Atari Star Wars cab restore

Lions3

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Help. I need your experience with my first Cab restore. This week or next i'm picking up a 1983 Star Wars cab with all the original parts (PCB etc). It's been sitting in a co-workers garage for 10 years. I've been told it powers up and the audio plays. The monitor stays black and told the "video power supply" has gone bad. Whatever that means. Anyway, I have several general questions as i'm about to dive into this project and hope you might point me in the right direction.

1. Vector Monitor - for reference do I have a Wells-Gardner 6100?
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2. Water damage - the bottom left side has some water damage. What's the best way to fix this without destroying the side art?
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3. The power supply looks like a fire hazard to me. Can I replace it with a standard arcade power supply from LizardLick? or does this cab use a special one? http://www.lions3.com/star_wars/power.jpg
 
water damage!if you got swelling and the particle board is kind of falling out of it,best would be to clamp a baton across the water damaged part,then try to fill the missing parts of the board with filler (bondo as you americans call it) just slowly filling it a bit at a time then unclamp the baton and it should stay solid,then just try to paint and blend the missing parts of the art with black paint as it looks like its mainly the black along the bottom thats flaking off.

basicly its just a case of using ones noggins and not rushing it and approach it using the right methods that will work,my suggestion will be only 1 of the many ways to approach it but,i did the exact same thing on the front kickplate of a centipede that had swelling and water damage,realy it could have all been replaced but it is good enough to not warrant the whole part be replaced.

clamp,bondo/fill,till you build it all up good,remove clamp,sand and fill where needed,then simple prime and paint,masking off the original art to preserve it.

the power brick you show is the original,would suggest you replace the big blue and check voltages to be sure they are correct.no need to replace it,just replace broken/faulty parts.you can buy new replacement bits at therealbobroberts for this anway.

this is the thing with first timers,you are not looking at chucking something away that can be repaired and brought to life,that way only makes 1 less original bit in the world,better to revive an old part and it will be there and go strong hopefully for another 30 years.

other than that,nice catch and good luck.

where i come from we either dont find them often or we pay a ton for them.
:)
 
- Yes you do have a WG6100 and it should be rebuilt.
- Water Damage - Chip away at the loose particle board then apply minwax wood hardener and then apply bondo. There will be some collateral artwork damage unfortunately.
- Power supply - Isn't a fire hazard, it should be rebuilt and you won't be able to use an off the shelf supply on this one (sorry).

Is this your first restoration? This one is going to be a good amount of work.

Here is a link to my restoration... maybe there are some helpful hints here for you : Star Wars Upright Restoration @ BYOAC
 
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Damn, I actually thought this was going to be a thread about a restored Star Wars. Don't think I've ever seen one. Good luck.
 
Saleem, thanks for the suggestion on the water damage. That's definitely the direction I want to go with fixing it.

Okay, if the power supply isn't something to be worried about i'll just order a few replacement parts as needed.

So RetroACTIVE, is it pretty standard to have these monitors rebuilt? What does that entail? Hopefully just sending off the PCB's? Also in a minute i'll go through your rebuild thread. Very cool.

Over all though, my plans with this being my first cab restore is to keep it completely original. First off, I just want to get it running. Then i'll slowly restore it piece by piece. I'm just glad all the art is still in good condition.
 
So RetroACTIVE, is it pretty standard to have these monitors rebuilt? What does that entail? Hopefully just sending off the PCB's? Also in a minute i'll go through your rebuild thread. Very

Rebuilding a 6100 can be a bit of work... there are lots of components to be replaced. It's not that bad if you take your time and are comfortable de-soldering and soldering... however if this is not your thing then consider sending it off to http://www.arcadecup.com/


Also be weary of the artwork on a water damaged cab... although it looks good on the surface it may flake away easily. I found this to be true on mine... the bottom had a little water exposure and made the artwork fragile.
 
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Rebuilding a 6100 can be a bit of work... there are lots of components to be replaced. It's not that bad if you take your time and are comfortable de-soldering and soldering... however if this is not your thing then consider sending it off to http://www.arcadecup.com/


Also be weary of the artwork on a water damaged cab... although it looks good on the surface it may flake away easily. I found this to be true on mine... the bottom had a little water exposure and made the artwork fragile.

+1 on arcadecup, that should be the 1st step in troubleshooting / getting the game to play.

as for the water damage, good luck getting it to look good again. It might be cheaper and easier to find a donor cab to put your parts into.
 
Rebuilding a 6100 can be a bit of work... there are lots of components to be replaced. It's not that bad if you take your time and are comfortable de-soldering and soldering... however if this is not your thing then consider sending it off to http://www.arcadecup.com/

Is rebuilding the 6100 a matter of buying a cap kit? Relatively how much trouble is the soldering? For example, recently I've consolized a MVS and wired up a few custom arcade sticks for my 360.
 
