Donkey Kong cabinet, new project. COMPLETED!! (4-26-13)

[TGov]

Well, I was deep into the final design stages of my scratch build multicade cabinet when I stumbled across a craigslist ad the other day for a WWF wrestling cabinet.   After doing a double take I immediately recognized it as a Nintendo cabinet of some sorts.  So, a rainy day and $200 later, the WWF Superstars cabinet is sitting in my fathers shop.   I only got about 10 minutes with the cab before I had to leave for the evening to go to my brothers house for our fantasy football draft.  I did get a chance to turn the machine on and check the monitor and also get some pictures. 

The monitor is in great shape.  It is nice and bright and does not have any noticeable burn in.  The inside of the cabinet is actually pretty clean and mostly orderly.  The board in there is a Jamma board for what it is worth and it looks like there are some converters of some kind in there as well.  I am new to all of this so I am pretty ignorant to all of the innards and have a lot of research and learning to do.  I also need to learn how to work on the monitor without electrocuting myself as well  

After looking up the model numbers on the back of the cabinet, it seems this cab started life out as a blue Donkey Kong cab, then was converted to a VS. Golf machine and eventually to a WWF Superstars cabinet.  For having such a life it is actually in really good shape.  The plywood sides are in perfect shape other than they are covered with two coats of black latex paint   I did scrape a bit of it off to make sure the blue paint was still there underneath and it still was.  The bezel is plexiglass, but I will be replacing that with a glass bezel I am sure as I don't want to mess with plexi for it. 

It is going to be a fun project I hope.  I have my work cut out for me that is for sure.  Right now the plan is to restore it to a DK cabinet, at least cosmetically.  I do plan to put a PC in it and use it for a MAME cab for vertical games.  Then I will complete my scratch build for horizontal games.  Like I said, I have my work cut out for me and I have to do A LOT of research in order to even start with the insides.  In the mean time I will get to work on the exterior.   Wish me luck

Sorry they are kind of crappy pictures.  Cell phone is all I had at the time.  I will take some better pictures tomorrow.   Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.


****UPDATE****** 4-26-2103

Here is the completed cab.  All of the progress pictures are on the following pages if you want to take a look. 

[javeryh]

Nice! I always love following these projects. You can take a look at my DK+ for some guidance if it would help. If you MAME it think about keeping the CP original-style. It is tempting to add another button...

You definitely have your work cut out for you!

[TGov]

Don't I know it Ya I know it is super tempting to add a couple more buttons, but if I add any they will be hidden for power, front end management, etc.

[MacGyver]

I remember seeing some nice modified DK artwork here that had some extra buttons, like you they were just going with vertical games and those don't take many buttons anyway.  Something like 800 with 2 or less, and 200 with 3 or more buttons (getting fewer as they go up; 30 with 4, 5 with 5, 3 with 6). 
Remember to post pictures (sadly I forget to take during pictures all the time).

[javeryh]

Don't I know it Ya I know it is super tempting to add a couple more buttons, but if I add any they will be hidden for power, front end management, etc.

That is exactly what I did.  I have pause, exit and coin buttons hidden under the front lip of the CP (recessed) that aren't visible at all and you only know are there if I say something.  It works great.

I have a nice list of 30 or so games that are playable with most of them the ones you would want (Pac-man, DK, Dig Dug, Frogger, Mr. Do!, etc.).

[TGov]

Well, I made a little bit of progress today.  I started stripping parts off of the cabinet to see what lies underneath.  Not too many surprises.  I knew the pieces that were there to attach the bezel for not factory so I stripped them off and got rid of the plexi bezel.  I took out the marquee and removed the incandescent bulbs and fixtures.  I plan to replace that with a florescent of some kind.  I took out the CP and fiddled around with it.  The player 1 joystick is shot, the rubber bushing inside was petrified.  So I switched it out with the P2 joystick so we could at least mess around with the WWF Superstars game in the meantime.  The CP is metal, so that will need replaced.  The coin door works and the mechanisms all work well.  It needs some TLC but I think I can get it restored to close to original.  The counter shows over 150,000 plays.  If that is anywhere near accurate, this machine has made some money over the years

The latex pain is awful and not going to come off easily.  We have decided that we will paint over it with laquer based primer and get it sanded really smooth.  Then paint over that with what ever might work the best.  I think we can get a smooth finish that way and there really isn't any way to get the latex paint off of this thing without some serious work or money.  I am still not sure what model the monitor is or if it is original.  I couldn't find any definitive numbers on it.  Maybe somebody can identify it from the pictures.  The Jamma board looks really good and works great.  The WWF board looks brand new as well. 

