WWF Wrestlemania restoration: getting 'er back into the ring

Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

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mourix:
After making sure the game board was fine, my main goal was making sure the monitor worked. Arcade monitors are so rare in the Netherlands, a non-fixable unit would change the whole project.
This machine contains a 25 inch Hantarex Polo monitor. This model look pretty awesome, but for some reason every polo cabinet I got so far had a broken monitor. The WWF was no exception.

To get it even testable was quite a hurdle. First off, I live at my parents place during this pandemic so there are cats everywhere. To store it upstairs, I had to make this box:

Secondly, this was the RCA USA 110V model so I needed a proper transformer as I live in 230V Europe. In total Mourix style I built the most elaborate isolation transformer:

The hanty has the famous tick of death, meaning the overcurrent protection kicked in. I went over this flowchart and found the original HOT had already been replaced, but the holding clip tore off.
In the end, the culprit of the monitor problem turned out to be the flyback having an open winding. I was lucky to have a spare board with a new flyback I could compare and replace it with.
After this it was working with a stable image and proper B+. To make this screen pop I also gave it a cap kit and resoldered all the joints:

And this is the end result. Besides some minor screen burn, it has an amazing picture:

mourix:
I just finished the control panel. This was quite the ride :o We are missing the plexiglass plus screws, got busted up controls and a CPO that has seen better days..

Here is the original:

I got myself some 2mm plexiglass, cut it up, drilled holes andddd crapppp:

Turns out you can't just drill plexi without proper bracing. And this is where the project already got in trouble as plexiglass is in high demand during the pandemic. Eventually I bought a new piece at triple market price and got it done better:

For the CPO I made my own scans and photoshopped it up. You can read more about that here. The result was really nice though:

Combine the two, and you get a pretty convincing result, despite some air bubbles due to the original cpo underneath:

For the controls I went all out with new IL joysticks and premium buttons, with Cherry switches of course:

This is the end result:

mourix:
So I got my first big boy job after graduating, and time got kinda low. Steady progress has been made though.

All the metalwork has been painted at this point, and all the ordered parts are here. This huge beast will be put together like some Ikea closet soon!

For now, the backdoor has been finished too. Bondo, painting wood/bolts, plus a new lock:

Mike A:
Very nice.

Howard_Casto:
Now destroy the control panel by drilling two more button holes so you can play UMK3. ;)

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