Centipede Cabaret #1962

🤦‍♂️ Shorted HOT. Why? I didn't reinstall the plastic washers separating the chassis screw connects to the HOT…I'm back in business re-testing the HOT. New fuse in at F901. Let's see what happens now.
 
@Takeman 's blue trackball came in yesterday. With a new shiny white leaf button to replace the garbage yellowing micro switch button, the trackball rebuild kit from Arcadeshop, and shiny new carriage bolts, we fully completed the control panel. Buttery smooth rolling action, as nature intended. 😍

AFTER:

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BEFORE:

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With the onset of the HOT issue in the monitor, I decided to put in the power brick and AR-II for a quick test. No board, no monitor. I immediately blew CR1 diode on the AR-II and F3, F4, AND F5 blew 🥴🥴🥴 this is why we test lol
 
@andrewb just how screwed is my AR-II by switching the 6 pins at power up? Did I sent double digits down the 5v line frying everything? Salvageable?
 
You can really see how the lack of sleep with this newborn up all night is affecting my judgment lol…
 
I know I'll have to replace the 2N3055, LM305 VR, CR1 diode, probably R29 and 30 while I'm at it.
 
13/16 smooth black T-molding in for that upright-esque look🫡🤌🏻 working on right side now

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Reading and watching this thread keeps making me want to restore my full sized centipede. It's almost all original. One of the few games I just bought and sat into place without really cleaning or restoring.
 
Reading and watching this thread keeps making me want to restore my full sized centipede. It's almost all original. One of the few games I just bought and sat into place without really cleaning or restoring.
Go for it! Centipede deserves it! I wouldn't do this for any old game, that's for sure!
 
Quite a few things done today.

Started off by finally addressing the abysmal kickplate holes left by the lockbar cage from hell.
They, at least, were relatively smallish compared to some you see.

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Bondo application.

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Exciting sanding work!

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Next we moved to the next sore kickplate item: the cool ashtray/cigarette holder. We'll definitely be hanging on to this one after some cleanup for sure.

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This thing though. THIS FUCKING thing though…was a BITCH to remove because the carriage bolts holding it to the cabinet had been warped sideways either at initial install or over the last 44 years. And as always with the classics, the nuts are tighter than…well. fill in the blank…

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I had to take literal bolt cutters to these things to get them off after wrestling with them for a while. I need vice grips…It was getting testy for a minute there and I yanking left or right with total disregard to the health of the bolts and it was getting iffy with the wood integrity so I laid off and continued to awkwardly open up and get bolt cutters into a viable position to cut the bolt, nut, anything I could attach the blades to in desperation. But we got it out with no damage thankfully.

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Simple Green and hosedown bath.

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Just forgoing stripping and heading straight to Evapo-Rust. I think satin black spray and be done with this then re-install and we'll be good.

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Nothing crazy here. A before and after a first coat of paint.

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The more I've looked at the interior of the game, the more I want to start from scratch on the wiring harness. There's just cut ground wires, etc in places and I don't like it. I want when I put in everything for a flawless startup and maintenance flow.

More on that of course. Replacing the 6 x 9 four ohm speaker with a new one ASAP as well.
 
Additionally, I figured I'd paint the kickplate surface satin black to both see what a final product will potentially look like here (nice) and provide extra tackiness for the deep black vinyl. For shits and gigs I placed the coin door frame there too. Getting closer…

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Nice. There used to be a dude that did amazing 3-D printed fuse covers with the Atari logo die cut into them.

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Yeah, these are super cool! Put them on all of the Atari cabarets except Tempest…it's a pain in the ass to dig out. Plus, I'm afraid to open the back door for fear of angering the 6100.

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Thanks,
Jason
 
Yeah, these are super cool! Put them on all of the Atari cabarets except Tempest…it's a pain in the ass to dig out. Plus, I'm afraid to open the back door for fear of angering the 6100.

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Thanks,
Jason
No kidding about the 6100…can't look at it the wrong way either or it gets angry
 
New (to me) original complete wiring harness inbound to replace this suspect one in the cabinet outright. 👍🏻
 
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Following a thorough double sided glass cleaning, the original glass bezel presents EXTREMELY well and just as colorful as the day it came off the assembly line. Adhesive residue from the top right side from some form of sticker or decal is now long gone too. Very happy with it.
 
A whole hell of a lot done today that I honestly just didn't take pictures of. Was kinda on a roll. This being my first restoration project, I wanted to experiment with different things, paints, vinyl, laminate, tools, etc. Everything from sanding and painting the coin bucket assembly to painting the top, backdoor, etc. has been done as well. Calling it quits today. We're on the homestretch. It feels really good.

I really like Rustoleum Ultra Cover satin black latex paint. Suuuuuper easy to apply and with a true foam roller made of actual foam, it applies satisfyingly like butter. Really fun actually. I don't know if I'll apply vinyl or not at this rate. I'm REALLY liking this renewed look! (Control placed unlatched for dramatic effect)

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As we approach the beginning of the end of this project, I've learner quite a few things:

1. There is not enough time nor sleep in the day to do this with 2 kids under 2 lol…

2. I'm not very good at this lol but I had a lot of fun trying to balance this and life while on paternity leave (really glad I had all that time, this whole thing would've taken MANY weekends for any progress)

3. There is always one more thing I still need to do. Always.

At this point all I have left is a thorough cleaning inside, the coin bucket assembly, secure that coin door to the kickplate fully, and getting the monitor working! Then put that control panel on there and call it a day!

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In a barn for over 30 years and this game works! It hasn't played since before I was literally born! We're just playing blind! Not bad at all!!! Sound came blaring from the speaker when pressing player start with the dips on freeplay! The cabinet is now fully assembled, with the last touches in and new orange coin reject buttons donated from a dead Pole Position coin door. Just had to sand them down to size. I like the orange with the marquee glow! Also reminiscent of my upright!

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Video:
 
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