My Midway Hangtime Arcade cab

[64bitmatthew]

Hey folks! 
First off, I'm new to the forum, so if I say anything extra noob-ish or have posted this thread in the wrong section, I apologize ahead of time.
I've been a home console game collector for over 20 years now, but I've always wanted to own an arcade cabinet.  In my area though, they just never seem to surface, and when they do, they are usually vastly overpriced.  Well, as fate would have it, I have actually been able to score 3 over the last 4 weeks.  The first was "Sar search and rescue", which works great, just needs cosmetic work (nothing fancy as its not in its original cab).  the second was "time pilot" which also works well, but needs a small amount of cosmetic work and a new joystick.
My most recent purchase (aka today) is a 1996 Midway "Hangtime" arcade cabinet.  Its rough, but mostly complete, and great potential for its $200 Canadian price tag.  My friends and I love hangtime on the N64, so when I seen this 4 player cab pop up for sale, I had to have it.
It's main downfall right now though is that its playing blind.  When its powered on, the music plays, you can tell it responds to money put in, you can shoot and pass,  etc. but nothing shows on the screen.  I took some pics, and was hoping that some of the knowledgeable folks on this forum would maybe spare a few minutes of their time and look at them. Also there is no neck glow.

The three as they currently sit:


NBA Hangtime:


How things look in the back:


A mess of wires that don't seem to lead anywhere:


An unplugged cord that seems to come from the monitor, but can't seem to find where it is supposed to plug into:


The back of the monitor neck board.  Something clearly has happened, is this the cause of the lack of picture:


Also, do I have to worry about discharging this monitor?  I have read that most older monitors need to be discharged, but I thought I read that some of the mid 90s and on ones don't.

Any help/answers/tips/directions would be greatly appreciated.  I know some basics, and am trying to read as much as I can about these things, but its going to take some time hahaha.

[adidas1984x]

awesome cabinet. Welcome !! You should always do videos too. I think that looks to be a u2000 wg chassis . If i could see the number on it i could def tell.

[64bitmatthew]

awesome cabinet. Welcome !! You should always do videos too. I think that looks to be a u2000 wg chassis . If i could see the number on it i could def tell.

Thanks for the welcome and the compliment, I appreciate both.  By video, do you mean to show you in video format both how it looks and sounds?  So far I've been terrible for documenting any work that's been done hahaha.

I figured out that the monitor is a WGM2520.  So it seems to be the original one for this cab I believe.  I knew it was playing blind when buying it, but it looks like it might be due to a couple things.  There was a copper coil bent over on the one monitor board.  There is no neck glow.  There was a sticker on the front glass saying it needs a tube (whether this is true or a misdiagnosis I'm not sure).  There is signs of extreme power overload on the neck board (as pictured above).  All things considered, including my skill level with arcade monitors (or lack there of hahaha) I might convert to vga output and swap in an lcd.  I haven't fully decided yet, and I know I will get heck on here for just mentioning it, but for a game from 1996, I don't think it will look too bad (compared to a game from the early 80's on a lcd).  It will also help lighten a pretty heavy cab.

I also figured out that the mess of wires is from the switching power supply coming from a computer.  Technically everything works, so I'm a bit hesitant to play around with it, but in all actuality I really should be switching it for a proper Happ one. 

Sorry for asking some pretty basic questions above, but I'm also figuring stuff out as I go.  I've also had a lot of help/knoweldge from a buddy over on nintendoage.com, so if you're reading this here, thanks again Dewisp02!

[Mike A]

Just go on Craigslist or eBay and buy an arcade monitor that is operational.

[64bitmatthew]

Just go on Craigslist or eBay and buy an arcade monitor that is operational.

Unfortunately in my area that won't really work. I live in Canada, in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Also Canada post shipping rates are terrible, so it would kill any chance of getting one from elsewhere shipped to me due to an original monitors weight.

[adidas1984x]

do a walk around video showing off the cabinet. and the inner workings and all your work you put into it.

[mourix]

Let's try to get some monitor progress going. WGM2520 means it's a 25 inch Wells Gardner U2000. If you throw that name into Google, there will be dozens of people with similar issues and answers.

The discoloration on the neck board are a result very hot running drive transistors. It's a common thing with these monitors and not a cause of your defect unless there are signs of actual fire.

