Star Wars Cockpit Renovation
- Thread starter Bods
- Start date
The original Service/Utility panel was one of only original parts left, no volume control and quite rusty. Didn't want to alter it so thought I'd make replacement, got plenty metal to use and bending tool and I could add the things I need like more volume controls
Bods, did you conserve some colour samples for artwork reprint? I think It is very important because there are a lot of restorations with no colour match.
I think, when original is available, is prime to get some samples for future restorations. I speak for me becaus I likt to get some little pieces of blue and red serigraphy from original artwork.
Regards
Mikonos112019-07-04 19:36:53
I think, when original is available, is prime to get some samples for future restorations. I speak for me becaus I likt to get some little pieces of blue and red serigraphy from original artwork.
Regards
Mikonos112019-07-04 19:36:53
I'm absolutely loving this restoration. Its conversion history is fascinating, and it's awesome to see you bring this machine back to life and turn it back into a Star Wars. It's not a restoration for the faint hearted, and the machine definitely ended up in the right hands, awesome work!
has been a lot more work than I thought but I really do enjoy it, just create myself too much to do all the time
It's a good job I have plenty of time to work on the machines. was hoping to get work done on the front garden and cars really but when weather is rubbish I can't with no garage, that's what I bought the pop up tent mainly
The Service panel might be the same in other Atari Cabs, I put it on ebay in case anyone needs one as I saw sellers in US asking $70 or so though I should probably just keep for another machine, never know when I need these things.
Sometimes you never learn by previous mistakes, I took out the speakers to clean them, One had so much dirt on it you couldn't see the foam edge. I know perfectly well not to touch old foam edges on them as they can be fine and you try and clean or touch them with your finger and that's it, falls apart. Cleaned all the dust from the edges, then decided to clean the cone itself, using cloth with touch of cleaner, I was being careful but just caught the edge slighty, straight through, so I just touched it all round.
Have quite a few old speakers with this issue, some Technics 6cm deep ones that had 4 foam edges with the passive radiator around the bass ring, need restoring but no idea how to do them, why did they use crappy foam
Another thing with the Star Wars, one set of speakers are 4 ohm, the other 8 ohm. they have single volume control. So the 4 ohm are the lower ones, I wonder if they did this so the lower under seat set are louder instead of just having separate amps and 2 controls.
So knackered one of the 8ohm and found after cleaning the other 4ohm is shot too, when you push the cone it scrapes, coils sometimes come loose and catch so had to replace the speakers
It's a good job I have plenty of time to work on the machines. was hoping to get work done on the front garden and cars really but when weather is rubbish I can't with no garage, that's what I bought the pop up tent mainly
The Service panel might be the same in other Atari Cabs, I put it on ebay in case anyone needs one as I saw sellers in US asking $70 or so though I should probably just keep for another machine, never know when I need these things.
Sometimes you never learn by previous mistakes, I took out the speakers to clean them, One had so much dirt on it you couldn't see the foam edge. I know perfectly well not to touch old foam edges on them as they can be fine and you try and clean or touch them with your finger and that's it, falls apart. Cleaned all the dust from the edges, then decided to clean the cone itself, using cloth with touch of cleaner, I was being careful but just caught the edge slighty, straight through, so I just touched it all round.
Have quite a few old speakers with this issue, some Technics 6cm deep ones that had 4 foam edges with the passive radiator around the bass ring, need restoring but no idea how to do them, why did they use crappy foam
Another thing with the Star Wars, one set of speakers are 4 ohm, the other 8 ohm. they have single volume control. So the 4 ohm are the lower ones, I wonder if they did this so the lower under seat set are louder instead of just having separate amps and 2 controls.
So knackered one of the 8ohm and found after cleaning the other 4ohm is shot too, when you push the cone it scrapes, coils sometimes come loose and catch so had to replace the speakers
Looked on ebay for some 6x9's
Found a guy with job lot, not in best condition some but like cheap stuff. these Alpine's looked good, more work sorting them out
The tweeter hanging out one, loads of grit and dirt under the tweeter/Midrange unit, so removed to clean them, glue the tweeter back, though they are waste of time, just fancy looking watch speakers, don't know why or how they get away with this, you can't hear them hardly without the others connected so they do nothing, but because it works sort of they can call them 3 way, basically they are 2 way. repair the terminal that fell off
I also got some Sony and Pioneer ones in another lot, they both sounded rubbish to these Alpine though, the bass on these is so much softer and the highs so much better quality treble, others sounded pretty poor afterwards, so I soured another set to put 4 Alpine SPS in there
Next issue is the the raised T/M ones hit the grills so I made some raises in wood, the other set came with some plastic ones which was bonus
After cleaning left and before Right
Cant seem to find picture of them fitted, I'll take some and add sometime, got another idea to add to them yet anyway
.
