star wars arcade cabinet partial restore

[abzman2000]

I have a star wars upright arcade cabinet from craigslist.  The restore I will have to do is going to be more time consuming than any I have seen in my 2 years of research and 6 months of having every post from this forum sent to my rss reader.  A hint at how bad it is: someone into arcade restoration (usenet) gave it away for free, and after 2 days of explaining, to what was probably a lot more discerning group of people than than me, it's condition. 

and obviously pics will follow, I just need to find and charge my camera

[ratzz]

I'm sure there is a lot of original plastic that can be recovered from your find, + a lot of love.

Good luck, look forward to seeing pics (however bad) - I love SW ... forever!

[abzman2000]

I'm sure there is a lot of original plastic that can be recovered from your find, + a lot of love.

another hint at the condition, there is no decorative plastic left (didn't know that when I went to pick it up and the reason for not fully restoring)

The reason I left it in the main forum is because I intend to restore the sideart, and get a star wars marquee (nos or origital), but because of the condition I plan to mame it while not purchasing original plastic and control panel because I don't have the funds.  I plan to keep it, so if I ever do get the cash I can restore it fully, but until then all I want is a cabinet that looks like it flows so someone who has never seen a star wars cab would think it original. 

[HaRuMaN]

 

[FrizzleFried]

Have mercy on the poor SW upright sole.  Let it go.  To MAME it would be a travesty of the highest order.  I am pretty sure there are some out there who'd trade a JAMMA cab you can beat-up on all day long for the SW cab.  MAME + SW Cab = Very very bad.  The arcade gods would surely frown upon thee' forever making  your arcade collecting/restoring years mired in misery.

[RayB]

ABZ, just post photos. Your descriptions of the condition are too cryptic and people aren't getting the fact that all you're left with is a box stripped of all its essential original parts.

It would cost him a fortune to locate and purchase everything needed to restore this (if Im reading his "hints" correctly).

[SavannahLion]

Have mercy on the poor SW upright sole.  Let it go.  To MAME it would be a travesty of the highest order.  I am pretty sure there are some out there who'd trade a JAMMA cab you can beat-up on all day long for the SW cab.  MAME + SW Cab = Very very bad.  The arcade gods would surely frown upon thee' forever making  your arcade collecting/restoring years mired in misery.

I guess I'm in the minority here. It really depends on how he intends to MAME the cab. If someone gets an empty beat to hell SW cab and MAMEs the cab in order to play SFII, then yeah, eternal flat tires from the Highway Gods would probably be in order. If, however, he MAMEs that same cab in order to play SW games, then what's the problem?

I think the fine line with me about restoring these SW cabs is whether the cab in question still has its (working) vector monitor. Not having the monitor makes it kind of pointless to truly restore since the vector monitor has to come from somewhere. Another Vector has to die to resurrect this one. Quite frankly, I'm not seeing a lot of Vector cabs up for grabs, much less any that are candidate donors.

If he's got one of the later raster cabs, then it's just a question of how much it costs to do the restore vs MAMEing the cabinet. No plastics and no controls might push it into MAMEing. It'd be best to see photos before one jumps all over the OP.

Look at the OP's original comment:

A hint at how bad it is: someone into arcade restoration (usenet) gave it away for free, and after 2 days of explaining, to what was probably a lot more discerning group of people than than me, it's condition.

It couldn't even be given away? This poor cab would have to be in really bad shape if no one is humping to own it.

[BASS!]

Just mame it to play star wars. It will be a heck of a lot more reliable. If you want after you are done, start getting all the boards so one day you can set it right.

[abzman2000]

my intention is to mame it to play star wars, and to fabricate the missing parts to a point where it looks passable, then start gathering authentic parts. 

the entire top has been sheared off, then screwed back together.  in addition to these pictures I took the power supply out to examine it, although it appears to be in good working order.  I am also going to need to know exactly how to put it back together and what wood and hardware is authentic, and what was added by the previous owner. 

[BASS!]

