The big mysterious ceramic resistor hanging on the side

Troubleshooting my brand new Mad Planets tonight. Oh yeah, did I mention, the monitor went out? I don’t feel like lately my luck has been so sweet.

I am using Randy Fromm’s flowchart (Sort of a which way diagram written for the average person with basic instructions) to troubleshoot why I am getting no picture and the game is playing blind. It’s an Electrohome G07-907. I have continuity on both fuses – F901 and F902 – so I kept moving through the chart for Randy and I quote;

Check the regulated power supply at resistor R1 (that’s the 220 ohm, 25 watt, giant, white ceramic resistor that’s hanging on the side of the chassis.) The terminal closest to the CRT (with the white wire on it) should measure +120 VDC.

Big and white – check. It’s more of a rectangular white box, if we’re talking about the same thing. It’s labeled with 220 ohm, 25 H. I don’t know what H is admittedly. I don’t think that is synonymous with Watts. Here is the photo;

The only problem is, on the schematic for this monitor that I pulled up, that white rectangle, ceramic or otherwise is labeled as R902. So, that can’t be right. Here is a detail of the schematic, click for a larger view;

I still can’t find the R1 resistor

Even if I were to believe that somehow there was a typo, and Randy said R1 where he meant to say R901, the schematic shows R901 directly below R902 on the side of the chassis frame. However, I have no R901. So….I am a little bit lost. I checked out Bob Roberts ‘Capacitor Map’ for a G07 monitor, and that didn’t help point out R1 either.

Regardless, I tested R902 with the power to the game on. I got a reading of 0 VDC on both the lead closer to the CRT monitor and the lower one, which should have read 120 VDC and 145 VDC respectively. All the more enforcing the idea that I don’t have the right piece.

If you can help point me in the right direction of where to look on that crazy schematic, that would be a huge help. Or give me some insight into Randy’s flowchart for troubleshooting this arcade monitor.

Update – 6.19.08
This is the first troubleshooting I have ever really done, beyond – Ohp, do a cap kit. Come to find out, R1 must be stamped into the chassis itself, hence why I can’t find it. I will probably do a simple test when I get home on the HOT. Apparently, touching the casing of the HOT with one lead and then touching the metal frame right by where it is mounted should not show any voltage due to the insulation. If it does, then the HOT is bad and therefore the flyback.

You're reading Where on an Electrohome G07 is R1? is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

The waiting game

It’s now Tuesday. We had made arrangements for someone to watch the dogs, I had planned on doing my Tuesday class homework on Monday night this one time, and I had to work today. None of that was going to happen. The hotel had a public computer that I did some short communications and I made some calls. In between there was a three way conversation that was going on between the truck owner, the dealership and me.

The main sales rep at Jordan Ford, Vaughn Taylor was really a nice guy. I thought he was calm and really forwarding facing considering the circumstances. We just dropped into his lap and he was going to do his best to get the truck squared away. He reassured me that the truck wouldn’t be outside, and that the contents safe. I was worried about a little more than that including the well being of the truck, but the fact that he squeezed the truck in was gracious.

However, it took Jordan Ford 3:30 hours to even get us a quote to approve for the repair!!! Why did it take so long? I personally thought that was inexcusable.

So, the story was this. The AC Compression locked up and shredded the serpentine belt. We were glad to hear that it wasn’t the starter and that we might be sitting better than Wednesday. On the trip up and St. Louis, we thought the AC was a little loud…but I had nothing to compare it to and it was really hot so we continued to use it. Come to find out, the AC had been installed aftermarket. The F150 is pretty simple in the way of features, and apparently didn’t come with AC.

Well, since the owner had that professionally installed, it wasn’t covered under his warranty! Ouch! We finally got the price back, not cheap at all. The owner approved everything, and the repair got under way. Again, they didn’t have the parts, but they were able to find them across town, which was part of the delay I think.

Leaving went pretty smooth

We were really happy with the Comfort Inn Suites. The rooms were great, the whole facility is brand new, and the staff accomodating for our son, late check outs and price discounts. As for Jordan Ford, they did an All Star job on everything else beyond the quote. They initially thought 3:30-4 before the truck would be done. We needed to be picked up in South Bend, and they sent out a vehcile that fit all three of us and all our stuff. We got back to the dealership just after 3:00 and the truck was ready to roll. They just disabled the AC and bypassed the compressor. Otherwise, replacing the unit would have taken us to the end of the week!

