Arcade Cocktail Tables Restoration

Optimus Prime

Gonna post this in a seperate thread so its not ruining the Arcade 24/7 one. Any suggestions or help on this would be cool. Next thing im going to do is remove everything from the insides so just the shell is left. Im worried about touching stuff in it, does anyone know if anything in here will be holding a charge? I know i have to discharge the monitor, but anything else in there dangerous?

Kevin did you remove all the insides from your cocktail cab??


I got lucky last week and managed to pick up TWO cocktail cabs off a mate of the lad I bought the Street Fighter 2 cab from. So here they are in all their glory. I believe the Taito Space Invaders one came out around 1978 so its pretty old and its WELL used. They are in fairly bad condition so it will be a lot of work. Both still get power though.




There is no glass on the Moon Base one, its gone totally and the Glass on the Space Invaders is in a bad way, full of scratches. I’m guessing i’ll replace the glass on both. Ill get all the metal parts and legs sandblasted and powder coated, clean up the wood. maybe get the black base’s sprayed black.

Initial first look and I can see that the screen in Moon Base is fecked totally, the neck of the crt is broken off and sitting in the bottom of the cab. Both power on but neither have anything on screen, a slight flickering on the space invaders.

I checked the fuses with my multimeter and there is one fuse gone in both. So i take the good fuse from Moon Base and stick it in the space invaders cab in place of the one that’s gone.



When I power up the space invaders i get a pop and smoke from an area filled with a few capacitors. The good fuse blows.



Talking to the lads over on Jamma+ they suggest that ceramic resistor is sitting on one of the caps and could be causing the issue, as you can see in the photo some of the blue wrap on the resistor seems to be melted away a bit. So I reached in and gently lifted that resistor up off the cap. Unfortunately as of now, I have no quick blow fuses to replace the ones that have blown so Ive bought a few 30mm 2Amp ones off eBay.

Until they arrive there is not much else I can do. I did have about 30 quid sitting in my pay-pal account so I bought a repro CP fro the player 2 side of the cab, couldnt find player one at the minute but ill keep looking



Its a pity i couldnt find a player 1 side in stock but ill keep my eye on the site and hopefully he will get them in down the road.

I drilled out the old locks on the coin door and found a shiny 10p in the box. I forgot how HUGE the 10p coins where! I think im going to keep that and leave the coin door on 10p per game and just use this coin to play it.

I have a feeling that this cocktail restore is going to take a lot of time! Im determined though to restore it back to its original state with the original game inside working. There is no way im going to tear apart a piece of gaming history like this.

As for the Moon Base one, im not sure what to do with it, id love to restore both, but because the monitor is gone in it, im not sure what to do.

Mitchomagic

i should be able to sort out a 14 monitor,get them in form time to time in the poker machines,if you wanted to restore the moon base,also have a few parts from one somewhere

Optimus Prime

Thanks Mitch! Ill be on to you in a few weeks, getting married now in 4 weeks so it will have to wait until after that. I have that power supply you gave me too, turns out it wasnt that causing the issue so my one is still grand. had to get the flyback and cap kit done on the chassis out of that one, its working fine now.

Im going to concentrate on doing what i can with no money for the next few weeks so going to take it apart and get it ready for spraying, sandblasting. one of the legs is kind of off on the space invaders one, i dunno if it can just twist back straight or ill have to sort that out too some how.

keithgeo

keithgeo wrote: »

I drilled out the old locks on the coin door and found a shiny 10p in the box. I forgot how HUGE the 10p coins where! I think im going to keep that and leave the coin door on 10p per game and just use this coin to play it...

If you're gonna keep the coin mech operational (props for how retro awesome that is BTW) why not try using something like this:



Check out these links, there are some places that do standard and custom tokens online. You might get lucky with shipping from the US, and it would be seriously cool to have a bunch of tokens of a unique size that were the only way to activate the machine.

http://digthatbox.com/arcade_token_gallery_2012.html

http://www.tokensdirect.com/FASTstandard_designs1.htm

This would be my personal fave. I think it's on ebay at the moment:

Optimus Prime

They are pretty cool alright, ill look into them, love the Flynns arcade one. id say that would be lost on most people though!

keithgeo

keithgeo wrote: »

They are pretty cool alright, ill look into them, love the Flynns arcade one. id say that would be lost on most people though!

