Gauntlet

[Spyridon]

Probably a bit premature to be posting this as I won't get to it for a while, but I pickeed up a Gauntlet cab today.  Gauntlet was always one of my favorites back in the mid 80's.  I put a lot of quarters into it.


Left side is in pretty good shape.  The black vinyl is peeling is spots, but the side art is in pretty good shape

The right side is also in okay shape.  The top art work is ripped off and again the black vinyl is peeling all around.  Unfortunately, the previous owners kid decided to peel a good chunk of artwork off about an hour before I picked up the game.  It's just taped back on right now.


Upper marquee looks to be in good shape and just needs a cleaning

If I find problems with it, arcadeshop does have a repro:


**EDIT: I cleaned up the marquee and that mark on the left side came right off.  I'll be fine with the original one!

Control panel is in rough shape.  Hopefully it will clean up with a little elbow grease as there are not any good repro CPO's available.  Definitely needs some new ribbed t-molding


Front is in good shape but the decal has marks on it from the control panel.  The control panel opens up and has a metal piece that lets you hook it on the front of the cab in an upright position.  That has caused the marks on the decal.

I'll probably replace this with one from arcadeshop:


Monitor has your typical Gauntlet burn in on the right side, but the picture is nice and bright


Nice looking Atari logo sticks


I need to look into the sticks as a couple of them are not hitting a few of the diaganols.  I've never seen this type of stick before.



Still has the settings sheet on the inside



Control panel is just sitting on top in the pictures, it does push down correctly.

[Spyridon]

Can someone tell me about these joysticks


For leaf sticks, there is a lot going on there.  What's going on inside those big bases?

[GaryMcT]

Congrats!!!!  Awesome game.

[Spyridon]

I used a magic eraser on the control panel.  While it did a great job bringing back a nice bright color to most of the panel, it was no match for the big stain 
Here is the before and after (doesn't show well in the pictures, but looks much better in person)


I may decide to go ink jet and get a replacement from arcadeoverlays.  The big issue is that the original CPO has a texture to it that won't be reproduced on the inkjet.

They have everything availble in inkjet at arcadeoverlays but the sideart is missing the extra skulls at the top:


The game was really wobbly so I decided to take a look underneath.  Missing two of the legs

I replaced them with these nylon castors which are really incredible.  This game moves around really easy on the concrete with these on it.

I was missing the t-nut (I think that is what it is) that one of the legs screws into.  Where can I pick one of these up?

I also took a better look at the cab.  Definitely need to do some work on the back support

[Kevin Mullins]

Great game.... that one oughta clean up nicely.   

Try a little "Super Clean" on that control panel or one of them "Citrus" type cleaners.
The Super Clean does a pretty good job on stuff like that. Be warned it may irritate your skin though. (I've used it so many years now it doesn't bother me....mechanic)
Just all depends on what caused that stain.

[SirPeale]

You can get T nuts at any decent hardware store.  3/8", 16TPI.

Or I have leveler mounting plates.  I'd say they're in my store, but it's down ATM.

[Superully]

spyridon, congratulations on your catch - gauntlet is such a great game! 

what's OUTSTANDING on your machine though is the fact that it carries the original gauntlet 1 sideart stickers which are much bigger than the ones you find on most of the gauntlet machines. compare the pic of your sideart with the other one i've attached ... see the difference?

unfortunately, there are no reproductions available for the original gauntlet sideart 

a lot of people - ME INCLUDED - are looking for those sidearts and in order to get them we'd need a scan so that someone could make a vector file out of it ...

  do you have the equipment and the time to help out the arcade community by doing a scan of your sideart? 

you would make more than one person happy, of that you can be sure!

[IG-88]

I may be mistaken but aren't those called Gimbal joysticks?   

[Spyridon]

  do you have the equipment and the time to help out the arcade community by doing a scan of your sideart? 

Why yes...yes I do.  But I'm only helping out because of that cool font you used. 

[Spyridon]

you would make more than one person happy, of that you can be sure!

A little teaser for you:


This was just a test to see if my scanner would work.  It really doesn't like scanning upside down, but I think it will work out.  I need to clean to side art up and remove a lot of marks that are on it.  Once I do that, I'll do a good scan.  (some of these are skewed but I wasn't spending too much time lining things up)

[Mauzy]

Probably a bit premature to be posting this as I won't get to it for a while,

Is all that you've done so far your version of "not getting to for a while"? If so, wow am I lazy!

[Superully]

A little teaser for you

teasing worked  man, i can't wait for this to finally happen! thx a lot spyridon, i'm looking forward to your "good effort". you're the man, man!