Around 3:30 we were on our way home, finally. The games were safe, although Vaughn did lie in telling me the truck wouldn’t be outside. I found more raindrops on the cabinets when we picked up the truck, which might have been from them pulling it around right during the short rainfall they had in Mishawaka.

I had been checking weather all morning, we looked to be good until about 7 pm in Indianapolis, which should have given us enough time to make it home before the rain. Oops, nope. That would have been too easy.

Around Westfield, 30-40 minutes north of Indy we hit some heavier rain. I was only driving in it for a mile before I found a gas station where we pulled off and sat under an awning.

By this time the shrink wrap had shredded on the Mad Planets and the back inside had some rain on it. I was able to wipe that off and appeared to be home free.

:30 minutes later the rain let up, and according to a couple of people I called, we should be able to make it home before the other storm came through.

I got home, and quickly unloaded the Mad Planets. The sky was looking terrible, so I knew I had little time and only me to unload the tightly fit games.

I didn’t get both games out before it started to rain, but I was able to back the truck up into the garage far enough to protect Pengo and save it from more moisture.

Surveying the final damage

I had said that Pengo stayed dry the whole time, and that was the case. But collectors aren’t kidding when they say that this particle board is like a sponge. Just being around moisture caused some swelling on the front of the kickplate and the base. I haven’t seen too much swelling in other areas on the cabinet, but I haven’t had it in the sunlight just yet.

The Mad Planets did have that swelling at the base;

and the rain water on the bezel in Westfield seeped down under the glass and buckled the paper bezel print a little bit. That was frustrating to no end. But if you look at this photo of the back of the cabinet, it looks perfect and around midnight I fired Mad Planets up and played about 10 games. It played just fine! Awesome.

Pengo and Mad Planets could have been worse

That is for certain. But the whole trip could have been leagues better. Lesson learned, like I said. Wrap the whole game, even the underside of the base. Without that shrink wrap I would have truly been up a creek. Only thing I can do now is put a fan on the games overnight and see if that helps in drying up any remaining moisture.

I cleaned the whole truck out, washing it down, vaccuming it out, filling it up and took it back to the owner and went through all of the details of the situation. He was truly amazing, gracious and awesome given the circumstances. I will never be taking that truck again, no owner should have to experience such a chain of events. I got home about 10pm and hit the hay. I was just glad to be home and have it all be over.

You're reading “Arcade away from home” Part 5 – Heading Home is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

It started with a frantic call

This was the deal. Mid day on Monday I was supposed to meet up with my father in law to pickup my wife and my son. On the way home from St. Louis we had talked about where and when. As I said, that night was short, and we went to bed. Little did I know I had little battery left on my phone and I didn’t plug it in.

In the morning, Chris and I got some breakfast and we got to work on replacing the flyback on the G07 chassis. Chris had a flyback that I bought from him, and we started soldering. All the while I was monitoring the weather. My wife had mentioned that it looked like rain all day on Monday in Chicago, and sure enough it was raining cats and dogs while was upsetting to say the least. The storm was passing through, but might not before I left. Whatever, I’ll worry about that when it’s time and I hear from her with final plans.

And I wait. I wait some more. We keep working. We fully replace the flyback and the monitor still didn’t come up. We’re chalking it up to a cracked or cold solder joint. I leave the chassis board with Chris to have Mark H. check it out. So close, but I don’t care that the Pengo won’t be fully working when I get back, I have a Happ Vision Pro to put in it for the time being. Eventually the rain lets up in Chicago so we start to do the final shrink wrapping of the games.

I decided to come inside and check my phone and Oh crap, the battery is dead. So I plug it in and proceed to check my messages. I have five. I figured I knew what they were about, so I just called the last number, which was my sister in law’s cell. She picks up and says they’re at the vet with the family dog and that my wife is still at home. Thinking nothing of it, I call the home line.

When I get a hold of her, she can barely talk. The dog has not been doing well all night and they all took turns staying up with him. If you don’t own a dog, this will be lost on you, but I know for us our two dogs are like a family member. And her family is no different. At 13 years old, he was getting up there, but everything happened so suddenly and no one knew what was going on. But they were fearing the worst, that they’d have to put him down.

Chris and I went outside and finished the major packing, figuring out how to get two games in the back of the cab. Loading each one up in the truck, I wrapped down past the bottom of the cabinets. Man I am glad I did that.

