The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Arcade Collecting => Restorations & repair => Topic started by: Level42 on November 05, 2009, 03:51:38 am
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...when I watch this picture. I love it :)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100635/DSCF4124/web.jpg?ver=12570215090001)
It's amazing to find ONE Berzerk over here at all, let alone THREE ! I've never seen a Berzerk for sale over here. The only one I know to exist in Europe was Luigi's machine.
Just reserving some space for my restoration here.
I've powered up all the cabs. None is working. All monitors do seem to work fine though. 2 give "garbled" pictures, 1 is black.
I've dug around the KLOV forum and found some bits of good information there, plus this very nice repair log:
http://www.wowway.com/%7Eookpik72/brl.html (http://www.wowway.com/%7Eookpik72/brl.html)
So first thing to do was remove all the ZPU boards from the machines and get rid off those :angry: :angry: batteries that have killed so many Berzerks.
Desoldered them. Interesting trivia: one side of the battery desoldered really easy (at 400 degr. temp). but the other side was much harder to get flowing easily. Must have to do with the polarity and/or the acid.
Next I neutralized the acid with vinegar (I used the "cleaning vinegar" sort, not the one you use on your salad). You can actually see it reacting with the acid at some places (f.i. between IC legs) because of the bubbles !! After some time I rinsed the part of the boards that were effected with water and then dried with my wife's hair dryer.
So far, I've seen three flashes/beeps on one of the boards which apparently means that the ZPU board is actually working (although it could still have some problems). My next step will be buying a SCSI cable to hack up and use it instead of the old ribbon cables, even if it's just to rule that possible cause of trouble out. I'll also try a PC power supply instead of the original (for testing at least) because I've read that the original Stern PS is not very good.
Some more pics:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4188/web.jpg?ver=12574107190001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4190/web.jpg?ver=12574107220001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4191/web.jpg?ver=12574107240001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4193/web.jpg?ver=12574107270001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4194/web.jpg?ver=12574107280001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4195/web.jpg?ver=12574107300001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4197/web.jpg?ver=12574107320001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4196/web.jpg?ver=12574107310001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4198/web.jpg?ver=12574107340001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4199/web.jpg?ver=12574107350001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4201/web.jpg?ver=12574107380001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4202/web.jpg?ver=12574107400001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4203.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12574107410001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4204/web.jpg?ver=12574107420001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4205/web.jpg?ver=12574107430001)
About the last pic....could there be a minty CPO under that stuff ? ;)
About the envelope with the docs......I couldn't bring myself to open it.
It looks so sweet that it has been untouched for almost 30 years....
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Wow, those cabs still look awesome after so many years. You won't have to do that much at all on the outside, it will mostly be internal/electrical restoration I guess. About the enveloppe, put my address on it, and a stamp and send it to me. I promise that I will not open it :blah: :blah:
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Those look great. At least you still have two original sticks in there. Outsides are in great shape. I'm assuming you will fix all three and sell off two.
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There is an ATX-Stern adapter out there if you hunt it down. That might help. I never had a power supply problem in mine, though.
It was the transistors in the battery area that were my problem.
Those are some great looking cabs. I'm still holding out marginal hope that my bat stick will arrive someday.
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I hate you... ;D
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Bolted on ashtray! LOL! That's totally ugly and awesome at the same time! I can see some dude sitting on a bar stool in front of that thing with a row of coins on the glass with a cig hanging out his mouth and another burning away in the tray.
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Awesome! I scored 2 non-working Berzerks this year and got them both working pretty easily. I sold one and kept one. It is one of my favorite games now.
The problems I experienced were bad connections at the cables and bad RAM. That is all it took to get both of mine going.
If I can be of any assistance, let me know. BTW, mine were serial numbers #250 and #10xxx (Ten thousand something) Quite a spread between the two, and it was evident in the quality of the stenciling on the sideart. The #250 machine had a much better stencil job than the later one. I kept the later one, however, since the cab was in better shape.
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Great !!! Any help is welcome ! You didn't have any battery corrosion ?
Serial numbers of the machines two are in the 2000 range, one is in the 3000.
The stenciling is far from perfect, the logo doesn't really allign (at least on some of them).
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Suprisingly, I didn't have any major acid damage on either board even though the batteries were still in them. I did immediately remove the batteries once I got the game home.
I left the battery out of the one I sold, but on mine, I added a 3.6 volt rechargeable cordless phone battery mounted at the bottom of the pull out board tray with Velcro.
You have a real advantage having multiple machines, you can swap parts all day long to narrow down the culprit. Having 2 machines side by side made my troubleshooting job a breeze.
I replaced the original RAM on the VFB-1000 board with 4116. The nice thing about that is you only need to fill rows 9 & 11, so you only need half as many chips and no modifications to any traces or anything.
What monitors do you have? one of mine had a K4600 and the other a G07. I kept the G07 since it's a more common, and better monitor in my opinion.
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Yes indeed having more machines (and boards) around is great to fix them all hopefully...
Already did some work. Since it's very technical I put it on KLOV forum (I hope on Mark chiming in....although he might just be testing new ZZPU boards right now ! ). Here it is: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=109967 (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=109967)
The one machine that I checked from the back has a G07 (see pics) which I'm happy with (hope the others are the same).
About the RAM: I've seen more people replacing the 2114's with 4116's but what I wonder about: On Williams machines everybody tries to get rid of the 4116's because of their heat production and unreliability. I've got a big stack of 4164's here, would they work with some modification ?
