New member, long time Battlezone owner needs help.

JimKit

New member

Donor 2012
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Location
Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Hello all,

I've spent the last few days poking around on the internet on where to begin restoring my arcade machine. Time after time I've come across references to Klov and I finally decided to wade in.

I've owned my Battlezone since 1986-ish. The "Gold Mine" at the mall was clearing out older machines and wanted $100 for it. Even though I was living a little hand to mouth at the time while going to University I still didn't hesitate and paid cash.

Something that makes this machine special (to me) is that it's the same Battlezone that I had "the high score" on for a few years. I had poured quarters into it when it was brand new and years later I had the chance to own it.

In the time since I bought it it's been living in my grandmother's finished basement. (Dry and cool and no temperature variance.) A couple of years ago I finally managed to get it from Kentucky to Minnesota where I live now. I'm pleased to say it made the trip relatively intact. There were a few hitches but I'll get to that.

Before it was loaded on the truck the Battlezone ran fine. Since it arrived I've been hard pressed to putting everything back together to start it up. At the same time I've been vowing to take the time to really give it a good cleaning, spruicing up, etc.

We're getting ready to move at the end of next month. This is a great opportunity to get everything checked out, tuned up and cleaned up before it settles into our new basement. I'm hoping people here can give me some practical tips and advice on where to get some of the replacement parts I need. I'm not really comfortable fixing any of the PCB boards or doing a lot of the complicated electrical work but simple things with patience I can manage. (I took both joysticks apart and cleaned them with great success 20+ years ago.)

Right off here are a few of the things on my short list:

The fluorescent lights. I need to replace both bulbs and honestly everything on that shelf could probably use some tender loving care.

A new mirror. Unfortunately the old one was partially cracked during the move from Kentucky and I need to get a new one.

The Bezels. I've seen the pattern for making the black bezel out of black foamcore and I'll probably go that route. Unfortnately I can't find my original illustrated graphic bezel.

The red and green overlays. I need to get both of these.

Joystick spruce up. Who makes quality replacement parts or has original stock parts?

The monitor. After 30+ years I think the monitor could use a good overhaul and checkup. Is there anyone that does great work and gives everything the once over twice?

The pcb boards. The same thing I said about the monitor probably goes double for these. Preventative heat sinks, checking out all of the chips, etc.

I realize that pictures will be more useful and am moving to take some in the next day or so. I've been pulling all of the main component assemblies out and once I have everything dusted off I'll take piles of pictures and post a link. If there are any suggested pictures that would be helpful for the discussion feel free to make recommendations and I will try to oblige.

I hope this is appropriate for a first post. I didn't want to make a mistake of posting this in a sub-forum where it isn't really appropriate.

I should end this by saying that my biggest emphasis to getting this restored is to make my son happy. He's finally old enough to appreciate the game and I want to make sure he has as much fun playing it as I did so long ago.

Thanks in advance!

Jim
 
You can get the red/green overlays and reproduction centering bellows from:

http://www.wizzesworkshop.com/cart/...=10006&strCatalog_NAME=Game+Replacement+Parts

Even though it says out of stock on the films, I just contacted him and he still had some.
The bellows make the joysticks feel new again. They are pretty stiff but you can drill holes in them to loosen them up before installing.

For PCB board repair, you can't go wrong with Road.Runner on here. Mike did a great job repairing mine.

You can get a new mirror from your local glass shop. Take yours down and they will match it. I got mine from Fast Glass for 40.00 and it is a perfect match.

Hope that helps.

Torin
 
You can get the red/green overlays and reproduction centering bellows from:

http://www.wizzesworkshop.com/cart/...=10006&strCatalog_NAME=Game+Replacement+Parts

Even though it says out of stock on the films, I just contacted him and he still had some.
The bellows make the joysticks feel new again. They are pretty stiff but you can drill holes in them to loosen them up before installing.

For PCB board repair, you can't go wrong with Road.Runner on here. Mike did a great job repairing mine.

You can get a new mirror from your local glass shop. Take yours down and they will match it. I got mine from Fast Glass for 40.00 and it is a perfect match.

Hope that helps.

Torin

> For PCB board repair, you can't go wrong with Road.Runner on here. Mike did a great job repairing mine.

Ditto. He did a wonderful job on mine and was fantastic at communicating. I really couldn't have had a better experience.

There's a number of people that can refresh your monitor. I'd start with Modessitt here on KLOV.
 
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Thanks everyone for the replies. I really appreciate the links and advice.

So I had been cleaning the cabinet and the sub assemblies and this afternoon decided to try wiring everything up. I was a little rusty but everything came back to me and soon I had everything in place. I plugged it in and...

She started right up!

For about 20 minutes my son and I had a great time playing the game. Then there was a *pop* and the monitor went dark. The sounds still indicated game play but there was no picture of any kind.

I think I'm going to need some advice on the monitor repair/refurb sooner than later.

Otherwise I think today was a good sign. We put the machine through the paces in the twenty minutes we had and everything seemed to go ok with the gameplay and sound.

Does anyone have the dimensions for the mirror? It looks like, unless I can turn one up here, I will need to have someone make one for me. Mine is roughly 2/3rds of it's original size and the full diminsions would be great.

I am wary to start figuring out what is wrong with the monitor. I don't want to accidentally have the tube discharge while I'm trying to see what might have blown. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks again.

Jim
 
> Does anyone have any suggestions?

Yeah, PM Modessitt. :)
 
Then there was a *pop* and the monitor went dark. The sounds still indicated game play but there was no picture of any kind.

I think I'm going to need some advice on the monitor repair/refurb sooner than later.

Playing blind is better than not.

I am wary to start figuring out what is wrong with the monitor. I don't want to accidentally have the tube discharge while I'm trying to see what might have blown. Does anyone have any suggestions?

It's likely the deflection board for your monitor. It's the larger board with the multi-pin connectors. Common failure are cracked solder joints on the pins and one or both cracked large ceramic resistors (which can be bypassed) but it could be more. Hopefully the fuses blew and limited other damage. If you're careful you can take out the board without discharging (just stay away from the thick wire connecting the tube with the HV unit on the other side of the monitor).

Be sure to check out this great site:

http://www.biltronix.com/battlezone.html
 
Oh hell no, you OWN the Battlezone from the Goldmine! Nice! I'll have to see if my Cousin still remembers playing this 25+ years ago, very cool.

As far as monitor repair, might be worth a shot PM'ing alejandromad or rossmackie, they are local. You would have to pay them of course but they are both very knowledgable guys that have fixed machines for me more times than I can count and do a great job :)

Goldmine, lol, man that place was awesome!!
 
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