The bed was 1/2 inch too small due to the wheel wells to lay them side by side. So, we used some 2×4′s and piled some panels up to make an angled sled to raise the Mad Planets above the left wheel well. They barely fit and they weren’t going anywhere.

The worst possible news

Two hours later I found out the news. X-rays came back, and where the lungs should have been black, they were completely white. The vet said it was aggressive cancer, and his heart was enlarged to 2x it’s normal size. There was no choice, he was suffering. I did some growing up with this dog, and he meant the world to the family.

What do you do? There was talk that I might travel all the way home to Grand Haven and pick them up myself. But in the end, Dad agreed to still meet us. I finally got a hold of her later and she said they had already left! Oh crap. Dad had to be back to work for second shift, so I had to get on it. I rushed around like a crazy person packing all of the little items, said a quick goodbye and I was out. Weather looked like it should be passing through South Bend now, so it should be smooth sailing.

Slight meetup mixup

In all of the craziness, I thought we talked about meeting just north of the 80/90 interchange, at the first exit. It was just short of two hours for me and it looked as though I’d have enough gas to make it. But as I drove along, it was apparent I was running low, but this was after I got on the toll road. Well, there aren’t any gas stations on the road. I take that back, there was one, but it wasn’t well marked that it was a combo with a McDonald’s.

So when I went north on 31 I had about no gas left and couldn’t be wandering around before filling up. Well, turns out that they were all the way down at the interchange of 20 and 31. I hit construction, so I couldn’t turn around, I was going the wrong direction (north) and needed gas. They agreed to meet me and I pulled off to fill up. I found gas at exit three, filled up and pulled off to the side of the drive and waited.

When they arrived, my wife was still a mess from the day. We packed her up, said a couple of tearful goodbyes and he turned around to head out. We got buckled in and I put the key in the ignition. The truck wouldn’t turn over!

Crap. So, we flagged down her dad to wait, it appeared as if we needed a jump. I don’t know how, the battery should have been fine, charging over from Chicago. We tried for a half hour to jump the truck from the van, but it just wasn’t turning over. It was starting to look like the starter was out. A trucker walked over to offer his help and suggestions, and we decided we’d try to push start it and pop the clutch. Simple enough.

All the while, the weather progressively worsened. By the time we were pushing it started to rain. Not a downpour, but not a sprinkle. The push start didn’t work, not at all. We pushed the truck over to the other side of the lot, a long ways from the awning by the fuel pumps. We tried to jump the truck from a semi. Nothing. So there is the truck, sitting there, dead and it’s raining.

Did I mention the truck was borrowed?

We threw in the towel. It was time to call the owner and see what he wanted us to do. The truck is a 2007 F150 with 4,000 miles on it. Nothing should be wrong with it.

I called the owner and yet another part of the ‘perfect’ storm of the weekend. His car got hit by a deer and was out of commission until Wednesday. He had no transportation and needed the truck. I also thought I had called him on my new cell number, but I hadn’t, so he had no way to get a hold of me. Here I am calling him to tell him that his truck isn’t working either. My cell phone is about out of battery again, because I didn’t have time to fully charge it before I had to quickly leave this morning and I don’t yet have a new car adaptor for it. Dad leaves me his cell.

The truck should be under warranty, so I end up getting a hold of Ford’s roadside assistance. They will dispatch a tow truck to our area. We find the nearest Ford dealership, it is now after 6 pm. My father in law has to call in to work to see if he can come late, as he should have been back at 3 pm. The Ford dealership is on the east side of South Bend in Mishawaka, about a half hour away. Fortunately they are open until 8pm. But after researching the starter, if that is the problem, they don’t have it in stock and can’t get for two more days! What the heck?

How many times can I say, perfect storm. It’s like dominos.

If it’s not one thing, it’s the next. My wife then tells me, my explosive son is running out of diapers. They need to head out and try to find a grocery store. While I wait, the rain stops enough that I get out some rags I have packed and start wiping down the shrink wrap and inspecting the damage on the games. The Pengo doesn’t appear to have any water on it, phew. The Mad Planets, although angled, did manage to get some drips on a four inch space of the base. That part of the cabinet has swelled, three scratches that hit wood were now mounds. What can I do? I’m upset, but helpless a little bit. They’re in there so tight that if I take everything out, I risk not getting them back in, and we’re in a sopping rock parking lot. Not to mention we have to get to the dealer as soon as possible. If the game wasn’t angled, things might have been worse.

