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What do you mean lock hole?

Do you mean the holes in the doors where the locks go ? If so TBH there are a bunch of holes that are legit supposed to be there but I feel like they are kinda obnoxious and it would look better with just a single hole for the key lock. The other holes just held bolts in place for whatever reason. They weren't actually connected to anything.

If you meant the holes where the morons from overseas installed lock bars then there is a guy who works there that is a artist with JB Weld. I know you said to look into mig and tig welding and such, but every one of those guys I talked to and showed the door / explained my situation they said bondo / JB would be cheaper, look better, and be easier to do with no sacrifice to quality and structure.

Also, the guy mentioned not to do the chrome paint like you had done. He says it always turns out dark, especially with the final clear coat these guys put on. I showed him the pictures of yours and he just said "see told ya". :/
 
Yeah I meant the lock bars.

I figured they would put them on large rows of Aeros at the casino so the Yakuza couldn’t steal them easily

The powder “chrome” isn’t for everyone’s taste but I like it better than before and it was badly scuffed and free of charge.

Your only doing one aero so it shouldn’t be too $. I would love to see a legit re chrome of your cab. Have you called a motorcycle repair and gotten a bid? I was thinking like $80 a cab

Edit: I got a quote for $180 per cab for polished chrome. $720 for the project. That would look so awesome though.
 
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I think $600 is a fair price for a sandblast and powder coat job. They also make a highly toxic paint stripper you can get in an aerosol can that would probably lift the paint off. Then he would just sandblast for the texture.
 
Been a hot minute so lemme give a big update and show and tell where I stand today.

After the last time on Dragonball Z, I had finished dissembling the cabinet into pieces. Since then I have had a lovely time finding a sandblast /powdercoat place I could trust. The original quote and place I went to changed owners this year sometime and hes a new young upstart redheaded piece of work. Quoted me $800 for the job. I said $400 ( I realize I was lowballing ). He said some stuff like "I don't see the local guys as competition" and "I'll be here when you come back". The runaround story was "oh if I take your $400 and then my guys spend 5 hours blasting it then I lose out". He said to meet him in the middle at $600. I didn't wanna pull the trigger on that just yet and shopped around. While I loved his workers, he himself was a douchebag. The worker I had originally talked to asked me to bring him JBWELD and he would take care of the holes in my cabinet. Weird but ok. Told the owner I would get back with him.

One other outfit I contacted had me sent them pictures but never got back to me. He was a smaller place and even outsourced his sandblasting so I knew it was no good.

Scared of all this I started doing my own work in the meantime. I bought some CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust) remover inspired by @radiantsvgun thread here. Put it in a big plastic bin I bought from Goodwill for a few bucks. A gallon of this stuff costs $20 on amazon. I put 1/3 of this mixed with about 2 gallons of water, maybe more. It is a really big bin. In order to fit some of these pieces in as you can see below you have to turn over the pieces after a couple days to get the other side (unless of course you don't mind using the whole damned bottle). WARNING: This stuff will tear up your cabinets paint! Some pieces more than others. I had some that were stripped to bare metal, others didn't look like it phased the paint. @rewrite

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I was gonna post a picture of the bin after all was said and done but it was so gross I will save you from that imagery. Just imagine rust colored bath water X/ This step is probably unnecessary as the sandblasting guys eventually told me they can get that kind of rust off no problem. I was just a bit paranoid.

Eventually I went to an industrial park I know just a little further south from the original place and found a place run by a nice old man. Said he wasn't looking to compete in prices with the original guy I went too as they were not friends or anything but they weren't on bad terms either. He said $600 was fair and he would do it. I mentioned the JB weld idea and he had mixed reactions to that, said it never worked out for him in the past and not sure what the other guy was on about. He tested the pieces I had in the back of the truck to give him a fair idea of what kinda job it would be. One time he said a guy paid him for a job that "should" have only taken a few hours but ended up being a 16 hour job. You can never really know how hard this shit is gonna be to get off until you get it in your hands. He also mentioned any blasters/coaters that ask for pictures over the phone are no good. It's hard to tell the size and complexity of a job just from some pictures. He had some springs someone showed him in a picture, he thought they were the size of a ballpoint pen. They turned out to be huge 40lb industrial springs :/

After he sandblasted a small portion of two of my parts he said it came off easy. I already liked him better at this point because he did not give me the runaround story that the first guy gave me of "oh if I take your $400 and then my guys spend 5 hours blasting it then I lose out". This went down last week.

