The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Arcade Collecting => Restorations & repair => Topic started by: Neilyboy on August 20, 2007, 04:40:30 pm
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I stumbled upon this cabinet a couple of months ago on craigslist. After the 3 hour+ drive and $60 dollars later (I think thats what I gave the guy for it). It arrived home in my garage. It was originally a Donkey Kong cabinet that looks like it was converted to a Vs. cabinet then later converted to jamma Rastan cabinet. Here are a few pics of it after I unloaded it.
Here is a link to my original thread with some pics of the insides as well. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=68157.0
It was a mess inside and outside the cabinet. He had switched it from vertical to horizontal by drilling some huge holes in the cab and using a couple of scrap blocks of wood to fill in the space between the cab and the monitor brackets. It was a total mess. So we had to do alot of filling and sanding.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9158.jpg)
Notice the extra holes from the monitor being just hacked in their (believe me no time or care was spent in converting this thing properly).
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9161.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9162.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9168.jpg)
Original DK serial plate.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9164.jpg)
Neil
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Here is my old man giving me a hand. I have to give him a huge thanks without him I dont know if I would have even attempted this. He finally just said look its sitting in your garage ill help ya on the evenings and stuff in getting it all fixed up. So we gave it heck and got alot of progress this last week.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9554.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9555.jpg)
Notice how ugly they painted up the front.. What a mess that was getting that off there.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9557.jpg)
Neil
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Filling the holes
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9560.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9570.jpg)
Me just checkin' it out seeing what all we missed..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9579.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9584.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9588.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9590.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9593.jpg)
Neil
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After I sanded away at the back for about 20 minutes
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9596.jpg)
Fairly smooth now.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9599.jpg)
back top holes filled
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9600.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9601.jpg)
Neil
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Still pretty bad shape.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9602.jpg)
Have it taped off now to paint some of the inside black.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9607.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9613.jpg)
Using paint remover to get rid of the horrid black in the front.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9617.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9621.jpg)
Neil
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First coat of primer going on.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9622.jpg)
Amazing stuff here Zinsser BIN primer. This stuff is a miracle.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9626.jpg)
First coat applied.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9629.jpg)
Cleaning up the front after removing all the black.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9630.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9632.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9636.jpg)
Neil
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Keep going man! I may be getting a DK. I cant wait to see how it turns out. I wish I has someone helping me. :(
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More Primer. Yeah having a hand when working with prime/paint is a huge help.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9638.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9640.jpg)
Everything with at least one coat of primer.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9645.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9652.jpg)
Neil
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I think we ended up using about 4 coats of primer or better. We would sand in between coats with finer and finer sand paper until the last coat we used #000 Steel Wool (I wish I could show just how slick this thing was after the 4th coat of primer). It was seriously like rubbing plastic it was soo smooth.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9658.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9663.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9667.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9670.jpg)
Neil
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Me applying the first coat of blue (which is all the farther we are today).
I had taken a piece of paint from under the coin-door metal (something that has not seen the light of day for 20+ years) for my sample that I took to lowes to match. I think it turned out pretty damn good.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9671.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9674.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9675.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9676.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9677.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9680.jpg)
Neil
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This is the cabinet after the first coat. Plan on using some #0000 steel wool and buffing it out a bit then applying a second coat sometime this week.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9682.jpg)
I dont know what the wife and I were doing in the background here (she was probably giving me crap for working on the cab all day)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9683.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9685.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9687.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9688.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9691.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_9693.jpg)
Well thats it for now ill keep this post updated. Now all I need is a working DK pcb, wire harness, and bezel. I have the original working sanyo ez monitor and the power block as well as the marquee, cp overlay, and t-molding. I am going to be building a control panel from scratch and using a sanwa j-stick instead of the original 'clunky' nintendo joy.
Neil
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Can you tell me what type of blue you used?
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I have the color codes at home. I am at work right now working a 10 hour shift so ill be home around 7pm cst. I can get the color code off the top of the can. It really was a mess getting the paint to match. I took in a flake of the paint from below the coin-door frame (most true blue I could find, not being exposed to smoke/sunlight) took it to lowes had him match it up. First try wasnt quite on then he did some manual color adding to it till what we smeared on my paint flake dried and looked spot on to what the chip did. So I will have to get the colors when I get home but I think its a dang close match.
Neil
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It would be much appreciated. Looks good so far.
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I'd love to have a clean garage like your dad's. Nice find on the cab. Good luck on the build.
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Its my garage actually he just came over to help. I bought the house and moved out of the parents house about 7 months ago. Then got married a month ago today actually. The garage was a big sell point for me. But then again thats why im broke house payments and taxes are killing me.
Neil
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Cabinet is looking great. I see the attraction to Donkey Kong. Speaking of wives and attraction... Is that her?
If so, congrats on the catch for both the Mrs. and the Cabinet...
If it's a sister or Mother :o :o then I apologize ahead of time. :laugh:
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yeah...more pics please...!!! And post some more of the DK cab as well ;)
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hahahaha yeah thats the wife. I think she was giving me heck for spending the entire day in the garage working on an arcade cabinet. I got up before she was even awake and worked on it until she went to bed again. :)
more updates hopefully tonight and ill post the color codes I used. I was too tired when I got home last night and had to work from 6:30am today till 6:30pm tonight again so once I get home this thing may get a second coat.
Neil
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Nice project. I have a CK project I am working on right now. It's ready to paint, but now I am considering of painting it the D2K blue and making it a D2K cab. I am waiting for a sign from the Arcadeshop.com gods on how much it will cost for a kit. If it's too much then I will be restoring a DK only and not converting to a D2K.
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Update. Just came in from giving it a second coat not 5 minutes ago.. Here is the color code for those wanting it.
Custom Color Olympic/CCA
Interior/Alkyd/Semi-Gloss
Fasthide Ult 340 VOC
#3 78611 Gallon Received: 08/12/07 04:32:54 PM
102-4Y23 103-2Y19.5 116-9
Manual Dispense 08/12/07
113-40
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/colorcode.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/paintcan.jpg)
remember these are taken in a dark garage with a flash so the color is a bit mis-leading but it looks really good when I hold my original test paint chip up to it..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/cab00.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/cab01.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/cab02.jpg)
Take care,
Neil
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if you look closely on the first of the three pics i posted above you can see the original blue color inside the control panel area of the cab. That is the original blue color so you can see how close it is.
/edit... also if you look at the paint can and how junked up it is.. that isnt my fault. the poor kid at lowes that was mixing it for me didnt get the lid on all the way one of the times he stuck it in the mixing machine and it blew up all over him and sprayed everywhere and with this stuff a little goes a long way.. I felt soo bad for the guy and felt obligated to buy it from him after he got it all over himself just mixing it for me. I got enough to paint about 10 more cabinets hahaha but oh well its good to have enough than too little.
Neil
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Awesome. Ill problably only get a quart because my cab is in decent condition. Do you think they can look at the codes and make a quart out of it? Keep going..looking good so far. :applaud:
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I assume so. That machine they use is pretty slick I would think they can modify the code just like a recipe. If it takes 2tsp's of flour to make it for 4people well then a half of a tsp for 1 person...etc.. I would guess they can.. my take on the code is its a color code for the primary number and then - some base x number of shots or how much is in it.. Im just guessing but im sure it can be converted to a quart.
with this paint a little went a LONG way.. you could get easily two coats out of a quart of paint. Assuming it was primed like mine and went on just as nice as it did with this application
Neil
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I assume so. That machine they use is pretty slick I would think they can modify the code just like a recipe. If it takes 2tsp's of flour to make it for 4people well then a half of a tsp for 1 person...etc.. I would guess they can.. my take on the code is its a color code for the primary number and then - some base x number of shots or how much is in it.. Im just guessing but im sure it can be converted to a quart.
with this paint a little went a LONG way.. you could get easily two coats out of a quart of paint. Assuming it was primed like mine and went on just as nice as it did with this application
Neil
Im going in about 2 hours to Lowes. I hope they can do it. Im geeked to start painting. Thanks for all the info.
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sure thing buddy let us know how it goes.
well im leaving this morning for alpine valley for a dave matthews band weekend.. so no progress this weekend. updates as they happen will be posted.
Neil
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Finally, won a working game board off ebay. Waiting for this to get here along with the sanwa joystick I ordered from ponyboy. And I wish rikitiki would get back with me about the logo-plate (for my ms. pac-man project) so I can order the nintendo decals. Also if anyone has a nintendo coin door that is in good shape (not bent up) let me know I would be interested if the price is right.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/winningbid.jpg)
More updates hopefully soon...
-Neil
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Alright, finally got some time to get the t-molding in place. Installed the right side then figured I would get the camera for some more pics. Nothing much but it was a good to see the t-molding in place. It cleaned up the edges really nice.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0138.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0139.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0140.jpg)
Yes, I need a hair-cut..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0141.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0142.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0143.jpg)
I just used a paper towel in between a rubber mallet to keep the black mallet from smudging the molding.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0144.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0145.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0146.jpg)
I couldnt resist trying out the nova matrix marquee light I installed in this thing. So I quick grabbed a hacked power supply from the house and threw 12v's at it. How pretty it was to see all lit up..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0147.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0148.jpg)
The wires you see through the marquee will not be visible of course it was just my father holding it in place while we rigged up some power to it.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0149.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0150.jpg)
Both sides of molding in place.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0151.jpg)
Nice clean edge. Lookin good..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0152.jpg)
I got my PCB in the mail last night and im working with Al to get a complete wire harness (Thanks again Al you are the man!!).
So I will have this bad boy up and running by next week for sure. *knock on wood*
Neil
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I ordered the Nintendo stickers from Rikitiki. Should be here tomarrow. You got a control panel and stuff? I got my CP overlay, card and cab instructions from Twisted quarter. The cp card looks like it was just printed on a bubble jet printer. Not too happy about that one, but the sticker on the cab and the CP overlay itself looks awesome, and he had the best prices around. I might go to Kinkos to reprint the CP card.
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Nostalgia, yeah I ordered my cp used off ebay (At first wanting to keep everything as original as possible) I was able to get a 'Nice' used cp and marquee for half the price of buying just a repro marquee off ebay. The instruction card is a bit different on a repro than the original. I was just going to scan my original at like 600dpi and touch it up in pshop then reprint on some heavy stock on a color laser-jet here at work. When it comes to me ordering side-art for my cab I have heard to buy from quarter arcade so I will probably spend the extra 3 bucks a side and get it from them.. My instruction sticker which I ordered from Mikes arcade came (the sticker that goes above the control panel centered to the joystick below the bezel) and it has a huge bubble in the laminate overlay between the top layer and the printed layer. So im not sure what im going to do about that. I hate to think that I paid 12 bucks for the put your quarters in below sticker since its the only sticker out of the set that I will be using.. Quality control must have been asleep when they packaged my order up haha.. Oh well.. Well I may get some free time this weekend to mount the pcb into the cab and work on re-mounting the power supply. I like to take my time and get of the the house. Just being in the garage is relaxing so usually something as simple as re-mounting the original power supply can take me some time since I will take it apart piece by piece and clean it lol.. More updates as they come.
Neil
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Well was able to get the control panel re-created this weekend. Luckily my best friends dad has a nice wood shop. So I asked him if he would re-create the control panel for me if I had an original board to go off of. So he said sure bring it by..
Old board that I was wanting to re-create.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0162.jpg)
My best friend is in the camo in back and his father is there routing out the back of the cp as you can see
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0161.jpg)
Well we didnt have a t-molding bit so we had to rig it up to get this t-molding cut in there. he found a saw with a 1/16" blade on it and ended up cutting the t-molding like this haha..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0164.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0165.jpg)
ended up working perfectly. Just do not have the joystick mounted yet and need to find some black contact paper or laminate for the cp... anyone know where to get ahold of some of that stuff??
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0167.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0166.jpg)
-Neil
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:notworthy: :cheers: :applaud:
Great project !!!! I love to see all the pictures of the work in progress :applaud:
Should be sticky ! Keep up the good work. Wish my father would help me out, or at least show a little bit of interest..... :-\
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Thanks Level42! Its been a lot of fun so far and I have learned alot of things from this restore. I would say im 80% done with this restoration as of now. Next on my list will probably be restoring the Alpha Mission cabinet that I have. Then I may finally get to work on my mameŠ machine to finally be able to play some of the classics which I have been itching to play for quite some time.
Thanks again for the kind words. Im really lucky to have a wife that lets me 'have my own time' and a father who is really interested in the restore process and is all about helping out. It really keeps me motivated in getting stuff done. Ill throw up some more pics when I get the control panel completed and mounted.
Neil
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My DK CP is painted black. There was no contact paper or laminate under the cpo. I would just paint it black.
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Loving this restore. Makes me want a DK cabinet.
Keep it up. :applaud:
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Well I would just paint it black but there was some sort of very thin laminate on them if you peel it off. It was the same type of stuff that they used on the rest of the cabinet as well. it was really odd stuff very very thin formica or laminate. I would just paint it but my cp is only 1/2" thick and needs to be 9/16ths of an inch thick so I was hoping to put on two layers of a thin black laminate to give me the extra 1/16 of an inch. any other ideas on where to get this stuff?
Neil
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Yeh, mine is just wood painted black also. You can get laminate from a craft store, OR go to Home Depot or Lowes and see if you can buy an all black peel and stick floor tile. Just a thought.
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You are right. It's that paper thin laminate. I just painted mine black.
Parts Express has black laminate adhesive vinyl. It's pretty good.
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I painted mine black too. Awesome job dude... :cheers:
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Nice CP Lew! Im just waiting on Sithmaster to send me the coin door and bezel (sent him the money yesterday but says he cant mail it till this saturday. i am really excited to receive that package). I then sent Awesome Al his money over the weekend and he is mailing me the harness (i think its in the mail). So I should be good to go once these packages arrive. I will keep you posted.. Take care.
Neil
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:o
this is an amazing restoration, i love all the pictures of the WIP :cheers:
and how cool is that, to have your father helping you for that project :)
very nice :notworthy:
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I was wondering about the marquee lighting thing (forgot the fancy name).....it looks very good on the pictures, a lot more even than I had expected. But how about the color ? I always feel LEDs tend to look "cooler" than a "natural white" TL tube. I am asking because I'm really interested in this as a solution for a number of my cabs.
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Level42. I can tell ya it looks damn nice.. Its one of those things thats soo hard to photograph but I can say it (at least behind that dk marquee) looks amazing.. It doest have any blue led tint to it.. It does have a warmer lamp feel to it than what I would think of as an LED light as well.. here are some more pics but again hard to get the true color. These were taken the first night I opened one up and tried it out.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/lighton.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/lightsout.jpg)
I personally was shocked at how well they did. They produce just enough light that its not too overpowering. I cant say enough good things about the light. It was just what I wanted and helped me to get rid of the 100v lamp that was in there stock from nintendo. So for me it was the perfect choice. Id say try one and if you like it order yourself a few more. I snagged 2 and was very glad that I did.