Is rebuilding the 6100 a matter of buying a cap kit? Relatively how much trouble is the soldering? For example, recently I've consolized a MVS and wired up a few custom arcade sticks for my 360.

Just to give you an idea... check out this document...
http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/tech/6100_faq.pdf

It has loads of stuff in there regarding the 6100 and its different revs... also how to "rev up" your current boards to get all of the proper mods to get it the best it can be. There are a couple of tables in there that tell you what parts you need for both the deflection and high voltage board. Not all of the upgrades are "needed" but at least a low voltage upgrade must be done and a recap of the entire chassis is recommended.

If you want to save money then go for it... just take your time and use decent soldering equipment (don't use the big ol' trigger iron for this stuff). Parts to rebuild this monitor can be found from Bob Roberts...

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/caps.html

search for K6100 you will find all of what he has... he has your basic cap kit all the way up to the whole 6100 repair package that comes with all of the caps, transistors and component upgrades listed in the 6100 FAQ. I would recommend pitching the LV component upgrade in the 6100_faq for a LV kit either from HudsonArcade (klov member here) or they can be purchased from arcadeshop.com. If HudsonArcade (Mark) has them I'd go with his.
 
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Thanks again retroACTIVE. Sounds like I have some reading to do with that PDF.

Also went through your restore project. Awesome work. There's a lot more to do for a full restore than I was originally thinking. Luckily i'm not in a rush.
 
From my experience with 6100 monitors, every single HV unit I have come across needed some serious repair work. I highly recommend testing every component in the HV section of the monitor and upgrading the parts as recommended in the FAQ. It is also a good idea to remove the BU406 transistor on the side of the HV cage and clean and reinstall it with new heatsink compound. Most of the 6100s I get have had previous work done to them at one point or other in their lifetime. There are many bad "fixes" out there that need undoing and I highly recommend doing the upgrades as mentioned in the 6100 FAQ. I have had great success with the guide and am in the very slow process of fixing some errors in it and making some additions and clarifications. So far it has been a year of edits and it still has a long way to go. Good luck with your restoration. I have several similar cabinets with lots of work needed as well. My suggestion to you is to send your monitor parts off to be fixed so you can concentrate on the cabinet repairs instead. Novice repairs at 6100s can be frustrating. I recently spent 14 hours troubleshooting a HV unit and deflection board on a monitor that had been "fixed" by an individual that had no clue what he was doing. I thought I was going to go insane. Needless to say, I had to double check every single resistor, transistor, and diode on the boards as part numbers apparently meant noting to this guy. Ripped traces were the norm on the HV section as he must have used a soldering gun to desolder the parts from the board. Sheeesh

FWIW, my usual rebuild of a complete 6100 usually takes about 5 hours but that is a thorough tear down and complete rebuild of all parts of the monitor and lengthy burn in testing to avoid the disappointing feeling of the spotkiller or lack of image after working so hard to get it done. My rule is "There are no shortcuts" in fixing a 6100. Do it right the first time and you won't have to do it again.

Whichever route you choose, good luck and have fun.
 
Bobs Kit

Yep Bob has the Cap kit and the ultimate re-build kit! I just did my monitor a few months back and it's a bunch of parts! I went with the ultimate kit! But like stated when you take your time that picture looks so nice when your finished! If your not good with soldering get some help! Don't screw up your monitor! It's not to easy to find a good one :) One of the best games ever! Bob also has all of the parts to re-build the power supply. If you do re-build it you will learn a bunch about your game! Good luck. Take your time! Make it like new :)
 
Is there a visual guide or tutorial for rebuilding the 6100? The FAQ lists the parts and their location in a couple charts. Did anyone ever happen to map the boards in a photo? Also are the kits just a bag of parts or do they general include instructions?

I was thinking of grabbing an ultimate kit and a LV kit. The solder points don't seem to be anywhere near as small as the last wireless 360 controller PCB I soldered for a custom stick. There's just a lot more stuff to desolder/solder.

That said, you guys have me revisiting the idea of sending the monitor off instead. Hmmm..
 
Sorry to have scared you off. Vector games aren't terrible. They just take a few dozen or so to get an idea of how they work. I've probably rebuilt a couple of dozen of the 6100s and some of them have been a real pain. The biggest problem I run into is people that don't know what they are doing and using incorrect parts or putting the right parts in the wrong places. Seriously.....Can't they read the directions? I'd gladly take that Star Wars off your hands but it as usual, distance is an issue. That is excellent trade bait for somebody else. Good luck in your quest for a fun project that you want to tackle. Somebody will come along and rescue that machine.
 
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