Atari Gauntlet Restore --- Nba Jams Nevermore

hailrazer

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Atari Gauntlet Restore --- Nba Jams Nevermore Almost done !!!

For completed cab pics go to page 3 !!



I decided to get my Gauntlet Cab Restore started.

I have everything either here or on it's way.

Gauntlet Pcb - Here
Audio Pcb - Here
Wiring harnesses - Here
Power Supply - Here
CPO - Here
SideArt - Here
Marquee - Here
Coin Door Art - Here
New Carriage Bolts - Here
Black Push Buttons - Here
T-Molding - Here


This is the Nba Jams cab that I got from Doodlesdaddy Wharehouse raid for $125. Turns out it was an Atari Gauntlet cab. It's in really good condition so I've decided to restore it. This is what it looks like now :

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The CPO was under the NBA Jams Cpo but with that extra hole by every joystick it just could not be saved.

And here is what was under the stickers on the marquee :

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Unfortunately it's faded so I have to replace it also.

So I got to work and stripped down this baby. Took off the CP. All the buttons/joysticks were soldered in. :(

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But I got it off and then stripped it down :

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Next I took off the marquee and stripped it down :

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Then I took off the bezel and took out the monitor. Then I took off all the stickers and moldings. Then I removed all the wiring , pcb's, power supply, and speakers. And here is my naked gauntlet. :

gauntlet20.jpg


I didn't take off the coin doors yet. The bottom locks are tumbler locks and I'm having one heck of a time drilling them. I will buy some carbide bits and attack them tomorrow.

Next I will be painting the cab. What paint is recommended? And roll or spray ?

Also where can I buy this black, hex head wood screws :

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So I finally got the coin doors off. Cobalt drill bit and 30 minutes of drilling. Yay !!
Didn't realize that everything but the coin reject button is metal on these. No plastic parts here!

I'm going to powdercoat the coin doors, but I hate using chemical paint stripper. It's a mess, it burns and it's very environmentally unfriendly. So I stopped in to Harbor Freight and bought one of these :

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http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-capacity-floor-blast-cabinet-68893.html

Took me about 3 hours to put it together. Hooked it up tom my little air compressor and sand blasted some of the smaller parts. They look good but the small air compressor just don't cut it. So I will have to put the cabinet in my basement work area where my large compressor is. But it's so much nicer black diamond blasting than chemically stripping. It literally takes 2 minutes to do a part that would take 30 minutes with 2 coats of stripper.

I won't be able to work on this until Friday, but by then more stuff will have arrived and I can spend a good 3 day weekend on it.
 
Nice work so far. It is nice that the cab still had the original joysticks for ya. Are you going to have new metal cut for the control panel, or try welding in the extra holes?

I will definitely keep and eye on this restore. I have a Guantlet cab myself in the same condition that is sitting in the restoration queue.....
 
Got some time to do some more work.

First of all the front panel had holes in it I think from coin door security bars :

gauntlet22.jpg


So I bought some 1/2" wooden dowels and cut them off 3/4" long. Then I drilled out the holes to 7/16", put wood glue on the dowel piece and tamped them into the holes. The bottom right hole was wallowed out so I had to use a 1" dowel.

gauntlet21.jpg


Next the upper rear door was a mess:

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So I bought a piece of 3/4" Mdf and cut it to size , added the lock hole and the 4 screw holes :

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Then I took the cab outside and belt sanded all that paint off :

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Then I wiped the whole cab down inside and out. Tomorrow I will bondo the dowel holes smooth and then prime this thing :)

Also I worked with my sandblaster and got most of my coin doors and parts sandblasted. Pics of that tomorrow.
 
Nice work so far. It is nice that the cab still had the original joysticks for ya. Are you going to have new metal cut for the control panel, or try welding in the extra holes?

Thanks :)

I haven't decided what to do on the metal cp yet. I have some knockouts that I might epoxy in and then bondo over. I also have just thought about buying a new piece and cutting the holes.

Don't really know what the best option would be yet.
 
Got the coin doors and hardware sandblasted :

Before :

gauntlet28.jpg


After :

gauntlet29.jpg


Then I applied bondo , sanded and primed the cab :

gauntlet30.jpg


gauntlet31.jpg


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Next up is painting the cab, powder coating the coin doors and fixing or buying the metal cp.

Stay tuned :)
 
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Got the coind doors and parts powder coated today. I had to buy a $75 cheapo oven and put it downstairs. The coindoors were 21" long and my pizza oven only 13". So I got a used oven that is 22" inside. A couple of hours later here's what I got :

gauntlet33.jpg


Not bad for only my second try at powder coating :)
And remember that this is what they looked like :

gauntlet28.jpg


Next I put a sanded then put a second coat of primer on the cab. Then I sanded that and put my first coat of Satin Black Valspar Latex Enamel on the cab. It's gonna sit a few days. On Thursday I will sand it and put on the second coat.

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Also I have everything I need except the side art. And it will be here Tuesday !

This thing is coming together. The hard parts are almost done. Then the inside, air conditioned fun stuff can begin :)
 
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I know for mine, I used JP1 here on the board.
Who did you end up using for your hailrazer?


Yep JP1. It came in earlier this week and man oh man it looks great.

It was $243 shipped and it arrived from Canada in exactly 7 days and that was including Memorial Day Weekend ! :D
 
Nice work so far. Are you going to have new metal cut for the control panel, or try welding in the extra holes?

So I decided to try to plug the holes. I bought an electrical box from Lowes for $1.05. It has the perfect size metal slugs for the holes :

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So as you see I popped out the bigger slugs and put them in the CP. I then used JBWeld to epoxy the backs.

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I then sanded down the JBWeld just to make it look better and I sanded the front smooth. Then I painted the cp and while I was at it I painted the marquee/speaker metal.

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Turned out pretty nice. I used Rustoleum flat black. I only did one coat on the Cp, but I did 4 coats on the marquee/speaker metal since the speaker part shows through.

I then put on the Gauntlet Marquee Overlay. My first artwork install, not bad if I do say so myself :)

gauntlet44.jpg


I finished painting the cab with 2 more coats of black, turned out real nice.
I have also put on the coin doors and the coin door front decal. I put the monitor in and installed the front bezel. Also I put on the fan cover and the back vent. But I will show all that in the finished pics.

I also remembered that Gauntlet doesn't have the 4 player start buttons on top. So I had to plug those holes tonight. I will sand and re-paint the Cp tomorrow and then install the CPO and the joysticks and new buttons.

More to come tomorrow. The electronics and side decals are going to be a pain in the ......well you know :)
 
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I hate to break it to you cause you did such a good job filling those hole, but you have 4 more to fill. Gauntlet didn't use start buttons.

gauntlet-cpo.jpg


Again, nice work though.
 
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