Tapper Arcade Restoration (Completed April 9/11)

rockinganker

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I am posting this from another arcade collecting sight, hope you enjoy.

I thought I'd throw together a restoration thread as I have never documented any of my previous restorations.

Next up....Tapper!

I've been looking for this machine for a long time. This game is one of my favorites and not really as fun on a Mame cabinet, the dedicated machine uses taps as buttons. I bought this game off Rick in Aylmer QC and made the road trip on Saturday. I dropped a 60-in-1 machine off in Barrie and then continued on up to Rick. Nineteen hours later, Tapper is in the house.

Anyway, when I originally bought the machine I was told it was not working. The first thing I did was take the entire pcb apart and clean every socketed chip and any pins for ribbon cables. This brought the picture up and now it plays 100%. I played about 10 or 15 games on it before the wife called me for dinner.

I have a lot of work to do on this as the cabinet is rather rough.

I plan on doing a full restoration on this machine. I'm trying to get as close to new as I can, that will include:

Clean and polish the brass foot rest (Done March 11/11)
Sandblast and replate the brass cup holders (Done March 11/11)
Strip old art from machine (Done March 13/11)
Replace missing leg levelers and plates (Done March 21/11)
New control panel overlay and tap handle decals (Done March 24/11)
Rebuild joystick and tap handles (Done March 24/11)
Remake, prime and paint cabinet (Done March 25/11)
Rebuild the power block (Done March 25/11)
Rebuild sound board (Done March 26/11)
Replace the ribbon cables on the pcb (Done March 26/11)
Cap the board (Done March 26/11)
Replace the cut off power cord (Done March 26/11)
Rebuild G07 chassis and replace burnt tube screen (Done March 27/11)
Rebuild the power supply (Done March 27/11)
Fix any and all wiring in the game (Done March 29/11)
Fix the credit button in the coin door and paint (Done April 1/11)
All new sideart and front art (Done April 8/11)
Replace textured t-molding (Done April 8/11)

I'm not sure if I'm missing anything but here are my before pics.
 

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more before pics
 

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Even more before pictures
 

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I thought I would do what I could while I wait for parts to arrive.

I decided to clean up the brass footrest and cup holders, you can buy a new footrest assembly from QuarterArcade for $60.00. I thought I'd save my money and see how well I could clean the old one. I also sandblasted the cup holders and control panel support brackets and painted them. I toyed with the idea of plating the cup holders but I painted them with brass spray paint in the end.

I think they turned out well.

Here are some before and after pictures.
 

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Here are the cup holders and control panel supports.

I also sandblasted the coin bucket top as it had some rust on it.
 

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End results.

I think the spray paint worked out well, having it replated would have been cool but very expensive.
 

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I thought I would do a little more cabinet work tonight. I completely stripped everything out so that I could start removing the side art and front art. This would also make the cabinet a little easier to move around.

The base is really rough and I thought about remaking the entire cabinet. Since I've done two full rebuilds in the last month or so, I thought I'd just repair this one. The cabinet has some serious water damage and the front of the cabinet will have to be replaced as well as the bottom. The bottom is moldy and bowed out like crazy so it has to go.

After stripping everything and looking things over, I decided to remove the side art. I always hate removing art from a machine because it's such a pain in the butt. I had all my usual tools ready, putty knife and heat gun, but tried to pick at a piece before using these. To my surprise, the art almost fell off the cabinet. I never had to use the heat gun and the art came off cleanly and in big pieces. Removing the art from both sides took me about ten minutes when I was expecting a couple hours.

I need to remove the front and bottom pieces and make new ones. I will then sand the sides and remove any loose pieces from water damage. I am going to apply some MinWax Wood Hardener so that I can apply Bondo and sand smooth.
 

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Here are some pictures after removing the sideart.
 

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Well, the worst came to be...I had to remake the sides as the water damage was too bad. I tried several coats of the wood hardener with little success. Oh well, I'll have a solid cabinet now I guess.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the new sides and front.

I still waiting on parts to arrive so I will continue working on the cabinet tomorrow.
 

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The cabinet is coming together pretty nicely. I had to make a new front, bottom, bottom back piece, inside board and both sides. I carefully took apart what I could and reused them. I was able to save the whole top section, speaker panel, bezel retainer, monitor shelf and some miscellaneous pieces as well.

All and all, I think it turned out extremely well. I can paint all the black pieces and prime the front and side pieces while I wait for my parts to arrive.

I am going to wait for the art to arrive before I mount the front section, this will ensure the art is right to the edges and perfect.
 

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I have been at a stand still due to lack of parts.

I have painted the inside parts black and have primed the cabinet sides and front. I am just waiting for the art to arrive. While I wait for that, some parts arrived today.

My order from Twisted Arcade was some t-molding, kickplate, leg levelers and plates, marquee rails and some buttons for my Q*Bert.

My order from Arcade Shop was the two big caps from the power block, tapper handle decals, mcr ribbon cables, centering grommet and a new CPO.

I had started to restore the control panel but I am really just picking at it here and there, I'll get more serious with it now that the CPO is here.
 

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I finished the control panel today, things looks sweet. I also have started to put things back into the cabinet but can't go too crazy until the cabinet art arrives.

The last things I need for the control panel are the two new Midway cocktail start buttons.
 

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Tonight I decided to work on the pcb and sound amp. I replaced all the caps and both Z80 chips on the pcb and also replaced the ribbon cables. The old single row cables are notorious for going bad and these new ones are much more reliable. The problem with the new replacements is that they are double row cables and you have to trim the edges of these to get them to fit. The belt sander worked great, I just had to melt the retaining tabs on using a soldering gun.

The sound amp was recapped and all the pins were re-soldered lastly, I replaced the Molex connectors.

Using my Timber cab I tested the pcb and amp to ensure they both worked...they did :)
 

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Back at it again today.

I rebuilt the power supply today with Bob Roberts rebuild kit. If you've ever rebuilt an MCR power supply, you know the time involved. I replaced all the connectors on the power supply as well because of acid damage.

I also removed, cleaned and fully rebuilt the original G07 chassis. Full cap kit, new fly back, width coil, fr401 resistor, r901 resistor, fuses, HOT, Regulator and pots. Has a great picture now.

Lastly, put the cabinet somewhat back together to test the rebuild power block and power supply. Everything works great.
 

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Finally the art arrives! The missing piece of the puzzle arrived on Friday, time to finish this thing up.

I ended up keeping the coin door with the button drilled into it, makes things a little easier to play. I will replace it later, maybe. I love applying cabinet art, it takes a fair amount of prep before hand but looks great if done right.

The front was a little bit of a pain due to the coin door hole, but the end result is awesome. The cabinet art is a little more difficult but again, prep is key.

In the end, I think everything turned out great, I have no regrets on any process.

Due to the long wait for art I was able to work on my Timber project. I'll be applying the cabinet art for that today and should be done that in a week or so.
 

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Finished project.
 

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Lastly, here are some pics of my Timber and Tapper finished. They look pretty sweet side by side.
 

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Incredible restoration...I think the results were worth it. It's one of the better looking games, looking at the whole package - cabinet design, controls, art, the extras like the cup holders..

You mentioned proper prep of the sides before applying the artwork.. Did you just sand the sides? Did you also apply a sealer coat, a urethane clear, or what? Any tips on applying that particular artwork package?
 
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