Konami Windy Restoration with Video!

[Asobu]

It's that time again.

I recently got a Konami Windy! Been wanting one of these for awhile and one popped up on craigslist. Got the tip from a buddy and immediately texted the seller. I'm the guy that offers more than asking price and snatches it. (sorry!) I paid $1500 which may seem like a lot, but when on earth are you gonna see another Windy for sale? This will be my second 90's cab, so I know what to expect at this point. For reference, I also restored/repaired an Astro City in 2020.

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/astro-city-restoration-and-monitor-fix.11781/

The plan is to make it a head to head cab with the Astro City. I've never seen two different cabs play head to head, I think it would be fun and cool. Or do 4 player Dungeons and Dragons. The possibilities increase quite a lot when you have 2 cabs!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4-oCbgTuDA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYACQh0ni2w

Still amazed it fit into a Honda Fit. Had to move the driver's seat up a lot, so it was kinda difficult to drive. And of course, it has no wheels or legs like my Astro. It was on a riser at an American arcade.

Convergence is very bad, hopefully recapping the chassis will fix this.

The body is pretty rough in some areas. Deep gashes on the sides.

I love that it can hold it's front bezel up by itself.

I moved the convergence rings a little bit, but that seemed to mess up the horizontal sync somehow? I'm betting this was just a coincidence and the chassis is on it's last legs. I'm not worried. Whatever this is, I'll figure out how to fix it.

Got the chassis out and neckboard out. The chassis is only held in place by 4 screws on the plastic tray. Very easy to remove. I recommend removing the neck board first though. And of course, discharge your tube before anything else.

Also going to recap the power supply. I wrote down all the cap values.

One thing I was very concerned about was sourcing new caster wheels. Yaton didn't have em, ebay didn't have em. So I just googled "arcade wheels" and somehow I found some generic wheels that are identical to the Windy's original? As in, they're still manufactured and easy to get! Totally lucked out here. The legs though, not so much. So I'll prolly just screw some 1" wood blocks to the base. No one will know.

Fluorescent light reference for anyone that needs it. I got a new bulb, just gotta test it. Also ordered the FG-1E starter bulb.

Currently recapping the chassis. The kit I ordered was missing 3 caps, so I'm waiting on those to arrive. I guess I have a different revision chassis? Who knows.

Onward with the fixes!

 

[thegreathopper]

Nice work and a lovely cab.

 

[AlxUnderBase]

but when on earth are you gonna see another Windy for sale?

in my sale theard
Congrats for yours ,is beautiful ! Awesome theard

 

[phokkun]

As someone who's finishing up on restoring a Windy 2 and saw your videos pop up the other night actually, I could not be more envious! A Windy 1 is one of the last cabs I want so I'll be following this closely.

The convergence looks like the rings have come loose over time? Maybe moved a little in transit? I have a MS8 with loose neck rings and I forgot to add just about anything to keep them from moving, so after some rough handling you could imagine my reaction when I powered it on.

 

[Niko]

Awesome find on the casters! Can you share a link?

 

[benime]

Awesome find on the casters! Can you share a link?

guessing something like this.

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/deta...00000069860::c 00000070706::mig00000001419821

https://www.yueicaster.co.jp/en/products/series?sortkey=en_metal_type&mode=find

 

[Asobu]

Awesome find on the casters! Can you share a link?

Contrary to what I said in the OP, they are on ebay, just not listed as Windy Wheels. I got em here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/232354560417

Looks like they're available here as well:

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/221004981636/?curSearch={"field":"@search","seriesCode":"221004981636","innerCode":"","sort":1,"specSortFlag":0,"allSpecFlag":0,"page":1,"pageSize":"60","00000071627":"mig00000001422555","00000070706":"mig00000001422747"}&Tab=codeList

 

[Asobu]

As someone who's finishing up on restoring a Windy 2 and saw your videos pop up the other night actually, I could not be more envious! A Windy 1 is one of the last cabs I want so I'll be following this closely.

The convergence looks like the rings have come loose over time? Maybe moved a little in transit? I have a MS8 with loose neck rings and I forgot to add just about anything to keep them from moving, so after some rough handling you could imagine my reaction when I powered it on.

Initially, the rings were actually stuck in place. I had to gently wiggle them back and forth to break them free. I do think it's more of a chassis issue, but we'll see.

Did you happen to put your restore online? It'd be cool to see.

 

[Aurich]

I paid $1500 which may seem like a lot

This is how blessed we are in Cali lol

 

[Asobu]

This is how blessed we are in Cali lol

Sometimes I forget this privilege we have over here. Still feels difficult to get candys, but boy it sure could be a lot worse.