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Looks like cnlmoore (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=964088#post964088) is going to do another run of Berzerk panels. He is also going to do Frezy. He is asking for emails to get on the list.
(http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=19343&d=1257915373)
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Watch out, there is also someone out there passing those off as NOS on ebay. The "NOS" panel I got is clearly not stainless steel. Fortunately the price wasn't too much higher than what cnlmoore wanted for the repro originally so I wasn't too ticked off other than the principle.
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I guess stainless steel would sky-rocket the price of this baby.
We need a much better pick though, this isn't going to sell it :D
Great timing !! :D
Oh, I opened the envelope ! Felt like....... well uhm....touching somebody never touched before :D
As expected, it was the manual in there and the drawings. It's always great to have the schematics on large size.
There were also instruction cards in both English and Spanish. (Dutch and French on the cabs now).
The really interesting thing is that the manual looks to be a very early revision. It's not like the file I found on the Aracade Archive. The front looks hand-drawn, the texts inside are clearly typewriter stuff (plus hand-written texts all over the place.
The trouble-shooting section is extremely basic (two beeps = RAM on ZPU board, that style).
Also a schematic of the G07, no full manual.
I checked, and ALL monitors work, which is a plus. On one cab, I have no 5V unregulated. Forgot to check if it was the fuse though DUH :banghead:
Will do so tomorrow.
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If it helps, the repro is pretty good, it looks like the screening is well done. There is no flex in the panel despite being aluminum. If your CP is trashed, it is worth the repro cost. If your CP is decent I'd say keep your original.
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Well mmm, I think at least I will replace mine. I prefer a minty CP and it's not like you can ALWAYS buy these...
I guess two of the three machines had "ok" panels, but a good share of cigarette burn. The third one (with the cover) is a goner. I just uncovered it and it's heavy damaged. (Pic a bit later).
Aluminium is fine with me, a lot lighter for shipping across the pond !
There's some huge wood behind it anyway so it won't be a problem.
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There's some huge wood behind it anyway so it won't be a problem.
That's what she said!
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There's some huge wood behind it anyway so it won't be a problem.
That's what she said!
ba-da-bum-bum-bum.. chisssshhh!
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Heh :D
Here's a better pic of Chris's repro.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/IMG_5602/web.jpg?ver=12579741740001)
He says it will be stainless steel though, just like the real thing, so Chad, maybe you got a different product....
What I find strange is that the repro has "blank" parts, where my original machines have white paint (like on the big arrow around the joystick)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4195/web.jpg?ver=12574107300001)
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Just learned there were two versions, one with the white, one bare metal.
I think I actually prefer the bare metal.
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There's some huge wood behind it anyway so it won't be a problem.
That's what she said!
in-da-bum-bum-bum.. chisssshhh!
fixt
yeah, I know, but it was way too good to ignore!
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Hey guys, give me a break, you all know my native language isn't English...... :angel:
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Hey guys, give me a break, you all know my native language isn't English...... :angel:
It's 6502 assembler.
*badum bump* pssshh!
thank you thank you, I'll be here all night.
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I'll be here all night.
At least he warned us!
I'm not wearing pants!
My Pants (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqWHidMPsvo#)
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AWESOME! :laugh2:
(Sorry for the thread-wreck Level42... your Berzerks are still awesome too)
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It's about time but I should finally post it here:
Berzerk, first boot after PCB replacements (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReK6RaSQi-Q#)
The picture in the video sucks. In reality, the monitor looks like new, even though it has some burn. Still even need to clean the CRT front and inside of the bezel.
And a HUGE THANK YOU ! goes out to Spyridon :applaud: :applaud: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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And a HUGE THANK YOU ! goes out to Spyridon :applaud: :applaud: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
Awesome. Glad to see it working.
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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":
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4527/web.jpg?ver=12613477740001)
and "after":
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4529/web.jpg?ver=12613477820001)
Also, sometimes in this hobby, you just DON'T want to know what it is..:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4526/web.jpg?ver=12613477760001)
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:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4521/web.jpg?ver=12613477730001)
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.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4522/web.jpg?ver=12613477840001)
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.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4523/web.jpg?ver=12613477810001)
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.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4531/web.jpg?ver=12613477790001)
You can see the damaged/leaking/broken off cap on the top left on the PCB.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4525/web.jpg?ver=12613477710001)
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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.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4556/web.jpg?ver=12617439020001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4557/web.jpg?ver=12617439040001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4558/web.jpg?ver=12617439060001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4559/web.jpg?ver=12617439110001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4560/web.jpg?ver=12617439130001)
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Some first basic work. Cleaning the marquee which was very nice outside but very dirty inside:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4544/web.jpg?ver=12617441970001)
Much better:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4545/web.jpg?ver=12617441980001)
And the front: Mint except for some tiny spots and some area's of damage that you don't see when it's installed:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4546/web.jpg?ver=12617442070001)
The marquee lighting. Still ALL original.Notice the isolation tape with which they tried to fix the tube. I soon discovered why.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4535/web.jpg?ver=12617441990001)
The lighting didn't work, but when I turned the tube a bit, it started !
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4538/web.jpg?ver=12617442000001)
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.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4538/web.jpg?ver=12617442000001)
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:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4543/web.jpg?ver=12617442020001)
Ballast and starter, still the originals too:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4541/web.jpg?ver=12617442040001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4540/web.jpg?ver=12617442050001)
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 !
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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/ (http://www.tokensonly.com/berzerk-and-frenzy-control-panel-pre-order/)
Chris M
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WAHHOOOO ! Yes !!
