Hey everyone. Found John's videos on YouTube, and am a HUGE fan of arcade machine restoration. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and loved the atmosphere and excitement of the arcade. Back when the home systems were nowhere near as good as what arcades could offer. As time went on, i discovered MAME. While MAME isn't a true arcade cab, it did resurrect my love of the arcades. (And with MAME getting better and better with regards to CRT video emulation, it's getting closer and closer to making the "look" come to life with an LCD screen).
Eight years ago and purchased my own house, but sadly in my thrill of house-hunting and moving out of my parents place, I failed to get a house with a garage or basement with which to restore/build arcade games. I've tried to figure out ways to build a cabinet from scratch by ordering custom cut parts, and even went so far as to develop my own artwork for a Street Fighter inspired emulation cabinet which could play all iterations of the street fighter arcade series. Sadly, those plans have gone on hold as I try to figure out how the heck I could build one. Previously, I tried to put together an 'everything emulated' cab but had to stop when i discovered that the dimension of the cab i wanted was too large to fit in the house. Haha. Still, I did build a functional control panel for it.
My only restoration experience thus far is restoring a beat up, old Happ coin door i had bought off of e-Bay for $10 and have it looking and functioning like a brand new factory one. Rustoleum hammered black paint restored the textured finish after I fully stripped and hammered out the door and frame. I removed rust from all parts, and replaced those which were unable to be salvaged. It's incredible how a small investment turned into a perfect Happ coin door ready to be used when I eventually get a cabinet. Currently, it functions as a wonderful piggy bank whenever i have a loose
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Moving forward, I plan to either buy a ready-to-disassemble-then-reassemble Dynamo HS-5 cab with cut-out corners, or re-design one myself that would have the same dimensions and functionality, yet able to be pulled apart and put back together like a piece of IKEA furniture so that I can get in my tight, Cape-Cod style home in pieces. (In the meantime, I could find myself the items needed for the guts of the cabinet like harnesses, control panels, bezels, marquee, etc. and assemble those where possible. My first step may be to get a cut-corner metal control panel, get it cleaned up, then add in a SF2:CE overlay and put together the control panel with a self made harness, etc. so I can get that experience in me for when I tackle harder things like power supplies and monitors. (Figure i could still get a Wells Gardner 25" monitor for a good price).
Looking forward to reading through the boards here and learning as much as i can.