 

[Aurich]

Sometimes I forget this privilege we have over here. Still feels difficult to get candys, but boy it sure could be a lot worse.

It's definitely harder now than it used to be. Was a time when I wasn't buying more because I just wasn't in a place to fit them or work on them, not because they were harder to come by. I could have picked up more cabs on any day of the week really in days past. Make a call or two, take a little trip, done. Now we've got to be better about grabbing opportunities as they come up.

I'm just happy you landed that one. I'm confident it's going to come out great. And while $1500 for a candy isn't something I love, there's no question Windys are on the rare side, even here. That we came up on two in a single week is just the luck and blessing of the crew, not an indication there's a lot of them circulating!

 

[phokkun]

Initially, the rings were actually stuck in place. I had to gently wiggle them back and forth to break them free. I do think it's more of a chassis issue, but we'll see.

Did you happen to put your restore online? It'd be cool to see.

Oh ok fair enough, hopefully it's a simple fix then!

I haven't put anything up yet and the lens on my phone is broken so I never really stopped all that much to take photos. But I'll put something up once I've repainted the doors. These cabinets clean up real good :>

 

[Asobu]

Been making a lot of progress!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-hL24frkwc


The new bulb fits and works great.

The chassis and neckboard have been fully recapped, as well the power supply. Which means the cap list I made is good!

But most importantly, the convergence now looks fantastic on the monitor! Though the recap isn't what fixed it.

It was the convergence rings that fixed the issues. Here's the breakdown. There's 6 rings and they come in pairs. Each pair does something different. Moving a pair of rings toward/away from each other moves the color horizontally. Moving the rings together in the same direction moves the color vertically. Do the horizontal first, then vertical. Also, you wanna start with the first two rings at the base of the neck. They do the following:

First set of 2 rings at the base of the neck: Purity. This controls the overall color of the tube. If you have areas of the screen that are permanently miscolored, even after degaussing, that means your purity rings are out of alignment. Generally, you shouldn't need to touch these. I don't think the horizontal/vertical technique applies here either. I could be wrong.
Second set of 2 rings: Red and Blue. Adjust these next, horizontal then vertical
Third set of 2 rings: Red/Blue and Green. Think of this as adjusting Purple and Green. Again, horizontal then vertical

If you go in this order, you should be able to get your tube looking pretty good. I know I did. Originally I was going at it without doing any research and wasn't getting anywhere. Did some reading and watched some videos on convergence rings, which helped so so much.

There was also a lot of color bleeding, which was solved by turning down the contrast on the neckboard. The neckboard has 4 blue pots for RGB bias, and contrast. There was also some shaking issues with the picture, which was solved by adjusting the horizontal sync pot on the chassis. I wasn't able to find a vertical sync pot anywhere which is kinda strange?

I lied about the wheels being a perfect fit. They're *almost* perfect. The holes aren't stamped out very accurately, so I had to file them out a bit. Got some rat-tail files at harbor freight for like $4 and widened the holes. And for files, remember to only apply pressure during the shaving stroke. If you go at it back and forth like a saw, you will quickly ruin your file.

I wasn't able to source the leg levelers, so I just screwed on some 1 inch wood blocks. Got a long screw and countersunk it into the wood so it can't scratch the floor. No one will ever know.

As it sits right now, next to its buddy (rival?). I cleaned up the body as much as I could, and it looks pretty nice from the front. I'm just waiting on some panels from Alberto and it'll be done! (for now)

 

[TritonDrew]

Great work! I just got a Windy myself too but it's missing RED. Good to know about the convergence rings on it. Thanks!

 

[Mirko]

@BumbleChump Thanks for the recommendation on the Windy wheels, I picked some up for my Windy's. I have the original levelling feet, i'll try to find them online, they're very large compared to the Sega cabs

 

[Mirko]

Here is a Windy foot.
50mm wide m12 thread and overall length of 43.5mm, foot thickness is 9mm and the length of the threaded stud is 30mm. They do not swivel, they are solid with a abs plastic pad.

 

[Asobu]

Here is a Windy foot.
50mm wide m12 thread and overall length of 43.5mm, foot thickness is 9mm and the length of the threaded stud is 30mm. They do not swivel, they are solid with a abs plastic pad.

Thanks for that, but I would also need to find the mounting plates.

I could manufacture them by hand, but I don't have access to a machine shop.

 

[Mirko]

Want dimensions of my plates?

 

[Asobu]

Want dimensions of my plates?

Appreciate it, but I think I'll be okay. I can measure the hole lengths and diameters and whatnot if I decide to make em someday.

Have you posted your Windys anywhere? It would be cool to see.

 

[Mirko]

No, they are waiting full restoration, I’m the shits at taking progress pictures while I work for some reason