[GaryMcT]

I just noticed this thread over at the KLOV forum that may be of interest here:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=99050

[IG-88]

This might be of interest to you too:

http://tinyurl.com/lo3f6o

It's an online chat with Alan Murphy @ 2pm EST today, creator of the original Gauntlet I believe.

I went ahead and posted a question for him about the joysticks in case you cant get there before 2.   

If you got your own questions. You got to register and can post them before 1:30.

[Spyridon]

I just noticed this thread over at the KLOV forum that may be of interest here:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=99050

Thanks, I hadn't seen that yet.  It's not perfect, but is much better than mine.

[Spyridon]

Probably a bit premature to be posting this as I won't get to it for a while,

Is all that you've done so far your version of "not getting to for a while"? If so, wow am I lazy!

This is just the initial excitement of the new game.  Today it's back to Pac-man and Centipede

[Spyridon]

Crap!  I missed out on the CPO.  I was second to respond  .  However, I did pick up a Gauntlet II PCB he was selling.

[Ninten-doh]

If you're gonna go inkjet, Mamemarquees has the cpo as well.

[2600]

I replaced them with these nylon castors which are really incredible.  This game moves around really easy on the concrete with these on it.

I was thinking about putting those on my 720 which is a beast.  I have the Teflon ones from Quarter Arcade which allows me to slide the game, but it's still a beast and requires a bit of work..  I image Gauntlet is heavy as well, how would you rate the updated leg levelers with them?

[Spyridon]

I was thinking about putting those on my 720 which is a beast.  I have the Teflon ones from Quarter Arcade which allows me to slide the game, but it's still a beast and requires a bit of work..  I image Gauntlet is heavy as well, how would you rate the updated leg levelers with them?

Well, after I put them on Gauntlet, I went and ordered 16 more sets so I can put them on the rest of the games.

[Level42]

Where did you get those nylon castors ? I like the Teflon's from Quarterarcade but they're pretty expensive...

[Spyridon]

Where did you get those nylon castors ? I like the Teflon's from Quarterarcade but they're pretty expensive...

Todd from TNT has them (check the for sale section at KLOV)  They are $7 for a set of four. (he gave me a deal on a bulk order of 16 - I had already ordered 4 of them)

[Spyridon]

All four coin door bulbs were burnt out so I replaced them today.



Also, my Gauntlet II PCB arrived

[DeLuSioNal29]

I have the same Atari cabinet, but mine has been converted to a Total Carnage.  (I bought it that way, I would have preferred the Gauntlet).  It was in horrible shape, but I cleaned it up, did a little painting, restored the coin doors and added new t-molding.  I went further and added a Smash TV board to mine and a 2 in 1 switcher.  You can do the same for the Gauntlet II PCB you ordered.  (underneath, you can see the old holes where the Gauntlet controls were.   

My video is here if you want to take a look for ideas on how you can mount the extra PCB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qdtvMoRnyI

Also, you can download the full sideart from this great website!
http://artwork.joymonkey.com/


Let me know if you have any questions about the cabinet.

DeLuSioNaL29

[Superully]

once again: this is NOT the full gauntlet 1 sideart - this is a cropped version (see above)!

[Spyridon]

I went further and added a Smash TV board to mine and a 2 in 1 switcher.  You can do the same for the Gauntlet II PCB you ordered. 

I was thinking about doing that, but it's not as simple with the Gauntlet boards as they are not Jamma.  Would require quite a bit of work to build a Gauntlet to Jamma adapter

Also, you can download the full sideart from this great website!
http://artwork.joymonkey.com/

As mentioned above by Superully, that is the cropped artwork and not the full size.

[Spyridon]

As mentioned above, I was having a problem with a few diaganols on a couple of joysticks.  I'd like to get this fully playable so I can get three people over for some good 4 player gameing.  I purchased a new set up Atari joystick plungers and pivot balls from Ram Controls.  David over there does some great Atari replacement parts.


First step was to remove the joystick from the control panel



4 screws on the bottom

Remove those and you end up with this:


The next part, containing the leaf switches, pulls right off

revealing the pivot ball:


The pin in the pivot ball took some work to remove, but I finally got it out.  However, the pin in the small piece at the end of the stick is in there really good. 

I didn't have a good tool to get it out, so I'll have to stop here until I can figure out how to get it out.  Once out, I'll be able to swap the plunger and pivot ball with the new ones.  These should feel real nice after the rebuild.

