Cheese's Donkey Kong Restoration Project

[CheeseSndwch]

So I posted a Wanted Ad on Craigslist looking for a Donkey Kong Cabinet that was in structurally good shape. I only received one response but the price was right and the cab sounded promising. I drove out to take a look at it today and decided to bring it home. This is my first cab and I am definitely a layman but I was excited all the same. I hate that it is Sunday night. It will be a few days before I can even really dive into this project.

I took a few pics before I lost the light…




1. The cabs made it home safe and sound.



2. Patching the holes from the freaking security bar is going to be a pain. The bezel is in surprisingly good shape. Note all the tax/permit stickers.



3. The left side of the cab. Holes galore.



4. The right side of the cab; swiss cheese just like the left side.



5. I don’t know what the hell was going on with this CP. Some kind of crazy conversion? Hopefully I’ll find out more after closer inspection.



6. The Cab's inside; all that remains is a power supply(?).



7. The serial plate. Does anyone actually know how to decipher one of these things?



8. Kind of an added bonus but the guy I bought the cab from said he was throwing out a gutted Asteroids Deluxe cabinet and if I wanted it was mine. I hated the thought of leaving a free cab behind so it made the trip home with me. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it though.

[shiftybill]

Sounds like you had a fairly interesting day, i cant wait to see the donkey kong machine restored and what a score on the 2nd cab!

[Lutus]

There are plenty of us on this forum who have restored a DK machine.  you should be able to find LOTS of information.

Does the DK have a monitor in it?

How original do you want this to thing to be? 

Clay

[SirPeale]

Are you going to do a DK or a D2K?  I just picked up a Dk that I'm going to convert.

[CheeseSndwch]

There are plenty of us on this forum who have restored a DK machine.  you should be able to find LOTS of information.

The forum is a great resource. Neil’s Donkey Kong Restoration thread is what inspired me to take the plunge.

Does the DK have a monitor in it?

Nope, no monitor.

How original do you want this to thing to be?

Well I’d like it to look as original as possible but realistically with my disposable income I might have to make some economic choices.

Are you going to do a DK or a D2K?  I just picked up a Dk that I'm going to convert.

I really didn’t even know about D2K until recently. If I had to decide today I would be going with just plain old Donkey Kong but who knows what I’ll be thinking when it comes time to really make that decision. Will you be doing a D2K themed cab? I really like the artwork that has been produced for the D2K cabs.

[SirPeale]

Yes, I'm going all the way.  I bought the paint yesterday.  I'd pre-order the art, but I don't know when it's being released, and don't want that money tied up doing nothing yet.

[Lutus]

Alrighty, if you get a Sanyo20EZ monitor you must use the original power supply (100V outlet).  The Sanyo CANNOT plug directly into an isolation transformer from the wall.

I would go with a G07 if you can get one.  Lots of parts available and easy to trouble shoot.

So, you need the following for a dedicated machine:

FUNCTION:

-Monitor
-Gameboard (2 board style preferably)
-Mike's color inversion and audio amp board seen here
-marquee
-control panel
-sideart
-paint

Stuff from Mike's Arcade

OR

-computer monitor
-simple computer running MAME with DK
-marquee
-control panel
-sideart
-paint

Either way you got DK, but the gameboard is the option I went with, and the original hardware just PLAYS better and the arcade monitor rocks vs. the computer monitor

[CheeseSndwch]

Well I had a chance to steal some time today before I went to go workout. Not very much progress but I’m glad I got a chance to get some work in.

- Removed the monitor mounts/brackets(?) you can see a bit of the side art that was underneath the bolts
- I was going to pull out the power supply but it was on the verge of raining so I decided to leave it for another day
- Noticed a pretty significant gap on the bottom right corner
- Started noticing a lot of spots where things don’t line up to great…a bit worried about that
- Removed the security bar; luckily the holes were not as bad as I had expected
- Removed the coin door
- Wanted to remove the marquee light and the bezel but I was having trouble. Lots of random screws

Thoughts/Suggestions/Encouragement?

[BUCKETHEAD]

I did this with my empty POPEYE cabinet.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79183.0

And i have to say?

That cabinet looks to be in better shape than mine was!

[CheeseSndwch]

Thanks Bucket.

I got some more work in today. Nothing major.

- Removed the upper bezel bracket (kind of a pain, one of the screw heads was stripped)
- Removed the bezel
- Removed the aftermarket marquee light
- Removed the power supply
- Removed the speaker and speaker grill
- Shop Vaced the interior

The next time I get a chance to get some work in I plan to clean the exterior thoroughly. I tried peeling off one of the stickers but it left a lot of junk on the cab. Not sure if I’ll need a heat gun or some kind of cleaning solvent.

[Lutus]

Get them off best you can.  You need to sand down, primer, and paint the whole cab anyways.  So don't worry too much about sticker residue.

