Found a Space Demon mini - sort of

[smalltownguy2]

Bumping this thread...because I now have a working Space Demon board set on the way!

Time to get this cabinet spit shined. I wont be taking on a full-on restoration, but I will try to get it looking decent enough to bring into the arcade and 100% working.

What I need to do:

• Service the 14" Sanyo monitor
• Drop in the complete wiring harness
• Vector the marquee & print it
• Print bezel graphics
• Address the damaged CPO - repro?
• Repaint black areas
• Swap coin door for a working one
• Cleaning, dusting, etc etc

Here's a few shots I took when I tore down the control panel this morning. The CPO had been hacked in the past to add a 2nd joystick, but that's the least of my worries. I'm more concerned about the fact that it's cracked all over. It's going to need to be replaced. Anyone like to volunteer to vector it for me if I get a high resolution scan?

 

[smalltownguy2]

Here's some shots of the control panel, stripped. There's a large bracket screwed into this panel, presumably to mount the 2 way joystick to? If anyone has any idea why type of joystick belongs on this mount, please put up some pics. Otherwise I will probably scrap this panel and re-create another that I can mount a regular ol' Ninty joystick to.

Lastly. the button assemblies. I'll work on cleaning these up.

 

[Tighe]

Bumping this thread...because I now have a working Space Demon board set on the way!

Time to get this cabinet spit shined. I wont be taking on a full-on restoration, but I will try to get it looking decent enough to bring into the arcade and 100% working.

What I need to do:

• Service the 14" Sanyo monitor
• Drop in the complete wiring harness
• Vector the marquee & print it
• Print bezel graphics
• Address the damaged CPO - repro?
• Repaint black areas
• Swap coin door for a working one
• Cleaning, dusting, etc etc

Here's a few shots I took when I tore down the control panel this morning. The CPO had been hacked in the past to add a 2nd joystick, but that's the least of my worries. I'm more concerned about the fact that it's cracked all over. It's going to need to be replaced. Anyone like to volunteer to vector it for me if I get a high resolution scan?

Is that CPO aluminum or plexi??? What Shawn didn't vectorize that CPO for you as payment for letting him borrow it?

Here's some shots of the control panel, stripped. There's a large bracket screwed into this panel, presumably to mount the 2 way joystick to? If anyone has any idea why type of joystick belongs on this mount, please put up some pics. Otherwise I will probably scrap this panel and re-create another that I can mount a regular ol' Ninty joystick to.

Lastly. the button assemblies. I'll work on cleaning these up.

I would think that the cabinet had a standard Nintendo Joystick with the 2 way restrictor plate:


http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=TMA-11-17

But that metal plate looks nothing like the mounting plate for a standard Nintendo stick. Maybe Todd would be nice enough to snap a photo of the underside of his panel?

 

[smalltownguy2]

Shawn might be able to vector the marquee for me - I've asked him. As far as the CPO goes, I believe he's already got something pretty close that he used for his DK JR cpo - I'll just ask if he'll let me use it with new colors.

The CPO is plex, but it has a layer of aluminum paint on the backside. I'm guessing this is to make the colors stand out better, but Rich will probably chime in on this with more expertise than I.

 

[smalltownguy2]

I started working with the Sanyo 14" monitor that I found in the game this week. I grabbed a cap kit from Zanen and went to town on it.

Unfortunately, the connector header on this monitor has been removed, and instead the video cables were soldered directly to the pcb. Of course, the other end of the cables were just bare wires.....grrrr

So I grabbed a hacked harness I had laying around a fashioned a video cable by splicing wires together. Fired it up and.....

Crap. This monitor's been converted to standard video.

Well...I have choices here. De-covert the pcb back to inverted video, or mount an inversion board somewhere in the cab. Or, find another 14" monitor.

 

[gorfchampion]

Very cool project Brad. Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Tighe]

I started working with the Sanyo 14" monitor that I found in the game this week. I grabbed a cap kit from Zanen and went to town on it.

Unfortunately, the connector header on this monitor has been removed, and instead the video cables were soldered directly to the pcb. Of course, the other end of the cables were just bare wires.....grrrr

So I grabbed a hacked harness I had laying around a fashioned a video cable by splicing wires together. Fired it up and.....

Crap. This monitor's been converted to standard video.

Well...I have choices here. De-covert the pcb back to inverted video, or mount an inversion board somewhere in the cab. Or, find another 14" monitor.

De-conversion should be pretty easy. Just reverse the conversion instructions:

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/20ezvideo.gif

You just need to know the original values of the resistors.

Edit:
I have the schematic, I will take a look later for you.

 

[smalltownguy2]

Yeah, Randy Fromm's instructions pretty much say the same:

1. Remove the wire jumpers that have been installed in place of  transistors TR201, TR202, TR203. 
2. Remove R213, R214, R215. 
3. Install the following components:     
a. R201, R202, R203    100K     
b. R210, R211, R212    100K     
c. R213, R214, R215    820 ohm     
d. R217, R218, R219    560 ohm     
e. TR201, TR202, TR203    2SC1815 or equiv.     
f. C202                220uf 16V     
g. D210                1N4004

So, to convert this chassis back, it looks like I would remove TR201, TR202, and TR203, and place jumpers.
Then remove all of the resistors listed above, c202, and D210.

I'm not really sure I want to de-convert this little monitor back to negative video again - I think it's kinda cool to have one that's already been converted. I have a spare inversion board that I'm not using in my DK cab, I could use that instead. The only thing I'm not sure about is how to power the inversion board. I see on my 20EZ that the inversion board gets its power from a few wires that tap into the pcb directly, so I just need to find a suitable place on my 14" chassis to tap into as well.

