Centipede Restoration

[Spyridon]

I picked up a Centipede cabinet that has been converted to Arkanoid on eBay.  It was local and I paid $63 for it.  Pretty good deal considerding the Arkanoid game works fine.  The plan is to convert this back to Centipede.  I'll be focusing on getting the game working during the winter and save the cabinet restoration for Spring when it's warm enough to paint in the garage.


Sides have been completely painted over with black paint.  I'll try and strip it off and see what remains of the Centipede artwork, but I've already picked up a new set so I won't worry too much if it can't be saved.  Also, no back door so I'll have to cut a new one.


A real hack job of the original wiring to get the Arkanoid game going.  Don't think I'll be able to save any of the original wiring.


Working Electrohome G07 monitor.  Needs a cap kit.  I'll order the deluxe kit from Bob Roberts and give it the works since I'll have it pulled out anyway.


So far I've acquired the following items (from KLOV, QuarterArcade and eBay):
Centipede wire harness complete with control panel harness for $12.50 on eBay

Working PCB from eBay for $58 which included a working ARII board and a trackball (great deal)

Working Transformer from eBay for $17 (mine works, but I was getting other items from this seller and added it in just in case)
NOS cone buttons (2)
Control Panel Overlay from Quarter Arcade for $40
Phoneix arcade side art for $75 shipped from a KLOV member

Currently working on a deal for a marquee from a KLOV member as well.

Still need to find the glass bezel.  I've heard that Arcadeshop is having issues with their repros and are out of stock.  Anyone have a bezel for sale?

I'll pick up the blue cardboard bezel from Arcadeshop.

Trackball will need to be rebuilt.  I'll order new bearings and rollers from Bob Roberts.  Were these originally offwhite in color or is mine just discolored?

[Spyridon]

The control panel has been hacked with the addition of a new button above the trackball area and holes for the spinner.


The cone button have also been replaced with a different style button.  Where the holes for the cones the same size as a regular button?  These are the standard button size.  I can easily fix the extra button and spinner holes, but if these were a smaller size that could be a difficult fix.  I may be better off trying to find a replacement Centipede control panel and sell this one.  I've had some interest in it already as an Arkanoid CP.

Anyone know how to remove the P1 and P2 buttons?  I've removed the microswitch, but the end piece is still wider then the button shaft which means I can't slide the nut off.

I'm sure the microswitch holder at the end must pop off somehow, but it's not obvious as of yet.  I don't want to break it in case I end up switching to a different control panel.

Another question, I think the only wiring part I'm missing is the coin door connection.  Is this the connector that goes to the coin door?


I haven't seen that type of connector before.  Anyone have a Centipede coin door harness for sale?

[Level42]

P1 and P2 buttonholes should be smaller.

(You can see it on the CPO:
)


Mine were made bigger too (but not as big as a "regular" pushbutton hole) and actually, the P1 and P2 button on my CP looked very similar (if not the same) !



You can simply pull out the inside mechanics of the button. Needs a little force but then will click out. Won't do any damage.


I carefully installed the cone buttons that I found and they "just" fit the holes. I'm not sure if I will keep it this way, may fix it with some bondo or something.

[Spyridon]

Thanks for the info Level42.  I'm actually in the process of re-reading your Centipede restoration right now. 

It looks like my buttons are similar to yours, but the holes have been widened to the size of a regular push button.  I don't think the cone will fit.  I'm leaning towards picking up a different control panel and selling this one. 

[ChadTower]

That looks like it might be an amp connector... I see no reason one with that many slots would be original.  Just get a new matching pair and repin to that pair.  It's much easier than trying to find a match for an unknown connector from some point in the past 25 years.

[Level42]

Thanks for the info Level42.  I'm actually in the process of re-reading your Centipede restoration right now. 

It looks like my buttons are similar to yours, but the holes have been widened to the size of a regular push button.  I don't think the cone will fit.  I'm leaning towards picking up a different control panel and selling this one. 

I'm sure a cone will not fit into a regular pushbutton-sized hole. It just barely fit the one's on my CP which are smaller. There are ways to close the holes. People have done it lots of times here. Than you can drill new holes.

[Spyridon]

There are ways to close the holes. People have done it lots of times here. Than you can drill new holes.

Yes, I agree.  I may still go this route, but if the person that expressed interest in my control panel is still interested, it may make more sense to sell / trade it and get one requiring less work.  If no interest, I'll figure out how to repair the holes.

