Author Topic: So, You want to build a Classic Nintendo Cab? (Read 19156 times)

vwalbridge · « **Reply #40 on:** August 25, 2015, 01:59:44 pm »

Rather than start another thread, this sticky seems like a better home for this:

I'd like to discuss Nintendo buttons.

So obviously original Nintendo buttons are (or always have been) extremely hard to come by. I just finished watching John's latest Youtube video, where he has a segment about Nintendo buttons: (Start at 1h5m36s if the video does not already start there for you)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5xmjurUtrI&t=1h5m36s

By the end of his button segment, he basically says that Mike's Arcade reproductions (while not perfect) are the best you can get.

Is the effort to restore original Nintendo buttons with retrobrite and wet sanding worth it?

Is paying $25 for an original button worth it?

Am I making a big deal over something trivial?

Here is Tighe Lory's video of restoring an original Nintendo button with retrobrite/wet sanding/ polishing compound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-QO5g23KKw

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #41 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:18:50 pm »

Good call on the buttons post.

I've been trying to collect Nintendo buttons and sticks for a good year now. Mike's Arcade had tried to run a Kickstarter to produce proper 1to1 replicas, but it was underfunded by a couple thousand. My experience is basically that the DK Orange and Gen 1 DK Blue buttons are the hardest and most expensive to get ahold of. Nintendo Vs buttons are the easiest by far. They have a slightly smaller hole size then standard buttons and when used with the proper microswitches and button holders they have a distinctive feel to them. Same with the Joysticks.

I didn't think i'd ever think this would really matter, but if you're building a replica Nintendo cab, its best you track down some original Nintendo controls. A good tip would be to find a populated Nintendo Vs panel on eBay or one of the forums. they can be had for $50-100 depending on condition and seller. in most cases that will get you sticks, buttons, holders, the works. Then you can rewire it, or adapt the Nintendo harness if you get one it. Vs. CP's make for good 2 player panels.

I'm also going to post this guide to Nintendo Buttons. I found it on KLOV.

DeLuSioNal29 · « **Reply #42 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:20:35 pm »

For me, I already bought the materials to polish my joysticks for my restoration, so I am going to do the buttons as well since I already have everything.

I'm going to attempt to save what I have, but if it doesn't work out, there is no loss. Then I'll order repros and call it a day.

D

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #43 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:24:02 pm »

reconditioning old nintendo buttons and sticks is not really a hard thing. some 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, Novus (or automotive headlight polish), and a drill works wonders. Tighe's tutorial is awesome. Just be careful you don't over sand them, or spin them with the drill into a dry facecloth/towel to polish/dry them after the sandpaper as the nylon the button is made from will just shred, and you'll cry. I also skipped the Retrobright step myself.

vwalbridge · « **Reply #44 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:58:46 pm »

Quote from: ChanceKJ on August 25, 2015, 02:18:50 pm

Mike's Arcade had tried to run a Kickstarter to produce proper 1to1 replicas, but it was underfunded by a couple thousand.

That's a real shame. Had I been into this hobby then I would have definitely contributed. Surprised it didn't get funded with all these restorations/reproductions cabs going on today.

I'm really confused by Mike's repo buttons. Where is HE getting them from? Somebody has to be making those and if so, why don't they just tweak the molds to make them 1:1? Of course, I'm under estimating the cost of retooling plastic molds I'm sure. Maybe that is what the Kickstarter was for? I guess they are good enough and nobody cares.

Quote

My experience is basically that the DK Orange and Gen 1 DK Blue buttons are the hardest and most expensive to get ahold of. Nintendo Vs buttons are the easiest by far.

Oh yes, I can agree. I see vs panels, DK Jr panels, and even Popeye and DK3 panels but I rarely see DK panels on ebay.

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #45 on:** August 25, 2015, 03:17:15 pm »

I've got a feeling he had reached out to the best people possible to build the repros. Even a 1-to-1 spring reproduction. But just needed the funding. Tooling isn't cheap.

