Electrocoin 6 Slot Restore

[ChrisBEANS]

*Edit* I think I'll have to split this over multiple posts as each post has an image limit...


This is posted elsewhere on the interwebs, but someone recently made a good point about people using the marketplace but not otherwise contributing to the forum, so I thought I'd put this up here too.
Hopefully some of you will enjoy the read.

No innovation or technical ability to be found in here I'm afraid, just a noob giving a great cab a bit of TLC...

So in early 2021 I picked up my first two cabs. One SNK U4, and this beast.

It's a British built 'Electrocoin Arcade'.

It was filthy, and rusty, came with a knackered six slot motherboard and a temperamental four slot motherboard installed.

And needed to be stripped right down, cleaned thoroughly.

I hadn't ever done anything like this before, so it might be a bit amateur but all the blue tags you see are my labels for each individual wire. No danger I'd have successfully put it back together otherwise.

I'd intended to get the rusty metal parts sand blasted and powder coated for durability and quality of finish, but as the original parts were painted with textured paint, I thought it only right to give it a bash myself, for authenticity.

When it was stripped it was double rusty front and back...

After a good sanding...

And finally a go with some textured (hammered) paint...

Luckily, by it's nature, textured paint is very forgiving with the finish.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Next up was this mess...

After a LOT of sanding...

Sadly the back was no better, so that took even more sanding as it also hides a load of fittings etc that need to be sanded around.

Luckily, textured paint is sympathetic to noobs!!

I' redid the T-molding too.

You can't really see much in the picture to be fair, but it's much nicer. The old stuff was almosty grey with scuffs, scratches and grime, but the new stuff is nice and shiny. Was a harder job than I gave it credit for, but still only took a few minutes.

The CP was an absolute CHORE!!!

and this next photo represents HOURS, and really do mean hours of sanding... (No, seriously!)

There was a thin layer of grime/adhesive all over it that didn't come off with paint stripper, so it was out with the 40 grit all day.

On the plus side, I reckon if I'd committed a crime that day I'd be unlikely to leave any fingerprints behind!

The CP is for big ugly Euro sticks and even with universal mounting plate has a hole more than twice as big as required for a Jap stick...

I had something very specific in mind for this cab, and so I decided I needed to be able to use modern, modified, Japanese sticks.

Clearly, they wouldn't mount and even if they did the hole in the CP is far bigger than required.

Fortunately I found Kowal's universal mounting plate, and a couple of washers were located online with the exact right outer diameter (45mm) and inner bore diameter (20mm) and the exact right thickness (2mm).

That had to wait though, so in the mean time I decided to tackle the glass and the frame...

When I took the frame off of the glass, to get rid of the rust on the fittings and to spray up the scuffed frame, I found that this glass had previously had the generic grey painted bezel, and that it'd been scraped off by a previous owner (Why?!).

So, following the advice of Muddy Music of Arcade Art Shop, I thought I'd try to recreate the painted bezel myself...

The paint is very odd. The first two or three coats look like they evaporate off completely almost immediately, but after a few they start to build.

Sadly, I'm far from an expert, and as the can ran out I realised that I'd have to stand the glass up (it had been laid flat) so that I could get the last of the paint from the can.

In doing so I changed the way I'd been spraying and although the majority is thinly coated, one area now has a run. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not perfect.

I have to say, while it's far from perfect, this turned out pretty well!!

I'm pleased

By now, it was starting to look like itself again.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Anyone like using a stock JLF? Nah, me neither. However, the JLF can be customised like no other stick and in my opinion is the best possible experience once you have it set up to personal preference.

First things first I replaced the soft, plastic pivot with a this cool engineered stainless, mirror polished pivot, and lubed it up with some Shin-Etsu grease...

Next up, I changed the loose (0.9lb) stock spring with a much stiffer 4lb spring...

I hate a loose spring, and these springs all loosen over time, but with a 4lb spring it'll stay stiifer for longer (yeah, I heard it, don't be so bloody filthy!!)

I swapped the small stock actuator for a much larger actuator to significantly shorten the throw distance...

And then simply swapped the stock square gate for an octo...

Then to complete the Euro style aesthetic, I've gone for a black aluminium shaft cover and dust washer, and a nice heavy aluminium bat top...

Then it was just a case of doing the same to the P2 stick...

A lot of this is personal preference stuff, but this is by far my favoured configuration. I have almost the exact same configuration in my fight stick...

The spring tension is very high, but it is off set by the heavy bat top, and it does loosen over time. If you find it too heavy, there is also a 2lb option. The throw distance is much smaller with the large actuator too. I personally find the small actuator and light spring of the stock stick a very loose and imprecise combination, but you'll find plenty of people who swear by them. You'll also find plenty of people who insist that Seimitsu is the only way to go, and those who will only use Korean membrane sticks. There's no right answer here.

The octo/square/round gate debate will rumble of for the ages.

I find the above combination to be extremely precise, and it's what I used when I was learning to 1cc MS1 and MS2, so I know it works a treat... for me.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Really pleased with the next part, just simply because I was worried I wasn't going to be able to use anything other than a Euro stick...

The stock JLF clearly won't fit the CP, and it being a thick steel panel means that it'd be more trouble trying to modify the panel itself. Not to mention beyond my personal ability and the capability of any tools I have.

Fortunately, the Kowal flat plate adapter already exists, which is awesome!!

Unfortunately, because the OG sticks for these cabinets had molded ball tops (and probably didn't come apart either?), the hole in the CP is much, much larger than needed for a Japanese stick...

Meaning that once I add the vinyl CP art, there'll be a huge unsupported area around the sticks themselves. The vinyl over that usupported area will stretch and probably tear with prolonged use, making all of this an exercise in futility...