I'll put my pre-order in today !
Would it be a good idea to offer the correct new buttons with the panel ? I know we can get them elsewhere but....well....just any idea, would be convenient :D
I also found the correct coin-door sticker here:
(http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/images/Stern%20coin%20door%20decal.jpg)
http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/forsale/decals.html (http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/forsale/decals.html)
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OK about the speaker. I already mentioned the original speaker is very light and has an absolutely tiny magnet and coil. I'm already amazed that it produces the sound that it does at all (thanks to the cab acting as "bass" box).
The candidates: Sony car speaker, to the right the original Berzerk speaker and under those the speaker from the SW cockpit:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4564/web.jpg?ver=12620392960001)
Notice the very tiny magnet and coil on the original speaker.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4563/web.jpg?ver=12620392940001)
It was selection time. I first replaced the original speaker with a Sony car speaker that I had around.
Although it brightened up the overall sound, it lacked the deeper sounds (bass) that I was looking for. Actually I thought it toned the sound quite badly (exaggerated highs, a common problem of low-price brand speakers) so I think those are not very good speakers at all.The original speaker simply sounded better ! Also the size was a bit to small to fit it at the same location.
Next I tried one of the speakers that I had removed from my Star Wars cockpit, and hey, there is the much deeper bass-sound, which increases the voice quality a lot and esp. the robot's shots are much more impressive.
It also did not raise the "high" tones like the Sony did, and that was good for this game.
Size is a problem though, it's larger than the bolt pattern for the grille. I will fix that though.
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OK let's get this moving.
Decided to start work on the drawer board. I must say, this is one of the more brilliant things on the Berzerk cab.
I was finally able to find out how to remove it, and if I'm right it only takes one bolt to remove to be able to slide it out (but not sure yet as I removed the entire sliding rails on top and bottom).
Here's the drawer outside the cab. Removed the ZPU already. It looks OK from a distance, but I like to have things clean and as "new" as possible.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4567/web.jpg?ver=12620398510001)
Slider on the back of the drawer, rusted and dirty:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4565/web.jpg?ver=12620398580001)
The leaking battery didn't only damage the PCB(s), but also the strip(s) it was mounted on:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4566/web.jpg?ver=12620378490001)
Removed all the PCBs:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4570/web.jpg?ver=12620378380001)
Then the wire harness, tranformer and other stuff. See how the metal strips look:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4572/web.jpg?ver=12620398470001)
Here's a close-up of some of those strips (the lowest one is the sliding part on the under side of the board):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4576/web.jpg?ver=12620398560001)
Removed all strips. Some heat spots here and there:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4574/web.jpg?ver=12620398620001)
Clean after some good scrubbing. The streaks will be invisible after some time (aluminum oxidation)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4578/web.jpg?ver=12620378400001)
At those times you think you must be crazy: Hand-sanding all those strips. A tedious job for parts no-one will probably ever see again (except for me)....
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4579/web.jpg?ver=12620398590001)
Strips re-mounted:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4581/web.jpg?ver=12620398610001)
Harness and stuff CLEANED and re-installed:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4584/web.jpg?ver=12620378450001)
PCB's and flat-cables CLEANED and re-installed:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4586/web.jpg?ver=12620398550001)
I only fixed the board with a couple of screws because I want to replace them with thumb-screw (the one's PC case modders use).
Removed the slider on the bottom of the cab. This is how it looked:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4588/web.jpg?ver=12620378470001)
This will also get the full sanding treatment. I will "grease" everything with some teflon spray and then the sliding should be silk-soft again.
I also removed the top sliding part on the cabinet side. Bolts will need sanding and painting and of course the sliders themselves will also need the "full treatment".
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Wow, what a difference!
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4581/web.jpg?ver=12620398610001)
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Occasionally one of the robots in the game spouts off with a very bass sentence. I bet that will sound cool with that SW speaker.
Also, how do you clean your harness's?
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Occasionally one of the robots in the game spouts off with a very bass sentence. I bet that will sound cool with that SW speaker.
Indeed ! The voices are random in tone which is pretty cool IMHO.
Also, how do you clean your harness's?
Very carefully ! :D
I use a small sponge that I get "just" moist with some soapy water,"fold" it around the harness (and as much as possible around individual wires) and go along the harness. (If you are _extremely_ hardcore you will have to cut the old ty-raps to reach all individual wires and of course put new one's on afterwards) I always make sure to move away (down) from the connectors. The connectors I do too, making sure no water is getting in the pin holes.
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That FS-4 starter isn't the right one - replace it with an FS-2 when you replace that T12 for a T8. It should (I think) fit in the original fixture. An F15-T8 is the current industry standard, and has been for 25 years.
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Mmmm, could it be they used the FS-4 because the machine is set-up for 230V ?
F15 is a size you do not find in Europe. It's a US size I guess.
But luckily enough I could order them through www.RS-online.nl (http://www.RS-online.nl) (a sister of Allied Electronics, and through RS I can order all Allied stuff, and the real bonus is NO shipping costs !).
This way I don't have to install some other Euro-sized set-up. Would be pretty hard too, because the lighting support wood is pretty tiny and wouldn't fit a larger sized tube.
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Hmmm...maybe! I keep forgetting you're across the pond.
F15 is what's in there now, correct? Just a T12 instead of T8. What do you guys use over there?
edit: just looked at the picture again - F14T12. Huh!
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Uh, I was confused too. Indeed 14 it is, still a size you don't find here.
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What do you guys use instead?
