Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair
I still go BERZERK !
Spyridon:
--- Quote from: Level42 on December 18, 2009, 01:13:07 pm ---
And a HUGE THANK YOU ! goes out to Spyridon :applaud: :applaud: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
--- End quote ---
Awesome. Glad to see it working.
Level42:
Sometimes I hate this hobby.
I just completely dissassembled the original Berzerk joystick. It was working OK, but the diagonals were either not working or very hard to "reach". So I thought the reflective disk must be dirty and so a little cleaning would solve that.
Indeed the disc wasn't very shiny anymore. So I cleaned it simply with some hand-soap and paper-towel and it was like a mirror again.
I also noticed that a cap had either broken loose (it was also dented) or cut loose on the joystick PCB. So I replaced it.
Re-assembled everything, put it in the CP, power up machine and:
Dead. Completely dead joystick ! WTF !
SO sigh, gonna disassemble again.
I'm pretty much out on my own here. Apart from the Berzerk manual. Original Berzerk joysticks are RARE.
On the other hand,I'm not the kind to give up easily....
Indeed I had made a mistake while re-assembling. The optical PCB was too far from the reflective disc because I had mounted it incorrectly.
Fixed it and it works great now. Diagonals are 100% better then before..... Still not too wild on this joystick. It's definitely not the best I've ever played....
The spring was pretty tight on this one. I felt it was more of a muscle exercise machine than a game so I adjusted the spring tension to it's minimum. Let's see how I like that.
Still, hitting the end of the joystick's movement space is not feeling very comfy because there are no rubber stops or anything like that.... o well...part of the game I guess....
Here's the disc "before":
and "after":
Also, sometimes in this hobby, you just DON'T want to know what it is..:
I guess it's the "crud" often mentioned as being the cause for this joystick to fail.
Might just as well post the other pics I made. The CP underside after removing the joystick, luckily Leaf-switches only ! They only need some cleaning. And the buttons need to be replaced. Look at that branch-part in the wood, the branch was removed and replaced with something.....ahhh those were the days :D:
The outer "casing" of the joystick. Apart from holding the spring, this also doubles as a "dark room" for the optics...The rust came loose already with some hand soap and scrubbing sponge. Will do a proper job later.
The stick and the optical board. The optical board hangs up side down (parts facing the floor)
For those who don't know how this joystick works: Infrared light is emitted by the four little black opto-combo's around the hole in the PCB. The disc on the other side of the joystick will reflect the light (more) when it's move in the position that that opto-combo is. The reflected lights falls onto the other part of the opto-combo (the photo-diode) and through the Op-Amp chip the PCB "emulates" a closed switch for that direction.
Here's how I INCORRECTLY re-assembled it. The nuts should have gone UNDER the PCB and then the two hex legs should go on top of the PCB. You can see the disc is now quite (too) far away from the PCB now.
You can see the damaged/leaking/broken off cap on the top left on the PCB.
Level42:
Some detail shots of the front area. I haven't found a correct repro of that coin door sticker. Phoenix arcade and thisoldgame.com have another version. You can see the rust bubbles under it. I think the sticker itself is clear and showing through the black of the coin door.
The door will need the regular work. Hope I'm able to remove the rust from the blank steel.
I'd prefer Dutch coin inserts but haven't seen them either (these are Belgian).
I tried cleaning the front but it didn't help much. Hope to find a way to paint it without loosing the structure.
Level42:
Some first basic work. Cleaning the marquee which was very nice outside but very dirty inside:
Much better:
And the front: Mint except for some tiny spots and some area's of damage that you don't see when it's installed:
The marquee lighting. Still ALL original.Notice the isolation tape with which they tried to fix the tube. I soon discovered why.
The lighting didn't work, but when I turned the tube a bit, it started !
I had some discussion on this forum before about original tubes still working in some of my cabs. This is another. The tube is GE and made in the USA. Not likely to buy around here. The size is T12, which became extinct around here. I bet this is the original tube.
The problem was that one pin on both sides got loose from the end part. The wire internally is still there (thus it works) but it's making very poor contact in the holder. The reason why this happened is probably because of a manufacturing issue. The holder on the right side was not mounted exactly at the right spot and in an angle:
Ballast and starter, still the originals too:
No pictures yet, but I took a close look at the speaker too. It's easily the flimsiest and lightest speaker I've ever had in my hands ! Maybe it weighs 20 grams or so ? Gonna replace it with something decent to bring out the voice and sounds !
cnlmoore:
Looks good so far. I am doing the repro's again because of a barrage of requests to do so. Pre-orders are on and if the minimums are hit I'll do them, if not the project dies for good. Here's the info and for the record, the panels are stainless steel like the originals.
http://www.tokensonly.com/berzerk-and-frenzy-control-panel-pre-order/
Chris M
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