[Spyridon]

That looks like it might be an amp connector... I see no reason one with that many slots would be original.  Just get a new matching pair and repin to that pair.  It's much easier than trying to find a match for an unknown connector from some point in the past 25 years.

Okay, if that's not original I'll replace it with something else and match both sides.  Didn't even think that it might not be original, but I guess that makes sense as it doesn't match any of the other connectors.

[ChadTower]

I don't know it isn't for sure - but it sure looks that way. 

Level42, could you visually confirm from your cab?

[Level42]

As you may know all my cabs are now in storage (see my gameroom thread), but I checked other pictures I made before and it _is_ a molex connector, but only 12 pins.

[Spyridon]

Looking at the schematic for the coin door, it looks like a 24 pin connector is correct.

[Level42]

O wait, I thought we were talking about the control panel connector.....let me see if I can spot the coin-door connector on the pics...

[Level42]

Yeah, seems original:

[Spyridon]

Thanks for checking on that.  By the way, I think it's pretty cool that I can be discussing video games with people all over the world.

Now I just need to find out where to get a match for the connector.  I'll check with Bob Roberts and see if he can match it.  Better yet, maybe I can a complete coin door harness for this. 

[WunderCade]

I have my Centipede Upright, let me know what you'd like pics of. I'd be glad to help you out.

[Spyridon]

I have my Centipede Upright, let me know what you'd like pics of. I'd be glad to help you out.

Thanks for the offer!  I'll let you know if I need anything specific.

I was able to locate someone that has the coin door harness for sale.  $20 shipped.  Not a bad price considering the time I was going to have to put in to create my own (once I tracked down the correct connector)

[Spyridon]

I was able to locate someone that has the coin door harness for sale.  $20 shipped. 

Coin door harness arrived today.  It was not from a Centipede, but from another Atari cab.  Looks like they used the same connector on a lot of their cabs.



A perfect fit...

[Spyridon]

My bezel arrived today from Quarter Arcade and is sitting in a box next to my desk.  I'll post pictures when I get it open (hopefully later today)


Okay, here it is:



Looks really good.  Also, the marquee I ordered arrived today.  Pictures of that later...

[Level42]

Hey, the colors are wrong !






 

[RayB]

Hey, the colors are wrong !

I was going to post that yesterday. I assume it's just a dark photo?

[Level42]

I was just kidding. Compare:

[RayB]

What's going on here. Euro version? Bootleg?

[Level42]

Euro version (Irish built). Side art, marquee, CPO, all different. And better looking. At least on the Centi. Other cabs I prefer the US version (SW cockpit f.i.).

[Spyridon]

Hey, the colors are wrong !

I was going to post that yesterday. I assume it's just a dark photo?

Okay, I knew exactly what Level42 was talking about, but then I got worried when RayB jumped in as well.

Don't scare me like that.

[RayB]

Bah! Don't you people know you don't really exist? If it's not North American, it's not not true.
 

[Spyridon]

Got my marquee in.  Looks really good.  These glass marquee's are heavier than I expected.



Also got in my control panel.  I could have fixed the one I have, but got this one for $10 plus shipping.  Not a bad deal for a populated control panel.  Needs a lot of clean up, but I don't have to worry about fixing the holes (especailly the P1 and P2 buttons that were too wide on mine)

[Spyridon]

Time to rebuild the trackball.  The one I picked up really did not move well at all.  You could hear a grinding sound as you moved it and it was very rough.

I orderd a trackball rebuilt kit from Bob Roberts which included new bearings and rollers.  I also ordered a replacement trackball as I liked the white color better than the off-white.



Here is what I started with.


First step, remove the top cover


Here is a comparison of the original trackball and the new white one


It's pretty dirty in there.


The old rollers and bearing pop right out.  I washed the housing - top and bottom - with some soapy water and all the crud came off.  The two encoder wheels screwed right off.


Screwed the encoder wheels onto the new rollers, popped on the new bearings, and placed them into the cleaned up housing.


Add in one new trackball:


And screw it all back together, making sure the encoder wheels spin smoothly and aren't touching anythiing:


A really quick process to do this and now it moves as smooth as can be.  Hopefully the optic boards work, but I won't know until I wire everything up.

[RayB]

honestly, your rollers are hardly worn. 

[Spyridon]

honestly, your rollers are hardly worn. 

Yeah, the rollers weren't bad, but the bearings were shot.  I figured since I had it apart, let's upgrade it all and be done with it.

