Defender Cocktail Restoration

[Paladin]

I always liked the look of the Williams cocktails, but I've only seen pictures of them - never in person.  I got a chance to buy a Defender that had been converted to a trivia game, so I jumped at the chance.

I knew it would cost more to restore than the end result would be worth, but that's why it's a hobby and not a business!  It's getting close to being done, so I thought I'd share some pictures.

These pictures show the horrible conversion job.

[Paladin]

Here's a pic taken halfway through the glue removal, as well as a pic of the cabinet after yanking all the trivia parts.

[Paladin]

Rebuilt the back of the coin door, added an original Defender cocktail wiring harness and replaced the contact paper with Wilsonart "Montana Walnut" laminate.

[Paladin]

Well, I've got it all back together!  For the first time in 20+ years it's a Defender again!  I say that because the trivia game that was in it had a date of 1985 printed on the PCB.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work.   I'm posting on RGVAC for help, and hope it's something simple since the seller told me the boards worked. 

[Loki]

Back to its old glory... very nice!

But damn... the one who made the conversion... he should get locked up -_-

[Apollo]

wow that is a sweet job you did, mucho congratulations

[danny_galaga]

that is sweet! dont be too hard on the guy who converted it youki. it was a machine to make money with after all. merely a tool. luckily we feel differently (",)

[Havok]

Bummer it doesn't work, you should have just bought one of the new in box ones that just went on ebay...

 

[turbo6]

Just wondering if you got the Defender Cab up and going? I've got some parts from a Defender Cocktail if need be. Not sure if they work but just throwing that out to you...

[javeryh]

Wow - you did an amazing job on the restoration!!  It must have taken a ton of patience to get all that glue off and clean everything up.  The new contact paper you installed looks like it came from the factory too.  Very nice job!  I hope you can get it up and running soon...   

[Paladin]

When I turn it on I get all 4 LED's on the ROM board solid.  I read that it might be a bad ribbon cable between the rom and cpu board, but all 40 pins have continuity.  The next thing I read was that the 7474 chips near the battery could cause that, so I performed my first chip removal/socket replacement proceedure.  I was able to remove the chips and solder the new sockets with no problem, but even with replacing the 7474's there was no change.

If I had a known working cpu or rom board I could at least narrow it down between the two.  I think I'll just have to find a Seattle area repair tech.

As for the cost, I figure I've spent nearly twice what it's worth to get it together and it could still use new glass and one of the joysticks have some gouges.  Of course they are different than the joysticks used in the upright, so are harder to find.

Turbo6 - what kind of spare parts do you have?  The only things I really need are a CPU or ROM board and a replacement joystick handle. 

Javeryh - that's not new contact paper, that's laminate.  I couldn't find anyplace willing to sell me a small piece, so I had to by a 30x96 piece.  I now have enough to recover another entire Williams cocktail.  I spent $50 for the laminate, and also bought a laminate roller, laminate trimming bit for my router and glue.  I have more in the laminate than the $75 I bought the original project for but I'm ready for any future laminating.

Since I bought replacement populated control panels, I have the original partially hacked ones for spares.  I have laminate left over too, hmmm...  I guess I could make a duplicate of the cab.  I don't know if my woodworking skills would be quite up to it though.  I'll have to think about that a little more.

[turbo6]

Hey Paladin, nice job on the Defender Cocktail...    Wish the one I picked up was worth restoring, woulda cost 3x or more it's worth to restore. Here's a link... http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63955.0

As for spare parts,
- I have all the boards (not sure if they work, wiring & power was shot when I got it)
- joysticks/balltop handles (one is in good shape, the other has what looks to be cigarette burns on the red balltop)
- the small monitor (again don't know if it works, but appears to have no burn in)
- probably a couple of other things layin around that I can't remember...

The translucent buttons and leaf switches I'm keeping, reusing them on 1 of 3 cabs I'm working on. I like the feel of them compared to the clickity click and feel of the microswitch variety.

Let me know if you are interested in any of the parts, sell'em really cheap or trade for??? Not sure how I can check the boards or monitor to see if they work... But the Balltop handle is in good condition. If you plan on keeping the machine for awhile, extra parts are always nice to have. I can take some pics if you like.

Again great looking cab.   

[leapinlew]

I guess some people restore a game no matter how obscure it is.














Ha! I kidd! Good looking machine - good job. Let us know when this baby fires up.