

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Once I sort out a quicker/easier way to get the bootloader and code into the board layout, I'll have to decide on either going after Bally/Stern or System 11 for the next code revision. Leaning very heavy toward Bally/Stern.

Chris, make sure to PM me your mailing address for when I get these ready to mail.

-Hans

I was thinking the same thing with the displays. Once I get the PCB sorted out I'll get in touch with my code guy. I really want to follow up quickly with the Bally/Stern code. But can't do that till I have a good board design.

Ordering the next revision today. Lots of small changes that I found while trying to bootload these. The -021 version should be pretty darn close to production ready. Not quite confident enough that I'll be ordering a stencil yet though.

Fresh updates from assembly session today on the bench displays.

Turns out the OLED modules are even less standardized than I thought. Some of them have Vcc and Gnd reversed.... so I fried a pair of them today before identifying that problem. Good news is I have the programming much more streamlined now and the processor section looks to be nailed down.

So looks like one more revision before being production ready. But I do have a pair of beta units that are ok and I can send out.

-Hans

Parts enroute for 3 more Gameplan boards, and a dozen bench displays with the revised layout.
If assembly goes well, the bench displays are potentially ready for production.

-Hans

Ok. Current revision PCB on the bench displays looks good. A couple tweaks are still needed to make it easier to build but nothing that would have any effect from a customer standpoint.

So I'm going to release the bench displays for low-rate initial production, I'll probably have 8-10 pieces from this first early run available to sell.
This first few pieces won't have exactly the same layout/parts as the regular production pieces, so they'll be at a discounted price. I still need to work out instructions and harnesses, but I'll have that done by Monday, to start shipping out Tuesday.

http://www.siegecraft.us/presta/index.php?id_product=64&controller=product&id_lang=1

-Hans

Fixed. I forgot to click the 'active' button, should be able to put it in the cart now.
Site does accept paypal.

-Hans

Probably going to need a new wire harness just because Bally used such a different architecture, but I brought all the I/O's out so it shouldn't need any changes to the PCB. I have 16 I/O's available on the main header, and another 4 on a 'just in case' header.

I have a couple ideas on providing the updated code but it will need some kind of AVR programmer to burn the updates in. So I can either provide the code in a .hex format for people that have one and are able to load it, or I can re-burn it here via a mail-in service. With doing the updates here I'll probably only charge for return shipping.

The only real complication I can see is logistics of getting the new code to somebody with a Bally machine. I currently don't have one.

-Hans

Well, this plan blew up in my face. You guys cleaned me out for the time being on the bench displays and I'm swamped with orders for all sorts of stuff now.
I may have a few more available in a couple days, I'm still dialing in my process to reliably solder on the processor chip.

Going to start going through them as quick as I can, and start get all the parts and pieces ordered for full production.

Edit:
Wasn't sure how good my yield would be, but ended up with two more shippable units than I expected, so just put two more available in the shopping cart

I'll be honest, it's a bit down the priority list, but that possibility is there for sure.
All depends on how things pan out for memory space and things like that.

-Hans

Well, shoot, I forgot that System 9's header were a different layout.
Probably confusing the display with odd signals.

For System 9.....
The BCD connector should go on 1J3 pins 1-9
The Strobe connector should go on connector 1J2

-Hans

That is damn peculiar for sure. Not sure where my old header info came from, it was in my notes from a few years ago, and been a while since I've had a system 9 board here in person. You've definitely got it hooked up right.

How are you powering the tester? If you don't have good ground continuity between them the inputs float and give all sorts of nonsense data. IIRC the analog ground for the sound portion of system 9 boards is somewhat isolated from the digital ground.

That system 9 issue has me perplexed. Any chance you've got a logic analyzer or oscilliscope? I know you probably don't, but I'd be interested to know the timing on strobe 1 and on your blanking line.

Next batch is looking like right around thanksgiving availability. Bare boards are arriving today, just waiting on shipment info for the OLED's, and then I'll order the other parts too.

-Hasns

I've seen a couple instances of flaky capacitors connected to the 555/556 on the blanking signal, which caused it to have a sawtooth signal on the scope instead of a steady logic-high. First time I saw it was tracking down some very odd lamp matrix issues. A flaky blanking signal can cause the outputs on the PIA's to fall off about halfway through every cycle, enough to screw with the outputs but since it was still hitting a logic high intermittently the CPU was still running the code. Since the BCD signals that generates the digits comes from one of the CPU board PIA's, I'm curious if the PIA outputs are dropping out.

Mainly though I do wonder if the strobe timing is different on system 9/11, and if I need to add a different mode to cover those.

-Hans

Yep. Only way to do it without moving up to a much more expensive processor and harness. Resets every time strobe 1 goes low, To prevent drift. That’s why I was wondering if timing may have changed with system 9.