I want to keep it short tonight because I think I'm going to go play some Gears, Borderlands or Just Cause 2. Haven't decided yet but, something is definitely getting played. Well I have some big news coming hopefully but, I can't share it just yet. Keep those fingers crossed folks!!!!

On another note, I'm putting the first coat of primer on the Altered Beast cabinet this weekend! Sweet.

And on a final note, I'm thinking of dragging out the NES this week to rock some old school shit out. I've really been in the mood to play some original Ninja Gaiden or Metroid etc....So now I'm thinking of building my own MAME cabinet go along with the AB cabinet. Any thoughts?

This is a shot of the repaired side of the cabinet. Notice the new 3" strip along the bottom?

Front view with more sanding

The new custom 1/4" aluminum control panel!!!!

Another shot of the custom control panel

and another

and another

and one more showing the custom made control panel curves

Well that's enough photos for now. I'm almost ready for primer and I've made up my mind that I'm going to do it myself. Heading out to pick up a gravity feed gun this week along with some primer. I figure I'll test paint a few other pieces of wood first and then once I've got the hang of it I'm going to tackle the cabinet.  I'll also be uploading some more new pics tomorrow of the bday party & swing set!

This is a shot of the repaired side of the cabinet. Notice the new 3" strip along the bottom?

Front view with more sanding

The new custom 1/4" aluminum control panel!!!!

Another shot of the custom control panel

and another

and another

and one more showing the custom made control panel curves

Well that's enough photos for now. I'm almost ready for primer and I've made up my mind that I'm going to do it myself. Heading out to pick up a gravity feed gun this week along with some primer. I figure I'll test paint a few other pieces of wood first and then once I've got the hang of it I'm going to tackle the cabinet.  I'll also be uploading some more new pics tomorrow of the bday party & swing set!

Well it's been a while since my last entry and I've been pretty busy. June 27th was my daughters 3rd birthday! (pictures to come soon). My wife and I decided to buy her a swing set from Menards. So the day before her birthday my daughter (Mariska) went to grandma's house while I built her a swing set from scratch. And help Jamie (my wife) setup her garage sale. All during the hottest day of the year that we've had so far. I worked on the swing set from 8a.m.-5p.m. The night before we had stayed up until midnight getting all the garage sale stuff in order and then we were up at 5:30a.m. to start getting ready. By the time I was done working on the swingset my ass was DONE. I was pushing heat exhaustion and just general overall worn the F-out. It was all worth it the next day. Seeing my little girls face light up brighter than a firecracker made all the effort, sweat and back ache all worth while. She's played on it everyday since then too! Like i said, I'll be posting pics.

So the 4th of July was a bust. It rained the entire day here. I was able to take mariska outside around 11p.m. to watch the neighborhood fireworks. The rain had turned into a light mist allowing people to go into a mad frenzy to shoot off their entire fireworks load! :D We sat out there for about an hour before I was getting to tired to watch any more. I think she could have stayed out there all night! I've decided that next year will be the first year of lighting them off with her. I'm already planning it! LOL!

I've also been working on my Altered Beast cabinet some more. I had to do some repair work along one of the lower edges of the cabinet. Just general wear and tear had created some plywood bubbling & warping along the bottom edge. I cut 1/4" deep, 3" wide section out and replaced it. Added a little lightweight filler and more sanding and you won't even be able to tell it's been repaired. I also had to make some monitor mounting plates. It looks as if there used to be something else holding the monitor into the machine orginially but, it was a really generic setup. So I made some mounting feet for the monitor to rest on and predrilled the mounting holes. It looks 100 times better now compared to the way it was mounted in the cabinet. I'm getting close to being ready for primer and I'm debating on what to do. Part of me wants to just go out and buy a cheap gravity feed gun and just do the painting myself but then again the other part of me says to just let me buddy do it. Painting cars/trucks is what he does for a living and he's already offered to do it. I'm just getting excited and need to be patient. I'll get some more of those pics posted soon as well.

Guess I better go and get back to work! HA! :D

Well it's been a while since my last entry and I've been pretty busy. June 27th was my daughters 3rd birthday! (pictures to come soon). My wife and I decided to buy her a swing set from Menards. So the day before her birthday my daughter (Mariska) went to grandma's house while I built her a swing set from scratch. And help Jamie (my wife) setup her garage sale. All during the hottest day of the year that we've had so far. I worked on the swing set from 8a.m.-5p.m. The night before we had stayed up until midnight getting all the garage sale stuff in order and then we were up at 5:30a.m. to start getting ready. By the time I was done working on the swingset my ass was DONE. I was pushing heat exhaustion and just general overall worn the F-out. It was all worth it the next day. Seeing my little girls face light up brighter than a firecracker made all the effort, sweat and back ache all worth while. She's played on it everyday since then too! Like i said, I'll be posting pics.

So the 4th of July was a bust. It rained the entire day here. I was able to take mariska outside around 11p.m. to watch the neighborhood fireworks. The rain had turned into a light mist allowing people to go into a mad frenzy to shoot off their entire fireworks load! :D We sat out there for about an hour before I was getting to tired to watch any more. I think she could have stayed out there all night! I've decided that next year will be the first year of lighting them off with her. I'm already planning it! LOL!

