Arcade Cocktail Tables Restoration

Jimmypl

Hey i thought i would just show you how the Vectors went that my friend made..
http://stillstartrekn.deviantart.com/#/d5lc52a
and
http://stillstartrekn.deviantart.com/art/taito-namco-galaxion-1979-cocktail-table-player1-338537006

i think they look great

got two plates made the other day got them to the printer and was supposed to pick them up printed on the plates today..
however the ink wouldnt sit properly on the material so they have to find another way to do it..

the plates cost me $50 Aus (25 each) and the printing cost $33 i think its well worth it.. ( i am keeping the old plates) i just think while i use it we can make it look as new as possible without changing its look to much

EDIT: i fixed up all the errors on the pics above before i sent them to be printed..

Optimus Prime

Quick update on this, ive been doing a bit of googlin into how to restore chrome thats covered in rust, doesnt seem to be an easy way of doing it other than having it dipped again which is expensive. The problem i have is the legs on the cocktail.



As you can see they are in a bad way. I read on the internet the best way to clear off this rust is with coke and tin foil so im going to have a go at it the weekend.

I also removed the glass corner clips, took of the glass and have removed the pcb, im going to concentrate on doing up the look of the cocktail cab for now before trying to fix the actual workings.

The Last Bandit

Is the whole piece supposed to be chrome ? You're best bet to have that cleaned up is sandblasting or hours with a wire wheel, coke won't remove the rust. And it will come thru again and again..

Chroming is not cheap and hard enough to find places to do it anymore, you considered powercoating ?

Optimus Prime

I initially tried sanding it on the underside and most of the rust comes off, it just seems to be on the surface. I read on myth busters i think, that the foil and coke reacts and will remove the rust if its on the outside, but if its rusted into the chrome it wont sort it out. so ill see what happens.

I was about to get it sandblasted and powder coated, but It was recommended i try this method first and see how i get on, so figured id give it a go as its only a few quid for a bottle of coke and some tinfoil.

The legs are chrome, ive removed them now. they slot into two supports on the underside of the cocktail which are black, ill be removing them and respraying them.

o1s1n

Don't bother with coke, water and tinfoil is enough to do the job.

I had rust on my control panel and it came right off with that. When you rub it with water against the chrome, it creates an aluminium oxide paste which takes oxygen from the rust and breaks it down.

My rusting was a lot less than on yours though. Still, worth a try seeing as every kitchen has tin foil and water.

Optimus Prime

yeh i figure i have nothing to lose in trying it anyways. it might work, if not i can look at different options. Im going to pick up a chrome polish and give it a go the weekend, then polish it a few times when im finished. ill report back

The Last Bandit

You can get chrome aerosol paint, might be worth a shot if you can get most of the crud cleaned off.

CathalDublin

If that fails try sanding with a rough sandpaper then a fine sandpaper and polishing using autosol metal polish

Optimus Prime

Just a small update on this. Im still trying to clean up the legs.

I tried Coke and tin foil, it works a bit, but not more than soap water and a sponge, ive scrubbed the hell out of about half it, its way better but i dont think all the scrubbing in the world will bring it up to a point im happy with it.

Ill keep going and do the whole lot and see how it turns out.

I managed to source a few spare parts from a site in america that strips old cabs and sells off the pieces. On the way to me now are

1x Power Assembly, transformer etc.
1x Player one CPO including buttons etc for spares
1x the board i got smoke from original, i think its called a linear power supply in these things.

So hopefully will have enough parts to get it going anyways,.

Optimus Prime

Got these 3 parts from a website over in the states, they take apart old cabs, sell the parts, then burn the cabinets and put pics online!

Bought the Power supply section for spares, though to be honest i dont know how much of it i can use as the switch on it only has 110v and 120v on it.

The second pic is a player one CPO with all buttons etc that is in better condition than the one i currently have.

Third and most important, the board that I think is gone in my one. Hopefully this works, it is american so i dunnno if it will. It also seems to have had the caps replaced on it, i dunno if that is a good or bad thing!

CathalDublin

What site did you get the parts from and was shipping expensive?

Optimus Prime

Got them from here http://thearcadeboneyard.com/ , shipping was pricey enough, they weighed the parts and charged based on that, but the parts where cheap to be honest. The fact that its near impossible to get parts for these anywhere else made it a no brainer, for what i got i would consider it reasonable. Check out their "Kill list" its a list of cabs they are going to pull apart and burn, so you can email them and tell them what parts you are after!

o1s1n

Why did I look at 'Burn pics'??? why?????

