Author Topic: Centipede restoration complete! (Read 6671 times)

OSCAR · « **on:** April 30, 2004, 11:37:48 pm »

I put together some pages detailing how I restored a Centipede cab back from a Victory Road jamma conversion.

I essentially turned this...

...back into this

Lots of pics (and probably too many words) at www.oscarcontrols.com/centipede. This restoration project is one I'm particularly proud of. I can honestly say that it's a real gem of a Centipede cab now!
If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

bdsjake · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2004, 01:13:35 am »

"way cool!"

(80's thing)

Acids · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2004, 06:37:36 am »

BLOODY AMAZING Work as per usual.

you da man...

Minwah · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2004, 07:02:31 am »

Outstanding job

menace · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2004, 08:39:14 am »

One word--"wow"

thats some nice work!

SirPeale · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:09:45 am »

Man...now all you need to do is take it apart and hack the heck out of it. Did you know you can put an actual computer inside and play over 4000 games?

OSCAR · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:50:32 am »

Thanks for the comments, guys, I really appreciate it!

So, Peale, you thinking to maybe stuff in the biggest monitor that will fit, and then hang a 4-player cp off the front?

SirPeale · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2004, 03:48:47 pm »

Four player? No. Six player...

Cabless · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2004, 03:57:04 pm »

The cab looks great, brand new in fact... but I was just sitting here wondering.. what part of the centipede machine did you save? The wood? I mean, there's no CPO,Bezel,Marquee, and I'm assuming the board, wiring harness for controls were all different... I'm guessing the only thing that could be 'original centiped' was the wood from the cab, the coin door & mechanism and the powersupply (maybe).

Not that I'm criticizing.. it's amazing work! AMAZING! ... I just wonder when you stop calling something restoration and call it 'building something new'.

Is there more to the story that makes this a restoration play?

BTW... I have no reason or desire to complain or cast doubt after all I am...

Cabless

SirPeale · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2004, 04:30:42 pm »

Likely is *was* just wood when he got it. Then he got old parts off a junked machine, some repro art, and viola!

OSCAR · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2004, 06:25:23 pm »

That is a good question, really.

When I picked up the cab, I had every intention of turning it into a MAME cab. When I got it home and started going through it was when I decided to restore it. There was 3 major things that made me decide to restore it back to a Centipede in lieu of MAME'ing it:

1. The cab wasn't really in that bad of shape other than the water damage to the two panels. Even if I were to MAME the cab, I was going to have to fix that anyway, so that wasn't a factor. Most of the original parts and pieces were intact; the marquee retainers, most of the original harness, power supply & ARII board (no sound, though), cp (hacked, but fixable). The monitor board hadn't been hacked up by someone converting it to a horizontal game, and the original light fixture & speaker board were just fine. Also I had an original 2.25" Atari trackball & volcano buttons just sitting on a shelf. So as far as the cab goes, I really had everything I needed.

2. Availability of repro artwork. Arcadeshop carries all the Centipede repro artwork you need for the cab, minus the marquee. I won an original Centipede marquee on eBay for $9, so I was all set.

3. Having a dedicated Centipede cab is just plain cool.

Regarding the board, a friend gave me a Centipede board because it didn't work. There was a blown cap on the board, some contacts on the edge connector were burnt right off, and there was a big gouge across the back of the board that broke a number of traces. I repaired the traces and then fixed the burnt GND contact on the edge connector by soldering on some 10ga wire to the board trace and tinned the end of the wire. Then I used a dremel to grind the wire into shape so it would fit into the edge connector.

I plugged it in and it came up with just garbage on the screen. I figured that meant I a bad 2101 ram or two, so I started poking around with a logic probe. As I suspected, I discovered 3 bad rams, but I didn't know if that was the extent of the board trouble. Seeing as the GND had been burnt off the board, I wouldn't have been surprised if there were multiple fried components. So, I figured I would send it to an expert to go through the board. I sent the board to Mike Haaland (mikesarcade.com) and asked him to repair it for me. Guess what, he replaced 3 bad 2101's, and that was all that was wrong with the board! Should have just gone with my gut on that one....

But you are correct, it is just like having a brand new cabinet now. In fact, all that minty new artwork even makes it smell brand new...

walls83 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:34:33 pm »

Restore, Remade, New I dont care what you call it... Its just flat out sweet. Good work.

Daniel270 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:50:06 pm »

"Reborn" works for me

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #13 on:** May 02, 2004, 12:42:06 am »

Beautiful work as always, OSCAR!

Is this being added into your collection, or are you selling it?

OSCAR · « **Reply #14 on:** May 02, 2004, 12:06:09 pm »

The deal with the wife was that was to be a build-to-sell... But she's getting hooked on it already, so I just might slide it into the basement gameroom and see if she says anything.

Edgedamage · « **Reply #15 on:** May 02, 2004, 12:25:48 pm »

Classic saving of a classic.

SaiNRuB · « **Reply #16 on:** May 03, 2004, 12:34:47 pm »

That is one sweet restoration, you should get awarded a purple heart equivalent for arcade game collectors on saving this one.

Great job OSCAR!

Lance · « **Reply #17 on:** May 03, 2004, 01:59:47 pm »

Any pics or tips for applying huge side art like that? I've been thinking about getting side art for my centipede cabinet but I'm worried I'll mess up the install since it is so huge.

