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Another 00's MAME Victim - Egret 29 Restore

Waiting for parts to arrive and things to happen, so starting on remaking some of the missing parts on the rustbucket. Never used fusion before, but luckily I don't have to touch the solid tools for quite some time. :) The sheet metal tools are very easy. Many of my parts are still out for sandblasting, so right now I'm just doing whatever I still have here at home that's missing.

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trashedcabs said:
Waiting for parts to arrive and things to happen, so starting on remaking some of the missing parts on the rustbucket. Never used fusion before, but luckily I don't have to touch the solid tools for quite some time. :) The sheet metal tools are very easy. Many of my parts are still out for sandblasting, so right now I'm just doing whatever I still have here at home that's missing.

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I would love to get a copy of this! (need it!)
 
Dude that would take me months to work out fusion to draw those. Nicely done. I think I used those AMP edge connectors for my Exceleena restore. They’re quite fiddly to crimp and you have to be careful handling the pins so as not to damage the springy bit. The worst part for me was that the thicker gauge power wires were a bit big for the pins and I think the bigger pins were hard to find. But you seem covered with pins that are 18-22 AWG. I think I had 20-26 or something. They were $1 AUD each. This is a true restoration and I’m following with interest.
 
I started painted the white parts and they turned out great, using Jenolite RAL9016 matched cans and Spraymax 2K satin automotive clear. I should have the remaining white plastic bits done in the next few days.

I painted the control panel but I was not happy with the finish, so I am in the process of sanding it back down and trying again, but I am a bit burnt out on sanding right now having dumped probably 20 hours into it for multiple projects over the past couple weeks. ||

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A very expensive original piece arrived from YAJ. This will be reproduced and the files given out.

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I've been making some headway on the control panel model. Still have some bits to change and add and need to triple check the dimensions and hole spacing again, but it's mostly represented now.

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A friend of a friend fixed the welds on the main body, so as soon as I can get the bottom control panel housing back from the sand blaster the whole cabinet can go for powder coating.
 
twistedsymphony said:
Rare enough people have actually argued with me as to whether or not they even exist (despite the fact I own 3 of them) 😂
one of mine was NOS as well... I'm curious how accurate Alberto panel art is to the original if you wouldn't mind some close-up comparisons.
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Wait. People are arguing about if the 2L12Bs actually existed? I have a few NOS ones and even the Taito invoice, in case they need more proof 😂 What's rare though: the red Egret 29. Those were produced in way smaller quantities, Taito Tech told me years ago.

@trashedcabs Those 3d renders look insanely accurate! Really looking forward to the results! Really nice work so far!
 
I haven't made a ton of progress on this, since other things have taken priority. I dropped the body pieces off for powder coating a couple weeks ago, however the shop is running behind and the ETA is roughly two weeks from now. They quoted around $1100 to do the entire cabinet plus a set of Astro City doors, which is very reasonable IMO. I've also been having a hell of a time finding any shop to handle the zinc plating--both shops that I talked to said they no longer do zinc or nickel plating and only do chrome now. The third shop I called didn't pick up, and two other shops in the area are owned by the same guy who has a ton of poor reviews for screaming at customers. Most of the other shops only seem to deal with large aerospace clients, but I'm gonna try calling them anyway when I get time.

The more I worked on the CAD for the bottom control panel housing, the more I realized that actually getting it made is going to be very difficult and time consuming, since I'm not a fabricator. The likely path forward is that I will purchase another rustbucket cabinet from my friend, take the entire control panel assembly, and part out/scrap the rest. He needs the extra parts for his pile of junk anyway, so I think it works out in the end.

The inside of mine is REALLY pitted. I tried grinding it down, but the pitting in some parts is measurable in millimeters... The screw posts for the card reader add-on were unfortunately rust stumps and had to go. The outside looks decent, so it should be good enough with a thick powder coat.

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I've started on remaking the wiring harnesses for the rustbucket cab. So far, I've done the JAMMA breakaway, both the control panel harnesses, and the speaker/lamp harness. The main harness is quite dense and complicated, but I have started on some of the AC wiring.

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I also repaired the cut control panel harness on the original which required reversing the wiring diagram a bit, so here's what I came up with, using @twistedsymphony diagram as a base. I did change some of the wiring colors to match what was in my cabinet. The labeling of "left hand" and "right hand" on the original was really goofy, and the nonsense wire color coding in this cab is a pain to deal with. I will continue to add to this diagram as I go through the main harness.