Who gives a flying f*ck about most people? I love obscure stuff. I play games most people have never heard of, my fave t-shirt has got "I'm what willis was talkin' bout" on it and i quote lines from 20 year old simpsons episodes in everyday conversations. People inevitably don't get it, but every now and again, somebody appreciates it.

As long as one retro nerd complimented me on that Flynn's Arcade token it'd be money well spent

Optimus Prime

Good point, Screw those guys! haha

Jack burton

I think I should really get one of those tokens, because I actually am The Son of Flynn!

Cant wait to see how these turn out Keithgeo, considering the age they dont look too bad but its say they still need buckets of work done to them

Optimus Prime

I dont mind doing the work, its part of the enjoyment once you have them finished. I would consider the restoring of the tables themselves the easier part to me. the hard part is the internals.

My main worry now, is that i need to take out all the insides to fix the tables, but im not sure if anything in there will be dangerous. I know the monitor will be but the rest im not sure.

The Last Bandit

Keep us posted on the restoration, really interest to see how this goes.

Dale Parish

I have a Moonbase cocktail (the PCB is kaput, sent it off to Andy's arcade but he doesn't have the schem for it.. so goosed really :pac: ) Nothing in there held any charge for me, including the TV. The fuses were 1.5 and 0.5 IIRC, will double check tomorrow

Optimus Prime

Dale Parish wrote: »

I have a Moonbase cocktail (the PCB is kaput, sent it off to Andy's arcade but he doesn't have the schem for it.. so goosed really :pac: ) Nothing in there held any charge for me, including the TV. The fuses were 1.5 and 0.5 IIRC, will double check tomorrow

Thanks a lot. you should check over on jamma+ some of them over there do be posting about repairing pcbs.

defenderdude

Dale Parish wrote: »

I have a Moonbase cocktail (the PCB is kaput, sent it off to Andy's arcade but he doesn't have the schem for it.. so goosed really :pac: ) Nothing in there held any charge for me, including the TV. The fuses were 1.5 and 0.5 IIRC, will double check tomorrow

http://jammajup.co.uk/manuals/moon-base.pdf
schematics etc here...
might be of help.

Best of luck with the restorations.

unky chop chop

yeah good luck man..Looks like you have your work cut out for ya:)
Fair play for going for the original restore, I'd hate to see that Invaders ripped up and mamed with an LCD screen.
You're right,It's iconic

Dale Parish

Just checked there the fuses beside the TV are in vertical position; the top one is 1.5A and the bottom one is 0.5A

Mitchomagic

there is 2 moon base control panels on ebay at the moment,
I also found a 14" monitor if you need it

Myrddin

Sorry to derail slightly, but you havn't come across a working Hantarex Polo 25" chassis at all Mitch have you?

Mitchomagic

Doh!! forgot you where looking for 1,mad busy at present will have a look tomorrow and will pm you

Optimus Prime

Mitchomagic wrote: »

there is 2 moon base control panels on ebay at the moment,
I also found a 14" monitor if you need it

Thanks mitch! I cant seem to find those on ebay?

Ill have to wait a couple of weeks on the monitor if thats ok? up to my eyes at the minute sorting out last minute wedding stuff.

Jimmypl

keithgeo wrote: »

Thanks mitch! I cant seem to find those on ebay?

Ill have to wait a couple of weeks on the monitor if thats ok? up to my eyes at the minute sorting out last minute wedding stuff.

Hey there, i have just acquired 2 of these machines ;p

been trying to find plates for Galaxian (namco) no luck for this type of table.. always found (Midway) Galaxian, Anywho along my so far 2 hour search for the Panels.. i found the ones you were looking for

wasnt gonna post because i thought this was a really old thread (like every other) realised it wasnt so here you go, good luck..

http://www.arcadeoriginals.co.uk/

EDIT: this might be the site you mentioned before, if not can you give a link

been doing some research also.. The Galaxian machine i have (almost identical to yours(aside plates) came out a year after yours 1979
no wonder i am having trouble finding the plates..

