Advice - Go for it or not

Yotsuya

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Hi guys -

I'm looking for some feedback and advice on how I should proceed with a project (or if I should proceed at all).

I recently was given a Atari Video Pinball project that a friend of mine saved from going to the dump (literally saved it as the OPs were parting it out). He was there picking something else up, saw these guys had parted and started busting up the cabinet, and decided right then and there to save the cab. He told me about it and I was pretty happy he saved it, as it's one of my favorite games and I would love to own one myself.

When I asked him about it earlier this year, he told me he hadn't had a chance to do anything with it, but then he offered it to me because he knew I wanted one and that I would do my best to restore it. Happily, I went to pick it up, and saw that it was going to be a hell of a project- the cab itself had been previously left out in the elements, and it showed - the edges were crumbly and swollen, flaking away at the slightest movement. The whole top, back, and left side were disconnected from the main cab. Clearly, a new cab would have to be built. I was excited by the fact that the wiring harness, control panel, owl eye coin door, power supply, bezel/marquee, light fixtures, game PCB and LED PCB. It was missing the two-way mirror, star backdrop and foamboard playfield, but I wasn't worried about that. He also had the monitor inside his house, a big 23" B&W CRT. I looked at the neck and didn't see any cracks at first glance, so I was set.

I loaded everything up and took it home, taking a ton on photos to assist in reproducing the cab. I took the cab apart carefully, saving the pieces to assist in the reconstruction. I carefully hooked all the components up and in the course of doing so I noticed small, hairline cracks on the neck of the tube. The front of the tube didn't show any signs of what I've seen from necked monitors, so my hope was that they were stress marks and the tube didn't lose vacuum. I plugged the sutup in anyway and powered it up.

I noticed 3 things right away -

1. The coin door light came on. Yay!

2. I heard a low, loud buzzing noise coming from the control panel speaker.

3. Nothing came up on the screen, and it sounded like I had my own Tesla coil running, complete with blue light and smoke.

I knew the monitor was not going to work, so I disconnected it to look at later. I booted it up again and tried to get it to see if it would play blind, coining it up - nothing.

The next day, I examined the monitor. I went to take the small neckboard off the neck when I noticed that the neck seemed to wobble. Ugh... not good. I took off the blob of glue off of the top of the yoke wires - and the whole neck assembly came off in my hand. So yeah, the tube was toast.

So that's where I'm at. Quite frankly, I'm kind of at a loss on what to do. I love AVP and was looking forward to bringing one back to life, but the loss of the monitor is disheartening. I figure I have two options - I would either keep on looking for a working monitor (which given that it's 23" inches and B&W seems like a Herculean task) so I could then try and fix the boards and get something up and running, or I could part the machine out so that others trying to fix their AVPs could get them up and running. Normally I would hang on to everything and slowly work towards a rebuilt, but I just don't have the room to keep hanging on to the parts. I'm not opposed to doing the work to restore it - but I just don't know how feasible it would be, and if others wouldn't benefit from the parts I have. My buddy said he's fine with whatever I do with it.

I dunno. I just wish these was one of those occasions where it was just a fuse. Thanks for listening.
 
If it is something you really want, then you might be able to work around the problem, until such time as you can locate a 23" B&W compatible tube. Many B&W TVs were made in this world... though finding one with the right size may be tough.

However, depending on the video signals from the game, wondering if you could take a modern standard rez 25" monitor, and wire the 'signal' to all 3 guns.... I know there are B&W games (space invaders) where people have figured out how to use a modern more available monitor.... so it should be quite possible.... since you have to remake the cab, you can make the monitor mounting panel for the 25" and if you ever find a B&W 23" you can then make a replacement based on that and put that back in.

I'll let others chime in on the whether this may or may not work with that particular game.... seems to me it should be possible.
 
If it is something you really want, then you might be able to work around the problem, until such time as you can locate a 23" B&W compatible tube. Many B&W TVs were made in this world... though finding one with the right size may be tough.

However, depending on the video signals from the game, wondering if you could take a modern standard rez 25" monitor, and wire the 'signal' to all 3 guns.... I know there are B&W games (space invaders) where people have figured out how to use a modern more available monitor.... so it should be quite possible.... since you have to remake the cab, you can make the monitor mounting panel for the 25" and if you ever find a B&W 23" you can then make a replacement based on that and put that back in.

I'll let others chime in on the whether this may or may not work with that particular game.... seems to me it should be possible.