Oh and the original guy? Called him back and he just laughed at me like "see I knew you'd be back!". Little does he know I went with someone else.

My guy called me a couple days ago to tell me the JBWELD idea did not work. He went to 4 different stores to find the high temperature JBWELD and even though this stuff is rated for 550 degrees Farenheit and over it still ended up bubbling and looking like pliable bubblegum. At this point he said he would hit up a welder guy down the street that works on porches. =O Sounds expensive. Asked him to get me quotes before doing anything.

Today I went in to see what was what. Turns out his pal already took care of a few of the pieces and only the large cage remained. They were in the middle of sandblasting some of my other parts, while others had just come out of the oven! 8o

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For the speaker grills he turned down the psi and hit them softly as not to tear them apart! :thumbup:


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Here are some pieces that were sandblasted and getting ready to coat. They were blowing out some of the hinges and will hit them on both sides.


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They put plastic caps on the mounting screws so as not to coat them like with @hoagtech coaters did. Said that's just lazy, and prep work is half the job!


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Finally here you can see the weld marks covering the holes left by the coin bars :


BEFORE:


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Notice those f#$king screws!! :cursing:


AFTER


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Take note these are still just blasted not coated. They are sanded flat, but even with the paint, there may be pockets of air. I can't seem to find the picture of the smaller coin door that was done with these welds on it. The paint did not bond and there was what looked like a hole in the paint. He said he could go over it again but may require more funds. So far he hasn't said anything about elevating the price even though hes been doing a LOT of legwork and even going so far as sanding down some of the sharp edges to get better paint bonds and less risk of myself getting cut up :thumbup: Anything can be done to perfection but it's all a matter of how much you are willing to spend, and I am not trying to go for Jay Leno's Garage quality here.


Sadly the smaller coin door while worlds apart in before and after quality, still paint cannot cover up just how creased and mangled the door originally was. My decision on whether to pay him a little extra to go the extra mile and buff it down again and repaint, or try to shoot for some YATON part that is in less bent condition and sell mine.

After this, all that's left is to clean up the wires and reassemble. The monitor has already been recapped and same with the PSU. I will aim for a fresh plank of wood to screw everything in.

Any other recommendations or advice?

@8bitforlife
 
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Also wanna point out that I notice some folks coaters powder coated a lot of pieces I think may have been left as is. My coater for instance recommended not doing the control panel pieces where the sticker applies too as the purpose of the sandblast is to not only remove the old paint but also rough up the metal so the new paint adheres better. While the side stickers on the cabinet would be fine, the control panel area sees a lot more use and you might notice the uneven surface even after it's painted. He recommends to leave it metal and the sticker would provide adequate protection and a perfectly smooth surface.

That all said, removing this control panel artwork is a BITCH!

BEFORE

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Notice that caked on rust!

AFTER


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The rust remover cleaned that shit right up! :thumbsup: And I have been using absorbent amounts of Goo Gone and Mineral spirits to try and remove the last remaining sticker. It's almost part of the metal at this point. I am hand sanding this with love :love: Hoping for one of @alberto1225 lovely panels soon to complete it.

I don't think it's a big deal if you also coat this piece as well, but I would go the extra mile to ensure the play area is as comfortable and safe as possible. You just may never know the ridges and pits paint leaves behind under a sticker.
 
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I have received all the powdered pieces back and am now starting reassembly.

