I Broke My Sega Rally Arcade Machine

We need to fix it.
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[@khayes556]

james has the technical aptitude of a professional but the disposition of an ol mate and that makes the technical aspects of these videos easier to follow and appreciate

[@jamesdavis7426]

technical aptitude of a professional? he didn't even bother researching what a magnetic particle clutch was before deciding that the "dust" inside it should not be there. Assuming anything when it comes to stuff like this never a good idea.

[@kokonbini]

​@@jamesdavis7426 I speak from experience when I agree with this, but I'm inclined to disagree simply because professionals fuck up too lol.

[@lexacutable]

​@@jamesdavis7426 technical aptitude is not the same thing as professional caution and good habits

[@nathangutierrez3026]

James is like the calmer friendlier version of dankpods

[@chairgaming1997]

Omg you're right

[@Heroniak]

hahahaha, that's too true

[@blakksheep736]

And differently skilled.

[@udbruddistribucion6347]

Needs more nugget

[@Yoink5558]

every american thinks every australian is dankpods for some reason

[@RDSk0]

Your snake is weird, they're not supposed to be hairy

[@LocalSinkPisser]

What's also weird is what he worked on was not a nugget

[@hedpets2175]

​@@LocalSinkPisserit's a whole damn turkey is what it is

[@M0M...]

Ayooo?

[@0511224]

That's what the Mrs said 😅

[@McGuinty2]

Probably just got into the dryer lint trap, nothing to worry about. If it hisses and it’s got fangs, it’s a snake.

[@aeteno703]

That garage looks like so much fun to hang around in. It’s like going to the house of one of your older brothers nice friends who has a bunch of cool shit.

[@markellii3093]

The garage has a bunch of cool shit

[@DeadKoby]

Arcade machines live their lives in some very tough conditions. It really does take dedication to extend them long past their original life span.

[@fordesponja]

That's the reason every arcade vendor moved onto PC hardware as soon as the 3D tech matured enough in the early 00s, you can find replacements much more easily although these kind of dedicated hardware are much more interesting to see. Also, I understand constraints existed, but putting the boards in the lower part of the arcade is just an invitation to problems, I remember Hydro Thunder having the hardware on the back just below the CRT, that should have been better.

[@0X0GABRIEL0X0]

7:47 How to film a CRT properly Step 1 - figure out if you have 50fps refresh or 60 (japanese arcade maxhine, so 60) Step 2 - Adjust your camera's shutter speed to 1/60 (not framerate) (you can do this on phone cameras under "pro video") Step 3 - Tweak the ISO and Aperture until the lighting looks good Step 4 - make sure the camera is not focused directly on the phosphores. (Gives weird texture, defocusing it in either direction works) Step 5 - look for a peak around 15khz in the recording and please bring it way down or mute it. Not a must, but a slight quality of life for folks in their teens, 20s, and pets

[@Nukle0n]

lots of arcade games have weird refresh rates, can go from 55 to 70. Depends on various things but medium resolution games like this are always a pain, they don't run at 15khz but 24 for the horizontal refresh.

[@NonbinaryRobot]

I love watching James work on things like this, even with my limited knowledge and no plans of my own doing something like this, it's easy to follow along and I am actually learning along the way! thank you, ya legend.

[@leibois]

This man literally has everything 😂

[@boomdaus]

Including a LTT screwdriver

[@ozzelot3349]

Even knowledge of the particle clutch... now

[@michaeltagor4238]

He has a Wade as a friend so yes practically everything

[@tigersusyt]

True

[@hetside]

At this point he could build a whole ass country just with a flat land and stuff from his garage

[@aspergerio]

Ours and the ones I recall playing were never that loud when applying steering feedback. It could just be the audio, but it sounds to me like a bearing noise from that motor, and/or a dry and/or ovaled-out bushing. I've also seen the idler bushes wear out, too. IIRC they use standard size sealed bearings and brass bushings to support the rotor shaft. Good luck finding the noise! Great video, too btw. Well made and great content. Cheers.

[@notyouraveragebassist4822]

Despite being a 2000s kid I did manage to actually play this exact machine a couple years ago; the steering feedback was definitely not that loud.

