OMG What have I gotten myself into -- 10 MORE CABS!

[Roo]

Couldn't you just send that DK to me instead of giving it back to the guy?  He wouldn't notice, right?   

[smalltownguy]

Couldn't you just send that DK to me instead of giving it back to the guy?  He wouldn't notice, right?   

Heheh...I think he has the MOST attachment to that game. Me, I'm ambivalent. It's kinda fun, but I just can't seem to get that into it, I guess.

Hard to believe it's only day 9 of this little adventure...it seems like so much longer.

Since I have a bit of time while I'm waiting for more ordered parts to come in, I thought I would try to resurrect one of the dead power supplies. Indeed, 2 of them had blown fuses. Replacing 1 fuse did nothing; it blew right away. Replacing the fuse in the 2nd one, though, seemed to do the trick. My meter verified that voltages were in spec, so back to the Neo Geo cab it went. Now I'm just waiting for Carl to finish my chassis, and I'll be able to see League Bowling again

Later on tonight I'll head over to the pizzeria and swap back my newly capped G07 monitor into the Ms Pac. Of course, I'll have to have a game or 2. Then I can put the original monitor into the Mortal Kombat and button that one up.

Tomorrow I think I'll try to begin tracking down the power issues with the final fight cab. I started tracing out lines with the multimeter a few days ago, but I got distracted. I have a feeling the isolation transformer might be causing the issue. There's no AC power at the leads that plug into the power supply, yet I have power at the point of entry to the cab. There's a line break/crack or blown fuse somewhere in between.

[jennifer]

        My games have seen a lot of shop time over the years, one thing I"ve noticed is the backdoor interlock switch gets bypassed
and becomes a power problem area. It"s a good place to start looking anyway. Good job on posts and  thank you for saving those
games.

[smalltownguy]

        My games have seen a lot of shop time over the years, one thing I"ve noticed is the backdoor interlock switch gets bypassed
and becomes a power problem area. It"s a good place to start looking anyway. Good job on posts and  thank you for saving those
games.

EXACTLY the case here too. I'll start there. Thanks for the heads up!

[smalltownguy]

Just thought I'd post a few more pics of the progress as it happens. The owner stopped by on Wednesday to pick up 3 of his cabs -- Donkey Kong, Tetris, and Ms Pac Man are headed back to the pizzeria

Loading the cabs. My girls decided they needed popsicles for the event





And a few shots of the Ms Pac Man, taken later that evening, right before it was loaded up. Here's my newly capped monitor!





I got a shipping update yesterday from EMDKAY, my Arkanoid II marquee will be shipping Priority Mail this weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to get that cab out early next week. Mortal Kombat just needs to be put back together and that one will be ready too. I should have some time later this morning to do that.

There's a local winery near me that does an annual fall festival and grape stomp every September, so I'll probably be doing that today. I need to start getting out and doing some 'other stuff' with my spare time, since I've been spending nearly every spare moment working on these 8 cabs. My lawn looks like a hayfield -- I'm sure my neighbors are pleased. But I have an excuse, I had a busted wheel on the mower, which just arrived in the mail yesterday. I gotta put that back together this weekend too.

Family reunion on Sunday. Life's busy this weekend.

[smalltownguy]

Sorry about not updating for a few days -- I've been busy trying to get some other items taken care of.

Sunday night the owner called me to tell me that the Donkey Kong cabinet was acting up. The screen is all jumbled. The game plays just fine blind, but the image is scrambled. I knew I should have done a cap kit on that Sanyo monitor. Off to Bob Roberts I went....

The owner also asked me to take a look at his Centipede cabinet. The trackball was rolling pretty rough, and colors needed adjusting on the monitor. So he dropped that one off on Monday too. Unfortunately, on the way over, he had to stop short with the trailer, and since the cabs were not tied down, they both tipped forward, landing against the sides of the trailer at a 45 degree angle. 

Without knowing what damage there might be from the 'slight' mishap, we decided to just plug them in and see. The Donkey Kong cab showed no signs of any issues.