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Here's a table of our common TL sizes today (all metric lengths):
TL 4W 136 mm
TL 6W 212 mm
TL 8W 288 mm
TL 13W 517 mm
TLD 15W 437 mm
TLD 18W 590 mm
TLD 23W 970 mm
TLD 30W 895 mm
TLD 36W 1200 mm
TLD 38W 1047 mm
TLD 58W 1500 mm
TL5 14W 549 mm
TL5 21W 849 mm
TL5 24W 549 mm
TL5 28W 1149 mm
TL5 35W 1449 mm
TL5 39W 849 mm
TL5 49W 1449 mm
TL5 54W 1149 mm
TL5 80W 1449 mm
The TLD are T8 sized. T12 is completely non existent anymore. TL5 are very thin tubes and can only be used with electronic ballasts.
Now, if you look at the same wattage (about) of the current tube in the Berzerk, you'd get the TLD15 Watt with a length of 437 mm. That's 17.2"
So this is a lot longer than the original tube.
The 18 Watt is a lot more common though, and is even longer with 590mm. (23.2")
That's also the reason why I often replace the original tube and space out the holders a bit wider to accommodate Euro-sized tubes. But that only works if there is wood throughout the entire marquee area, and with Berzerk that is not the case. There are 2 supports that "hold up" a wood panel that is just long enough for the (original) tube. I didn't want to change this all too much.
But as mentioned, I was able to order the correct size.
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Restoring the top gliding rail (as good as possible):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4593/web.jpg?ver=12624481120001)
Fully extended:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4594/web.jpg?ver=12624481130001)
There are 3 sliding parts. There are runners inside. Rust dirt and grease that became dirty all around.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4592/web.jpg?ver=12624481110001)
Very hard to get 100% good. It's as good as impossible to disassemble it.
So I did what I could, sanding, removing dirt, and removed all the dust from the sanding with water as good as possible. Hot air to blow everything dry and then some silicon-spray all over the place.
Back in the cab:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4598/web.jpg?ver=12624481240001)
Naturally sanded and painted the bolts back to black, also those from the speaker and the speaker grill:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4595/web.jpg?ver=12624481160001)
Cleaned the entire inside plus wiring harness,cleaned monitor as good as possible without soaking it and removing it....I lack the tools to get it out (stupid imperial sized stuff ! :banghead: :D).
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4596/web.jpg?ver=12624481210001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4597/web.jpg?ver=12624481230001)
Re-installed the drawer board, looking nice and fresh (except the PS board, that's Superully's, for testing and adjusting):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4600/web.jpg?ver=12624481260001)
The silicon-spray makes it run baby-skin smooth again :D (Quite a contrast with the first time I pulled it out !!!
It's also funny now to realize how simple it is to "unlock" the drawer-board. Just 1 screw. First time (Muerto, Superully and I) were puzzling to see how it was supposed to come loose but we didn't figure it out ! :D
So the inside it done, except for the speaker and fluorescent lighting (waiting for the tubes to arrive).
Removing the coin door will be next.
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That FS-4 starter isn't the right one - replace it with an FS-2 when you replace that T12 for a T8. It should (I think) fit in the original fixture. An F15-T8 is the current industry standard, and has been for 25 years.
SirPeale was right !
I replaced the tube with one of the new one's I received from RS online (GREAT, coming from the US and NO shipping costs) but sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't.
Bought two brand new Philips "Green" S2 starters that are tailored for this length and wattages of tubes (4-22W, single & series for 220/240VAC, Single only for 110/130VAC.)
(http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/image_local/news/starter_lgreen_180x317.jpg)
These are also supposed to extend tube life by 25% (which makes it probably like I will never have to replace it again ;)).
Also, it's lead-free AND "No Radioactivity".......huh ? What the f does that mean ? Are the old one's Radioactive ? And if so WHY is that not printed on them !?!?!
Weird.
But the weirdest thing is that the starters have "Made in Holland" on them ! I almost got a tear in my eye. Here I have a product from a company that is actually still manufactured in the original company's country !
I was totally amazed ! This factory must have been out of the eye of the management obviously as almost ALL factories have been moved away from here....(IF they still have "own" factories yet....).
Anyway, TL tube working fine again now !
[Edit] These little simple starters have more to them then we might think. Here's a press release by Philips about these green starters:
http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/press/sector/2005/green_starter.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en (http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/press/sector/2005/green_starter.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en)
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OK about time to some more updating:
Here's my way of restoring the back-up battery on the Berzerk ZPU board. I've installed it on 3 boards so far and all have been working fine for between 1 and 3 weeks.
The idea was not mine, I first learned about it from Bob Roberts' site.
Also the suggestion to use the schottky diode instead of a regular one comes from Mark Spaeth. If, instead of doing this mod you would prefer a very comfy way to reach the same goal, you could try to get one of his NVRAM boards for your ZPU board, or even better, his ZZPU board, but both are simply unavailable at this moment (or maybe you have better luck than I).
What you need:
1) A CR2032 Lithium NON rechargeable battery, buy a brand and not some cheap (Chinese) offer, we DON'T want any more leaks. I used Panasonic (RS online part 457-4757)
2) A holder that fits the CR2032 size: 20 mm. (RS part 430-675)
3) A 1N5817 schottky diode (RS part 625-4972)
4) tools, soldering station, solder,small drill !, DVM
Bob Roberts also sells a set he calls Tron Lithium Battery Conversion Kit for $4.00 that is suitable for this mod too. I'm not sure if Bob sells a schottky or a regular diode in that kit though....