Let's start with the sanity checks. Measure if there is actual power going to your monitor outlet, and check whether its fuses are blown or not. And a quick reminder: ALWAYS discharge a crt before working on them. Even if a monitor is supposed to be self discharging, you will still get zapped if that system malfunctions...

These things take a lot of reading and learning before they're fixed, but this cab looks like a perfect restoration project and will be very rewarding if you are persistant. Good luck 

[64bitmatthew]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  I just wanted to log in and say that I haven't been ignoring this thread, I've just turned my attention to my SAR search and rescue cab the last few evenings as I want to get it finished up and into the basement.  Just to create a bit more space in the garage.  Not sure if I should post pics of it in this thread too, or not.  I don't want to clutter a thread with too many different projects, but also didn't want to start a new thread for it as its pretty much done and I haven't taken too many pictures.  I've been bad for forgetting to take pics.

The hangtime cab sits about the same as I left it above.  I have continued to research these monitors and troubleshoot, but at the moment I just feel with my level of skills/knowledge, that a simple lcd monitor swap might be my best bet.  It would lighten it up, and for a game from 1996 I don't think it would look too bad.  I haven't really decided either way though, and will continue to try to absorb as much info as I can in the meantime.  I will also try to test all the power wires to make sure they are correct voltages / getting power.

Thanks again for all the replies and warm welcome, its appreciated.  I will try to also get a video shot of the cab too.

[mourix]

There is no suitable lcd replacement in that size/aspect combination. Please don't go the lcd route, I did that on my cab and even with the best efforts it doesn't look right.

There are people on this forum who will be able to repair your monitor by just sending in the chassis. That's the best thing to do if it turns out too difficult for you.

[64bitmatthew]

There is no suitable lcd replacement in that size/aspect combination. Please don't go the lcd route, I did that on my cab and even with the best efforts it doesn't look right.

There are people on this forum who will be able to repair your monitor by just sending in the chassis. That's the best thing to do if it turns out too difficult for you.

That's what I've found so far with looking at lcd replacements.  There doesn't seem to be any in fullscreen that are 25".  I could fit a widescreen in, but it would either be stretched, or 4:3 smaller screen.  I thought hangtime might not look too bad stretched as I've played the N64 version on a widescreen tv before, but it would be nice to have it fit properly in the original bezel. 

Just curious, what cab did you try the lcd route on?

I will have to take a better look at it again, though my guess is that I would be better off sending it to someone more capable.  My question is, is it more often then not just the chassis that needs repair?  As I'd hate to send the chassis away to get fixed, only to find out it was the monitor too and still not operational.

[64bitmatthew]

So I've been trying to research and learn about these machines, and I came up with a hypothetical situation.  I wanted to run it here though and get more knowledgeable members thoughts on why this may or may not work.

In theory, if someone was to switch from an crt monitor to an lcd monitor, they could delete the isolation transformer, correct?  The purpose of the isolation transformer is to clean the electricity going through it, and to isolate the wall outlet voltage to keep it off the metal frame and ground connections of the monitor as a safety measure.  But an lcd screen doesn't require this, as the chassis is isolated, so its fine just taking normal / wall outlet power. 

Now, the idea of deleting the isolation chamber gets a bit tricky as the cord leading away from it (on the hangtime cab) leads to the power distribution block.  This then has leads going to the crt montor, as well as the switching power supply.  But the power going to the switching power supply, does it have to come through the isolation transformer and then the power distribution block? or could it just receive power from a wall outlet like a regular computer switching power supply (as this one is in fact a computer one)?  I was just thinking of whether it would be possible to delete the isolation transformer, power distribution block, and have virtually an extension cord come in to power the switching power supply and lcd monitor.  Nice and tidy and updated. 

Thoughts?  If that ramble made any sense lol.

[mourix]

After months of CRT delays, I caved and used an lcd in this. The end result looks alright but the amount of hours I needed to spend in order for it to look halfwhat decent is rediculous so I would not go this route again if I had the chance.

As for the repairs, the picture tube almost never goes bad. Even if it does, the result will usually be a bad picture as opposed to a complete breakdown. If you get the chassis fixed there is a 99% chance it's all good again. And yes, the isolation transformer is just for the CRT so that could be removed in case of an lcd.