[@nankinink]

Not exactly same game, but I played a whole lot of daytona (i'd imagine that it's the same tech) and yeah. No sound at all. The loudest sound was the steering wheel banging to the left when I crashed lol

[@AlexofZippo]

God I can just imagine being a kid in the early 90’s and seeing a dude like James popping open one of these cabinets at my local arcade to try and fix it and just being in awe.

[@kcufxchuck]

James has kids!? Whoa! That's awesome!! We had no idea!!!

[@jaycejos6512]

You have such a wonderful aptitude for these things! It's amazing watching your troubleshooting process, I would have never been able to work this out.

[@Games_for_James]

Honestly my confidence dipped pretty hard when I realised it was a fault on the board but I shouldn’t have worried, once I started looking at how the board actually works it wasn’t hard to find the fault.. this time.

[@AB0BA_69]

@@Games_for_James James, please consider doing a video on how you came to acquire such a huge collection of cabinets. I mean, that looks frigging amazing!! Also, how bad is your electricity bill? 😅

[@brazilian_oak]

As someone who (barely) repaired an SNES with an X-Acto, a conductive ink pen, and some hot glue, I feel your pain about trace rot Hopefully we can preserve these boards rather than let then waste away

[@greaniebeaniez3070]

Could you replace the whole board thing? Or is trying to find a whole mint board for a arcade machine from 1995 most likely impossible

[@kibecru]

@@greaniebeaniez3070 Some consoles, like the gba, have replacement boards where you can place the original chips back in it. It is possible but It's a time consuming project and I think there's not much interest behind it, It might become more popular in the next decades when most of these boards start dying.

[@paufernandezboj5517]

​@@kibecruor when The companies watch The nostalgia factor of this arcades

[@brazilian_oak]

​@@greaniebeaniez3070 Yeah, you can replace the entire board Good luck finding a good M2 board out there, they're either cooking themselves to death (like the M1) or suffering from trace rot like James' one Also, you *can* retrace the board, but it's a herculean task

[@patrickcrabb6212]

Or turn them into bread board abominations, my favorite way to (dis)respect the machine god.

[@Theover4000]

James has the personality to tell you about something you’ve never heard about and leave the video feeling like an expert.

[@skycloud4802]

Makes me realise how dumb I actually am. I would have lost patience trying to diagnose this thing.

[@XNick291X]

Can you tell James is a mechanic/car restorer for a living? 😅

[@abnorc8798]

He also rescued a magpie that one time.

[@Heroniak]

@@abnorc8798 what a hero

[@PandamoniuGaming]

There's actually some old initial D twin cabinets at a local arcade to me in NSW and I've been tempted to ask if they'd sell them because they started having issues and now just sit in the employee only section of the arcade and you can just see them there collecting dust, your honestly got me thinking about going in next week to try buy them to fix up

[@K9arcade]

Finally some good freaking arcade content. LOVE Sega Rally, even wrote a docco about it recently! The Guitar Freaks and Pop'n cabs look mint, I'd love to try em. I don't remember the recent SR cabs I played on having that loud a motor but I have heard Daytona ones this loud, so info inconclusive. Keep up the great work with these cabs and your videos ✌

[@DollyBoy_1923]

Me too! Sega Rally is great. We definitely need more Sega Rally Content.

[@K9arcade]

@@DollyBoy_1923 It's not "GameOver Yeaaah" for this machine thankfully

[@elfalcon666]

Genuinely great video, I've been wanting to learn more circuitry stuff and your the only guy that can make it entertaining

[@CrazzaRaft]

i remember old arcades in egypt used to have sega rally machines and its one of the main reasons i love working on and driving cars nowadays. Sparked my love for the eternally flawed lancia

[@clebbington]

old arcades in egypt?? that sounds like a youtube minidoc I'd watch in a heartbeat!

[@Flon22]

Used to play this all the time when I was younger and I don't remember the motor being that loud. Sorry James. At least it's working!

[@BobSmooth-hs5ko]

Conformal coating all the boards might help prevent further corrosion but would make repairs 10x as hard. Really cool that you were able to figure out the problem.