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4606/web.jpg?ver=12632324770001)
A) First find R29 on the board. It's very close to the + terminal of the original battery. Desolder that resistor and remove it from the board (On boards with acid damage this can be tricky, add a bit of new solder to get the old solder flowing. If that doesn't help some flux may be helpful (in this case, normally do not use it for electronics).
You don't need the resistor anymore.
B) In the position of R29 solder in the 1N5817 diode.
MAKE SURE THAT THE CATHODE (THE WHITE LINE ON THE BODY OF THE DIODE) IS AWAY FROM THE PLUS TERMINAL. So the cathode is soldered near the R29 marking. See the picture:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4610/web.jpg?ver=12632320270001)
The diode is installed to BLOCK the charging voltage (about 5 volts) that normally charged the original battery. Since we are using a non-chargeable battery it is ESSENTIAL that this charging voltage does not reach the battery. If you put the diode in the wrong way this voltage WILL reach the battery and will try to charge it with probably some devastating results !
On some boards I experienced the traces between the + terminal (hole) and R29 were eaten or broken. It's easy with the length of the diode leg to bridge that gap. So, solder it to the + terminal directly in that case.
C) Lay the board flat and put the holder on the board. Put the + terminal of the holder in the hole of the + terminal on the board. This is to "measure" your holders distance between it's soldering pins, but usually it's the same for the various brands.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4612/web.jpg?ver=12632320330001)
Now, looking sideways you can see where you will need to drill a tiny hole through the PCB:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4611/web.jpg?ver=12632320290001)
I've used two brands of holder and the distance of the pins was the same. When you turn over the PCB, you can see that Stern (in it's wisdom) has put a "raster" of ground area right under the original battery area. This is very useful for us now.
If you look at the "raster" and count the "holes", the hole has to be drilled in the 4th "hole" from the + terminal (the + terminal is on the right in this picture) on the top line:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4614/web.jpg?ver=12632320360001)
Drill a hole that is a little bit larger than the "hole" in the raster. This is to make sure we hit a contact area of the ground "raster".
Scrape away a bit of the protective layer around the hole so the copper becomes clear.
Now pre-tin this area and the + terminal. ALSO pre-tin the pins of the holder.
Insert the holder and solder the pins. Push the holder sideways to the left so it's fixed against the edges of both holes (the wide + hole gives you plenty of "room" to play with.
Now solder the pins to the edges. Let the solder flow and do it's work, don't smear !
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4616/web.jpg?ver=12632320390001)
This should be (about" the result (poor picture quality,sorry):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4617/web.jpg?ver=12632320410001)
Flip over the board and there's your holder tight and snug against the board.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4618/web.jpg?ver=12632320430001)
Insert the battery. DO NOT TOUCH IT WITH YOUR BARE FINGERS. Use a bit of paper or plastic or if you want a rubber glove, but make sure there is no fingerprint on either side when you insert it. Our skin carry it's own acid which is not good for the contact between battery and holder.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4619/web.jpg?ver=12632320450001)
Time to check your work !
Get out your DVM, switch to voltage, DC (duh!) and measure between GND and pin 18 of the RAM chip at position 1E.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4621/web.jpg?ver=12632320470001)
You should get a reading like this:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4622/web.jpg?ver=12632320480001)
If so, it's working OK. If not there could be a trace break on your board. Check that with your DVM and check the solderings you made on the battery holder.
The reason why we used a schottky diode is that it has very little loss of voltage when it's in conducting situation. Here's the voltage measured directly at the battery (while installed):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4623/web.jpg?ver=12632320500001)
As you can see hardly any difference. Initially I tried a regular diode but this dropped the voltage to about 2,75 Volt. Still plenty for the RAM. The specs of the RAM say it requires 2V minimum to keep the RAM data. You will never reach that voltage with the lithium battery unless it's REALLY old. Lithium cells hardly ever leak, but I still suggest to check every now and then, you never know.
Put a date somewhere on (or near) the board to remember when you installed the new battery.
Now re-install the ZPU board in your machine. To be 100% sure you installed it properly, you can check the voltages on both sides of the diode (to GND) to see you succesfully blocked the charging voltage. The cathode should read about 5 Volts, the other side about 3.1V.
This completes the hardware work. But you're not finished just yet....
Now the hardware part is done. There's still somethin
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When you power up the machine, there is bound to be some "garbage" data in the RAM, like this:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4605/web.jpg?ver=12624541210001)
You can see that I did a pretty good game with 12300 points (well for me that is my record now, and it's still good for a 22nd place on TG ! Woohoo :dunno) and still I didn't reach the top 5 position.This is because the "garbage" high scores are WAY higher. I'm not ever going to reach those scores for sure. In fact, these "scores" are higher then the current world records.
So we need to clear this !
Open up the coin door and pull out the security switch that powers down the machine when you open the coin door. This will power the game again.
Now, press the test switch on the coin-door itself.
You should get a screen like this:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4625/web.jpg?ver=12632320530001)
You can see there is also some garbage in the RAM for credits. You can clear this, but you can also decide to let it as is, giving a "semi" free play. However as you play, this number still will go down...
If you want to clear this (or any data in the next steps) press the fire button.
Press the test switch again and it will advance you to the next selection. It's sometimes hard to let it step only one item, don't worry the list goes in cycles so you always have a "second chance".
Clear everything you see. Then comes the important one:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4627/web.jpg?ver=12632320560001)
Clear this !!
Should look like this when cleared:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4628/web.jpg?ver=12632320570001)
When you cleared everything you want, close the coin door (or at least re-power the machine).
