Restoring the classics…
Golden Tee – Control Panel
I had a bit of free time over the weekend so I decided to apply my custom made control panel overlay to the “new” Golden Tee control panel. As with all good plans, I quickly ran into a few problems.
When I put the new trackball mounting plate on the control panel, I discovered that the new mounting plate and old mounting plate were different sizes. The new plate had about 1/2″ of space remaining between the outer edge and the routed area it was to fit into. While the ideal solution would have been to bondo the space, I didn’t have any bondo handy but did have some Durham Rock Hard Water Putty at my disposal.
Here’s a shot of the control panel with the old button holes filled and the space around the trackball mounting plate filled and sanded:
While I think bondo would have been a better alternative, I didn’t have too much concern with using the putty as the mounting plate is bolted down and shouldn’t shift during gameplay.
Once I had the control panel prepped, I carefully measured and drilled new holes for all of the buttons, including the two new buttons not used on the 2000 Golden Tee board set that was originally in the cabinet (backspin & fly-by). I then installed the overlay that I custom designed in Adobe Illustrator and had printed by Mame Marquees:
I still need to fill the gaping hole in the front of the cabinet where a bill collector was once installed, but right now the game is functioning and playable. That will have to suffice for the time being.
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about 1 year ago
I like your cab. I too refurbed an old generic cabinet Golden Tee ’99 into a Golden Tee Complete 2006. It’s switchable to a MAME box with a hacked DB25 Parallel box for the button and trackball inputs.
Pics are here on my site if you care to look.
http://jba.podzone.net/photo/photo_thumb.php?dir=417263616465
I’d like a copy of your custom control panel overlay if it’s not too much trouble. I actually bought the real 2006 Golden Tee overlay but since my cabinet has a custom made control panel I’m going to have to cut it up pretty bad. I like the looks of yours, I’d like to modify it to fit mine if you don’t mind. If that’s not your style, I understand. I like your site, keep up the good work.
about 1 year ago
Jeff (or anyone who may read this),
I have a Silver Strike Bowling 2005 that I would like to convert into a switchable MAME cabinet while leaving the original game intact and playable. It looks like “Jess Anderson” did a nice conversion of golden tee into a switchable MAME cabinet on here and I would like to do the exact same. I know I would need the controls, etc. Would I be running a separate PC in the cabinet for MAME, I assume?
Wondering what the best possible route to take would be? Could either of you please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
Matt
about 1 year ago
Matt, good luck on your cabinet build. You’ll want to check out http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com. They have everything you need. Yes, you’ll want to run a separate PC in the cabinet for MAME. How you interface it and switch back and forth kinda depends on your preference. Start your research and let me know your thoughts.
about 1 year ago
Jess, as soon as I find the file for my control panel, I’ll send it to you (I’ve checked three of my computers now with no luck. Still have one more to check). It’s in Adobe Illustrator format if that works for you.
Matt, another option for you would be a XXX-1 board. It’s Jamma like the Silver Strike. You could put a 2 in 1 Jamma switcher in the cabinet and switch between the Silver Strike and XXX-1 board. You’d have to modify the control panel to include additional joysticks and buttons.
about 1 year ago
You can download the control panel overlay at:
http://www.jeffsarcade.net/Downloads/gt-panel.ai
Right click on the link above and choose to save the file. Remember, this was created to specifically fit my control panel, so modification may need to be done for it to fit yours.