I lost the key for my arcade cabinet

mysterious

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I have a Discs of Tron upright that I bought in the mid 90's, being a huge Tron fan (it's the only arcade machine I have ever owned). The game stopped working about 10 years ago and has sat in a garage unused since. I am finally getting around to trying to repair it, but I seem to have lost the keys to both the cabinet and the coin door.

My question is, what is the best way to get into the cabinet without doing any damage? Just drill through the lock? Any suggestions are appreciated. Sorry if this is a dumb question.
 
I always drill the lock. The only mess you have is metal shavings that your shopvac will pick up.

Or you can use the big screwdriver!
 
I have a Discs of Tron upright that I bought in the mid 90's, being a huge Tron fan (it's the only arcade machine I have ever owned). The game stopped working about 10 years ago and has sat in a garage unused since. I am finally getting around to trying to repair it, but I seem to have lost the keys to both the cabinet and the coin door.

My question is, what is the best way to get into the cabinet without doing any damage? Just drill through the lock? Any suggestions are appreciated. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Nah, its not a "dumb" question. I had this problem to when I bought my Crazy Climber machine. The ex-owner had long lost the keys. I drilled out the old locks and put in new ones.
But there is always the option of opening them up the old fashion ways with a, em, chain saw. :D
 
Drill the back lock, you might be able to open the coin door once the back is open. Not sure on a DOT
 
Awesome, thanks for the tips. I ended up going with a combination of tools based on suggestions here. I duct-taped a screwdriver to the head of a sledge hammer. I did have to put a little muscle into it, but eventually broke through the back of the cabinet without causing too much damage. Of course the back panel will need to be replaced, and my screwdriver is lodged pretty deep into the top of the monitor (the DOT monitor is mounted facing up). I did have the machine plugged in and turned on at the time, and was a loud POP sound and a funky smell when the screwdriver went into the monitor, but I'm sure it's fine.

Anyway, I'm into the cabinet now and that's the important thing. Thanks again for the help!
 
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Awesome, thanks for the tips. I ended up going with a combination of tools based on suggestions here. I duct-taped a screwdriver to the head of a sledge hammer. I did have to put a little muscle into it, but eventually broke through the back of the cabinet without causing too much damage. Of course the back panel will need to be replaced, and my screwdriver is lodged pretty deep into the top monitor (the DOT monitor is mounted facing up). I did have the machine plugged in and turned on at the time, and was a loud POP sound and a funky smell when the screwdriver went into the monitor, but I'm sure it's fine.

Anyway, I'm into the cabinet now and that's the important thing. Thanks again for the help!

You will adapt to here nicely....
 
Best way for you to get in is through the coin door lock.

There are two locks on the front. One for the mech area, one for the coin box itself.

Drilling is the most preferred method here, however, I burn WAY too many bits and choose to pick the lock instead. I just opened up my DOT's bottom door, no damage and done in less than 2 minutes.

Someone will chime in with the best bits to use...
 
If it's a normal(not tubular) lock a 1/4 " bit should be fine.I've used mine about 30 times and it's still going strong.Just take your time.
 
I've used a simple set of lockpicks on all the machines I've ended up with that didn't have keys. The locks are always incredibly easy to get open.

Unfortunately, I've never found a large stash of quarters in any of them. . . :(
 
Ok, I'm in. For the front two locks I was able to simply jiggle a small flathead screwdriver around to get them to open in less than 30 seconds. I couldn't believe how easy it was, and I'm glad I didn't jump straight to drilling.

The lock on the rear of the cabinet was not so easy. It was a different type of lock, and no amount of screwdriver jiggling seemed to work, so after about 20 minutes of trying I just drilled through it and that was that.

Thanks again for the help.
 
I filled the holes that were left on my Vs. cabinet back door. They pretty much ripped the door out, so the hole around the lock is damaged. Then they screwed the back door into the cabinet (2 on top and 1 at the bottom). I don't understand either.

I guess once machines are out of commission, they don't bother with keeping the keys with the machine.

It's not a problem filling the holes in, sanding, and painting, but I wish I didn't have to spend the time to do it. Ah well. Not everything about restoring is supposed to be fun. :)
 
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