Tron Restoration - "Flynn, help Tron"

[CheffoJeffo]

Greetings programs!

I finally got some miscellaneous projects (repairing my MultiJAMMA, rewiring and repairing Joust, a pair of multicabs, resurrecting a dead PC rig for a MAME project) out of the way, so it is time to get to work on a Tron cabinet that I picked up several years ago and has been sitting, silently and empty, beside my desk. In that time, I have haphazardly assembled most of the hardware and parts that I need and the artwork is available, so it is time to get down to it.

The cabinet itself was gutted, with partially painted-over/scratched side art, mandatory security bar holes and assorted nicks and scrapes. The good news is that the shroud is in decent shape (nick in one part of the artwork) and the translite is intact.



Not long after I acquired the cab, I happened upon a box of misc tron cabinet parts on eBay. This included a pair of control panels (one populated, sans handle, one not), a spare lower marquee and a spare spinner assembly.



A long while later, well before RandyT came out with his pretty new Tron handles, I came across an eBay auction for an "unknown" (it was Satan's Hollow) CP that happened to have a beautiful blue Tron handle on it. I bought the panel cheap, waited a LOOOONG time for the seller to ship it, but ended up with a nice handle with no cracks.



Somewhere along the way I managed to pick up bits and pieces of the main boardset -- 3 Super CPUs, 2 Video, 1 Super Sound IO (enough to make one complete boardset) and a set of raggedy interconnect cables.





On both optical boards, the 74LS491 chips had splintered to shreds and one of the traces was broken. It took me a while and I had almost given up hope until I saw a  post on CGCC about wysiwyg's work on his new quadrature decoder-counter board. That gave me some hope, but also spurred me into a more active search for replacement chips. I had been through all of the vendors in the BYOAC wiki, but went through them again, just in case. It was a good thing I did, because ArcadeComponents.com (run by BYOACer channelmaniac) had what I needed (along with some 6502s that I also needed).

Once I had the replacement chips in my hands, I installed some sockets, fixed the broken trace and replaced the electrolytics on the optical boards.



I also had an MCR switcher adapter lying around that I had ordered long ago from ArcadeShop.



Not bad ... I now had most of the parts on hand -- I have spare monitors (although I will probably order a new one for this project) and was just missing a wiring harness and amplifier board.

I had been completely unsuccessful in getting my hands on a Tron wiring harness and most of my WTB posts resulted in laughter and "I need one too" responses. I started assembling a list of the connectors that I would need and tried to source them (the only vendor who had everything was Bob Roberts). Then, last week, I heard from tester007 (CGCC, KLOV, CoinOpSpace) who pointed me to vintagegamer, who had a partially-clipped harness from a KICK cabinet that he was parting out. Close enough for me.



It needs to be modified and some connectors need to be changed out, but it is in good shape and is a good place to start.

While the cabinet needs a bunch of work (stripping, filling, painting, etc.), that will have to wait until the weather improves because I don't have space in my little workshop and don't have a garage.

Which brings me to my projects for this weekend:

• Complete unpowered review of the boards
• Check continuity/resistance in the interconnect cables
• Figure out what needs to be changed/added to the wiring harness
• Find a dual amplifier board
• Watch Tron again

"Like the man says, there's no problems, only solutions."

[RayB]

Well aren't you organized! 

[CheffoJeffo]

It's actually not my way, but I am trying ...

[geocab]

Looks like a fun project to tackle, Cheffo!  Tron would be an awesome cab to have.

[Mauzy]

Somewhere along the way I managed to pick up bits and pieces of the main boardset -- 3 Super CPUs, 2 Video, 1 Super Sound IO (enough to make one complete boardset) and a set of raggedy interconnect cables.

Oh man I can't wait until the day I do enough board work and collect enough boards that I have a need for my own labeling and inventory system like this. The obsessive store room organizer is me loves this sort of thing...

Good luck on the restore!

[CheffoJeffo]

Don't be in a hurry -- it's a symptom of a failing memory more than anything else! 

EDIT:

Here is a good example of why I need to catalog things -- I just pulled out the Super Sound I/O board to review and it is NOT complete -- it is missing a ROM at A10 and a Z80 at A12.

