Centipede Mini Restoration

[SirPeale]

I picked this cab up in a lot of ten about two months ago.  The rest are in storage, but I thought I'd pick away at this one a bit at a time.

Vacuumed it out a couple days ago.  It was filled with mouse nests.  Gross.

Replaced a couple of the T nuts on the bottom with new leveler mounting plates, as well as the levelers.  All of them had holes thru them.

The power cord had its end torn right off.  I took a PC power cord, cut off the end and crimped on new Molex pins.  Good as new.

Next I thought I'd tackle the power distribution block.  Taking cues from BrentRadio's restorations, I disassembled it.  Scrubbed as much rust as I could from it.  I've masked off the original labels, and tomorrow I'll paint it brass.

[SirPeale]

Cleaned the power distribution block a ton.  And reassembled.

Before and after shots.  It's good, but it could be better.  Still...I'm happy with it.

[WunderCade]

Did you just dust it off with a brush or did you disassemble it and detail it?

Also, in your first post....no pic of the cab??

[SirPeale]

Did you just dust it off with a brush or did you disassemble it and detail it?

Did you read or just skim? 

Also, in your first post....no pic of the cab??

I haven't taken one yet.  I've got ten other cabs I still have to take pictures of.  Don't worry, I'll take one eventually.

[WunderCade]

Did you just dust it off with a brush or did you disassemble it and detail it?

Did you read or just skim? 

Oops!  I skimmed. 

Anyways....nice job indeed.

[SirPeale]

I've had problems with the board since day one.  I'd cleaned the legs on the ROMs before because they were heavily oxidized, but it only helped a bit.

Last night I took my soldering iron to the board and resoldered every socket on there, as well as any component that connected to ground.

Today I fired it up, and it still comes up with errors, but at least I can get it into test all the time now.  Comes up with ROM errors 2 and 4.

[SirPeale]

Oh  hey...picture...

[ChadTower]

That one has a good monitor-cab ratio.  Must be top heavy. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the coin doors.   

[Level42]

Nice work on the power brick, but shouldn't you replace the Big Blue ?

And don't you have a bit better resolution picture of the cab ?  Please ?

[SirPeale]

I'll replace it eventually.  Right now it's doing it's job.  Money is tight, and I've been funding cab purchases with store sales.  Sales have been slow lately, so that's why there have been no updates.  What it really needs is boardwork.  I want to replace all the caps, but more importantly either I have a bad socket or a bad ROM.

Yes, I have a hi-res photo, but it's huge.  That's why I resized it. 

I've already pulled the coin door.  Most of the old coating came off in one big sheet.  The rust just tunneled under it.  Regrettably there was a tube lock on the bottom, and it was locked with no key.  I crowbared it.  Didn't want to, but I wanted to get to work on it and stop screwing around. 

The last of the coating didn't want to come off easily with a wire wheel, so I'm going to do some chemical persuasion next.

[ChadTower]

The last of the coating didn't want to come off easily with a wire wheel, so I'm going to do some chemical persuasion next.

I was at Harbor Freight the other day for 20 minutes staring at the sandblasting cabinets... so tempting it's not even funny.

[SirPeale]

If I had a place to use/store it I'd have built one a long time ago.  Living in a two bedroom apartment my choices are unfortunately limited.

[ChadTower]

I bet we could design one for occasional use that's easy to take apart and store.

[RayB]

Coin Door: Lots of sanding and spray paint = Will look new

[SirPeale]

Why replace the coin door? Look up my Centi mini thread. Lots of sanding and spray paint = Looks New

Who's replacing the coin door?  We're talking about replacing Big Blue.

[RayB]

Saw Chad's post, saw your reply. Level42's was not noticed. Strange. I must have had him on Ignore. (Just Kidding!!!!)

[Level42]

Hehehehe, must be your spam filter... 

[SirPeale]

I bet we could design one for occasional use that's easy to take apart and store.

I'd have to worry about the compressor too.  Until I get a "real" workshop this is on a back-burner.

I've looked before in the area for people that sand/bead blast, but didn't find anyone.  I should ask again.  Concentrate on body shops this time.  I hear they use them a lot.

[ChadTower]

I'd have to worry about the compressor too.  Until I get a "real" workshop this is on a back-burner.

I have a compressor I haven't learned to use yet and a lot of stuff I could use a sandblaster on.    It's worth thinking about and you'd be able to box stuff up for me to blast in a batch.  If we could come up with a design that allows us to take it apart for storage it would be easy to build two and you just sit on yours until you have a compressor.  Or build it later.

[SirPeale]

If you weren't so damn far away I'd consider it.

