Rock on! Asteroids Cocktail Restoration

[opt2not]

Restoration complete!
Here's how it looks now, after lots of repairs to the board and the monitor chassis:






First post:
One of my producers at work brought in his Asteroids Cocktail for me to fix up and restore. He tells me he bought it from a guy who left it out in his alleyway, in the rain for 4 months, and ended up buying it off him for really cheap.
Afterward, it was stored in his basement for almost 6 years, giving it ample amount of time to dry out. During this time he didn't attempt to turn it on, in hopes that one day he'd meet someone to help him bring it back to life. Enter me -- a lowly animator with an arcade obsession.
I asked him to attempt turning on the power and see what the internal damage is like. He powered-up the machine and heard a Loud buzzing coming from audio hardware. Some good red LED on the boards came on, and the tube has glow. He said that one of the LEDs on the board was a bit flickery, so I'm sure the power supply is going to need a re-haul in addition to a mass capacitor swap, and re-soldering/flowing of all the connections. Definitely a long-term restore.

I'm actually quite impressed by the state of the cabinet, since it was exposed to the harsh rainy conditions of West-coast Canada for so long. There isn't really any wood damage, no chips or scratches. It just has a ton of rust, and dirt to clean up.

I think I can bring this baby back. As long as I can finish some of the other things I'm working on at the moment.
He plans on keeping it here at the office for us to enjoy (we work in the gaming industry, and there are a lot of young guys here that never got to experience the charm of playing asteroids on a real vector display).

Here are a bunch of pictures for you all to see:

Such a gorgeous looking cocktail, even in the shape it's currently in. I really love the design of these old Atari cabinets.


The previous owner didn't have the key to the lock, currently being held up by tape   Those scuff marks are actually left-over adhesive from the tape that was used. That'll clean up easily!


Side shots. As you can see, the profile looks good. No wood damage, or warping!  Amazing. I'm assuming that the rainfall landed and trickled off the top onto the legs and missed the wood-panels. If it was in an alley way, it may have been  protected by the wind as well, so i'm assuming downward water exposure is all that it endured.


The coin door is in ok shape. With all the metal parts on this machine, i'll have to take a wire-wheel to it all to clean up some of the erosion. I plan on taking the same technique I did with my midway coin door, and spray-paint it after stripping with a metallic silver. Turns out nice looking, as well as protected from additional exposure.


The glass clips are really rusted, and they're the incorrect ones! Looks like these are Midway cocktail clips. I'll clean them up and repaint anyways for possible re-use.
Also, the start buttons still look to be in decent shape. t-molding, not so much.


Here's a few closer shots of the legs. Rusty dirty McNasties!  Also missing those square leg caps that I'll have to order from bobroberts or arcadeshop.



The underlay decals are fairly flaked. I know there is an underlay from Arcadeshop that I can probably get as a replacement. But what I saw, they're missing the Atari logo on the screen area.  I might have to try to re-stencil it.


Shots of the atari logo and black monitor outline. Also notice the cardboard bezel is torn a bit. Gah, gotta replace that. For the outline, the Arcadeshop underlay has that included, so I can potentially strip off this paint with some wood-alcohol (like I did with my Canucks Cocktail).



Control panels. The CPO looks good, there isn't much needed done to them other than a cleaning. No cigarette burns woohoo!  The buttons need a good cleaning though, or perhaps a replacement with shiny new ones.


Very little screen burn, just a faint image of the high score list and INSERT COIN. Hopefully I can bring the monitor back to life, and with such little burn, the tube looks to be good.


Innards.


Hello big blue!  ...and eventually good-bye!  First order of business will be to take the PS out of there and give it a good cleaning and recappin'.


Original Asteroids PCB. Looks to be in good condition. I didn't inspect it fully, but at first glance there wasn't any burns or damage that i could see. Just a lot of dust.


The sound board connections look shotty. Like all the internals, we're going to have to pull this out and fix 'em up!

All in all, there is a lot of work to be done to get this going. But it will definitely get a lot of use in the office, and it's a classic cabinet that deserves to be brought back to it's glory-days!
I plan on going full-boar on this one in the new year, and am going to hold off on my Robotron restore till I can at least get the internals working on this one.