Neil
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yeah randy's LED marquee light is awesome... the best thing to me is that it remains cool for hours! it works great on my cab
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Hey Randy are you listening in ?
You should replace the pictures on the GGG site NOW with some of these ! (I'm sure if you send Neil a free unit he will allow you to use the pictures :D)
The pictures on the GGG site actually scared me away from this product because the light looks way too bright and blue on them....
The thing is, I don't like my marquees overly bright. My Galaxian has a new TL fixture and tube and while playing, the light annoys me because it's too bright. This is probably because I'm quite tall (The top of the marquee is about 5 cm below my eyes....) (Never had that problem as a kid..... ::) )
I guess by chucking in a pot it would be quite easily possible to dim the LED lighting...Can set it to "bright" when not playing and "dimmed" when playing. With some clever tricks this could even be done automaticaly (drop in a coin, marquee gets dimmed.) Randy if you start selling a dim-able NovaMatrix (TM) LED marquee lighting I claim 3 units as payment for the idea :laugh: )
Sorry for this side-step on the thread Neil, great pictures thanks !!!
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Not a side-step whatsoever 42! Its a great product and I cant thank Randy enough for putting the time in on putting together such a great light!
Well today is my day off (since i worked 4/10's this week) so I will be fixing the wires on the power supply that were spliced when I bought it and putting the board and monitor to the test today!! Alberts harness came through now im just waiting on Sithmasters package to get here (after he ships it tomorrow) and I will be complete -minus side-art!!
more updates and pics later today
Neil
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I guess by chucking in a pot it would be quite easily possible to dim the LED lighting...
Unfortunately a it takes a bit more than a pot to dim LED's. You need to use PWM circuitry (high speed on/off of the power) to dim LED's. Randy has the means to do it though.
Many a lost quarter/hour went into a Donkey Kong machine at my local pizza joint years ago.
Great progress. This it turning out nice.
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Well shoot now what.. before I removed this monitor from the cabinet (back when it was still a rastan cab). The problem was when you would turn it on the monitor tube would glow bright in back (like it should) then the screen was just all white. Well now that I have gotten my harness and pcb in I plugged everything in where (I thought) it should go and I flip the power switch and i get... Nothing. I hear the high pitch whine of monitor and a small glow in the tube (nothing like before). I hooked everything up just the way it was before and now im stuck with nothing...
Here are some pictures to hopefully give someone a hint as to whats wrong.. Im really lost now.. is there some sort of swtich that I have to hold in (as if the back pannel were on the machine) or something? Its weird because earlier it would at least light the monitor up bright but now its as if its not doing much. I have tested my voltages and everything seemed fine..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0184.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0185.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0186.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0187.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0188.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0189.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0190.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0191.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0192.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0193.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0194.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0195.jpg)
am I plugging everything in properly? dang it.. well I have to run to the bank ill be back in a bit hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
Neil
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I only have one cable plugged into the 9PCPU spot on the power supply and I still have a 10pin cable which I dont know where it goes (in the 3 pictures above in my hand). Maybe thats what im missing? The only power the monitor has as of now is the white cable that plugs into the power supply and then the video cable that goes from the cpu to the monitor board.
Im totally lost
Neil
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Post this question in "Arcade Miscellaneous" and link it to the post with the pictures.
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woohoo im a moron. haha was just missing the p10 to p4 cable.. its running like a champ now.. pix to follow.. one question though. is there a way to move the picture up higher even after the pot for v-center is all the way to the right and wont let me move it anymore??
Neil
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sure helps when you hook all the wires up eh... hahaha.. oh well no harm done just me thinking.. dangit all this work and now this.. anyway, here is a pic of it up and running.. now does anyone know how to move the picture up about an inch (the v-center button that moves it up and down is already up as high as it will go...). Thanks so much in advance..
man im so excited..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0200.jpg)
Neil
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Sounds like a monitor issue. Head over to the Monitor forum and search on the model of monitor you have. More than likely they will tell you to do a cap kit. Nice job getting it up and running though.
TTFN
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I moved mine up by moving the magnets that rotate around the neck, though It was a B/W vector so I didn't have to worry about messing up the convergence. I don't think I would try it myself on a Raster...
Has the monitor ever been capped? If not, it is worth it... $5 can really make a difference on an old monitor.
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You might consider replacing the pot too.
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how 'easy' is it to cap a monitor. im scared to death of the thought of discharging this monitor. I have heard from a guy (here on the boards actually) that he did it once and would never do it again haha.. I dunno the thing looks really good actually but im sure a cap kit would help.. anyone near the central IL area want to make a few bucks??
Neil
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how 'easy' is it to cap a monitor. im scared to death of the thought of discharging this monitor. I have heard from a guy (here on the boards actually) that he did it once and would never do it again haha.. I dunno the thing looks really good actually but im sure a cap kit would help.. anyone near the central IL area want to make a few bucks??
Neil
Considering you didn't have a problem removing the monitor from the cabinet, I don't think capping the monitor will be an issue. ;)
Just be safe, follow directions, and make sure your probe is grounded before discharging the anode. I'll be doing three monitors once my pin project is out of the way, but the process has been explained thoroughly enough by a seasoned pro, that I am confident it won't be all that bad.
Replacing the caps is the easy part. Just remeber that desoldering braid and flux are your bestest friends.
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haha thanks shardian! I may give it a go. A watering hole I visit up north from time to time houses a couple of guys who are in the amusment business.. I may have to head north some weekend and see if they are up for the challenge. Then again its an hour drive north..
I have to give HUGE PROPS to rikitiki here on the boards!! Richard is the nicest guy around. I had a midway logo plate vectorized for him and I (for my ms pacman cab). I got my package in the mail today and I must say This guy is amazing. All of the products came shrink wrapped and packaged so dang well. I ordered the nintendo DK stickers from him as well and they are of the highest quality around!!! I will deffinately hit him up for any other screen printed work I need done in the future. He is absolutely amazing!! thank you so much Richard!!
Neil
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I Capped my Asteroids and a friends Rolling Thunder and it was actually pretty easy if you have the monitor schematics. You are supposed to use some kind of resistor when you discharge but I just used a HV Probe which I think has one built in. I connected some alligator to one side and then to the chassis and then the other end of the HV probe to a wooden broom handle... Then followed the rest of the directions. ;)
What was funny is I was hiding on one side of the cabinet and my buddy was crouching right in front of it... I looked at him and said "Uhh, Hello, 50,000 volts that Jumps and Exploding monitors!!!" He was like, oh yeah, and went and hid behind a car. All that build up and the Rolling Thunder had been off for a week so it was a big let down. We were expecting fireworks and got nothing. :laugh2:
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Looking good Neil. Im almost done as well. I painted it this morning using your code. It looks great. Waiting for my board from Dick Milliken and Im good to go.
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I got my board from dick in WA as well!! working like a champ
Neil
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Be sure to include Donkey Kong II on this project !
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Neil, heres some pics of my finished product, besides side art. Your blue looks awesome. Thanks for your help. I cant wait to see yours!
(http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/descrentl/P9220153.jpg)
(http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/descrentl/P9220154.jpg)
(http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/descrentl/games-1.jpg)
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heck yes Nostalgia that looks beautiful. Glad the color worked out for you as well. I knew it was a pretty close match but didnt know it would turn out almost perfect. I stood there and kept telling the guy uhh nope not light enough yet umm nope keep trying.. then eventually I was satisfied and it turned out great. Well mine should be finished up this weekend (asides from having the coin door painted up and installed). I got confirmation that Sithmaster mailed out the door and bezel on monday I think so it should be here by this weekend. Once that stuff comes around Ill be all set.. I also ordered some 1/16" black abs plastic sheets textured on one side smooth on the other which is what I plan on putting on my cp and the black bar behind that holds the instruction sticker. We will see how that turns out im really excited to see it.
Nice work Nostalgia and dang you got taht done quick... haha.. you make me jealous I cannot wait to get this thing in the house and fired up so I can give it an evening of playing!!
Thanks for the pics Nostalgia they look amazing!!
Ill update with pics just as soon as I get all my stuff in the mail.
Neil
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Looks good, im glad to see everything is coming around for you. Mine is still in storage. Watching your project really makes me want to take mine out and give it a crack. I need to fix a boat i bought first (old rundown 1985 bassboat, i love old crap) , I really really need to paint the house, been painting it since i moved in 2 years ago! Too much stuff to do.
Nostalgia very nice arcade collection. You have my all my favorite cabs ! The arcades look so nice and clean! Maybe someday ill get a move on and restore my dk, and centipede. The guy i got my arcades from had some pacmans/mrspacman cabs there, maybe ill give him a call. I already have 4 cabs (only one works), no more room for more.
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Thats just it if these things didnt take up soo much room id have a few more but dang. I have four cabs now and they take up a large part of my garage.
Well last night I got my bezel and coin-door from sithmaster. Only two things left that I need. A sound cable and the sideart. I ordered some 1/16" abs plastic smooth on one side lightly textured on the other (pics to come soon im at work now). We (my father and I) spent last night cutting it to fit over the cp and the instruction bar below the bezel last night. We used rubber cement to overlay it onto the cab. I didnt have the cp latches on yet so I couldnt finish the CP last night but there is always this weekend. I will post some pics of the progress soon. It shouldnt be too long. I need to clean the bezel up pretty good 20+ years of smoke/beer/whoknows what on it and its going to require some attention. Anyone know whats a good 'gunk' 'sticky junk' remover that will not harm the silkscreened art on the original bezel?
Neil
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W00t, go Neil! Check yer PM's. Thanks for the compliments. What other games do you have Neil?
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More Weekend Updates:
Ok, so everything is coming together. I was able to locate some 1/16" abs plastic smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other. For a very good price ($3.50, for a 12"x24" sheet).
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0205.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0206.jpg)
I dissassembled the cp which I had built a couple weekends ago.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0207.jpg)
We then layed the cp over top of the abs and cut out around it.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0209.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0210.jpg)
Traced the holes and drilled them out with our 1 1/8" bit.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0211.jpg)
I went a little wild with cleaning the holes but it doesnt matter since its not seen after you apply the cp overlay.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0213.jpg)
We test fit all of our pieces (The abs over the cp and the back instruction bar)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0215.jpg)
Then drilled out the holes for the sanwa joystick and placed in T-Nuts to make things simpler
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0216.jpg)
I then realized that I had yet to dig out the cp latch strikes. So when I found them of course they were in just great shape. (This is of course after cleaning the left one up)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0218.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0220.jpg)
Cleaned them both up decently.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0223.jpg)
Then I had to drill out the holes for the carriage bolts that hold the overlay in place. (Camera didnt want to flash)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0225.jpg)
Counter-sunk some bolts for the latch strikes to bolt up to.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0228.jpg)
Then used rubber cement on both contact sides. (Back of abs and top of cp). Let it dry awhile then pressed together.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0231.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0234.jpg)
Placed overlay on temporarily. I was not happy with the repro artwork I received for the instruction card so I went ahead and from scratch re-created the card (based on my original dk instruction artwork). I am waiting to get to my parents house to print it out on their dye-sublimation printer. Thats why there is no instruction card artwork in place in any of these pictures. I will be printing it out at a later time.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0236.jpg)
So we had to put it in place to see what it looked like
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0238.jpg)
Then installed the T-Molding
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0239.jpg)
A few more shots of the cp in place.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0241.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0242.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0243.jpg)
Installation of the joystick (I still dont know what way is really up or down since it didnt come with any instructions nor do I know which color wires are which direction. Anyone have any info on that for me??).
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0245.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0247.jpg)
Joystick in place
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0249.jpg)
Ok now I have ordered some artwork from all over and I have to say rikitiki from here on the board is amazing. The stuff he produces is absolutely amazing (I just wish I could get him to print me some dk sideart, based on the quality of everything else I have receieved from him)!!
So decal installation
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0253.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0254.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0255.jpg)
burnish that bad boy on there
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0256.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0259.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0260.jpg)
Sexy!
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0261.jpg)
Now just need to clean up the bezel. I talked to my friend who painted my midway coin door for me and told him I have another project for him. He told me to bring the parts over today. So I a planning on removing all the hardware I need repainted from all my cabs making note of what goes where and handing them off to him tonight. I cant wait to see these things all repainted. Here is the link to my midway coin door restore http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=69930.0
That is without the logo plate that I had rikitiki reproduce installed. And like I said before his work is amazing the plate I received is 10x better than the original itself.
So ill keep you all updated on the progress here. I think I am going to purchase the side-artwork from quarter arcade sometime this week unless anyone has any DK sideart they want to get rid of cheap hehe..
Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
/edit Nostalgia I have a Ms. PacMan cab, Alpha Mission and a gutted battletoads cab (soon to be my mameŠ cab).
Neil
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This pic is not mine but it will give you the wireing diagram you need for your Sanwa JLF. Black is the ground wire.
(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/NiteWalkerGR/Misc%20Pics/sanwakopplingen.jpg)
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Neil, I love your attention for detail ! That black vinyl under the CP artwork is really much nicer than just paining the wood.
I agree completely, Rich from thisoldgame.com is doing fabulous work ! I hope he finishes the "galaxian"midway coindoor plate really soon, so I can finaly put in my order for some of his great stuff !
Keep those great pics coming ! Are the coin door/metal parts spray painted or is that powder coating. Whichever, you're really lucky to get it done for free !
I guess there is bound to be some interest in your repro instruction card if it turns out nicely !
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Kaytrim, Thanks so much man very much apprecaited.
Level42, Richard actually sent me a complete midway coindoor logo plate (since I had the artwork vectorized for him) All I can say is just wait till he puts it up for sale on his site!! It is soooo nice I cant tell you how nice it turned out. Its solid and holes are perfectly positioned for the existing rivets. Ill post pictures on my midway coin door restore page soon (have to go to a family bonfire tonight). The parts are all being sprayed by a great friend of mine who works in a spray shop repairing and rebuilding large ($xx,xxx dollar) paint machines for companies like Mitsubishi.. etc.. anyway I just dropped him off the parts not 20 minutes ago. He says he can have them done in two weeks. Since he cant work on them while he is at work he has to hangout on nights after work to complete them. I can tell ya he does a great job. I cant wait for the parts to come in so I can post some more pics.
Take care man ill update soon.. oh and yea the card.. It looks sweet ill post the complete psd file for anyone who wants it (I did it while I was at work and only spent oh... 2 hours on it hahaha.).
Neil
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No problem Neil. For the Kustom Sticks I build that is the most common joystick in use.
