Tokens Only » Restorations

Midway SAMI step rebuild

cnlmoore — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:41:35 +0000

Midway’s SAMI, or Surface to Air Missile Interceptor, is an electro-mechanical game from 1970. It’s also one of my recent acquisitions. The game has received a lot of coverage recently, with at least two nice examples showing up on eBay and an EM game feature in the July issue of GameRoom magazine. I couldn’t be happier with my example, but it does have a few issues, including a missing step. You can see the step (or platform) pictured in the promotional flyer below.

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Due to its massive size and height, a missing step makes this game pretty tough for little kids to play. I would need to recreate the step so my boys could enjoy the game and with Fall quickly approaching I wanted to get this done ASAP! I had nothing to start with other than some basic dimensions from the void at the front of the cabinet, but a request for help out to fellow collectors yielded great results.

Another collector and SAMI owner, “lostarcade” on KLOV, had access to his game and was kind enough to take a ton of pictures of the step. He also worked up a quick drawing for me to reference. Thanks! This is exactly what I needed to get started. I quickly cut the needed parts from some sanded surface plywood and a 2×3 I had on hand.

I positioned and mounted the front panel blocking with glue and staples, adding some extra blocking just in case as it wouldn’t be visible anyway. I used a biscuit joiner and biscuits to add a little strength where the two pieces of cut plywood join. Then plenty of glue and staples to hold it together, with clamps in place while it dried overnight. The blue tape is holding some small pieces of plywood I glued back into place after they lifted from stapling.

The next step was patching, sanding, priming and more sanding before I gave the front and bottom a nice coat of black oil base rustoleum paint. I opted to only paint the edges of the top panel because I would be gluing on rubber matting anyway. This would prove to be a minor mistake later.

Once the first coat of paint was dry I gave it a light sanding, wiped it down and painted the final coat. Once that was mostly dry, I sized the rubber matting a rough cut the shape. I then used a straight edge to clean up the rough cut edges. Next was a thinned down coat of contact cement to both surfaces. After it dried out a bit I carefully matched up a corner and rolled the mat onto the plywood. With a pair of work gloves on, I rubbed out all the air bubbles. I used a large flat piece of MDF and clamps to clamp the surface and allow it to set overnight. I’ll need to wipe off the excess glue and touch up the edges (that I should have painted black!), but I think it turned out great. I’ll install the two leg levelers and the step will be ready to bring SAMI back into the game for my kids!

Special thanks to The Arcade Flyer Archive for the use of the Midway SAMI flyer image. Take a minute to check out the site, tons of info.

Stern Berzerk Upright ~ I

cnlmoore — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:08:49 +0000

It has been quite a while since I’ve had any time to post, but for good reason. I have been working on projects galore, including a game I purchased at one of the Milwaukee Super Auctions way back in December of 2006 (or perhaps January 2007). Berzerk! This classic arcade game brings back a lot of memories for me as I loved playing it as a kid. It was easy to understand, had great robot voices and high scores were pretty rare so I even got my initials on the game from time to time. I inspected the cabinet at auction and while it was working, it was obvious that a fast paint job was done to polish it up for auction. I had been on the lookout for a Berzerk UR and since I hadn’t seen one come up in a long time, I decided to pull the trigger. There was a little bidding back and forth, but I ended up winning. It fit nicely in the back of my 4 runner.

I didn’t have any other projects at the time and decided that I would do a cap kit, clean it up and even re-stencil the side art. I got started by stripping the cabinet and taking lots of pictures for future reference. Taking lots of pics during a tear down is a great idea no matter what game you’re working on. If you end up having to shelve the project you can always refer back to the pictures. The game had a Willis control panel overlay on it and a crackled original underneath. Little did I know that would lead to another whole project…

After a complete tear down I started sanding down the side and repairing the hidden damage with bondo. The wood must have sat in water for awhile because the plywood had taken on the soft, brittle quality. A pain to repair with bondo. I only managed to do a first coat on one side before I got the golden egg dropped in my lap. A warehouse raid and bulk buy 5 minutes from my old house. Bezerk would have to wait, but stay tuned!

