ROBOTRON Restoration...er... TRANSFORMATION... from Capcom Magic Sword

[ArtMAME]

Been working on this for a while... finally playable!!! 

Was a rough Magic Sword conversion… now it is BEAUTIFUL!!!   

Here is a photolog:

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w210/ArtMAME/El%20Robotron/

Here is the story...
Got this working Magic Sword on Ebay from Dale in Chattanooga... $80!!! Very rough shape, but I knew this cabinet could be transformed into its former glory.  The transformation is about complete, cosmetically at least... still got to tinker with the insides a bit...

I will post some restoration details and narration later on... and the story shall continue...

[ArtMAME]

Got it home and started the process... stripped out the components.  Used the monitor and JAMMA harness to revive my Centipede cabinet that I got at the August 06 Super Auctions...

The black Formica sides were litter..ally falling off, and littering my driveway… see the pieces in on the ground… Some joker  …took a belt sander and totally desecrated the original artwork… very sad indeed  … deep scratches…across the grain!!!   ( I am pretty sure it was not Dale, he usually just buys out warehouses then sells the working games…)…

BTW... Good Guy Alert!!!... Dale in Chattanooga has tons... literally... tons of great deals... last I heard, he had 3 warehouses full of cabinets... I got an empty Gauntlet cab and a complete Tron project cab from him recently.

Real nice guy and very pleasant to deal with... his working cabs come up on Ebay quite often...lots of conversions, and some originals...

Here is a link to his Ebay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/LRTINC-VENDING

[ArtMAME]

I had to sand down the scratches and dried up glue to get the sides nice and smooth… I along the grain with a belt sander and removed all the scratches… and also patched up the gouges with Bondo…

Fixed the bottom-front corners by grafting some plywood corners, then filling in the gaps and sanding down… looks seamless now after some primer and paint.

Two or three coats of primer, then paint the cabinet with some Valspar Pewter Luster from Lowes… I got this color code from http://www.oleszakcreative.com/paint.asp

Used a roller for the topcoat, got some streaking. I should have sprayed it... would have come out smoother.  But still, not bad at all, when the graphics are on there, they catch your eye, and you barely notice the streaks.

[ArtMAME]

I also got the Robotron side art stencils from Brian at Oleszak Creations… http://www.oleszakcreative.com/default.asp?action=home

Great guy by the way, got some good tips from him about stenciling and painting cabinets in general…very helpful… If you are looking to restore some Williams cabinets, he is your man… he also has stencils for Berzerk, Gyruss, Mad Planets, Taito, etc…

Used some Rustoleum Satin black (for metal) for the black painted parts of the cabinets like the front bottom and the inside edges… works great.

Used Krylon Red and Blue spray paint cans for the colors… turned out very nice…

[ArtMAME]

OMG... ITS BEAUTIFUL!!! 

(Angelic Choir Singing....)

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

TWENTY-EIGHTY-FOUR!!!!!

 

[ArtMAME]

Melting off the old Magic Sword CP with a heat gun...

BTW... Hot glue smells like Sh!@#!!! 

Robotron underneath... cigarette burns and everything...

[Luigi]

Congratulations for that restoration and big Thanks and Hallelujah that you did it   

It will take me one more month or maybe two until my Robotron will run again.....but I'm eagerly looking forward to it 

[Kaytrim]

ROBOTRON is one of my favorite games of all time.  I am impressed with the amount of work you have put into this so far.  Please keep posting the worklog this may give me some ideas for a future project. 

Question:  Could you measure how far apart the joysticks are please?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[ArtMAME]

Got the marquee, bezel glass, and CP overlay, and translucent blue buttons from Arcadeshop.com

Had to use Goo Gone (the citrus smelling stuff) to get all the glue off... very tedious... but it worked... just spay on a small area, then let soak for a few minutes, then scrape with one of those razor blade flat scrapers... you may have to do several passes on each area.

Had to patch up existing button holes, and the player 2 button hole, which had been drilled through... usually Williams CPs will use the short leaf switches.  These need a 1-1/8" hole about halfway thru the CP, then a smaller hole (5/8" I think) all the way thru so the PAL nut holds it in place... I also had to do a 1-1/8" counterbore of  about 1/8" deep from the bottom of the CP so that the PAL nut could catch the threads...

[ArtMAME]

I had a Bestech 19" monitor that was practically new... but was not working... Sent it to Tom, a local TV repair man... Got it back and was in perfect working order... even the colors and settings were perfect...

I used an old retired Sony VAIO with an ATI Radeon 9250 card and Powerstrip installed.  Running Robotron at 292x240 resolution on MAME 0.99.  Looks AWESOME!!! 

2084 in glorious CGA!!! Gotta love it...