[BUCKETHEAD]

Yeah, The paint won't stick to the laminate on the cabinet.

Your gonna have to rough it up, By sanding it.

Primer then paint!

[CheeseSndwch]

Lutus and Buckethead thanks for keeping up with this thread and offering advice. It is greatly appreciated.

So I’m taking the cabinet over to a friend’s house this weekend to take care of a few things before I start the sanding/priming/painting process. My biggest concern are the random screws on the outside of my cabinet. I assume they were put there to reinforce it but they look like crap. Plus the lower right side of the cabinet has a very noticeable gap. I plan to remove the screws and see if they are actually holding the cabinet together. No matter what happens if the screws must stay I plan to countersink them so they can be covered up with putty/bondo before I paint. I also plan on removing the current base and fabricating a new one. I’m itching to paint but I want to get things in order before I do.

Here are a few pics of the random screws on the left and right side of the cabinet. As well as the gap on the right side. There are also four screws on control panel box in the pic I attached in my last post.

[BUCKETHEAD]

Yikes!

Looks like someone's attempt to keep the cabinet together!

And a poor one at that.

I would remove those old screws.

Get yourself some wood glue and clamps.

Some new screws and countersink those babies in!

It won't come apart again!


What do you think LUTUS ?

[BUCKETHEAD]

Any progress my friend ?

[CheeseSndwch]

No, no progress. I hurt my back last week doing upright rows so I wasn't in the best of shape to move the cab over to my friend's house. I should be getting some work done this week though.

[Lutus]

Yikes!
Looks like someone's attempt to keep the cabinet together!
And a poor one at that.
I would remove those old screws.
Get yourself some wood glue and clamps.
Some new screws and countersink those babies in!
It won't come apart again!
What do you think LUTUS ?

Absolutely.  You HAVE to spend the time now to make that thing as solid as a rock before you even think about starting to sand/paint.

Otherwise, you would just be putting a face lift on a corpse.  And it would still be dead on the inside.   

[AnthonyB]

Hey, nice find! I was just wondering what the dimensions of the two monitor boards are, the base and backer. I know they are 22.5"x something. Thanks!

[WunderCade]

This is a good candidate thread for the Restoration forum....

Any progress on the cab, Cheese?

[JeepMonkey]

This is a good candidate thread for the Restoration forum....

 

[CheeseSndwch]

Hey, nice find! I was just wondering what the dimensions of the two monitor boards are, the base and backer. I know they are 22.5"x something. Thanks!

Sorry for my late response. I’m doing some work on the cab tomorrow and I will measure these up for you.

This is a good candidate thread for the Restoration forum....

I’m not quite sure if my cab qualifies for the restoration forum since I haven’t decided what I plan to do internally.

Any progress on the cab, Cheese?

Well I hate to make excuses but things have been a bit hectic in Houston lately. Currently my biggest problem is the weather. It seems like every day that I set aside some time to work on the cab it rains. Unfortunately I don’t have the garage space to work on the cab so my driveway is my work area. I don’t want to jinx it but I plan to bring the cab over to my friend’s house tomorrow to countersink the screws and set everything in place with wood glue and clamps. I will also be fabricating a new base. Hopefully I will be able to update with some new pics tomorrow.

[CheeseSndwch]

Well I got some work into today as planned. Fabricated a new base and fixed the gap on the right side of the cabinet.

1. Cab all loaded up in the truck bed; notice the gap.

2. Decided to clamp it down before we removed the base.

3. The sophisticated base removal technique.

4. The Cab’s base removed.

5. The new fabricated pieces for the replacement base with the old base pieces.

6. One of the L sections of the base clamped down while the glue dried.

7. Had to sand some of the interior cabinet paint off so the glue would adhere.

8. Just a random shot of the cab before things started getting glued into place.

[CheeseSndwch]

Today’s work continued...

9. This was actually kind of tricky because we had to glue the piece in hammer it down and roll the cab so we could apply the clamps.

10. The two L pieces being glued together to form the base.

11. This is probably the best pic of the screws after they were counter sunk. Not the greatest but you get the idea.

12. All the L brackets applied to the base piece.

13. The base piece reattached to the cabinet.

14. The cabinet back up on its feet with the new base.

[BUCKETHEAD]

Lookin Good!   

[BrentRadio]

I say for for the full restore. All of the parts are available. Get the DK2 Kit as well. But keep it origianl DK. Then buy a copy of The King Of Kong and be a proud DK owner.

And mame the AD cab.

 

Brent

[CheeseSndwch]

Hey, nice find! I was just wondering what the dimensions of the two monitor boards are, the base and backer. I know they are 22.5"x something. Thanks!

I completely forgot to post these for you on my last update. Sorry about that.

In my cab the...

Monitor Base is 22.5" x 13 7/8" x 1/2"

Monitor Backer is 22.5" x 5 7/8" x 1/2"

Lookin Good!   