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #46 on:** August 30, 2015, 07:19:21 pm »

Added the following restorations:
Restore - Brian12's DK Restore
Restore - Peabo's DK Jr Restore
Restore - vwalbridge Restore
Restore - yotsuya's "Janky Kong"
Restore - tparis's DK Jr Restore*
Restore - Berzerk's DK Restore*
Restore - hailrazer's DK Restore*
*Not on the BYOAC

Added the following Builds
Build - johnrt's Donkey Kong Replica

yotsuya · « **Reply #47 on:** August 30, 2015, 08:05:21 pm »

Hmmm.... no love for Janky Kong, huh?

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #48 on:** August 30, 2015, 08:06:08 pm »

Quote from: yotsuya on August 30, 2015, 08:05:21 pm

Hmmm.... no love for Janky Kong, huh?

I seriously have it up in another window right now,

you beat me to it.

marioxb · « **Reply #49 on:** September 02, 2015, 04:56:44 pm »

I'm just gonna get regular old buttons in the right color and U360s in my Nintendo cab. Good enough for me. It's not like I played ANY classic arcade game for more than 5 minutes at a time anyway, at least games that don't let you start again where you died when you insert another coin. I was never that good at old games, but I love em anyway. So I'd probably never even notice the difference.

vwalbridge · « **Reply #50 on:** September 02, 2015, 05:06:00 pm »

Quote from: marioxb on September 02, 2015, 04:56:44 pm

I'm just gonna get regular old buttons in the right color and U360s in my Nintendo cab.

I assume you do not have an original DK cab then?

marioxb · « **Reply #51 on:** September 02, 2015, 05:35:36 pm »

Nope. I have an empty dual monitor PlayChoice-10. I want to play DK in it though.

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #52 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:15:06 pm »

for the price of some nintendo playchoice 8-way sticks and a little elbow grease, skip the 360's and get some originals. it will save you the hassle of trying to convert the nintendo panel to work with the 360's. Actual nintendo sticks that fit those panels are in abundance, all metal so they just need a polish and a little lithium grease. Plus those Nintendo panels are solid steel and a beast to modify.

DeLuSioNal29 · « **Reply #53 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:40:55 pm »

My restore is a comin'. :-)

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #54 on:** September 22, 2015, 05:05:02 am »

Added the following restore threads to the list:
Restore - EvilNuff's DK Restore
Restore - Brian12's DK Jr. Restore
Restore - DeLuSioNal29's Nintendo Vs. UniSystem Restore

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #55 on:** October 03, 2015, 04:00:28 pm »

Added the following Build to the list:
Build - wp34's TobiKomi Scratch Build

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #56 on:** October 07, 2015, 12:52:06 pm »

Added the following restore to the list:

Restore - Chance's Mario Bros. Restore*
*Not on the BYOAC

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #57 on:** October 14, 2015, 02:39:51 pm »

Vertical monitor Cardboard bezel plans, provided by vwalbridge.

EvilNuff · « **Reply #58 on:** October 16, 2015, 07:26:19 pm »

I got samples of 2 of the paint codes listed here and they were both lighter than my cab so I paint matched myself at Sherwin Williams. They suggested oil based and the resulting match is dead on for me.

vwalbridge · « **Reply #59 on:** October 16, 2015, 07:49:18 pm »

Thanks EvilNuff. I think you are right. Now that I have a real DK, I can tell everyone that Behr's Liquid blue is actually too light as well.

Thanks for the code. I might end up using it.

EvilNuff · « **Reply #60 on:** October 16, 2015, 09:25:28 pm »

Sherwin Williams has a 40% off sale this weekend FYI so good time to get it.

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #61 on:** October 17, 2015, 03:17:33 am »

Awesome! Thanks, i'll add it to the main list.

Also, i added a small section for links to restoration projects on parts like the Nintendo sticks, buttons and Sanyo 20EZ monitors:

Restoration Links
Nintendo Joysticks - NERDtendo's Nintendo Joystick Rebuilds*
Nintendo Buttons - Tighe's DK Button Restoration*
Sanyo 20EZ Monitor - John's Arcade Sanyo 20EZ Monitor Cap Kit and Rebuild How To*
*Not on the BYOAC

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #62 on:** October 17, 2015, 07:12:36 pm »

Added:

Build - artyfarty's Project Slimtendo

wp34 · « **Reply #63 on:** October 21, 2015, 02:26:08 pm »

I need to ask what is probably a dumb question but I want to get it right for my build. Was the top of all Nintendo cabinets black? For some reason I thought the top was painted the same color as the sides but this weekend I realized the top of my VS cabinet is black.

vwalbridge · « **Reply #64 on:** October 21, 2015, 03:06:33 pm »

Unless someone overrides me, all the tops were black.

wp34 · « **Reply #65 on:** October 21, 2015, 04:23:43 pm »

Quote from: vwalbridge on October 21, 2015, 03:06:33 pm

Unless someone overrides me, all the tops were black.

