A mouse f****** my Cyber Lead. Time for a restoration.

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Re the above post I’m too impatient to wait for the new parts - and even though I was going to pride myself in making a brand new harness and connectors I’ve opted to take the spare one off the donor chassis. Luckily I have access to a decent solder sucking machine at work which made things a bit easier. It took a bit of patience and wiggling the old connector to get it off because the pins are slightly spring loaded - and you can’t quite tell if the pin is hanging on from friction or solder.

Soldering on the donor connector to the chassis wasn’t too bad. My eyes struggled a bit to see detail - even with a magnifying ring light but I got it done. The little dividing strips between pin holes meant that I was able to avoid any dreaded solder joins. I confirmed no shorts with the multimeter afterwards.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

And that’s the chassis done I hope. A service wouldn’t hurt but one step at a time.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

One little piece of metal I forgot to powder coat was the coin mech bracket. I gave that a prime and paint today. It came up okay but I think the paint was a little unhappy with the primer or vice versa. It’s good enough to keep the moisture at bay.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I’ve cleaned up the adjustable feet. The plating has gone so perhaps they’ll rust but I can always replace them with some new rubber-footed ones. Maybe I can still source originals?

 

[DRAGONKZ]

Remind me to check the levellers on the one I just stripped, I believe they were ok.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Remind me to check the levellers on the one I just stripped, I believe they were ok.

Righto thanks

 

[DRAGONKZ]

 

[nidulans]

@DRAGONKZ Don't happen to have the glass instruction sheet covers and their hooks too do you?

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I cleaned all the grotty wires and cables today. I’m getting close now to reassembly which feels good.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

They’re nicer for sure. I’ll PM you.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Another step forward today. I’ve cleaned all of the screws, nuts and bolts. Some needed a polish in the drill and I sprayed some anti corrosion spray (AF50) on them. A few of the more corroded ones I replaced with new hardware. Not a very exciting picture sorry.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Okay, some days off now and smashing out more of the resto. I’ve removed all the melted wire tie coatings on the subframe, cleaned the metal ties and put heatshrink over the top.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Restoring the LED display involved a few stuff-ups but ended well. I sprayed the internal metal brackets in grey etch primer. I’d previously soaked all the plastic in soaker (like a Napisan) to remove all the oils and grease before painting. This reacted with the aluminium foil heat shield in the LED display enclosure which made it look terrible, but it didn’t matter too much. I should have taken it out first but resisted removing it until it was too late. This also made the marquee mounting bracket funky so I sanded that and gave it a coat of etch primer. Cleaning the screen and LED dot matrix has made a big difference. It’s all back together with NAMCO logo stuck on and is looking great.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Re fitting the speaker grilles was really quite difficult. The shape of the metal isn’t a neat fit and I had to be really careful when prying the grilles in to not scratch the new paint. I used a metal ruler to push and align the metal grille and put tape down so as not to scratch the paint.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I picked up the base from the powder coater after they didn’t do a great job on it originally. It looks great now. I’ve fitted the levellers and wheels. I also stripped the wire ties and added heat shrink. I then laid down some foam seal where it was originally - although I’ve added extra to level of where the PCB mounting board slides in. Lastly I’ve added the metal guides to the plastic front door - where they slot into the base.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I’ve started rebuilding the major components. I got compelled to put some adhesive foam under the coin box enclosure because I didn’t want it to rub on the base. Probably futile considering the machine will never be disassembled again - but I felt better about it . Stripping the wire ties and applying heat shrink was a bit of a task. There are a lot of them

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

The IO board, sound amp and coin mech are all back in. I cleaned the speakers and speaker enclosures.


So far this has been easy going since I kept good notes and pictures and had all the screws organised.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Some resto dopamine satisfaction is well and truly flowing now. The sides are on along with the upper brackets/monitor mounts. The plastic lower control panel tray is the only part that wasn’t painted/changed. It’s fine as is.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

A number of these parts were raw metal and therefore the grounding/earthing path wasn’t a problem. Now with the powder coat I’ve had to Dremel off some coating and insert a bit of earth braid to bring things back to normal. I’ll have to do more if this on a couple of rear panel mounting brackets and the rear panel itself.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

The speakers look good. The power supply and step down transformer are in and I’ve sanded and clear coated the PCB mounting board.