Restoration of my Millipede Cabinet

[golddbz2000]

Well, I finally moved to my own place!  Now instead of junking up my parents place, I can enjoy junking up my own!  And to top it all off, I am going to restore my millipede cabinet that I bought for $40.

I purchased this from a local contact who was unsure what the cabinet was.  I myself don't have a wonderful eye on picking cabinets out, but I bought it for $40 big ones and went on my way.  I then got it home and pulled back some of the sideboard and low and behold, beautiful sideart in preserved glory.

Now the control panel is a hack job at best.  somewhere down the line, someone put in a 3 button 2 player game (i think) and a two button 2 player game.  I have ripped off the sticker and now am try to clean up the control panel on that one.

As of now, I don't have any pictures because I have no way to take them besides my camera phone (we'll see how well the quality is).  Maybe my good friend travistyOJ can lend me his (wink, wink) and I can show you some pics.

Also, I am doing a conversion for a Neo Geo cabinet at the moment also.  I have a very nice Ikari Warriors 3 that will serve this purpose.  More on that in another post .

[ChadTower]

Sweet.  Millipede is worth saving.

[spriggy]

Pics would be nice.  Good luck..... and in case you don't know....

CPO - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
Marquee - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
Speaker Grill Overlay - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
Front Art - http://www.phoenixarcade.com/art.htm#millipede
Multipede Multi-Game Kit - http://www.arcadeshop.com/multipede/multipede.htm
New TrackBall/Trackball Parts/Rebuild Kits - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
New T-Molding - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
New Cardboard Monitor Bezel - http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm

Yadda Yadda Yadda...
 

[ChadTower]

Damn... where will he ever find any parts?   

[ArcadeMaze]

I then got it home and pulled back some of the sideboard and low and behold, beautiful sideart in preserved glory.

What were the sideboards made of (formica?) and what did you use to get them off (heat gun?)?  Any pictures before and after?

Curious minds would like to know 

Okay, mine would.

[markrvp]

Keep working on borrowing that camera.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

[golddbz2000]

What were the sideboards made of (formica?)

Yeah! that's what it's called! I always forget when I need to remember the name.

Yeah, there were two turqouise ugly looking ones on the sides.  I completely stripped one side off, and was halfway through taking the second one off, and then I noticed that little tiny pieces of the sideart was going with it.  I think the cold weather I've been having in GA adversely affected the glue and made it that much tougher to get the formica off.  SO, I've left the rest of it on to take off on a warmer day.

and what did you use to get them off (heat gun)??

I don't have a heat gun, but I do have a hairdryer...which wasn't as good as it sounds cuz it didn't help me any.

There is alot of residue left over from the glue backing of the formica.  I'm having to wait until I feel like going down to Home Depot and getting adhesive remover because I kinda want to relax one last day before I have to help my parents move to another house    I just moved myself; I don't geel like helping! 

O, thanks for the links to the millipede restoration.  I am going to save my sideart and front art, buy a control panel artset, buy an atari speaker grill cover (might be able to fix mine if I ever get it back from my bud, travistyOJ), and I think that about does it. 

Here's the breakdown on what I want to do:
1) cleanup cabinet inside and out
2) clean up/restore sideart
3) clean up/restore frontart
4) repair/remake control panel
5) buy control panel art
6) buy new T-molding
7) clean up/buy new lexan cover
figure out/buy new jamma harness
9) drop in an almost new 19" monitor
10) sell it for lotsomoney!

I don't know about # 10, but it's a start.  I should state that although this is a restoration, I don't actually own the millipede game itself; I wasn't that fortunate!  But if I do find a good deal on one, I am definitely going to snag it and drop it in here.  My plans currently are to turn this into my 2 palyer, 6 button jamma cabinet.  But I am getting ahead of myself...

I will take some some nitty gritty pictures on my camera soon and post em up here.  Lol, I can't wait for you to see this hackjob someone did to the control panel; it isn't for the faint of heart.

Also, if you have a sec, go check out my best bud's livejournal.  He's been vacationing in LA this week and hasn't been able to distract me at work so I'm actually doing some work this week. (which is great cuz annual reviews are around the corner....)  check it out at http://travistyoj.livejournal.com/

[ChadTower]

Careful with the heat gun... a real heat gun will melt that vinyl sideart as quick as it will soften the glue holding down the formica.

[golddbz2000]

Ok, well the pictures I took didnt turn out THAT bad, but they could be better.  I actually might just stick with it being this way of taking them; it seems more dramatic.

heres the top half with formica gone - notice the glue thats being a butt to come off

heres the bottom half of the side above

gadzooks!  someone went to town with this control panel!

I'm not really sure what this game was...any takers?

and heres the other side with half the formica still on...I think its way too cold to try to pull this off - also note my ikari wars 3 cab in the back, gonna be a neo geo soon!

aww, whats that I see? yes! yes it is the original front artwork underneath that awful oil based paint! and some people said it couldn't be done, but I knew there was a way...

heres the bottom half together -

and heres the front of the cabinet - I need to get my speakers out of a box and slap that atari grill cover over it to make it look wayyy cooler

I can't wait to get more of this paint off and make it really shine; it's been really cold here lately!

[Wade]

Front artwork is available for that game from Phoenixarcade I think, so if your paint stripping doesn't go well, it isn't a huge loss.

TTYL!
Wade

[ArcadeMaze]

Ok, well the pictures I took didnt turn out THAT bad, but they could be better.  I actually might just stick with it being this way of taking them; it seems more dramatic.

heres the top half with formica gone - notice the glue thats being a butt to come off
I can't wait to get more of this paint off and make it really shine; it's been really cold here lately!

You did all that by just prying the formica off?  The side art looked in pretty good shape.  What are you using to remove the adhesive?

[golddbz2000]

You did all that by just prying the formica off?  The side art looked in pretty good shape.  What are you using to remove the adhesive?

Actually, yeah the formica came off real easy on the right side of the cabinet.  On the left side, its been a butt.  I've been slowly pulling off some at a time, but little bits of the sideart has been going with it and that doesn't cut it for me.  So I am quitting the left side until we have warmer weather.

I am going to go to the Home Depot and try to get some adhesive remover.  Instead of me struggling and using goof off 2, I am going to get some stuff that made to remove it.

I am debating on whether to work on removing that paint on the front panel or not tonight....stay tuned tomorrow cuz work will either be done here, or on my sister project: conversion of an Ikari warrior to Neo Geo cabinet!

[spriggy]

I am debating on whether to work on removing that paint on the front panel or not tonight....

Water-based 'Safe Stripper' should remove that nicely....but slow going it will be! (that's a bit yoda-ish )

[golddbz2000]

Well, I started to remove some of the paint on the front panel....it's going to be slow going more than I thought.  :/  It (paint stripper) did a great job of removing the paint from the grooves, but it needs to be done slowly and if I wait too long, it starts to bubble the vinyl on below the paint.  Also, the paint on the detail lines of the images is really the most stubborn part...

Water-based 'Safe Stripper' should remove that nicely....but slow going it will be! (that's a bit yoda-ish )

what is the brand name of this safe stripper that you speak of, o wise yada?

[clanggedin]

I thionk it's called "3m Safest Strip", but Home Depot doesn't carry it. The only place I have been able to find it is at a TrueVaule Hardware Store or Ace.

[spriggy]

Yep 3M do one.  I use a local Aussie brand down here.  Your best option is to just look for a water-based stripper (some brands say eco-friendly).  I am not familiar with any other safe-stripper brands other than 3M, in the states that is.