[@clebbington]

Best would be if someone used the circuit diagram to create a repro circuit board. Even if it was just an empty board you had to populate with chips from a donor

[@helplmchoking]

@@clebbington was thinking the same. Couldn't be that hard to remove the components, scan the board to get an image of the trace layouts and do up your own diagram then send it off to one of those cheap PCB companies. Would depend on how many layers the PCB has, but since it's the 90's it should be pretty simple

[@rattlingbones1293]

You are the yin to dank pods Yang I know that’s said lots in your comments but your opposites in a lot of ways, you’re calm but with a chaotic streak while wade has a chaotic crazy reaction with calm moments, and while you are a tech wizard, Wade has no idea what he’s doing and succeeding anyway. you two are great content creators and I hope your channel and work gets love and attention outside wades sphere it deserves it 10 fold! ❤

[@wyattstone2845]

I hope you make more videos on your arcade cabs! I'd honestly love to see a tour of all the ones you've got, broken or otherwise!

[@TheOldMates405]

Man I absolutely loved this vid The way old arcade games were built is just unmatched and the level of effort put into designing them is something you just don't see anymore Great job keeping it alive man would love to see more content like this!

[@matth1176]

Having you verbalise your thought process is immensely satisfying and interesting. I can't wait for videos like this. Thanks!

[@lenshibo]

I LOVE old arcade stuff so much! It’s so fascinating to me

[@-Shinoray-]

i really love this kind of videos. The whole james channel is gift for tech nerds. And this warehouse/garage looks so much fun to be in all these arcades that remeber me about my childhood.

[@pow7767]

9 minutes of you fixing it? Nice!❤

[@daminox]

I really like the way you present information. Simple, concise, easy to understand. Good on ya, james.

[@Hafk]

i hope you got more arcade cabinet videos lined up because this stuff is the coolest shit, love it

[@PhilmoreJenkins]

Love these videos. Learning a lot too, never even knew of track rot but now I do. Keep em coming James, loving this stuff

[@Puffycheeses]

Wow what an insane setup! I’ve seen a few of the games in the background in some aussie mates collections but yours all look the best! Keen to see more.

[@Bill-lt5qf]

i broke the force feedback on an arcade machine when i was a kiddo, can't remember the game. i ran away. sorry to whoever had to fix that.

[@IamAJoe]

you can film CRTs by matching the recording frame rate with refresh rate of the monitor. there are a few videos out here showing it. pretty cool stuff.

[@shockwave952]

This is quickly becoming one of my favourite channels! Great work!

[@gb2983]

When I was a kid I used to spend summer with my grandparents at a caravan park by the beach. In the amusement arcade (a feature of almost all seaside towns in the uk at least) sat Sega rally. I spent a lot of time there, and although I couldn't play the game often because it was too expensive to play. The sounds and music of that game fill me with fond memories of that time, my grandparents (who have both been dead for years). And ice cream and candy floss! Thanks James!

[@kaitlyn__L]

I only know about particle clutches because of mainframe computer tape drives, so I don’t blame you for your “of course it’s broken, it’s full of dust!” reaction. that was also mine the first time.

[@HKlink]

That does actually look really fun, and the graphics aren't awful either. Like yes they're bad by today's standards, but there's nothing wrong with them. Early 3D was often awful and this is genuinely impressive. I wasn't a gamer until five years later and this looks loads better than what I played then. I'm not even a racing fan but I'd love to try this guy!

[@affegpus4195]

oh it is a really really fun game, all sega racing arcades from the first outrun are unmatched in fun factor, they were masters of their craft and sega rally is one of their best titles if you are curious it is not a hard game to emulate

[@skateecho]

oh man this is so interesting! love old arcade games! would love more of these or a shed/ basement tour of your collection! looks like you have some cool stuff down there!