I am in need of detailed shots of the original wiring. I took some myself before disassembly but I don't know if it was proper in the first place and have not much to go on searching online. @hoagtech has a new aero ;) I've soaked and cleaned all the wiring harnesses. A clean loom is tempting.

I am in need of locks and keys, I think I have the tangs though? Maybe some of us could go in on a full set of these and piece out what we need. @bagheera369

I need the acrylic topper. I believe someone on these forums makes repros.

The control panel is being worked on by Alberto.


My powder guys mentioned they know guys who can make repros of the coin doors and such, but to what extent or quality is up in the air. I mentioned to them I know some folks missing the doors and they were sure their guy could do a replica. @8bitforlife. I know mine is really banged up and creased.

Pictures to follow soon...
 
sweet let me know. Could you see if they could reproduce the cp outer area also? also keep me posted on the glass or plexi . ty for mentioning me so id see
 
sweet let me know. Could you see if they could reproduce the cp outer area also? also keep me posted on the glass or plexi . ty for mentioning me so id see
They said the effort to reproduce the part would need to be worth the guys while so a minimum order may be necessary. If there was enough interest from several parties then I would take my coin door to them to try and reproduce. I mentioned offhand around "5" people were interested, but that was just a guess based on recent Aero city activity. Seems a lot of these are missing bits and pieces. Not sure what they would charge either. Maybe when I am finished reassembling everything I will take the door down there for them to do a mock up.
 
Let me know the closeups you need. Most likely the ground wire points.

Ill get you some
 
Any showing the connectors and where they go. Some are color coated like the red ones and there are only so many ways they can go together since they are different number of pins. It's also the layout I am after. Which way to they go up and down the cage, where are they strap tied too and such. Would like it being functional as well as nice and neat to look at. Gonna hit up Home Depot tomorrow for the sticky strap ties. I know some folks aim for those original brown style seen in candy cabs. I'm not as fussy. I recall seeing them online somewhere once for purchase but it was a deep dig to find the link.
 
i could take pictures too one of my cabs is complete. Ill take 1 coin bucket door an 2 aero cp housing. im sure more people would want these. could post on klov too to drum up interest
 
Hey all...The image attached, should help on the wiring.
Mine did not get powdercoated, and wont be as pretty as Hoag's, but it's there.

The red 3pin on the left, that's disconnected, is the headphone jack wiring for the control panel....my 3pin jst had been cut, and I didn't want to leave loose connections exposed until I can fix it.

The white 4pin on the right that's disconnected, is an auxiliary power connector, I assume for Trackball, or Mahjong panel lights?

The control panel wiring is self explanatory, white is 1p, red is 2p, 3pin connector is start's.
The monitor connections, Upper speakers, florescent power lines *sega 110v lines are almost always pink and blue* and the wiring for the coin switch should be easy enough too.

When my cab got cleaned out, the wire ties had lost all their coating, and had rusted...so I cut all the metal ones, at the base, and ensured there were not sharp edges left, and will run my own wire guides in the cab eventually. Have to dig them out of the office. Sorry I don't have more to go on there.

@Kavas

I have a ton of sega A002 locks that I'm using for my cab, instead of hunting down the originals...but if you find the originals, I'd be interested to know the lock lengths, and pics of the different tangs used. The "s" tang for my front door, doesn't sit right with the a002 lock....so i may need that part as well.....and then of course, the 1cp latch tang.




The other thing I could use is 4 of these....with the mounting studs
added, but nothing cut out. Just whole metal sheets, with the bend at
one end, and the studs. So if you get these done in any format, let me
know.

I am keeping my original panel/s, for use occasionally, but am
going to be making some panels for some classic controller setups (3"
trackball w/buttons, Multi Williams, MsPac, Qbert) That will hold the
original sticks, as the CP has enough room for these. Most of those
things wont fit on the small panels being reproduced, so I'm making the
panels as one whole sheet, and centering controls and such...but done
cleanly, and properly, with nice artwork.