I have spare Z80s in my kit (and on the extra Super CPU boards, but I prefer not to pull chips if I don't have to), but no ROM for A10.

I had the opportunity to pick up an EPROM burner (parallel port, but W2K compatible) and an eraser locally this past week and figured I would mull it over because I would prefer something that I could connect to my notebooks. Now it's gone. [Where's the damned :tommy smiley?]

I'll run through the rest of the board (it has some farked up connectors and old, bulgy electrolytic caps) and then shoot Steph at HobbyROMs a line once I decide whether to buy just the one ROM, or all ROMs for all of the boards.

Shoulda just bought that damned burner ...

There is also a circle around the 74LS32N at B10 as if whomever worked on the board previously had found a problem there. I don't have a spare nor a socket in my stores, so I guess I'll need to order both -- just need to see where I'll order them from (likely DigiKey since I have to get a new Soldapult and some other stuff).

On the plus side, the Interconnect Cables tested fine,although the mylar is separating on one of them (nothing a little liquid epoxy won't fix), and the "A" Super CPU board looks good (once I realized what is powered from the battery instead of the main +5V). 

[RetroACTIVE]

This one looks like a heck of a lot of fun.  Your like me, as I pick up a project that has been lying about, I always seem to find a bunch of stuff I amassed over time.  When I finish, I sell off the stuff I over bought.

Tron is such a cool period piece.  Ive never been too much into the game itself, but the cab is freaking awesome! 

Good luck, can't wait to see it's progress.
 

[CheffoJeffo]

So, after taking a break from actively looking for Tron bits, I find this thread on KLOV, which includes a mostly-working boardset, marquee and wiring harness.

I am somewhat torn -- I'm not sure that I am sad to have missed the opportunity to jumpstart the project. While I definitely have some projects where I would love to just buy new boards, I don't feel that way way about Tron. I actually want to roll my sleeves up and get dirty for this one.

 

[ChadTower]

So roll 'em up and get dirty!  Your project, do it up your way.

[Ed_McCarron]

I actually want to roll my sleeves up

Mitch?

I love the "Cheffo's Arcade" paperwork.  Too funny.

[CheffoJeffo]

I actually want to roll my sleeves up

Mitch?

Where's the bloody :owned smiley ?

 

[More Cowbell]

You're in for a treat in restoring your Tron, Cheffo. I had a great time with mine, very rewarding. I'm interested in your board repairs, do you do repairs for online friends? Hint hint. I have three (3!) Tron boards that are all not working that I need to have repaired. Any ideas who can fix these boards?

[CheffoJeffo]

Thanks.

My board repairs have so far been limited to replacing obviously bad chips (i.e. where the test mode tells you it is bad or somebody says "replace the RAM at B5"), fixing bad traces and connectors, as well as bad caps, resistors, etc. I'm still figuring out how to effectively read datasheets and use a logic probe, so much of my process is voltage-checking. I have a few "challenged" boards that I am learning on, but until I get all of them up and running, I am but a paduan.

My ability to track and diagnose beyond the obvious has not yet developed to the point that I would feel comfortable fixing other folks' boards. I'm still figuring out how to effectively read datasheets and use a logic probe.

Sadly, RealLife(tm) has been come crashing down between me and Tron, although I may just try to power up the boards this weekend if I can swing an hour or two.

[CheffoJeffo]

This evening I took some time to sort out the situation with respect to boards, harnesses and connectors. I was going to place a connector order with DigiKey anyway (to pick up the kits that Ken recommended over on KLOV), but have put it on hold to see what they have that I need. I suspect that I may need to make a Bob Roberts order as well ... oh darn ...  I guess I'll just buy his premade TRON video cable and save myself the time.

I'll post pictures so that it appears that I made progress.

The mess straightened out:



Well, the Video board is pretty boring:



So, this is the CPU board - notice the already-clipped purple wire from the reset circuit:



And here is where there is work to be done. I need to sort out the wires running into J4 as they are split between the coin door, P1/P2 buttons, fire, service, tilt and the spinner. The KICK harness seems to have most of these wired, so I'll keep the connector and repurpose the wires. The connector at J5 seems pretty sparse, so I'll probably need to put a new one in there (I need to review the KICK pinout first). And I still need that ROM ...



