Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

Restoring my first arcade cabinet - Centipede

(1/4) > >>

StuDaBaker:
I picked this up about a year ago off Craiglist and pretty much brought it in the house and plugged it in. It plays well, and the one of the previous owners had started a restoration on it, story I was told is that he moved out of state and couldn't take it with.

The left side art has been replaced, and the vinyl is in good condition, but there was no prep work done before it was applied by whomever did it. The cabinet should have been filled and sanded. They also put the vinyl over a strip of non-skid type tape that was on the bottom of the cabinet. Other than that, the application of the decal looks good. It bugs me, and I'd like to remove it and do it properly.

The right side is blank. It's got laminate on the side and it's got a few scrapes and chips, but seems in better shape than the opposite side. You can see the strip on non-slip black tape at the bottom. It's got a grit factor to it. I can't believe they didn't remove it from the other side before applying the side art vinyl.

The marquee and monitor glass are in good shape, a couple small scratches on each, hardly noticable, and the CPO had been replaced as well. Pretty good job here, only one of the carriage bolts was barely too tight and cause the slightest wrinkle. The blue color is quite a bit darker than the blue in the monitor glass, not sure how different that is from an original CPO. The cone buttons work properly and the trackball, although in need of some new rollers and maybe new bearings, still works surprisingly well. Of course, the ball itself is yellowed and well used. When that gets serviced I'll clean up the bolt heads as well.

The coin door itself seems to be in pretty good shape, I'd like to get it working but the wiring is a mess. Cut wires and loose ends are plentiful. Needless to say, it's on freeplay. I've only got 1 side of the 24 pin connector, and I'm not sure the wires are supposed to loop back into the connector like that.

The inside of the cabnet is not bad, it had probably been gone over not too long before I got it. There's a few loose connections on the back as well

It's got a Goldstar monitor in it. Chassis says manufactured in 1994. The picture is good, but the color is off. Look at the difference in color from the top right towards the bottom left. The color is worse toward the left side of the screen. The monitor has a degauss coil, but it either doesn't work or the color too far gone for it to do anything. Doesn't really affect gameplay, but I'd like to eventually have that corrected.

Overall, I like to think this cabinet is in pretty good shape, being almost 30 years old. I'd like to get it close to an original state though. Especially since it seems I'll keep it a while. I like playing it and so do my kids and our guests. I've been researching building a mame cab, and came across Peale and Spyridon's Centipede restoration threads and it's got me wanting to do this as well.  I'm going to put together a plan and post progress here (which I'm sure will take a while, I'd get the mame cab together before I disassemble this for restoration, but in the meantime, hopefully work out some of the wiring and trackball issues before that project gets underway.

Spyridon:

--- Quote from: StuDaBaker on October 20, 2009, 02:11:08 am ---The left side art has been replaced, and the vinyl is in good condition, but there was no prep work done before it was applied by whomever did it. The cabinet should have been filled and sanded. They also put the vinyl over a strip of non-skid type tape that was on the bottom of the cabinet. Other than that, the application of the decal looks good. It bugs me, and I'd like to remove it and do it properly.
--- End quote ---

Looks like a solid cab and the artwork side looks good in the picture.  I'm sure the photo doesn't show the details that you can see in person.  Since you are going to replace the art on the other side, you'll most likely end up purchaseing both sides.  May as well replace both at that point.


--- Quote --- the ball itself is yellowed and well used.
--- End quote ---

Centipede used an off white trackball so that may not be too far off from the original.  A good cleaning should be fine.  I think white looks better so I replaced mine with a new white one (you can get new off-white as well if you want to go that route)


--- Quote ---The coin door itself seems to be in pretty good shape, I'd like to get it working but the wiring is a mess. Cut wires and loose ends are plentiful. Needless to say, it's on freeplay. I've only got 1 side of the 24 pin connector, and I'm not sure the wires are supposed to loop back into the connector like that.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, that's quite the hack job on the wireing.  Looks like you have the connector for the PCB side and you are missing the coin door side.  Those wires looping back in are correct.