Look out parts, there’s a new tool in town!

cnlmoore — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:24:28 +0000

Sometimes the right tool can make all the difference when working on an arcade game restoration project. For me it was a good air compressor to run my shop tools. I have a sand blasting cabinet and painting equipment that both require a stable air supply and while I’ve been getting by with a little 13 gallon portable tank, it was really time for an upgrade. I wanted something with plenty of capacity, and good PSI, which meant an upright compressor. Those big compressors can be pricey, $1k or more, which was more than I could afford to spend. I needed to find a good balance between price and performance. I sold off some projects to generate cash, did my research and then patiently waited for a sale. Thanks to a tip from Troy (takeman), this is what I ended up with.

An 80 gallon, single stage air compressor by Industrial Air, from Farm and Fleet. Industrial Air is just a store brand made by a well known major manufacturer, so I was happy. I opened up a store account and got an additional 10% off the sale price and several months interest free. Out the door this was just under $700, a good price. For another $20 I rented a uhaul trailer and took the 450lb monster home.

The guys at Farm and Fleet used a fork lift to put the compressor in the trailer, how exactly would I get it out? Well, I removed the annoying chains that keep the trailer gate from opening all the way and then I used my trusty plywood ramp. I made this specifically for uhaul trailers and it has made moving games in and out a lot easier. It works for compressors too. Surprisingly I was able to simply slide the whole skid down the ramp to the driveway without too much effort. I then slowly dragged the whole skid into the back room of my garage where it would be permanently mounted.

With the compressor parked in the garage, it was time to sketch out a rough layout and buy pipe and fittings. People tend to forget that besides the compressor you’ll need lots of black pipe, fittings, filters, regulators, flexible hose, shut off valves, etc. You will easily add a couple hundred bucks of cost on top of the price of the unit itself. Next time I’ll discuss the layout and installation.

Tough to keep up with projects

cnlmoore — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:04:46 +0000

After almost 10 years of collecting and restoring classic arcade games, I’ve figured out the most important collecting rule to live by. Limit your projects! Why? Typically you can only get to one or two major restoration projects per season in the Midwest, with perhaps another handful of minor fixes during the winter months. Of course there are always exceptions, but family, work, and normal everyday life consumes a lot of time leaving very little for projects. If you’re a new collector, try to avoid the “buy everything I can get my hands on” phase of collecting. You’ll just end up with a garage, basement or even living room full of junk!

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some nice games in this garage, but wouldn’t it be a little nicer with just one or two project games and lots of space to work on them? Or maybe even a spot to park the car? I think so. Of course you’d have to grab that Major Havoc that was left at the curb, but until that really happens, stop grabbing projects and focus your energy. Restore those games and thin out the project list. Projects always come up, even more now that the arcade market is depressed. I’ve got to run, I have some games to work on! (special thanks to Tim B for the unauthorized use of his garage photo)

G07 monitor chassis wash

cnlmoore — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:35 +0000

This topic has been given a lot of coverage in the various newsgroups and arcade collecting forums. I’ve done lots of research and read all the comments I could find. I’m also lucky enough to have a good friend that knows a great deal about electronics and was kind enough to share the pros and potential cons of bathing them. After talking with him I decided to give it a go.

I neglected to take a couple of before pictures to show the nasty grime covering these three G07 chassis, but we’ve all seen similar parts. Any arcade pcb’s that have been sitting around in a warehouse for 20 plus years are bound to be covered with crud. Makes it hard to see what you’re working on when trying to do repairs and sometimes a standard cleaning just doesn’t do the trick. So into the dishwasher they go!

I put three chassis’ into the dishwasher on normal heat settings with no detergent of any kind. I did give them a quick spray of simple green to loosen things up a bit. As you can see the parts came out very clean. Not 100% showroom floor clean, but so much better now that I can actually read the print on the pcb.

After the dishwasher process I used some compressed air to blow out the obvious pockets of water and then I let the three chassis sit on a wire shelf in the laundry room to dry. The heat from the dryer got them nice and dry in no time, but I still let them sit for several days. Next step is to do some rebuilding and see if I can get them working. Only issue I had was the “warm electronics” smell left in the dishwasher after the pcbs had been in there. Not a huge deal, but I had to run it again to get the smell out.

