Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

Galaga upright restoration

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vidmouse:
Congrats on getting this working!
Been following this for awhile, was hoping you'd get it yet this summer.


--- Quote from: kayoteq on August 29, 2008, 02:07:24 pm ---Board is ready to run for the 3-day burn-in.

--- End quote ---

Is a 3-day burn-in typical?  Do they just plug it in and
let the attract mode (or whatever you call it) play
itself for 3 days to see if there's problems?  Why 3 days?

I re-fired my Galaga cocktail up after not messing with it
for a few weeks... it was having the same Rom 3H errors
and misc. resets... then I just let it warm up a bit and
now it seems like it runs ok... I'm leaving it plugged in now
at least overnight to see if the highscore resets or anything
else quirky goes on...

kayoteq:
72 hours of continuous operation would put about everything to their average operating temperature for an extended time.

I don't think he accounts for crt heat, but seems a valid method of sorting out any problems that don't show up for a few hours.
It's always cycling through all the functions, sound, etc. and anything that would be going wrong would build up to an error in the data.
One bit not writing over that time would eventually crash it or cause visual anomalies.

So far it's working fine. I have a loose red wire that I need to dig in and fix, it's distracting.
The games have it easy compared to their prime, but they're older. Kinda like (some of) us.
I'm thinking of adding PC fans to all my games to keep em in a less extreme state.

kayoteq:
Okay, step #34 of ? ? ? completed. The Repro Overlay Install.


Lots of tips ganked from others on here, but this went a _lot_ easier than some of my un-converting control panel overlays.

Vital Tool: Heat Gun. On low speed.

Method:
Remove everything. Duh. set aside for cleaning, putting the carriage bolts in a drill and polishing them with sandpaper results in keen cleen.
Consider the leaf switches to be very sensitive instruments and make sure there is no way for them to get bent in any fashion.
Do _not_ take them apart at the cork-metal-cork area unless you are there for a specific reason. Just removing them from the buttons/removing the metal panels from the joystick assembly.. Actually rebuilt the joystick because it had been going right randomly by itself. Not a desired symptom.
Tilt axle- grease (like axle grease) or some other grease? i went for motor oil for now since that was what was on-hand.

Anyhow.. now to the sacrilege. I stared and stared at my two panels deciding which would be the victim/restored one. Turns out that spraypaint the vendor had put on the
game (big X on the glass, which came off) helped the decision, as it wouldn't go away. Normally a person doesn't have that problem, but mine was a 'total'. Heh.

Heat gun on low speed, starting at the bottom front of the panel. a razor just to start things. I applied heat to the _back_ of the panel to help things along, and direct heat only
sparingly. I wanted to remove it as intact as possible, as you not only get some very unique stickers,  it's a lot less trouble to remove.
Back and forth, corner swapping, edges, razoring the stuck adhesive layer when it stayed on the metal. Patience.
As is common, the front edge in the middle was quite worn and has holes worn in it. if you've been 're-activating' the adhesive with the heat gun. it might even make it past there somewhat intact. Watch for splits and nip them in the bud or else you'll rip the thing. Keep using that heat on the back, move around, up to your heat tolerance.

At some point, you may need to go from the top of the panel. That part is folded over the metal, keep using the heat, at a distance, as your assistant. Again, from the back will get that metal pretty toasty and help that adhesive layer off.

At a point, the front edge (with all the worn holes may separate and so much for a fully intact original label. But, if you do this slowly and carefully enough, you've gotten the sticker all the way off with just a few stray adhesive layers that won't take much to remove. Since that layer doesn't have art, it's okay to heat it up a bit to get it loose. Surprisingly little of that remained. End result: a sticky, bare metal panel.

At this point some folks would sand and primer the panel. I lucked out in that this panel is about 98% rust-free, and again, quite sticky. So I went for the overlay install.

First, with the backing still on it, do a test fit with some bolts and buttons. Everything lining up right? (mine was pre-cut), so a test fitting showed that the button holes
were _not_ going to be perfectly covered. The buttons do that job. You mainly want the bolt holes to line up, then everything else will. Okay then.

Turn the panel on its side, so you can use the floor as a alignment point.

Once you've practiced enough, remove that backing. You're committed now,

Two sticky surfaces are quite attracted to each other, so try to get them as lined up as possible before letting them touch. I did the control surface first, making sure everything lines up before pressing out any air bubbles and/or committing to 'really stuck on there'. I had about 2 mismatches before getting it right. Worrying every time I had to pull apart. Okay, control surface done. now, go for the bend, pressing it from there downwards to the bottom.
If everything goes right and you lined up the bolt holes earlier, your lower two there will line up as well as the edges. Score! keep going over things once you know it's lined up, with your hands and/or a towel to really get these things together.

Everything hunky dory? Now you can go back up to the top of the panel, the upper edge, and fold it over the top and press that as well. If you have a decently adhesive overlay,
then this is no problem and the final step other than re-assembly of the controls. squish squish. now, you have a nice overlay, ready to put all those polished and cleaned buttons and things back on.

A tip on putting one of these back together if it's original parts: a little phenomenon called 'wire memory'. You'll be able to put the 1 2 start buttons and even the joystick lever leafs back in the right places by just relying on what shape the wires are. Both the buttons and the joystick have two alignments in their assembly mounts, so it should go back together swimmingly.
Have a test run. Everything working? I had a joystick leaf not make contact, so I violated the rules of leaf switches and bent it towards the contact.
Don't do this. Just because I got lucky and it worked.. The barest, minimal amount necessary for reliable operation.
There are tools for this, I don't have one. Again, don't.


Finally- all together. Now, have a game run. If you get about the same score, and if anything a bit more reliable control of the ship, then you've done good.
Now all you have to do is remember to clean your hands before playing, filthy slob you..

And my current opinion of the overlay I got: pretty good. Nice surface, good adhesive. Just that darn 'reserved' word missing, but overall it's a quality repro.

(looks back at posting) Whoa, that was a minor novel, wasn't it?

Level42:
2% of rust is the start of more.

kayoteq:
Agreed, (I have a 74 Beetle), but in this case it was just the exposed area at the bend, just where the overlay had worn away.
I am going to refinish the controller, though. Cleaning the surface rust spots removed the microthin paint layer.. The luxury of having a spare..Glad I stopped selling them off before I ran out.

Now I've got a clean spot and will have to go outwards to match the look. Edges next, ganking methods from darth's project. This one isn't too bad compared to the Gravitar that loses base panel edge every time it gets moved.

After a while of playing and booting, the PCB hasn't acted up once since that one brief image rom hiccup. Guy does a keen job.

Still have an issue of it taking about 10-15 minutes for the CRT to 'warm up enough' to make the green show up. the connector has issues with red, and maybe the green signal isn't making contact till the boards expand enough (already did all the standard caps on this G07) So at a point I gotta pull the chassis and reflow the connectors for the rgb. I overlooked it the first time (and it was, indeed the first time doing a cap kit)

Worth it rather than having somebody over and having to wait for all the colors to show up..
The other G07 I have boots right up in color, so there's something not connecting right off.

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