Thanks Bucket

I say for for the full restore. All of the parts are available. Get the DK2 Kit as well. But keep it origianl DK. Then buy a copy of The King Of Kong and be a proud DK owner

I’m still pretty torn on which way to go. When it comes time to make my decision. Finances might be the biggest factor in which route I take and I really like what Bucket was able to do with his cab. To be honest I was kind of surprised to see my thread get moved over to the restoration forum but I guess it could easily get moved back if I decided to go another route.

So on that note...I doubt any work will be getting done this week. I’ve picked up some freelance work which is nice but it's eating up my free time. I of course will putting all that money towards the cab. I did some googling to try and figure out what my cab had been converted to and judging by the remnants of the side art it very well could have been a PlayChoice at one point in its life.

/note: I can’t recall where I pulled the pic from but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was someone who posts on this site so credit goes to them.

[AnthonyB]

thanks!!!
 

[CheeseSndwch]

Ughh just missed out on a relatively cheap coin box on eBay. Sent the seller a question went to work out and when I got back it was gone. Should have just jumped on it when I had the chance.

[Farb]

D'oh... I bet that was the one I just won earlier today. I got it just for the drawer... I'd be happy to give you the outer box for the cost of shipping.

[CheeseSndwch]

Thanks Farb. I might have to take you up on that. Let me know when it comes in.

[Level42]

How do the Nintendo coinboxes look ? My cab is missing it.

[CheeseSndwch]

Here is a really good thread about Nintendo Coin Boxes.

[BUCKETHEAD]

I really like what Bucket was able to do with his cab.

I don't recommend doing what i did.

( Unless )

The cabinet is completely empty when you received it.

And if you go my route?

Your monitor will stick out the back, And you won't be able to get your backdoor on.

Unless you transfer everything over to the original monitor frame.

[Level42]

Here is a really good thread about Nintendo Coin Boxes.

O wow, so it's a wooden drawer....never thought of that. I've got the support and the "cage" for the drawer, but the drawer obviously is missing. Maybe I can make one or have my brother take a shot at it (he's better with wood stuff).

Thanks.

[jimkirk]

I would definitely restore that DK. You could use a jamma harness to wire your machine if you don't have original harness. This will also allow you to play other vertically oriented games in your machine. I have DK,DKJR, and GALAGA in mine. Get an original DK board set (2 board type),on the DK2 the DK sound is a little different than the original and does not sound quite right to me.

[CheeseSndwch]

Ok quick question. Saying Bondo is like saying Kleenex or Band-Aids a popular brand name that genrically refers to a product...so that being said, what type of Bondo should I buy/use?

[WunderCade]

Ok quick question. Saying Bondo is like saying Kleenex or Band-Aids a popular brand name that genrically refers to a product...so that being said, what type of Bondo should I buy/use?

Buy the one that says Bondo on the can. It is a two part mixture. You can buy different color "hardeners" depending on what color you want your Bondo to be. There's also a hardening glaze you can buy to "finish off" the Bondo, it's to fill in any air bubble holes left behind after sanding the Bondo flat.

Bondo hardens quickly so make sure you only prepare enough for the immediate area you're working on. When mixing the hardener with the Bondo, use a "fold-in" technique to mix rather than stirring it. The reason for this is that folding drastically reduces the introduction of air bubbles that you get when stirring.

You can pick up Bondo pretty much anywhere there is a hardware or automotive dept.

Hope this helps.

[Jdurg]

Also, remember to use the Bondo in a VERY WELL VENTILATED area.  The stuff is horrifically potent in regards to odor and making you feel fuzzy and hazy.

[CheeseSndwch]

Every freaking day off rain, rain, rain. 

[CheeseSndwch]

So I tried to get some work in today…

1. My back has been bothering me lately, so I decided to lift the cab up on a base so I wouldn’t be hunched over while I worked on it.

2. Some corner work that will need to be taken care of.

3. Go one side of the cabinet cleaned up before I tried the Bondo. Probably should have done some more prep work.

4. So I mixed up some Bondo and started applying it the problem areas/holes.

5. I’m guessing that I put too much of the activating agent in because in about a minute the Bondo took on an oatmeal consistency.

6. This area got the oatmeal treatment as well. I figured I'd salvage as much of the Bondo as I could; after some sanding it didn't look to bad but I will need to be redone before painting.

7. I had to pack it up as the rain clouds started to roll in.

Does anyone have any advice with mixing up the Bondo? Did I use too much activating agent or did I just mix up to much and that’s how fast Bondo starts to dry? Any advice would be appreciated.

[CheeseSndwch]

Didn’t get any work in today but I did get this in the mail.

.99 + $14.99 S&H (EBay)

[Level42]

Damn, that's exactly what my Mario Bros is still missing

[CheeseSndwch]

I think I lucked out since it was listed as a Nintendo Coin Box. If it had been listed as a game specific coin box there probably would have been some more bidders.