I also need to figure out how to rig up the bezel glass release.  The one that was on it wasn't original, so I am going to have to scrounge something up.  I wish I could find some good pictures of how that release works and how the bezel glass is held in place.  If anybody has any good links for that let me know

The next step is to research the monitor and figure out how to discharge it so we can get it out of there and into storage while the cab is finished up.  I also need to design the vertical mounting bracket for it.

Anyways, here are a ton of pics I took today with my good camera.

[TGov]

more....

[TGov]

more....

[DeLuSioNal29]

Glad to see you're doing a restore on DK. :-)

My buddy did one and put in DK II as well. Any interest in doing that instead?

D

[TGov]

Not really as I plan on doing a MAME machine with it but I plan on keeping the outside of the cab as authentic as possible.  Since I am keeping the original monitor in it, I can always do a full conversion back to DK if I want to.

[TGov]

So this thing has a Jamma board and I am assuming a harness in it.  So with that, how hard is it to get a signal from my PC to the monitor and have it display correctly?

[TGov]

also, can somebody tell me what the red box on the floor of the cabinet does?  It is hooked to the Jamma harness.

[sdchown]

also, can somebody tell me what the red box on the floor of the cabinet does?  It is hooked to the Jamma harness.

What? The power supply?

- S

[TGov]

ya I guess I should have clarified.  I figured it was a power supply, so is it just supplying power to the board and the other one is going to the monitor?  I know I sound pretty ignorant.....that is because I am regarding this stuff.  I am a quick learner though   I know the monitor only runs at 100 volts, so I know something is down converting to that, I just didn't know if the red box was doing that or not.

[sdchown]

ya I guess I should have clarified.  I figured it was a power supply, so is it just supplying power to the board and the other one is going to the monitor?  I know I sound pretty ignorant.....that is because I am regarding this stuff.  I am a quick learner though   I know the monitor only runs at 100 volts, so I know something is down converting to that, I just didn't know if the red box was doing that or not.

Jamma takes 12v and 5v from the Power Supply as far as I know.

[TGov]

I am curious if the monitor should be at the same angle in the vertical position as it is in the horizontal position now?  Anybody know?  After looking at a few restorations it seems like there are a couple of different angles people use.

[DaOld Man]

I hate you.

Seriously, that is an excellent find! I have been looking for a DK cab for years now.
Good luck with your build, I will be watching this one for sure.
 

[javeryh]

I am curious if the monitor should be at the same angle in the vertical position as it is in the horizontal position now?  Anybody know?  After looking at a few restorations it seems like there are a couple of different angles people use.

You should be able to see the original location of the monitor frame mount (the bolt holes) on the inside of your cabinet.  At least that's what I used to line mine up...

[TGov]

Right on, I did see those but I wasn't sure that is what everybody was using.  Javeryh, would you mind if I PM you with some questions on a couple of things?  It looks like I am going to be basically doing the exact same thing you did with your build.

[javeryh]

Right on, I did see those but I wasn't sure that is what everybody was using.  Javeryh, would you mind if I PM you with some questions on a couple of things?  It looks like I am going to be basically doing the exact same thing you did with your build.

Sure - I always love to help (assuming I can!).   

[astroone]

You got a good Score there for $200 With a Donkey Kong Rear Tag Plate 

[TGov]

Thanks, I hope you are right.  It is going to be a lot of work, hopefully it will be worth it and the money invested

[astroone]

If you decide to do a restore the best place to get part's would Be http://www.arcade-museum.com/  and  ebay 

[PL1]

More specifically, the KLOV forums trading post is here.

Parts for sale are listed here.  Parts for auction listed here.  Parts wanted listed here.

Several other DK parts sources:

Arcadeshop

Mike's Arcade


Scott

[TGov]

I have been trying to register at the KLOV forum for a couple of days now and their registration page seems to be down.  I have tried it form home and work.

Thank you for the links and info! 

[TGov]

Well I have decided to keep the CP stock in the sense I will only have the jump button and the player 1 & 2 buttons.  If I need to play a game with 2 buttons it will just have to map the player 2 button to the 2nd button and reach over there.  It is going to make playing Contra a PIA 

If a game needs 3 buttons then I will just have to wait until I get my other cab built sometime down the road.  I don't know of any vertical games that use three buttons anyways.

I also ordered an Omni2 joystick as I wanted a joystick that could switch from 4 way to 8 way easily.  The bottom of the stick is easy enough to reach through the coin door so it should work well.  I also have an idea for making the CP easy to lift in and out if that doesn't work too well.

On eBay today I bought an original CP overlay.  It looks to be in pretty good shape,  we will see.

