Restoring a Killer Instinct Machine

Nology

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I recently picked up an original KI machine and have begun the process of restoring it. I've done some searching and found a few of the products but was hoping some of you can recommend a good shop from experience. Heres a few things I'm starting with.

Black T molding

Coin door locks and coin door internals

plexi glass under the buttons

Also if someone could recommend good buttons/joy stick brand I'll be replacing them back to their original color.

Thanks!
 
when I restored mine (a spraypainted over black KI cab) I bought all the T-mold (still haven't installed yet though) and joysticks from Happ. I was able to scrounge up enough of the original blue buttons to bring those back (Happ does not sell replacements that are the same height as the original buttons).

the joysticks I use on all my fighting games are the Happ Competition joystick. I used to think I was completely nuts about the Happ Ultimate joysticks being blatantly inferior, but I've found multiple resources on KLOV of various sites reviewing the two and reaching the conclusion that the Competitions are FAR superior.

they come in the original blue, and handle amazingly. the ones that are in my KI1 though, I borrowed the actuators from the old red joysticks, cause the ones that came with the new ones would stick and not float freely (they would actually stay in place on the stick and get jammed diagonally in-between the switches) ... I've found over time, now they I've ordered multiple blue Competition joysticks that this is just a manufacturing error and not the design.. if you so choose you can WD40 the hell out of the shafts if you get a bad batch or sand the shafts down a little bit to get the actuator to float centered properly. (you never knew I paid this much attention to detail!)

Happ should carry all the Wells-Gardner coin door parts, I know they have replacement in and out plastics and the pushbutton rejects, but never paid attention to aside from complete coin doors if they carry the replacements for the internal parts. I imagine this is what you're talking about, like the metal parts on the inside.

plexiglass, everyone on here swears by the 3M Lexan. you can acquire that at any major hardware store, like Home Depot or Menards I think. I don't remember the control panel measurements off-hand, you could just take your old one to the store and I think they can cut it to size. you should probably get a couple of them cut, or maybe practice cutting holes on some spare plexi you might have lying around (you could use the old one too I guess).

ask around in the Cosmetic/Restoration forum for tips on how to do this. from what I read recently, the best tool to use is a 1-1/8" Forstner bit, and run it in your drill in REVERSE, cause I guess this way it just melts a hole, instead of drilling at it, and reduces the risk of cracking.

the original holes I think are 1-3/16", so you might be better off running with one the original size of the metal control panel.

also, do you have the security torx bit set that gets the plexi screws out? if not, you can buy those from Happ too, but you might be better off buying the 100 piece kit from Harbor Freight (same thing) if you have one of those stores nearby.

good luck. PM me if you have any further questions.
 
Thanks for the info! Over the weekend I found locks that actually fit and the tamper proof torx bit set. Lisle makes a small cheap set that I got from sears. The part number was 26000.
 
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