Optimus Prime

o1s1n wrote: »

Why did I look at 'Burn pics'??? why?????

haha i know, would bring a tear to any mans eye. :pac:

eddhorse

Why do they burn them?

Following this with great interest, I take it you want something like this in the end? :

http://youtu.be/3PWiRthA-yI

More manuals here in case you don't have them all (I'm guessing you do) :
http://www.robotron-2084.co.uk/manualsinvaders.html

Optimus Prime

if it turns out like that id be delighted, i doubt it will end up that clean though, see how it goes. thanks for the link had not actually seen that site before.

eddhorse

keithgeo wrote: »

if it turns out like that id be delighted, i doubt it will end up that clean though, see how it goes. thanks for the link had not actually seen that site before.

Just stumbled over it there, the glass mask layout might be useful. Best of luck anyways.

Ezzie

Hi I've just acquired a moonbase cocktail cabinet wasn't working fiddle a bit and seems to be working now problem was garbled display fixed that then blocky graphics so tore out the 3 boards and took out the chips that are socketed cleaned them then hot air gunned all the solder joints carefully reseated the boards and now have a 98 percent working cabinet I'm in need of a dial for the sound board as the laser gun noise dial is kaput the cooling fan is noisy ish so could do with fan and also in need of stand cabinet is a bit rough i will have this sorted before long but excellent kit if any has any parts available or know where can be sourced trying the usual places eBay Andys arcade etc thanks and hello

Optimus Prime

I recently bought four re-chromed corner glass clips off ebay, im still hunting for a good condition set of legs as the ones on mine are rusty.

Ezzie

Hi again machine running fine for a week then all of a sudden no reason screen will only play from one side has any 1 come across this and if so where do I start as its only good for 1 player mode controls etc both sides work sweet just monitor won't flip to 2 player mode although 2 player works fine

o1s1n

I know nothing about that board, but if the monitor is still working fine, is there by any chance a dip switch menu where you can play with the settings?

Might just be a matter of accessing that menu and turning screen flip on?

Ezzie

I found a dip switch on the sound board obviously does the sounds etc got the schematics from another forum helped sort the sounds etc but that seems to be the only switch so far unless there's one on the board under the monitor which is hard to get to as u can tell its my first go at a coctail cabinet and finding info on what seems to be a rare ish cab to work on I want to get this as t should be and keep it orig thinks for quick reply

Optimus Prime

Sounds like the cocktail table is set to upright mode. as in the game thinks its in an upgright cabinet and not a table so its not switching sides. There should definatly be a switch somewhere.

Check this link for dip settings.

http://www.solvalou.com/subpage/arcade_dips/R/rollingc

Its probably on the game board.

Ezzie

Hi thanks again just been told its the flip circuit dunno which board that would relate to only 1 of the boards has a dip switch that's on the sound board for setting UFO points etc there all set to factory according to schematic

Ezzie

God these things are hard to source parts and info on I need 2 sound board dials or old pcb similar and still need Suss this flip circuit issue even better old boards haha really wanna get this thing functioning as if was from new looks like a long haul

The Last Bandit

Apparently you can get a chrome finish powdercoated on these days, few guys doing car restorations have recommended it.
Didn't get the name but there is someplace in Dublin doing it, might be suitable for your cabinet legs.

Optimus Prime

Cheers, i think tallaght powder coating might do it, its on my list of things to look into. Im still trying to take this thing apart, the ammount of stuff in it is unreal and some of the screws and bolts are a nightmare to get off it. I managed to get 4 re-chromed original glass clips that look great. The legs are the biggest issue now.

Optimus Prime

Finally got around to doing some bits on this the last while. Ive basically removed everything from it and taken it apart. Ive decided im not going to try fix whats in it, its too much hassle and i havent got a clue where to start there is that many parts and wires in it. So .. empty shell.. Hoovered and cleaned.



I had a spare control panel, So ive 3 of these now, i also have a repro player 2 plate to add to these 3. Ill use the best ones i guess. One of the 1player panels doesnt have "Taito" on it and the other one does, which is weird.



Cleaned.. and taken apart.



The Base metal part that goes under this wood case above is in my parents at the minute along with the leg holders waiting for him to spray them for me, along with the remaining parts from my Tetris cab. Hopefully he will get them done in the next week as i want to finish off the Tetris one to concentrate on this.

As i mentioned in one of the other threads, im looking for the best option to get a arcade monitor\crt in here with space invaders running on it. the less effort wiring the better! :pac:

Dale Parish

Is that the moonbase one?

Optimus Prime

No that's the space invaders one..