TTFN
Kaytrim
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Well I ordered the side art this morning (should be here by this weekend im guessing). I put together a list of where everything is from and what I paid for it to kind of keep track of what this project has cost me.
Price Breakdown:
Cabinet [St. Peters. MO] $60 (+~6 hours of driving)
Marquee & CP Overlay [Pulaski, TN] $28+$9shipping=$37
CPU [Oak Harbor, WA] $59+$19.27shipping=$78.27
T-Molding, Bolts, Monitor Cable, Decal [Circleville, UT] $48+$7.75shipping=$55.75
Primer, Paint & Wood [Peoria, IL] $55+$10tax=$60
Wire Harness [San Juan, TX] $25+$5shipping=$30
Bezel & Coin Door [Roselle Park, NJ] $40+$20shipping=$60
Joystick [Lindenhurst, IL] $28.95+$4.60shipping=$23.55
Buttons & Leaf Switch Holders [Mission Viejo, CA] $6+$2shipping=$8
Side Artwork [Philly] $55+$10shipping=$65
Bringing me to a running total of $477.57
Sure its alot of cash but it is in perfect shape and running like a champ.
updates as they come.. its my week to work late 10 hour shifts so I dont get home until about 7pm so I dont know what all I will get done this week but I have friday off so I should have some more updates come this weekend.
Neil
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Great job so far! I've always loved the shape of those cabinets and the Donkey Kong art is awesome. There's no better feeling w.r.t. this hobby then when you play your first game on a newly built cabinet. :cheers:
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...
Bringing me to a running total of $477.57
Sure its alot of cash but it is in perfect shape and running like a champ.
I don't consider that a lot really. And the feeling of having it restored yourself is priceless IMHO.
:applaud:
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Congrats :applaud: hats off to you neil, I've been watching this thread from the side lines but had to say what a great job you done and it's been a pleasure tuning every few days on your progress.
I'm hopefully going to have a popeye cab in a few weeks so will post a thread on how i get on with it but theres only a few things that i think need doing.
Seeing how cheaply some of the cabs are across the pond is amassing, here in england some cabs are like finding Elvis flying to atlantis on a magic carpet talking to the loch ness monster.
Any ways keep up the great work and a big allo from london :cheers:
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Level42: I agree its been money well spent. If I didn't spend it on these cabs I would waste it somewhere else... bar, or some other junk I don't really need.
Well thank you for the kind words neokidgeo. I personally love seeing restorations. And nothing makes me more excited than watching restoration project announcements fill up with info and images. So I wanted to make sure I kept a pretty decent picture log of everything I have done. I find myself even reading over my own project log every now and then while I'm at work and still enjoy watching the progress I have made. It makes me laugh to see how this thing was when I got it and thinking back to the day we drove all the way down to Missouri to pick this thing up (going on nothing more than a thumbnail picture that was taken by the first camera phone ever to hit the market haha). Getting there seeing just how bad of shape this thing was in. The only thing this cabinet had going for it was that the monitor was perfect no burn in what so ever. I cant believe how nice of shape this thing is in now after all of the restoration. It makes me excited to start on my next project 'alpha mission' cab.
Anyway thanks again neokidgeo its the compliments that keep me going. I wish you the best of luck with your popeye cab. Hopefully you will snag that cab for a reasonable price.
Take care more updates soon.
Neil
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You have a talent for restore. This machine is going to be awesome when you put all the parts in it. Make sure and take a picture when you first fire it up up with all the components in it! :applaud: :applaud:
How does the wife like Donkey Kong and where are you putting it when you are finished? :cheers:
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Thanks mcfreak!! Ill take plenty of pics :). Well the wife on games... hmm... haha she hates them.. But she understands its my hobby. I told her I cant leave these in the garage once I get them restored. She told me I can have a room in our finished basement as my 'arcade room' so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm thinking I may leave everything out of the cab and carry it down by itself and then carry down the power supply and pcb and monitor all separate (since they are so heavy) and then assemble them downstairs.
I went ahead and made a post in artwork section. I recreated the donkey kong instruction card cause the repro work is not even close and left alot to be desired.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=71917.0
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/DonkeyKongNeilyboy.jpg)
enjoy.
Neil
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Looks great. My Wife is the same way. I have a MAME already in the media room and I sold that to her by telling her it was the "Audio Equipment Shelf" so all that would be hidden. Now I just have to figure out how to move the Tron and Asteroids in the same room without her freaking out. The first delima is her "Breakfast at Tiffany's" poster is in the way and would need to come down to make room for a cabinet... Women... :dizzy:
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Very nice indeed... I had two restores on my radar.... Defender and DK... I've since hocked my DK internals to finish Defender but I'm sure I will get to the DK someday ::) ... Your resto is very nice and well organized... helps storyboard the process for me....
When I get to it... hope it turns out half as good as yours!
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Well it was my week of working 4/10's so I had the day off. My father took it off as well (I think because the side-art came in yesterday and he got just as excited as I did). So we first installed the instruction card that I re-created (since I was not thrilled with the repro that I purchased). Looks pretty good. Just printed it out on semi-gloss paper on a color laserjet at work (nothing too fancy).
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0299.jpg)
Here is the stack of trial prints along with my backdoor instruction sheet which I printed (needs a bit of trimming in the picture).
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0300.jpg)
Last time you will see this cabinet without side art so take one last look.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0302.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0303.jpg)
Anthony from QuarterArcade told me to drop the sideart 2 and 3/4" from the top and center it. So we did some measurements and marked it with some (not so sticky) masking tape.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0304.jpg)
We then starting at the top pressed it on somewhat firmly then ran the tape measure across it again to make sure it was perfectly straight all the way across.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0305.jpg)
Then (letting my fater do this cause I was afraid I would ruin it) we used the burninshing tool (which we scored from 'signs now'-a vinyl sign company locally) to smooth out any bubbles (which there were not many if any of). Working our way down the artwork till the bottom.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0308.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0310.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0312.jpg)
Then I think we stood back a second looked it over and gave it a final 'firm' rub down.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0313.jpg)
Here it was in place before we removed the protective layer.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0320.jpg)
Then installed the other side just the same as the first.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0326.jpg)
Then I slowly and carefully picked at the edge till the top protective film started to come off.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0327.jpg)
And then continued to peel it off.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0329.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0330.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0332.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0333.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0334.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0335.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0338.jpg)
I couldnt tell ya how much fun it was to see that graphic as it was exposed little by little.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0339.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0343.jpg)
Then it was time to CUT THE BRAND NEW SIDE ART. Well to install the monitor support bar of course.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0344.jpg)
I felt soo terrible cutting into brand new fresh artwork.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0348.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0349.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0351.jpg)
So now it was time to re-create the 'paper' monitor bezel which is used as a blackout inside the cab to keep it pretty dark around the monitor. The old existing monitor paper was just trashed faded spilled on pee'd on who knows.. So we purchased a large sheet of some sort of art board from our local hobby shop. Cut it out to the exact size of the existing monitor surround.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0352.jpg)
The old man has a much steadier hand than mine.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0354.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0358.jpg)
And then a test fit.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0361.jpg)
It fits perfect!! So we then re-created the other two blackout pieces that were all destroyed when I got the cabinet.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0364.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0365.jpg)
Dad thought it was time for him to get a 'headshot' in the picture haha..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0372.jpg)
Then we trimmed up the instruction card for the back and held it in place.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0375.jpg)
And now its time for DK to pose a bit while it waits on its coin door and retainers that are being painted this week actually. I should have this thing wrapped up next weekend (fingers crossed). For now I just used some masking tape to hold things in place haha. I was too excited and had to see what this thing looked like.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0377.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0378.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0379.jpg)
Thanks again to my dad for helping me out with this!! I couldnt have done it without him. It has turned out great so far just a few more things to go and it will be a complete project and an 'Alpha Mission' project announcement thread will be created ;))
Enjoy the weekend,
Neil
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:cheers: :applaud: :notworthy: :cheers: :applaud: :notworthy:
Better than new ! Fantastic work and great pictures !!
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Looks great. And I see you switched the ball top to black. :laugh:
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Looks great Neil. Comming together nicely. One question though. Why did you leave the security bar holes there. You putting that bar back on?
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Level42 :cheers: thank ya thank ya... :)
JimmyU I dont think I ever had any other ball-top ;) may have been Nostalgia with the white ball.
Nostalgia, in all honesty when we were doing the body work on this thing. I honestly just figured that those holes were just some other holes that Nintendo put there (kind of like the additional holes in the side for the available monitor rotation/conversion). I then figured eh' I have extra carriage bolts that were still in the original monitor holes (The carriage bolts that are all smooth on the head) which I filled. So I said what the heck its kind of unique looking in the front and kept them. In the end should I have filled them yes.. Do I wish I had filled them? I don't know it actually gives it a bit of character and maybe keeps just a bit of that "hey look, I'm old retired and probably overworked. Here are a few of my battle wounds". I did pick this cabinet up from a guy down near St. Louis MO (St. Peters actually). The original coin door was all bent to hell and looked like it had been vandalized (crowbarred open a few times). Thats the reason I had to get another one since the original would not even close it was so warped. So I dunno I do not plan on putting any security bar there (unless the neighbor kids get out of hand ;)). Its probably the one thing that I could have done but did not. But I like it all the same hehe.. At least the guy who installed the security bar put it on there straight hahaha..
Take care all and thanks so much for the kind replys!!
Neil
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My Galaxian has a couple of those holes for a security bar as well:
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=62784.0;attach=72278;image)
I never understood what those bolts were for there....until RobinHolland (is he still alive ??) visited me and explained it while we were talking about it. Couldn't believe I hadn't thought about it, I knew about security bars !
Never thought about removing them or anything, especialy since that would require replacing the front artwork......although......if Richard would print this on exactly the right vinyl.......you know that bottom end is annoying me more and more. This is because the rest of the cab looks so darn good.... But I can't think about how to restore it. Repairing the wood would require taking away chunks of the original vinyl. Just painting it coud be done, but I doubt a color matched paint would still look SO exactly that you wouldn't notice the difference.
I've been thinking about putting a Midway kickplate molding on there, like one of these:
(http://arcadeshop.com/pics/midway-kickplate-molding.jpg)
However, that wouldn't be keeping it original....
Anyway, no intention of hi-jacking your thread Neil, just wondering off in my mind :D
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No thats awesome man. Your always welcome in my threads hahaha.. I dunno man I would almost be up for spending a whole day masking out the artwork on the lower portion there. Then finding someone with a very nice even paint gun to come over color match that blue and give it a few very light 'sprits' of blue.. I dunno test paint on some junk board first to see if you are satisfied with the results. I think you would be in the end. It would be much nicer to keep the artwork exposed rather than 'sweeping the dirt under the rug' type of fixing hehe.. No matter what thats still a damn sexy galaxian!!! You lucky arse!! haha
Take care Level.
Neil
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Whoa!!! How'd I miss this thread?
What a great job bro. :cheers: And your dad too, he gets props. :cheers:
You know, you are getting a lot of people here whipped back up into their "limbo" restorations with this project....that's to your credit man.
I have a hunch Niel, that this will be properly stickied when you're done - as it should be.
I do have a burning question for you though......
Why would you ignore that beautiful (an popular) Pink and Yellow lady that seems to linger in the background of most of your pics, shouldn't she take precedence over 'Alpha Mission'?
;D
(I'll bet your still pondering whether to paint her or sticker her. Hmmm, yes...the dilemma.)
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Thank you so much for the reply WunderCade!! As for getting people back to restoring, I sure hope so! As I love seeing restoration threads! And as for Ms. Pac in the back. Well, I started with her actually. I stripped all her metal parts and had them re-painted (See my midway coin door restore post- http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=69930.0). I purchased a NOS cp overlay applied it to the freshly repainted cp. Everything looked soo darn good when I got the parts back I knew it wouldn't look right putting them back on a cabinet that was not totally restored. So now they sit on my spare bed in the house waiting for Ms. Pac to clean herself up a bit (which I do plan on getting to sometime soon here. Not enough hours in the day). I like the alpha mission cab alot since I can pretty much take it wherever I want since it was just a conversion kit. I want to see what comes out of it. Then maybe I will get some time to knock the dirt off of ol' Ms. Pac. And as for paint or stickers... Come on, the only way to go is paint :D
So we will see. Ill keep ya updated as time goes on.
Thanks so much for all the positive responces they really do keep ya going when restoring an old busted up cab.
Neil
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WOW!!! Seeing this makes me want to skip over my next project and start on the Donkey Kong right away. I can't believe how awesome this thing looks - you and your father have done an amazing job!
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Nice work :cheers:
Lol i like how you tape the marquee and bezel in place. Are you going to put the monitor in soon cause id like to see how it looks through the bezel? And did you get that gunk off the bottom edge?
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This thread is worth a sticky IMHO.
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Nice job, I'm right about where you are in my restoration. I just put my side art on this past weekend, replaced the control panel (and buttons), and just need to replace the t-molding. After that, it'll look brand spanking new.
My joystick is a little sloppy, so I might replace it. I'm not 100% sure yet...
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Thanks guys!! I love the compliments. If anything your galaxian is worth a sticky, Level that cab is beautiful!! Sith- yeah I havent really done any hard scrubbing on it but I was able to get all the black stuff off the bottom with warm soapy water. There is still a 'glue like' substance above the printing on the bottom but im thinking about trying a 'magic eraser' on it very lightly to see if it can remove it. Or I may do a test spot in the corner and rub some goof off on it to see if it will get rid of that glue. If not it doesnt bother me too much. As you really dont see it since its below the lower bezel mount. I should be getting the monitor put in it fairly soon here. I still have to put the cab up on some horses and pull the bottom base off of it. I dont know if anyone noticed in any of the pics but the base board in the front is totally missing. The others are not in all that great of shape so they are all going to be replaced. Along with replacing the bottom I will be replacing the caster wheels that it rides on since they are pretty ate up. So more updates soon
JeffAMN- go with the sanwa for sure. I dont know if you have used one yet but oh my I love the feel of this thing.
Neil
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Yeah, I might toss a Sanwa in there.
For your sticky stuff, nothing works as well as Goo Gone and a magic eraser. I would use the magic eraser after the Goo Gone to clean up anything that might be hanging on. I had to do the same on my cabinet Saturday night.
Oh, and here's how my side art turned out:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/jar155/BYOAC/DSC02225.jpg)
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Very nice looking Jeff AMN!! Ill have to get some of that goo gone.. I think I have goof off which will deff eat through the artwork on the bezel im afraid. I have a couple magic erasers laying around (the most amazing thing I have ever used haha). So maybe tomorrow ill get around to removing the rest of the gunk at the bottom (Have to pick the wife up from the airport tonight).