[opt2not]

Did a bit more looking around in the cabinet, found some labels and a small chip-box of these:


I'll have to bring up the manual schematics and see what these guys are. *edit* Looks like these are code eproms**.


Board rev # I presume.


It's got a G05-805 in it.


Here's a shot of the monitor neck. Really dirty.


Tube labels.


Whoa! Lots of plays!

[opt2not]

Shopping:
- Asteroids Cocktail Glass Underlay
- Cocktail cardboard monitor bezel
- 3/4” Black Smooth T-Molding
- Atari Cocktail Glass Clips

- Electrohome G05-805 B&W X/Y Monitor Cap Kit
- Atari A/R and A/R II-01 Power supply Rebuild Kit
- Atari AC Power Supply Repair Kit
- Atari Asteroids Short Button Set (white)


- Asteroids High score kit with extended scoring



Links:
- Manuals
- Asteroids Troubleshooting Encyclopedia
- KLOV entry
- Andy's Arcade asteroids page
- USB Design Tech Asteroids PCB Repair Reference

- Bob Robert's AR Board notes
- Bob's big-blue info
- Bob's PS notes

- vector mailing list archives
- tips on testing Atari power supply readings
- Testing Atari Power Supplies
- Misc monitor questions on arcade-museum
- Misc G05-802/805 repair info
- G05-802 Monitor ID Page
- Misc repair log on mad-web
- USB Design Tech Asteroids Troubleshooting page
- Misc Repair-log info
- Misc PS and identification tech help
- Misc PCB repair tips via Braze Technologies
- Diode and Transistor testing
- How to use an Oscilloscope
- Ataricade
- Treaded cocktail table leg levelers aka glides
- Dezbaz's Vector page
- arcadefever's restoration
- csa3d's resto & arcade-museum post

To-Do List:

Structural
- Disassemble cabinet, remove all hardware
- Clean cabinet
- Remove T-molding
- Deep clean cabinet (wood) and assess internal damage
- Assess Atari Logo damage and plan of restoration
- Find Leg caps, clean 'em
- Clean &  Strip glass underlay with wood alcohol & razor (Polish glass if necessary).
- installed t-molding, new art underlay, monitor bezel onto top-glass piece
- installed t-molding to main cabinet
- Strip rust and old paint off all metal legs. repaint
- Re-paint metal components and screws (satin black)
- reassemble cabinet

Coin Mech
- Check coin reject functionality and coin type
- Disassemble, clean and strip rust
- Paint/seal metal parts
- Install new coin-return bulb

Control Panels
- Clean buttons
- Clean and assess CPO and metal further
- Clean/Restore CP metal, harness and switches

Internals
- Clean, rebuild/recap PS
- Clean, rebuild/recap  AR board
- Check voltages after power component rebuild
- Clean and check pins, solder, voltages on PCB
- Clean harnesses/wires/connectors
       - Replace where needed
- Clean, rebuild/recap Monitor chassis, HV board

- Investigate no vector image problem. Game plays blind, monitor has neck glow, spot-killer is lit. When turning up the brightness I get squiggly lines and a bright dot in the center of the screen. Possibly PCB isn't quite right yet.

[drventure]

Bring that back and you've earned a beer from me!

But I suppose considering it sat outside in the rain, it's not in +that+ bad a shape.

Still, that looks like a big project to resurrect.

Good luck!

[opt2not]

Bring that back and you've earned a beer from me!

But I suppose considering it sat outside in the rain, it's not in +that+ bad a shape.

Still, that looks like a big project to resurrect.

Good luck!

Right on! I do love me my beers :p
Thanks drventure, I going to try to keep this one as organized as possible so it doesn't get out of control. If I have good visibility of all needed tasks, I should be able to stay on top of the progress. In theory of course
Besides, my other cocktail restore/renovation wasn't too bad, and it was in a little better condition than this one.

[Spyridon]

One of my producers (and founders) at work brought in his Asteroids Cocktail for me to fix up and restore.

Tell him he can afford to purchase a fully working one and to give that one to you (after he pays for all the new parts of course)

and am going to hold off on my Robotron restore till I can at least get the internals working on this one.

Good luck with this one.  Really good shape considering it's circumstances.  Should be a fun project.

[opt2not]

Tell him he can afford to purchase a fully working one and to give that one to you (after he pays for all the new parts of course)

Heh, I'm working on that!