Found a guy with job lot, not in best condition some but like cheap stuff. these Alpine's looked good, more work sorting them out
The tweeter hanging out one, loads of grit and dirt under the tweeter/Midrange unit, so removed to clean them, glue the tweeter back, though they are waste of time, just fancy looking watch speakers, don't know why or how they get away with this, you can't hear them hardly without the others connected so they do nothing, but because it works sort of they can call them 3 way, basically they are 2 way. repair the terminal that fell off
I also got some Sony and Pioneer ones in another lot, they both sounded rubbish to these Alpine though, the bass on these is so much softer and the highs so much better quality treble, others sounded pretty poor afterwards, so I soured another set to put 4 Alpine SPS in there
Next issue is the the raised T/M ones hit the grills so I made some raises in wood, the other set came with some plastic ones which was bonus
After cleaning left and before Right
Cant seem to find picture of them fitted, I'll take some and add sometime, got another idea to add to them yet anyway
.
Vamino said:I really wondered where you was going with this when you first posted, but I have to say that you are doing a fantasic job with this!
Please keep posting stuff like this mate.
Cheers Matey
End of day, it's a Star Wars machine so the main thing it needs to run is Star Wars and look as original as it can do. To be honest I would of been happy with that Firefox cockpit, just too long though, would of been perfect with having a PC inside already
I started adding some of the parts needed to power the machine, got loads of old bits from cabs, job lots I've bought, some really useful stuff
The Mains switch and cover I believe are original, though the wood it goes on isn't, Added 110v stepdown for the monitor, used the filter that was in the cab, a terminal block from old Taito cab, black one
Then I had to move things to fit in another terminal block, that was from a later Atari driving machine lot I think, need connections for the PC Power Supply so spade connectors make it easy
Then after deciding what amplifiers to use, had to move things again and add transformer for those
Starting fitting PC board in place where the original Monitor pcb was
Had 2 spare Sega Amplifiers so thought I'd wire those up, took a bit of working out what was needed and connections, they need 18v to power them I think it was, from the Atari Driving insides I bought there was transformer with 2 18V outputs with centre tap, so connected them both to it, worked out the volume controls which are 5k pots and the audio inputs and speaker outputs, amps slightly different but only the connector types. after all that I had no sound at all, looked at some of the circuits from Sega driving cabs again and found they use the mute, it's connected to game pcb's I think so when no sound being output it mutes the amp so no buzzing or noise, so all it needs is the pins on connector shorting together to unmute the amps
So wiring looms made and now they are un muted it's all working, the mute pins are on same connector as Volume pots, on the bottom left in picture, the ones top left are audio input and bottom middle speaker output
Bods2019-07-05 14:18:59
The Mains switch and cover I believe are original, though the wood it goes on isn't, Added 110v stepdown for the monitor, used the filter that was in the cab, a terminal block from old Taito cab, black one
Then I had to move things to fit in another terminal block, that was from a later Atari driving machine lot I think, need connections for the PC Power Supply so spade connectors make it easy
Then after deciding what amplifiers to use, had to move things again and add transformer for those
Starting fitting PC board in place where the original Monitor pcb was
Had 2 spare Sega Amplifiers so thought I'd wire those up, took a bit of working out what was needed and connections, they need 18v to power them I think it was, from the Atari Driving insides I bought there was transformer with 2 18V outputs with centre tap, so connected them both to it, worked out the volume controls which are 5k pots and the audio inputs and speaker outputs, amps slightly different but only the connector types. after all that I had no sound at all, looked at some of the circuits from Sega driving cabs again and found they use the mute, it's connected to game pcb's I think so when no sound being output it mutes the amp so no buzzing or noise, so all it needs is the pins on connector shorting together to unmute the amps
So wiring looms made and now they are un muted it's all working, the mute pins are on same connector as Volume pots, on the bottom left in picture, the ones top left are audio input and bottom middle speaker output
Bods2019-07-05 14:18:59
Wanted separate Volume controls for the lower and upper speakers which is why I added 2 amps
I do have issue with it though, one amp connected to PC it's perfect, soon as 2nd connected the earth on the input connects and you get very loud buzzing through the speakers, will probably blow the speakers if left. for now I've had to add an adaptor so one input hasn't got earth directly connected
Not sure how I can sort this out properly yet
Just isolates the earth, only trouble is then when PC shut down, you get buzzing on one amp if Volume at reasonable level
Fitted more of the PC bits, PSU and Hard Drive, have loads of old brackets for HDD's etc. Button on Service panel to start it up and Power LED too. Another thing was to add Relay to power the monitor up when the PC switched on, so you don't leave the monitor powered on as you don't see anything when PC off and found myself forgetting, pcb and relay was from front panel of Microwave, 12V connected to PSU 12 supply, need to add some feet and fix to side of cab