Neil
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If you use Goo Gone, do so sparingly and make sure you wipe up any extra. My father lost a big decal on his boat trying to clean up some extra glue.
Great progress. I can't wait to see a screen shot.
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Neil,
I must say that this thread is awesome. Your (and your father's) work is exemplary and you guys deserve credit on this restore. It's definitely fun to read the thread and see something done with so much detail.
I hope you enjoy the cabinet and I'm stoked to see you have others in the background as well!
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Coder- Thanks for the heads up. I will do a test patch on the lower right corner first to see what gets rid of it best. Im anxious for the screen shot as well. I cant wait to get his bad boy wired up and playing.
AllCammedUp - Thank you so much for the kind words. I am just glad my father likes restoring these things as much as I do haha. I think what he has been hinting at for the past couple weeks is that he has an old wurlitzer (sp?) jukebox in his basement that he has been wanting to restore. So im guessing he is going to want my help with it. The other cabs in the background will all be fully restored. Asides from the gutted battletoads cab which will end up being my MAMEŠ machine here in the future.
Thanks agian all.
Neil
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well the sound cable came in today. I plugged it up and fired up the machine... All i get is like a loud squak when I first turn it on then some really light repeating sound in the background. Does anyone that has a DK board know is there supposed to be any music durring attract mode or is there only sounds once a coin is inserted? I dont have the coin door wire harness since the one I got was cut so im not able to coin up unless i short the coin pins on the pcb i guess. I just wanted to know if there is or is not sound until a coin is put in. Cause right now I have nothing :(
Neil
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I have no sound until I coin up. Atleast I think so. Try adjusting the sound pot. I have a very light noise when I boot up, and it also makes a "walking noise" once as soon as I turn the machine on. Hope this helps.
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well the sound cable came in today. I plugged it up and fired up the machine... All i get is like a loud squak when I first turn it on then some really light repeating sound in the background. Does anyone that has a DK board know is there supposed to be any music durring attract mode or is there only sounds once a coin is inserted? I dont have the coin door wire harness since the one I got was cut so im not able to coin up unless i short the coin pins on the pcb i guess. I just wanted to know if there is or is not sound until a coin is put in. Cause right now I have nothing :(
Neil
The one i sent wasnt cut was it? You could improvise your own harness by getting wire from the pcb to the coin switches i think.
Thats weird though i would think the game would play sounds before a coin insert to attract people over with the noises.
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So when does the background music start up? once you coin up and hit one or two player button?
sith yeah the harness you sent me is cut (on the end that I need pcb end I dont have the little black end 'P3' which connects to the COIN on the pcb).The wires are there that attach to the coin mechs but it was completely cut off on the side of the wire i need..
Neil
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woohoo its working 100% I brought it in the house tonight (the internals-pcb, psu, monitor, control panel) its all working!!! I cannot wait to get the base of the cabinet all fixed up and bring this bad boy inside!! I would post a video but I just filmed a wedding last weekend and I think I left my video camera at my parents house as I cannot find it anywhere in my house now. Oh well.. Just picture me with a huge smile on my face right now!!
Neil
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here we go.. wife on the left and my sister on the right, who came over to give my wife a haircut... as you can see she does really well with games.. she is the type of gamer to break a few controlers by the end of the night.. i hope the sanwa stick can put up with her abuse hahaha..
Neil
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Wait is she pissed cause she couldnt beat the first level or given the finger cause she owned dk?
Your shorting the credits right? Sorry about the wires i didnt really check when i first got it (spent most of its life inside a box).
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haha she is mad cause it took her about 10 credits to beat the first level. I should have been charging her quarters hahaha. I could have made a few bucks back by the end of the night hahahah. Yeah im shorting the credits with a flat head screwdriver as of now. Its cool man. The door was in good shape thats all I was worried about. I should have the door back by saturday evening (late have to drive north awhile to get it). So I will figure something out about the credits. Im thinking I may find some tin or something easily bendable yet conductive then bend two tiny square female ends out of it. Then I may try to rig it up to the coin door to see if it works.. I dunno another day another project. I just am stoked that I was able to play it for my first time tonight.. When I heard it coin up after shorting it the first time I was like oh heck yes.. then had to figure out the wiring on the cp since I just guessed and I had up as right and down a left and everything was out of wack so I had to re-wire it until I got it right. I was soo happy. Now it makes me want to get the bottom restored that much quicker so I am able to move the whole cab here into the house soon and play it the way it was meant to be played..
Thanks again for all the comments so far. They are what kept me going.. well that and my father asking what we were doing next hehehe..
more updates and pics and maybe some video soon..
take care all.
Neil
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:cheers: :applaud:
Great test set-up :)
Hope you are a better player than your sis :)
Hope she handles the scissors a bit more respectful than the joystick...
BTW, was that before or after the hear-cut :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
(DON"T let your wife read that, she'll kill me)
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If I had that DK cab, I would have ordered this already:
http://www.jeffsromhack.com/products/d2k.htm
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haha that thing is awesome.. I dont want to modify the game however I do wish I had the high-score save. Im to chicken to install it haha
Neil
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Huh ?
It's only carefully removing the Z80, putting that into the extra PCB, and put the PCB where the Z80 was.
It's very easy !!
http://www.arcadeshop.com/konghs/konghighscorekit.htm
and
http://www.arcadeshop.com/konghs_f/konghighscorekitinstallation.htm
Doesn't require any soldering or hacking...
(Unless you have a soldered Z80)
I'm not sure if the D2K have been released though,however since the screens are shown I guess it will be available for this upgrade kit....
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Oops, looks like that kit only supports that one extra level called foundry.
However, I think the only real thing you would need to change to be able to play D2K is the ROMs.
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Sorry to back things up a bit, but how did you mount your Sanwa joystick to your control panel? Did you modify anything, or did you use an adapter?
I've decided that I need to replace my joystick. It's still mostly functional, but I had a death last night that was the joystick's fault, not mine and I was working on a personal best. I don't want that to happen again.
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I made my cp from scratch but honestly the sanwa mounting bracket matches up exactly (hole wise) to where the original mounting holes go. I just put in T-Nuts on the top and screwed a 3/4" bolt through it to secure it. It works beautifully and I give two thumbs up on the sanwa stick. Its soo smooth.
Neil
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Awesome, I'll give it a try.
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Anyone know what size of locks are required for an original dk and where I can locate them at? I will need to replace the lock on the coin door and lock on the back (neither of which do I have) so I need to know the sizes..
Neil
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If you need cheap wire check out a dollar store for cat5 or something that could work.
I could have made a few bucks back by the end of the night hahahah.
But then they complain that they are family or how your awesome and wouldnt do that. Then you could always say someone has to pay for the electricity so it might work.
like oh heck yes.. then had to figure out the wiring on the cp since I just guessed and I had up as right and down a left and everything was out of wack so I had to re-wire it until I got it right
I know the feeling. Only for me its goes Heck yes its working --> wait why isnt the thing that was working not working --> now they both arent working --> omg they are working again. It would be great to see her try playing with everything inverted.
Cant wait to see it all done. :cheers:
edit- i just checked the bst thread that had them but richard doesnt have anymore. here is a link with some info http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=47098.0 but basically the coin door is 7/8" and the back is 5/8"
edit-ebaylink (http://search.stores.ebay.com/ArcadeGames4You_locks_W0QQfciZ9QQfclZ4QQfsnZArcadeGames4YouQQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQsaselZ36443272QQsofpZ0)
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awesome thanks for the info and the links sith.. now to find some 7/8" ACE key locks for the coindoor
Neil
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wait you want the keys to be the ace kind? (those are the tube ones right)?
If you have a locksmith near you they might have them or know who would otherwise a local hardware store (not lowes or home depot) might stock them.
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I got my locks from Lowes. They are the regular key locks. Hurry up and get this thing done Neil! My 12 year old is on stage 7 already. I cant get past 3. :-[
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hahahaha thats awesome. I have spent about 10 minutes playing this while my sister played about an hour just while its sitting on the floor..Im making myself finish the cab up before I play it too much so I dont get too comfortable playing it with the cp in my lap hehehe..
Neil
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Ok, I went ahead and ordered the Sanwa JLF. How did you wire it? I know that there has to be some amount of tweaking going on since the JLF uses a 5 pin connection and the DK is different.
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O.K. I'll admit it. This is just a placeholder post to keep this thread off page 2.
Sue me. ;D :dunno
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I love the work so far, very inspiring, but why aren't you using a real Donkey Kong joystick?
rm
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Niel, I love the project, looks amazing. The pictures are an excellent documentation of your work.
You should put all of your pictures in an album and keep it next to the cab so all who play, can share your journey and see how it came to life.
Makes me want to get another cab and do a restore(I'm thinking Defender or Robotron)
, that is after I finish with my mame cab.
Hey.... Did you start any work on that battletoads cab I turned you on to yet?
Regards
Mike
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I love the work so far, very inspiring, but why aren't you using a real Donkey Kong joystick?
rm
Don't want to answer for Neil, but my guess is because the Nintendo joystick is not the best, to say it nicely...
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yeah im not a fan of the clunky nintendo stick. I have two of them that are cleaned up and working perfectly.. I dont know I just saw markrvp's restore and saw he used a sanwa. I ordered one from ponyboy and fell in love. It is a very smooth enjoyable stick. So yeah Level42 hit it right on the head.. Its just a personal thing I guess. Gatordad, yeah the battletoads cab is in the works. I just bought me a 27" flat tube tv that is going to be mounted in that cab (assuming I can make it fit without too much trouble). Its going to make for a very nice mame machine. It couldnt be any more perfect than it is. I am just hoping that the monitor I purchased fits. its going to be snug but if it fits will look awesome.
I have this friday off (since its my 4/10 week) so more updates this weekend!!
Neil
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Neil,
Great restoration... Just picking up a DKJr Cab that I will be restoring for a charity (I can only hope mine is half as good as yours). I will try being as deligent as you in posting WIP.
I do have a question, where did you get the wiring harness? my system was converted to a Neo Geo :'(.
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I purchased the wire harness off of AwesomeAlbert here on the boards. He had one extra set. I had posted on NNTP and never got any responce. Just keep watching eBay they come by from time to time.
Neil
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I purchased the wire harness off of AwesomeAlbert here on the boards. He had one extra set. I had posted on NNTP and never got any responce. Just keep watching eBay they come by from time to time.
Neil
Thanks. AwesomeAlbert... Got another? ;D
Also, NNTP? Is that the Buy/Sell/Trade section?
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sorry, no its newsgroups. rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Neil
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sorry, no its newsgroups. rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Neil
Oh, that NNTP... been so long since I've used Newsgroups, that I have forgotten. :)
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ebay link (http://cgi.ebay.com/Large-lot-of-New-Coin-Machine-Lock-Parts_W0QQitemZ120173763570QQihZ002QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
found some locks you might be interested in lol.
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sorry, no its newsgroups. rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Neil
Neilyboy,
Thanks for the intro into the newsgroup... found almost everything I needed!
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not a problem buddy glad to hear it.
Neil
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Which reminds me... do you have pictures of what the inside of a DK (or DKJr) cab looks like? I pick up the cab this weekend and should have the parts next week. I am hoping to post my progress in the forums and if mine turns out half as good as yours, I will be very happy... ;D
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yeah, I can post some pics of the inside of my cab later for ya. I have my DK on its back now actually as im getting the stuff I need to replace the bottom of the cab and the wheels.
Neil
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Neil, what kind of paint did you use for the black parts of the cab?
Did you spray or roll it on? I read through the thread last night, but missed any mention of the black paint.
I started sanding the sides of my DK cab last night and my wife wasn't too happy to find that her Jeep Commander was blue from the dust :laugh2:
Thanks,
Dan
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:laugh2:
This is going to be Neil's theme for his MAME cab project.....jk
:laugh2:
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hahaha.. hatrick.. yeah I actually just got some satan black spray paint and sprayed it a couple/few times till it looked goood.
jetson.. hahaha i know she hates arcades lol... oh well she needs to find a hobby
Neil
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I loved your response the other day about how cats are like pennies!!!
Don't Feel bad...I've been married for almost 16 years and my wife still doesn't have a hobby....well except maybe bitchin at me and the kids! :woot
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yeah, I can post some pics of the inside of my cab later for ya. I have my DK on its back now actually as im getting the stuff I need to replace the bottom of the cab and the wheels.
Neil
Thx. no hurry.
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yeah, I can post some pics of the inside of my cab later for ya. I have my DK on its back now actually as im getting the stuff I need to replace the bottom of the cab and the wheels.
Neil
Thx. no hurry.
OMGs you got the cocktail and an upright? :applaud: reminds me that i need to get you pics as well.
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Found this thread right before I was going to go to sleep last night, next thing I know it's three in the morning. AMAZING work, Neil. That thing is gorgeous. I also appreciate that you have the patience to photograph each step. I always go in hoping to take pictures when I am fixing an issue on a cab, but the minute I get frustrated I completely forget about the camera until the thing is working and back in place, heh.
Thanks for documenting everything, and congrats again on the amazing job you did. It's seriously the sweetest DK I've ever seen pictures of.
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thanks for the kind words ice cream jonsey! its comments like that that make it all worth it. the restore was alot of fun. kinda sad its almost coming to an end. this weeekend i should have it finished up. just replacing the bottom and taking it inside.. I cant wait.. more pics soon
Neil
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Hey Neil,
Do you have any pictures of the wiring that goes to the switch/fuse panel on the back side of the machine? I know you posted some pics of the front side of the panel (where the switch and fuse are), but the previous owner of my cab bypassed the the fuse and switch, so that it automatically powers on when you plug it in.
I'd like to return mine to stock configuration, but I'm not sure exactly how the wires were routed.
I don't think I'll even post pictures of my restore since it will not be nearly as nice as yours! :notworthy:
Thanks!
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haha yeah hatrick ill get some pics when i get home. my power supply was somewhat botched as well but I figured it out.. I replaced the power cable and such so ill take some pics this weekend for ya
Neil
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Thanks Neil. I appreciate your help!
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yeah, I can post some pics of the inside of my cab later for ya. I have my DK on its back now actually as im getting the stuff I need to replace the bottom of the cab and the wheels.
Neil
Thx. no hurry.
OMGs you got the cocktail and an upright? :applaud: reminds me that i need to get you pics as well.
Yup... :dizzy: Just picked up the cab today... It is in much better shape than I tought, but the monitor is mounted Horizontal, so I will have to rotate it... Has the weirdest buttons on the CP I have ever seen. :D
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Hey Neilyboy... Did your cab come with the Vertical Monitor mounting bar? My DKJr cab's monitor is mounted horizontally and I need to change it... but I dont believe I have the correct parts...