Now, we've covered that I am woefully under skilled or equipped to modify the CP.

The ideal hole for a Japanese stick is something like 20mm (maybe smaller?), and the hole in this CP is 45mm. The CP itself is 2mm thick...

Turns out, if you measure correctly, and google enough, you can find a washer that is 2mm thick, has a 45mm diameter, and a 20mm bore.

Which, once you have a nice flat plate mounted flush to the underside will sit very snugly in the hole...

And with that, I think we've successfully installed a modified Japanese stick or two into a 30 year old steel, euro CP.

I did think the mounting plate for the 2P stick might be too close to the A button, but it's all good...

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Next was to add the vinyl, and the CP would be finished.

Got to say, Arcade Art Shop nailed this vinyl!

Took me ages to line it up before I was happy to actually apply it, but I'm pretty happy with the result.

There were a couple of bubbles, which was strictly down to my poor application, but they were sorted eventually.

I 'might' have to redo it at asome point, as I'm looking into solutions to invisibly mount the sticks, but I had to do it this way first as this is the original aesthetic.

The sticks are obviously different to stock, and the buttons are totally different to the concave leaf switch things that came on the cab, but I think they're in keeping with the rest of the intended look.

 

[ChrisBEANS]

I calibrated the screen as best I could, but it just wasn't bright enough no matter how hard I tried. I had to be brave and take the chassis off and book an appointment with the awesome [mention]grantspain[/mention] to get it serviced.

In all of this, it's easy to forget that the whole point is to play these games!! As I had the cab on anyway...

0 continues (1 death) Still got it!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Next up, some quality of life stuff today that made a massive difference!!

Swapped out the extremely loud (and probably 30 year old) fans from the chassis and PSU for nice new high pressure and silent Noctua fans.

Having the cab go from sounding like a hairdryer, to being silent running was one of the simplest, but best things in this whole project!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Here's how bright and vibrant the screen was after a simple chassis service.

[media]

]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIUu8LeeEv4[/media]


Very pleased!!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

This didn't actually last, but I was very pleased at the time...

I wanted a coin up button, rather than putting coins/tokens in, so I improvesed...

I snipped off the wires to the service button and gave them female spade connectors...

Snipped a couple of wires and spade connectors down to size...

Took the coin entry apart and hot glued the wires in place...

(Please excuse the gross mouse mat!!!)

And then it was time to test...

[media]

]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlH48wM_Ki0[/media]


[media]

]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3BSgWl9BgY[/media]

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Nearly there now. Sadly the EL panels were beyond repair, so I bought a kit from the very awesome http://www.neogeoledmarquee.info/

Before attaching the panels to the cab, I tried a dry run with them all connected externally just to make sure everything worked... and it didn't.

It was doing all sorts of weird stuff, like not ligting the correct panel for the correct slot, certain slots not lighting at all, and other strange things.

When I carried out the tests that the control board is capable of, everything ran smoothly. Upon boot up, the control board would light panels 1 through six in turn, and in test mode I could light each individual panel no problem. It was only when actually running games or in hardware test mode on the MVS that the issues persisted.

I took a brief video, and e-mailed the guy who makes them. Absolutely to his credit, he replied almost straight away, explained that as it's a small operation he personally tests everything before dispatch and that he though the problem might be with my MVS motherboard, however, he had a couple of simple things in mind that were worth trying first. One of which was to check the connections on the cable between the MVS and the EL panel control board.

Wouldn't you know it, one of the wires was half pulled out of the connector. Pushed it back in firmly, and everything ran perfectly 8-)

So... attached the new EL panels to the marquee with masking tape at first, just to make sure they lined up correctly, and then screwed them on for good using the supplied wood screws straight into the cabinet itself.

Tucked all of the cables through, and gathered them up behind. One really silly mistake I made here was not to label each ground wire for each panel, and so I then spent ages tracing each one back to match it to it's respective live

Now, the original control board sits on the reverse of the panel on which the panels are mounted, but this is actually a ball ache to get to as you have to remove the whole panel, unplug all of the marquee lights and speakers etc to do anything to it. Not to mention the fact it's reasonably heavy, and awkward size and shape, and is six feet in the air making it a pain to remove.

I decided a much better place to mount the new control board was just behind the back door.

(please excuse the wiring, I'll get to tidying it all up soon enough!)

Now I can access it to use the test mode, and there's also a nifty ability to change the brightness of the panels too.

Time to give it a brief test...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDavLW7WAJk


Sweet!

From a sad, very rusty old beast, with bits missing, filthy and old controls. extremely loud fans always at max RPM, bits not working, damaged and discoloured CP art, and a very dull and lifeless screen... to the clean, tidy, silent running cab with a very vibrant screen (thanks again Grant!!) and a few quality of life improvements like the coin button and crispy and heavily modified Japanese sticks, I think my first attempt at a restore has gone OK.

This thing is staying with me forever now, and it's my life goal to use it to 1cc all of the Metal Slug MVS games. Only managed 1 & 2 so far, so I've got a long way to go. Wish me luck!!


Chris

 

[PascalP]

Very nice read! Love this cab and it was my first one!
Also did replace the marquee lights etc and it works brilliantly.
Although personally I would fit in some (original) Euro style IL sticks

 

[ack]

Nice job on the restore!

 

[xb74]

Very tidy mate - I am also a noob doing a (AUS/NZ) 6 slot fix up so seeing you accomplish this is very helpful!

 

[ChrisBEANS]

Very tidy mate - I am also a noob doing a (AUS/NZ) 6 slot fix up so seeing you accomplish this is very helpful!

Would be cool to see your progress too! Good luck!

 

[DeWitt]

Beautiful restoration, You did a nice job!

Thank you for sharing

 

[snakeGrave]

really cool cabinet
thanks for shairing