Defender cocktail restoration

FedExin

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
2,819
Reaction score
577
Location
Atascadero, California
A while back I picked up a Defender cocktail table with water damage and also played host to a rat or two. I'll be posting some pics soon of this full down to the bare wood restore.

My plans/progress so far:

- The original laminate on the sides was chipped at the bottom. I've allocated new wood grain laminate and removed the old with a heat gun.

- The old woven ground strap was mostly rusted out, so I'm replacing it all.

- The paint needed retouching, and the kickplates had rusted nails holding them in. I'm repainting and getting new kickplates fabricated.

- The control panels are in suprisingly good shape! I've purchased a ton of new light bulbs.

More to come!
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    63.6 KB · Views: 85
  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 69
  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    93.7 KB · Views: 72
  • 4.jpg
    4.jpg
    84.6 KB · Views: 75
  • 5.jpg
    5.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 79
Last edited:
Good luck!

Cocktails rock and kids love them!

My Ms Pac CT was fun to restore.
 
More "before" pictures
 

Attachments

  • 6.jpg
    6.jpg
    80.2 KB · Views: 57
  • 7.jpg
    7.jpg
    73.4 KB · Views: 51
  • 8.jpg
    8.jpg
    74.5 KB · Views: 53
  • DSC02540.jpg
    DSC02540.jpg
    70.9 KB · Views: 60
Last edited:
It's been a while since I've touched this project, but with the cooler weather and a promise to myself of "one project at a time", I've made some progress!

I have

- Sanded, filled, primed, and painted the entire cabinet

- Removed the old and installed new wood grain laminate everywhere (the lid was a certified bitch)

- Installed brand new kickplates all around I had custom made to match the originals

- Removed all surface rust from the major components and purchased new fasteners and hardware as needed

- Ordered new textured t-molding for the CP's

- Installed black melamine edge banding on the main body of the cabinet

- Ordered 2" black melamine edge banding for the lid; I tried using the 7/8 that I used on the main body, but it came out really janky and didn't cover the exposed edge of the laminate. I thought about using 1" t-molding, but it wouldn't look correct and the 90 degree angle of the corners wouldn't be totally flush. Special order from ACE Hardware.

- Installed all new bulbs around the cabinet. I'm either getting low voltage to them, or I ordered 12v bulbs instead of 5v ones (probably the case) because they are quite dim.

- Installed all new ground strap throughout

- Re-installed the components; no luck on a first time no-hitch startup!

- Ordered new speakers

- Scraped off the old paint on the glass, masked and re-sprayed it.



Left to do:

- Get the game working! The diagnosis is too depressing to attack whole hog at this point. The power supply seems to be working ok, I get 4 lights on the ROM board fully lit after a random pattern of colored dots appear and then a black screen. (Thread here: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=203433 )

- Finish the lid:
* Order new smoked lexan
* Buff the exposed metal pieces

Progress pictures below!
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    71.8 KB · Views: 62
  • 4.jpg
    4.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 63
  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    81.9 KB · Views: 58
Last edited:
And some more progress pics. The ROM board is out right now for closer inspection, but I am still having power issues I believe (the lights are getting -4.9 VDC....)
 

Attachments

  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    70.5 KB · Views: 49
  • 5.jpg
    5.jpg
    78.8 KB · Views: 47
  • 6.jpg
    6.jpg
    90.5 KB · Views: 47
Very impressive work so far! That is going to be one nice Defender cocktail when you're done. Gotta love the rust that comes along with the coastal weather. ;)
I see you put a lithium battery in, I would recommend a 4164 ram upgrade as well - I did that to the Defender cocktail that I used to have and it worked great. Another good upgrade would be to change out all the headers and the connectors, Bob Roberts sells a kit for Williams games.

Again, great work so far! I have trouble with the whole "one project at a time" concept myself, lol.
 
Thanks for the comments! It's not a beauty of a machine, but it will be nice to have it completely finished.