[SirPeale]

Actually worked on this quite a bit today.  Pulled the harness out and monitor, sanded the heck out of the bottom of the cab, vacuumed and wiped down everything.  Started wire wheeling off the bezel retainer rust to repaint. 

Then I pulled the board to clean the heck out of the ROM legs.  Thought (hoped) that this problem might be solved by dirty legs.  It's been reporting ROMs 2 and 4 as bad.

When I pulled 2 I found that one of the legs was gone entirely!  I was really excited.  I soldered on a cap leg I cut off from when I did cap kit.  Little change - now the P1 and P2 start buttons light up, but nothing else seems to be different.  I have to bite the bullet and get new ROMs.  Sucks they're so expensive.

[SirPeale]

I've been scrubbing the heck out of the coin door to get the old coating and the rust off.  I wish there was a sand blaster in this area, this is a big pain.

[ChadTower]

Any chance of getting just a sandblaster?  I think Sears carries them cheap, no cabinet, just put the door against a rock and blast it.

[SirPeale]

Also no compressor to drive the sandblaster.  And the fact that I live in the downtown area, I don't really have a place to do that outside of a cabinet.

I'd be fine taking it somewhere...IF there was somewhere to take it.

[ChadTower]

There has to be an easier solution to this.  Chemical stripping?

[Malenko]

no powder coaters in the area?  they always have a sandblaster.  they could even just powder coat the door for you

[SirPeale]

There has to be an easier solution to this.  Chemical stripping?

Stripping just removes the old coating.  I still have to deal with the rust.  Which isn't hard, it's just that there are all these impossible to get to area with my wire wheel.  Likely I'll just do it with sandpaper by hand.

no powder coaters in the area?  they always have a sandblaster.  they could even just powder coat the door for you

Not that I'm aware of, or I would have gone that route.

[ChadTower]

Stripping just removes the old coating. 

There are chemical strippers for rust too.

[WunderCade]

If you have a compressor, the sandblasting attachment is only 12 bucks at HD.

[SirPeale]

If you have a compressor, the sandblasting attachment is only 12 bucks at HD.

I don't.  Wish I did.

Stripping just removes the old coating. 

There are chemical strippers for rust too.

They don't do nearly as good a job as an abrasive, IMO.

[RayB]

I just used an ordinary Mouse sander. Wasn't 100% down to the steel either. So long as it was smooth and no rust, it was ready for spraying.
(And results look like it's NEW!)

[ChadTower]

They don't do nearly as good a job as an abrasive, IMO.

No, but they do the first 85% of the work for you.  Then you finish with an abrasive.

[Malenko]

if you are ok with shipping, I know the owner of Powder Barons (a local PC'er) and I could get you a great deal, he'll blast and coat it whatever color you want

http://www.powderbarons.com

just email him and tell them 3fastperformance referred you

[ChadTower]

Holy snot that guy's work is pretty.

[Wade]

There are powder coaters in practically every city.  IMO it's not worth it for most arcade parts though.  You'll spend a lot more money because you are paying someone else the labor to blast the part and then to coat it.  Typically you'd spend $25-50 for one thing like a coin door.  Not worth it at all IMO.  Besides, a good $5 can of Rustoleum spraypaint looks just as good, if not better in most cases.  And in a home environment, the extra durability that powder coating sometimes provides is not really a concern.

All just my opinion of course.  I don't see anything wrong with powder coating, I just think it's wasted effort and expense on video games.

Wade

[SirPeale]

I guess it depends on the powder coater.  I've heard insane prices of like $75 to strip and recoat a door.  I've also heard of dudes that do it dirt cheap.  I'd at least check things out - IF there were guys that did it in my area.

[RayB]

The way to get it done cheap is to have the parts slipped in with other parts being done of the same color, and the guy gets paid cash. Know what I mean?
 

[Malenko]

3fast sends alot of business his way; cant hurt to drop an email, thats all Im sayin. If you have a buncha stuff you want done at the same time and the same color; even better for you.

I wouldn't suggest him if I hadn't used his service before. Just trying to help out a fellow BYOAC'er

[ChadTower]

Thought about this some today... while not quite a full stripper, how about a powerwasher?

[Wade]

I guess it depends on the powder coater.  I've heard insane prices of like $75 to strip and recoat a door.  I've also heard of dudes that do it dirt cheap.  I'd at least check things out - IF there were guys that did it in my area.

Peale, where do you live?  IF you really want powdercoating, I'd bet there's a powdercoater somewhere nearby.  You might want to call some body shops or car/truck accessory places.  There are tons of guys that do this kind of work, especially since it can be done with minimal tools.  Find someone who is into classic cars, hotrods, or import sports cars.  They will probably know someone who does it.  My city is only 50,000 and I have run into several powder coaters before, and could probably find a dozen if I really looked.

Wade