Tron Restoration Blog - Page 2

Bulbman, Control Panel and More Painting!
April 21, 2005

Pics are going to be a little out of order today but the prettiest has to go on top.  Bulbman.com came thru today and delivered a White Black Light for the area below the Control Panel / Joystick.  As you can see, it's much more subtle a light now than before.  Looks great.  White Black Light has essentially the same look as the blue bug zapper lights... in fact, they may be one in the same.

You can't see it well here, but the new control panel overlay is on as well and the joystick was completely cleaned!

Another shot of the front of the machine.  So darn cool looking isn't it.

Here is the bottom of the control panel.  After 2 shots of primer, then 2 coats of black semi gloss Krylon, it looked pretty nice both bottom (shown) and top.

After all the painting, it was the moment of truth.  Time to put on the first real graphic... other than the spinner.  I was mega nervous of screwing this up.  The folks at arcade overlays said to use some soapy water on the bottom of the sticker so you could move it around into position if needed. 

I will amend what they said.  Only use it on the top, not the sides.  The top went on great.  The sides, because they were a little wet, didn't want to stick at first.  So, I ended up waiting a few minutes for the water to dry a bit, and wiped off the metal.  I then tried again sticking the sides and wrapping it around and it worked fine.

So again, apply soapy water (not too much) to sticker only where it will meet the top of the control panel!
 

Today's other projects included rebuilding one of the panels in the back of the cabinet.  No one will ever see it cause it will face the wall, but I will know it's there.  Anyway, there was a chunk of particleboard missing.  Took plastic wood, reshaped things and filled in the huge gouge.  It dries in about an hour.  Tomorrow, I will sand and see how it looks.  Then, I may test paint the back of the cabinet.

Here, you can see the screws that hold the coin box in place in the front of the machine.  The tops of which are visible on the outside front of the cabinet.  They were badly rusted.  Sanded all of them down, then shot them with primer, then black semi gloss.  Much better.  Also, painted the coin box holder primer grey and repainted the coin box lid primer grey to match.  Decided I didn't like the silver metallic.
 

Last item tonight, I got the heat gun and plastic scraper out, and started in on the left side graphic.  This is going to be a long job.  The glue is 20 years old, and needs to be heated to be removed.   So, you can only work on small sections at a time. The cabinet is in good shape though and will look great when done.  BTW, I order replacement molding from t-molding.com and found a dual channel amp for $40, so I ordered it to see if I could eliminate the popping sound issue.
 

A Scraping We Will Go...
April 21, 2005

Finally decided to tackle the control panel tonight in preparation for putting the new CP graphic overlay on.  This meant removing the spinner, player 1 / 2 buttons and the joystick.  This was also an opportunity to knock some dust and dirt off.  Went to pull the cp graphic off and discovered another one underneath.  Guess they never cleaned the first off before applying a replacement.

Here you can see the parts tray.  Took one of our crappy cookie pans and neatly popped things in there, so as to keep it all together.  Got to admit, taking all this off scared me!  I did label the player buttons as 1 and 2 along with putting arrows on the spinner and joystick electronics to make sure I put them back the right way!

Scraping the old graphics off wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Took about an hour or so of work.

Here is the control panel minus all graphics.  There is still a bit of glue on there, so a trip out to the garage and another 10 minutes or so with a rag and Goo Gone and things were looking pretty good.  After things dried, shot the CP with grey primer.  Tomorrow, I'll shoot the underbelly of the CP and then we'll pretty much be ready to go.  Probably will paint it matte black as well for good measure so that if there are any small scratches in the future, they will be harder to notice.

The joystick got a good bath tonight and looks nice.  There are a few small cracks where the screws were tightened in the past too tight, but it's in pretty darn good shape.  The Tron plexi insert on the other hand is original but cracked in two spots.  Will have to see what I can do to replace it.  It's ok now (as I glued it) but I'd like to replace it at some point.  I can tell you though, I am NOT paying $40 on eBay for it!

Sound!  We Have SOUND!  Spinner and CP Graphic Arrives
April 20, 2005

Quick update... the sound board came back from Eldorado today.  Hooked it up and after a couple of false starts... WE HAVE SOUND!  Now, one minor annoyance.  There is a popping sound that happens every so often and happens all the time when the sound is up loud.  My guess is that the amp is clipping and is probably hosed.  If I keep the sound to a reasonable level, no problem though.  In the process of checking this out, I noticed it is a left speaker problem only.  Anyway, I checked the speakers out and they looked really bad.  Paper cones and very dried out and brittle.  Went up to best buy and purchased 2 new 6x9 Kenwood 2 way car speakers for under $50.  While it didn't solve the popping sound, the game sound is crisp and sharp, and will be for years to come.  Will have to look into the amp.