Good luck with this one.  Really good shape considering it's circumstances.  Should be a fun project.

Thanks buddy! This will be my first Atari cabinet I've worked on and I'm hoping to learn a bunch about them. So far I've got Williams and Midway cabs and under my belt. 

[Rick]

Wow, if that was all 'quarter travel', that's $22,647!  In 1981, the median household income in the U.S. was $19,074, as per this page.  Nice project.

[opt2not]

Wow, if that was all 'quarter travel', that's $22,647!  In 1981, the median household income in the U.S. was $19,074, as per this page.  Nice project.

If we're assuming that this thing was in service from it's manufacturing date (1979) to say, the crash of '83 -- that's about $5661/year. Seems like a pretty penny! If this cabinet was in a restaurant or bar, or perhaps a pizza joint, that's a nice little boost of cash for the owners back then! 

Did some more looking around, found that the service door seems to be mounted a bit too low for me to put in my replacement lock. I don't like the idea of the tape being the only thing holding the door closed...had a nightmare last night of the door swinging open and slamming the mounted PCB onto the floor and cracking (yes, i dream of arcade machines):

There's a half-inch gap there that opens up into the cabinet. Not good. I'll have to re-mount this door properly after I do my tear-down and reassemble.

[saleem]

real common problem with atari cocktail doors,the bad fit that happens after years,got 2 missile command cocktails and both same with door,1 not so bad as the other.

mind 1 has brilliant art owrk on it,like the one you got but,its missile command.

[opt2not]

real common problem with atari cocktail doors,the bad fit that happens after years,got 2 missile command cocktails and both same with door,1 not so bad as the other.

mind 1 has brilliant art owrk on it,like the one you got but,its missile command.

Looks like a matter of re-seating the door latches and tightening screws. Not sure what the cause is but if I were take a guess, the exposure/moisture may have loosened up the wood where the latches are screwed in, then the weight of the door + pcb may have "drifted" the latch screws. I looked at the latches and they seem to not be tightly mounted.

I *may* have to cut a new door piece if the screwed holes are weak.

Thanks for the info saleem! AND btw, your MC looks gorgeous, and I was very impressed by your Space Zap resto.
Like Silas said:

I am surprised you're not getting more comments.

 

[opt2not]

I emptied the cabinet for cleaning during my lunch-break yesterday.
Got a better look at the parts and their condition.

Gonna rebuild and clean-up these:


Here's a better look at the monitor. The burn really isn't that bad:


Hmm, I thought the CP's were in better condition, but it looks like the front edges are pretty scratched up. I just wiped it all down, I'm going to do a more deep cleaning to see if I can get the buttons more white:


A more thorough look at the PCB shows that there is a little bit of burn on the edge connection. I'll clean this up when I get to it, but if that's the extent of the damage, I'm pretty happy with it:

[Spyridon]

I emptied the cabinet for cleaning during my lunch-break yesterday.
I'm going to do a more deep cleaning to see if I can get the buttons more white:

Just buy new buttons.  They are cheap and bright white buttons look really good.

[Spyridon]

Is that an overlay on the control panels or is the artwork screened onto the panel?

[saleem]

the art on these is screened,i got 2 missile command ccktails and they both have pretty good art on them considering they are nigh on 30 years old.

just dab in some similar enamel paint to cover the scratching.

[Spyridon]

If you can scan the panels, Rich at TOG can re-screen them directly on the panel  (but yours look like you may get away with just a touch up)

[opt2not]

 When I took the glass off, more of the art flaked off. It feels really brittle as well.
Arcadeshop has an underlay that looks to be a decent replacement.

It's printed on what looks like a transparent acetate. This might be the best course of action.

Just buy new buttons.  They are cheap and bright white buttons look really good.

Yeah you're probably right, I'm not too confident that I can get the buttons bright enough.

[jennifer]

         Sometimes you can save the rotten area with fiberglass resin, chip off the pucker and smear light coats, sanding between.
  Looks like a fun project. Good luck!

[opt2not]

If you can scan the panels, Rich at TOG can re-screen them directly on the panel  (but yours look like you may get away with just a touch up)

Yeah I was thinking I could touch-up the front side since the top parts are in good condition. Getting them re-screened would be a fallback plan. There are repro CPO's available too, if I wanted to go that route.