Awesome! Yeah I see nothing wrong in mameing an original cab if you cant afford the parts, just do it right. You have a great start there, and I envy you for your cl find. Good luck, I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

[HaRuMaN]

Wow...  I wonder how someone managed to knock the entire top off?

[beastathon]

Wow...  I wonder how someone managed to knock the entire top off?

You would be surprised how angry some people can get.
Or someone tried to steal it but couldn't fit it through the door?

The possibilities are practically endless!

[abzman2000]

this originally had a 19" monitor, right? if the mounting holes are right I want to try to mount a spare 19" crt computer monitor (also free) exactly where the old vector one was. 

-------For the record I plan to MAME this cabinet once I restore the sides, and fabricate suitable looking replacements to the missing pieces.  Once I have it working and playing star wars and esb I will start looking for actual replacement parts

[leapinlew]

this originally had a 19" monitor, right? if the mounting holes are right I want to try to mount a spare 19" crt computer monitor (also free) exactly where the old vector one was. 

-------For the record I plan to MAME this cabinet once I restore the sides, and fabricate suitable looking replacements to the missing pieces.  Once I have it working and playing star wars and esb I will start looking for actual replacement parts

From the arcade monitors I've worked with, a 19" arcade monitor is a true 19" viewable screen. A 19" CRT computer monitor is 18" viewable, and thus will be slightly smaller.

[abzman2000]

From the arcade monitors I've worked with, a 19" arcade monitor is a true 19" viewable screen. A 19" CRT computer monitor is 18" viewable, and thus will be slightly smaller.

what about physical size? I could deal with a slightly smaller screen if I didn't have to fabricate a new mounting board, otherwise I may be on the lookout for a 20" computer crt. 

[leapinlew]

From the arcade monitors I've worked with, a 19" arcade monitor is a true 19" viewable screen. A 19" CRT computer monitor is 18" viewable, and thus will be slightly smaller.

what about physical size? I could deal with a slightly smaller screen if I didn't have to fabricate a new mounting board, otherwise I may be on the lookout for a 20" computer crt. 

it's physically smaller.

[abzman2000]

well, I'll de-case the 19" I got and measure it.  If it matches, I'll use it, if not then I'm in the market for a 20" one

[leapinlew]

well, I'll de-case the 19" I got and measure it.  If it matches, I'll use it, if not then I'm in the market for a 20" one

You could still try and mount it. It's behind a dark tinted bezel and I doubt anyone would notice.

[SnApRoLl]

abzman,
I sent you a PM regarding a monitor.


Shawn

[abzman2000]

actually, I just remembered I have a 21" spare too.... so on either front I guess I'm fine for a monitor. 

[SavannahLion]

Wow...  I wonder how someone managed to knock the entire top off?

You would be surprised how angry some people can get.
Or someone tried to steal it but couldn't fit it through the door?

The possibilities are practically endless!

I spotted a thread about it... either here or KLOV, I don't remember. Where someone couldn't get a cab down their stairs (or through their door or something). That person basically just took a sawzall and lopped off the top seperating the cab into two, carried it down, then reassembled the cab in the basement. Stupid if you ask me, I would've cut the door bigger. 

It's also an apparently common fate to games like Discs of Tron.

[abzman2000]

ok, my spring break has started and I want to get some work done, first does anyone have something like an exploded diagram, or something that will let me know how this thing went together? right now I'm not sure what's original and what's not.  second, does anyone have any ideas as to what I should do about that piece of wood above the coin door hole? it's broken off (obviously) but it seems to have never come out.  I'd think that maybe clamping it together followed by gluing a thin piece of wood on the back would be a good idea. 

[abzman2000]

Come on guys, I expected a little more enthusiasm out of you.  Here I am with minimal woodworking knowledge, moderate to decent electrical knowledge, and no hands-on arcade restoration knowledge, trying to put humpty-dumpty the star wars cab back together.  I figured at least someone would be here trying to keep me from making it worse (however hard that may be). 

I took the top off (about a dozen screws) and will have pictures soon. 