Also got the spinner and CP graphic in the mail today.  Applied the spinner.  Looks a thousand times better than the plain red one that was on there.  See pictures below.  The CP is going to have to wait till the weekend till I get the old graphic off, prime, paint and apply the new graphic. 

Speaking of priming, I took out the coin box and cleaned off the metal, then put some Rustoleum primer on there.  Finally finished it off with silver metallic Rustoleum.  Looks much better - even though no one will ever see it!
 

Lastly, I replaced the on/off switch which resides on the top of the cabinet (not in plain sight) which had been hard wired in the on position at some point.  Picked up a new push button at Home Depot for about $3.  Some stripped wires and wiring nuts later and bam!  We're working again.







 

Jackpot - Found A MCP Cone Graphic - Side Graphic Application
& White Black Lighting....
April 19, 2005

This is one item I didn't think I would find a replacement for.  It's the backlight MCP cone that resides in the back of the cabinet and provides an eerie 3d-ish look into the heart of the MCP (Master Control Program's) lair.  None of the repro sites seemed to have it in stock and I had read of people having to buy near perfect originals on ebay.  However, while googling the term "applying arcade graphics" to see if I could find some good instructions on how to apply the side art that just came in, I found the Arcade Network at classicarcadegrafix.com. They had it though it did run $38.  If it looks good, it will be well worth it.  I will let you know.

- Graphics Application:

With the help of the folks at Phoenix Arcade, I found a good tutorial on applying cabinet graphics.

Also found the following directions which seemed to mirror their instructions and go into a little more detail:  - Spray both the cabinet where the art will be applied, as well as the sticky-side of the art with Windex. Slap it down and slide it around until it is just right. Then, place the backing that you removed from the back of the side art (smoothest side up) on top of the art and squeegee it from the center out (the backing helps keep the art from getting scratched while squeegeeing.

Wipe down the entire side of the cabinet before applying the Windex, you need to get rid of all the dust and such or else you will get bumps under your art.

Use regular Windex (un-scented, non-no-drip, etc.).

Make sure you get good misting coverage when spraying -- anything that is dry will stick immediately and can't be repositioned.

I've found that a shower door squeegee works best. The kind I have is white and has a round tube-like handle that runs the *length* of the squeegee blade. Found it at Lowes for around $10. If you use a metal squeegee, be very careful of the metal edges and the protruding screw(s) or else you may damage the art.

Make sure the wood side is painted/sealed. Any chips or cracks will cause the area to swell w/ the moisture from the Windex.

Squeegee as much of the Windex out as possible. Remember this is wood underneath there and it will cause it to swell if there is too much there for too long.

Immediately wipe up the Windex from the edge as you squeegee it out (same reason as above, you don't want moisture swelling your wood).

- Black Lighting:

Well, another mystery was solved today.  As you can see below, this cabinet uses black light to make the graphic art on it's sides glow.  In the front there is a black light that goes right above the control panel and is seen PURPLE below.  I had been questioning about the area below the control panel that you can see glowing white below the joystick.  I had used a normal fluorescent light in there after looking at a few restoration sites.  Problem is, that's not what the manufacturer called for.  They list a White Black Light.  I glossed over that not even paying attention to it, but apparently, they exist and can be found at Bulbman.  Cross another item off the list!  This was discussed in a google groups thread.  They say "The two blacklight tubes are of different types, as well - the one just above the control panel is a "normal", dark-purple blacklight tube; the other one, which mounts under the control panel, is a "white" blacklight tube.  (Gives off both visible and UV, similar to a "Plant-Gro" light.) "

Eldorado Games Called Today
April 18, 2005

There was indeed a problem with the sound board, so they are shipping a repaired Tron Board Set back to me today.  Total cost including shipping is $94.  In my mind, an incredibly good bargain and it should get sound back working again!  The folks at Eldorado were incredibly nice on the phone and fantastic about follow up.  DHL confirmation of shipment came via email moments ago.  Can't wait to plug it in!

Other stuff... over the weekend I picked up a Wagner Power Painter Home Pro for spraying the Tron cabinet after I get the graphics off the side.  Also purchased some Rustoleum semi-gloss black which I heard works well.

Speaking of graphics, the shroud overlay and side art arrived today from Phoenix Arcade and it looks incredible.  One disappointment though... no instructions on how best to apply it.  So, I sent off an email to them asking for assistance.  Hopefully, they will give me a clue.  I have heard to spray Windex lightly on the surface so you can move it around when you place it on the cabinet and work most bubbles out.  Then later go back and get the remaining tiny bubbles (hopefully not many) out with a needle.