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Pics...pics...hey Beavis, more pics Dude...huh..huh..ya, ya..huh, more pics.
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shilmover. my cab was jerry-rigged when it came to how the monitor was in place. it had the vertical mounting bar attached but they just spun the monitor horizontally and put in two chunks of 2x4 to fill in the space on one side to mount it horizontally. hahaha it was soo terrible. So yes it came with what I needed to mount it back to original position. If you feel like buying them i know mikesarcade.com sells them. Otherwise just post around someone may be able to help ya out.
wundercade haha yeah pics are coming its my 4/10's week at work and yesterday was busy. I didnt get as much done on the cab this weekend as I had hoped (had a wedding i forgot about). This coming weekend though looks good. I have friday off but the leaves are falling and I have to go see the cancer doc on friday (found out i have testicular cancer about 6 months ago, so im still dealing with all the checkups and such) so most of friday will be spent doing work that needs to be done. but saturday is looking good ;). I still havent heard from my paint guy. He took my parts 4+ weeks ago. said it shouldnt be a problem to have them done in 2 weeks. well its been 4+ and i havent heard from him (although, I know his girlfriend was moving in with him the day I took him the parts) so I dunno.. guess I should call him instead of just txt messaging him. Once I get the coin-door back it will be ready to move into the house. I cannot wait im soo excited.
Neil
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shilmover. my cab was jerry-rigged when it came to how the monitor was in place. it had the vertical mounting bar attached but they just spun the monitor horizontally and put in two chunks of 2x4 to fill in the space on one side to mount it horizontally. hahaha it was soo terrible. So yes it came with what I needed to mount it back to original position. If you feel like buying them i know mikesarcade.com sells them. Otherwise just post around someone may be able to help ya out.
Thanks... I will check around... saw it new for $50 which seems way too pricey for 4 pieces of metal. :)
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I have friday off but the leaves are falling and I have to go see the cancer doc on friday (found out i have testicular cancer about 6 months ago, so im still dealing with all the checkups and such) so most of friday will be spent doing work that needs to be done. but saturday is looking good ;).
Neil
Yikes! Sorry to hear about your cancer. It's very fortunate you caught that at an early age. Hang in there, judging from the care and effort you put into your Dk restore, you'll beat that cancer into submission in no time!
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thanks hatrick. yeah i caught it really early. I had one of the boys removed and since then 'knock on wood' everything has been ok. but I go in friday for a sonogram on the other to make sure nothing else has come back. i got a great wife and a very caring family so its just a ---smurfy--- bump in the road..
Neil
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Neil, sorry to hear about that. One advice: make sure you have some of your semen stored.
I have a friend who had the same thing. Chances on the other testicle getting it are very low.....yet he was one of the few and didn't get his semen saved.....he'll never be a dad. Even if you don't want now....I guess you should keep your options open...
All the best !!! :cheers:
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thanks level.. well the good news is before i had the surgery I had some banke'd up... and after the surgery everything still works and is very active so no worries there as of now. I decided to just wait and watch rather than have any radiation at this point in time so I dont spoil any future possiblities. since im still a newly-wed we are trying to hold off a couple years so i can 'still be a kid' for a while longer.
and to keep the thread going i promise ill post some pics tomorrow. I just havent been home lately with halloween and everything going on this week and it being my long week at work. but I have tomorrow off and just may finish up the dk machine.
Neil
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It's tomorrow. ;)
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Yer, right Mcfreak ;) haha and keeping my promise...
Well the test (as far as I know) went well! I finally got some time to get in the garage with my father and work on the cab. The bottom was in rough shape. The front base piece was missing all together. So we used a rubber mallet to remove the old pieces from the cab.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0473.jpg)
We had to replace the existing pieces that were once stapled on.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0470.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0478.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0512.jpg)
We then re-created the base pieces one by one from the originals.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0471.jpg)
We had to give them a coat of black.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0479.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0485.jpg)
The casters were in rough shape too. We removed them and they had looked like someone rolled the cab around in some hot tar. So we used some light sand paper and goof off to get them somewhat clean. Then used some steel wool to finish them off.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0510.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0515.jpg)
Got some new bolts to thread the casters back on.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0517.jpg)
Then put them in place.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0520.jpg)
We then figured the best way to attach the base pieces back onto the cab was with some angle brackets which we purchased at lowes. Just lined them up and away we went. Pre-drilled and screwed.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0521.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0526.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0531.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0533.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0534.jpg)
It was time to put DK back on his feet.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0537.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0542.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0543.jpg)
Now im just waiting on my painter to get back with me on the parts. He told me it would be 2 weeks, so far its been 5... I cant complain though the price was right. The coin door and bezel/marquee mounts are all I am waiting on to get this cab completed and moved in-doors.
I will get some pics of the wiring for ya hatrick and shilmover ill get some pics of the inside once everything is in place (since im assuming you dont really want a pic of it empty inside, or do you?)
Take care all, Next update...... Completion
Neil
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Nice job Bro. Almost there. How's the restoration itch coming along now that you are almost done with this thing? Or do you feel a respite coming on before moving to the next project?
:applaud:
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Looks great man. If I had the room I think this would be my next project. :)
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Looks great!!! :cheers:
For the inside pics, I am interested in how the monitor is held in place top and bottom.
I should be getting all the main parts monday (wiring harness, PCB, etc) so when you get the wiring pics, that would be great... Quick question... Aside from the service button, coin door and Control Panel are the only other connectors that get connected through the wide edge (JAMMA-like) connector on the PCB?
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as far as I know you wont be using the edge connector if you were able to locate an original wire harness. both the edge connector and the smaller black connections (P9, P10, P4..etc.) they are all bridged with one another. I think the edge connector was there for a larger test point or for possible add-ons at a later time or something haha (but you can use an edge connector like markrvp did on his resotre if you do not have the original wire harness). But anyway if you have the original wire harness then you will not be using the edge connector in your restore.
Your pics are on the way. I left my dang CF card at my parents house yesterday (since we went there for a cookout) and need to get that before I can take pics of my wiring.
Neil
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as far as I know you wont be using the edge connector if you were able to locate an original wire harness. both the edge connector and the smaller black connections (P9, P10, P4..etc.) they are all bridged with one another. I think the edge connector was there for a larger test point or for possible add-ons at a later time or something haha (but you can use an edge connector like markrvp did on his resotre if you do not have the original wire harness). But anyway if you have the original wire harness then you will not be using the edge connector in your restore.
Thanks... The cab right now seems to be a hybrid... :) I have a new wiring harness coming that should allow me to connect everything properly.
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that's cool I'm actually very interested in seeing what your harness looks like when you get it. some guy offered to make me a harness for 25 bucks but i was somewhat skeptical.
Neil
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that's cool I'm actually very interested in seeing what your harness looks like when you get it. some guy offered to make me a harness for 25 bucks but i was somewhat skeptical.
Will do. The one in the cab now is a hybrid DK/JAMMA. :)
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here is the wiring im not real sure if this is what you were wanting to see or not.. let me know ill be happy to take more pics
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0550.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0555.jpg)
Neil
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That's a great start... Thanks!
Think of it this way. I have a control panel, a pcb, a powersupply, a speaker, a monitor and a wiring harness (with lots of freaking wire). I have no idea how to put it all together... :laugh2:
Do all the black connectors on the PCB need to be populated?
I also have an edge connector on the cab that fits on the DK board.
-
[Edit]
Neilyboy,
I don't want to hijack your thread and will move this discussion to my DK Jr thread if you like. I am new to these boards and don't want to upset anyone or break any rules... If what I am doing is wrong, please someone tell me...
Barry
[/Edit]
Okay... Figured some of it out... A few questions...
Could not figure out why the board was not powering up until I realized that the Powersupply (original) was re-directed to the Switching PS (JAMMA). I did not see the connector on the back of the PS.
Now I only have 2 ribbon cables going from the PS to the board... P9 & P10. I am assuming that I need P7 (SOU) too? (Problem is that I dont have one)...
When I power up the board, I see DKJr (and DK on that board) play, but there is no sound and the video is inverted (wondering if they installed something on the monitor to invert it for JAMMA). BTW, what is the original monitor that came with these cabs?
-
the original monitor is a sanyoEZ20 (and i believe there was one other later on) but yes the original monitor was ready to accept inverted video. If you are using a newer monitor you will need to get either an inverter board or possibly a dk jammer converter that inverts as well (which may be what you have, but you are trying to use the original monitor with regular video because of the jamma connector). Sounds to me like you are doing wiring similar to that of what markrvp did with his restore.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51522.0
that thread may be of some help to you. As for the P7 cable I do not have that hoked up either.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0552.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0557.jpg)
I guess maybe give us some pics of what you are working with so we can help you out there. Also if you download the pdf of the manual it is really helpful in hooking up the wires. that was how I found my problem when hooking everything up.
keep us posted.
/meanwhile to keep my stuff up to date.. well I have contacted my painter again by txt message last night (since he never answers his calls). I left him two messages. If I do not hear back from him by this Saturday I may run down around his place and see if I can even get my parts back. Its been 6 weeks (he told me it would take 2 at most). I realize stuff comes up but come on to not keep me posted on how things are going when you have had them for a month over what you told me originally. Anyway thats just me venting I guess. On another note I got a guy wanting to sell me 4 cabs for 100 bucks.. only problem is he is about 4+ hours away (one way) but I have a friend willing to make the trip with me this weekend so we will see.
Neil
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Thanks for your help. My cab does not have a JAMMA adapter as I have seen them in the past (see picture below):
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=51525.0;attach=89336;image)
The board on the left connects to the original DK stuff, the board on the right to the new control panel.
It appears to be the original monitor (i can even see some faint DKJr burn in). I will continue to fiddle with it.
Good luck on the other 4 cabs! Any idea what they are?
-
Workedo on it a bit this morning and I have sound from my DK Jr board, but not from the DK board (sound must be bad :'().
Here are a couple of pictures of the video (one with flash, the other without)... I am assuming that it needs a cap kit in a bad way?
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Thanks for the pics of the power cord arrangement Neil. Those will help a lot as i go to wire mine up. :cheers:
Your restore thread has litterally become "THE MANUAL" for my restore. Thanks for posting all of the details. :applaud:
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no problem guys. as for the 4 cabs for 100 bucks.. its a no go haha the guy is 225 miles away from me and he wont send me pictures of the cabs condition (says they are in a shed and he is unable to get to them and that they were wrapped in a tarp but the tarp has holes in it and he knows the cabs are water damaged...) not worth it to me.. anyway shilmover i think your harness is for a vs cab or some other nintendo cab. not saying it wont work its just not how the original dk pcb / wiring was, I dont believe. thanks for all the comments again guys you made it all worth it. I am just waiting on my painter to get me my parts and I can DK away.. im so excited.
Neil
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anyway shilmover i think your harness is for a vs cab or some other nintendo cab. not saying it wont work its just not how the original dk pcb / wiring was, I dont believe.
Good call.
It was converted to a VS Cab.
B
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I am sure there is a way to convert what you have there into a DK harness but if I'm thinking correctly there was something to do with the vs. harness not having the ability to do an up and down or a left and right something like that so you had to hack the harness to allow for this.
Nintendo Classic Wiring Harness
As I got into the renovation, I also discovered that, although the Super Mario Bros. cabinet is identical to the cabinets that house earlier Nintendo games, the wiring harness is different. That left me with a bit of a problem--even though I had a nice, working board, I couldn't connect it to the machine!
My initial solution to this problem was going to be to construct an adaptor to change a Nintendo VS. harness into a Nintendo classic harness. A fellow collector who had done a similar conversion/restoration sent me detailed plans that showed how to build such an adaptor. I bought the parts from Bob Roberts and I was all ready to have a friend help me build the thing when I came across a Mario Bros. factory conversion kit on eBay. The kit included a marquee, bezel, control panel, PCB and cage (the metal enclosure that houses the boards), horizontal monitor brackets, a template for drilling holes for the brackets, a metal Mario Bros. plate (serial number, etc) for the back, and a conversion kit manual--but, most importantly, it included the wiring harness!
Obviously, I didn't need most of these pieces. I kept the harness (of course) and swapped the control panel with the one I had since the new one had a better overlay. I sold (or am selling) most of these pieces to recoup my costs. A lot of trouble to get a harness, but what the heck...
taken from the middle of the page here http://www.davesclassicarcade.com/mario/renovation/mariorenovation.html
I know bobroberts sells something that may help ya out. Otherwise I would go the same router markrvp did with his restore and get the jamma adapter http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=NIN2JAMMA
I think they make one that doesnt invert the video so you are able to use an original nintendo monitor as well..
since I'm replying I figured I would post the image I emailed to my painter this morning.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/prettyplease.jpg)
we will see what I get for a response.
Take care,
Neil
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Pretty :cheers:
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I didn't read the whole thread, but did you ever get the picture centered on your monitor? If not, there is a jumper on those Nintendo Sanyo monitors for doing that. You move the jumper to a different position which shifts it an arbitrary amount, and then you fine-tune it with the VR403 pot. Some of them are missing the jumper and you may have to make your own.
Ken Layton explained this to me a while ago in this (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56159.0) thread.
Assuming that is the direction you are trying to center it in of course.
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thanks recoil! I got my issue that I was having fixed but I do appreciate any and all DK related info that could help others with there restore posted here! Never hurt to collect a bunch of information in on place. Thanks again maximumrecoil!
Neil
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Neil,
Two things:
1. Thanks for the joystick, I just need the 4-way restrictor.
2. You've inspired me to build a DK inspired bartop.
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Glad to hear it JimmyU! Make sure to start a project log and keep it up to date with lots of pictures!!
As for my project. Well I have not heard from my painter. He told me on the phone last week that he would have them done 'THIS WEEKEND FOR SURE' I tried to get ahold of him on Friday (he didnt answer) and he has not contacted me all weekend. Looks like he still didnt get them done. Its kind of getting to me now. I just want them here so I can finish assembly and play!!
Well, Ill let ya all know when I hear from him.
Neil
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Neilyboy...
Where did you go?!? :)
Hopefully everything is okay. Best case, life got in the way of the project (like it has with me). Worse case, you went after the guy painting your stuff and you are currently locked up with no access to this group (lets hope not :P).
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There's nothing worse than being in a holding pattern on your project waiting for some piece to come in. Hope you get those pieces back soon Neil! Can't wait to see you push the final piece into this jigsaw puzzle.