The Centipede cab, however, sizzled upon power up. Luckily I was standing a few feet away from the cab when I applied power. I used my 'power strip' method -- long extension cord, to a 6 way switched power strip, and I flick the switch from several feet away. That way if anything blows up (like in THIS CASE!!) I'm not standing nearby.

I shut it off after only about 1 second. I caught a glimpse of where it was arcing -- it was sparking around the anode cap. Have I fried something? I'm a little leery about turning it back on again, for fear that I'll blow the flyback or something. Or has it already failed, and that's what's causing the arcing?

Any help would be appreciated. If needed I'll poke my head in there and get the monitor type, but I'm pretty sure it was an Electrohome G07. (it had metal pots on the deflection board)

[smalltownguy]

Took a closer look at the anode hole on the G07 monitor on the Centipede cab last night. We've had a lot of rain lately, so after doing some reading here at BYOAC -- gotta love these forums! -- I suspected that moisture and dust/dirt was causing a path for electricity to arc at the anode cap. I discharged the monitor with my handy dandy discharge tool (thanks, Bob Roberts!) and cleaned the area around the anode hole with alcohol, as well as the anode lead suction cup, inside and out.

Fired it back up, and there was a little bit of sparking, but not nearly as much, and it only lasted about 10 seconds or so. I'm guessing it was burning off any remaining moisture that may have been in the tube. Seems to be working fine now. I have cycled the power 3 or 4 times since then and everything seems to be working fine.

Still no sound though. I called the owner and asked him if he remembers ever hearing any sound, and he couldn't remember. I can hear game sounds if I put my ear RIGHT UP to the speaker (like the spider jumping around, etc) but there's no amplification going on. I'd like to check to see if the volume pot is working properly, but I'm not sure how to meter it? If that's working OK, then I guess it's the ARII board that needs a rebuild. Bob Roberts has the kit, so it looks like there might be another order.....

I got my shipping update from EMDKAY today on my Arkanoid II marquee. Priority Mail from New Jersey to WI will be 2-3 days, so I won't see it until Monday at the earliest. *sigh* THAT took a bit longer than I preferred. Hopefully the results are worth the wait.

My cap kit for the Sanyo monitor should arrive today from Bob Roberts, so with any luck, I'll get that kit installed over the weekend to get the DK out of my garage again.

[DillonFoulds]

I believe if you set your DMM to resistance, and put one probe on each lead (outers?) you'll get an Ohm reading. adjusting the pot should reflect on the DMM from this point... hope you got 3 hands!

[smalltownguy]

I believe if you set your DMM to resistance, and put one probe on each lead (outers?) you'll get an Ohm reading. adjusting the pot should reflect on the DMM from this point... hope you got 3 hands!

Alligator clips, baby

[smalltownguy]

Last Sunday Donkey Kong arrived at my door again. Needless to say I was not happy with a cab returning so quickly after I sent it out. Luckily it's a semi-easy fix: just a monitor cap kit.

My Sanyo 20EZ cap kit arrived today, so off to the soldering bench I went. I must say, my recent purchase of a de-soldering iron was a very wise decision. What used to take me 3 hands I can now do with one. Very cool tool:



After I got everything swapped out, I re-installed the monitor to the cab. MAN there are a lot of pieces / steps to working with that monitor.

Checked my B + voltage just to be sure. It was WAY high -- like in the 129 volts range. I dialed her down with the help of my exciting new friend, my digital multimeter:



108.2 is about as close as I'm going to get.

When I connected the video feed, this is what I got:



Hm....THAT doesn't seem right. I did some more reading on the monitor chassis, and found the horizontal sync adjustment pot. With the help of a tall mirror, I slowly began turning the pot and.......



BINGO! Locked in. A bit out of focus, though. A quick adjustment on the flyback control fixed that. I turned the screen adjustment to bring the blacks in line, and in mere minutes I was looking at a thing of beauty:





What a difference a cap kit makes! All the caps I pulled out were original Sanyo caps too, so this monitor was easily almost 30 years on the original chassis. Not too bad.

One final detail was to take care of the power cord for this machine. Someone had snapped off the ground terminal -- a common thing, I'm seeing. I went ahead and wired up a new 3 prong plug:



Earlier this week I received new starters for the light fixture, as well as a new bulb. The marquee now lights up in all of its original glory.