Optimus Prime

Hey Jimmy thanks a million for that link, ive sent them an email. Here is where i got my one above from.

http://www.andys-arcade.net/store/index.php

you could also try the jamma+ forum, someone over there might have one if you put up a request.

Jimmypl

wow, wasn't expecting such a quick reply if at all O.o your welcome!

I'm 19 and got these 2 machines of my grandparents (they were gonna sell both for $350!!) galaxian was the first ever game i played!

thanks for the advice, i did try that site, signed up but had really limited access.. (might try put up a request later)

my friend does Great vector art so we will try making a new panel with photo-shop and somehow get it printed as a sticker or something..

maybe once i get it finished i will post a few pictures as there is none on the Internet, i am convinced!

anywho thanks for the link i will have a look around..:/

Optimus Prime

You need 10 posts over on Jamma + before the trade\sale sections etc open up. good ammount of info etc over there. Stick up some pics now, id love to have a look at them! Do they work?

Jimmypl

they did ;p

we know someone that says they have fixed them before so will see
(been doing allot of research but only just found some info about a repair someone did (all the pics are not working..).. will go take pics now.. might be a while..

Jimmypl

Here are some random pics Mostly of the Galaxian table..

http://imageshack.us/a/img443/6219/img3248x.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img832/6614/img3249f.jpg

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/img3250ba.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/8059/img3252n.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img834/4757/img3254kj.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/6058/img3255c.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img577/4574/img3253d.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img543/6827/img3246z.jpg

i changed them to links ;p i messed up the pic spoiler thing..

anywho there are two pics of the plate's but they have been picked by two generations of a large family (and freinds) and who ever else owned them before... reason i want to find news ones..

Optimus Prime

wow they are in great condition, i need to get the legs on mine sandblasted and poweder coated, plus i think they are a little bent out of shape. yours look brand new! I need to get two new monitors aswell, both the ones i have power on but dont play so i think there is probably capacitors that need replacing inside too.

Not sure if a new monitor will work with the games inside, Im going to start getting stuck into restoring them in the next few weeks, i just want to finish off another upright cab i have, just have to stick some side art and tmolding on it.

What happens when you plug them in? any sound of the game? anything on the screen at all?

Jimmypl

When i plug them in nothing happens at all I read somewhere that ("the zenner diodes in taito power supply is a common failure") will look into that..

plus if you notice in the picture there are missing fuse thingy's ..

they used to work perfectly maybe 5 or less years ago.. haven't been touched since they stopped i guess..

Optimus Prime

If i was you id change the fuse in the plugs first off, i know you might have tried that already and it sounds stupid but the first cab i bought was sold not working and it was a fuse in the plug missing!

Those fuses are called quick blow fuse's you can buy them for a few euro on ebay, just make sure you get the right size and amp, compare to the ones you have left in the cocktails.

Jimmypl

I havent tried anything i am totally new to this whole thing.. which is why i am researching as much as i can..( with little luck)

no manual for this specific cabinet/(galaxian)..
so you can tell me anything you think might be stupid its all new info for me

(i have been looking for info about the missing fuse's (and one that are there) and i think i know what size and amp they need to be.. (my grandparents may have changed them around to wrong ones)

however i don't know what you mean by the fuse in the plugs ? is that the ones near the bottom of the machine? i plan on changing them (just got the machines last weekend)

thanks for this Info it helps heaps!

Optimus Prime

You know the standard plug that goes into the wall? Like any other plug, that will have a fuse in it, if thats blown or missing then it wont power on at all. so open that up and replace it, its just a normal fuse, like the ones in the plug off a kettle or toaster for example. worth changing that first as that could be blown. You never know someone might have needed a fuse years ago for a toaster and taken it out of the plugs of these!

Bare in mind though, that even if that does work and the thing powers on, there could be other issues too. But its a good starting point if the things are not powering on at all. Just open up a kettle plug take out the fuse and stick it in the plug on the galaxian.