Apollo · « **Reply #18 on:** May 03, 2004, 09:23:58 pm »

[size=25]OUTSTANDING![/size]

dmsuchy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 03, 2004, 09:37:31 pm »

IF you were sellin, what would have been the askin price? Just wonderin what it would of taken to get such a great cab!

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #20 on:** May 04, 2004, 12:02:50 am »

Quote from: OSCAR on May 02, 2004, 12:06:09 pm

The deal with the wife was that was to be a build-to-sell... But she's getting hooked on it already, so I just might slide it into the basement gameroom and see if she says anything.

Didn't she drop a cabinet on you (the Multi-Williams) the last time you tried this?

Centipede really does win the ladies over though, doesn't it?

Justin · « **Reply #21 on:** May 04, 2004, 08:41:42 pm »

Hey Oscar... as you know, I mamed my Centipede cab. I have to say, your cab looks TERRIFIC. Outstanding work -- congrats.
Hope you get to keep it.

OSCAR · « **Reply #22 on:** May 04, 2004, 09:54:57 pm »

Thanks again for the comments, guys. It's nice to see the appreciation for restorations as well as MAME cabs! Even though the focus of this site is MAME cabs, there seems to be a growing number of collectors, as well. I'm sure this is largely in part due to the addictive nature of the arcade hobby.

Lance - The key to applying full length sideart like Centipede is to use liberal amounts of a soapy, water-based solution or glass cleaner such as Windex on the side of the cab before applying the artwork. The adhesive is not water soluble so it doesn't affect the adhesion when it dries. This allows you to shift the sideart around as you position it where you want it. Then use a window squeegee to smooth out all the air bubbles and it pulls the excess Windex out from under the vinyl. Then run a razor blade around the edges to trim it up. It's not that hard to get real good results, but it's not extremely easy, either.

dmsuchy - Prices vary, really. A local guy that I know recently sold his Centipede on eBay for about $1000, and his wasn't quite as nice as mine. He had to list it quite a few times before he sold it, though. I've also seen very nice resto's sell for around $800 on eBay, too. Then there are the "store prices" like Arcadeshop.com who sells a restored Centipede with all new components for $1400, and QuarterArcade.com that lists them for $1700. I don't know how many they sell for those prices, but they must figure the price is right or they wouldn't bother? The companies that sell restored cabs obviously have a target market other than collectors or BYO's for those prices... If I were to list mine and sell it for around $1000 I would be thrilled; it's certainly possible since I've seen it done before.

Sasquatch! - Yes, she did do that! That's why I haven't enlisted her to help with moving this one. I still have the scars from that little episode.

Hoopstar · « **Reply #23 on:** May 17, 2004, 09:22:26 am »

Words can't describe my feelings so I'll let my mate doing the grooving..

I can only hope my scratch built Centipede turns out this good

Hoops

dema · « **Reply #24 on:** May 17, 2004, 11:05:28 am »

Beautiful work Oscar!

Wade · « **Reply #25 on:** May 18, 2004, 03:57:54 pm »

Oscar,

Really nice work! Superb, as usual from you. I have two questions. Why does the marquee have a pink background (hopefully I didn't miss this when skimming the thread)? And also, it seems like you put an awful lot of work into salvaging that old metal panel. Wouldn't it have been much easier, and probably not very expensive, to just buy an used centipede panel that wasn't cut up?

Wade

greywolf22 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 18, 2004, 04:49:05 pm »

Really outstanding work

, it's nice to see that a hacked up converted cabinet can be resurrected back into what it was originally. Great job

OSCAR · « **Reply #27 on:** May 18, 2004, 05:12:34 pm »

Quote from: Wade on May 18, 2004, 03:57:54 pm

Oscar,

Really nice work! Superb, as usual from you. I have two questions. Why does the marquee have a pink background (hopefully I didn't miss this when skimming the thread)? And also, it seems like you put an awful lot of work into salvaging that old metal panel. Wouldn't it have been much easier, and probably not very expensive, to just buy an used centipede panel that wasn't cut up?

Wade

The marquee is from the European cabinet, which is what mine is. The sideart should have had the pink glow & accents instead of yellow as well to match the marquee, but the repro guys all seem to make the US version with the yellow. Darin @ phoenixarcade said he made a batch with the pink outline and it sold like crazy, but since that run he's only done the US sideart. The original sideart on my cab, which was pretty trashed under the paint, had the pink glow and accents. Since my cab now looks more like the US version, I will probably put a blue background marquee on the cab. I was watching one on eBay 2 weeks ago, and completely forgot about it. It sold for $3 and was in very nice shape...

Yeah, I could have bought a new control panel for the cab, but it didn't cost me anything to rebuild the one I had except for my time. I enjoy working on stuff like this, it's my hobby, and I don't mind putting in the effort. I find it rewarding to look back at what I started with and how it ended up.

Thanks again for all the nice comments! I will be starting a couple more resto's in the next few weeks...

ChazMan · « **Reply #28 on:** May 23, 2004, 09:51:26 pm »

Wow that looks Great. Funny, I just took a Broken Centipede Machine and turned it into a MAME Arcade Machine. Check out my WEB site of the New post that I just started in this group. But you did a GREAT job restoring it!!

http://Home.Comcast.Net/~ChazMan


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