Coin cheat buttons

I was sitting here watching the rain pour down.
Cant do much of anything to the machine, so I thought I would talk a little about the coin cheat buttons.
Mame requires inputs for credits, just like the original arcade machines had.
You get these inputs from the coin door.
When someone deposits a coin, it goes through the coin mech. The coin mech checks the coin for size and thickness. If it fails the check, the coin is routed to the coin return on the front of the coin door. If the coin passes the check, it is routed to a chute which leads to the coin bucket.
As the coin falls through the chute, it pushes a small wire. The wire is attached to a micro switch.
When the wire moves, it activates the switch, which in turn completes an electrical path to the keyboard encoder. The computer receives a keyboard key "5" for player 1 and a "6" for player 2 coins.
This tells Mame that the proper credit has been deposited, and the game can be played.

Most home arcade machines have "cheat" buttons to bypass the need to insert coins to play.
These buttons are wired in parallel with the coin door switches, so when the cheat button is pressed, the computer thinks a coin was deposited.
Of course, if your arcade machine does not have a coin door, then it is imperative that you install the buttons to take the place of the coin door switches.

My past two machines had coin doors and cheat buttons.
The Rage will also have coin cheat buttons.

I like to hide the cheat buttons so the "arcade feel" remains true.

On The Rage, the buttons will be in the panel beneath the control panel.
Here is a picture showing the holes:
As you can see, each player will have a button on his(her) side. The player will reach under the control panel and "feel" for the button. The button will be counter sunk below the surface of the panel, so it wont be easy to see.

Here is a diagram I drew with Paint that should give you an idea of what I am doing:
The switches I used were some I had laying around. The type of switch doesnt matter, you will just have to drill the hole and the counter sink hole to fit the switch.
Just make sure the diameter of the counter sink hole is big enough to allow the tip of an adult's finger to enter comfortably.
Here is a drawing of how you could use a arcade button type switch:I think you get the idea, just keep the switch hid from view as much as possible.
You could even buy a cheap pushbutton from Radio Shack. Just remember you will need a Normally Open (N.O.), momentary push button. The normally open means that the contacts are open when the button is not pressed. Pressing the button closes the contacts.
Some buttons may have both normally open and normally closed (N.C.) contacts. In this case you will only use the normally open contacts.
The momentary description means that the contacts change when the button is pressed, then change back when the button is released.
Think of it as turning on a switch when you press the button, then turning off the switch when you release the button.

A quick thought:
The coin cheat buttons can be disabled with another switch, hidden somewhere else. You can make it where the player must use coins to play.
This will drive your buddies crazy! (And your piggy bank fat!)
More on this later.

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