Jimmypl

thanks!
i understand there may be other problems and if all i try fails, i will get a guy my dad knows who has worked with similar things to have a look.

other wise, i will try replacing the fuse ASAP..

this will likely be my last reply tonight .. its really late here.. good to know i'm getting somewhere though thanks heaps.

Optimus Prime

Worth just mentioning as well as you say you havent done anything with these before.

Do not touch anything inside of these when powered on! Also on the back of the screen there is a kinda suction cup (anode cap) has a wire that goes into a thing called the lopt, do not go near these without reading up on how to discharge an arcade monitor. the thing is lethal even when turned off! It can hold a charge and build up a charge even when not plugged in for a long time. its something like 30,000 volts dc and can potentially kill you.

have a read of this, www.stickycarpet.com\pinx\md.html

Hopefully you wont have to do any discharging but if you do make sure you read up on it before hand.

Jimmypl

will do, thanks and good night

Jimmypl

that link doesn't work however i did go the site and pinx's restores but cant find the same address as you put there, so not sure what was on there?

Dale Parish

Works fine for me; Although I notice it has backslashes instead of forward slashes so some browsers might be fussy....
http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/md.html Same link...

Jimmypl

Thanks "Dale Parish" i will look at it after work (the link works)

i got the machine working :O its soo cool however there are some little glitch's but i will upload a video after work

Optimus Prime

Jimmypl wrote: »

Thanks "Dale Parish" i will look at it after work (the link works)

i got the machine working :O its soo cool however there are some little glitch's but i will upload a video after work

Cool , how did you get it going ?

Jimmypl

Hey KeithGeo this is some video of the machine now.

With this one (Galaxian) all i did was change a few fuse's (here in Australia we don't have fuses in the actaul plug.)
I also had to by-pass a faulty on/off switch on the machine , it than started up perfectly

however there is an issue with the animations only 2 types of blue appear when they move meaning that the enemy's become less visible to not visible at all (the yellow ones)

i also need to bring the image down the screen so i can see the scoring correctly
(we tried various dials but they did everything but center the screen (including giving me a little jolt ;p, less painful than a zappy pen or fake chewy packet)

anyway here is the video with that awesome sound turned right up .. so be aware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nYx3ubd20&feature=youtu.be

the waves are just some weird effect caused by the camera.

Optimus Prime

Hey thats cool glad you got it going, with regards the colour being off id say id say it could be a couple things, best case scenario, the CRT just needs a degaussing, if you move these arcade crts around the colours can become washed out. You can buy a degauss wand off ebay for fairly cheap. when the machine is on, try rotating it and see if it makes any difference to the colours, its something to do with magnetic fields or something i cant remember.

Have a look at this vid..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xboO2JUvtBM

It could also be that some of the capacitors on the crt chasssis need replacing, or maybe see if there are colour pots on there for RGB, could be on the end of the neck board on the back of the tube. again be carefull with these, its tight in the back of a cocktail you dont want to be doing anything if its turned on, i wouldnt risk it anyways!

Jimmypl

I tried those RGB dials and they work but they don't change the ships visibility
i will look at that video but if you know of anyway to center the screen? there is only one dial on there that does something (makes the screen shake like a jelly) the rest seem not to work (guessing there the ones to center it...)

Anyway, Again Thanks Heaps

Optimus Prime

They probably are the ones you need, do they twist and nothing happens? they might need to be replaced, or checked that the solder on them isnt gone (Im guessing here to be honest, but its what id look at if they are doing nothing)

Jimmypl

Yerh they dont do anything .. on the other machine i am able to calibrate it with similar placed dials
but these ones don't work

putting it on our list of what to get the guy we know, to look at..

the RGB dials and the gauss thingie i believe wouldn't change the alien enemy's not displaying correctly because they basically turn off when in animation mode and back on when they land.. they're not faded, the screen can work the colours perfectly..

my guess is its the jamma board (if thats what you call them) however it looks fine to me.. there is some things that we think might be the problem (they're like slugs with lots of little teeth..) i think maybe one isn't connecting properly.. (they push in. have clicked a couple back in properly)

will also mention the capacitor idea to the guy..


i also noticed the explosion animation for the enemy's has only white colour..

anyway its evening again.. so i cant do much with them at the moment.