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I started reassembling this today, though I mostly worked on the New Astro next to it which will be going up for sale as soon as my package from arcadeartrepro finally shows up after 2 months of waiting.

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Unfortunately I have to take the whole rotation mech out again because one of the T-nuts that holds the marquee on lost its bite in the wood and started spinning. Also, I installed the LED marquee fixture I normally use, since the previous owner hot glued in a different fluorescent fixture, but I realized that since the fixture is not omnidirectional, the lower Taito logo panel would not get illuminated. I have a different fixture coming tomorrow that should work. I also had to pause on doing the upper clamshell because I noticed a large dent on the metal surround which I'm going to have to bang out before I apply the blue vinyl stripe. It wasn't obvious with the horrific blue sparkle paint on it.

I've made good progress remaking the main wiring loom for my second cabinet. I have the control wiring, coin meter, shielded video cable, and DC power wiring done. I just need to finish the AC wiring, audio, test panel, and ground network and it should be done. I can finally start putting the original loom back into this cabinet and clean up the giant mess of supplies crowding up my living room table.

The previous owner jammed this thick lamp cord up the other chrome tube, despite there already being 120v wiring in place. They even taped off the original wiring and wrote "warning 120v" on it... very confusing.

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Used original marquee was very expensive and quite scratchy. I should be able to sand and polish this out, but first I'll just remake it.

I also have a few questions for other E29 owners, since I can't quite find what I'm looking for online:

  • What color are the speaker grilles supposed to be? The previous owner of this cabinet had them all chrome plated, probably the only professional thing he did. I think they're supposed to be a dark gray? Doesn't look like black.
  • Has anyone else replaced the floor mat on the right side? Mine has a ton of blue overspray on it from the previous owner, because of course it does. I'm trying to find the right material and it doesn't seem like EPDM rubber. It's quite stiff and has a plastic-like texture to it. It's 1-1/16" thick.
  • I bought the repro sticker pack from Olly, but I don't know where these two are supposed to go. I can't find any pictures of them on a cabinet.
    1753001999702.png
 
@trashedcabs a few setbacks it seems but it’s looking good. What are you waiting for from arcadeartrepro out of curiosity? I just placed an order for some Astro stuff and hoping it doesn’t drag on like yours…although my last order for Aero stuff took ages too.
 
trashedcabs said:
  • What color are the speaker grilles supposed to be? The previous owner of this cabinet had them all chrome plated, probably the only professional thing he did. I think they're supposed to be a dark gray? Doesn't look like black.
  • Has anyone else replaced the floor mat on the right side? Mine has a ton of blue overspray on it from the previous owner, because of course it does. I'm trying to find the right material and it doesn't seem like EPDM rubber. It's quite stiff and has a plastic-like texture to it. It's 1-1/16" thick.
  • I bought the repro sticker pack from Olly, but I don't know where these two are supposed to go. I can't find any pictures of them on a cabinet.
Click to expand...
the grilles are like a matte greyish black. as for the sticker placement ion the back, i dont have a pic of my own but looks like someone already linked an appropriate pic. as for the floor mat, mine was dirty, a lot dirtier than i thought. i only had to use clorox cleaning wipes to get the grime off. if you have overspray i would try goo gone. goof off might be too caustic but that mat is very durable so it might be worth a shot. if you do, use it on a rag, wpie it, and immediately wipe it with a wet rag that will neutralize the goof off so it wont wreck the rubber. i think its better to try and save it first before giving up on it and having to find a modern replacement, if possible.
 
yup I can also confirm that speaker grills are a dark grey. also the area of the white plastic behind the grill (around the speaker) is blacked out with some mat paper so that you don't see the white plastic behind the grill.

I replaced mine with some matte black vinyl wrap. I also covered the contact area between the monitor glass and the hook with this material to hide the missing paint on the back glass and give it a softer surface to prevent further degradation

twistedsymphony

Post in thread 'Taito Egret 29 Restoration'

One thing that is NOT done yet on this cab is fixing the chipped paint on the back of the glass.
The front glass is painted black around the parameter and has white painted EGRET29 and Taito logos in the corners.
The glass rubbing up against the plastic bits behind it basically wore the paint off all along the edge which even cut right through parts of the logos. Here's a pic of what I'm talking about:

bo_1.jpg


I tried some touch up paint and did more harm than good. I have a plan to fix it properly but I was in a time crunch so I took some alternative measures.

First I...
  • Like
 
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Thanks all. I went ahead and placed those stickers. I should have some dark gray spraypaint sitting around I can use for the speaker grilles. I did know about the black paper inside the speaker pods and was meaning to remake those as well on the cricut.

