Newbie dismantling Dynamo 39" showcase cab

[StudioQue]

I'm a complete newbie to building/tinkering with arcade systems. There is a Dynamo Showcase cab for sale in my area – exactly what I was looking to get. To my knowledge it is just the raw cab by itself. No controls, and was also informed that the screen is not in working condition.

As I'm completely new to this, I know nothing of the electronics. I'm hesitant to get too in-depth with this and would like to start playing as soon as possible.  I was originally planning on using a TV (not arcade monitor), a cpu, and using an X-Arcade tankstick that I already own (would love to build my own in the future, but budget forces me down this path) to avoid a lot of the electrical issues. I understand that the Dynamo's come with Jaama harnesses and wiring built-in, not sure what to do about these.

Was wondering how difficult/dangerous it would be to remove the arcade monitor and replace with a TV? Have others done something similar? How was the experience? Any tips on how I should go about doing this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[severdhed]

my showcase is not a dynamo (not sure what it is), i just picked it up a few weeks ago.  it had a dead 30" monitor in it. fortunately the guy that gave it to me let me rip the monitor out before taking it home.  there were a few screws to remove the monitor plexiglass, once that was out, 4 bolts held the monitor in place.  very awkward for a single person, but two people can pretty easily remove it.

i then installed a 27" sony TV with component video in it's place.  i had to take the plastic shell off of the TV to get it to fit, but it worked out pretty well.

here is a link to my project thread, i didn't really document the monitor removal, since i did that before i brought it home, but it should be pretty easy to accomplish.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105208.0

be prepared, when you go to pick it up...mine had security head torx screws that require a special torx bit to remove, you can pick a set of these up for a few bucks at harbor freight or similar places.

[Dr Zero]

Here you can get the manual from my site http://www.drzero.org/videogames/dynamo/

The cabinet is either in 2 or 3 peices there is a podium in front then a spacer then portion with the monitor and the boards. Depending on what it was there might be a couple of different layouts in there if you are going to put a pc in there you can just remove the harness and the likes pretty easily since you wont be needing them, (you can then sell them to me  )

The red flag for me is the no controls does that mean its missing the podium portion? or is it there and its just not populated if it there you can just make a new lid and drop the tankstik in till you can get the other wired up the way you want.




Here is a pic of the inside of mine sorry for the crappy pic this was back when I was just getting it back up and running and I used my phone camera


http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=104191.msg1103098#msg1103098