It may be tough...it may not be "authentic", but as my classics cabinet, it will be much better
to play on, for myself, and all the people coming over.

*sorry for the weird formatting here*
 

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I spent all day yesterday reassembling this puppy. It was recommended by my coater that since the oven dries everything out it would be a good idea to oil all the screw posts and holes. I went to my local hardware and bought some stuff I believe will do the trick. It really helps with the hinges for the CP and monitor frame as the coating makes it very stiff.

He only charged me $50 extra ontop of the $600 I paid because he had the guy next door who works on driveshafts fill in the holes with weld. You can't even tell from the outside there was ever holes there.

BEFORE:

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AFTER:

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:thumbsup:

The coin door was the most mangled part. I will address later the bent key lock bar:

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Thankfully I do have all doors, but not all locks. I have a coin mech door key setup but it doesn't look original?

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I misplaced the piece that prevents the coins from shooting into the cabinet itself, need to scour my garage again for it. Hoping I didn't toss it... :(

Aside from the coin mech door key, this is all I have left, 3 tangs or whatever. I think two of them are for the CP.

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I looked at home depot yesterday for some stuff, and they just don't supply rubber grommets we can use for the monitor glass to replace the ones that melted away. If we could just find something like This here in the right size we would be all set. I cleaned the glass but the black bezel is fading away on it. I will either have to paint it black or wait for @hoagtech contacts to make the sticker version.

@speedswan has mentioned the leg levelers are m10 , but cursory searches show there may be different thread sizes as well. More info on that would be great. I would just purchase a single leg leveler to hold me over until I could source an original if at all possible.

The rubber foot rest I have not applied and will just place on their unglued for the time being until we can see hoagtech's China version more closely. Mine isn't in bad shape but maybe just a tinge yellowed from age.

Lastly, I need your guys help. These cabinets came with mahjong panels and wired appropriately so. I hooked everything back up the way it was, and it is much easier now that both the cabinet and wires have been thoroughly cleaned. I just don't see how this thing can be wired for JAMMA. The wires are all spliced together and at this point instead of just trying to cobble together something to make it work, I think I may go the route of getting a fresh JAMMA loom and crimping my molex/mate n lock connectors myself.

Here is a video showing what I am working with. Maybe someone can see something I am not..

 
It looks sharp!

A new JAMMA harness is probably a fine idea, and it'll be like an entirely new cabinet at that point!
 
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Un-Assembled.

Sanded the wood.

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BEFORE:


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AFTER:

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Holes are gone!


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Needs more cleaning. But the more cleaning I do the less the black stays on.

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The lighting doesn't do it justice. And it looks plain without the stickers and decals applied.
 
It looks sharp!

A new JAMMA harness is probably a fine idea, and it'll be like an entirely new cabinet at that point!
Anyone know what this connector is called?

JST something?

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Hooks to the PSU, from there I might be able to figure out how all this stuff is wired and start ordering the loom/connectors. Anyone have experience with arcadeshop.com ? Seems he sells a no frills jamma loom for a good price.
 
@Kavas !! This looks fantastic! What a wonderful outcome, you must be over the moon!
Aside from the coin mech door key, this is all I have left, 3 tangs or whatever. I think two of them are for the CP.
Yes, correct, those hook looking ones are for the CP latches.

Thankfully I do have all doors, but not all locks. I have a coin mech door key setup but it doesn't look original?
Yeah, that's not original. Sega cabinets never used Cam locks like those, they used the same Sega 5380 Locks as the rest of the doors.


I just don't see how this thing can be wired for JAMMA. The wires are all spliced together and at this point instead of just trying to cobble together something to make it work, I think I may go the route of getting a fresh JAMMA loom and crimping my molex/mate n lock connectors myself.
Yeah that looks like it's been hacked up to fit whatever Mahjong game was in there.

Needs more cleaning. But the more cleaning I do the less the black stays on.
I say take measurements and remove the black altogether, then tape it off and hit it with some black spray paint.
 
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