My wife is gone about an hour and soon after they return, the tow truck finally arrives. It has been long enough now that I think, well, maybe something overheated, let’s try starting the truck again. I try it and it starts!!! Yes!! Hope!!

Immediately smoke pours out from behind the right tire. The truck was on for less than 30 seconds before I turned it back off. This is getting worse all the time…

I am so thankful that I at least had the shrink wrap. We agree to follow the tow to the dealership. Remember when I said I couldn’t find the adaptor for the GPS? And dad left his at home. Well, my GPS was dead and the tower just takes off down the highway. We’re following him and all of a sudden it appears as though a piece flies off the truck!! We quickly pull over as he continues speeding off into the distance. It appears as though a chunk of plastic chrome comes off the truck. I am pissed. Not my truck, and I didn’t notice anything as I watched them hook it up, but if there is additional damage I’m going to rip a new one.

So, we lost him. He’s no where to be found, and all I have is the main dispatch number to contact the driver. We get dispatch to give us some cryptic directions, but they aren’t really sure about the exits on 20 either. Oy! We were fortunate in that dispatch must have gotten in contact with the driver because he called me from his cell. He had exited three miles down the road, we had gone about 10, so we turned back around and met him at the exit.

The penny tour of South Bend

The driver then proceed to take us the most retarded scenic possible route through downtown South Bend and residential Mishawaka. My dad and I are fuming, because we are quickly approaching 8pm. Mishawaka is easily accessible from 20, we just didn’t know the location of the dealership. When we arrive I immediately run out with the plastic chrome piece in hand, but I couldn’t find where it could possibly go on the truck, it didn’t match at all. So, for all that hassle, he must have just hit a piece on the road and it looked like it came off the truck.

The driver apologizes for the route, his GPS took him that way and admits it was a terrible way to take. It’s 8 pm, the dealership basically takes the truck and tells us they’ll look at it in the morning. So, I am freaking out on all accounts, including the fact that I am now just leaving the two games loaded up in the F150.

We head out and I direct Dad as best as I can directly south to 20 based on a general map. He is running low on gas, so we fuel up and I use the phone book in the gas station to look up Jeff W. in South Bend to try to find a hotel right off the highway. There was no time to go driving around looking for one, Dad was now in a terrible place, he had a 2-2.5 drive and then he had to go into work for as much as 8 more hours and risked his job in the process.

Jeff helps us find a new Comfort Inn and Suites just south off 20 and 31, drops us off and heads out. After we get all the hords of stuff we unloaded from the truck into the room, I realize I haven’t eaten anything but peanut butter toast again all day. She said she spotted an Arby’s across the way, so I was on baby duty. She came back and said that it was an Arby’s at one time, but now a mexican place and they weren’t open. So we had pot pies from the gas station. Mmm, yummy. I probably could have ordered pizza, but whatever, we would have been asleep when it arrived.

There we are, the whole family marooned possibly until Wednesday without knowing anything more of what is going on with the truck. I missed my MBA course and we’re emotionally exhausted and drained with no real answers. I only hope that the worst has passed. I am not going to be able to laugh about the ‘perfect storm’ of events that happened…not yet.

You're reading “Arcade away from home” Part 4 – Smoke and Rain is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

The HUO Pengo in St. Louis

Let’s see, what would be the best way to talk about part three of the trip? I guess I should probably give the back story on the Pengo in St. Louis.

Back up to the week or so after my son was born. The day we headed home from the hospital, I had bid and won the white character sideart Mr. Do! in Chicago. Then five days later the Mad Planets on Craigslist pops up, which Chris quickly snatches up. That was Friday. On that next Wednesday Chris calls me right before I get into class.

Turns out that Pat C. out in St. Louis had someone find him and tell him that they had a Pengo that might be HUO. Pat asked Chris if he knew anyone who was interested, and Chris told Pat that I was a Pengo freak – guilty as charged. Chris asked if I was interested. Wow.

All I could think was, ok, I’ve got two games in Chicago that I don’t know when I’ll be able to pick up and now there is this Pengo? I am not the type of guy to store games until the end of time, I don’t leave people hanging. Well, nothing was definite. Pat had to make the drive to check the game out and get the full story, so we’ll just sit tight until we hear back if it is indeed a HUO Pengo. We tell Pat I’m interested and let’s find out more.