[opt2not]

Spot-checked more today, found a resistor diode with some burn on the AR board around it:

[snarly]

Hi!  I just bot one of these so I will be watching your progress

Can you do me a favor and tell me what are the dimensions and weight?  I bot mine without seeing it and will be picking it up some time this weekend - need to make sure I can lift it and fit it in my jeep!

Thanks,
Chris

[opt2not]

The dimensions are:

Width = 30 1/2"
Height = 27 1/2" (depending on the leg configuration. you can adjust the height with the appropriate sized hex key)
Depth = 21"

I'm not sure about the weight. I'd say it's between 150 - 200 lbs. Not something you wanna lift yourself, but with care and a dolly you'd probably be able to solo it.

[snarly]

Thanks, much appreciated!
I will post when I get and what all I end up having to do with it.....

I do have a few projects already -
Baby pacman - almost done but the monitor is still giving me some issues.
Tekken 3:  also monitor issues

Chris
located in Jersey City across from Manhattan.

[opt2not]

Not much of an update. 
I've got parts ordered and on the way, and did a little work on cleaning up the cabinet. I went around with a magic eraser to clean off the vinyl, and goo-gone'd some leftover adhesive that was around the cab. 
I also cleaned up the Serial sticker, and removed the FCC one that was in rough shape.

Before


After (sorry for the blurred pic)

[opt2not]

Did a few things over the last few weeks. The top-glass piece is complete. After taking it all apart, I found that the previous owner had used electrical tape for the black outlines under the glass, which was a pain in the bum because of the left-over adhesive residue. I goo-gone'd it, and cleaned off the wood laminate with a magic eraser. It's now clean.
I then stripped the old t-molding, and installed new ones.
The underlay art was really flaking when I took the glass off. Seems that some of it was stuck to the wood laminate and ripped off when I took it apart.
But it didn't matter since I was going to strip it anyways and install a repro decal underlay. I took a razor and some wood-alcohol and spent a lunch-hour removing the decals.
It's now a clean glass.
After putting in the newly purchased underlay, monitor bezel, and t-molding, the top piece is now complete and put aside to work on the other parts. I forgot to take pictures of it while I was at the office, so post pictures of it when I get a chance tomorrow.

I took a look at the cabinet itself. Cleaned the insides, lots of dust, moth balls, spider webs/dead eggs...but luckily nothing worse. During the cleaning, I noticed the bottom base panel was loose.  It turns out one side of the base wasn't even securely attached!  I think this is the reason the access door was sagging. I glued and screwed it back up, and now it's solid. *phew* Imagine over time if the weight of the innards caused the bottom to fall out!



Today, I took a break from my art commissions and did some work on the legs.
I initially cleaned them as best I could, but I really couldn't get them looking good enough. I figured that'd be the case anyways. So I used my trusty wire-wheel and drill and stripped the paint, rust and dirt with plans to repaint them.
It took about 20 mins per leg and some elbow-grease to get it down to the bare metal.


After wiping off the paint dust, I then sprayed it with down with Rustoleum Hammered Black. The texture is nice and is a match from the original look.


I also picked up some leg glides (aka levelers) from Home Depot. They sell a drop-in replacement (Shepherd 1-1/16" Threaded Stem Glides) that is a perfect match.


Here's how it looked before:


and here it is after. Practically brand new!:


I still have to install the square caps, but I'm marking the legs off as done!

[yotsuya]

Great job so far, man!

[opt2not]

Great job so far, man!

Thanks bud! 

Here are a few shots of the glass top. I haven't added the Atari Decals yet, but will do so before putting the cabinet back together. The Atari decals are just "peel and stick".

New T-molding, new atari NOS glass clips, new repro underlay artwork, new monitor bezel (glossy - rounded)

Here's a close-up of the new artwork underlay and NOS clips. Yay, no peeling artwork! As you can see, the underlay is see-through. I have to line it up better to the edge so you can't see the line, but it's barely noticeable under the glass anyways (the flash brings it out more).

[opt2not]

I took the buttons out and soaked them in household bleach and dish soap overnight.
Before:


After:


They cleaned up ok, but not completely white. The holders seemed to clean up much better than the button plungers. I know these buttons are cheap (bob roberts has a set of 5 for $10), but I figured I'd try to clean up the originals and see how far I could get. In the end, I'm just going to by new ones as suggested. Having bright white buttons on a CP is just too sexy.