But here's my take on this after doing a bunch of repairs and replacements. What seems like an easy swap with a modern screen can easily turn into a ton of work. You'll need to make new mounting panels, monitor bezel, get a signal converter and possibly a scanline generator, change the power supply setup and rewire lots of stuff etc. And the end you are stuck with a machine that is worth less and took much more time and money compared to spending the 100 bucks to have your cabinet stay original. The choice is yours.

[64bitmatthew]

After months of CRT delays, I caved and used an lcd in this. The end result looks alright but the amount of hours I needed to spend in order for it to look halfwhat decent is rediculous so I would not go this route again if I had the chance.

As for the repairs, the picture tube almost never goes bad. Even if it does, the result will usually be a bad picture as opposed to a complete breakdown. If you get the chassis fixed there is a 99% chance it's all good again. And yes, the isolation transformer is just for the CRT so that could be removed in case of an lcd.

But here's my take on this after doing a bunch of repairs and replacements. What seems like an easy swap with a modern screen can easily turn into a ton of work. You'll need to make new mounting panels, monitor bezel, get a signal converter and possibly a scanline generator, change the power supply setup and rewire lots of stuff etc. And the end you are stuck with a machine that is worth less and took much more time and money compared to spending the 100 bucks to have your cabinet stay original. The choice is yours.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Mourix, I appreciate it.  I checked out your thread, and I think yours came out really quite nice.  I actually just finished installing a lcd screen in my hangtime.  Does it lower the value? yes, but only to a certain degree in my area (not many enthusiasts around here). Was it a fair bit of work? Yes, but it was a fun challenge.  If I could have easily enough fixed the crt, I would have gone that route as it would've been better overall in the end, but with my limited skills and scarce resources of help in my area, I opted for the lcd route.  And to be honest, with a game from 96, I think it looks pretty good.  Good enough for me and my friends at least.  But I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts in this thread with me, and I agree with most of your points you shared.  Especially now having completed the lcd swap myself.

[64bitmatthew]

Also, Mods, if you want to delete, close, etc this thread, please feel free to.  I honestly thought it would be a regular restoration, but now that I have gone the lcd route and changed quite a bit of the wiring, it would probably be better suited for the project announcement board.  I will start a fresh thread there for this project, so that its not cluttered by all my previous posts that no longer pertain to much of this build.
Thanks!

[mourix]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Mourix, I appreciate it.  I checked out your thread, and I think yours came out really quite nice.  I actually just finished installing a lcd screen in my hangtime.  Does it lower the value? yes, but only to a certain degree in my area (not many enthusiasts around here). Was it a fair bit of work? Yes, but it was a fun challenge.  If I could have easily enough fixed the crt, I would have gone that route as it would've been better overall in the end, but with my limited skills and scarce resources of help in my area, I opted for the lcd route.  And to be honest, with a game from 96, I think it looks pretty good.  Good enough for me and my friends at least.  But I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts in this thread with me, and I agree with most of your points you shared.  Especially now having completed the lcd swap myself.

It's all good. In the end you are making an old broken cabinet playable and that's what matters the most

When I started in this hobby, the whole electric part scared me too and I completely get your sentiments. Take your time to get comfortable with a multimeter and soldering iron, and start on power supply stuff as that's a lot easier than CRT gigs. Looking forward to see what the LCD looks like!

[64bitmatthew]

So I forgot to update this a long time ago lol. My apologies. I ended up going with a ega to vga converter, and then an lcd screen. I know a lot of people don't like this, as it takes a bit of the originality out of the arcade system, and for a lot of games, simply looks terrible. But with my limited knowledge, and the fact its just for in the basement for me and a few friends to play, I decided to try this route. I'm really happy with the end result. With it being a basketball game, I feel it looks great on the widescreen format. I also cleaned up the outside a bunch. I put all new t-molding trim on, I painted a bezel on the glass to fit the new screen size, I painted the front of the machine black, I added new locks (not pictured), got the marquee light working, and created new trim on the control panel box. I did the trim on the control panel box as it was fairly chipped along the bottom, and I knew I wouldn't be able to just paint it to get it to match the graphics. Overall, I'm about $500 (Canadian) total into this thing, and its been great fun so far.

Before:
http://imgur.com/a/vdcpm

After:
http://imgur.com/a/r6yCb
http://imgur.com/a/fyxK3

(Hulkamania is currently holding the spot of my time pilot cabinet, which is still being worked on)

[adidas1984x]

you should post video gameplay and the insides of the cabinet. and how its all wired up