Reactor artwork ~ good stuff

cnlmoore — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:00:03 +0000

I’ve been working on a Reactor restoration for a friend, a very patient friend, because I think it was about an eternity ago that I started the project. I plan to wrap it up this winter and thought I would share some pictures of the artwork before it all gets applied. It’s very nice stuff. The artwork came from Darin at Phoenix Arcade, but please don’t pester him, it sold out years ago. Included in the package was the side art, control panel overlay and the marquee overlay. All produced with the top notch quality I’ve come to expect from Phoenix Arcade.

I really like the design of the side art and the liberal use of orange throughout the motif. The package fits the game play very well. Hopefully soon I’ll have this cabinet completed and ready to go. Of course I’ll have to “break it in” to make sure everything works correctly

Mad Planets control panel rebuild

cnlmoore — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:00:30 +0000

During our very successful game party last year, my Mad Planets decided to malfunction. The fire button died and made the game impossible to play. I’ve been delaying the repairs because of my schedule until a recent flurry of Mad Planets activity forced my hand. I helped Jeff Rothe rebuild the beautiful example of the game he found. (see rotheblog) Then Bill Karkula asked to use my MP spinner and joystick to test out some MP board repair, so the control panel was off the game and I had no excuse!

The first step was to disassemble the joystick and grind some of the surface rust off the metal shaft. It cleaned up nicely, then I gave it a zinc primer coat followed by two coats of semi gloss and a clear coat. I reassembled the joystick, bending the mangled cherry switch back into correct shape and soldering some new lead wires in place. No problems. Now when I went to put it back on the game I just couldn’t do it. I knew I had a nice reproduction overlay stashed away and maybe it was time to put that on as well. Why not. So, I stripped off the rest of the cp parts and the cpo.

The old cpo came off pretty easy by scraping with a chisel. Its been real hot here in Chicago land, and the cpo was pliable. Now all I have to do is strip the adhesive and sand it down a little. If it cools off I’ll paint it, if not, maybe just a clear coat. I’m also thinking that I should get to work on reproducing the Gottlieb insert that goes on the joystick. The gorf insert is not original and I know a few people that are looking for them. Stay tuned.

Removing mylar from a pinball machine playfield

cnlmoore — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:33:27 +0000

I’m not a huge pin head, but I do appreciate a good game of pinball and I enjoy reading about collector efforts to restore them. Recently on RGP, (rec.games.pinball) Hugh posted a cool little video about removing mylar from a pinball machine playfield. I’ve got a Firepower pin in the garage that is going to need some similar attention very soon, so I thought it was worth sharing this video and archiving it for my future reference Enjoy and thanks for sharing Hugh.

Removing Mylar from a playfield with freeze spray

There are a lot of opinions on the best way to remove mylar from a playfield, so I encourage you to do your homework before doing this yourself. Start by searching the RGP Google group archives and perhaps read the tutorials on the marvin3m site. Take your time and have fun.

Wizard of Wor Mini restoration @ COSP

cnlmoore — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:07:57 +0000

CoinOpSpace is running an arcade game restoration contest with prizes from some of the best vendors in the business, so I’m motivated to dust off those long neglected projects and get moving on the restorations! My first entry into the contest will be my Wizard of Wor mini’s. Yep, two of them.

To learn more about the contest or even to submit your own entry, visit CoinOpSpace. To follow my Wizard of Wor restoration progress, you can check out my WoW blog on COSP. I hope to have both machines up and running very soon.

Pinball backglass restoration in RGP

cnlmoore — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:35:06 +0000

I haven’t tackled a pin restoration yet, but at some point I’ll start on the firepower machine I have that’s been waiting for a little TLC. This thread over in RGP got me thinking about my pin project and about pinball restoration efforts in general.

Read the RGP thread here.

I think the new process is a great idea and hopefully a less costly alternative to silk screened glass reproductions. Knowing a little about silk screening from my Berzerk control panel reproductions, I can only imagine the time and effort required to produce a repro pin glass. The cost certainly reflects this. Being able to produce the same quality effect on a translite could be a fantastic way to repro some backglass art that might otherwise never get done.

Pinball restorations are a worthy cause, let Steve Young or the pin community in general know how you feel. Get involved and help save some games!