Regarding the battery upgrade; I purchased a refurbished MPU board from arcadesolution.com, as well as a power supply board. I'm sending the rest of the boards over to Andre for testing/repair as I don't have the time, though I wish I did!

Looking forward to getting the 2" black melamine tape this week, I really want to finish the lid which will be original when I'm done. I've found the heat applied tape just as time intensive to install t-molding. All you need is a heat gun and a razor!
 
I received a 25' roll of 2" wide black melamine adhesive backed edge banding this week. I'll be finishing off the lid this weekend! I sent all of the boards out to Andre @ AMC Solution to be tested/serviced (is he on this board?)

The control panels are also in need of some re-gluing, so I'll be doing that as well. I should have the body completely repaired and back together this weekend! Just have to have the two flyers reprinted for the glass, and place a working set of boards in after that.
 
OK!

So I didn't get the lid done when I thought I would, due to my own lack of foresight in ordering parts. I have had to special order every replacement part for this project save the melamine edge banding for the main cabinet, and some of the new fasteners. It's a labor of love and learning, and while it was fun to learn new skills I'm glad there's light at the end of the tunnel on this project!

I thought the 2" edge banding would have at least one finished edge to safe me some trimming - no such luck. Unfinished edges on both sides of the banding meant there was some careful trimming on the top and bottom of the lid, and extra sanding. I stuck with the original stuff instead of t-molding because I wanted this thing to be as original as possible when I was finished. My faith was shook with this plan though; I purchased enough 1" t-molding to complete the job just in case!

A note; melamine edge banding doesn't really like to bend further than a gentle 120 degree curve. I ended up cutting 4 pieces of shorter banding and sanding the ends where they met. I still have some more little unglued corners (shown in my pics) to finish up. I applied it with a heat gun and my thumbs, since paying for a specific iron tool wasn't on the menu. I'm wondering if the banding adheres better with a banding iron?

With that hurdle crossed, it was a simple matter of replacing my badly warped tinted acrylic. TAP Plastics has a fantastic online ordering system, highly recommended!

The bezel was in perfect shape, I can't say the same for the glass though. It was scratched all over from years of use, and provided my last big decision; to replace or not? I ended up not replacing it (even after scraping the old paint and a respray) initially out of a lack of willingness to sink more money into this project, but instead rationalized to an admiration of the years of use and the history of the piece.



That's it for now. It's a whole "thing" without a heart. I hope to have a working boardset back to me soon so I can post a video!
 

Attachments

  • corner.jpg
    corner.jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 61
  • open.jpg
    open.jpg
    57.7 KB · Views: 56
  • side1.jpg
    side1.jpg
    55 KB · Views: 58
  • side2.jpg
    side2.jpg
    54.8 KB · Views: 55
  • top.jpg
    top.jpg
    60.1 KB · Views: 59
Nice work! Looks great. When you get it working, post some pics of it lit up in a dark room - Defender cocktails look sweet when they're all lit up.
 
Finished with my resto

All done with my restoration! I had completed the chassis and cabinet a week or so ago, I was just waiting for my boardset to be completed with testing and repair.

Two ROMs and an IC were bum on my ROM board, and the sound board needed a repair as well. Andre at AMC Solutions was a great help, and gave a great price and service. HIGHLY recommended. http://arcadesolution.com/

I got the boards this afternoon, and it only took me about 15 min to get them all in and seated. Pics below.


This is a hard game, but so addictive! I've only played it before on my Dad's Atari 400.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2152.jpg
    IMG_2152.jpg
    76.3 KB · Views: 43
  • IMG_2147.jpg
    IMG_2147.jpg
    81.2 KB · Views: 46
  • IMG_2153.jpg
    IMG_2153.jpg
    74.2 KB · Views: 43
  • IMG_2160.jpg
    IMG_2160.jpg
    71.3 KB · Views: 56
  • IMG_2164.jpg
    IMG_2164.jpg
    63.5 KB · Views: 53
Back
Top Bottom