I do have issue with it though, one amp connected to PC it's perfect, soon as 2nd connected the earth on the input connects and you get very loud buzzing through the speakers, will probably blow the speakers if left. for now I've had to add an adaptor so one input hasn't got earth directly connected
Not sure how I can sort this out properly yet
Just isolates the earth, only trouble is then when PC shut down, you get buzzing on one amp if Volume at reasonable level
Fitted more of the PC bits, PSU and Hard Drive, have loads of old brackets for HDD's etc. Button on Service panel to start it up and Power LED too. Another thing was to add Relay to power the monitor up when the PC switched on, so you don't leave the monitor powered on as you don't see anything when PC off and found myself forgetting, pcb and relay was from front panel of Microwave, 12V connected to PSU 12 supply, need to add some feet and fix to side of cab
Not sure if the Coin Door frame and lower door original, the upper door was a lower door with hole in and standard jamma fire button fitted in it
Took all that out and fitted another double door with old twin Mechanical mechs like it should have
Took all that out and fitted another double door with old twin Mechanical mechs like it should have
When the Control Panel didn't fit right, I decided to replace the wood under it with the holes where pedals fitted, looked like it had been altered anyway. hadn't got any wood with Smooth Vinyl but you can't tell under there
The front edge has recess for the hinge to fit so it's flush with the wood, jobs like this are far easier when you have a Table saw and Router.
Then I had to scrape off all the old Adhesive from the floor, needed to get some new black matting down
Amazing how long it takes just doing jobs like this, after getting all the old glue off I gave it a quick sand down before spray glue going down on the wood and the new mat, I bought a roll of ribbed matting for the Op Wolf and Electrocoin machines, it's quite good match and looks good in this also
The front edge has recess for the hinge to fit so it's flush with the wood, jobs like this are far easier when you have a Table saw and Router.
Then I had to scrape off all the old Adhesive from the floor, needed to get some new black matting down
Amazing how long it takes just doing jobs like this, after getting all the old glue off I gave it a quick sand down before spray glue going down on the wood and the new mat, I bought a roll of ribbed matting for the Op Wolf and Electrocoin machines, it's quite good match and looks good in this also
It is a shame some of these old machines have been converted and hacked up, you can understand they were there to make money for the operators but i guess things moved quickly back then with new games released all time, better grahics and hardware,
suppose its no good a game sat there making no money so either moved on or converted
Only way to look at it, at least the cab still exists, could of been scrapped years ago
suppose its no good a game sat there making no money so either moved on or converted
Only way to look at it, at least the cab still exists, could of been scrapped years ago
The coin door needed wiring up, luckily I found part of a loom off a machine in my boxes of cables so the hard part is already done and has connector already, the bulbs and spade connectors
I don't like the other type doors with Mars coin mechs, it's that orange reject button, every machine I change the doors back to these older type twin mechs or if the later games like Chase HQ, Op Wolf and Thunderbolt, they have the Electronic single Mech doors which are fine, all need to be the red reject buttons, row of cabs with them all lit up look great
just needed connecting to the USB controller and originally I wired the bulbs to 12v on the PC power supply, the bulbs seemed a bit bright though, have a draw with old bulbs in from over the years buying bits, some aren't labelled so were blown, some are 6V as I bought them new from Giz10p for the Chase HQ and Op Wolf. Then after trying the bulbs in Op Wolf I realised that most of these bulbs are 6v ones as there the right brightness, so found the new ones I had bought for the car lights, even the 12v ones are too bright though it may be the wattage thinking about but changed it over to the 5v with 6v bulbs
Found a panel mount LED, was Red but after connecting up to PC one of the legs fell off, so changed it to Green as it's the PC power on, the other switch is a Cherry one, came from a pusher machine, I'd gforgot where it was from till seeing two more on the machine the other day, perfect for the manual monitor Degauss, still needs wiring up
I don't like the other type doors with Mars coin mechs, it's that orange reject button, every machine I change the doors back to these older type twin mechs or if the later games like Chase HQ, Op Wolf and Thunderbolt, they have the Electronic single Mech doors which are fine, all need to be the red reject buttons, row of cabs with them all lit up look great
just needed connecting to the USB controller and originally I wired the bulbs to 12v on the PC power supply, the bulbs seemed a bit bright though, have a draw with old bulbs in from over the years buying bits, some aren't labelled so were blown, some are 6V as I bought them new from Giz10p for the Chase HQ and Op Wolf. Then after trying the bulbs in Op Wolf I realised that most of these bulbs are 6v ones as there the right brightness, so found the new ones I had bought for the car lights, even the 12v ones are too bright though it may be the wattage thinking about but changed it over to the 5v with 6v bulbs
Found a panel mount LED, was Red but after connecting up to PC one of the legs fell off, so changed it to Green as it's the PC power on, the other switch is a Cherry one, came from a pusher machine, I'd gforgot where it was from till seeing two more on the machine the other day, perfect for the manual monitor Degauss, still needs wiring up