The next day that is exactly what happens. Pat comes back and says, “The owner won the Pengo out of a cereal box contest (another Quaker Oats prize Pengo? How many prizes were there?) and has had it sitting in his basement ever since.” Holy cow. We knew about the two to three Pengo’s that were given away in Pepsi promotions. Richard F. snagged the last one, and Mike Doyle had one a number of years back that he sold to Ron in Texas that I understand has now suffered severe water damage. Here are a couple of photos Pat sent me from the pickup;

Things keep moving forward. Pat basically gives me an offer on the game I can’t refuse and as the three of us shoot emails back and forth Chris suggests going down to St. Louis on the Chicago trip to pick it up. What the heck, why not. This is too crazy to stop the insanity now, right? Pat agrees to store it, wrapping it in shrink wrap and sticking it in the back of the garage and we make a solid date to come and get it so he knows what to expect. In the span of 10 days I’ve doubled my arcade game collection with some pretty tremendous pieces.

Three arcades in Chicago needing transportation

As more emails were exchanged I found out Pat was looking for a Rip Off, which hadn’t come up between Chris and Pat. Chris had a Rip Off sitting in his garage and after finding out that Pat wanted it, Chris was like – he can take it, we’ll bring it down when we make the pickup.

Arrangements were made for the truck from a buddy here in Indianapolis, and I picked a weekend with Chris that worked best for him to come up. We figured we’d make the drive in one day, leaving really early on Sunday morning and making it back around dinner, a 10 hour drive total.

As luck would have it, later in May I picked up those three pinballs for $50 each. I knew before hand that I didn’t want to store my good Pengo in my garage trying to sell it, if I could help it. I knew a friend looking to pick one up, so I offered it up to him at a great price, but it was just too far of a drive. It didn’t take long to sell. Joe S. (Jackie Paper on Coinopspace) prepaid and a month later on May 16th, came to pick up my Pengo – in the rain. Foreshadowing? I certainly didn’t think so at the time

Back to the Chicago trip

7:00 am came early, as expected. We both grabbed some toast, loaded up the Rip Off into the truck, packed some snack items and hit the road.

We made good time down to St. Louis, I think we got there in under 5 hours, traffic was really great on La Grange before 8:00 am on a Sunday. Pat is pretty easily accessible right off the highway, but man does he live on a cliff. It’s not that bad I guess, but coming from Indiana, it seems like a pretty steep climb up to his place, a 1/2 mile up a slope.

Quick introductions took place, and we cut right to the chase. We pulled out the Pengo and unwrapped it so I could take a look at it. As breathtaking as I had hoped. There was a tiny drop of drywall putty on the control panel, and a little bit of swelling on the wood just below said cpanel, but that was it.

T-molding was what struck me most, and the crisp edges of the cabinet all the way around. Plus looking inside, the cabinet was spotless, no dirt, barely any dust, like it truly just came from the factory.

It was all about the timing. Pat said the guy told him that he didn’t think the Pengo was worth anything, and was planning on dismantling it and cutting it up the next day. All about the timing baby.

Now, Pat mentioned that it sounded like it powered up blind, but he wasn’t sure because he wasn’t familiar with the sounds. We powered it on, and sure enough, nothing on the monitor but with a coin up Pengo certainly sounded like it was working fine to me.

Pat had already picked this game up and stored it for two months. But as we were standing there he continued to display he generosity by offering to do a quick cap kit on the chassis if we had the time. Knowing that I would love to head home with a working game, and what my day to day schedule is like I was all for it.

At that point, Pat remembered he had some goodies for Chris as well. He went to his car and pulled out a 3′ x 2′ box full of ‘paper’. Pat had picked up the box full of schematics, fliers, tech journals and other information from an operator who was closing up shop.

While Pat worked Chris and I had a blast looking through some of the stuff. I know he’ll be posting information on his own arcade blog, kicking things off with his ‘Video Outpost Discovered‘ which is a flyer showing off an outside lock and key arcade storage unit that protects the games from weather and users. Pretty bizarre. One of my most favorite discoveries (new to me) was the flyer for Williams Star Rider. Take a look at this cabinet, it looks like a motorcycle out of Robocop crashed right into a wooden cabinet. I have to play this game at some point, my next quest

Cap Kit on the G07 didn’t work

Pat finished up the kit, we plugged it in but still nothing. He tested the HOT, which seemed to be fine. Pat had found that someone else had done some work on the chassis in the past. It looked so clean on the top, no dust, but the owner must have had paid for a repair, had a working Pengo for awhile and then it went out again and he gave up. We determined that surely it must be the flyback and there was some talk that we’d try replacing that as well.

