jmike71
New member
After making the decision that I needed to add an original Bud Tapper to the collection, the quest for one began sometime in 2010. About a year later, we found one in Portland and knowing these are a fairly rare machine, we instantly packed up the truck and headed out. I had to pay way too much for a completely trashed, and water-logged machine, but we packed this POS in the truck and headed back to Seattle in the rain with nothing but potential in mind. Eight months later, and uncountable hours of love labor, we were able to bring this one back to it's original glory, and I'm very happy to finally have a Tapper in the lineup. A few images of the restoration process to share with you guys...
Big thanks to rockinganker for helping me with some questions about doing the restoration, and also to mxracer47 for providing one of Rich's last few cpo's available at the time.
A few photos of when we picked it up.
The infamous B/M particle board cabinet rot.
Floor of the cabinet sitting on the floor of the shop due to the levelers completely rotted through. Seems to be common on these.
Gutted, and headed to the wood shop for some much needed love.
While at the wood shop, work begins on the other components...repolishing the foot rail with salt, vinegar, and then Brasso.
Complete control panel rebuild. One of the tap handle brackets was bent so badly it was pushing the leaf switch far enough to actually snap it, so some Galaxian parts were sourced to correct this. Heavy rust was removed from the control panel parts, and then repainted. Finally, the original CPO was removed, and the new one applied.
Addressing the coin box carriage bolts with the original dark bronze color.
On to those pesky glassholders...after reviewing many options for these, powdercoating was the most economical choice for these.
(The board is only allowing me to embed 8 images, so the rest are linked)
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap5powder.jpg
To address the rot...good 'ol Bondo to the rescue. This is the first time we've had to do this to a cab, and it worked out quite well.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap6.jpg
Floor of the cab was replaced with a new solid piece of 3/4" plywood, and the parts are starting to go back on the cab. When I got the cab, the yellow ground straps were all just hanging about, so I still have no idea where they are supposed to attach, so if anybody might has any info or a diagram, this would be really helpful.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap7.jpg
It's finally running again, and looks good! Monitor was recapped and rejuvenated, many operator "quick fixes" repaired correctly, MCR linear power supply rebuilt with Bob's kit, sideart, kickplate, and new T-molding were applied.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap8.jpg
We're so proud of how it came out, we chose to place it right in the middle of the game room.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap9.jpg
It looks and plays wonderfully. There is what I believe to be a slightly dark AC wave going through the monitor from top to bottom, and the sprites flicker slightly, so a proper plug was added to the AC cord, but this did not correct the issue. This could possibly have something to do with the mysterious yellow ground straps..or?
Also, a 3.6V battery was added to the power supply board, but the machine still doesn't want to keep the high scores after being turned off. Is there anything I might check for this issue as well? 5.02VDC was read on the meter at the boardset.
Big thanks to rockinganker for helping me with some questions about doing the restoration, and also to mxracer47 for providing one of Rich's last few cpo's available at the time.
A few photos of when we picked it up.
The infamous B/M particle board cabinet rot.
Floor of the cabinet sitting on the floor of the shop due to the levelers completely rotted through. Seems to be common on these.
Gutted, and headed to the wood shop for some much needed love.
While at the wood shop, work begins on the other components...repolishing the foot rail with salt, vinegar, and then Brasso.
Complete control panel rebuild. One of the tap handle brackets was bent so badly it was pushing the leaf switch far enough to actually snap it, so some Galaxian parts were sourced to correct this. Heavy rust was removed from the control panel parts, and then repainted. Finally, the original CPO was removed, and the new one applied.
Addressing the coin box carriage bolts with the original dark bronze color.
On to those pesky glassholders...after reviewing many options for these, powdercoating was the most economical choice for these.
(The board is only allowing me to embed 8 images, so the rest are linked)
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap5powder.jpg
To address the rot...good 'ol Bondo to the rescue. This is the first time we've had to do this to a cab, and it worked out quite well.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap6.jpg
Floor of the cab was replaced with a new solid piece of 3/4" plywood, and the parts are starting to go back on the cab. When I got the cab, the yellow ground straps were all just hanging about, so I still have no idea where they are supposed to attach, so if anybody might has any info or a diagram, this would be really helpful.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap7.jpg
It's finally running again, and looks good! Monitor was recapped and rejuvenated, many operator "quick fixes" repaired correctly, MCR linear power supply rebuilt with Bob's kit, sideart, kickplate, and new T-molding were applied.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap8.jpg
We're so proud of how it came out, we chose to place it right in the middle of the game room.
http://www.thriftseeker.com/arcade/tapper/tap9.jpg
It looks and plays wonderfully. There is what I believe to be a slightly dark AC wave going through the monitor from top to bottom, and the sprites flicker slightly, so a proper plug was added to the AC cord, but this did not correct the issue. This could possibly have something to do with the mysterious yellow ground straps..or?
Also, a 3.6V battery was added to the power supply board, but the machine still doesn't want to keep the high scores after being turned off. Is there anything I might check for this issue as well? 5.02VDC was read on the meter at the boardset.
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