I'm waiting on a CPO from mamemarquees. Not being able to wire up my CP because of slow shipping really sucks :badmood:
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WOOHOOO!!! finally I got the call the other night that the parts are done. Long story short my painter let this gal move into his place. They got along great for the first month or so. Then everything went down-hill for him. He found out she was psycho.. I mean psycho.. cutting herself with knives.. breaking windows out in the house.. so he has been working to get her out of his place. I was getting worried when his cell phone got shut off and I hadnt heard from him in like 8 weeks. He called the other night and we talked for about two hours. I told him I would pick up the parts the next day. I ran down by his place and brought them home. I took a bunch of pics but havent had time (with work, wife and holiday stuff) to put anything together yet.. but the pieces are in and ready to be installed. They look great.. Ill post more pics later.
thanks for keepin up on me guys..
Neil
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:woot :woot :woot :woot
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Welcome back, my friend... welcome back.
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I am at work right now but remotely logged into my machine and found that I had some photos on my card which must be in the reader now.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0744.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0745.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0746.jpg)
lighting must have been different at this angle or something but hehe..
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0742.jpg)
Now to get them installed and find a 12v lead or transformer to get my light to work..
Neil
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The anticipation builds.
:cheers:
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looking much better than they did when I first sent them off.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0284.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0288.jpg)
Neil
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This is very cool Neil. Glad you are finally pulling this together as...guess what?
I just brought home a Donkey Kong and a DK Jr., both are working but are in need of restoration...Neil-style. Thanks for inspiring us here, and keep up the good work buddy.
BTW: Tell dad we appreciate his help too.... :woot
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hell yes!!! glad to hear it WunderCade!! the nintendo cabs are awesome! I would love to find a Jr. and III.
I have a birthday party to get to today but I got to get this thing together so im hoping I can get it done later this afternoon.
Neil
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Almost there. can't wait. make sure you post lots of pictures! (duh!) I also am putting my cab together this afternoon. I'm actually poosting in the theatre right now. Golden Compass starting in 2 minutes
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Man....you're killin us Neil... ;)
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He finally gets the parts.....then leaves us in agony.......
Stooooooooopp Plaaayyyyyyiiiiiiiiiinngggg Doooooooonnkkeeeeeeeeyyyyy Kooooooooooooooooonggggg !!!
(and post some pics :D :D :D)
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Golden Compass sucked, I'm waiting for Neilyboy's pics!!! :pics
I'm bidding on a DK cab that was converted to Rastan and need some motivation ;D
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Very nice work so far!!!
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its commin' its commin' haha. I just need a day off work and for my wife to be gone for a day.. I think this friday ill get that day. She has to work till noon and im off all day so I think I will get up early and finish this bad boy up.
Neil
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Just got done reading the whole thread from start to finish... WOW! what a let down.
Just kidding!!! But seriously you gotta get that puppy finished off. Send your wife on a girl's night out or something... explaining that she's been working hard throughout this holiday season and she deserves a break from all the craziness.
Neil, the work done to this cabinet is nothing short of stellar. I have been wanting to do the same thing for some time now, but I never imagined I would go that far with it... but the truth is it's just a lot of work. Sure you know a lot of helpful people, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to do as sweet of a restore. I'm definitely inspired to push the limits on my restore and hopefully more people will feel the same way after reading your thread.
I just got a Donkey Kong 3 machine (in a Donkey Kong jr. cabinet) that I'll be converting to a restored DK machine.
Thanks for all the info you've dug up along the way - it will be very helpful to anyone restoring a DK machine. I can't believe the stuff about the instruction card not being exact. You'd think after all this time someone else would have noticed and tried to come up with something better. Paint codes are awexome too since I have every hardware store you could think of within 5 miles of me (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, Ace Hardware, I'm sure there's more).
I'll see if I can get my Dad to help me out as well, in exchange for helping him restore his Austin Healey.
Merry Christmas to us lucky arcade machine owners :cheers:
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Didnt he say by friday or something? I hope this gets done before the weekend though.
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Well I have tomorrow off :) and im supposed to be working until 6:00 tonight but, I have a bunch of personal time banked up that im going to lose first of the year so I think I may take off around 4:30 tonight. So I may have some time tonight to finish this bad boy up.
We will see!! Fingers crossed I could finish this bad boy up tonight.
***EDIT***
guys its done.. it looks awesome!! I took plenty of pics but the wife is in the living room expecting me to 'spend time with her' so I have to take a break from the DK and the web for tonight but I will be up early editing my pics for the final post!! stay tuned.
Neil
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I think you're a better "tension builder" then Alfred Hitchcock" !
But we can't blame you for "spending time" with your wife ;)
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Alright well its been awhile but I finally got around to finishing this cab up. You probably all figured I was a big tease. I got it done before the new year! I started off with soldering some extra length to the nova matrix leads (that's my only complaint on these things is why the heck doesn't he include more than 3 inches of wire?). We can always cut the wire to our needs but its kind of a pain to add more. Anyway, soldered that up and used some heat shrink tubing to finish it off.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0814.jpg)
Then I installed the middle retainer.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0817.jpg)
Then installed the top marquee retainer with some security bolts.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0819.jpg)
Now that I had my painted pieces back I could install the speaker.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0821.jpg)
After that it was finally time to install the coin door.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0826.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0831.jpg)
I am going to repaint these coin mech faces. I had my painter friend blast them but he said it didn't do a thing to the finish of them (other than remove the Japanese stickers that were on them). I cant believe blasting them didn't remove the scratched up spots where the quarters have rubbed over the years. So I put these on just for some photos.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0833.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0837.jpg)
All put together.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0843.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0849.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0850.jpg)
lights out.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0856.jpg)
Dad getting his much deserved game in.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0857.jpg)
more random sexiness.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0861.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0865.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0867.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0870.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0873.jpg)
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0874.jpg)
and the last one I took into photoshop and removed the background.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/dkfinished.jpg)
Well, what to say.. its been a blast. I hope all of the other cabs go this smooth.. I have a few plans for my next project. I will hint that it is a made from scratch jukebox. I have it all drawn up just need to put my drawings to actual measurements and go from there. I was lucky enough to get a tablesaw for Xmas from the wife and parents so hopefully I will be able to put it to good use. I actually have tools in my garage now.
Thanks so much to all of you here on the forum who have kept up with this project and keeping me going on it. A huge thanks to my father! Without him this wouldn't have been done. He is the one who really had the initial push to get it going and after that it went without a hitch (asides from my painter friend's delay).
And thanks to the wife who put up with me spending time in the garage working on what she calls "a stupid game" (well she only calls it that when she is mad at me, otherwise she likes it).
Feel free to message me anytime with questions/comments I will be sure to respond.
Have a great weekend and a happy new year!!
Neil
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:applaud::notworthy::cheers: Looks Awesome! Can't Wait To See The Next Project :cheers: :notworthy: :applaud:
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Awesome job Neil. Worth the wait IMO. :cheers:
I am now collecting the NOS stuff to undertake my DK resto. I do have one question....
Where did you eventually tap into 12v for the Nova Matrix? I'm thinking about getting one but I have OEM wiring and PS to work with.
This is an awesome documented restoration and should be included here (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=70268.msg719106#msg719106). Thanks Neil!!! :)
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Thanks so much for the kind words guys!! Actually Wundercade thats where I am stuck now as well. In the past week I have brought home over 10 transformers from different equipment (routers, phones etc.) that I have tried to plug into the second spare power jack on the original nintendo power supply and get 12v from. I havent had any success yet. I tried a 5v cellphone charger which produced 4 volts out of the ps (not enough to light the matrix). Then I tried a 12v power supply and it for some reason pumps out 14v. So that is the one I used to take the pics with but took it off immediately after snapping the pic for fear that I would burn out the matrix. So I have yet to find a power supply which gives me the 11-12v that I am looking for. Hopefully something will turn up soon. Otherwise I guess I could put a PC power supply in the bottom of the thing haha..
This sum's up the restore.
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/dkcompare.jpg)
Neil
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Excellent work, my friend!!
Learned a lot from it for my DK Jr restore. Just hope I document as much as you.
I did get a router and a $150 Home Depot gift card for Christmas, so look out!!! ;D
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Nice :applaud:
Maybe this should be stickied so people who get conversions can see how a pro brings them back to glory.
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Nothing short of brilliant restoration :cheers: :cheers: :notworthy: :notworthy:
Neil, that are two of those LED strips right, or is it one ?
About the power, use that 14 V thing and put this:
(http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/images/7805.jpg)
between the in (from the PS), out (red lead to the strips) and the middle pin to the black lead.....
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Its just one nova matrix. but that is an idea thanks for the heads up buddy ill have to get over to radio shack and pick something like that up.. thanks again guys for all the great comments it really makes it worth it..
Neil
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Uhhhh, OOPS , of course I meant a 7812 NOT 7805 !!!! :D (but you got the picture I guess :D )
So...:
(http://www.pw-electronics.co.uk/ICs%20and%20Semi/ICs%20and%20Semi%20Photos/L7812CV.jpg)
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Awesome job mate! Great looking cab! :cheers:
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In the past week I have brought home over 10 transformers from different equipment (routers, phones etc.) that I have tried to plug into the second spare power jack on the original nintendo power supply and get 12v from. I havent had any success yet. I tried a 5v cellphone charger which produced 4 volts out of the ps (not enough to light the matrix). Then I tried a 12v power supply and it for some reason pumps out 14v. So that is the one I used to take the pics with but took it off immediately after snapping the pic for fear that I would burn out the matrix. So I have yet to find a power supply which gives me the 11-12v that I am looking for. Hopefully something will turn up soon. Otherwise I guess I could put a PC power supply in the bottom of the thing haha..
Neil,
First off, excellent work on the restoration! You've given me a lot of motivation to actually get my first arcade machine and start fulfilling my desire to restore a DK machine to it's former glory. As of a couple days ago, a working and very playable DK3 machine is sitting in my kitchen, waiting to be restored to DK.
For your power supply needs, a standard wall wart is just a transformer with AC to DC rectification and some filtering. There is no voltage regulation circuitry, so as you load it down to it's rated current output, the voltage drops. You are lucky if they have thermal protection or a fuse. If you bought a 12V wall wart of this fashion, it should be rated for 12V at 400mA (if that's really what the Matrix draws - got it from GGG), to get your operating voltage down to 12V. Chances are you got a much higher rated supply and that's why it's putting out 14V instead of 12V. The wall warts will change their output based on input voltage as well... wasn't that 2 outlet strip 100VAC? No matter, what you need is a switching power supply.
Like this:
(http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/7811/cui1tw8.jpg)
regulated 12VDC, rated up to 1000mA. It's nice and small as well, and it just might fit in the power strip.
Here's a link:
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/US/DKSUS.dll?KeywordSearch?MPart=DPS120100UPS-P5P-SZ
It's a little pricey though because of the extra power and compact size. $16.63.
To save some money, this would still power the LED light bar, but might not fit if you don't have side to side room:
(http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4442/cui2qg7.jpg)
regulated 12VDC, rated up to 500mA.
Here's a link:
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/US/DKSUS.dll?KeywordSearch?MPart=EPS120050-P5P
More reasonable price. $5.38.
Digikey is just an example... you might want to dig around to find a place that doesn't charge extra for handling if your order is less than $25 like they do.
Good luck!
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That 7812 is about $0.50 and does the same job :)
So Neil, did you order DK II already ? :P
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haha no dk2 yet level42! DonkeyKong thanks for all the information yeah the nintendo power source is 100v. So my thinking was if I plug in a 12v 500mah linksys power supply I should only be pushing 11-12v to the light which was just what I wanted. Well that isnt the case for some reason. I think because it is a 100v to begin with it does something goofy to the 'wall wart' and its expecting 120 so it puts out some goofy voltage. Who knows I may test it again with the light on it and see if it is putting out a 12v current with a load on it. Before I was always just testing it without anything attached to it.
Neil
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nice work. Looks great.
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That 7812 is about $0.50 and does the same job :)
I'm in the same situation.
So to make sure I understand...you just plug a power/ext. cord into the 100V socket and splice this 7812 thingy in between that and the Nova Matrix and that's it, you've got 12v?
It sounds too simple.
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That 7812 is about $0.50 and does the same job :)
Yeah, but the 7812 needs 2V of headroom to function properly, and it should have capacitors on it's input and output with the wire lengths we are talking about. It's just more of a pain to wire up (and protect with heatshrink tubing or e-tape) than an alternative I list below if it must be hacked in. It sounded like one of Neil's wall warts was putting out 14V while it was hooked up (now it sounds like maybe it was really unloaded and he doesn't need any extra regulator in series with it once it's loaded)
If it was 14V loaded though and I wanted to hack something up, I would just put two or three 1N4001 diodes in series with the output under shrink tubing. It might only require one if the power supply is right.
(http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2077855_rshalt1_t92.jpg)
The proper thing to do is just get the right power supply. I'm very surprised GGG doesn't offer one for people that are not building a MAME machine and do not have a regulated 12V supply they can tap into.
DonkeyKong thanks for all the information yeah the nintendo power source is 100v. So my thinking was if I plug in a 12v 500mah linksys power supply I should only be pushing 11-12v to the light which was just what I wanted. Well that isnt the case for some reason. I think because it is a 100v to begin with it does something goofy to the 'wall wart' and its expecting 120 so it puts out some goofy voltage. Who knows I may test it again with the light on it and see if it is putting out a 12v current with a load on it. Before I was always just testing it without anything attached to it.
Neil, no problem. Your thinking is correct and it should work (loaded). My 2-outlet strip measures 108VAC actually. That shouldn't do anything funky to any wall wart or switching power supply. They are all designed to operate from approx. 90VAC to 135VAC, with the exception of the wall wart which is just a fixed transformer ratio so it will just drop it's output a little when supplied with less input voltage.
I would say if the supply is rated 12V at 500mA, hook it up to the LED light and get a DC voltmeter on the connections to the light, then have someone plug in the wall wart, wait for the voltmeter to settle and get a reading... if it's close to 12V you are probably fine, if it's high, tell whoever to unplug the wall wart while you go back to the drawing board.
I would then just stick one 1N4001 diode per ~0.7V you need to drop to get you closer to 12V. E.g. if the meter reads 13.2V, two diodes in series would bring it down to about 11.8V (13.2 - 0.7 - 0.7).
If you really want it to be clean though, just use a 12V switching power supply. If I was at work and could dig through my stash and I had one, I'd send you one for the cost of shipping.
If you took some pictures of the Matrix LED light circuit board I could give you a better idea of how it regulates power to the LED's and if 12 or 13V would really hurt it. I know they say 11-12V on the GGG site, but a properly designed LED light bar will have the binned or matched LED's in series with a current limiting device that will allow a much wider range of voltage on the input, and the brightness of the LED's will never change throughout that input voltage range. If it's designed that way, you could push it to 13V or even 15V and it would be ok.
That's about all I can say without actually having one of those LED lights in my hands. Let me know what you end up with.
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That 7812 is about $0.50 and does the same job :)
I'm in the same situation.