Somehow, over two hours had passed, it’s now after 2pm. Since we were only running on toast, I was starting to get dizzy – I needed to eat. We decided that since we had a long drive, we’d get on the road and do the flyback at home in Chicago. So we hit the road. After a stop for gas and a bite, we finally arrived back in Palos Park after what seemed and eternity around 8:30.

Both Chris and I were wiped. We had some dinner, and did some sorting and scanning of the materials that were in the box, but we called it a night soon after. It was a good thing that I got some solid sleep, little did I know that tomorrow would be the day from hell.

You're reading “Arcade away from home” Part 3 – HUO Pengo! is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

The garage, a man’s domain?

In “Arcade away from home” part 1, the drive up to Chicago was a bit stressful. My wife and son came with me, and we were late at a meeting place to get them to my father who then took them up to Michigan. I could not find the adaptor for the GPS, which I didn’t have to have, I “should” be able to make due with the half charge left. It would have to do, we had to go. We were over an hour late, plus about 30 minutes of the ride was the little guy screaming at the top of his lungs because he was hungry, and his seat was right on the stick in the middle. No place to go, and I could barely shift. Then, as I got close to Chris’s place in Chicago there was heavy construction and twice I missed my exit, going an extra 12 miles because the exits were 5 miles apart and closed off due to the construction. I was running out of gas, there were extra tolls….blah, stressful. Looking back, this was hardly the most stressful part of the trip.

I looked forward to day 2, Saturday, which we had loosely planned to do a lot of different things, but hadn’t set any time frames. We had a leisurely breakfast, I got to write most of part one, and we finally made it out to the garage to start working around 11:00 am.

Making space / getting organized

We might have spent over an hour getting organized. First, we prepped a side panel of a Star Hawk machine to go under the knife. I wasn’t planning on saving the whole side, but I did want to save the sideart for color matching. Just getting the random staples / pieces of wood removed to have the piece be flat was a chore, let alone figuring out how to safely clamp it.

After that was done, we did a lot of re-arranging to get some space to work. Chris was nice enough to house two games for two months, and we’d be getting a third, so I was the one taking up a large portion of his garage. We moved some items in back and brought the cabinet and other items that Mike (Gatordad) would be picking up later to the front. The goal was to get enough space to first setup the Flight 2000 pinball to take a look, and then work on the Mad Planets. It came at the cost of our sinuses, the dust about killed me.

I hadn’t reassembled the Stern pinball machine, because, what was the point? I knew I’d be bringing it up, but I was still curious to see if it might just power right on. Well, after we got the legs on and took a closer look, it appears at the very least that the Flight 2000 will need a new power supply. So, no powering took place.

On to the Mad Planets. Two main goals. Get it cleaned and the correct flight stick assembled so that we could play it later when Bill came over for dinner. If you remember, when Chris picked up the MP, it had a regular joystick on the control panel, but came with a Tron and two extra flight sticks that were all stuffed in the coin box. Weird.

Bill did stop by around 3 to hand off the fully tested and working boardset and power supply out of the original Mad Planets, plus all of the duplicate fixed set of boards that I had bought in March off Mark H. down in Florida. If everything went well, I should leave with a completely working game and a complete backup set of boards.

Somehow we’re missing the pins

First thing Chris did was to reflow the solder on both flight sticks, including the connections on the leaf switch in his control panel. Chris has got an awesome, stocked, workstation in the back of his gameroom that made the whole process less awkward.

With a bench full of multiple disassembled Mad Planets flight sticks, Chris worked on piecing together a working one. Meanwhile, I started to clean the cabinet so I could hopefully move it right in when I got home. A pretty solid cabinet, but far from perfect. No deep gouges on the sides, but several scuff marks that took some serious elbow grease and a magic eraser to remove.

There was one major spot that needed attention. On the back upper right it looked as though someone had taken, literally, a handful of gum and smeared it right into the corner. It took 30 minutes of slow work with a razor blade and the eraser to remove the pink cemented substance. Surely there are worse things to remove, but this was pretty nasty. Didn’t take a before shot, but here I am after getting rid of most of the large hunks.