I'm calling this one done! (again  )

[severdhed]

great work...how do you find the time to do this so fast?  every time i start a project, it takes me months to finish it. 

[smalltownguy]

Thanks, Severd, I really have to hand it to my wife on this project, she's really been very supportive. At night, when the kiddies go to bed, I usually get a chance to get in the garage for a an hour or so before we go to bed. I've been doing lots of reading and research online here and at the KLOV forums during lunch breaks at work, and early in the morning before I start getting ready for work. I'll admit, many of my other pursuits have fallen by the wayside in the past few weeks - the biggest being yard work. I can't ignore it much longer, though. The leaves are changing, and I have 5 mature maple and oak trees on my property (100+ years old) and leaves will become a full time job very soon.

I'm right with you on the timeline for 'typical' cab work. My own Mame cab has been under a rebuild for the past 9 months, after I swapped in a new hard drive, motherboard, monitor, and I'll eventually be adding a shotgun setup with a recoil feature. I'm saving THAT project for the winter. I have to get the garage cleared out, soon.

Today, I think I'll try and see if I can troubleshoot the Centipede cab sound a bit more. I'll test the volume pot with my multimeter, and I'll also try hooking up an external amplifier to the sound output from the board to see if I can get sound. If I get sound that way, I know I have to address the ARII board.

I'm also going to troubleshoot the Final Fight cab today. I just want to be sure that the PCB works, so I can sell it if the owner agrees to give me the cab. I've already put it in my mind that I'm going to restore this cab to a Ms Pac Man again -- Bob Roberts has a terrific write up on the wiring, and I've already bought a replacement control panel for it. I just need to source another monitor tube for the one I snapped the neck tube on. I'm watching one on the 'bay that ends today -- with any luck I may get it for a halfway decent price.

[Funnel]

Dude the owner must be pretty happy! Is he really going to give you free pizza? This thread should be stickied, it has a lot useful information!

[abispac]

Dude the owner must be pretty happy! Is he really going to give you free pizza? This thread should be stickied, it has a lot useful information!

agree with that....keep the good work small town guy 

[smalltownguy]

I checked into the Centipede cab yesterday and did some more testing. Testing the volume potentiometer was easy: I just clipped my two multimeter leads to the the outside ears of the pot, turned it, and watched the value on my resistance reading go up and down. On the side of the pot it says '50K' and my reading went from 48 down to 10 by turning the knob, so I'm assuming things are good there.

Next I used the meter to check voltage on the ARII sound regulator board. The voltage was fine on some of the test lugs, but not on others. I'm definitely due for a rebuild. Bob Roberts has the kit, so I sent off order number 4

On a positive note, I left Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong, Arkanoid II, and Golden Tee 99 running all night last night to make sure the PCB's weren't freezing or any thing. I did notice a slight vertical roll on the Mortal Kombat monitor, but a slight turn of the vertical hold pot on the G07 inside of it cleared that up. It hasn't rolled since.

No hits yet on my Craigslist posting for the Golden Tee. I know $300 is a bit high for a converted cab like this, but I also know that with the weather getting colder and football season in full swing now, there are going to be folks looking to outfit their 'man caves' soon since they'll be spending more time indoors. I think I'll wait until Thanksgiving and if I don't get any serious interest I'll lower the price.

[EvilNuff]

I really dig hearing this much info on your restores...thanks and keep the info coming.

[IG-88]

How do you like that multimeter? I was looking for a new one today. What did you have to give for it if I may ask?

[smalltownguy]

How do you like that multimeter? I was looking for a new one today. What did you have to give for it if I may ask?

You know, after stumbling along with an old analog meter with very limited selections, this one almost seems like I'm cheating. It even measure capacitance, to a certain degree. The 'auto' selection is just fantasic, however. Just set it to 'voltage' and it automatically senses positive or negative, DC or AC, and auto ranges it to give you the maximum number of decimals of voltage that will fit on your screen. Like I get -5.0235, or I get 121.45. It's awesome.