So to make sure I understand...you just plug a power/ext. cord into the 100V socket and splice this 7812 thingy in between that and the Nova Matrix and that's it, you've got 12v?
It sounds too simple.
NO no no (read as "ouchie!"). You need a power supply plugged into the 100VAC output first to regulate the AC to DC and get the loaded output voltage down in the 12V +2V (14V) range and above. The 12V regulator needs 2V of headroom to basically power all of it's internals. The voltage regulator goes in series with the output of the power supply. The output of the regulator goes to the LED light. The higher the loaded voltage is than 14V the more voltage there will be dropped across the 12V regulator, and under load you must multiply this extra voltage with the output current (400mA?) to get the power dissipated by the regulator. If it's too much for the package to dissipate in free air, you would need to heat sink it to some aluminum or something of that sort.
I'll draw a picture in a second here...
EDIT: Here is is... but I wouldn't recommend doing this. I would just get a 12V switching supply... they are cheap enough.
(http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/8844/12vregulation1rd9.th.gif) (http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12vregulation1rd9.gif)
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Woah!! Thanks for saving my bacon there DK. I was on my way to Radio Shack...lol.
OK, so I'll go get the switching 12V supply:
(http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4442/cui2qg7.jpg)
Then...I just connect the leads from the Nova Matrix to the corresponding leads coming from the 12V PS? Basically cutting off the end connector and splicing wires. All the regulating etc, is done in the PS box. Right?
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Yeah WunderCade that will work.. yeah you could have gotten some really bright lights had you spliced up a power cable and feed them to the leads of the matrix hahaha.
I dont know much about the led strip other than I believe in a discussion somewhere randy from ggg (im not 100% sure it was him but..)said that any voltage above 12v would drop the life of the led's. I will try and dig up that discussion. heck it may have been in my thread somewhere. Ill go browsing now.
Neil
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Woah!! Thanks for saving my bacon there DK. I was on my way to Radio Shack...lol.
Then...I just connect the leads from the Nova Matrix to the corresponding leads coming from the 12V PS? Basically cutting off the end connector and splicing wires. All the regulating etc, is done in the PS box. Right?
That's correct. Just cut off the connector and splice it into the LED light bar. To figure out which lead is the positive, just use your voltmeter - after your cut the connector off just plug it into the wall and measure the output.
The only thing that may be required is lengthening the lead wire. The Matrix has a short pigtail on it (leads) and that wall adapter only has 70 inches of wire (5.8 feet). This may be enough, but my gut says it's going to come up just shy of the light bar if you run everything against the sides cleanly.
If you are ordering from a place like Digikey, you can pair up the power supply with the appropriate DC power jack, and not have to cut the connector off the power supply. This could help you in disconnecting the two easily if you ever had to replace the light or power supply (unlikely), or just making it cleaner yet.
This is the right one for that power supply (2.1mm):
(http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4710/pr002ane2.th.jpg) (http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pr002ane2.jpg)
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/US/DKSUS.dll?Detail?name=CP-024A-ND
A little pricey, but completely optional.
I dont know much about the led strip other than I believe in a discussion somewhere randy from ggg (im not 100% sure it was him but..)said that any voltage above 12v would drop the life of the led's. I will try and dig up that discussion. heck it may have been in my thread somewhere. Ill go browsing now.
There is probably no regulation circuitry on the LED light bar then, and he expects you to have that 12V PC power supply rail. The 12V switcher really is the way to go. Randy should start supplying these so you can grab it right when you purchase the LED light bar.
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I can only say: Donkey Kong is right about everything. I'm even sorry I suggested using a discrete electronics part, because frankly, some people here want to connect these parts right to the mains......... :dunno
There's a number of resistors on the bar clearly:
(http://neilyboy.mtco.com/pics/donkeykong/IMG_0814.jpg)
There's also a diode...which seems a bit strange.
Normally, voltage is a _relatively_ unimportant component with LED's. Current is all that really matters. Depending on the voltage, you limit the current going through the LED(s) with a resistor. I don't see 1 or 2 volts extra going to hurt those LED's really that much.
It would have been very nice if the bars would be working on 5V and 12V. That wouldn't be too hard to make, but then, you get people connecting 12V to the 5V lead etc.....
Is there nothing close to 12V available from the PSU Neil ?
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The diode is actually good design practice and prevents someone from damaging the LED's by hooking them the LED light bar in reverse. The diode just blocks the reverse connection.
Most of these white LED's operate at 4.0 to 5.2V, and have a max. current associated with them. Usually you try to apply a current limited source to a few LED's in series, and the LED's themselves will forward bias to some voltage between 4 and 5.2.
This design apparently doesn't work that way, and uses current limiting resistors to help limit the current to the LED's. This design won't handle a wide input voltage because the LED brightness will vary and you could approach the current limit of the LED's.
With 16 LED's on the board and 4 similar resistors, and 2 other similar resistors, I don't really see how the strings of LED's are set up. However, I would guess that there are 4 series stands of 3 LED's each with a very low (15-47 ohm) resistor in series for protection, and 2 series strands of 2 LED's each with a higher value resistor (120 ohm) to absorb the voltage of a missing LED in those strands, all in parallel with a diode in series. The two different series stands of LED's will probably have a slightly different brightness but you will never notice with the strip of lights behind a marquee. With this setup, I doubt the LED's are running at maximum brightness and current, but are probably bright enough to approximate a standard marquee light.
A better but more costly approach would be to build a step-up/step-down regulator on the LED light strip that would power all of the LED's and handle an input voltage swing of 4 to 20 volts. This switcher circuitry would probably add $1 to the cost of the lightbar. With a small trimpot you could even add a brightness adjustment by varying the switcher output and LED bias voltage. Now that I think about it, they make controllers for this sort of thing that drop right onto the board, but they are more expensive and single source items.
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Hmm...makes perfect sense. ;) :dizzy:
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The diode is actually good design practice and prevents someone from damaging the LED's by hooking them the LED light bar in reverse. The diode just blocks the reverse connection.
Uuuhhhh, protecting a LED (Light Emitting DIODE) from reverse connection with another diode ? From what you've written you seem to have good electronics knowledge so you should be aware that if you would reverse voltage on a LED that it would simply go in blocking mode and nothing would happen at all to the LED or the rest of the circuit. If you would reverse the voltage on the terminals it even doesn't matter if they are in parallel or series.
That is why I said that it was a bit strange in this application....
So, that diode is missing it's point IF it is used as such....
Or am I missing something ?
A step-down would be nice but I doubt that it would be cost-efficient. It _would_ prevent wrong voltage connection. It would be much easier to add an extra terminal for +5V that uses lower value resistors compared to the existing 12V circuit but that adds the risk of wrong connection.
However, a switching power source would indeed be nice to be able to dim the LEDs. Could be sold as an option....
(Sorry to hog your thread Neil, this belongs in the Electronics section......O wait, there IS no electronics section on this forum ;) )
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The diode is actually good design practice and prevents someone from damaging the LED's by hooking them the LED light bar in reverse. The diode just blocks the reverse connection.
Uuuhhhh, protecting a LED (Light Emitting DIODE) from reverse connection with another diode ? From what you've written you seem to have good electronics knowledge so you should be aware that if you would reverse voltage on a LED that it would simply go in blocking mode...
That is why I said that it was a bit strange in this application....
So, that diode is missing it's point IF it is used as such....
Or am I missing something ?
Yes. First of all, I'm college edumacated as an electronics engineer, been working in the industry for over 13 years now (my electronics knowledge goes back further though) and I'm probably one of the only engineers I know that actually works on and tinkers on designs at home. That said, I never claim to always be right and a lot of times I'm wrong - but it's "the process" and it's how we learn.
LED's do have a reverse breakdown voltage, typically around 5V. A string of 5 normal RED LED's that run typically 2V or so each could be powered by a 10 to 12V supply and have a reverse breakdown voltage of 25V, seemingly protected against hooking the 12V supply up backwards.
A string of 3 WHITE LED's typically run 4 to 5V each and could be powered by a 12 to 15V supply, but have a reverse breakdown voltage of 15V. Hmm, now that's a little closer for comfort. Couple these design elements with the fact that people do "unusual" things like hooking up the wrong power supply all together, or accidently hook the negative to 12V and the positive to -12V. Could it happen, h3ll yes! Hook up a 12V wall wart that is designed to run at 1A in reverse to the LED light bar and you'll have 18V or more.
A 1N4001 diode in series with this whole circuit increases the reverse breakdown voltage by 50V! So now you would need 65V in reverse to do any harm, and with a switcher on the front end you could even design it to allow 50V or higher to the input of the LED light bar hooked up normally.
A step-down would be nice but I doubt that it would be cost-efficient. It _would_ prevent wrong voltage connection. It would be much easier to add an extra terminal for +5V that uses lower value resistors compared to the existing 12V circuit but that adds the risk of wrong connection.
However, a switching power source would indeed be nice to be able to dim the LEDs. Could be sold as an option....
(Sorry to hog your thread Neil, this belongs in the Electronics section......O wait, there IS no electronics section on this forum ;) )
A step-down (buck) regulator would be pretty cheap actually, and you can set a current limit with those easily. But it just allows you to hook up the LED's to a 6 to 12V source, it wouldn't really work at 5V because the LED's need at least 4 or more and you will have voltage drops in the step-down circuitry - AND you will definitely want to add the reverse blocking diode on the input of the whole thing.
A step-up(boost)/step-down(buck) regulator, don't call it a buck-boost (totally different), is basically a modified boost regulator that can also step down the voltage if necessary. It would step up voltage from 4 to 5V to that required to drive a couple paralleled series strings of LED's and step down 12V to 50V or more to drive them as well.
Yes, sorry Neil - but I can't be Chumpatized(TM) by Level42. LOL, much respect Level42 ;-)
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Neil, I have been lurking and reading and re-reading this thread over and over. It's the best thread I have ever found for a Donkey Kong restoration. Great work!
I just bought an already restored DK machine that has some little issues that bug me. One of them is the piece of wood above the CPO where the long and wide Instruction card sticker goes. On my cabinet the wood is very rough and pitted. The guy I bought it from painted the hell out of it but it's still not very smooth. After applying the ABS on your cabinet in this area and after having it for a month or so, do you think the ABS is a good idea in this spot? Do you see a top seam or layer when looking down on this spot from above? Should I do the ABS in this area?
If so, where did you get the ABS and what type did you get?
Thanks tons and thanks for posting all these images!
The DK cabinet I just bought is here:
http://www.zerocommit.com/dk
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Nice machine. A couple things I noticed though. The guy put the dust washer on the wrong side of the CPO. It should be underneath the CPO. Second of course is the missing instruction sticker, also the coin return catches appear to be missing. You can see the screw holes where they mount in your coin door. He also got the buttons wrong. The 1,2 player buttons should be Dark (Navy) Blue and the the Jump button should be orange. It's frustrating when so called restorers opt for what they have on hand rather than getting it right.
It also appears that he used some sort of high gloss black on that piece of wood which makes those imperfections even more pronounced. I think your idea of using ABS is a good one.
But hey man, that's my favorite game right now....I'm addicted to it. DK rules!!!
Nice home arcade also. :cheers:
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Actually, the photos that are posted are of the machine before I got it. Those are not my machines in the photos, I wish!
I am aware of the coin issues with the missing pieces as well as the button problems. I have already ordered new buttons and new stainless coin inserts. Yes, the dust cover for the joystick is incorrect too. I ordered a clear one from Mike's arcade. The black one goes under the CPO.
So maybe the ABS is the best idea for me for the piece of wood above the CPO. I will look into it.
You know, this cabinet I bought is actually a sad story.
This is my first cabinet and I really wanted a MINT DK cab.
This is my story as I posted it in the newsgroups looking for help ( I am confident I can work through the issues with the seller):
I recently purchased a DK machine from a guy on Ebay. I paid $950 for
it and was promised a pretty mint and restored machine.
I paid $185 to have the machine shipped to the local airport. Seemed
reasonable enough.
I was sent photos of the machine before it left. It looked great.
Photos here: http://www.zerocommit.com/dk
When I picked up the machine it was wrapped amazingly. Tons of bubble
wrap, shrinkwrap, carboard etc. Strapped to a pallet. I had no desire
to inspect it and thought the wrap would help prevent scratching as I
got it into the house.
I very very very carefully drove it home avoiding potholes, etc. I was
nervous! I took extra special care getting it home. My buddy and I
gingerly carried the wrapped package into my home.
We slowly unwrapped it. It looked pretty good. The first thing I
noticed was the textured re-paint. It wasn't completely smooth. Is
that normal for a re-paint? I knew it was repainted. But, I thought it
would be totally smooth like a counter-top like the machines I
remember as a kid. Is this normal for a re-paint? To have some
texture?
Second, the side artwork had completely bubbled. It was a total mess.
The photos I reviewed prior to shipping showed completely flat
installed artwork. The machine I received had some massive and nasty
air bubbles on the artwork. I have tried many many times, I can not
remove the bubbles. I think I need to reinstall the artwork with new
side art. Have you heard of artwork going all bubbly during transit
(it came from Texas to Mass.)
Lastly, and the most hideous part, when I opened the back of the
cabinet....
The monitor was completely off the brackets. COMPLETELY OFF THE
BRACKETS!!! It was loose, it trashed the inside of the cabinet. All of
the nuts for the rear "L" brackets were sitting on the bottom of the
cabinet along with the "L" brackets. The sound board and other boards
on the monitor were completely destroyed. Snapped in half. Broken.
Trashed. THE PCB had been knocked out of its holder and was laying on
the bottom of the cabinet. I pulled maybe 10-15 nuts and screws from
the bottom of the cabinet. It was a nightmare.
Does it seem possible that all of these nuts could come loose in
transit?!?!?
The guy I bought it from was VERY cool and he is sending me a new
monitor and maybe a new PCB if needed. It is still unknown if the PCB
is bad. I am hoping only the monitor is bad.
Anyways... What do you guys think of this? Does this sound ok? Did I
get taken??
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Ohh...sorry to hear about your situation. If he makes it right...new monitor, PCB, possibly even artwork...then I'd say that it was just a bad break. If he slowly starts to weasel out on you, then ya...you're dealing with a bad vendor.
As far as re-paint. It is very possible to achieve that same original smooth shiny finish but it is very time consuming and depends on how it's applied and sanded etc. It takes dedication and enough pride to offer quality workmanship, which seems to be lacking with this guy from all of the other issues you're having.
I'm sure you're not wanting to repaint it yourself so you may just have to chalk this all up to experience and do like Neil and a lot of the rest of us here do - buy cheap fixer-uppers and do your own restoration. We're here to help as needed during the process. That way you know the work is done to your own standards and liking.