It was time to get ready for dinner and we needed to get some shrink wrap for tomorrow’s trip to St. Louis. Chris also figured out that we were missing the pins that held the metal shaft of the flight stick in place. So, I ran out down the road to Ace and picked up the pins – .29 each, and the shrink wrap, a 2″ diameter roll for over $30! That hurt.

Smooth sailing and game playing

How many times can you say this when it comes to arcade games – but we spent the rest of the night playing? Bill arrived at just before 7 for dinner. Chris prepared some home made pizza and Lisa some soup, everything was awesome. Bill brought Chris and I each another gift, a fully tied and connector ready Jamma harness. Pretty awesome little deal.

After dinner, it was back out to the garage. Bill and Chris used the pins to finish re-wiring the flight stick. I took the boards and power supply, hooked them up and grounded everything. Control panel ready to go, plug it in and blam! On comes Mad Planets, looking beautiful. Color was bright, no longer missing the red like when we brought it home and the flight stick was responsive.

We literally had played one game each on MP when Mike showed up. Mike had said he might bring some beer and hang out. He ended up bringing 3 twelve packs, 2 Corona and one Miller. Mike loaded up the Pac-man cabinet and we headed inside. The rest of the night was drinking and playing – beer and a couple of Rieslings I had picked up on my trip out to Ace. We briefly went down to the gameroom for some Robotron and Lord of the Rings and later, Metallica Guitar Hero on the Wii. Total blast, Mike stayed until nearly midnight, and we didn’t completely shut off the Wii until about 1 am.

Chris and I are both in denial that we are anything older than college age, knowing that we would be getting up to make a round trip to St. Louis in the morning to pick up another amazing find from Pat C. Ah well, you only live once right?

You're reading Bringing back the “Arcade away from home” Part 2 is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Friday night relaxation – In a Sinistar cockpit?

Planning a trip to Chicago is always a complicated venture for me. I try to squeeze a lot into a reasonable amount of time, and then life takes over and the duration is shortened, but the amount of things to do stays the same.

About a month and a half back I had sold my empty Pac-man cabinet to a collector in Chicago. I was bringing that cabinet with me as well as the Flight 2000 from my pinball Craigslist purchase. Add in a number of other arcade parts and boards I quickly filled the F150 I was borrowing for the weekend.

Friday night we planned to just relax, have some dinner and make a trip out to see another collector. Last July when I was up in Chicago picking up my Universal Mr. Do! I had tried to get in touch with Jason V. Jason owns a Sinistar Cockpit and I really wanted to try it out in person.

Ah, Murphy’s Law. Chris and I arrived at Jason’s place west of the city and the Sinistar was showing garbage and ROM errors. If at first, the saying goes….after about 30 power ups and power downs the game magically fired up! I hate to say it, playing the upright Sinistar doesn’t hold a candle to the Cockpit. I don’t know if this is true of all cockpit games, but it is so immersive inside that cabinet, I kind of wish these classic games had the ability to incorporate some feedback from the game play like most modern games

It would take an act of the almighty to get a Cockpit in my home, but someday when I make my millions right It was cool to see Jason’s setup, pretty simple, but easily accessible right there on the main floor. Jason’s also got a couple of items in the garage, a Red Baron cockpit that he says he’d be willing to sell for pretty cheap, and a Afterburner cockpit that he and one other guy unloaded off a truck by themselves! Hopefully next time we’re by he gets a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom for his recent Candy Cab purchase.

Tomorrow…setting up Flight 2000, working on the Mad Planets and of course, some Metallica Rock Band.

You're reading Bringing back the “Arcade away from home” Part 1 is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

This Mad Planets has some interesting connections

I am hoping that a few more in depth stories will be coming out of this soon, it was an exciting day.

Last night, I was able to get in touch with the owner and I couldn’t believe that after 12 hours he still had the game for sale! We made an initial agreement and then I had a buddy go to Evanston, shocking, and pick up the Mad Planets. Knowing how this hobby is, I knew I had to move fast and demonstrate my commitment to coming to get this game right away at the asking price. In the end, he was so nice that he went out of his way to take another $50 off the Mad Planets because he knew the length of the drive for pickup and because he just needed it out. $50! And it turns out, just like the Craigslist ad says, the game does work, a fully working nice looking Mad Planets for $50. I am so pumped, here are some photos.

