EDOT #241 awakens from a 24-year Slumber!

supertechnoboy

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Donor 3 years: 2011, 2024-2025
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I'm finally getting some work done on the environmental Discs of Tron that I picked up over a year ago in Missouri. According to the seller, the power supply went out in 1988, and it's been in storage ever since. So, let's see some "before" shots.

Grand Entrance:

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Water damage on the bottom reached a couple of inches up the side.

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Stain on the carpet. I'm not really sure I want to know what happened here.

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Just like a $500 Camaro, the backglass looks great until you get closer.

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The ink has separated from the right side and cracked, so this will need to be replaced later.

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So, that's where I started. I was not looking forward to the water damage repair, which is why the beast sat idle for so long. Finally, over the Christmas break I started in. First, I removed the loose chunks with a wire brush, then I applied copious amounts of Minwax wood hardener.

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After the wood hardener had set, I started sanding with a pneumatic "straightline" body file, first with 36 grit, then with 80. Then I sanded some more. And when I was done, I sanded again, and so on. Eventually, I was able to remove all of the bulge from the sides.

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Next was Bondo, then sanding, then Bondo, then sanding, etc. About halfway through the process, I had this:

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And here's that corner that was so bad, beginning to look better:

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After quite a bit more Bondo and sanding, then a nice Bondo skim coat, some primer. I was very relieved to reach this stage.

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Next was paint. I laid down the satin white first, then satin black for the edges. I used some of that green Frog Tape to mask, and I have to tell you, I'm sold. It's expensive, but I did not have a single touchup or bleed. I also replaced the matte vinyl on the angle between the bottom and back.

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New wheels:

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New T-molding slot:

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And how's the crap corner? Much improved.

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Here's a before and after:

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Now that the water damage had been repaired, I could finally rotate the game onto its bottom. I got a few friends, and we carefully righted the mammoth without incident. "Uneventful--just like you want it", my friend says. So with my friends still standing around, I quickly installed the power chassis, filled it full of fuses, and clicked out the interconnect for the first time. I was greeted with... nothing. No sound, no fluorescents, no flyback whine, no neck glow. Talk about anti-climactic.

I wasn't able to work on it for a few days, and during that time I realized that I had not checked the two fuses under the twist-caps. Sure enough, one was missing. With that fuse replaced, I powered up the game again, and this time I was surprised by a VERY LOUD BUZZ and not much else. Upon further inspection, my +5V was around 2V, and the +12V didn't look too good either.

Now it's time for my MCR donor to lend a hand. I pulled the power chassis and linear supply board from my Spy Hunter and installed them. It boots! It's alive! But no sound, no relay-controlled fluorescents, and no chase lights.

The sound, relays, and light sequencer all work from the 12V regulated supply. This checked really low, but I was running a known-good power supply. I chased it down to a short on the SSIO, then unsoldered components one-at-a-time until I found this one in a dead short:

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How many components did I need to unsolder before I got to the cap? Well...

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I replaced the cap with one from another board, and now the flashing fluorescents all work (that's good), and the chase sequencer and lights all work (that's very good)!

Now it was time to work on the power. The power chassis just needed new fuses and caps (the two giants). The linear supply board regulated properly without load, but dropped off immediately when hooked to the boards. I suspected the big transistors, so I shotgunned Q103 and Q104 from an old Bob Roberts rebuild kit I had, and got lucky. I'm guessing the missing +5V was the terminal condition of the game 24 years ago, so one of these two scoundrels was responsible:

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With the game running under its own power, I could address the VERY LOUD BUZZ. I really thought is was a bad ballast somewhere, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that EDOT has a LOT of ballasts to unhook. Unfortunately, that wasn't it. Nor the ground straps. Nor the CRT. Nor the big caps (already replaced).

It turned out to be the these tantalum caps on the amp boards.

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I missed it early, because I swapped the two boards and the condition remained. Turns out, BOTH boards were bad. Crazy.

So now, everything works! I have new sideart and vinyl from Rich ready to apply, I need to make a new back door, I need a new CPO, and a hundred other things. But last weekend, for the first time in 24 years, EDOT #241 entertained a small crowd!

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Very cool, and an interesting read to boot! Good luck and please keep us all posted on your progress.

Pete
 
Excellent work on the restoration! I'd love to have one, but no way to get it into my basement. I'm looking forward to more updates. Keep them coming!
 
Sometimes it's the small things that make me happy. I was super excited to find replacement screws for my floorpan, since several are missing or rusted. They're a real oddball--strange length (5/8"), strange thread (very coarse), strange color (black oxide), strange drive (pin-in-torx). Luckily, Twisted Quarter carries some with a washer attached. My buddy clipped the washers off, and now I'm set! Here's an original on the left and the new on the right:

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I'm going to tackle the floor a little later. I think my original floor decal is salvageable, I'll just have to see how it looks after cleaning.

I decided to dive into the control panel yesterday. While it's off, I'll replace the mirror panels with the repro set I got from member OU Flight. Here's my starting point:

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When I yanked the panel I was surprised to find that the backside is SUPER clean. Not what I expected for some reason.

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Since no one has screenprinted the CPO for the environmental, I ordered an inkjet version from Game On Graphix. Here's a color comparison next to the unfaded portion of the old CPO that was tucked next to the bezel:

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The purple is spot-on. The light blue on the old panel had a little more teal in it, but overall, I'm pretty pleased. Of course these are not die-cut, so here's my circle cutting apparatus made from a vintage compass and an Exacto:

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It looks like it would really work great, but in practice I give this method about a 7 out of 10. The thin blade of the Exacto wanders around a little. The holes look fine, but I'll probably end up trimming them to the CP after installation.

I got the panel disassembled and I stripped the old CPO with the most dangerous tool in the room, a.k.a. the heated decal remover. Here is the panel all sandblasted and ready for paint!

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supertechnoboy, nice work!

You're just tackling all the problems head-on and annihilating them!

I noticed the top of your EDOT is different than mine. Mine has 2 vents on the top. They don't look like a hack. Anyone else have an EDOT with vents at the top?
 
supertechnoboy, nice work!

You're just tackling all the problems head-on and annihilating them!

I noticed the top of your EDOT is different than mine. Mine has 2 vents on the top. They don't look like a hack. Anyone else have an EDOT with vents at the top?
That's very interesting! Do you happen to have any photos? I don't know how many were made, but #241 sounds like it's probably an early one. Maybe yours is later in the run? I do have two sets of vents in my back door, one set at the top and one at the bottom.
 
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