[@gravity9271]

Really liked the way you explained how the main parts of the force feedback system worked. Simple and easy to understand. I'm definitely subscribing 🙂

[@lilycoffee112]

Watching this with my cat was beautiful and informative! Also hopefully had a solution to the trace rot thing- I’d seen a similar-ish issue when working on PC motherboards. It was a burnt trace rather than a disintegrated one. And for me, running a jumper wire straight from the chip to a non-disintegrated part of the trace worked for me. I just had to VERY GENTLY scratch away the protective coating to get solder to stick, but it didn’t mess with the rest of the trace. Obviously I have- no idea if that would apply to an arcade PCB, but it’s an idea if the rot gets worse! Making a quick edit to this, it might be possible to run a jumper wire from the chip to the little silver disks on the trace..? Just a thought, hope it helps lol

[@diegoxxxbc]

This man has all the hobbies

[@AWickedOne]

This is really cool. I always wanted an arcade machine, and it's cool seeing all the mechanisms inside the cabinet. Doing all the maintenance that goes into keeping it running seems like half the fun.

[@LavenderRebellin]

I'd love for James to just make a compilation of stories of how he got all those dang arcade games.

[@ZiNkFam]

I love when you upload ❤❤

[@jacquesdupontd]

I love this arcade. So many memories, I was in the top rank in my neighborhood, thanks for fixing and may it has a long life !

[@Israfel36]

Did you saw the cabinet in half with a dremel like you do with boards you don't need? Cause that would be really funny? "So the set will be--" "Naw, just want the right side." *_BRZZZZRRRTT_*

[@summerlaverdure]

great video, subbed! never even heard of that kind of mechanism before, and such a bizarre way it works too, glad you could fix it! Daytona did this self-centering thing too, and when i played it as a small kid in DiscoveryZone, it freaked me out so bad i never played that game again until YEAAAARS later 😂

[@john_barnett]

I always solder my wires like that...

[@thesneppurd]

A local arcade had one of these. I absolutely sucked at it but now I know that the steering wheel on the one that I played wasn’t working at all. Awesome video as always. Would love to play one again

[@Velaxity]

I have fond memories of playing this in arcades in the 90's.. What an experience, it felt ahead of its time for sure! I can still remember how impressed I was with the physics.

[@MaxTheGabri]

man please keep doing arcade repairing and information videos!!! great job on that board fix, a logic probe like that would've definitely helped analyzing one of the problems i have on my Pump it up IO board much faster. How much did it cost? Also love the SD pop 'n music over there 👀

[@Games_for_James]

Which board is bad on your piu? My foot pcbs were both bad when I got mine. I have an SD cab. I just searched audio logic probe on ebay and they’re pretty cheap, starting at au$30 posted. That one has hilariously oversized alligator clips though so might be worth going for the next tier up which was about au$45. You can get them without the audio (just leds) but the audio makes testing way faster

[@MaxTheGabri]

@@Games_for_James i also had a broken foot PCB when i got my GX! was just a matter of replacing a shift register though. The board i'm talking about in the previous comment is the PIUIO, i am pretty sure there's one of the LC245As that handle input whose pin that corresponds to DownRight on P2 pad is broken. Lights do react though, and swapping to my original PIUIO makes the panel works normally. I got the new chip today so i'll try desoldering and soldering the new one back. I hope it's just that and not the pin on the Cypress MCU that is fried!

[@Games_for_James]

I was missing the whole MK when I got mine so I jerry rigged it to a pc via an old ps/2 jpac. I’ve since bought a piuio and jamma board (plus working foot pcbs) but haven’t done anything with it yet.

[@MaxTheGabri]

​@@Games_for_James there are countless ways to run even legit pump mixes in uhh... not so legit ways let's say lol As of now, you can get PIU Prime and Infinity (with a custom patch that includes older games too!) If you would like to discuss this more we should get into DMs somewhere lol I sure hope you didn't cut the original cables, cause if not wiring the stuff to the JammaIO will be a funny time (which again, not an easy task as i've fixed jamma boards for PIU as well, they're completely passive boards).

[@Games_for_James]

I didn’t cut anything, don’t worry. Happy to chat but you’ll have to be the one who publicly posts your account name for another platform. I haven’t figured out a good way to break a conversation out of youtube comments

[@kazeko0]

Thank you for the cute cat at the end! Also very cool video, I love seeing people maintaining old hardware😀

[@johndavenport2847]

thank you for making your own channel, your expertise and humor is greatly appreciated

[@Bill-lt5qf]

man, that "game over yeah!" sfx brought me right back to my Saturn days.