[saleem]

magic eraser perhaps?
 

[opt2not]

Yeah, I used a magic eraser right after the soaking. The problem is that it's not surface dirt or grime, it's the plastic that has yellowed. I've read up on it; over time when plastic is exposed to UV light, the bromine content in it tends to cause yellowing.
There are a few methods out there that can turn your old plastics white again, like Retr0brite, or using Technical Grade Hydrogen Peroxide and sunlight...but with the cost of putting those materials together, I might as well just buy new buttons. Besides, in Vancouver, we get very little sun this time of year.

[opt2not]

A couple weeks ago, my producer buddy was able to find all the leg caps for this thing in his basement. They were just a little bit scratched up, but good enough to re-use so we felt there was no need to order new ones. I cleaned them with an Magic Eraser, and I placed them onto the newly restored legs, they're a done-deal!:




After stripping and re-painting all the bolts, I'll reassemble the cabinet before tackling the electrical work. Stay tuned.

[opt2not]

Strip and painted the bolts and grills last night:


At lunch today I started reassembling the cabinet and applied the rest of the t-molding.




Still gotta put the service door back on, and the grills aren't in there yet. That's coming up. The t-molding and assembly too most of my lunch hour.
After that, I'm onto restoring the CP.

[Spyridon]

This is really shaping up nicely.   

[Woodshop Flunky]

  This is looking groovy!

[opt2not]

Did a little bit of work today on the coin panel.



First I took it apart:


Used my good ol' wire-wheel and drill to strip the rust, grime off the metal parts, as well as the paint off the coin-return flap.
If you notice the old photo, there was some calcium buildup on the square frame parts (sorry, don't know their names), they only needed to be cleaned up with the wire-wheel:
The panel itself was then spray-painted with Rustoleum Metallic Silver, which IMO is a nicer finish to the scraped metal look. The coin-return flap was also repainted.

[saleem]

spraying the coin entry plate thing,have you not lost the grain effect it had?

it looks ok but,drawback with spray is,a part that bshould be steel ends up being spray paint and i would pick up on that where some might not.

they had a vertical line grain effect.

i grew to appreciate some of the things that come with used machines now,i would have been particualr months ago now i have come to love the weathered used look some parts have.
 

[opt2not]

spraying the coin entry plate thing,have you not lost the grain effect it had?

it looks ok but,drawback with spray is,a part that bshould be steel ends up being spray paint and i would pick up on that where some might not.

they had a vertical line grain effect.

i grew to appreciate some of the things that come with used machines now,i would have been particualr months ago now i have come to love the weathered used look some parts have.
 

This is true, it does lose the grain-effect. But I'm not really too worried about it. I think it looks pretty good, and makes the coin door "pop" a bit more. It also goes a bit better with the coin "frame" squares...besides, only the purists will pick up on it

Here's a better comparison of it installed:

[csa3d]

Great job so far, man!

Thanks bud! 

Here are a few shots of the glass top. I haven't added the Atari Decals yet, but will do so before putting the cabinet back together. The Atari decals are just "peel and stick".

New T-molding, new atari NOS glass clips, new repro underlay artwork, new monitor bezel (glossy - rounded)

Here's a close-up of the new artwork underlay and NOS clips. Yay, no peeling artwork! As you can see, the underlay is see-through. I have to line it up better to the edge so you can't see the line, but it's barely noticeable under the glass anyways (the flash brings it out more).

These look pretty good!  I haven't even thought about my cab in forever, thanks for making me wanna dig it back out! 

-csa

[opt2not]

These look pretty good!  I haven't even thought about my cab in forever, thanks for making me wanna dig it back out! 

-csa

I hope you do, you're so close! I got a lot of information from your posts, only seems right I trade you some inspiration

Another quick update...worked on getting the CP's restored. I taped off the top area, masking the silk-screened artwork (which was still in great condition) right below the bottom line. I figured this would be a good spot to divide the new paint from the old. I then scraped off some of the loose flaking paint that was on the front side:


After painting I removed the tape, and voila!


Close up of the division. Works for me!:

[Spyridon]

Looking really good.  I like the look on the coin door.

(now finish this up so you can get back to working on Robotron)