PhilsArcade - The cabs

[Phils Arcade]

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Okay ye'all. I'm looking to start this thread to cover any work ongoing on the cabs I'm restoring, or new builds. These are not multi-cade machines, though may have some Mister involvement, or similar.

If you'd like to follow along, I'm doing posts here.
Also hoping to upload progress videos at: https://www.youtube.com/@phils_arcade
You can also follow along on my FaceBook, which I know some have no intension of joining: https://www.facebook.com/InfuriousLtd/ (Yes it's infurious)
And my website, if I can ever get around to updating it, ugh! https://philsarcade.com/

Hope the admins are happy enough with this. Follow along on whatever platform, and wish me luck, lol.

First set of posts coming up later today.

 

[TheDaddy]

View attachment 61866​

Okay ye'all. I'm looking to start this thread to cover any work ongoing on the cabs I'm restoring, or new builds. These are not multi-cade machines, though may have some Mister involvement, or similar.

If you'd like to follow along, I'm doing posts here.
Also hoping to upload progress videos at: https://www.youtube.com/@phils_arcade
You can also follow along on my FaceBook, which I know some have no intension of joining: https://www.facebook.com/InfuriousLtd/ (Yes it's infurious)
And my website, if I can ever get around to updating it, ugh! https://philsarcade.com/

Hope the admins are happy enough with this. Follow along on whatever platform, and wish me luck, lol.

First set of posts coming up later today.

Looking forward to seeing these , It realy helps others to get motivated !

good luck,

Dave.

 

[Wired for three]

Looking forward to seeing these , It realy help other to get motivated !

good luck,

Dave.

Its made me get going again after nearly 14 years away. Love all arcade content. 👍

 

[69er]

as requested….. wishing you GOOD LUCK.

 

[qjuk]

Nice bunch of projects to keep you busy Phil

I did wonder who purchased that Euro Atari cab from PJ (think it was previously a Fast Freddie). I was interested, but looks like you beat me to it

 

[Phils Arcade]

Nice bunch of projects to keep you busy Phil

I did wonder who purchased that Euro Atari cab from PJ (think it was previously a Fast Freddie). I was interested, but looks like you beat me to it

Had to wrestle it from another member on here. He that has the power to kick me off, lol.
But my totally insanity won out

 

[Phils Arcade]

A little late, but hey, we're off.

The background
So long, long ago, in a shed not too far away, there was a young man that used to fix up and repair electronic PCBs and build the odd arcade machine. This work eventually diminished, as the need for old, single sided PCBs was taken over by new fangled two sided versions. What had the world turned into.

So he eventually faded away and died. Died of boredom that is, and reluctantly, he went into programming, where he still works to this day. But in the back of his mind, he knew, he really wanted to get back into the old school of arcade machines. Not the flimsy single chip, just slightly thicker than cardboard versions of today, but the old, heavy, would kill a man just for looking at them sideways, type of machines. So with the help of friends from across the BIG pond, he started to draw his plans.

From a number of sites he started to collect the boxes and parts needed to get to where he belonged. Machine after machine was set aside for his diabolical plan, and eventually those boxes made their way, slowly, across the sea, to a little know town, called Sheffield. From there, they were gathered together and hitched a ride overnight to the all powerful, land of green, and Guinness. There, tired and weary, falling apart, they finally settled into their new home, and a well deserved rest.


The collection
I'm not one to look at an old arcade machine and think, yeah, that's had its day, off to the dump you go. I've seen way too many machines headed off to the recycling centre, or set alight and know if I could, I would have taken that. I'm not a miracle worker, just love the challenge.

These machines came here via PJ on Facebook at Arcade Imports UK, from CoinOp Amusements, As Found Arcade Machines, and Player 1 Arcades, with various bits'n'bobs from all over. Even nabbed one or two of PJs to add to the mix.

This has been a long time coming, taken 3 containers from various places in the U.S. to get this lot over to Ireland, and into the workshop.

So let's pick one and get started.

 

[Body pop]

This is going to be great ,when all of this comes together
Looking forward to the updates

 

[Phils Arcade]

Atari - Centipede 01 - part 1
This had to be the first of the machines to get started on. Basically it was that far gone, the entire base had come away and the front panel has been pulled back along with it. Moving the cab wasn't easy as everything looked like it wanted to collapse in on itself.




You can see in the first image above how the base is sitting behind the back edge of the side panels.Most of the wood looks swollen to some extent all over. Pulled the cab out into a more open section of the floor to get a better look at it.

Each of the components in here, I think, looks worse than it is. The power supply is very dirty and full of rust. It's nice, though, to see the audio power regulator board not burned up. Usually when you get these, something bad has gone wrong, and the PCB itself has scorch marks, or worse, holes!

So, those of you in the know, will see the main Centipede PCB is missing, as this was converted at some point into a Time Soldiers game, and the new power supply to supply it, so not having to go through the original power board. The Time Soldiers PCB looks to be in very good knick compared to the rest of the cab. No bad scraps or rusted chips which is nice. Pull this would and get it tested on the workbench.

As this is a conversion from an Atari Centipede, the wiring loom has been hacked up, so another wee job to ensure that is back to the way it was before.






The coin door is full of rust on the front face, but the back of it seems to be in fairly good condition, along with the frame. Even though the lock is missing it still seems to have the original keys mounted to the back of the door, which is a nice bonus.

The CRT is an RCA monitor, not what would have been installed originally. The monitor mounting board has been hacked somewhat, in order to get the screen to fit. Would have been nice to still have the original, but not the end of the world. Again the chassis on this is full of dust and crud, but looks to be in a decent shape from what I can see. Will know better once I can get it pulled out and inspected properly.



Seems there's a limit to the number of images you can attach to a post, so will have to break these up into separate posts.
Suppose, it also means less to go wrong if something bad happens and I loose anything I've typed in, lol.

 

[Phils Arcade]

Atari - Centipede 01 - part 2
Once all the components have been removed from the cab, it was time to look at the condition of the actual wooden structure. As mentioned the base is a mess. Looking at it once cleaned and in the photo, doesn't seem too bad, On closer inspection, you'll notice some of it is 3/4" tick and other parts 1" thick. Also the amount of moisture this this has consumed makes it a lot heavier, at least you can tell the difference from this and the one in my collection.

The coin bucket holder, monitor support and hacked CRT panel all aren't too bad.





The side panels had a blue melamine sheet stuck to it, same as the other Centipede cab I have here, except that one's red. The glue holding it on has passed its sell by date by a long margin by the looks of it, and on peeling it showed the original graphic artwork, which apart from the red/brown glue stain, adds to the look of the artwork.

Interestingly, it was the control panel that was holding the front panel and base together. When I unlatched the panel and pulled it back the entire front, along with the control panel, fell forward. Although the monitor CRT panel was screwed and glued together, even Hercules would have had problems getting it off.

The the amount of swollen wood on this, I've decided to pull the cab into its component parts, and make a new base and side panels. I'll be taking measurements directly from this cab in order to be able to make other "new" Centipede cabs in the future, but we'll get this one up and running first.

The original side panels, I think I'll clean up somewhat and have them sold/mounted as art pieces. What do you think?



Next up will be stripping the control panel. This has the SNK rotary joysticks, although both have a bit of an issue.

Stay tuned.