[@erzajumeidi]

Takes me back last time in an afternoon 2019 before covid, played a sega rally, hotd, daytona, an old piu and re veronica arcade while strolling around and visit a very old arcade, a pretty odd place and hidden location then i found out it's only me and one staff there lol, it was cool and awkward at the same time, the machines still use coins too. My excitement turn into a disappointment to find out some of the arcade machines don't have sounds, i was very mad especially when i saw a daytona machine and it's mute, and an old 2003 piu machine ate my coins that i had to call the staff it was bad but i find it very amusing now. It has pretty good catalogue of old arcade in comparison to most arcade i found at the time, one of my favorite is to see a resident evil veronica arcade since i've never seen one ever irl.

[@K9arcade]

the sound was likely mute because the operator didn't wanna hear the daytona theme all day everyday. The coins getting stuck is likely a dirty mechanism.

[@erzajumeidi]

@@K9arcade well in defense of daytona, it's just mostly older machines including sega rally arcade is muted too, only some rythm games and newer machines has it on, and veronica has low volume, and after googling, the place is closed now because the mall where the arcade is in, customers been on the hard decline since 2018 after a flyover is build in front of the building and covid seal the deal. Pretty sad but it is what it is, wonder what they would do to those old cabinets :/

[@erzajumeidi]

@@K9arcade the piu maybe had it's age, if irc funny enough i had to use the p2 coin slot on the piu after that. I can assure it's not dirty trick since the staff gladly help me there, but i think it's tied to how the mall has been on the decline since the highway/flyover year, plus a very high competition from newer arcades with new games, but what makes me sad is that was the last time i've seen these old machines.

[@K9arcade]

@@erzajumeidi sucks to hear. I hope those machines get a new home and can be played again. If that place was open I wouldve added it to my retro arcade locator i've been building for years

[@K9arcade]

@@erzajumeidi yeah faults can occur to machines that are not able to get the love they deserve. I'm just so used to telling people to not give up on a game just because it looks old or "broken" at a glance, since I also try to fix stuff when I can

[@Pigness7]

Are we ever going to get a cat focused episode?

[@Games_for_James]

I’m not as good at fixing cats..

[@reshelvingclassics]

Thanks James, your channel is exactly what I've been looking for, getting into the electronic weeds of repair and just going for it til you find a solution. Excellent work mate!

[@Games_for_James]

Thanks!

[@dannyboy5514]

Every video you’ve put out is a banger man.

[@skuzza405]

please james mate im begging you we need more cat content

[@MJM42069]

More cats for every outro.

[@der_kluger_gunther8391]

this is the place of my dreams lol, i love arcade stuff (games in general) so i would love to play this one too. you basically did a wonder to fix it, awesome!

[@JB2X-Z]

Siiiiick Glad you were able to get it running proper again!

[@qwerty_studios]

jame (one)

[@kilzial2204]

James youre a legend to tech guys like me lmao, love from across the pond in Scotland lad!

[@loose-fish3043]

This might be the coolest arcade cabinet I've ever seen, and I'm so glad it's back up and at 'em again!

[@thedecoy04]

I have no idea what any of this stuff means, but I do know James is a hero.

[@d34thby1337]

Your channel is awesome. I love this technical retro game content.

[@777mobin]

James I need more vids like these, this was fantastic!

[@Miles64k]

Awesome arcade you got there, those Guitar Freaks and Pop'n cabs

[@spasmoQT]

I used to play these whenever I saw them, always wanted to get one myself. The motor is not usually that loud. Cool vid.

[@ArtemisTries]

I love how you work through things on camera. Keep it up!

[@coolvideos8864]

Well done mate, like it when things are fairly easy to repair!

[@shawnphase]

nearly all of these machines i saw back in the day, the resistance clutch was burned up and for all the reasons you outlined here, hehe. love your vids.