And lastly, welcome to the forum and the addiction. You're in for a hell of fun time here. Game On. :cheers:
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Dang blkdog7 sorry to hear about all that man. That sucks. I purchased my ABS from partsexpress through amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/ABS-Textured-Sheet-16-Thick/dp/B0002ZPPLW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1204122117&sr=8-4
looks like it went up a buck from when I purchased it but still decent.
I think it was a good idea myself. It looks very good in my opinion.
It sucks you somewhat got taken by this guy.. Promising more than what was delivered at least he is cool enough to send ya a new monitor and PCB if yours is bad. Hope everything goes well man. If you want more pics of anything let me know man. I am always willing to help out if I can. So feel free to ask anything.
Neil
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Thanks for the link Neil. I'm gonna order that stuff and give it a try. I think the guy is trying to make everything right. It just bums me out cause I was SO EXCITED to be playing DK this week! Arrgh!
Here are some photos of the disaster that was inside the cabinet as I opened it for the first time:
http://zerocommit.com/dk/murder/
Neil is your paint a little textured? Or is it real smooth?
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its pretty smooth for the most part. i put on quite a few layers of primer and sanded/wooled' alot in between coats.
/edit..
damn man i just looked at your pics.. gave me that feeling in my stomach.. that sucks man especially after you paid for a DK that should have been in top working condition.. hope things go well with the seller man. let us know how it goes.
neil
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its pretty smooth for the most part. i put on quite a few layers of primer and sanded/wooled' alot in between coats.
/edit..
damn man i just looked at your pics.. gave me that feeling in my stomach.. that sucks man especially after you paid for a DK that should have been in top working condition.. hope things go well with the seller man. let us know how it goes.
neil
Yeah, it totally sucks. I was beyond excited to be playing DK this week. It was a life long dream, my first arcade machine. So far it has been hell, let me tell you.
The seller has been reasonable and is crating up a new monitor this week. I hope to have the monitor next week. I have been keeping busy by fixing some of the details about the machine I didn't like. I corrected the buttons (got the right colors), got the instruction card sticker that goes on the board above the CPO, I ordered some new stainless coin slots, a new marquee, been replacing mismatched screws, ordered the correct monitor brackets, new microswitches for the buttons... I didn't like the click sound on the jump button he sent so I am gonna change that.
Anyways, I hope the monitor is an easy install. Is it only 4 bolts? Two on the back rear bar and two up front? After that I just make the connections by connecting the plugs and then turn it on, right? I sure the PCB is still good! I want to play this next week!
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yeah, as far as i remember ill look again tonight when i get home. yeah im pretty sure it was just two in back and two on the lower board mount.
Neil
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I think I threw up a little :cry:
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Neil, where did you get your instruction card sticker? (the long rectangular one that goes on the panel above the CPO).
I ordered that ABS you pointed me to and now I am gonna need a new sticker since I already stuck the one I ordered from Mike's Arcade on the wood. I'd like to pull it off and stick to the ABS you recommended.
Also, did you put the ABS on the short side too? Or, just on the long face side where the sticker goes?
I picked up some contact cement at Home Depot to apply the ABS. Is that what you used?
Thanks!
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yeah contact cement. i got my repro from mikes arcade originally. I didnt really like it. I wish I had ordered from thisoldgame.com (richard) his repro work is amazing!! I just applied the abs to the face of the length not the top.
Neil
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I didn't realize This Old Game sold the instruction card sticker, I didn't see it on his site.
I'll look again. (I only saw the coin sticker)
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Thanks for the link Neil. I'm gonna order that stuff and give it a try. I think the guy is trying to make everything right. It just bums me out cause I was SO EXCITED to be playing DK this week! Arrgh!
Here are some photos of the disaster that was inside the cabinet as I opened it for the first time:
http://zerocommit.com/dk/murder/
Neil is your paint a little textured? Or is it real smooth?
@Neil
Like many others I have been lurking about watching this as it progressed. Congrats Neil - it turned out very nice - in fact it inspired me to resto my Radarscope DK.
@blkdog7 - First off my condolences. You have my sympathy. I would have immediately picked up the phone and put a stop payment on the check or credit card. (If paid by credit card get on the phone now!!!) And my second call would be to shipping company. Dear god I'm :censored: pissed and it's not even my machine. You paid for a machine that was parted and pieced together with hand made brackets, the paint job is ridiculous (one photo actually shows striping) and looking at the rest of it makes me sick. Here's some tough love brother - you got hosed, no, you got raped. This is a flat out rape job. Even if he offered to send you a new monitor (which it'll probably be used and have burn in) it doesn't pay for the time and aggravation and the other poor quality work on that cabinet. The side art comming off? Pfffhhhh STOP PAYMENT - it's too much hassle for that seller to have it shipped back - he'll more than likely cut it as a loss. Money back and a free cabinet. I have restored EVERY little thing on my DK cab and I tell you this is god aweful. You as the buyer did your job - you found the item you wanted - you ordered it and it arrived not only destroyed but what a gross misrepresentation of the product from pic to real life. You work hard for your money and if this is the quality of work this person does - they need to be put of out of business.
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Thanks for the link Neil. I'm gonna order that stuff and give it a try. I think the guy is trying to make everything right. It just bums me out cause I was SO EXCITED to be playing DK this week! Arrgh!
Here are some photos of the disaster that was inside the cabinet as I opened it for the first time:
http://zerocommit.com/dk/murder/
Neil is your paint a little textured? Or is it real smooth?
@Neil
Like many others I have been lurking about watching this as it progressed. Congrats Neil - it turned out very nice - in fact it inspired me to resto my Radarscope DK.
@blkdog7 - First off my condolences. You have my sympathy. I would have immediately picked up the phone and put a stop payment on the check or credit card. (If paid by credit card get on the phone now!!!) And my second call would be to shipping company. Dear god I'm :censored: pissed and it's not even my machine. You paid for a machine that was parted and pieced together with hand made brackets, the paint job is ridiculous (one photo actually shows striping) and looking at the rest of it makes me sick. Here's some tough love brother - you got hosed, no, you got raped. This is a flat out rape job. Even if he offered to send you a new monitor (which it'll probably be used and have burn in) it doesn't pay for the time and aggravation and the other poor quality work on that cabinet. The side art comming off? Pfffhhhh STOP PAYMENT - it's too much hassle for that seller to have it shipped back - he'll more than likely cut it as a loss. Money back and a free cabinet. I have restored EVERY little thing on my DK cab and I tell you this is god aweful. You as the buyer did your job - you found the item you wanted - you ordered it and it arrived not only destroyed but what a gross misrepresentation of the product from pic to real life. You work hard for your money and if this is the quality of work this person does - they need to be put of out of business.
I had two paths to take. I could be a dick and stop payment on my AMEX or I could be cool and try to get this all to work out. I chose to be cool and patient and I don't regret it that much. At the end of the day I got a nice looking machine and I KNOW AN AMAZING AMOUNT ABOUT HOW IT WORKS!! You have no idea the amount of time I have spent researching, tweaking, etc.
Anyways, I got the new monitor and it looks like it was made yesterday. It is so clean and immaculate and there is ZERO, NONE, NO burn it at all! Woot! There are some scratches on the glass near the bottom but they aren't really noticeable when it is behind the smoked DK bezel. You really gotta be looking for them to see them. So... I plugged it in and nothing happened. After some trouble shooting I found a disconnected power wire on the bottom by that transformer block. I plugged it and it fired up!! Woot!
The game is working but I have some issues now with sound and a missing green color. I have no green. Rats! I have (I think) figured out that it is not the monitor. I can get green to show up on the monitor if I disconnect the video cable and fiddle with the flyback and Green Bias pot. I can see green on the monitor when the cable is disconnected. So, the green gun is firing. The seller has agreed to send me a PCB from Mike's Arcade (I requested this.) So, I am now waiting for a new PCB to fix the missing sound issues and hopefully the missing green issue. For the time being I have a working machine that is totally playable but it has some issues. So, once the PCB shows up I hope I am good to go and all of this is behind me.
The seller also agreed to send me the missing PCB brackets, back support brace that is missing, and a new cardboard monitor bezel.
In the meantime I have been replacing some parts that bugged me. You can view my machine in its current state here:
http://zerocommit.com/dk/
I have managed to get most of the bubbles out of the artwork but they keep coming back!! I can get them out completely and then the next day they are back. Arrgh!! What's the trick to removing them permanently?
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One trick to get rid of air bubbles is to get a pin, and put a small hole where the bubble is, bleed the air out, and it shouldn't come back after that.
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I totally just scored an awesome box of cards to display on top of the cab!! Unopened box of 1982 Topps DK wax packs!! (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140213793199&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123)
I cant wait to get these bad boys and display them in the game room!
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I totally just scored an awesome box of cards to display on top of the cab!! Unopened box of 1982 Topps DK wax packs!! (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140213793199&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123)
I cant wait to get these bad boys and display them in the game room!
Dude, I was about 1 inch away from buying those on Ebay!! Hahaaha. Glad you won them. :)
But, do you have this:
(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/300/m844fv6.jpg)
It's an original animation cell from the Donkey Kong Cereal commercial. I used to eat this cereal when I was a kid and I remember the commercial! Hilarious! :)
Here is the commercial:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Ja70QXfkr0
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oh hell yes sweet cell man!! very cool! I'm jealous haha I kind of want to buy another box of cards to open them and put together a set hahaha..
If only I was not broke.
Neil
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oh hell yes sweet cell man!! very cool! I'm jealous haha I kind of want to buy another box of cards to open them and put together a set hahaha..
If only I was not broke.
Neil
Some guy was selling about 5 of them in separate auctions a few weeks ago. It was only $20.00. How much did the box of cards set you back?
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21 shipped so it wasnt bad. the box is in great shape. I may buy another box just to open and check them out. I dont remember what they looked like and im wondering how many cards were in a complete set and if its worth opening a case to put together a set.
Neil
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I finally got around to painting my DK cabinet and in certain light, the roller marks are pretty obvious. Did you do something to get rid of the roller marks? I didn't know if sanding with uber high grit paper would help or make the paint worse. Any suggestons welcome.
Thanks,
Hatrick
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Neil, were the sides of the cab covered with a plastic layer, or is it the wood itself that was painted ? I'm asking because I started the restoration of my "MB.in Radar Scope" and the red sides are a plastic like laminate. It's been damaged on the lower sides so I'm thinking of how to fix it.
Thanks.
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Neil - do you know the dimensions of the CP by any chance? I guess really just the front-to-back length since I'll use the cab I'm restoring to measure side-to-side.
Thanks! Great job by the way - this thread will be my bible as I go.
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Neil, were the sides of the cab covered with a plastic layer, or is it the wood itself that was painted ? I'm asking because I started the restoration of my "MB.in Radar Scope" and the red sides are a plastic like laminate. It's been damaged on the lower sides so I'm thinking of how to fix it.
Thanks.
I'd like to know the same thing - I just picked up a DKjr. over the weekend that has - literally - half the 'smooth laminate' gone on one side. It's like it was cut off from mid-way up the cabinet.... the top half is orange laminate and the bottom half of that side is orange-painted plywood - I am a bit lost right now on how to proceed.
Also, where did you get find the 'settings' sheet that is stapled to the inside back cover? I need one of those as well and would appreciate the lead....
Thanks!!
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This is a great article. I just signed up here ( a few nights ago) I was given a 90% mint orig. Donkey Kong upright that I want to work on. If I can get around to it I will post up some pics this weekend.. This thread provided some good info!!
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Neil, were the sides of the cab covered with a plastic layer, or is it the wood itself that was painted ? I'm asking because I started the restoration of my "MB.in Radar Scope" and the red sides are a plastic like laminate. It's been damaged on the lower sides so I'm thinking of how to fix it.
Thanks.
I'd like to know the same thing - I just picked up a DKjr. over the weekend that has - literally - half the 'smooth laminate' gone on one side. It's like it was cut off from mid-way up the cabinet.... the top half is orange laminate and the bottom half of that side is orange-painted plywood - I am a bit lost right now on how to proceed.
Also, where did you get find the 'settings' sheet that is stapled to the inside back cover? I need one of those as well and would appreciate the lead....
Thanks!!
Mine had the laminate as well. It was all banged up so I sanded it with 100 grit sandpaper until it was really rough and then covered it with the BINZ primer (a lot of coats - at least 4 if I remember correctly). It sealed up real nice and the paint went on smooth.
The back door operation sheet can be found at Mike's Arcade: http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/opsheets.html
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Mine had the laminate as well. It was all banged up so I sanded it with 100 grit sandpaper until it was really rough and then covered it with the BINZ primer (a lot of coats - at least 4 if I remember correctly). It sealed up real nice and the paint went on smooth.
The back door operation sheet can be found at Mike's Arcade: http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/opsheets.html
OK - I'm definitely going to need bondo and the BINZ primer then..... lots of work ahead it appears. ;)
Thanks for the link on the operation sheets - nice to see so many of them scanned and reproduced and offered up!
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Thanks for the link on the operation sheets - nice to see so many of them scanned and reproduced and offered up!
Agreed. Though who reproduces them? I could use a Centipede one.
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Agreed. Though who reproduces them? I could use a Centipede one.
Here you go:
Backdoor scans (http://vectorlib2.free.fr/BackDoorSheet/)
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I mean who actually prints them? Centipede is an oddball size and I can't print it on my laser.
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I mean who actually prints them? Centipede is an oddball size and I can't print it on my laser.
I think Rich @ This Old Game printed out one for someone in one of these restore threads.
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Absolutely Beautiful. Can't wait to start working on mine.
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It's been almost a year since Neilyboy has posted. Here's to hoping everything is good with him and his family. :cheers:
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Hey guys.. sorry it has been soo long.. DK is still running and living in my computer room. Things have been good here at home. Actually got divorced last year but have a new gal now and loving life. She has a 5 yr old daughter. So it may be time to finally get around to completing that mame cab so 'she' has something to play with!! glad to see everyone is still around here enjoying this hobby! I will hopefully get back in the game with a mame build soon.
take care
Neil
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Hey guys.. sorry it has been soo long.. DK is still running and living in my computer room. Things have been good here at home. Actually got divorced last year but have a new gal now and loving life. She has a 5 yr old daughter. So it may be time to finally get around to completing that mame cab so 'she' has something to play with!! glad to see everyone is still around here enjoying this hobby! I will hopefully get back in the game with a mame build soon.
take care
Neil
It was that spat about working on the cab all day, wasn't it? ;)
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Could have had something to do with it haha. Im starting my mame projects soon. Upright and bartop!
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This is the first time I've seen this thread. :applaud: Great work!
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Neil, thank you so much for the inspiration as I did my build! I read your build several times as I did my build.