 

[smalltownguy2]

Decided to exercise my forum search-fu. Found this thread:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=117952

In that thread, KevinMullins posted this pic:

Showing the precise location of where the power wire for the inverter board gets connected. The power wire terminates in a 3 pin connector that supplies power to the inverter board.

The pinout of that connector is:

It's on the left: pins 1 and 2, both power. Pin 3: ground.

I was confused for a second looking at my spare inverter board, trying to figure out why there was only 1 power input going to pin1 on the connector. "Where's ground?" I asked. Then I remembered that the video input contains a ground feed. So the board gets ground from the video input. Makes sense.

 

[Tighe]

I wasn't sure how far you wanted to go with this restoration, some guys freak out if it isn't 100% original.

 

[smalltownguy2]

My deal with the owner was this: in return for a pile of boards and monitors (all untested and most non-working, I later found out) I would fix this cab for him and make it run Space Demon again.

He doesn't care how it runs, only that it be running an actual Space Demon board. I won't be doing much in the way of restoration unless he pays me for the process. I will get him a solid, functional game. Capped monitor, repaired pcb, and correctly working controls.

I'm still not sure if I want to go so far as to get a reproduction marquee made and replace the CPO. It doesn't need to be done to get the game functional. I don't believe he's planning on selling it. But finishing touches like that (as well as some cabinet body work and painting) would go a long way towards adding value to this rare game.

The joystick is pretty much a lost cause. I highly doubt I'll ever find the correct 2-way joystick originally used in this game. I'll have to adapt something else to work.

Same goes for the original power supply and harness. I'll be dropping in a cocktail power supply and harness from a Space Firebird cocktail. Not factory correct, but it's the best I can do. I could wait a lifetime and never see the correct OEM parts for this game.

 

[Tighe]

My deal with the owner was this: in return for a pile of boards and monitors (all untested and most non-working, I later found out) I would fix this cab for him and make it run Space Demon again.

He doesn't care how it runs, only that it be running an actual Space Demon board. I won't be doing much in the way of restoration unless he pays me for the process. I will get him a solid, functional game. Capped monitor, repaired pcb, and correctly working controls.

I'm still not sure if I want to go so far as to get a reproduction marquee made and replace the CPO. It doesn't need to be done to get the game functional. I don't believe he's planning on selling it. But finishing touches like that (as well as some cabinet body work and painting) would go a long way towards adding value to this rare game.

The joystick is pretty much a lost cause. I highly doubt I'll ever find the correct 2-way joystick originally used in this game. I'll have to adapt something else to work.

Same goes for the original power supply and harness. I'll be dropping in a cocktail power supply and harness from a Space Firebird cocktail. Not factory correct, but it's the best I can do. I could wait a lifetime and never see the correct OEM parts for this game.

The original post was so long ago I forgot you didn't buy the cabinet. Did he want a lot for it?

 

[smalltownguy2]

The original post was so long ago I forgot you didn't buy the cabinet. Did he want a lot for it?

Originally he wanted an obscene amount of money for it - something in the area of $1600. I laughed (literally) and told him that I wouldn't pay that much for FOUR cabinets like it in the same condition. Eventually, he came down to $400 for the entire lot INCLUDING the cab, and I nearly took him up on it. In the end, I shot him a C-note and a promise to fix his cab.

In retrospect, I should have just given him the $400.

 

[Tighe]

Originally he wanted an obscene amount of money for it - something in the area of $1600. I laughed (literally) and told him that I wouldn't pay that much for FOUR cabinets like it in the same condition. Eventually, he came down to $400 for the entire lot INCLUDING the cab, and I nearly took him up on it. In the end, I shot him a C-note and a promise to fix his cab.

In retrospect, I should have just given him the $400.

Probably, rarity and all, you could always buy SRW's It is in WAY better shape.

 

[smalltownguy2]

If I'd wanted a Nintendo mini, I would have grabbed his if he were closer. As it is, I'm not really that sold on them. I just need to get this one out of my work area and get this project as far away from me as possible.

I don't normally sign agreements with folks I do repairs for, because I'm happy to re-work future issues if they come up. On this one, we will sign an agreement. I'm not touching this cab again once he leaves my driveway, unless I get paid for the work.

 

[Tighe]

Nintendo Cabaret > Nintendo Upright, at least when it comes to comfort playing.

I can see why you wouldn't want to work on that again!

 

[smalltownguy2]

I decided to go the easy route first, and use the inverter board method. It works, but I'm none too pleased with the results. It appears that the red is being over driven. I can't adjust it out with neckboard, chassis, or inverter board controls.

Now what? Go back and de-convert the monitor?

Before I dive into the chassis again, I think I'll try it on a DK board to see how it looks.

 

[smalltownguy2]

This project is back on my radar again - I'm still wondering what I should do with this monitor - it's got Warlords burn-in, so I'm pretty sure this little Sanyo monitor came from the factory with the inversion circuit already converted to standard video for use with Warlords. Somewhere in its life, it was pulled out of a Warlords cocktail and put into this cab.

I SHOULD test it with a standard video game, like my bench rig (Tetris) to see if the colors look any better with just the monitor and NOT using the inverter.

I could also test the monitor with my DK boards to see how it looks with those.

I'm afraid that the inversion board is making the video look crappy. If that's the case, it's just another road block to this cabinet restore.

*sigh*

 

[Tighe]

You can do it!

 

[SRW]

Time to just buy mine.

Last price drop...

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=2138236#post2138236