Good News - It's Foilboard!
April 14, 2005

Zooming around the net last night, I found a replacement for the "metallic covered paper" that I described which sits behind the black light in the front of the machine.  It's officially called "foilboard" or "metallic foilboard".  You should be able to find it at your local art supplies store.  So, bottom line is, the replacement when cut to size will exactly match the original.  This is a good thing as I tried to go the poster board and metallic spray paint route... and that simply didn't look good at all. Anyway, I got to the store today and picked some foilboard up.  Pictures to the right are post replacement.  It turned out perfect and looks great! In the last picture of the group, you can see the red spinner knob.  I have ordered an overlay for that as well which features the neon vector art of the cabinet graphics.  The red blows the look. As you can probably tell, I have replaced all the lights in the cabinet as well and they work.  Had to grab a new starter for fluorescent bulb behind the marquee, but what a difference light makes!  Can't figure out for the life of me why someone wouldn't put new bulbs in and keep her lit.
I've been working on small items while waiting to get heavy into the restoration when the overlays arrive.  One of the annoyances was the coin reject buttons weren't working at all.  The game came with both smashed flat.  One was easy to free.  The other, I worked at tonight for about 20 minutes loosening it up with WD-40.  Finally after going at it for a while, grabbed a small hammer and screw driver and pushed it out.  Previous owner set up a free play button in between the coin drops and removed the coin mech.  I however am a traditionalist and prefer to hear the sound of the coin dropping.  So, I grabbed a few extra coin mechanisms I had from the crane and they fit perfectly.

Here she is in the garage.  You can see the side work is distressed and will need to be replaced.  Luckily, there are a number of vendors who do reproduction graphics, so this task shouldn't be too difficult.
One of the challenges with getting the front of the game - or the shroud off was screws that not only were rusted but very unique.  The game was very, very dusty and looked as if it had never been cleaned.  There were even some cobwebs between the glass that covers the monitor and the monitor itself. Determined to get at the game, I dremmel'd the screws straight across so I could use a normal screw driver to take them out.  Figuring they were rusted anyway and would need to be replaced. It was about an hour later as I was cleaning out the coin area and found much to my surprise, a kit labeled... "do not throw away, special tools inside", which had never been opened.  That pretty much confirmed my suspicions that it hadn't been cleaned.  Inside, I found special hex keys to remove the "tamper proof" screws.  Figures.  Also inside were the feet for the cabinet that were never placed on it.
Here you can see the screw I was talking about above.  Below it is a plexi glass container that encloses a black light and causes the front of the machine and it's neon graphics to glow!  The backing of the container is a metallic covered paper.  it's damaged and will need to be replaced.  Still, it's very cool.  When I took apart the machine, all but one light bulb was burned out and never replaced.  What a difference lighting the cabinet made.
This is the shroud... and probably the single piece that is in the worst shape of the whole machine aside from the sound not currently working due to a "sound board interface error."  Lucky for me, Phoenix Arcade has just stated producing these, and I have of course, ordered a replacement.  I was really worried about this, because I wasn't originally able to find a repro replacement... so that's a load off my mind.  You can see some of the dust on the rear shroud window.  All that has since been cleaned up. Also, last night I pulled the 3 PC Boards inside this game, cleaned them and reseated all of the IC's in addition to replacing all ribbon cables.  I was sincerely hoping that this would fix the sound issue, but it was not to be. This morning, I packed up the PC boards and sent them via Priority Mail to Eldorado Games, who do classic game repair.  They seem like good guys and told me that if I shipped them the board, they would test it and if they didn't find anything wrong, would ship it back to me and only charge me for shipping.  Of course, if the board is not working properly, they will ship me back a repaired board they already have there.  At a cost of $109, it's a pretty great deal, especially if it solves the sound problem.  If it doesn't, I may have to find a tech or an electrician around here to help me find the source of the problem.

Ebay Bought - Bringing Her Home
April 3, 2005

She's in a little bit of a distressed state.  The game still works but the cabinet will need new overlay graphics, which I have found a manufacturer for.  Sound isn't working, though the owner told me that. These are the original EBay photos.
Should be a fun project.  For the curious out there, it cost $600 and I picked it up by driving out to Ohio.
Front view of the game.  Notice the MCP display in the back is lit and the monitor is working.  Other than that, all lights are not functioning.
Side art on the cabinet is showing signs of 20 years worth of use.

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