Now you will have a nice clear hi-score list.
If you have some "garble" credits you can start a game right away. The down-side is that you won't hear "Coins detected in pocket". However, I've only heard that after first boot up of the machine. I wonder how often it will say that ? I've had the machine run idle (with no credits) for extended time but never heard it apart from that first time at boot-up.
If you cleared the credits you will need to put in a coin. If you don't have one around, you can start a game by pressing the "start" button on the ZPU board, but this will ONLY work when it's displaying the hi-score list (why is beyond me !)
Now set a score, it doesn't have to be your best. Just play a game or two and enter your initials.
Then power-cycle the machine. If all is well, your hi-scores will still be there ! If not, somethings wrong and you have to check your work.
Now, go for that world record ! (Or not, I don't like "box pattern" play ;)
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Great tutorial!
That's a really good high score too! I think my high score is 6 thousand something!
As for the "Coins detected in pocket" , on my machine it only says it one time each time the credit counter hits zero. That would be great if it would randomly say it in attract mode.
I set my coin return button up so it hits a cherry switch for credits. That way, I still get to hear the "Coins detected in pocket" line, but it's just a simple press of the coin return to get a credit.
You can see that I did a pretty good game with 12300 points (well for me that is my record now, and it's still good for a 22nd place on TG ! Woohoo :dunno)
The down-side is that you won't hear "Coins detected in pocket". However, I've only heard that after first boot up of the machine. I wonder how often it will say that ? I've had the machine run idle (with no credits) for extended time but never heard it apart from that first time at boot-up.
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Great tutorial!
...
As for the "Coins detected in pocket" , on my machine it only says it one time each time the credit counter hits zero. That would be great if it would randomly say it in attract mode.
Ah, then I always understood wrong about that, I thought it did say it randomly too.
And thanks !
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Bought two brand new Philips "Green" S2 starters that are tailored for this length and wattages of tubes (4-22W, single & series for 220/240VAC, Single only for 110/130VAC.)
fabulous work, andré! do you also have a new starter for my tube? i want to extend its lifespan as well 8)
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Great tutorial!
Yes, excellent write up. I have the Bob Roberts Lithium Battery kit and was going to put it in my Satan's Hollow. I looked at it but wasn't sure how to set it up. This helps, however, since then I found out I can eliminate the battery completely on MCR games by using static ram. Still, good to know how to put the battery in if I ever have to.
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I'm not sure if static RAM would work on Berzerk but it seems to work like this so I'll leave it like that...
Since the little guy had fever today I was forced to stay home from work so I did some work on the Berzerk Joystick.
I still had problems to hit the diagonals and I really wanted it to improve.
First a little explanation about the construction of the joystick:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/Schermafbeelding-202010-02-01-20om-2021-27-09/web.jpg?ver=12650562670001)
The red arrow points to the PCB. This carries the opto's (2 are draw, incicated by the yellow arrows). These point DOWN in a right angle. You can see that when the joystick is centered, the light will travel side-ways of the reflective disc (indicated with the green arrow). If the stick is moved, the disc will come over the opto and will reflect the infra-red light back onto the opto.
If you look at the design of the construction it's easy to understand why the diagonals are a problem:
The opto's are only on the primary directions (i.e: up, down, left, right):
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/Schermafbeelding-202010-02-01-20om-2021-39-18/web.jpg?ver=12650568970001)
The opto's are U2,3,4,5. The red arrows show where they should have added the other 4 for the diagonals....
The joystick works so, that the shiny disc that is connected to the joysticks tilts over to a certain direction when you move it. If you move it (f.i.) up, it will come close enough for the opto to "close" (start seeing the reflection of it's own infrared beam).
However if you move it diagonally, it will have to cover two opto's. Since the disc is circular shaped and even everywhere, the distance will be less then when you hit a primary direction.
This causes a very narrow angle to give f.i. both the up and left signals.
To be honest, Stern screwed up. They should have put opto's on every possible direction IMHO. But it was (as almost always) probably a cost thing. Anyway, that would be the best possible solution.
Since these opto's are long out of production, and I don't want to seriously hack the PCB (it would also require some extra TTL logic) I thought about a simple solution: how about bringing the PCB close to the disc.
This was very easy to do by adding some extra rings on the supports.
I first tested it with two added rings on each support. It worked great on the diagonals, but now I started having problems going in the primary directions. Apparently, if the disc gets TOO close, it's not working either.
The little graph in the datasheet proved this "theory":
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/Schermafbeelding-202010-02-01-20om-2021-12-30/web.jpg?ver=12650553250001)
You can see that the further away the reflective surface is, the less current it will conduct, which is logical. But also when the distance is very close, it will stop conducting (in fact, it drops much faster there).
So, I needed to find the right "balance". Thus I removed one of the 2 extra rings on each support and tested again. This time it worked perfectly !
I hit diagonals as easy as the primary directions !!! It's really like a different controller now ! :D
I also even further loosened the spring-tension. I don't really know why they included it in the first place. The stick does self-center by itself, but it does springs a little back and forth if you let it go. I played it a while without the spring attached and I was almost perfectly happy with it. It totally got rid of the required force to push the joystick. IMHO a joystick is not a means of muscle-exercise but this one sure felt like one (esp. before I loosened the spring). THe only problem I had without the spring connected was moving over VERY short distances (I mean one pixel here). This is often what you want to do with Berzerk. Stand around the corner of a wall and shoot EXACTLY 1 pixel over the edge of the wall. It was almost impossible to do without the spring.