Was getting fed up of the monitor making loads of noise when first switched on, also colour and brightness changing
took out the chassis and wrote down all the caps and values, then changed them all. need to type all the info and save in document before I loose the bit of paper. takes quite a while as it was over 20 caps. Had pretty much all of them as I bought quite a lot of Panasonic ones mainly for recapping the monitors
took out the chassis and wrote down all the caps and values, then changed them all. need to type all the info and save in document before I loose the bit of paper. takes quite a while as it was over 20 caps. Had pretty much all of them as I bought quite a lot of Panasonic ones mainly for recapping the monitors
It's nice to get the roof panels replaced, specially when the main one was painted black, I've just put a new back part on again as I cracked the other one rushing and hadn't got the angle quite right, this one fits perfect
Shame the Perspex ain't perfect thanks to the useless morons at https://www.sheetplastics.co.uk/ I spend £160+ worth or plastic with them and half of it is scratched so bad on the protective layer it's gone through to the plastic with deep scratches, chips out of it. that's me collecting it from them as well, could understand if it was shipped, it was all together waiting for me, guy picked up like 4/5 sheets at once as I bought bits for this machine and for 2 other things I was doing. I picked up a few and they went straight in the car on cloths. I try to buy local keep them in business but I shan't bother again. I really should of complained but always so busy I forget. I didn't check the sheets for a few weeks till I was ready to start with the work, wasn't till then I separated them all to find half of them in this state
Can't remember if I got the idea off other Member here, Think I'd been looking up bending Perspex/polycarbonate sheets as I had a few other things I need to do this on before the Star wars, the Sega Driving machine Signs, Glendale Monkey, made a few other small things as well, so all you need is a line bending machine which you can make, think I got some help with someone here that had already done it. some bits of chipboard, some aluminium U channel which came off partners old cooker from the handles, the heater wire and variable transformer which I wanted to get anyway after using them from work, use a spring to tension the wire as it stretches as it heats up
I found it was better for big sheets to clamp them down which lifting the wood with the hinges on, they came off something as well, only the wire is new
The first smaller bend done, which is no problem, it's the next one that you need to get in the exact right place else it's scrap, only one go at it
I suppose it depends where it hinges when you make it, but if I put the line where I want to bend it and over the heater wire, it is in the right place and ends up perfect place, but I test it on scrap bits first to check
Drilled the holes like the original top Panel, the lights make it look the wrong colour, will take some more in the day time
Shame the Perspex ain't perfect thanks to the useless morons at https://www.sheetplastics.co.uk/ I spend £160+ worth or plastic with them and half of it is scratched so bad on the protective layer it's gone through to the plastic with deep scratches, chips out of it. that's me collecting it from them as well, could understand if it was shipped, it was all together waiting for me, guy picked up like 4/5 sheets at once as I bought bits for this machine and for 2 other things I was doing. I picked up a few and they went straight in the car on cloths. I try to buy local keep them in business but I shan't bother again. I really should of complained but always so busy I forget. I didn't check the sheets for a few weeks till I was ready to start with the work, wasn't till then I separated them all to find half of them in this state
Can't remember if I got the idea off other Member here, Think I'd been looking up bending Perspex/polycarbonate sheets as I had a few other things I need to do this on before the Star wars, the Sega Driving machine Signs, Glendale Monkey, made a few other small things as well, so all you need is a line bending machine which you can make, think I got some help with someone here that had already done it. some bits of chipboard, some aluminium U channel which came off partners old cooker from the handles, the heater wire and variable transformer which I wanted to get anyway after using them from work, use a spring to tension the wire as it stretches as it heats up
I found it was better for big sheets to clamp them down which lifting the wood with the hinges on, they came off something as well, only the wire is new
The first smaller bend done, which is no problem, it's the next one that you need to get in the exact right place else it's scrap, only one go at it
I suppose it depends where it hinges when you make it, but if I put the line where I want to bend it and over the heater wire, it is in the right place and ends up perfect place, but I test it on scrap bits first to check
Drilled the holes like the original top Panel, the lights make it look the wrong colour, will take some more in the day time
That is wonderful work with bending those plastics yourself
Sorry to hear you got such poor quality from the so called professionals
Just goes to show sometimes, if you want it doing right - do it yourself
I'm sure you'll now be inundated with requests for replacements plexis!
Sorry to hear you got such poor quality from the so called professionals
Just goes to show sometimes, if you want it doing right - do it yourself
I'm sure you'll now be inundated with requests for replacements plexis!