A Stargate restoration and deconversion

joeycuda

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I got this project cabinet with what might be the original monitor, a JAMMA harness, switcher, hacked up control panel, and a working Splatterhouse PCB installed. It had a Defender marquee spray painted black, woodgrain contact paper, and moderately chipped up bottom edges, but no real rot.

Here are a couple of pics, as I got it:

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I measured the position of the original artwork, removed most everything from the cabinet, and started sanding it with 80 grit 3M sandpaper-

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Now, while the remaining artwork wasn't bad overall, the bottom edge was chewed up, and it pulled up in places when the contact paper was removed. The pic makes it look better than it was.

I prefer not to use filler and replace wood where I can. In this case, it was necessary to just fill chips that were only a layer or two of plywood. All chips and all problematic plywood edges were glued and clamped. Not a lot of that shown here, but there was plenty of it. Anywhere filler was used, the wood was reglued so that it was as solid as possible.

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I made thicker blocks than originally used, new leveler plates, and new levelers. This process is always a pain in the butt.

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Here, I've done some filler on the front chipping. It took multiple thin passes, sanding, primer, sanding,...

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The upper back door is missing and the lower is in decent shape, but getting replaced.

The 1/2" blocking used as stops for the back doors was in ok shape, except for the stops for the upper door. These are often a problem, as they're usually made of MDF. I pried out the top 2 pieces:

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When the 2nd joystick was added, the piece that the bezel rests on was hacked. I cut a new piece out of 3/4" ply and just the slot:

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More gluing, filling, and sanding.. I removed a big chip from the side to get color matched. It was easy to glue in later:

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Plywood sides, front, etc.. but the top is MDF! Fortunately the only swelling was in isolated spots. I sanded it all flat, then primer, sand, etc..

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The slightest separation in the plys and minor edge issues - they got a lot of attention from Titebond 2 and clamps:

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I took the wood chip to Lowes. I hadn't planned on using gloss, but planned on semi gloss. Turned out the off-the-shelf RustOleum 'regal red' was a near perfect match. As hard as red is to match, I thought this nailed it. You can see a dab of regal red dried on top of the original paint:

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New stops for the upper back door:

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Skip ahead.......primer finished and ready for paint. I used rattle can RustOleum gray automotive primer. Between primer, sanding, I probably sprayed 4 coats of primer. The many coats seemed necessary to fill the fine scratches, and deal with the filler.

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I thinned the oil-based RustOleum paint with nearly 20% acetone, per the instructions on the can:

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I sprayed 3 or 4 coats of the red on each side. Despite the slightest orange peel, I am totally satisfied with the finish. It's a bit shiny, but oh well.

In the next pic, I've also already sprayed all of the black areas. That was again done with a cheap HVLP gun, 33gal 6HP compressor, RustOleum Satin Black paint, thinned 20% with acetone. The black came out flat as glass. The satin black seems very forgiving.

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I used Gamestencils stencils and they worked perfectly. I applied the stencils, then wide brown masking paper, also purchased at Lowes, to mask the front/top/back:

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I wait 1 week for the base coat to fully dry. I then sprayed the black layer on the sides with RustOleum gloss black, sprayed from a cheap HVLP gun, thinned with 20% acetone.

After stencil is applied, I scuff all of the exposed areas with a 3M scuff pad. I then wiped the areas with naptha to clean and "degrease".

I sprayed the first coat, as a mist coat. Wait 10 or so minutes. 2nd coat, full wet coat, but sprayed thin, just to fully cover. Wait 10 or so minutes. 3rd coat, another full wet coat. Black is just now fully opaque and solid.

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Wait 10 or 15 and start pulling the masking paper and vinyl stencils off. Very careful not to let a piece fall back onto the paint areas:

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I wait another week, then did the same process with the yellow layer. Again, mist coat, and then wet coats as thin as possible, JUST to opaque - 3 coats for the yellow. Too many coats will not look better. The original finish was thin. Too much paint increases the chance of runs and results in a noticeable raised effect and ridges at edges.

The yellow came out perfectly. I then installed the speaker shelf, glass bezel, restored control panel, and a few other things. The control panel was stripped, sanded, and CPO replaced with ArcadeShop piece. Joystick rebuilt with rebuild kit.

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I sanded and sprayed the carriage bolts and screws with rattle can RustOleum satin black:

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The lower back door was in OK condition, but I decided to cut a replacement out of 1/2 birch ply because
a) The original is particle board and heavier than ply
b) The original door had a tiny bit of swelling and flaking at the bottom edge
c) A new door will match the upper door I'll have to cut

I cut a replacement from plywood, routed the lip, sprayed it with the RustOleum satin black, and moved the hardware over. Kinda time consuming, but well worth it:

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In the following pic, the new lower back door has been installed, with the boardset mounting plate. I am in the process of replacing all of the cruddy ground braid with new. Through a pinball parts supplier, I found an exact match for the braid and an air powered Porter Cable 22ga upholstery stapler. I would remove a section of braid, sand to clean the wood, and replace as I went along:

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That's all for now. The cabinet work is finished and a success. I also took the transformer assembly apart, painted the board white, cleaned the wiring, replaced the fuse holder.

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Great job, very impressive. Stargate is a great game for sure! Where did you get your CPO?
 
I bought the CPO from ArcadeShop. No complaints really. The hardest part to find was a nice bezel. Stargate bezels and unhacked control panels rarely seem to pop up. Thanks for the kind words.
 
Your restoration work is impressive, keep up the good work. Stargate is popular with my friends, it takes skills to make good scores. I noticed the origional battery holder, did you know you can replace it with a CR2032 lithium cell? (like on a pc motherboard). Standard cell holder lines up with the solder holes too, and one jumper wire :)

Man that thing is sooo clean.
 
Your restoration work is impressive, keep up the good work. Stargate is popular with my friends, it takes skills to make good scores. I noticed the origional battery holder, did you know you can replace it with a CR2032 lithium cell? (like on a pc motherboard). Standard cell holder lines up with the solder holes too, and one jumper wire :)

Man that thing is sooo clean.

I will probably do the battery replacement kit on the board. The boards worked long ago, but I'll be surprised if they still do. I rebuilt the p/s with the Bob kit and will be repinning the harness. Already spotted a few flaky connectors.

Thanks. It's only clean cuz I put a ton of time into it. As I got the cabinet, it was in fair condition and filthy. I went at the inside with a shop vac and sander for a while. Only way I could scrub the dirt out.

Out of all of my projects, this one probably had the most "bodywork". It'll be a keeper I think.
 
I love these restorations! The cabinet looks wonderful, I love me some freshly stenciled side-art, so clean!

Great work so far, can't wait to see it finished. :)
 
Really awesome work. You should show one before/after side-by-side pic...thanks for sharing!

John
 
That is some nice quality work. One of these days I will get around to doing the same thing with my old beat up converted cabinet.

I was a little shocked by the MDF at the top too. Mine actually seems to sag a little in the middle. I am still trying to decide whether to just deal with it or to try and take it out and replace it with plywood. My cab for some random reason happens to have a 3 inch diameter hole on one side of the cabinet.....fun times!!

Again though, nice work. I look forward to seeing it in completed form.
 
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