[@Mrnerd10]

I'm on 16 but I can remember when I was 14 I used to play on these types of arcade machines and there was one in a restaurant that I used to go and I loved it I spent more time playing on it than eating the food. Good to see someone like you James still using them

[@aortaplatinum]

Oh dude hell yeah, I remember as a kid the pizza place my family would go to almost every week after church for lunch, there was a Cruisin Exotica machine. I played that mediocre game SO much lol

[@mrbrusselpatch316]

​@aortaplatinum There was a pizza place I used to go to that had a Hydro Thunder cabinet that I would sometimes play. Sadly, the place closed down.

[@twigwonderkid]

Really great fix mate, did laugh at the “dust” in clutch. Well done, you probably need an oscilloscope as part of your tool set. The opto isolators we used to drive logic at low volts to radar microwave valves that ran at 1kv but need careful control to keep the tolerance of the 1kv . Your wire soldering is fine too.

[@audiencesmember]

Another masterpiece! Keep em coming James!

[@DaPlenThing]

I actually enjoyed this hopefully we get more arcade machine stuff

[@OverJumpRally]

I'm remaking Sega Rally in Unreal Engine 5 and watching these kind of videos about the arcade cabinets made me appreciate the whole system even more!

[@CH-su5vj]

really like the channel outro's honestly, ends the videos perfectly

[@L319HV]

I love the style of your videos, binged them all while watching. Only complaint is there's no more content for me to watch yet haha

[@mazda9624]

The number of times I get these super funny and interesting videos in my feed only to realize that it's James when I'm 75% of the way through the video. Keep it up, man. These are some of my favorite videos on KZbin!

[@Games_for_James]

Glad you like them!

[@berkutsierra7887]

Glad you made this channel, its fun.

[@poopbot5340]

have such vivid memories of this cabinet, playing it as a kid at our local pub/bistro

[@KomajuDraws]

i did not expect you to have a popn cab! neat stuff james!

[@mini_disc]

i learn a suprising amount from these videos

[@clawwer4404]

Keep it up man!! These are awesome!!!

[@Games_for_James]

More to come!

[@klassisch3039]

Don't worry i solder my wires together like that too. These videos are so cool!!

[@coasterwoza106]

Genuinely just all round enjoyable content that's fun and interesting loving the vids!

[@benbuthesbroke4774]

Hey James industrial electrician apprentice so take what I have to say with enough salt you get sodium posing, the motor from a glance looks like a capacitor start and if the motor were to ever stop working look there first and the motor noise can be normal it just depends on how big the motor is vs what it’s trying to move if the motor is to small trying the move something big it will scream, but as even when just in idle the motor is screaming I would check the inside for a bad bearing. :)

[@Games_for_James]

Yep capacitor start. My experience with dud starter caps is that the motor will make a hum noise and will start moving if you turn it manually.. and pop a fuse if you don’t.. lol. I wanted to change the bearings when I rebuilt it the first time but it’s a sealed unit, it can only be disassembled destructively. The bearings felt smooth anyway. Others have commented that the noise is normal.

[@teavu6093]

James, you’re getting so much better at talking in your videos! Keep up the good work

[@Games_for_James]

Thanks!

[@batteriesrequired9401]

Outstanding. Sega Rally messed up a wrist bad once, now I know why. Great video.

[@kiowo9006]

Good video mate, never learned how big Sega was in the arcade.

[@hashrulsubzero]

Didn't know Ogura made clutches for arcade machines too. Great video!

[@nefariousyawn]

That little tip about the capacitor was useful, thanks.

[@GattozziSRH]

i wish i found this channel in about a year so i could binge more idk why this teardown/weird modding is so entertaining also would love to see a tour of your game room looks awesome!

[@8bitvelociraptor]

Love your vids, James!

[@JosephMBoyer]

I remember playing at game works in the 90s. I remember some of the machines had so much force it would rip the steering from my lil hands 😂. I always thought as a kid the steering was dangerous, could break my fingers or knuckles lolol. The arcades were loud I definitely remember the noisy steering motor. Great video

[@GooseWaffe]

I rly like the way you solder wires

[@sokari134]

I really like the technical explanations of how everything works, would be awesome from time to time to a have a video going teacher mode and explaining electronics and stuff, I would enjoy it.