I got a great deal on it -- normally $80, I found it on the back of a shelf in a Radio Shack store that was closing, and the entire inventory was at 75% off. $19 was definitely worth it. I also picked up some solder, terminal blocks, a great logic probe, batteries, and a whole bunch of other goodies for like $20. I should have looked around a bit more.

I replaced a leveling leg on the Mortal Kombat cab today. I pulled it from my MAME cab, since I will be re-doing the legs on that cab with Bob Robert's uber cool leg leveling system.

I also took measurements for a replacement marquee top retainer for the Arkanoid cab, and gave the measurements to my buddy. He's an engineer at Polaris, and he's got access to machinery needed to fab a new retainer for me. Since the Arkanoid is a Centipede conversion, I just took the top retainer off the Centipede sitting right next to it and he traced the angle for me

I replaced the wedge lamps in the coin door of the Mortal Kombat cab today, but both of them burned out in a few minutes / hours. Maybe I got the wrong voltage lamps? I'll measure the voltage to the sockets and see. Do they make these lamps in different voltages? Perhaps I've plugged 6 volt lamps into 12 volt sockets?

[DillonFoulds]

Yeah, for sure they do. There's 5v, 6v, 6.3v, 7v, 12v that I've seen. I ended up wiring them straight for 12v, and went into Canadian Tire here and picked up 12v trailer bulbs with matching wedge base. They're BRIGHT, but not too bright. For sure worth the 3$cad/pair that I paid for them. They look gorgeous in the coin door, for sure.

[amendonz]

Not too much to add but.. Excellent work, you're a freakin legend for this.   
A+

[smalltownguy]

Not too much to add but.. Excellent work, you're a freakin legend for this.   
A+

Thanks for that! I appreciate the kind words. It really is encouragement to keep going.

Just for kicks, I thought I'd start making a list of the time and money I've spent on this project so far:

Neo Geo Cabinet:
  - Monitor Chassis Repair (sent out for repair): $50
  - Replace power supply: $25, .25 hrs
  - Clean & recondition coin mechs - .5 hours
  - Diagnose sound & PCB problems (edge connector, jamma connector re-seat, speaker joints): 2 hours
  - Marquee lamp bulb: $5
  - Marquee starter: $1

Final Fight:
   - Diagnose PCB: .25 hrs
   - Diagnose power supply issue: .5 hrs

Donkey Kong:
  - New Audio board rebuild kit: $20
  - Recap audio board: 1 hrs
  - Sanyo 20EZ cap kit: $15
  - Recap Sanyo 20EZ monitor: 3 hours
  - marquee lamp bulb: $10
  - marquee lamp starters, pack of 2: $15
  - Replace 3 prong cord plug: $5, .25 hrs
  - Diagnose missing 'stomp sound' on PCB: 1 hr

Ms Pac Man:
  - Monitor cap kit: $15
  - Recap E-home G07 monitor: 2 hours
  - Install 2 new coin mechs: $15
  - Clean & lube coin mechs: .25 hrs
  - Replace coin lamps: $3
  - Replace marquee lamp & starter: $6

Mortal Kombat:
  - New Power Supply: $25, .25 hrs
  - Leg Leveler: $5
  - Replace power cord: $10, .5 hrs
  - Diagnose & repair marquee light fixture w/ new CFL lamp: $7, 1 hr
  - Clean & lube coin mechs: .25 hrs
  - Install new locks: $10, 1 hr

Tetris:
  - New Plexi: $30, 1 hr
  - New Power Supply: $25, .25 hrs
  - New Marquee light fixture: $10, .5 hrs
  - Replace coin lamps: $3
  - Clean, lube & rebuild coin mechs: .75 hrs
  - Replace 3 prong cord plug: $5, .25 hrs
  - Remove, clean & reinstall buttons: 1 hr
  - Remove monitor bezel, iron flat, press & reinstall: 1 hr
  - Install new locks: $10, 1 hr

Arkanoid:
  - New Plexi: $30, 1 hr
  - New Marquee: $25, .5 hrs (fabricate plexi for marquee)
  - Replace marquee lamp & starter: $6
  - Replace marquee top retainer: $5
  - Remove, clean & reinstall buttons: 1 hr
  - Install new locks: $5, 1/2 hr

