Starting Out Arcade Collector beginning with a very old Tempest...

Baloo

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Starting Out Arcade Collector beginning with a very old Tempest...

Hey guys, this is my first time getting into arcade collecting, and in a sense I've struck gold in my backyard. I work at my church and in the attic they have a broken Ladybug cabinet, a broken Evil Knievel pinball machine, and a working Tempest cabinet. I've struck up a deal with my Pastor about being able to work off this machine. I want to get into the hobby of learning how to fix and restore arcade machines.

The Tempest cabinet is in alright shape, sorry for the bad pictures. There's a lot of dust and grime from over the years, and everything needs to be washed and wiped down pretty thoroughly. The marquee backlight has been burned out and needs to be replaced. On One of the coin returns, the small black box and metal door has broken off as well. There's some scratches on the side art of the cabinet, but there doesn't seem to be any peeling or ripping. All the buttons and the spinner works fine, and the monitor looks great. There are no keys for the cabinet, and I can't get inside to see how the inside looks, but I believe the coin mechs have been taken out of the machine. There may also be something wrong with the PCB though, as high scores aren't saving after the machine is unplugged, though that just might be normal. Top 3 high scores are in the 300,000s though, which doesn't seem like the factory default ones of 1010101, so perhaps it's not saving the games properly?

I'm going to try and take some better pictures for a better look at the cabinet. The double-effect is just from me shaking the camera, the monitor doesn't display that way. Any tips on how to go about restoring it and what to do would be much obliged. Thanks.
 

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I remember hearing somewhere that Tempest only saved the top 3 high scores. Same with Gravitar and other Atari games.
Also, congrats on the first machine!
 
First thing I'd do is find the keys or drill/pick/pop the locks and give the whole thing a good cleaning. It works, so you don't have to fight that battle. I've always been of the opinion that if it looks/plays good when cleaned up, I replace just what needs replaced and leave it alone until it needs it.
 
Get the Evel Knievel too... A classic Bally SS is a great pin to learn repair on and you'll need something to do after the Tempest is fixed up.
 
First thing I'd do is find the keys or drill/pick/pop the locks and give the whole thing a good cleaning. It works, so you don't have to fight that battle. I've always been of the opinion that if it looks/plays good when cleaned up, I replace just what needs replaced and leave it alone until it needs it.

If possible, I don't want to drill the locks. I've heard about picking them with lockpick sets, is there any good way to go about this? Where can I even find a lockpick set?

Get the Evel Knievel too... A classic Bally SS is a great pin to learn repair on and you'll need something to do after the Tempest is fixed up.

Heh, if I had the room I would totally snag the Evel Knievel pin as well. Luckily these machines are stored only a few blocks from my house, so maybe I'll see if I'm able to clean and fix the machine up as well. The pin is is mediocre shape though. Only the playfield lights go on and there's a whole ton of junk in the machine, from plywood to extra flippers, manuals, and even beer bottles that look like they're from the 80s. If I'm able to get it for a really cheap price/work on it without price, then I'll try to figure it out. Otherwise I might just leave it alone for now.
 
You should just drill it. The locks aren't anything special and once you drill the old one out you can just install a new one without damaging the cab. You save yourself a fair bit of time and effort trying to pick locks.
 
I pick most my locks.You can pick up a set on cheaperthandirt.com. Hes right though, no real need to spend the time unless you know how to pick. Usually runs about 3 bucks a lock and if your redoing some games, its worth just ordering new ones with the other stuff youll be buying.
 
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