Yeah, I've thought about finding a color tube and going that route - the only thing I'm not sure about is how ultimately the LED board lines up with the tube, causing the lighted illusion on the mirror. I don't know how using anything other than a 23" tube would throw off the location of the lights in regards to gameplay.
 
yotsuya.jpg
 
Yeah, I've thought about finding a color tube and going that route - the only thing I'm not sure about is how ultimately the LED board lines up with the tube, causing the lighted illusion on the mirror. I don't know how using anything other than a 23" tube would throw off the location of the lights in regards to gameplay.

It *could* be possible to trim the image width and height on the 25" to that of the 23".
 
I will expect no less than a full restore from our 3 x Zapcon best in show winner.
You got this man!

I know, brother, that's what bums me out. The cabinet restore I'm not worried about - it's the monitor/electronics part.

Anyone here test Atari Video Pinball boards?
 
It's like I kept telling the house pest......

"If you want something bad enough, you MAKE it happen."

I have a feeling that you want that machine to run again, and you'll find a way to make it happen.
 
It's like I kept telling the house pest......

"If you want something bad enough, you MAKE it happen."

I have a feeling that you want that machine to run again, and you'll find a way to make it happen.

Thanks, Iggy. I do, man. I love AVP. It's history, man.

I also love this site. Someone has reached out to me regarding a monitor. We'll see if we can make it happen.
 
Oh, and here are some photos for the cause....

Parts is parts...
452a50eb2a10bd89a324dd61834c1264.jpg


This was BEFORE disassembly...
4136c5efa0e72366078d9ae9af7f0a39.jpg


Neck'd
4fd337e1f3d07f17f7f6ebd078eebe40.jpg
 
Wow, good for you for even considering it

If you come to cax or send me the boards i'd be happy to test them

And i agree the size should be close to 23" for the proper reflected match up, but fyi you can put a regular tv in it, b&w games are just outputting a composite video signal so you can hook up a b&w or color tv instead of an arcade monitor, might be easier to find
 
Wow, good for you for even considering it

If you come to cax or send me the boards i'd be happy to test them

And i agree the size should be close to 23" for the proper reflected match up, but fyi you can put a regular tv in it, b&w games are just outputting a composite video signal so you can hook up a b&w or color tv instead of an arcade monitor, might be easier to find

I might take you up on sending out the boards. Jawhn keeps trying to get me out to CAX, but unfortunately it never works out. Ironically, I'll be in California the week of CAX, but in San Diego. I'll PM you later.
 
Thanks, Iggy. I do, man. I love AVP. It's history, man.

I also love this site. Someone has reached out to me regarding a monitor. We'll see if we can make it happen.

I love this site, too. :D I actually spend a good portion of my online day here. I'll admit the game isn't on my list.... but I'm really glad it's in the hands of someone who DOES have it on their list.

There's SO much you can learn just by reading threads about games you like/want. I haven't even gotten a Pole Position cabinet yet, and I already know what I'm going to do with it once I *DO* get it. Unless I need to buy parts, I should have it running within a few hours.

Which reminds me... I really need to head over to their house and see if they are home. They keep checking in in random places both in and out of state... so they are obviously "on the move" since they've been back in town.

And i agree the size should be close to 23" for the proper reflected match up, but fyi you can put a regular tv in it, b&w games are just outputting a composite video signal so you can hook up a b&w or color tv instead of an arcade monitor, might be easier to find

You know, I had totally forgotten that. I hooked my Paddle Battle up to an Amiga monitor, and it displayed just fine. So finding a replacement for this one should be a lot easier than I first thought. You might even want to check flea markets and Goodwill type stores for a proper sized TV.
 
Also, if you wire the signal to all three guns to a normal arcade tube (+ sync) it will work apparently :) I've seen it done with Space Invaders machines, works best with K7000's I've heard as they take it better than others
 
This will make a fine candidate for Restoration of the Year if you can pull it off (which I know you can).

If I hadn't JUST repped you in another thread (spoiler alert: the rep thread), I'd be repping you in this thread. I'd rep you hard. So hard. You'd enjoy it. You'd walk funny afterwards. People would ask you about it at work tomorrow, noticing a change in your gait. You'd lie about it.
 
This will make a fine candidate for Restoration of the Year if you can pull it off (which I know you can).

If I hadn't JUST repped you in another thread (spoiler alert: the rep thread), I'd be repping you in this thread. I'd rep you hard. So hard. You'd enjoy it. You'd walk funny afterwards. People would ask you about it at work tomorrow, noticing a change in your gait. You'd lie about it.
Thanks, Dave. You can also teabag it when I take it to ZapCon '18... :)

And thanks, everyone. I've made some headway regarding finding a replacement monitor. Does anyone here have expeience using a Motorola B&W monitor in place of the Wells Gardner in these old Ataris?
 
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