EDIT: they do twist, just nothing happens

Jimmypl

just tried to play it today pressed the start for 1 player.. after playing the sound and enemy's appearing.. it glitched up and shows random things all over screen and weird noises.. also it says Bad ram 1 .. and one time it said bad ram 2..

any ideas where these are exactly? any help would be great..
i will go looking also..

Optimus Prime

Sounds like an issue with the game board you are having now. Wouldnt really know how to fix that, if it was me id take off all the connections make sure they are clean, clean the pins on the board where it connects first. reseat and see if it makes a difference. maybe check the chips on the board, if they are ones that pop out make sure they are all seated in correctly.

I had a quick mess around with my space invaders last night. previously i got smoke when it turned on and a glass fuse blew. I lifted a ceramic resistor up off a cap it seemed to be touching, the smoke was coming from this area. I put in a new fuse and turned it on. the fuse still blows but no smoke this time. Im getting neck glow on the tube of the screen, but still no sound or picture.

Heres a vid of the fuse blowing when powered on! exciting stuff! haha..

Dale Parish

You'll need to get schematics for the board; find where RAM 1 and RAM 2 are and order compatible chips and solder the new chips in.
Best done by a professional to avoid any damage.

Jimmypl

Hey thanks, due to the thing pooping itself i took the board and out and had a real good look at it and found 5 or 6 chips stuck onto a heat sink and two of the teeth one each on separate chips were bent and not in the slot .. so i fixed them up ..

but it didnt help the screen, still got the horrible noise and ram error message anyhow, just checked the thing again.. for one last look and as i was about to turn it off i noticed one of the new fuse's i put in was glowing orange..(the wire inside anyway..)

so i took it out and put the old fuse back in (it was originally in next to it and there was none in this place..) the fuse blew instantly.. less spectacular than yours .. more like a burn out.. So i put in a 5 amp fuse(was a 2 amp) and the whole thing is working perfectly now

the chips that i fixed up made all the colours come back in the animations explosions and aliens

the only thing that isn't properly done now is the screen adjustment.. its a little to high.. or low from 2nd player veiw

any who, i am wondering, if the fuse isnt supposed to be 5 amp (we dont know for sure it didnt have one in that place when i got it)
if its not supposed to be 5. will it harm it? or would it just not work at all? because its working perfectly now

btw Dale Parish there is no schematic for this exact version of galaxian its a Taito i can only find Midway version However i think for the Ram errors its the same.. thanks anyway ;D

Jimmypl

How did you go with the plates? did the website guys email you back?

Optimus Prime

Yeh he emailed me back, he is out of stock on the new ones and not getting anymore in. he offered to sell me two old ones but I already have a new player 2 and the player 1 he had was in worse condition than mine. I enquired if he had any new corner glass clips too but he doesnt, he said he is out of buissiness now and just has bits lying around himself.

Jimmypl

D;
my friend maybe be able to do a high res vector for you, you can than get a cutout of the plate you have already on another piece of metal ( unless you don't mind putting it over the original) and than get the vector printed onto it by a sign printing company.. thats what i am going to do.. as my plates no longer exist on this planet ;p

if you would like that i can ask my friend if he is willing to do a vector as they take a little time to do..

Also i think that the website you linked to me had corner clips?(maybe they were out of stock) otherwise i know a couple Australian ebay sellers that have some (that don't look like mine though)

Optimus Prime

appreciate the offer, the guy on the site i linked said he should get more in after christmas so i think ill just hang on, my one isnt too bad anyways so i can wait and see if i can pick one up down the road. thanks for the offer though!

Ill check ebay austrailia and have a look, id be kind of picky when it comes to buying these id want the exact same shapped ones, they are out of stock on that other site too alright. I bougt the last 4 screw on the legs that go into the bottom of the metal legs off him aswell.

Jimmypl

these are some i found as you can see they arent like mine..
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Glass-Clips-Set-8-Cocktail-Table-Top-Cabinets-ARCADE-MAME-/261115085752?pt=AU_CoinOp&hash=item3ccbac03b8