So, I re-attached it and loosened it even further than before. I will need to seek for the ultimate compromise....
There's another thing I don't like about this stick:
The end-hit....(or how do you call it ?) When you hit the end of the travel it hits a very hard rubber like stuff. I don't know if this has become harder over the years or if it was intended this way, but I don't like it. Is there any stuff to weaken the rubber around ? Or should I try to get some new and cut a new block (if possible) ?
Anyway, I'm already MUCH happier than I was before. Almost all my games after I moved the PCB up a bit I got through to 10000 points with 3 extra men. I lost them quickly every time though so I still didn't brake my 12xxx record but I'm sure I will soon....
Did I mention this game ROCKS ?
To be honest I was a bit hesitant about the re-playability of Berzerk but man does it draw you back and back and back ! I love it !
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There may be a second way to adjust / correct this issue.
See the schematic:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/Schermafbeelding-202010-02-01-20om-2021-54-10/web.jpg?ver=12650577080001)
The signal of the photo-transistor in the opto is compared to a reference voltage created by R2 and R3 (Schematic only shows 1 opto, but of course they're all the same). R2 and R3 could be replaced with a 10K pot. This way it's possible to vary the voltage that the opto's signal is compared to by the LM339. In theory this should allow to change the "range" of the opto. However, this will also require careful testing and finding the right balance.
As the extra rings on the supports are much simpler and seem to work great I settle for that, but in theory this should work.I think ;)
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I hadn't been keeping up with the other restorations...
Dude, fantastic job, on both the thread and the cab. I mean that. :applaud:
I like what you've done with the joystick to fine tune it but the pots are probably overkill. Seems like more potential to move away from where you are than further towards perfection. With that sort of adjustment potential I suspect you'd never be happy - you'd be tweaking it forever. ;D
I have three ZPUs sitting here and haven't added a new battery to any of them. I just might use this mod. Thanks for the great writeup.
Man I wish my dildo stick had shown up. Never did. I ended up changing direction a little bit on my Berzerk and will write it all up very soon... :)
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You did catch that Cmoore is doing a new run of CP's right Chad ? And also he is now looking into reproducing the dildo-stick !
Thanks for your nice words, glad to see someone likes it ;)
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Oh, no, I didn't know about the stick. That I would really like to have. I already have a repro CP so I don't need one for this cab. I'd buy a spare but I have only ever seen this one Berzerk other than the one at Funspot!
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Got to ask ya Chad, what's a "dildo" stick?
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Got to ask ya Chad, what's a "dildo" stick?
See the cab on the left:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100635/DSCF4124/web.jpg?ver=12570215090001)
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Ah, I see.... appropriate name. I don't recall seeing one "back in the day" is this what they came out with from factory or is it a replacement?
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Yes it was factory. It was pretty advanced for it's time since it's an optical working stick.There were problems in the field with it though so Stern sent out replacement Wico (leaf) sticks. The "bad" stick hurt sales acc. to one of the guys who worked on the game.
The general story is that grud was falling on the optics. However, due to the construction this is impossible, the opto's are pointing downwards so nothing can lie on it. I just think they had similar problems like I described (bad diagonals) earlier.
Ever since I brought the PCB a bit closer to the reflective disc it works brilliant though...
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I heard the crud was falling on the disc, not the optos. Problem is that most people don't know the difference.
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Boy, you weren't kidding about this speaker! It's like tissue paper and a fridge magnet! I'm looking at mine now and this has got to go.
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Boy, you weren't kidding about this speaker! It's like tissue paper and a fridge magnet! I'm looking at mine now and this has got to go.
Yes. Put it on a desk and sneeze and it's gone ! :D
Still, it actually surprises me that it puts out what it does. For the moment, I put it back. I have to adapt somethings to get the "SW" speaker in there properly. But I definitely will put it in there, it's SO much better sounding....
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Why not just track down a decent 6" round? Can't be that hard to scrounge one up from something else. Anything has to be better than this speaker.
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Well, as mentioned, I tried the Sony car speaker. In theory this was supposed to be the best of the three, but because of it's better highs, it actually sounded very tinny. What you want is more and deeper lows without the highs getting a boost too. The Atari 6x9 is perfect for this.
I won't be drilling any extra holes though, it should be 100% invisible from the outside.
O, and I prefer to use stuff I already have if I can. Of course you could try look for alternatives that will fight right away.
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O, and I prefer to use stuff I already have if I can. Of course you could try look for alternatives that will fight right away.
I have a 6x9 I pulled from my old car sitting here I'm going to try. Looks like a fairly cheap two way much like the one you're going with. Really all we'll have to do is drill some shallow holes for this speaker and use some short spacers to move the thing a little back from the grill.
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I was thinking about using some really short screws and fix it from the up/inside. Then still have to do something about the grill bolts. They definitely need to stay...
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You could shorten them and just pull the speaker back with a spacer. I don't think having the speaker a half inch from the wood will make much difference. From outside the cab you'd never see a difference.
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You could shorten them and just pull the speaker back with a spacer. I don't think having the speaker a half inch from the wood will make much difference.
Actually, that was exactly what I didn't want to do because I'm afraid it _will_ make a big difference. Not sure, but I have a feeling that the gap of air will hurt the sound.
Try to lift the original speaker about a cm. while it's producing sound. I bet you will notice the difference. A speaker that is moving in "free air" looses a lot of bass. The box around the speaker needs to be "closed" as much as possible. I'm not a speaker designer, but I'm pretty sure the conus of the speaker needs to close of the "box" to get the required air resistance (or something like that).