Here is where the dual amp board should go -- I need to track one of these down, preferably locally before the Starburstauction in 2 weeks (also looking for a Robo or Joust upright donor cab for my MultiWilliams, in case you're local and coming to the auction):



Finally, something easy to identify -- this is where the speakers go:



More boring ... MCR switcher adaptor:



And, I am sad to say, the highlight of the night -- a chance to break out the soldering station:



I may or may not get around to powering the boards on my bench tommorrow ... I'd like to think that I will, but the sun may shine and the boys may want to play football.

[WunderCade]

Here's another chance at odds n ends for Tron: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/feetupproductions and a Marquee here.

So, after taking a break from actively looking for Tron bits, I find this thread on KLOV, which includes a mostly-working boardset, marquee and wiring harness.

[ChadTower]

Hey at least the stuff is super clean.  That definitely helps!

[CheffoJeffo]

True dat.

Every part that I have gotten for this project has been very clean, which makes it unique among my projects (with the possible exception of my upcoming Williams Multi).

I *hope* to be getting a dual amp board at the "parking lot swap meet" at the auction this weekend, but I'm not convinced that it will pan out -- the guy has two, but won't say if they are working and his only question to me was "what are you offering". He also has two Tron projects that I know about, so might not want to sell. they look to be pretty simple boards, so perhaps I can just make my own. We'll see.

I have been holding off on a Bob Roberts order, which includes the connectors I need for J4 and J5 (Digikey doesn't seem to have them) pending making a decision about buttons for my MultiWilliams and tacking some translucent leaf buttons onto that order (since he now apparently has only red, orange and green, I am less enthused -- I have a single blue, but would really like some clear translucents as well).

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

[ChadTower]

the guy has two, but won't say if they are working and his only question to me was "what are you offering".

I HATE THAT.  If one is selling but doesn't know the value, fine, at least say that.  Don't fish around just in case someone may need it badly enough to pay 3x value for it.  I find those people almost never actually sell you the thing even if you offer them a pretty good price because "there's always someone else who might pay more".

[CheffoJeffo]

Well, it looks like I made a deal for that amp board as untested -- I would prefer a known working board, but since I am "Mitching my sleeves" (tm) on this one, I might as well be consistent and have all of the boards "untested". 

[CheffoJeffo]

Not much to add, but I did pick up a Dual Amp board in the swap meet beside the auction this past weekend.

I'll try to get things plugged in once I get my two new cabs hauled down to the basement.

[CheffoJeffo]

I finally cleared enough of RealLife(tm) away to get cabs moved and try to power up the Tron boardsets.

So far, no joy -- looks dead as a doornail.

All I've done is connect power (reset wire was already clipped on the harness).

Once I fix the monitor on my MW project (to rebuild some confidence), I'll come back to this while I'm waiting on the MW artwork.

[channelmaniac]

How far does it come up? Do you see it doing any of the initialization stuff or is it just garbage on the screen?

There are checks you can do with the logic probe to try and narrow down where the problems are. If you're on Yahoo Messenger maybe we can chat... or if you want to call down to Texas, there's always a phone chat session.

Oh, and thanks for the pr0ps on the parts! I picked up several BOXES of chips and finally started sorting through them. I now have 42 more of the 74LS491 chips that I'll be entering into web inventory this weekend.

RJ

[CheffoJeffo]

I'll take you up on your offer -- my skills with a logic probe are lacking -- but probably won't get a chance for at least a week.

Thanks!

[CheffoJeffo]

I finally got a couple of hours today to clean up my workshop and then I pulled the Tron boards out to have another go at them.

Pulled the JAMMA harness off of my test PS and monitor and connected up Tron.

Still no joy, but that could be due to the fact that I am only getting 4.6V at the connector on the CPU and 4.3V-4.6V on the various boards.

And that's with the PS cranked (putting out 5.4-5.5 under normal load).

Not seeing anything visually wrong on the boards and not noticing anything getting particularly hot, I figure that I must be losing a bunch over the interconnect cables. I started disconnecting them and the voltages started to climb back into a more acceptable range.

So, next step looks like a Bob Roberts order.