[Yvan256]

Well I have decided to keep the CP stock in the sense I will only have the jump button and the player 1 & 2 buttons.  If I need to play a game with 2 buttons it will just have to map the player 2 button to the 2nd button and reach over there.  It is going to make playing Contra a PIA 

If a game needs 3 buttons then I will just have to wait until I get my other cab built sometime down the road.  I don't know of any vertical games that use three buttons anyways.

I also ordered an Omni2 joystick as I wanted a joystick that could switch from 4 way to 8 way easily.  The bottom of the stick is easy enough to reach through the coin door so it should work well.  I also have an idea for making the CP easy to lift in and out if that doesn't work too well.

On eBay today I bought an original CP overlay.  It looks to be in pretty good shape,  we will see.

Couldn't you also simply set aside the original control panel for a future complete restoration and make a new one for your MAME cabinet?

[TGov]

Ya, you are probably right.  I will have to think about it, but I just ordered my buttons last night     

[TGov]

Scrounged up a older computer yesterday.  Core 2 Duo with 2gb of Memory so it should run all of the older vertical games just fine.  I started setting up MAME and finding working roms.  Also with this Dell monitor turned sideways, I can start laying out my front end in MaLa.  I ordered an SSD last night to put XP Pro on for the boot drive to speed things up.

[TGov]

So I have been debating a bit with myself on how I want to approach this build.  Initially I was thinking a straight MAME cabinet with PC and joystick/button controller using Soft15hz for the original monitor.  I then was thinking about restoring to an original cab with Nintendo wiring and DK PCB.  If I did this I would most likely sell the cabinet after a short time.  As much as I love DK, I don't have another cabinet yet and don't have the room for more than two cabinets.  So, I would hate to go to all of the work to sell it off so quickly, and who knows if I would make my money back or not.

My next option was to keep the Jamma harness and using a JPAC to interface with the PC.  That way I would still have a cab that would be MAME capable, but also I could throw any JAMMA board in there if I needed or wanted to.  I also figured that I could get a Jamma to DK adapter and even put an original DK PCB in there if I wanted to sell it.  This would give me the flexiblilty of having the MAME setup now and an easy way to convert it back to DK and it also will have the option to be any Jamma game for that matter (vertical). 

I already ordered a replacement JAMMA harness as this one is patched in several places and kind of ragged.  They are cheap enough. 

Thoughts on the matter?

I also wad digging around in the cabinet today and it looks like I won't need a power converter for the monitor as there is already one in there since it is Jamma.  One less thing to worry about.  Also the video inverter board is on there and in good working order.

[mgb]

Scrounged up a older computer yesterday.  Core 2 Duo with 2gb of Memory so it should run all of the older vertical games just fine.  I started setting up MAME and finding working roms.  Also with this Dell monitor turned sideways, I can start laying out my front end in MaLa.  I ordered an SSD last night to put XP Pro on for the boot drive to speed things up.

I'm running about 600 games, mostly verticals, all the classics plus a bunch of 90s vertical shmups and a good number of horizontals all with a pc at a lower spec and they run fine.
My mame pc spec is a p4 1.6G with 512M of memory

So I have been debating a bit with myself on how I want to approach this build.  Initially I was thinking a straight MAME cabinet with PC and joystick/button controller using Soft15hz for the original monitor.  I then was thinking about restoring to an original cab with Nintendo wiring and DK PCB.  If I did this I would most likely sell the cabinet after a short time.  As much as I love DK, I don't have another cabinet yet and don't have the room for more than two cabinets.  So, I would hate to go to all of the work to sell it off so quickly, and who knows if I would make my money back or not.

My next option was to keep the Jamma harness and using a JPAC to interface with the PC.  That way I would still have a cab that would be MAME capable, but also I could throw any JAMMA board in there if I needed or wanted to.  I also figured that I could get a Jamma to DK adapter and even put an original DK PCB in there if I wanted to sell it.  This would give me the flexiblilty of having the MAME setup now and an easy way to convert it back to DK and it also will have the option to be any Jamma game for that matter (vertical). 

I already ordered a replacement JAMMA harness as this one is patched in several places and kind of ragged.  They are cheap enough. 

Thoughts on the matter?

I also wad digging around in the cabinet today and it looks like I won't need a power converter for the monitor as there is already one in there since it is Jamma.  One less thing to worry about.  Also the video inverter board is on there and in good working order.

I like the idea of going with a jamma wiring and interfacing the mame machine through a jpac. While keeping the outside an original DK. though I think I would want more than one button so maybe build one dk themed cp with extra buttons (but tie them nice into the original artwork) and then you can always have the fun project later on of building an original dk cp should you wanna sell it.
I think the jamma wiring will give you the most versatility.