A fully oval spacer in the shape of the speaker may work, but 4 spacers on the mounting screws won't I guess.
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Time for some long overdue pics:
Marquee stuff I've done weeks ago:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4629/web.jpg?ver=12658301710001)
The marquee holders aren't that bad at all. Just a bit rusty on the inside and not "perfect" on the outside.
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4630/web.jpg?ver=12658301720001)
Because I want to keep the original "speckle" structure I decide against sanding. There is also no need. So, I just clean off the rusty stuff and make sure everything is dust- and grease-free and use some plain spray can paint. Since the weather was like it was, I had to (carefully) spray inside the home.....
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4633/web.jpg?ver=12658301750001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4634/web.jpg?ver=12658301770001)
Still shiny when wet, but much better after they dried:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4635/web.jpg?ver=12658301780001)
The plan worked, the structure is still there 100%:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4636/web.jpg?ver=12658301790001)
So, let's put in the new tube and starter:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4632/web.jpg?ver=12658301730001)
And the result:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4638/web.jpg?ver=12658301800001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4639/web.jpg?ver=12658301820001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4640/web.jpg?ver=12658301840001)
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Some time later I received various stuff for various dudes from good ol' Bob:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4700/web.jpg?ver=12651360300001)
See how Bob kindly packed everything separately for us ! Bob Rules !
I didn't actually order very much this time, most important were the buttons for the Berzerk.
The old one's were used as a cigarette holder:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4703/web.jpg?ver=12651360310001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4704/web.jpg?ver=12651360320001)
One last comparison:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4707/web.jpg?ver=12651360350001)
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4709/web.jpg?ver=12651360360001)
No doubt, worth every dollarcent !
Now, I just need the new CP from Cmoore and the imperial sized too set to be able to remove the coin door so I can restore that.
Although....there is one more (very sad) thing to tell about this restoration...
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Since the weather was like it was, I had to (carefully) spray inside the home.....
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4633/web.jpg?ver=12658301750001)
Wow, that looks dangerous.
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I managed to remove the bezel, which was scary because it was very tight and the last thing I wanted to do was break a bezel that survived for 30 years and looked VERY close to brand new.
So I started by cleaning the front (with some mild-soapy water) and carefully the back (center only). I was very careful to get as little as possible of the artwork wet.
But after some time I saw something that stopped my heart..........for a moment.
Flakes ! Black flakes OMG !!!!!! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
I went insane. I'd overload the profanity filter if I'd cut and paste what I exclaimed....
Here I was, completely ruining a lovely piece of original arcade history. It survived 30 years through every day (ab)use, being stored for years etc. etc. and then this happens.
I went......BERZERK !!!
But it was done. Nothing I can do about it now.
Here are the damaged parts:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4641/web.jpg?ver=12658301860001)
There's also damage on the black on the top, but forgot to take a pic. I think the black might be possible to rescue, but this, I guess this is beyond repair:
(http://gallery.me.com/andre.huijts/100643/DSCF4644/web.jpg?ver=12658301890001)
Well OK, we all love to write and read success story's, but the truth is that sometimes while trying to do the best you can things go wrong. This was one of these moments.
A dear lesson to learn.
Now I have three options:
1) Find a bezel that is just as nice....I guess it would have to be NOS for that. Very slim chance
2) Try to fix'r up. I guess I could do the black parts. But the robot's "arm"......
3) Order one of these:
(http://www.thludwig.de/arcade/pics/berzerk/berzerk_newbezel.jpg)
A guy in the UK printed this for Luigi. It looks very nice indeed. I wonder about the instructions area though. It looks like that is "printed in" too. I'd prefer to keep my original card because it has instructions in Dutch (well it looks more like Flemish, but still....)
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Not surprising that it flaked like that, actually. Mine is a little flaked but not too bad. Just Triple Thick that sucker up and decide if you want to try your hand at a touchup. That's a pretty simple one compared to pinball playfield touchups and stuff. It's not backlit which really helps you out here.
You're a maniac spraypainting in your kitchen. I hope your wife doesn't know you did that.
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You're a maniac spraypainting in your kitchen. I hope your wife doesn't know you did that.
Sshhhh.... does it help if I say I turned on the "cooker hood"? (I hope that Babelfish translation is right, it sounds weird but I really didn't know the English word for it :D)
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Oh, did I mention I hit 13200 today ! Quite a psychological breakthrough. I did somewhere in the 12000 once but it wasn't on my ZPU board. All my hi-scores on my own board were into the 11000 for some weird reason....
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Sshhhh.... does it help if I say I turned on the "cooker hood"? (I hope that Babelfish translation is right, it sounds weird but I really didn't know the English word for it :D)
I think it's range hood but close enough. And no, that's probably doesn't help, as the wife argument is that you just sucked all of the airborne black paint in the direction of the stove! :laugh2:
My high scores are all FOFOFOFO and 6B6B6B6B.
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My wife would have completely freaked if she saw that in her kitchen. You got some big balls man. :cheers:
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Well, it did help that she was out at that moment :D
And there was no spills to be found anywhere....
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Well, it did help that she was out at that moment :D
And there was no spills to be found anywhere....
Good thing...if I'd done it the overspray mist would have gotten on /something/ and I would have been in deep ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.
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I was thinking the same thing. The only reason she hasn't seen the overspray is because she doesn't know what it is yet. Believe me, if she finds out, she'll find some. Even if it's not actually there.