Restoration of an Unknown Cabinet

[Hildy_42]

Finally had some time tonight to take a look at a Hit the Ice Cabinet I picked up a few weeks ago.

Thankfully it was free because when I plugged it in, I got nothing.  Haven't had time to trouble shoot anything but plan on pulling the power supply out and starting there.

Not sure what the cabinet was originally or what it will become.  But I am thinking maybe a dedicated Double Dragon since that is my all time favorite arcade game.

Plan on swinging by Ace Hardware tomorrow to pick up something to remove the paint to get a better idea of what the cabinet started out as.

Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what I am working with. 

[Hildy_42]

Well I removed the marquee and it is in really good shape and will make a nice piece of decoration for my basement/game room.

As you can see I was able to remove one side of the art work.  It came off pretty easy and probably could be reused.  But since I don't want a dedicated Hit the Ice cabinet I am not sure what I will do with it.

I also took a look under the control panel.  As you can see the wiring is pretty old and everything needs a good cleaning.  Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get everything taken apart and start the cleaning process.

Overall the cabinet is in very good shape.  Couple place will need some repair but overall not a lot of exterior work will need to be done.

After seeing Malenko's new project thread I am starting to think a dedicated fighter cabinet might be the way to go.  Just too early in the process plus I would really like to see if I can get everything to work before I start converting it to something else.  Must be the engineer in me that won't let me move on without first trying to fix everything.

Well here a few more pics and if anyone has any ideas on what the final product should be I would be interested in hearing.

Hildy

[Crowquill]

Glad to see you picked it up. Coincidentally, a couple weeks ago in Jeff AMN's thread about his new game room, Guaranos posted a pic that had his MAME cab in it that used to be Aqua Jack. It appears to be the same shape. It looks like the coin door isn't off-center and I'm sure you would have noticed if there was a pedal cutout, but I'd guess that yours is a Romstar or Taito cab of some sort.

Does it look like the monitor is powering up?

Good luck with the project!

[Hildy_42]

Thanks Crowquill.

When I plugged it in, nothing happened.  No lights, sounds or anything.  I haven't had time to pull the power supply but this weekend I am going to replace the cord and then do some metering to see if I am getting anything.

No pedal cutout but the artwork under the black paint seems to be red, white and blue.  I figured I would try stripping the paint off just to see what it is.

I apologize for this next question but I don't have much experience with arcade monitors.  When the monitor powers up does it make a sound or anything to let you know it is powering up?  Like I said when I plugged the cabinet in I did hear or see anything.  I only had it plugged in for a few minutes though because I didn't want to burn anything up in case there was a bigger problem that I didn't know about.

Again thanks for the help.

[shardian]

I hate to be captain obvious, but since you didn't mention it... did you flip the power switch on the cabinet after pluggin it in? It probably recessed on the lower right side according to your pic.

[Hildy_42]

There is switch on the top of the cabinet that I toggle between to see if I could get it to come on.  I don't remember seeing anything on the right side but I will look tonight.  If that is it I will pretty much feel like the dumbest person ever.     Even if I am the dumbest I will be the happiest if that is the case.  Thanks for the info.

[Hildy_42]

Well I did find out tonight that I am a little on the stupid side.  I started checking the power cord a little closer and come to find out the cord was cut in half.  The previous owner had used electrical tape and I assume that when I slide it either in or out of my truck the cord came apart but still looked together because of the tape.  After splicing the wire back together I have a fully functional Hit the Ice cabinet.

The monitor works great and seems to have a little burn in but in all a very nice picture.  So I played a few games and whoever mentioned that it wasn't a very good game was right.  Kind of slow and boring. 

Still torn between converting it to a Double Dragon or putting a PC in there and making it a dedicated fighter cabinet.  Again thanks for the help guys but it turns out I should have check the cord a little better.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get the black paint removed and clean up the coin door to see if it functions. 

[Malenko]

me? an influence? how odd.

as for that side art, this guy might want it:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=70295.0

hit the ice just laid down the ground work for NHL Open Ice, so its allowed to suck a little =)

I just removed the 14 clear red buttons and LEDs from my project cab, replaced with standard red buttons......
figured the LEDs were unneeded eye candy since I dont use MALA or an LED Wiz.

[Hildy_42]

I doubt Bluevolume will want this side art since his is the actual four player cabinet.

The game is actually growing on me, especially when you are playing against a friend.  But I did just win a Double Dragon marquee on EBay for $1.00 so that is still an option.  Just depends on if I can find the a Double Dragon board.

I still want to strip the paint on the side and see what it started out as.  Hopefully with the long weekend and the fiance out of town I might be able to get some work done.

Fighter games have always been my favorites so I plan on building a dedicated cabinet like the one you did.  Did you find the LED's distracting or did you just get tired of them?  Thought about using them on a project but will have to do some testing to see if the effect is worth it or just annoying.

[bluevolume]

I doubt Bluevolume will want this side art since his is the actual four player cabinet.

I was just looking through this thread, that is cool that you have the marquee.  I would like to restore my cabinet to original, but I'm not sure I can.  The side that I don't show in my thread is really bad, multiple layers of paint and someone sanded down the original art.

Either way, if you decide to sell the Hit The Ice maquee let me know.

[Hildy_42]

The marquee I have is a little different than the original one.  I might be looking to get rid of it if I can find everything I need to convert it to a double dragon.  If I do you will be the first person I let know.  Still thought it was pretty cool that two of these cabinets showed up around the same time.  Good luck with your project and I will let you know about the marquee once I get a little further into the project.   

[bluevolume]

My project is on hold at the moment, the monitor crapped out on me last week.  I took the chasis to a repair shop today, so I'm hoping to be back in business this week.  And hopefully not poor!

[Malenko]

I just didnt like them as much as I thought I would. I have 14 red buttons and 13 red LEDs (broke one LED uninstalling) if your interested. Look at my project thread to see how much less wiring there is without them. It was neat being able to see the buttons in the dark, I admit that, but it was just excess I didnt need.

Cant wait to see what you're going to do with your cab.

[Hildy_42]

I doubt I will bid on this board since it is nonworking but since the seller does post a picture of what it is doing I thought I would see if any here has seen this before.  If so how are of a fix would this be?  I know a picture probably isn't going to get too many answers but since this is the first DD board I have found on eBay thought I would ask.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Taito-DOUBLE-DRAGON-Video-Arcade-Game-JAMMA-PCB-BAD-Brd_W0QQitemZ300144926450QQihZ020QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Hildy_42]

Found a good deal on a computer but before I make an offer I wanted to see if anyone could tell me if Killer Instinct II would run on it.  I think I might have to upgrade the RAM but other than looks like it would run it.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Very nice Dell.
Pentium 4
2ghz
256mb of ram
40gb hard drive
18x DVD burner Dual Layer
17in Monitor
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Windows XP Pro Office 2003 Pro   
 

[Crowquill]

It kept bothering me that I couldn't remember where I'd seen the picture of the Aladdin's Castle cabinet. I stumbled onto it today. It was over at HardMVS in their photo archive of Neo-Geo conversions.

It looks to be nearly identical to the AquaJack cab, but pretty much identical to yours. Judging by the sticker on the back I'd say that's definitely what yours started out as. It has very similar artwork on the bezel too.

[Hildy_42]

I do believe that is it.  I haven't had time to go pick up anything to remove the paint but I am pretty sure now that is what is underneath the black paint.  Thanks for the picture.  Actually waiting on some Double Dragon stuff that I have purchased.  So if you haven't guessed it I am converting it to DD.  Hopefully more updates once I get the control panel and board in hand.