Atari System 2 Championship Sprint

[strykr]

Thats the plan James, It was just screws and hefty staples keeping it together, I have removed all of the staples, and plan to fix it together for easy dissasembly And then to get it back to totally original would just take a hefty staple gun! I have two or three bits of wood to refabricate that were either missing or broken, once they are done I can put it back together.

I think a wire wheel might be the next thing to try on the wheels, as you say battle scars are quite cool its a cross between mint and having some character. I will probably try a few more things, I can experiment on the rear part of the wheel.

 

[strykr]

I never knew bathing the wheels in full fat sugared coke would do that, thats my new snippet of knowledge for today

I was going to use wire wool on my badlands ones.

Scary stuff isnt it, I made sure I had a nice ice cold glass of it while I was working tho

 

[bonehead]

Just becareful cleaning the rust off with a wire wheel.
I have made scour marks on metal in the past which looks worse than the rust.
Try t-cut and wire wool.
Try it on the back frat and see how it goes.

Steve

 

[RGP]

Just becareful cleaning the rust off with a wire wheel.
I have made scour marks on metal in the past which looks worse than the rust.
Try t-cut and wire wool.
Try it on the back frat and see how it goes.

Steve

This is better advice. I use wire wheel/sander on marquee brackets and other panels that are gettig primed/painted, works great for that but exposed metal needs another process to avoid scuffs, well spotted steve.

 

[strykr]

Right, finally got some decent time to spend on this today, and thanks to rog's small package (

) that arrived with some great speakers and buttons, I could proceed. Thanks mate,

First
up was refabricating the top part of wood that was torn off, annoyingly
its probably the most complicated bit of wood on the cabinet, as it has
the speakers in, the long speaker grill, and a hole for the glass, and
the t molding at the front.

Here is what I have to work on. Somewhere along the line, this bit had just been ripped away

Fortunately
I took a lot of pics when I was at Bensonrads last week, and Jodo has
been very helpful with my "can you just take a pic of this bit"
requests, so I had a good idea, but it was still a fair amount of
guesswork.

First, I had the wood cut to size, then i cut a slot
for the special bit of t molding that has a gap either side, one to hold
the marquee glass, and the other so the speaker grill can fit. I didnt
have the router bit, so I went with a saw, and it worked out ok.

Then
I routed a slot for the glass to go in, then cut the holes for the
speakers and routed out a bit so they could be sunk in and not touch the
grill.

Offered it up, and so far so good.

With the speakers fitted, i removed them and applied black vinyl to the wood, then attached the speaker grill

With this part done I could finally put the other half of the cab back together, as my view for the last 4 weeks has been:

So onto my mangled coffee table, that doubles as a black and decker workmate

New part of wood in place.

Other side back on.

Replacing the missing part of wood for the marquee light:

And finally I can get the cab upright! Lots more to do but feels good to get it upright again.

Such a huge cab! Makes the little cabaret look like a toy!

getting there, slowly but surely.

 

[jengineer]

dude, this is starting to take shape, can't wait to see the side art done and the glass in, CP on etc!

top one!
jengineer2014-06-01 22:58:55

 

[Purity]

Impressive work man. Just one question...are you doing this in your living room?

 

[strykr]

Cheers fellas!

yep in the living room, i spend as much time cleaning up after as I do restoring

. I live in a flat, so no choice really. Plus the sound of powertools keeps the neighbours on their toes

strykr2014-06-01 23:16:42

 

[strykr]

dude, this is starting to take shape, can't wait to see the side art done and the glass in, CP on etc!

top one!

Looking forward to that stage That double coin door I got off you is for this cab

 

[strykr]

Did a bit more today,

wired up the speakers and installed the marquee light and ballast

Couldnt resist trying out the marquee

Also
did a fair amount more wood filling, as one of the corners came off
when I moved it, the top corner had a hole, and once id removed the
vinyl on the other side, there were quite a few dings and dents, lots of
sanding to do tomorrow.

I also remade the final bit of missing wood, that sits above the back door.

