A moment of silence, please!

YellowDog

In Memoriam

Donor 2011, 2013
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
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Location
Humble, Texas
For the Bubbles that was just parted out. An operator near me has decided to take a "sabbatical" from games and was selling off a bunch of project machines and parts. I went over to see what he had and there was a great looking Bubbles. The sides were in great shape and he had managed to locate a marquee and bezel and a control panel with and original Bubbles optical joystick. I had to have it. We settled on a price and then he mentioned that there might be chance of termites. :eek:

Well, we waked it outside so we could look at it in the light and sure enough there were the tell tale little pellets that termites. He said he thought that it was just down in the one corner and it wouldn't take much to spray the termites and make it safe. Having been down this road before, I pulled the t-molding. Sure enough there were termite trails all the way up to the top of the cabinet. On both sides. :(

At this point, I said there is no way I am taking this cabinet. So we renegotiated and I agreed to part the cabinet out for a lesser sum. I took the marquee, bezel, power supply (brick & boards), coin door and the control panel. I let him have the lower coin door and speaker shelf.

I am still sick about having to do this, but there is no way I am going to take a chance on termites getting loose into my game collection.

A moment of silence for the poor Bubbles whose life was cut short prematurely.

ken
 
A sad day indeed!

I wouldn't have messed with it either. Termites, yuck!!

If you decide to sell the marquee.. I need one!
 
I'm no expert on termites but I thought they only ate the wood and they didn't actually live in it. Don't they build nests near where their food is?

I think that as long as you don't take the nest along with the cabinet you should be ok provided the cabinet is still salvageable.
 
yea i would have taken it out in a yard or something and blasted the crap out of it. And then let it sit outside for a little while till they are all dead, and then savage the cab.

Once you fill in all the holes with body filler and paint it, there wont be no where for them to live.
 
I'm no expert on termites but I thought they only ate the wood and they didn't actually live in it. Don't they build nests near where their food is?

I think that as long as you don't take the nest along with the cabinet you should be ok provided the cabinet is still salvageable.
Exactly. Termites eat the wood, but they need to get back into the ground to get moisture every so often. If you move the cab and let it sit, they won't be able to find their way back into the ground, they'll dry up and die. Then you could repair the cab and it would be fine again. Still, pretty gross. :)
 
Exactly. Termites eat the wood, but they need to get back into the ground to get moisture every so often. If you move the cab and let it sit, they won't be able to find their way back into the ground, they'll dry up and die. Then you could repair the cab and it would be fine again. Still, pretty gross. :)

Can't you just bug bomb the thing? Put it in a garage or shed and bug bomb the crap out of it... Termite Apocalypse...
 
Unless you live in a concrete bunker as I do (it's actually an imaginary decommissioned missile silo), the bigger worry is getting termites into the rest of your house.

Nuke it from orbit; it's the only way to be sure.

aliens-vs-predator-players-wanted-20090526000151286-000.jpg
 
The last cabinet had that had termites in it actually had the nests inside (it was a Joust). I found out by cutting the sides into 2"-4" strips hoping that I would find wood that wasn't compromised. I used an insecticide recomended by a termite expert (it came in a can with a long thin spray nozzle, like WD40). I sprayed it in the holes on one side and watched them boiling out of holes on the other side and writhing on the concrete as they died. I then cut through that section and kept going up until I hit solid wood. It was amazing to me the number of termites that were still scurring around, including several queens.

On the other side, I followed the instructions which were to turn the cabinet on its side and spray the insecticide into every hole and let it run down into the cabinet. I then wrapped the cabinet in a plastic tarp and left it for a week. A week later I flipped it over and repeated the insectide treatment so the liquid flowed the other way. Wrapped it again and waited a week. I then started cutting it open and was surprised to see live termites including several queens.

After this exercise, what I came away with is
1) Termites don't like MDF. The MDF pieces were the only pieces not infested.
2) You can't tell if there are termites in it by knocking on the wood.
3) You can never tell if you have killed all the termites.
4) I don't ever want to see them get into my collection.

I'm no expert on termites but I thought they only ate the wood and they didn't actually live in it. Don't they build nests near where their food is?

I think that as long as you don't take the nest along with the cabinet you should be ok provided the cabinet is still salvageable.

Based on my experience, they do indeed live in the wood. This cabinet was in a cargo container sitting on a concrete parking lot. The termites came in when the operator brought an infested cabinet and put it into the container with the other cabinets. He has had a exterminator fumigate the container several times.

This is why I never bring a new game straight into my house. Up north, the cold will help keep termites under control. Down here, it never freezes, so they can be and are active all year long. This is why we had our house treated with a solution that makes the cellulose in the wooden 2x4s inedible to termites.

ken
 
You have my address? So you can send those Bubbles boards? ;)

I had them out on Ebay twice & you didn't buy them. :( (This cabinet had been converted to some kung fu game, so no Bubbles game boards).

If you want a set, let me know, we can work something out.

ken
 
Damn, I need the lower coin door jamb and lock brackets. I'll be looking for them for a while I suppose.

arent those the same as on any williams cabinet?

They are. I don't know when the top and bottom pieces showed up. They seem to have appeared sometime mid-Robotron/early Joust. The metal jamb appeared with Stargates.

The good thing is that all of them are inside the door so they are not visible from the outside.

ken
 
I had them out on Ebay twice & you didn't buy them. :( (This cabinet had been converted to some kung fu game, so no Bubbles game boards).

If you want a set, let me know, we can work something out.

ken

I don't do much Ebay, so I never saw them. How many monitor rebuilds will it take? :D

I love that game. My wife even likes it...
 
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