[SirPeale]

Since you don't care about the old one, feel free to use destructive force on it.  Like a Dremel.

[Spyridon]

Since you don't care about the old one, feel free to use destructive force on it.  Like a Dremel.

I need the piece at the end with the small pin in it.  I don't have a replacement for it.

[SirPeale]

Oh, I thought that was one of the things that got replaced.

Well then...a rod the diameter of the pin, knock it out.

[Majoraslayer]

Perhaps you could tap a small nail into it to knock it out?  You might even try pushing on it with a thumbtack.

BTW, I loved this game as a kid.  It was one of the games I remember most!

[Spyridon]

The real problem is getting the joystick in a position to be able to hammer it.  I need a better vise setup than I have.  It's tough to get it into position as it's still in the bigger housing and moves around. 

I just haven't gotten back to working on this but I think I'll be able to figure it out. 

[DeLuSioNal29]

I just bought a Gauntlet cab today on Craigslist.  $50.  I know I have a converted Gauntlet already (Total Carnage/Smash TV) but this one is a REAL Gauntlet.   

I haven't checked it out yet, as I bought it blind (it works according to the guy).  But hopefully the sideart will be intact.  Hopefully it will be an original Atari cabinet too.  (Keep your fingers crossed).  I wouldn't mind scanning it if it's in great shape.

I am going to pick it up tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

DeLuSioNaL

[Spyridon]

I just bought a Gauntlet cab today on Craigslist.  $50.  I know I have a converted Gauntlet already (Total Carnage/Smash TV) but this one is a REAL Gauntlet.   

I haven't checked it out yet, as I bought it blind (it works according to the guy).  But hopefully the sideart will be intact.  Hopefully it will be an original Atari cabinet too.  (Keep your fingers crossed).  I wouldn't mind scanning it if it's in great shape.

I am going to pick it up tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Good luck.  If that is a dedicated Gauntlet, you got a great deal.  I'm not sure I'd buy anything sight unseen.  You never know what you can end up with.

[Spyridon]

I picked up a pin punch today to try and get the joysticks apart.  It didn't go well.  It's difficult to get these to hold in a vise.  I ended up cracking the plastic piece at the end trying to get the vise tight enough.  I put everything back together and put the joystick back.  The rebuild will have to wait until another time.

I did spend some time trying to figure out why some of the diaganals weren't working as I wanted to at least get this fully playable.  I figured it out and its not a problem I've run into before.  The leaf switches needed to be cleaned.  I used a business card to clean off the ones that were giving me a problem and now it works perfectly.  When I pull this whole thing apart, I'll need to do all of them, but for now, everything works and I get invite some guys over for some 4 player Gauntlet!

[DeLuSioNal29]

Well, here are the pics of my Gauntlet cab I just picked up yesterday.  It works, but the joysticks and some buttons need some cleaning up as they sometimes don't go in the direction you want smoothly.  The screen also has some burn in, but it's from Gauntlet so I'm not worried.  Other than that the cabinet works fine.  I still have to clean it up (it's filthy in the pics)

I was a little disappointed at the sideart, I had thought it would go all the way up and that I could scan it for you guys but to no avail.  I've attached pics of the cab.  I also have the Total Carnage/Smash TV conversion as well if you need any references from that cab (was originally an Atari Gauntlet).

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

DeLuSioNaL29

[Superully]

nice catch, but the sideart needs to be replaced fortunately spyridon will help us out with scans of the original sideart soon 

[Spyridon]

Well, here are the pics of my Gauntlet cab I just picked up yesterday.  It works, but the joysticks and some buttons need some cleaning up as they sometimes don't go in the direction you want smoothly.  The screen also has some burn in, but it's from Gauntlet so I'm not worried.  Other than that the cabinet works fine.  I still have to clean it up (it's filthy in the pics)

Nice pickup. 
Clean those leaf switches.  That's what I found was the problem with hitting a few of the diaganols and one of the buttons.  If that doesn't work, you might want to go with the rebuild kit I described above (good luck getting it installed).  Screen burn on the right side is pretty typical of Gauntlet.  Yours looks to be a little worse than mine.  Luckily, I don't have too much burn on the left side which is more noticeable during game play.

nice catch, but the sideart needs to be replaced  fortunately spyridon will help us out with scans of the original sideart soon 

Almost done with Pac-man and Centipede so I should be getting to the side art scanning soon.

[Spyridon]

Got out bid on a NOS Gauntlet CPO on eBay.  It went for $201.11! 

[Superully]

ouch, 200 bucks for an overlay is A LOT OF money - nos or not!