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1st time restoration tips?


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Hi All,

 

I just bought my 1st restoration project, an un-working Space Invaders cocktail table. I'm after any tips of where to begin.

 

Things I'm curious about are:

 

I'm told it powers up but what should I check before plugging it in?

If in fact my house doesn't burn down after powering up what should I look for for where the fault is?

How do I tell if the screen needs refurbing/replacing and where should I look?

I'm thinking of initially making it a multi board game as my young kids get bored quickly with 1 game, what are good options?

 

Thanks in advance I'm really looking forward to this project.

 

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879480200_fuseside.thumb.jpg.ba7836cdce3a5db4968044ab0786046a.jpg

 

inside.thumb.jpg.a4b8b26112955ce50a141e2ff24e5991.jpg

Edited by benird
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No that's fine no offence taken, I'm not that worried about but but more wanted to hear as to whether the community thought it would be a bad idea to just plug it in more than anything.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I am however planning on getting the screen professionally restored, I'm not going near that one as it's way outside my field of expertise.

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What part of Queensland are you in?

If you're in Brisbane I can give it a once over for you and explain what to look for in future as well as how to go about converting it to 60in1.

A 60in1 board will give you all the classic vertical oriented games and there's enough to keep the kids entertained.

They're affordable and pretty much trouble free.

Yes it's a bad idea to power it up without first making sure it's electrically safe.

Edited by Kaizen
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Thanks @Kaizen I'm in Bald Hills on the Northside, I'm more than keen to bring it to you if you'd prefer I think it's relatively clean but yeah bought it as a project knowing full well there's be work involved to get it up and running, I'd just rather get some advice before blowing it up, I'm not so concerned about myself as I've been around this stuff a bit now and have learnt where not to touch.
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Be careful moving it, the tube looks to be sitting in there loose with just one very under sized screw.

 

Yes I found that out last night, I've got the washers to hold that both in but yes I'm going to be securing it more securelyly before moving it again.

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Looks likes it could be wired to the Jamma standard... I could be wrong thought ! hard to tell by the picture.

Do a search for "Jamma harness" on the net you'll find a pinout for the Jamma connector that connects to the board.

Learn where the voltage lines are, 5v 12v & -5v.

 

Get your multimeter, if you haven't got one, its now a good time to get one ;)

Unplug the Jamma connector from the board and turn the machine on.

Check the voltages at the connector, if they all look to be on or very close to the right voltages, then plug the board in and see if it works.

If your not getting a picture, then I suggest taking it to someone that knows what they're doing.

Don't put your hand anywhere near the tube if you don't know what your doing, that thing can kill you !

 

Best thing you can do is get your hands in there and learn about these things :cool:

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Thats a nice cocktail cab you have there for a first project. Good on you for having a crack to bring it back to life and share the best games with your kids. It wasnt but a few months ago when i did my first one with a similar cocktail to yours. You are in good hands with Kaizen and the members here at AA. To 2nd what the others are saying be carful around the monitor especially where the red suction plug is. Have fun and enjoy your project and dont forget to post pics of your progress.
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  • 2 weeks later...

So I'm now at the next stage of needing help.

 

I've bought a multi board 60-in-1 for the machine for the kids and had the monitor serviced and have seen it working at the repair guy here in Brisbane's shop. I've now brought the screen home and installed it in the cabinet again then plugged in a 56 pin JAMMA harness to the 60-in-1 connected it to power, tested that the 5v is 5v and the 12v is 12v.

 

I've kept the screen running through the original step down transformer and can confirm power is running through that as the 110V fan is turning at speed.

 

I've also connected the 5 video connections other than power to the JAMMA harness.

 

However when I power up this is all I see on the screen, the dots do change colour and dance around but only occupy the center 2cm or so of the screen.

 

Any ideas of what I've done wrong or how to get a full picture?

 

20180406_224812.thumb.jpg.2b51ed48def9df17c79ee31ad2b534c6.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
So I'm now at the next stage of needing help.

 

I've bought a multi board 60-in-1 for the machine for the kids and had the monitor serviced and have seen it working at the repair guy here in Brisbane's shop. I've now brought the screen home and installed it in the cabinet again then plugged in a 56 pin JAMMA harness to the 60-in-1 connected it to power, tested that the 5v is 5v and the 12v is 12v.

 

I've kept the screen running through the original step down transformer and can confirm power is running through that as the 110V fan is turning at speed.

 

I've also connected the 5 video connections other than power to the JAMMA harness.

 

However when I power up this is all I see on the screen, the dots do change colour and dance around but only occupy the center 2cm or so of the screen.

 

Any ideas of what I've done wrong or how to get a full picture?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]127190[/ATTACH]

 

Thanks to @Kaizen for his help Thursday night, I've now got the machine all firing up and a 60-in-1 sitting in it working nicely. I also now have 3 very happy kids... that is until I pull the cabinet apart to restore the finish on the metal parts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very good first project and it complete.

All the best with cant wait to see the progress.

If the tubes&chassis stop qorking and you cant get them fix/replace you always have a opinion of a LCD.

Better to have a working table then just non working coffee table.

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Very good first project and it complete.

All the best with cant wait to see the progress.

If the tubes&chassis stop qorking and you cant get them fix/replace you always have a opinion of a LCD.

Better to have a working table then just non working coffee table.

 

It has been a fun project. After much frustration and silly first timer mistakes the cab is up and running and the kids are loving it. Last night I picked up off Gumtree the most essential accessory IMO, Caroma hourglass stools!

 

I am looking at restoring the legs next and found the tightening bolts were seized, but some WD40 and elbow grease has loosened them right up so they're now my next target.

 

I'm also waiting for my 7800 key to arrive so I can lock the kids out of inside. Over last weekend I returned the coin box lock to original too but now I need to bog up the holes where the aftermarket lock was screwed on.

 

Then I'll look at polishing the scratches out of the glass and re-coating the black tray at the bottom.

 

1 modification which I'm currently designing is a replacement control panel though as my wife hates the near vertical controls, I'm thinking I'll build a similar design to the Pacman tables which will just simply bot into the original Space Invader control panel mounts. I've got the original control panels stored away safely for if I ever return it to it's original glory.

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@benird

 

I have four of those leg adjuster bolts here for you and have a template for the control panel sides that I use on my scratch built cocktails.

 

sDKxIop.jpg

 

75pv34I.jpg

 

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oEYqwAP.jpg

 

This is what the original Taito ones looked like...

 

dlyV6vT.jpg

 

 

You're welcome to drop by on the weekend if you have time and I can knock up a set of complete panels for you if you like.

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@benird

 

I have four of those leg adjuster bolts here for you and have a template for the control panel sides that I use on my scratch built cocktails.

 

sDKxIop.jpg

 

75pv34I.jpg

 

hDp52yf.jpg

 

oEYqwAP.jpg

 

This is what the original Taito ones looked like...

 

dlyV6vT.jpg

 

 

You're welcome to drop by on the weekend if you have time and I can knock up a set of complete panels for you if you like.

 

That's awesome thanks mate. It may be a few weeks but I may just take you up on that offer.

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