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Neo Geo MVS-4-25 v3 Restoration

DelsArcade said:
Great restoration with attention to detail! I have a 4 slot cabinet myself in storage that's in fantastic shape. I'm pretty sure I will need to replace the marquee panels, etc. I'm curious to what your solution will be.

Del
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Thank you! I'll be using repros from szabosarcades.com for all of the art bits (side art, marquee, control panel, and so on), as well as repro mini-marquees apart from the odd original or two that I have on hand. As for the electronics... well, I said that I've always wanted one of these cabinets, and I really meant it. Something like 20 years ago, I bought a bunch of parts on eBay with the intention of using them in a future cabinet, and I've held onto them ever since. So, I have a set of those lighted marquee panels, a memory card / audio board, two coin counter boards, an audio amp, a bunch of cables, and other stuff. I'll use those as needed as part of this restore. Unfortunately, that's not very useful advice for anyone else's restore unless they happen to own a time machine, haha.

I've seen repros of a lot of this stuff over at neogeoledmarquee.info that look promising, but I don't have any firsthand experience.
 
Life has gotten in the way lately, so I've been working in fits and spurts. Here's a summary of what I've done in the last couple of weeks:

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I wanted to smooth out the edges that I will be painting, so I used applied some Bondo to fill in the small holes in the particle board. Then I sanded. And sanded. And sanded.

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I got it to the point where I thought it was pretty smooth, and then painted. Turns out it was not as smooth as I thought. On top of that, the paint didn't look very good; I used a semi-gloss black and it's way too shiny. I decided to sand a little more to even out the major imperfections (like the horizontal lines that remained from applying the Bondo) and repaint with a matte black paint.

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That's better! The matte black matches the original overlay way better than the semi-gloss. It's not perfectly smooth, but I don't think I'm going to do any better without a different approach. Besides, most of this will be covered by boards or by the front marquee panel. Only the edges are going to peek out.

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I also hit the control panel with my random orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper. It worked great! I have some detail work left, and still need to hit the bottom side. That will be harder, because there's not enough space due to the joystick bolts and memory card board tray to get my sander in there.

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I then made the interior cuts two two of the back panels: the one for the monitor, and the one for the PSU. For the PSU one, I used the old panel to scribe the cutout shape. I then used a 3 3/4" drill saw to cut out the big circular portion, then a jigsaw (and some helper 1/2" holes) to cut out the remaining potions. Then I used rasps and files to smooth out the shape. I then used a 1/4" drill bit to drill the screw holes around the cutout. I used a similar method for the cutout in the monitor panel.

And finally, drum roll, please...

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I finally attached the new rear panels! I used wood glue and a pneumatic stapler with 1 1/4" staples. The exceptions are the lower access panel, which I attached with countersunk woodscrews, and the monitor panel, to which I added a lock for easy access. I scuffed up the panels pretty good when installing them, so I'm going to fill the staple holes and repaint at the end before applying the side art. I might add a clear coat, as well, but I need to experiment with that to make sure it looks right.
 
It's been almost a month, and I've been slacking off on the updates. Work has been sporadic due to life stuff, but I'm getting stuff done here and there as I can. The last bit of woodworking I needed to do was the front of the cabinet, due to water damage along the bottom edges. My plan was to cut off the bottom part of each front panel and replace that portion with a new piece of particle board, same as I did on the sides.

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I started by marking my cuts. This was going to be tricker than the sides, because there isn't a flat plane to run a circular saw along. My plan was to use a jigsaw and an oscillating multi-tool for these cuts, which would do the job but not create nice straight lines like a circular saw. But, that's what Bondo is for, right? Anyway, I planned to stagger the cuts both for better stability against shearing when moving the finished cabinet, and to make getting a tool in there easier for each cut.

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I started with the front panel. I used a jigsaw to cut the center part, and an oscillating multi-tool to cut the edges without damaging the supports underneath. I then scraped all the remaining bit of wood and glue off, and used a rasp to even out the edge that I cut. After this process, and examining the other panels and wondering how the heck I would get a clean cut with all the other edges and support beams in the way, I decided I would just replace this front panel and sand down and Bondo the other panels. I just didn't have confidence that I could make good cuts on them.

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Anyway, I cut a new panel for the front, which I glued and stapled in place from behind. I added a support piece behind the seam just as I did with the sides.

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I had previously applied wood hardener to these swollen edges, so I went ahead and sanded them down until they were flat. Then I added Bondo, which I sanded the next day. Not pictured, but I did the same thing to the sides that I had previously cut.

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I also cut channels for the T-molding on the side panels that I had previously replaced, using this slot cutter. It worked great!

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Finally, I sprayed all the edges black in preparation for the side art. I still haven't received the art, but I contacted Sbazo's Arcades last week and they expect it to ship sometime this week.

And with that, the woodworking is finally all done! And thank goodness; it's been a ton of work, and I'm ready to move on to stuff that doesn't produce sawdust.
 
I also did work scraping, sanding, and painting the metal parts. I'll do a roundup post about that later. This one is more fun: putting the guts back in!

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Before the guts, the legs. I replaced the rusted out levelers with fresh new ones. Then I put the cabinet upright and started installing the harness, roughly routing wires where they needed to go.

