I know quite a few people here have retro-gaming projects not related to the NES, and since I recently acquired an old arcade cabinet, I figured I would ask if anyone else has an arcade project. Below is a little info on my current project, and a few pictures can be see at http://img697.imageshack.us/g/img20101228221144.jpg/ , hopefully i will be able to add more pictures soon.
I recently bought an 1981 Williams Stargate cabinet from a guy here in town. He had bought it a few months prior and had the monitor go out on him. After taking the machine home, i started digging in to the system. The first thing I found was that the isolation transformer had been bypassed going to the monitor and that the power cord to the machine itself was not only missing the ground pin, but was also two power cords spliced together without the ground wires even connected (I did not notice this previously as it has been bundled up) so I replaced the power cord with a nice heavy duty one (it even has a ground pin!) and fixed the wiring for the isolation/power distribution area. Next, I noticed that one of the previous owners had messed with the wiring to the coin door... to get free play. I dont know why they did not just put the system in to free play mode. I was able to get all coin door wiring straightened out with the exception of the memory protect switch.... which they had mangled for some reason and now is always open. I plan on using a SPST switch as a temp fix until i can get a new switch.
At this point, I started troubleshooting the monitor chassis board. I started by checking that both fuses were still good, and then proceeded to make sure power was getting up to the monitor. everything checked out so far. after a bit of probing, i discovered that the rectifier diodes were out so I proceeded to discharge the flyback (yay for old Heathkit probes!) and replace the diodes. I looked over the board a bit, everything looked to be in fairly good condition with the exception of being a bit dusty, so I blew off what dust I could and put the board back on the monitor chassis. I kicked on the machine without the monitor power hooked up and watched the diagnostic display on the ROM board, everything checked out and I heard the startup sounds for stargate. I then turned the machine off, hooked up power to the monitor, and kicked the machine on.... the monitor kicked on. "YAY!!!!!.... oh crap... the flyback is arcing...." At this point I decided I might as well replace the flyback, h-out transistor, regulator transistor, and get a cap kit so that I should not have to tear in to the monitor again later on.
While waiting for the monitor chassis parts, I started disassembling various parts of the cabinet and cleaning it as well as I can. I have found a few other strange things... such as the two speaker wires being cut and twisted back together without any sort of electric tape or what not... this has since been repaired and the wires are not soldered directly to the speaker.
current plans for the machine:
* rebuild monitor chassis once parts come in
* replace coin door and coin box locks
* get correct color leaf switch buttons for control panel
* have local print shop print off new decal for control panel and screen bezel (screen bezel is scratched up and control panel has black contact paper currently)
* replace coin return button and return arm for player 2 coin assembly
Possible plans:
* create duplicate cabinet and transfer components in to new cabinet... getting new side decals (old cabinet is quite beat up)
* Modify system to play Joust or Stargate
I recently bought an 1981 Williams Stargate cabinet from a guy here in town. He had bought it a few months prior and had the monitor go out on him. After taking the machine home, i started digging in to the system. The first thing I found was that the isolation transformer had been bypassed going to the monitor and that the power cord to the machine itself was not only missing the ground pin, but was also two power cords spliced together without the ground wires even connected (I did not notice this previously as it has been bundled up) so I replaced the power cord with a nice heavy duty one (it even has a ground pin!) and fixed the wiring for the isolation/power distribution area. Next, I noticed that one of the previous owners had messed with the wiring to the coin door... to get free play. I dont know why they did not just put the system in to free play mode. I was able to get all coin door wiring straightened out with the exception of the memory protect switch.... which they had mangled for some reason and now is always open. I plan on using a SPST switch as a temp fix until i can get a new switch.
At this point, I started troubleshooting the monitor chassis board. I started by checking that both fuses were still good, and then proceeded to make sure power was getting up to the monitor. everything checked out so far. after a bit of probing, i discovered that the rectifier diodes were out so I proceeded to discharge the flyback (yay for old Heathkit probes!) and replace the diodes. I looked over the board a bit, everything looked to be in fairly good condition with the exception of being a bit dusty, so I blew off what dust I could and put the board back on the monitor chassis. I kicked on the machine without the monitor power hooked up and watched the diagnostic display on the ROM board, everything checked out and I heard the startup sounds for stargate. I then turned the machine off, hooked up power to the monitor, and kicked the machine on.... the monitor kicked on. "YAY!!!!!.... oh crap... the flyback is arcing...." At this point I decided I might as well replace the flyback, h-out transistor, regulator transistor, and get a cap kit so that I should not have to tear in to the monitor again later on.
While waiting for the monitor chassis parts, I started disassembling various parts of the cabinet and cleaning it as well as I can. I have found a few other strange things... such as the two speaker wires being cut and twisted back together without any sort of electric tape or what not... this has since been repaired and the wires are not soldered directly to the speaker.
current plans for the machine:
* rebuild monitor chassis once parts come in
* replace coin door and coin box locks
* get correct color leaf switch buttons for control panel
* have local print shop print off new decal for control panel and screen bezel (screen bezel is scratched up and control panel has black contact paper currently)
* replace coin return button and return arm for player 2 coin assembly
Possible plans:
* create duplicate cabinet and transfer components in to new cabinet... getting new side decals (old cabinet is quite beat up)
* Modify system to play Joust or Stargate