Bit of vinyl

Got
all the hardware back from the powdercoaters a week back, a lot of it
was in a bad way, but has come out great! thanks to Hitesh for sorting
that out.

And attached it to the cab, along with the roof of the cab.

And thats that for the moment.

 

[shrunkenmaster]

Coming on nicely! Who did the powder coating?

 

[phillv85]

Looking good

Can't wait to see the end result.

 

[strykr]

I dont know the name of them actually, they are Sussex based though, Did a really good job, PM hitesh on here, they did his Pony cabinet and was impressed. Its definitely a million times easier and a better finish then spraying.

 

[strykr]

Did a few more things today,

Sorted out the pedals and put them
all back together, treated them to some NOS springs from arcade fixit
too. They were pretty beat!

They've come up quite nice tho.

Cut and applied some anti slip adhesive flooring to them as well,

I
snagged an atari service panel from US ebay as well which got similar
treatment, coin counters a bit shagged, but its authentic

And finally put together the double coin door and mechs that ben(76) and ben(purity) kindly donated to the cause!

Still
absent a few bits I need for the doors, one of those microswitches with
the lever, a 10p insert which I think I can get from Swallow, a coin
door bulb holder, and preferably another one of those bulky screw
things that hold the s10's in!

Also attached the marquee and top bracket permanently, marquee looks a bit faded, but lovely when lit

And thats all for today

 

[ben76]

Needs a trackball and 3 spinners imo....

Nice work

- Ben

 

[muddymusic]

Nice work dude, those pedals came up a treat. This cab has really come a long way from the flat pack you started with!

 

[strykr]

Had a few days off last week and got some more work done.

After trying a lot of various vinyl samples, none of them worked very well, and all showed the roughness of the wood through, I was chatting to Purity about it and he said he was going with yellow Formica for his Pac cab, so I looked into that. I also watched a few youtube vids and noticed that tighe over on Klov does this with quite a few cabs.

I got a few prices and it was way too expensive tbh, I even drove to kent to have a look and ask a few questions at the main uk formica dealer...

Spoke to Purity again and he game me the number of the same company but oop north. And yes they were selling the exact same product at a third of the price their southern branch was.... make of that what you will.

I hired a laminate router from HSS bought the correct bit off ebay and some contact adhesive from BnQ. Cut the basic shape around the cab, this stuff is quite brittle so that was tricky as I dont have a mini circular saw, so ended up doing it slowly with scissors.. brushed both sides with the contact adhesive, and applied. Then trimmed with the router.

A couple of the edges aren't 100 percent flush, I put this down to the smaller roller bearing on the bit following the countour of the cab edges, and the edges aren't 100 percent straight after removing the t moulding. Very happy with the outcome though!

Next up was applying the Side art from This Old Game, Ive done a few CPOs, some sideart and vinyled wood parts but I was still bricking it a bit. The side art wasn't cheap once you include the customs fist...

Followed the tried and tested approach of measuring up, and holding in place with masking tape, removing a small section of the backing from the bottom and sticking on to secure the position, then peeling the backing tape slowly back and squeegeing down.

Went very well and pleased with the results, it was a bit hairy in parts tho...

Applied the t moulding and put the monitor in.

Worked on the control panel, and gilt it all back together.

I ordered a reproduction system 2 bezel from Joeyscuda on Klov and it fits nicely.

I still haven't put the back door on as I can't find the correct hinges for this cab anywhere... Might have to look at getting them reproed at some stage.

And thats the cab done pretty much, Unfortunately its still a shell, but a nicer looking one lol. Just need an Atari AR3, pcb stack, iso, and wiring harness, and a small lottery win to cover those costs..

If anyone does have any of the above parts, please let me know, I would love to get this fully up and running.

 

[phillv85]

Looking good Rich, those sides look excellent.

 

[vib_ribbon]

are you getting close to colouring in the moulded caps?

 

[strykr]

are you getting close to colouring in the moulded caps?

One of those is original, and the other is one of yours vib, I tried a few methods to paint them and none came out great if I'm honest. at the moment it is paint penned black and silver. Any plastic painting experts please pipe up!