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I reassembled the monitor frame and attached it to the TV donor tube. One of the previous owners had detached the back part of the frame and mounted it separately from the front part, which apart from being unstable is probably dangerous due to improper grounding. Once it was back together, I mounted it securely in the cabinet. When I first got the cabinet, the monitor was held in place with three skinny wood screws and a few washers. I put six thick boys in there to make sure everything was nice and secure. Also pictured: me. Should have gotten a less reflective monitor...

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I bought a plastic shroud a few years back for another one of my cabinets, but it didn't fit. It looked like it was going to fit here, so I cut it down to size and popped it in. Success!

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A pic from behind with the chassis, neck board, and 4-slot motherboard installed.

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I replaced the power supply that came with the cabinet with a drop-in replacement for the original. I guess I got one of the last ones, because it's sold out now.

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Control panel and speaker section. All parts are what came with the cabinet except the memory card board and the speakers. I had an extra MC board I bought some time ago, and I got some replacement speakers from Digi-Key with similar specs to the ones that came with the cabinet. I also put the lighted marquee panel that I mentioned in an earlier post on the other side, and installed the metal marquee door.

Then, after hooking everything up and cleaning up the wiring...

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It's alive!!! Hearing that iconic Neo Geo boot sequence was sweet music to my ears. I have to admit, I sat there and watched the attract mode loop though all the games a few times. I can't wait to get this thing done and start playing!
 
This is such a beautiful restore, thanks for sharing. I love these cabinets too, they were so iconic in arcades! Looking forward to seeing the final finishing touches. Great job!
 
My art kit finally arrived last week! On Friday night, I pulled the monitor, control panel, and marquee door. Then I excitedly put on the first piece of sideart...

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... and it didn't look very good. I did not sand the sides nearly well enough; the vinyl was not very forgiving, and all the imperfections shone through. I spent the rest of the evening applying wood filler to all the low spots and small pores in the wood.

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I let the filler dry overnight, then the next day I spent a few hours sanding all of the sides by hand until they felt smooth and even. After sanding, I resprayed all of the edges black. After letting that dry overnight, I started applying the remaining sideart.

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Okay, that looks better!

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Installation was pretty straightforward; I just followed the instructions in this video. Basically, position the side art and clamp it down. Then peel back one edge and cut some of the backing, and lay it down with a decal spreader. Then remove some more backing and spread some mode. Continue until the side art is completely adhered. Then use an Xacto knife with a fresh blade to trim. Then repeat for all sides!

After I got all the sideart applied, I reinstalled all the parts I had pulled. Then, I installed new T-molding. I totally forgot to take pictures, because I was totally focused on finishing up. But once the T-molding was done...
 
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There are some things I'd still like to do:
- The back side is splotchy in places, and has striping in other places from the rattle can. I'd like to do some sanding and a final re-coat at some point.
- The glass in front of the monitor has some scratches that I'd like to remove.
- I need to put some screen material behind the rectangular cut-out on the rear monitor panel.
- A couple of other things I can't remember right now.
- Fix the monitor.

Fix the monitor?

Yes. Fix the monitor. After I finished putting in the T-molding, I powered up the cabinet and everything was amazing! I let it run in attract mode while I cleaned up, and soaked in those great intro sounds. At one point, I looked over at the monitor, and it was black. No video. I tuned it off and on again a couple of times, but no dice. I checked around back and smelled the faint scent of burning electronics. I poked around, and eventually found that the flyback was burning hot. That, combined with this thread on KLOV where someone had identical flybacks go out on an identical chassis, led me to believe that the flyback was at fault. The next day, I pulled the flyback and swapped in the old one, and sure enough, the monitor came back to life.

Unfortunately, the old flyback is about to fail and the picture looks like absolute garbage. I ordered another flyback from APAR, which hopefully will last longer than the last one. So, until then, I have a big beautiful cabinet with an absolutely terrible picture. It looks bad enough that I don't even want to play, so I can't wait for the new one to arrive!

Apart from that, I'm very happy with the restore. There are plenty of minor flaws here and there that I can easily live with. The only major flaws are that lower black vinyl panel that I already pointed out, and the upper edge of the red panel on the same side. If you look at the photo above, you can see some unevenness due to the water damage that I did not manage to fully sand out. I wish I had done a better job, but it's not the end of the world; it's not super noticeable unless you're looking for it.

In the end, I learned a ton doing this restore, and I saved a cabinet that could easily have been sent to the dump. Even with the flaws, I'm extremely pleased with how it came out and am so excited to finally have a proper Big Red in my collection!
 
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@PASTBLASTER or anyone else who has one of these cabinets: how is the back finished? Is it painted black or covered with a black overlay? I just want to confirm I’m doing this the right way. The back of mine was originally rotted to hell, but it looked like it had been painted.
 
I got a new flyback from APAR and installed it last week. So far, so good! I've been playing a lot and leaving the cabinet on for extended periods for soak testing, and it's holding up like a champ. Guess I just got a bum flyback last time.

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Srayer said:
I got a new flyback from APAR and installed it last week. So far, so good! I've been playing a lot and leaving the cabinet on for extended periods for soak testing, and it's holding up like a champ. Guess I just got a bum flyback last time.
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Good to hear. Yeah, Peter (APAR store owner) is a good dude. Did he exchange it for you?
 
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