Sellersburg, IN
Anyone know of a Gamatron kit available? CPR working on this title?
(Topic ID: 231427)
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4 years later
Wanted to ask about the ribbon cable. I've seen many complaints about it and doing things to replace it with IDE. Wouldn't the commonly available Ms. Pacman 40 pin cable be a suitable replacement? Assuming it is, that will be my plan of attack for that particular issue.
Quoted from Chosen_S:Congrats, I saw that machine on ebay for maybe 1 minute! LOL
that mikes arcade mspac cable may work, but youll still have issues once in a while because of its not great tech. the combination of the 40 pin sockets, 40 pin connector and ribbon cable and a machine getting warm and vibrating from use will cause intermittent problems, hard wiring a regular IDE connector to each board has fixed many issues for some of our gamatron machines
Thanks. I don't believe this game was listed anywhere, that I know of. I reached out to a guy about a jukebox he was selling and it turned out he had a pin too. Could have knocked me over with a feather when he said Gamatron. I wonder if a line of hot glue would help the ribbon cable like Stern uses on theirs. Either way, it'll be a fun project. Been looking for one for years. Looks like the backglass has a couple of little issues of missing ink, but one is in the black and I have an ideal for the other area. Also missing 2 of the fake zeros unless they are in the cabinet. Haven't set it up at home yet.
This is a mixture of dirt and mouse pee. Lost more ink removing tape and pee. Gotta clean and work with what ya got on this game. Parts aren't abundant. I think I'll keep it in the Mata Hari cabinet too. The back story is, she's the evil woman that's controlling the robot. Boom, nailed it!
20231127_201243 (resized).jpgWhile tearing down the mouse pee playfield, I broke one arm off one of the spinners. Can that be fixed with some rigid wire? These spinner brackets are super rigid. Never had issue getting a spinner remover from a brake before.
Ugh. Broke a part and cut myself. Great start.
Quoted from Chosen_S:Honestly, I wouldnt attempt a repair, it will just break again. don't remove the other one either, remove the whole bracket it resides in... buy a classic stern spinner and replace it, youll have to bend it a little to get it just right.
Spinners have been missing from every gamatron I have come across
bummer this happened
I have one of these in my parts stash. I can paint it black and likely save the decal from the original spinner. I really hate causing damage to an original part. I wanted the bracket separated to tumble all the metal.
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=55-10778-004
Also, before I break it, does the pop cap just snap on and off? No screws and I don't want to break something else.
Playfield topside nearly done. Still have to address the pop bumper. Wasn't able to save the spinner decal so if you have a file I could print, that'd be great @chosen_s.
Here's how it looks today and close ups of the worst of it.
20231206_144749 (resized).jpg20231206_144755 (resized).jpg20231207_121246 (resized).jpgAnyone know how I can safely separate the pop cap from the body? Don't wanna break something else. It seems there are plastic barbs that snap in and make it hard to back out.
Quoted from Chosen_S:Maybe you can pinch the red knobs with pliers and help push the knob through the hole??
I seem to remember that the body is a standard pop, bumper body, but it’s been many years since I have taken mine off
Good thinking. I'll give that a shot tonight.
Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:Good thinking. I'll give that a shot tonight.
Ended up snipping the red barbs off and the cap came off. Still has a good friction grip so hopefully it won't fly off during play.
Quoted from snyper2099:If you come to a point where you can’t get the Pinstsr board to work, you don’t actually need it. You can just run Flight 2K on a Stern (or weebly) board without it.
The only thing that board does is allow you to run a Stern game on a Bally MPU.
Yeah, but won't I have to undo all the wiring harness cuts and splicea?
Quoted from snyper2099:No, because you have to do those for the playfield and insert lamps even if you run a Stern MPU… they have nothing to do with the game booting and running the roms/code on either a Bally or a Stern MPU. They made that kit to be spliced and installed into a Bally game, just like you have.
You would also need a Stern sound board but, Weebly has them for $99.
I always prefer to try and run the original Pinstar board but, if you reach a point where you can’t I was just offering another option to get the game working. Besides, that board is hard to diagnose and repair because this game the only one that ever used it.
Thanks for the knowledge. I have a SB 300 in my parts stash so if I have to go that route I'll be half way there. Any idea what to do about the 2 missing fake zeros?
Found a Ms pac ribbon cable in my stash, but too short. This close to not having to order one.
Actually, I think I can make it work.
Quoted from snyper2099:Not certain what you mean. You only have to change the display wiring if you use 6 digit displays. Instructions to do so are in the “conversion kit” manual. If you use 7 digits, you don’t need to change the harness, other than potentially adding one wire, if your sonar Bally game was a 6 digit. So, Its likely set up the proper way in your game for whatever displays you have there.
I'm sorry. To be clear, I only have 2 of the 4 fake zero graphics that the kit came with. 2 of mine must've fallen off over the years Wondering if you have a suggestion to replace the 2 missing ones.
20231218_191819 (resized).jpgI changed the ribbon cable last night and I'm getting the locked on LED. There's only the slightest hint of corrosion along the bottom ground trace, so I'm hoping it'll be something simple. I plan to replace the 40 pin socket on the mpu that the ribbon cable plugs into. I'll likely replace all the sockets because they are the closed auget style.
2 weeks later
Quoted from robm:Ahh righto - i was led to believe it said Gamatron during multiball - is that the only difference?
So best bet is to get a sound board - which one do you reccomend?
There is a repro speech board that does have a Gamatron setting. I plan to pursue getting one after my game is running properly.
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