From ianski:
Asteroids Upright:
The worst physical aspect of the cabinet is the control panel which is badly rusted. This is printed directly onto the metal so maybe its a case of replacing the control panel rather than getting an overlay, I'm not sure what options are available.
We did manage to get the cab powered up using the 115v adapter rather than the 240v one, board light was on but there was a regular beeping (lower in register, a bit like buzzing) coming fro the speaker, it also sounded like a similar fainter sound was coming from the monitor area too.
The spot killer light was lit on the monitor board, there was no video signal and consequentially wouldn't play blind.
Apart from that everything looks complete, and as Jason mentioned there is a spare main board available.
At least the power brick was present in this one, and all the different voltage adapters too, nice.
Space Invaders:
The bottom of the cab has some water damage that should really be sorted out but the cab is pretty presentable, though the control panel is very rough and could do with a replacement.
The rest of the parts all seem present.
We got the machine to power up, neck glow was present on the monitor but no image displayed. When the machine was turned off a white line/dot was on the screen so it's getting something. Would not play blind though.
The boards were loose in the bottom of the cab, but there are 2 sets of both boards and brackets.
At first we thought half the ROMs were missing, but both boards only have 4 present. Jason suspected faulty boards hence why the replacement was available, hopefully between the two a good set can be made.
Gorf:
Apart from the control panel this cab is in pretty decent shape - I'm envious of the good condition of the sides, much better than my Gorf
I know decent repro control panels are available for these so should come up nicely with a replacement. Joystick looks and feels good too, probably needs servicing & the opto's cleaning though.
A bit messy down here...As you will see the power board is completely missing so we didn't get any further inspection done. Apart from this everything else seems to be present.
I have a board for my gorf that can be used unless its replaced with a switcher, although my board needs repair and I've read that when these boards go wrong they shove out a high voltage which fries the chips, still might be good to get it working though.
I think Jason would prefer his machines to run on 240v so parts for conversion are needed where applicable, maybe a few new switchers are in order?
Cool old bulbs, most likely blown though.
One thing I forgot to check was whether the horizontal width coil was intact, as they break easily. I'll go back at check this at some point.
In the meantime I have a replacement chassis I'll bring along (not tested though) with a newer coil installed, I bought it from someone on ukvac and it's apparently been rebuilt and re-capped, so hopefully working.
There are 2 full board sets in cages available, plus I have 2 of my own (one set is supposed to be working), so again I'll bring mine along so there are spares to try out. If we can get as many games up and running on the day it means more to play with!
Asteroids Cocktail:
Pretty decent condition cab although didn't get a shot of the outside (d'oh!)
Powers up and plays blind which is good but no image on the monitor sadly. It probably had too many plays at the Gadget Show where is was exhibited!
The monitor has a small area in the middle where its burned off some of the coating.
The diode attached to the HT lead was apparently arcing and welding itself, Jason soldered connections on to it and sealed it inside the black plastic case here but this obviously needs sorting out:
Some creative soldering here - needs a replacement connector:
Well that's all for now, apart from one other cab that is still in storage at the moment which is a Tempest upright! When that arrives I'll get some shots of it and see what that's like... colour vector monitors are supposed to be pretty scary though aren't they?
Would *love* to see this one up and running!
Again if any more details are needed just post up and we will see what we can do. In the meantime thanks for the help and generosity to those who are donating much needed parts
Ian.
. It's not the end of the world as it's panning out to be an awesome event even without the extra kit - really looking forward to just playing the cabs after we've fixed a few up.
I think I have found the power board for Gorf and a spare Asteroids board.