[ArtMAME]

Installed the Bestech monitor in the cabinet, fired up the Robotron...

Now that's BEAUTIFUL!!! 

[ArtMAME]

ROBOTRON is one of my favorite games of all time.  I am impressed with the amount of work you have put into this so far.  Please keep posting the worklog this may give me some ideas for a future project. 

Question:  Could you measure how far apart the joysticks are please?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

Yes... that was a lot of work!!! but very well worth it... I now have a practically mint Robotron machine in my gameroom... 

I think the joysticks are 10" apart, but I will verify when I get home.

[Chris G]

Ah, be still me heart... nothin' like seein' a beautiful Robotron machine first thing in the morning.  Very nice.   

[Hiub1]

*COUGH* I don't see my name anywhere on this post. If it wasn't for good ol' Fred, there would be a PC monitor in there!! I won't come and perform my magic to fix the monitor anymore. Don't make me say more, I will divulge secrets!

HA... This thing is a beauty. Plays like a champ, and looks it as well. Good job, and on to the TRON sitting in the corner of the shop!

[ArtMAME]

*COUGH* I don't see my name anywhere on this post. If it wasn't for good ol' Fred, there would be a PC monitor in there!! I won't come and perform my magic to fix the monitor anymore. Don't make me say more, I will divulge secrets!

HA... This thing is a beauty. Plays like a champ, and looks it as well. Good job, and on to the TRON sitting in the corner of the shop!

Yes, yes, of course... many thanks to Fred (Huib1) for his help and motivation in getting this project done...   

Fred was able to perform the miracle of tweaking the Radeon 9250 and Powerstrip configuration  to make the CGA arcade resolution possible...     

Many thanks!!!    you can come over anytime and play with the Robotron for free... that is until I figure out how to wire the coin door, then it will be 25 cents a game...  ...
Ha...Ha...Just kidding...

[spacies]

Absolutely fantastic!

Congrats on a job well done and saving this from a certain death.

Now use it and abuse it 

[(+_+)]

Robotron's my favorite as well.

Nine wave specials.
Save Mikey.
One man romp.
One hand each.
Squeeze no more.
In the middle, in the middle of danger.

Each one with a story of it's own. I miss the good old arcade days. Thank god for custom cabs.  Great Job!!!!

[Zeosstud]

If I could only play one classic game for the rest of my life, Robotron would be the obvious choice.  It looks great.

Zeosstud

[TOK]

Nice work, bringing back one of the greatest games of all time. You rule! 

[ArtMAME]

ROBOTRON is one of my favorite games of all time.  I am impressed with the amount of work you have put into this so far.  Please keep posting the worklog this may give me some ideas for a future project. 

Question:  Could you measure how far apart the joysticks are please?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

Yes... that was a lot of work!!! but very well worth it... I now have a practically mint Robotron machine in my gameroom... 

I think the joysticks are 10" apart, but I will verify when I get home.

Yep... 10 inches...

[Kaytrim]

Thanks for checking.  My cp is going to be a bit wider (16") between the sticks.  It will be interesting how this plays ROBOTRON once I get it up and running.

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[ArtMAME]

Thanks for checking.  My cp is going to be a bit wider (16") between the sticks.  It will be interesting how this plays ROBOTRON once I get it up and running.

TTFN 
Kaytrim

I have a big MAME cabinet with sort of a Multi-Williams control panel layout.  The joysticks on that are about 15" apart and they play Robotron just fine... check it out:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=54556.msg534988#msg534988


 

[Chris G]

Good to know - I've been worried about joystick distance in my CP design too since I'm planning on a trackball in the center and LOVE my Robotron.   

[(+_+)]

My Robotron Ultrastiks are 16" apart as well. I've designed 2 control panels so far and the positioning is always based around the 2 Robotron joysticks. Everything else is secondary. I also insist that the 2 Robo joysticks be layed out so there is no offset from the center of play.

[Kaytrim]

Thanks everyone for the info on the stick distances you use.  I feel more comfortable now with my CP layout.

ArtMAME I like your modular CP system.  Personally though I like everything on the same plane.  Take a look at my modular control panel and tell me what you think (link in sig).

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[Wade]

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Wade

[Luigi]

Installed the Bestech monitor in the cabinet, fired up the Robotron...

Now that's BEAUTIFUL!!! 

Indeed it is

At first I wanted to have a PC inside my "MoonRangered" Robotron, too. But as time passed by I decided to bring a PCB-set back to it's destiny and into my cab. I bought a complete set (without powersupply) for $200 and with a little luck it will re-start it's work in two weeks   

Congratulations for that beautiful machine 

[MYX]

Ahhhhh Yessss. Thatiz Mighty Fine.

[shardian]