I see you have a sanyo 20ez and I see it has the video inverter board. It must also have the voltage converter. Just to clarify because I see you questioned elsewhere about the red box at the bottom of the cabinet.
That red box is the power supply (5v and 12v) for your jamm board, it has nothing to do with the monitor. The large transformr to the right of it is the monitors isolation transformer.

[TGov]

Ya I figured all of that out regarding the voltages the other day when finally getting some time with the cabinet.  So that is good that it is all already in there so I don't have to really mess with it.  I do plan on making two CP's for this, an original and a Custom CP with 3 'jump' buttons for various games, I am also putting a 4 way/ 8 way switchable joystick in there.  I plan on using molex style connectors to make the CP easy to swap out of the Jamma harness.  Initially I will just have the Standard DK CP as that is what I have right now, but I will eventually build the other CP. 

I have all of the parts I need now on order or already in my hands except for the paint, side art, t-molding and a bezel.  I am having a hard time finding a bezel that isn't scratched all to hell.  I would like to keep most of the parts original, but that might not be an option on the bezel. 

[TGov]

Not much to update here.  I plan on taking the monitor out tonight and trying the Citristrip gel on the latex paint to see if it will lift it off.  Fingers crossed. 

In the mean time, I received my parts order from Groovy Game Gear.  I didn't want to wait around to get the cabinet done so I made my ghetto cade and fired up MAME   The leaf switches are really nice and super responsive.   I am having trouble in MAME saving the input for the down direction on the joystick.  Even if I edit it in the controller.ini file it still changes it to a different input.   I will even change it inside mame and as soon as I exit and go back it, the down is remapped to another button that is not being used.  Weird.

[TGov]

I got the cabinet loaded up in the van tonight to bring home tomorrow so I can actually get some work done.  I like having it in our race shop, but it is a pain driving out there to work on it.  So, until I need something out there I will keep it here.

I removed the monitor and also applied a little bit of the Citristrip to see if it was going to work.  What do you know it took the 2 layers of latex right of right down to the laminate side.  It is going to take my elbow grease but I think I can get it all off of there and that will give me a much smoother surface to work with for the repaint.

[TGov]

Well, what can I say other than Citristrip is some awesome stuff.  I got the cabinet home tonight so I could actually work on it.  I put on a thin coat of Citristrip and let it set for about an hour.  Then I took a heavy duty metal paint scraper and went to work.  It took me about 1.5 - 2 hours to strip one side completely and give it a light sanding.  I now have a nice surface to work with.  It needs some bondo in a few places, but overall the laminate is in really good shape other than having a lot of sanding marks.   I flipped it over and applied a good coat of Citristrip to the other side and I am going to let it sit over night.  One thing I really like about the Citristrip is that it doesn't turn the latex in to a sticky goop, it is more of a dry rubbery mass.  It doesn't make as much of a mess that way. 

Even in its faded scratched up state, the light blue looks so much better than black

[TGov]

I spent the rainy morning stripping the other side of the cabinet.  It isn't in as good of shape as the first side, but nothing a little bondo/body putty can't fix.  I will try to strip the front tonight.   In the meantime I received my marquee in the mail.  It isn't in as good of shape as I would have hoped, but what are you going to do?  It was a vague description on eBay and I should have asked for backlit pictures.  Oh well, lesson learned.  It will be ok for now.  I installed my cheap under counter flourescent and lined the inside with foil tape to help reflect the light.  I think it turned out pretty good and there seems to be decent coverage on the light.  Overall I am happy with how that turned out. 

More later.

[TGov]

I was messing around with the CP layout today and I think I have decided to put the admin buttons on the CP as I don't want to drill into my cabinet just in case I ever want to convert it back to a stand alone cab.  I think this layout works pretty well and doesn't look too gaudy 

I still plan on making a second CP that will be able to plug right into the Jamma harness.  I already have nice original CP artwork/plexi for that. 

Opinions?

[Louis Tully]

.

[TGov]

If I didn't already have the orange buttons that might work.   

[TGov]

I started putting the body putty on the sides today and getting the edges shaped up.  I finished up one side and it looks pretty good.  For the putty I used auto body putty and glaze putty for the sides.  I hope to get the other side done tomorrow.  Sherwin Williams was having a sale this weekend so I stopped by and had them mix some oil based satin enamel.  They color matched the blue from the piece that attaches to the top of the front panel.  I figured that piece had probably seen the least amount of direct light over the last 30 years so the color was probably pretty close to the original blue.  The color they game me appears to be spot on, we will see once I start painting.  It was a good deal at $14 for a quart of it, it usually runs about $25 a quart.   I plan on spraying it so I wanted oil based for sure and oil based enamel will dry nice and hard so I don't have to worry as much about scratching it like latex.

It is coming along.