I would prefer to replace the floor rubber because while yes I can probably clean off the original and get it looking acceptable, I'm going to need to source the material for the second cabinet anyway as that one the floor mat is warped and brittle from years of sun exposure. I can source lots of different types of adhesive-backed rubber, but without seeing it in person it's hard to know how close the material is to the original.

Ziggy Cheetos Dust said:
@trashedcabs a few setbacks it seems but it’s looking good. What are you waiting for from arcadeartrepro out of curiosity? I just placed an order for some Astro stuff and hoping it doesn’t drag on like yours…although my last order for Aero stuff took ages too.
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The cabinet needed both upper acrylic illumination strips and a 100y sticker for the control panel. About a month after placing the order I got a tracking number, which PostNL says left the country 10 days ago. USPS doesn't have it yet, so I'm assuming it's probably on a plane somewhere. I need this NAC gone so the E29 can take its spot in the living room. :)
 
trashedcabs said:
Thanks all. I went ahead and placed those stickers. I should have some dark gray spraypaint sitting around I can use for the speaker grilles. I did know about the black paper inside the speaker pods and was meaning to remake those as well on the cricut.

I would prefer to replace the floor rubber because while yes I can probably clean off the original and get it looking acceptable, I'm going to need to source the material for the second cabinet anyway as that one the floor mat is warped and brittle from years of sun exposure. I can source lots of different types of adhesive-backed rubber, but without seeing it in person it's hard to know how close the material is to the original.



The cabinet needed both upper acrylic illumination strips and a 100y sticker for the control panel. About a month after placing the order I got a tracking number, which PostNL says left the country 10 days ago. USPS doesn't have it yet, so I'm assuming it's probably on a plane somewhere. I need this NAC gone so the E29 can take its spot in the living room. :)
Click to expand...
I think he makes a lot of his acrylic stuff after it’s ordered. We have the same experience here in Aust where there’s a huge hole in tracking information between it leaving Europe and being out for delivery.
 
trashedcabs said:
I started reassembling this today, though I mostly worked on the New Astro next to it which will be going up for sale as soon as my package from arcadeartrepro finally shows up after 2 months of waiting.

IMG_2262.JPG


Unfortunately I have to take the whole rotation mech out again because one of the T-nuts that holds the marquee on lost its bite in the wood and started spinning. Also, I installed the LED marquee fixture I normally use, since the previous owner hot glued in a different fluorescent fixture, but I realized that since the fixture is not omnidirectional, the lower Taito logo panel would not get illuminated. I have a different fixture coming tomorrow that should work. I also had to pause on doing the upper clamshell because I noticed a large dent on the metal surround which I'm going to have to bang out before I apply the blue vinyl stripe. It wasn't obvious with the horrific blue sparkle paint on it.

I've made good progress remaking the main wiring loom for my second cabinet. I have the control wiring, coin meter, shielded video cable, and DC power wiring done. I just need to finish the AC wiring, audio, test panel, and ground network and it should be done. I can finally start putting the original loom back into this cabinet and clean up the giant mess of supplies crowding up my living room table.

The previous owner jammed this thick lamp cord up the other chrome tube, despite there already being 120v wiring in place. They even taped off the original wiring and wrote "warning 120v" on it... very confusing.

IMG_2258.JPG


IMG_2261.JPG


Used original marquee was very expensive and quite scratchy. I should be able to sand and polish this out, but first I'll just remake it.

I also have a few questions for other E29 owners, since I can't quite find what I'm looking for online:

  • What color are the speaker grilles supposed to be? The previous owner of this cabinet had them all chrome plated, probably the only professional thing he did. I think they're supposed to be a dark gray? Doesn't look like black.
  • Has anyone else replaced the floor mat on the right side? Mine has a ton of blue overspray on it from the previous owner, because of course it does. I'm trying to find the right material and it doesn't seem like EPDM rubber. It's quite stiff and has a plastic-like texture to it. It's 1-1/16" thick.
  • I bought the repro sticker pack from Olly, but I don't know where these two are supposed to go. I can't find any pictures of them on a cabinet.
    1753001999702.png
Click to expand...

Regarding that scratched up marquee, check out the Novus three step acrylic / plastic scratch removal and cleaning kit.

I had a very scratched up marquee that I managed to get from this

PXL_20240831_170054344.jpg


To this. without too much effort:

Still has some of the deeper scratches but it's like night and day, actually diffuses the light properly now:

PXL_20240909_195155557.jpg
 
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