Thanks!

DeLuSioNal29 · « **Reply #66 on:** October 21, 2015, 05:44:41 pm »

Can we also get a FAQ or confirmation on what should be painted what color on the entire cab?

For example: Front edges on left and right should be black. (Gloss? Flat? etc). Some people would assume (like I did at first) that it's the same color as the sides and front when indeed it should be black.

Thanks in advance!

DeL29

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #67 on:** October 21, 2015, 10:30:19 pm »

I started to type it out, but I think a colour guide might work better. I could go quite into detail. For now tho, the inside surface is either all flat black (U.S. Made particleboard cab), or a mix of bare wood, flat black, and gloss black for the Japanese ply wood cabs. Hmmmm

Yeah, I'll draw something up. Maybe a YouTube video....

vwalbridge · « **Reply #68 on:** October 21, 2015, 11:27:52 pm »

That would be awesome Chance. Also, I know some DK cabs had a black inside that was almost like the texture of a dollar bill.

seventone · « **Reply #69 on:** October 21, 2015, 11:54:11 pm »

My DK cabinet is semi gloss on the inside front and the top and back are flat black.
Aside from being changed to a vs super mario at some point in its life, it is stock (made in USA).

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #70 on:** October 22, 2015, 12:35:38 am »

Yeah, I mean I've been wanting to show the differences between the two styles. Maybe in a post. But it might mean a video. It also might mean when I have time.

johnrt · « **Reply #71 on:** October 22, 2015, 03:59:16 am »

Any chance we could find the right color on http://encycolorpedia.com ?
(No dealers in this country knows anything about the US color code system)

My Fix it Felix build is painted with this color: http://encycolorpedia.com/24add4

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #72 on:** November 04, 2015, 06:17:09 am »

Added:

Restoration/Construction Links
Speaker Grill - Johnrt's "How to Route a Nintendo Speaker Grill" Tutorial

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #73 on:** November 12, 2015, 10:30:27 pm »

Added:

Build - SORHP's Super Mario Bros 3 SMB3 Build
Restore - Eric98375's D2K Project*
*Not on the BYOAC

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #74 on:** January 14, 2016, 03:48:57 am »

Added to the Construction links section:

Coin box - DonkeyKong's "Nintendo Coin Box (Mini Project)"

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #75 on:** April 06, 2016, 05:48:32 pm »

Thread updated:

Added the following projects:
Build - zinger's Yet Another Donkey Kong Scratch Build
Build - bplail's Another Donkey Kong Build
Restore - vwalbridge's Nintendo VS Unisystem restoration
Restore - vwalbridge's Mario Bros. Wide Body restoration

Updated:
-Link to ClassicArcadeCabinets.com for CnC plans
-Nintendo Laminate Match Thread by vwalbridge
-DK Remix Cab link in Fan Made section.

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #76 on:** October 19, 2016, 12:31:48 pm »

Added Wyo's "Legend of Zelda (2016)" to the list of Fan Made themes, "Gold".

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #77 on:** January 08, 2017, 04:13:51 pm »

For a lot of classic Nintendo arcade cabinets the base is quite beaten up. In this video Chance shows you our over-engineered solution to restoring the bottoms of these cabinets.

https://youtu.be/O5sYknlL3-s

ChanceKJ · « **Reply #78 on:** April 11, 2017, 07:30:08 pm »

Post updated:

Building A Repro Back Panel - Part of a restore thread on KLOV*

Restore - seanengadet's Barn find Donkey Kong restore*
Restore - ElectricDreamz' DK Jr - MOLDY BARN FIND edition*
*Not on the BYOAC

wheeezy · « **Reply #79 on:** April 25, 2017, 08:53:07 pm »

in the next week i do a complete story of my dr.mario cabinet limited edition

i want give special thanks to you and gaetan my great friend!


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