Ha! Now you have set the bar! It means if I fit this unit together and it doesn't power up, I'll look incredibly silly. :lol: Hey, I just enjoy doing this stuff and the really talented people are the restorers who go to extraordinary lengths to manufacture, reproduce, rework cabinets to perfection, seeking out the exact buttons, coloration, specifications and the like. Honestly, I just tinker at the edges by comparison to those guys. I'm even using reproduction artwork, which to some people is a complete non-starter! "Cough!" I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I can do this, so can just about anyone else so please feel free to turn from observing my mundane & banal outpourings to joining in! I'd love to see other people's work on arcade stuff as I love to see the guts of these units. Thanks though, I appreciate it! As the weather was half decent I made a start on spray painting today. I got up very early in the morning (hence the lack of light) and sprayed the whole cabinet using Hammerite Smooth White paint. Before someone suggests I have forgotten to remove the stickers on the rear of the unit, don't worry I carefully taped them up and cut around them. 2 coats in and I am giving it a couple of days to dry off completely before a wet sanding and then a final coat, plus T-Cut polish. There are some blemishes, rough patches and streaks (one massive one, which is embarrassing as I thought I was doing well but couldn't see that I was creating a river it was so dark!) However, I don't care as it'll sand out and be gone before I am happy with the finish. Having dried out all afternoon outside, I took the cab back indoors for the night and set a heater on near it on low heat to assist with drying it completely.
The monitor in question is capable of outputting in 15/24kHz, but I didn't realise that the main differences between an MS8 and MS9 were mainly the adjustments available. According to the replies I got back on another site the quality should be just as good, but the contrast / brightness is where I'll notice the main difference. According to the guy selling me the chassis, it should be with me mid next week so I am trying to prepare the unit so that I can simply fit it into the unit and start testing it.
Excellent work as usual parris. Nice to see your restoration threads and it always reminds me of a few of the program on the various discovery channels or other channels in which cars, antique's...etc are restored except for the fact you have restored a few arcade machines and are not on discovery or have your own show although if you made restoring arcade machines into a show i'd defiantly watch it.
I'd propose the idea to "Dave", but I suspect "Arcade Restorations" would be rather a niche market lol To make matters worse my restorations are usual conducted to the strains of Radio 4 or Planet Rock. Not wishing to be cast in a bad light (oh, go on you old fart!) but I don't think "the kids of today" would tune in once they heard Alice Coopers breakfast show, or perhaps Rick Wakeman or Guy Pratt turning out 'Pink Floyd', 'Queensryche' or 'Yes'. They'd probably go into some kind of toxic shock if they heard 'The News Quiz' or worse still 'The Archers' (which I have been vaguely listening to for several years and I am still waiting for an actual story line!) I may have lost all street credibility, but tbh I am prepared to accept that as frankly I don't believe I had much anyway and it's never come in handy thus far! Coming along nicely
I would watch a show like that. Or maybe you could make a Before and After picture set, so we can see how great it looks after the restoration.
One of those annoying days nothing much can happen. I did however fit the locks to the doors and have a look at them against the cabinet to ensure the white paint matched up. So, this is how far I've got. And this is how it started a few weeks ago,
Wished I could Thomas, but I think I'd have to move back to the South of France to have sufficient dry weather or at the very least a good sized workshop. I had to get up at 4am the other day to have any time to spray the cabinet, left it until around 11pm for the next coat. There is a break in the rain and the sky has cleared, it's 8pm and I am shifting the cab back into the garden for what I hope is it's last coat.
Question! When you clean your PCB's, fans, etc how the hell do you get them so spotless without damaging them? Like how do you get into all the nooks and cranys for instance when cleaning fans?
The rear stickers were carefully covered up throughout the painting process. The Astro City side decals are reproductions from Sega Shed. http://triplemoonstar.brinkster.net/segashed/default.asp Years of practice, a steady hand and variety of different products & "stuff" to help. Such as paint brushes to get into nooks and crannies, toothbrushes to scrub at the stubborn stuff, baby wipes (yes, I've mentioned these before), elbow grease, magic eraser (see earlier in the thread), water & washing up liquid (depending on the parts needing cleaned obviously). So far I've not electrocuted myself, so I would suggest the above are safe to use if you know what you are doing (or if you are just incredibly lucky). Seriously though, it is hard work to get things like tubes pristine clean and it takes time to be confident enough tackle certain components to avoid the more dangerous parts (and or completely discharge various parts). Just grab the manual for the product, check the warnings and you'll see what I mean. Every Sega manual comes with a picture of a CRT and clearly points out the parts that you should avoid. It's not for the faint hearted with a power hose! :evil:
I'd like to think so, but I just got the chassis and it's perhaps compatible, but it's a re-wiring job and frankly I hate monitors. My nemesis! So, I am getting advice before proceeding beyond putting the case & the "bits" together again. It may have to remain an incomplete cab for a few weeks. OH:
Much nicer than when it arrived. I may invest in a better monitor anyway. By comparison: Then Scrapes, dings n damaged body work. Now Shame that I can't just drop in a working monitor, plus I still need to finish off some of the wiring and paint the CP to match the rest of the cab. Getting there though.
I finished most of the wiring tonight, cutting into the 220vac line to supply power to the UK strip light. It means I don't have to go searching for 110vac starter motors and strange sized F tubes. I then ensured that the step down convertor was added to the 220vac supply, reducing the power back down to 110vac for all the Japanese components such as PSU & monitor. The real issue is rewiring the monitor. I'd much prefer to use the chassis that this unit was supposed to be supplied with, hence me seeking advice. There are a few really knowledgeable guys on Arcade Otaku when it comes to Candy Cabs and various chassis, such as Grant Nichol (Grantspain). I also now need to cut a wooden PCB board that will slot into the frame. Not hard to do and shouldn't take too long. You cannot believe how much I want that monitor to be working right now :-(
Are you gonna spray the CP surround to match the rest, or leave it be? On most of the painted cabs I've seen it does seem to wear off the CP plastic a lot quicker, for obvious reasons
I was going to paint it, but I am in no rush. The weather (as you'll know) has turned up here. Even if I have to wait until next spring. Until then, I have the monitor to contend with. Tempted to just obtain a really good s/h one from Craig (Giz10p)