[Level42]

I'm having a deja-vu feeling  

[SirPeale]

Those black connectors are interesting...I don't have them on my Centipede Mini.

[Spyridon]

I'm having a deja-vu feeling  

Yeah, I keep reading through your restoration.  Hopefully, I won't have to go through what you went through to get the PCB working.

[Spyridon]

Found this online today and ordered it:

NOS backdoor sheet


Manuals and flyer


It was $15 plus shipping. 

(of course, currently I don't have a back door to put this on)

[Spyridon]

I spent some time trying to stip off the black paint to see if the artwork underneath was salvagable.  I wasn't too concerned if this was successful as I already have replacement art.  However, if it was in good shape, I could resell the artwork.  I tried about 8 different strippers and had no luck.  I can't be sure what kind of paint was used, but based on the success of the chemical strippers, I think it might be an oil based paint.  Goof Off worked quickly, but didn't remove the black paint, but did pull up the vinyl underneath.  Citristrip did nothing.  I had some success with a soy based stripper but not much.  Here is what it looks like so far (pretty ugly)


Anyone know what can remove oil based paints without hurting the vinyl underneath?

[Spyridon]

I tried a few more strippers on the paint, but I can't find anything that will remove the oil based paint and save the artwork underneath.  Not a big deal as I have new sideart ready to go. 

Decided to start the task of getting this game working.  Remember, all cosmetic work will be done later when the weather gets better.  The goal for now is to just get it playable.

Started by working on setting up the new (to me) control panel.  First I installed the rebuilt trackball.

The control panel only came with two carriage bolts, so I'll need to come up with two more to fully secure this.

Next was to install the Atari cone buttons.  I picked up some used cone lights and some NOS cones.


The wire harness that I picked up had a set of cone lights with it so I just compared my wires to that one which made figuring out what goes where relatively easy.
P1 and P2 wired up:


Now to install them into the control panel.


Okay, first problem of the day.  The cones I have are too big.  Comparing them to the ones that came with the wire harness I purchased you can see the difference


That's a shame as these are in perfect shape.  For now, I'll use the other set I have


Looks pretty good, but one of the cones is banged up pretty good.


Anyone want to trade a set of tall cones for short ones?

And the fininshed (for now) control panel


It may be ugly, but at least it's Centipede and no longer this:



Looking forward to putting the new CPO on this, but it's too cold to do any painting.

Next up...removing the hacked up wire harness and installing the Centipede harness.

[RayB]

As far as I know, it's supposed to have the talls (or medium?) You didn't install the buttons right.

The washer goes underneath. Only the cone on top.  There's also usually a white plastic spacer that goes between the washer and the microswitch (allowing it to turn without wearing on the switch housing).

Putting the washer under the panel allows you to set your preferred height of the button. You can set it so the button sticks out high out of the cone, or set it so it's just barely peeking over the edge.

Check the manual, there's diagrams showing the order of the parts.

cone
panel
washer
spacer
^ microswitch inserted into the above ^

Turn the cone to tighten, while holding the microswitch in place.

[Level42]

Exactly what Ray says ! High cones !

[Spyridon]

Okay, that's good news.  I'll try that out tonight and see how it works.  I think the small cones already installed on the  wire harness is what threw me.

[Spyridon]

cone
panel
washer
spacer
^ microswitch inserted into the above ^

Okay, tried out the cones I had and they still do not fit with the washer in place.  Here is what they look like outside of the control panel.  This is cone, washer, microswitch.  I don't have the spacer (and I don't see it listed in the diagram in the manual)


As you can see, the button is flush with the top of the cone and does not stick out at all.  This is with it tightened all the way down.  Add in the control panel and you wouldn't be able to press the button. 

I installed is into the control panel without using the washer.

You can see the difference to the one with the smaller cone.  It does stick out far enough to work.  How far out should it be?

Closer shot:


And both of them installed:


This will work, but doesn't seem right.  Is there a medium size cone between the two sizes I have?

[THE POKER BRAT]

cab looks pretty solid,..you know theres nothing more satisfying than to bring and old neglected arcade back to its original glory!
i gotta drink to that!
keep us posted with the pics ,..and progress details of your work,...
they look great!,..
I recently got a "GORF MINI" (im so stoked!)
I have to do some cosmetic tough ups to it to make it look better,..cant wait to work on mine,
your story gives most of us the motivation to keep going with what we love to do!