The control panel is what struck me, it looks really good. I haven’t seen too many Mad Planets, but in photos I see a lot of the control panel overlays worn away on that front edge and rust showing through. This may have some minor spots like that, but nothing major.

The game isn’t perfect, and will need a once over, but still.

Now I have all of those Mad Planets parts

I guess having most of the Mad Planets boards, marquee and other parts is a good thing, backups in case I need to replace pieces of a game where parts are hard to come by. It was a great monetary deal, but it should work out on many other fronts. I don’t have to use a Q*Bert cab that was intended to be built into a full project, and I don’t have to spend several long days restoring the game from scratch without knowing if everything would just ‘come together’.

What does this mean for the bezel artwork or the underlay artwork? Well, I don’t know. The Mad Planets bezel artwork is finished. It needs color matching and probably some checking on dimensions but it is ready otherwise. I put about 2 hours of work into the Underlay, so the vectors for that are started but no where near being done. For both pieces right now I am wait and see.

When I learn a little bit more from the owner on how long he had it, where he bought it etc. I will definitely share. If you have a great story on how you got your Mad Planets leave a comment below. I have met most of the guys now that own them and are visible in the community and know some of their stories, but not all of them and wonder if someone has another cool recollection to share.

You're reading I bought an awesome Mad Planets for $50! is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Mad Planets marquee and the flight stick

The marquee was the one item that I was nervous about finding for a decent price. I haven’t been watching marquees on eBay for very long, but I knew I didn’t want to wait long either and was hoping that one would come up for cheap before May. Who knows if that had happened. I got this marquee just for what I wanted to pay, and got a flight stick in the package too.

Granted, it’s a Gorf joystick but for what I got the parts for it was an amazing deal and I feel lucky to have met the right people to have gotten it.

So, let’s see. Last week I got most of my Mad Planets parts, the bezel artwork is done, and the underlay artwork is started. The four boards are heading out in the mail this week to get checked over so they’re ready for May. According to my last post I may be missing parts of the Mad Planets harness, and I am not know what until I get to putting it all together. I think I have a cabinet lined up and know that Gamestencils sells Mad Planets stencils. But, if you know of a Mad Planets cabinet that someone has for sale for a fair price, let me know. And if you think you can help me identify what I may / may not have in my harness, that would be a great help too.

You're reading Acquiring more pieces to the Mad Planets puzzle is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Finding Mad Planets parts – 70% of the work done for me

I emailed Mark H. that day to start to talk about what parts he had and to find out how realistic it would be to bring a Mad Planets back to life. It took a month and a half of emailing back and forth to get the deal worked out, but good things come to the patient right? Mark got me some photos to show me what he had and it turned out that he had the main PCB, the sound board, the power supply board, the main power brick, the harness and a control panel that was mostly populated. Soon after researching I realized how hard it would be to find the Wico spinner and the joystick so when Mark told me the control panel still had the spinner that was a huge sigh of relief.

I was also fortunate that Mark had a contact that was able to get the little interface board that works with the spinner and flight / joystick. As time passed, it appeared that this piece might be as rare as some of the other parts.

So, what Mad Planets parts do I need? Well, quite a bit actually. I need pretty much all of the artwork, the marquee, the bezel and the control panel underlay. Now, last week I finished vectorizing the Mad Planets bezel artwork and I have done some initial work on a partial scan I have of the lower underlay artwork. Pretty much all of the parts I have a line on or an idea of what I might be doing, but I never feel solid about anything until it’s in my hand.

The one item I do not have a line on is the Mad Planets marquee. I want an original marquee, I don’t want to do a sandwiched piece of artwork, so please if you know of one for sale please let me know.

What’s next for Mad Planets?

Probably not much until May. I know a guy who already has repaired a number of Mad Planets games, the PCB and the rest of the boards so I’ll probably ship those out soon to make sure they work right. I’ll turn my focus to vectorizing the rest of the necessary artwork and then in May I hope to do a full restore on a cabinet, restenciling the simple blue and red triangle patterned artwork onto a freshly prepped cab.

It’s going to be hard to be patient until summer to have this game working, but I know when it’s done it’s going to look almost brand new!

You're reading The “Mad” Planets align, got game guts in the mail is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

You're reading is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.