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Author Topic: The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...  (Read 5009 times)

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slapaham

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The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...
« on: September 29, 2009, 07:53:49 pm »
OK, so some people in the UK probably already know a bit about this but I thought I'd share it here as well...

Basically, there was an Ebay auction a few months back for six battered old Sega Astro City and New Astro City candy cabs for a 'buy it now' of £60. Before I had even had time to properly think it through, I'd clicked the button! :scared

Stupidly, when I took the tail lift truck to London and collected them, I never thought of actually taking photos of the bloody things! :tool:

Fortunately a fellow forum member over at Arcade Otaku had previously seen these cabs (when they had been offered to him for way over the odds) and had taken photos, so here they are...










A lot of them had keys missing, but were locked, so lanky flexible limbs came into play to get full access to these beasts... putting your hand through the back panels and unscrewing the locks from the inside wasn't easy but I managed it and by doing it came across keys hanging inside of the cabs themselves... not everything I needed but they were certainly helpful! There were also some rung screws - managed to drill these out nice and neatly.  ;)

The next thing was establishing what was in the cabs, what worked, what didn't ,etc and then a plan of action... I'll tell you one thing, making a plan was one of the most difficult objectives as it was so overwhelming working on that many cabs. Nevermind the fact I'd never even explored the inside of a cab before! I found out 2 monitors were missing their chassis and that one cab had no PSU. But all in all, there was a lot of good stuff in them! I went about testing them - used my limited multimeter skills from my Egret 2 testing (thanks Grant!) to paint a clearer picture of where the problems lay. These also got a GOOD clean - filthy things! :P

Anyway, first cab... these was compiled from bits that I found working out of all the cabs... quite straight forward - probably the most complicated thing was a tube swap with another monitor but that wasn't particularly difficult (just daunting at first!)



Second one, the PSU died on this one... it had worked for a short while. Very frustrating. However, a guy over at Otaku required some bits of one of the scrappier cabs so I swapped them for a PSU he had spare! As the PSU didn't have the same connections I had to rewire the whole cabinet. I then put in a new monitor I had picked up at Insert Coin for £50 which needed wiring up to the loom.


The next one required a rewiring as well - partly due to my own dumbness... I'd taken the loom out for the previous cab from this one! ::) Anyway, I did a tube swap as the chassis worked but the tube I swapped it with had a different connection and a slightly different chassis. Finally got it linked up and the picture owned filled part of the screen. Thanks to some advice from monitor guru Grant I faffed with the pots and that solved the problem - the quality of the monitor is stunning! :)



The last cab - still in progress... on this one everything is working bar the monitor. There is a sync problem and I have been advised this is probably a short circuit problem. I'm fairly confident I can sort this (as I have got the monitor working on a couple of occasions very briefly!) but have to decided to opt for a replacement Nanao monitor which I have got a decent price on... I will be collecting this soon so the restorations should be drawn to a close very soon!


In you wondered about the last 2 cabs - well, they've been sold onto fellow members at Arcade Otaku. I'm looking forward to their restorations as these cabs really deserve it - they really are nice little cabs! However, I just ran out of steam and decided to pass them onto someone else! Had great fun doing it mind you!



Here's the break down of the costs to date...

£60 for the cabinets
£50 monitor
£75 monitor (incoming)
3x£30 control panels
£15 buttons
£13 control loom
£25 buttons, looms, 2xsticks
6x£5 control mounts
£49 3xcontrol looms, 2xsticks
£123 1x2p6b control panel populated, remaining buttons, looms, kick harness
£7.50 4xbarrel locks (incoming)
-----
£477.50
-£260 (payments for spare, surplus cabs and mahjong panels)
-----
£207.50 so far... only remaining costs are 2 JLF sticks 3x sideart strips (optional). Also, I get to keep a few spares, so it's 4 cabs and a few bits and pieces...

All in all, not too bad for nearly four working Sega Astro cabs... that's £51.875p per cab! :)

All I've got to say is that I would highly recommend doing this - really enjoyed it and have learnt so much from doing it. Now for my new restorations... ;D



Silas (son of Silas)

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Re: The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2009, 02:36:18 pm »
... that's £51.875p per cab! :)

I am literally lost for words  :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:



" ਜਿਹੜਾ ਲਾਓ ਜਰਦਾ ਉਹ ਸੌ ਸਾਲ ਨੰਈ ਮਰਦਾ " (he who chews tobacco would live to be a hundred )

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BurgerKingDiamond

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Re: The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2009, 03:52:53 pm »
WHAT! you got 6 candy cabs for $100!!!!! I'm so jealous I don't have words. I would love the chance to try and restore one of those. :notworthy:
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Mauzy

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Re: The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2009, 10:41:02 pm »
 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
"Son, all hobbies suck. But if you keep at it, you might find you managed to kill some precious time."

slapaham

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Re: The Monster Candy Cab Restoration...
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2009, 01:38:47 pm »
Thanks guys! :cheers:

Looks like my budget might go up a shade overall as the replacement monitor I got is faulty... :(

Hopefully I might be able to sort this for £40 so it shouldn't push the costing up too much!

Spent so long restoring these that it's been lovely playing them. Just want to get the last one's monitor sorted now and I'll be a happy man.

You're right - for that kind of money, you don't get opportunities like this! I feel very lucky! ;D