Centipede:
   - Replace marquee lamp & starter: $6
   - Remove, clean & reinstall trackball assembly (includes reflowing solder joints on optic boards): 2 hrs
   - Remove anode cap, clean, reinstall: .5 hrs
   - Diagnose 'no sound' issue: 1 hr
   - AR II power / sound regulator board repair kit: $15, 1 hr

Looks like I've invested about 24 hours, give or take, and about $420 in parts so far. At $10 an hour labor (cheap, in my opinion) we're at about $660 in parts & labor at this point. There was $191 in quarters found in the Mortal Kombat cab, so that leaves a balance of $469.

[smalltownguy]

Got this note this morning from Carl Blessing at Allgood Technical Services:

Brad,
 
The flyback appears to be bad. We replaced the ferrite but no change. The
flyback is no longer available. The board is no longer supported by the
manufacturer.
 
We are shipping the board back to you at no charge.
 
Carl

BIG bummer. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement flyback for a 19K7302? Should I just look into a replacement chassis?

Also, just wanted to send up a flag for those of you who didn't know -- Bob Roberts isn't feeling well right now, according to his website. Please keep him in your prayers. Somehow he managed to wade through 3 confusing emails from me and still cross-shipped my order yesterday for Wednesday arrival. What a class act. I hope he feels better soon.

[opt2not]

Also, just wanted to send up a flag for those of you who didn't know -- Bob Roberts isn't feeling well right now, according to his website. Please keep him in your prayers. Somehow he managed to wade through 3 confusing emails from me and still cross-shipped my order yesterday for Wednesday arrival. What a class act. I hope he feels better soon.

His website note is a bit concerning...a cardiologist?  I hope he's alright.
The guy is like my Yoda.

[mcfreak]

This has been a daily read for me.  I love the content and the updates.  Keep em coming!  I have a garage full of about 10 games that need work and I still don't see where you find the time.  Your wife is a saint and the catch of the century!

[smalltownguy]

This has been a daily read for me.  I love the content and the updates.  Keep em coming!  I have a garage full of about 10 games that need work and I still don't see where you find the time.  Your wife is a saint and the catch of the century!

Thanks for the kind words! And you're SOOO right. My wife is AWESOME. I acknowledge her every day for how awesome she is.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

What cab is that?
 

[smalltownguy]

I'm not telling

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

I mean it certainly looks like a Tempest, but the red color was unusual.

[IG-88]

Got this note this morning from Carl Blessing at Allgood Technical Services:

Brad,
 
The flyback appears to be bad. We replaced the ferrite but no change. The
flyback is no longer available. The board is no longer supported by the
manufacturer.
 
We are shipping the board back to you at no charge.
 
Carl

BIG bummer. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement flyback for a 19K7302? Should I just look into a replacement chassis?

Also, just wanted to send up a flag for those of you who didn't know -- Bob Roberts isn't feeling well right now, according to his website. Please keep him in your prayers. Somehow he managed to wade through 3 confusing emails from me and still cross-shipped my order yesterday for Wednesday arrival. What a class act. I hope he feels better soon.

I got that same monitor that I've been posting about over on KLOV and they said the same thing. Wonder if a K7xx flyback would work? I put a shout out to Tim over on ART to see if he has had any experience with them and he said no. I wonder if Michael, their monitor guru, would know anything about them??

Man that sucks about Bob. I really hope he will be OK. Don't know how old he is but he is retired. Nobody should be working 20+ hrs. a day anyways  

[Roo]

I hope Bob is ok!

On a side note, I remember when you first posted this and I thought to myself "this sounds really cool but that would never happen to me"

Then the tech showed up today to install my new AT&T UVerse and he saw the stuff laying around from my build and said "hey can you fix my Space Invaders cocktail?"

Your progress in this thread got me thinking I could.  So if I get in over my head, it's all your fault!  

[mgb]

For monitor questions and parts and such. try contacting arcadecup.
Chad is super helpful and I know hes on the forums over at KLOV.