I've also been working on my Altered Beast cabinet some more. I had to do some repair work along one of the lower edges of the cabinet. Just general wear and tear had created some plywood bubbling & warping along the bottom edge. I cut 1/4" deep, 3" wide section out and replaced it. Added a little lightweight filler and more sanding and you won't even be able to tell it's been repaired. I also had to make some monitor mounting plates. It looks as if there used to be something else holding the monitor into the machine orginially but, it was a really generic setup. So I made some mounting feet for the monitor to rest on and predrilled the mounting holes. It looks 100 times better now compared to the way it was mounted in the cabinet. I'm getting close to being ready for primer and I'm debating on what to do. Part of me wants to just go out and buy a cheap gravity feed gun and just do the painting myself but then again the other part of me says to just let me buddy do it. Painting cars/trucks is what he does for a living and he's already offered to do it. I'm just getting excited and need to be patient. I'll get some more of those pics posted soon as well.

Guess I better go and get back to work! HA! :D

Cabinet wiring

Stripped Control panel

1st layer of vinyl

2nd layer of vinyl

The Joust reveal! And my little helper!

www.youtube.com/watch

Cabinet wiring

Stripped Control panel

1st layer of vinyl

2nd layer of vinyl

The Joust reveal! And my little helper!

www.youtube.com/watch

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! The Altered Beast arcade machine has risen from the grave! I was finally able to get the monitor up and working and it looks GREAT! Had to do the following: cap kit, new flyback transformer, H.O.T, voltage regulator, x901 transistor, IC501, new neckboard & unicorn tears. Ok, I may have substituted on the last one. i think i used phoenix tears instead. I know it sounds like a lot but, I had like maybe $65 or so wrapped up in all of it, give or take a few bucks. I had been struggling with this monitor and was down to the last item on the troubleshooting flow chart so I was really starting to get nervous but, everything worked out for the good! So what did I do immediately after getting it fixed? No I didn't sit there and have a gaming marathon. I stripped that MOFO down to the frame! I removed everything from the cabinet. Wiring, pcb's, power supply, coin door, controls, ...everything. Once I was able to verify that the cabinet was playable (fully functional controls, lighting, etc.) it was then time to start concentrating on the restoration of the cabinet. I started off last night with some sanding and 'ding' removal. What made me laugh was pealing the vinyl off of the control board. Does anyone ever remember the movie "Johnny Dangerously" with Michael Keaton? Remember the scene where they are driving in the getaway car and he's pealing away layer after layer of vinyl? that's what it was like. I think this game must have been used for about 4 different games or so at one time or another. What was kind of neat to find though, was underneath all of that paint and vinyl I found the games true original purpose..JOUST! I started cracking up while i was sanding and found that stencil-painted logo on the side of the cabinet! Too funny! Other than that the progress is going by pretty well. I have some serious work ahead of me for the restoration project but, nothing a little filler can't fix. :) Well, all except the control board. That thing looks like rats chewed out the control button holes! it's the only part I'm really going to have to fabricate from scratch.

Well i better go for now. I'll try and get some pictures posted tonight if I get a chance. I also took some video. We will have to see how things go though. I have a swing set to put together for my daughters 3 birthday on sunday!

Later!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! The Altered Beast arcade machine has risen from the grave! I was finally able to get the monitor up and working and it looks GREAT! Had to do the following: cap kit, new flyback transformer, H.O.T, voltage regulator, x901 transistor, IC501, new neckboard & unicorn tears. Ok, I may have substituted on the last one. i think i used phoenix tears instead. I know it sounds like a lot but, I had like maybe $65 or so wrapped up in all of it, give or take a few bucks. I had been struggling with this monitor and was down to the last item on the troubleshooting flow chart so I was really starting to get nervous but, everything worked out for the good! So what did I do immediately after getting it fixed? No I didn't sit there and have a gaming marathon. I stripped that MOFO down to the frame! I removed everything from the cabinet. Wiring, pcb's, power supply, coin door, controls, ...everything. Once I was able to verify that the cabinet was playable (fully functional controls, lighting, etc.) it was then time to start concentrating on the restoration of the cabinet. I started off last night with some sanding and 'ding' removal. What made me laugh was pealing the vinyl off of the control board. Does anyone ever remember the movie "Johnny Dangerously" with Michael Keaton? Remember the scene where they are driving in the getaway car and he's pealing away layer after layer of vinyl? that's what it was like. I think this game must have been used for about 4 different games or so at one time or another. What was kind of neat to find though, was underneath all of that paint and vinyl I found the games true original purpose..JOUST! I started cracking up while i was sanding and found that stencil-painted logo on the side of the cabinet! Too funny! Other than that the progress is going by pretty well. I have some serious work ahead of me for the restoration project but, nothing a little filler can't fix. :) Well, all except the control board. That thing looks like rats chewed out the control button holes! it's the only part I'm really going to have to fabricate from scratch.

Well i better go for now. I'll try and get some pictures posted tonight if I get a chance. I also took some video. We will have to see how things go though. I have a swing set to put together for my daughters 3 birthday on sunday!

Later!

WOOHOO!! Well after installing a cap kit in the After Burner monitor I was able to fix the brightness, fading & color issues (and a few others) but, I still had one problem. I kept getting dark vertical bars through the entire screen. I was posting for help on the KLOV forums and people pointed out that it was only in parts of the screen which indicated a possible problem with the game board or something along those lines. here's some pics:

As you can see, the screen has the dark bars but, they're not running through the title. It almost seemed like noise so I decided to go hunting around down below. To keep a long story short, it was a ground wire to the chassis frame of the game board that was broken in half. This was causing high voltage noise thru the game board and out to the monitor. I repaired the connection (along with a few other grounds that were undone) and with a quick wiff of ozone the monitor powered up and looks GREAT! A little adjustment here and there and now it's ready to go! Luckily I found a new/used flight stick replacement that i'm hoping shows up today. Slap that sucker in and the game will be completely functional at that point. Then I can worry about the few cosmetic details that need fixed. I'm so happy. I'm going to upload some pics and video later today if I have some time.