--- Quote ---The inside of the cabnet is not bad, it had probably been gone over not too long before I got it. There's a few loose connections on the back as well
--- End quote ---

Looks like they replaced the ARII board with a switching power supply


--- Quote ---Overall, I like to think this cabinet is in pretty good shape, being almost 30 years old. I'd like to get it close to an original state though. Especially since it seems I'll keep it a while. I like playing it and so do my kids and our guests.
--- End quote ---

Definitely a good restoration candidate.  I started with practicaly nothing original and was able to find all the parts realtively easily.  Depending on how original you want to go, and since this is on the back burner while you finish your mame cab, you can start looking for parts now. 

ARII board if you want to remove the switcher. 
Coin door wire harness.
Maybe a complete new wire harness to make it easier to undo that hacked wire job. (I may have a partial wire harness that will work for you)

Good luck!

RayB:
Wico? Goldstar? In 1994?? wow. don't see those too often!

StuDaBaker:
Ok, first thing I'm going to do, since we're actually playing this game, is give the trackball some attention. I think I'll order the rollers and bearings from Bob Roberts, probably an 8' cord, new trackball. The one in the machine is a bit more yellow than it seems in the pic, and I think a clean white trackball would look better anyway. I thought about opening it up and lubricating the existing bearings, but I can see through the slight gap by the track ball the rollers are actually worn down in the middle and need replacing, and since it is currently usable, I don't really want to open it up until I have the parts to re-do it.

On the subject of if it ain't broke, I've read a bit in other restoration threads about replacing "Big Blue". What is the main advantage to this if the current one is working?


--- Quote ---ARII board if you want to remove the switcher.
Coin door wire harness.
Maybe a complete new wire harness to make it easier to undo that hacked wire job. (I may have a partial wire harness that will work for you)
--- End quote ---
I assume you suggest the ARII board instead of the switcher for authenticity? I agree on the coin door harness, and possibly on the complete harness since there's a few other loose wires inside the cab. If I go with a complete wire harness would it be easier to connect to the ARII than the switcher? Other than here and klov forums, any suggestions on where to hunt for these said parts? Ebay seems to have nil atm.


--- Quote ---since this is on the back burner while you finish your mame cab, you can start looking for parts now. 
--- End quote ---
I have to start the project first! LoL! I first considered before I bought the Centipede, and when I got it, I was placated for a little while. Now I've decided that I'm going to do it, and I just bought Saint's book and in the process of reading through it before I begin the build, and thought I'd give the Centipede a little attention in the meantime. Then, when the mame cab is done, the main restoration will begin, so I'm sure at some point in the future I'll be digging deep to resurrect this thread. ;D


--- Quote from: RayB on October 20, 2009, 02:38:55 pm ---Wico? Goldstar? In 1994?? wow. don't see those too often!

--- End quote ---
What makes that a rare thing?

Thanks, for helping a beginner.

Spyridon:

--- Quote from: StuDaBaker on October 20, 2009, 10:09:21 pm ---I assume you suggest the ARII board instead of the switcher for authenticity? I agree on the coin door harness, and possibly on the complete harness since there's a few other loose wires inside the cab. If I go with a complete wire harness would it be easier to connect to the ARII than the switcher? Other than here and klov forums, any suggestions on where to hunt for these said parts? Ebay seems to have nil atm.

--- End quote ---

Yes, strictly for authenticity and maybe to make it easier if you got a new harness.  But there is no issue with keeping the switcher if it works.  Post in the Wanted section over at KLOV and keep an eye out on eBay.  I found harnesses at both locations.  The one from KLOV turned out to be incomplete and the one on eBay that was really cheap had everything complete including the Atari cone buttons.


--- Quote ---I just bought Saint's book and in the process of reading through
--- End quote ---

That's the route I went.  Good book and it helped me build my mame cab.  It also is what lead me to finding KLOV and getting interested in the real cabs.  (that book is more expensive than you think   ;D )

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page