[mgb]

This place is also worth a try for flybacks. They have been helpful to me in the past.
http://www.technotronic-dimensions.com/Products2b1.html

That is really sad to hear about Bob Roberts.

[smalltownguy]

It's time for a thread Haiku:

Oh, will I get done?
Forever, this process is.
I've learned a lot, though.

[smalltownguy]

I found a nice Manual on the American Gaming and Electronics, Inc website containing quite a bit of Wells Gardner information. Here's the link the .pdf document:

Short Form Buyer's Guide

I hope it's okay to post the link. Several models of the WG monitors are covered in the manual, starting on page 105. My mysterious 19K7302 is covered around page 115 or so.

I've sent an email to the parts sales department at Wells Gardner to see if they can offer me some help on finding a shelved part somewhere to replace my blown line output transformer (flyback)

I believe it's T402 on the schematic, listed in the guide as part number 5CL4120190. We'll see if I get lucky...

[IG-88]

Cool manual! Nice find    Seeings as I think I have the exact monitor, where on that chassis diagram did you find the number for the flyback?

[smalltownguy]

Cool manual! Nice find    Seeings as I think I have the exact monitor, where on that chassis diagram did you find the number for the flyback?

There isn't a labeled diagram in that book, but there is a schematic available on the WG website:

http://www.wellsgardner.com/pdf/Schematics/K7300.pdf

It's there that I was able to determine that the flyback was labeled part T402. I then looked at the parts list in the manual and found the WG part number.

I got no word back from Wells Gardner today, but I did strike gold at www.arcadecup.com

Chad over at Arcade Cup answered his phone right away, and happily fed me information for 10 minutes. What a nice guy. We got to talking about my orphaned 19K7302, and as luck would have it, he had a flyback in stock for it! He told me it was a 'prototype replacement' and it was the only one he had. I bought it. Who knows, with any luck, I may be able to repair this chassis on my own.

I received my replacement 'Revenge of DOH' marquee from EMDKAY yesterday. Once I opened it, I realized I made an error when I placed my order. I had forgotten that the cab that Arkanoid II was put in used to be a Centipede cab, and the marquee is smaller than the usual cab. I ended up having to trim their beautiful work. Oh well, live and learn I guess. It didn't turn out too bad:





As usual, pics don't do it justice -- the marquee really did turn out great. Shame I had to cut it down, but hey, how it really looks like a conversion, right?

With that Arkanoid II is ready!

[IG-88]

Wow, that was lucky. Hopefully mine will hold on for a while.

I'm a little confused. When you say replacing the flyback I would assume you mean the flyback transformer correct? Yet that part designation you are talking about, T402, is a transistor isn't it?

[Ond]

I also check this thread daily, apart from the practical and useful restoration info, it's just a very nice read.  My own progress has halted just for the regular mundane reasons (household projects taking priority).  Great work so far, and you're not afraid to document the various little challenges and mishaps along the way.  It makes far more interesting reading to hear about the details of a challenge overcome than some projects  where all you see is the shiny bling results.  I'm learning.

 

Ond

[atomikbohm]

It makes far more interesting reading to hear about the details of a challenge overcome than some projects  where all you see is the shiny bling results.  I'm learning.

 

Ond

Ond... listen to the sound of my voice, er.. key strokes, you are getting sleepy ... you want to forget what you've learned here and get back to work on your cab... when you awake you will feel an over whelming need to post an update on your retro project thread with lots of pics... (God I hope this worked) 

[smalltownguy]

Ond! I'm not WORTHY! Clearly it can't be good for you to be seen posting in a peasant thread like mine. I bow to thee.......

Todays updates:

Sold the Golden Tee! Yay! Glad to see someone else will enjoy it (glad to be rid of it    )

I got my Atari ARII rebuild kit tonight from Bob Roberts. I went ahead and plowed ahead with it:



And an action shot....trimming legs off a cap



And my 'all done' shot:



Now, before I go into what happened when I plugged the Centipede back in, is there anyone out there that notices something?

Hint: Look at the before and after pictures....

I've had enough fun for one evening. Time to go watch some mindless TV.