[HaRuMaN]

I need pictures to be enthused.... 

[abzman2000]

here we go:


detail of the broken part on the front of the cab







left side of the main body of the cab








right side of the main body of the cab










what remains of the wood that sat behind the marquee









top left broken off part of the cab








(the back corner of the left side is fractured)






top right broken off part of the cab (center part still attached)













(came off)






I'm tempted to add "56k warning" to the title of the thread, who thinks I should?

[HaRuMaN]

Lol... if you're still using 56K, you're already bordering on FAIL...  I wouldn't worry about it.

And what the hell happened to that cab?  Did it fall off a moving truck?

[Octo]

Wow.....

It's gonna be like the Six Million Dollar Man getting that thing back together.... or Robocop, when they shoot Murphy to pieces.

That really is a shame that someone would destroy an original cab like that, if only for the sideart. If the art could come off I would recommend copying the panel dimensions and applying it on a fresh cab, but it won't....

As far as diagrams, all I could find was the sit-down enclosed Star Wars game from 1983, it seems to be the more popular version.

[abzman2000]

Lol... if you're still using 56K, you're already bordering on FAIL...  I wouldn't worry about it.

I figured that warning might do two things:
1. warn anyone with a slow internet connection not to open this thread
2. entice people with fast internet to open the thread because of the promise of lots of pictures

[SavannahLion]

A hint at how bad it is: someone into arcade restoration (usenet) gave it away for free, and after 2 days of explaining, to what was probably a lot more discerning group of people than than me, it's condition.

It couldn't even be given away? This poor cab would have to be in really bad shape if no one is humping to own it.

Holy crap. I was right. That poor cab looks like someone tried to shove it through the damn pet door.

Well... you have a pretty good opportunity here if you choose to do a restore. Wherever you can, you can use the broken portions as templates to cut out new pieces with a better grade wood.

You're going to use a lot of techniques if you expect to do an actual repair ... er repairs instead of new construction. Don't be shy about looking at other fields and see what kind of techniques they use for repairs.

If I saw this cab, I probably would've salvaged what I could and sent the rest to the curb. Kudos to the better man with the bigger balls to take on a project this involved.

[MacGyver]

Well you could always just use the poor thing for it's measurements and then upload them to jakobud.com, then just make a new one from scratch, maybe keeping a shelf or a support here and there.  Don't forget to get REALLY high quality scans of the art work, someone somewhere must need them too, and might be willing to vector them as well.  At least it would have died for a reason.  Good luck either way.

[Mauzy]

Holy crap. If you could make this thing look like it was never split apart from the outside,, you would be my official arcade restoration hero.

[Barry Barcrest]

A hint at how bad it is: someone into arcade restoration (usenet) gave it away for free, and after 2 days of explaining, to what was probably a lot more discerning group of people than than me, it's condition.

It couldn't even be given away? This poor cab would have to be in really bad shape if no one is humping to own it.

Holy crap. I was right. That poor cab looks like someone tried to shove it through the damn pet door.

Well... you have a pretty good opportunity here if you choose to do a restore. Wherever you can, you can use the broken portions as templates to cut out new pieces with a better grade wood.

You're going to use a lot of techniques if you expect to do an actual repair ... er repairs instead of new construction. Don't be shy about looking at other fields and see what kind of techniques they use for repairs.

If I saw this cab, I probably would've salvaged what I could and sent the rest to the curb. Kudos to the better man with the bigger balls to take on a project this involved.

In all seriousness I think rebuilding it using what is there for templates is the way to go. The artwork could be scanned and with some tweaking be put back together... Damn i wonder what really happened to that for it to end up in such bad shape. 

Good Luck with what ever you do dude.

[ChadTower]

Damn, man.  I'm one of the biggest advocates around for saving good games no matter the effort... but this one... give that one a viking funeral and move along.  There were so many Star Wars cabs gutted when the monitors died that it shouldn't be too hard to take whatever parts are left and just use them to save a better candidate.  This one is too far gone...