[Restoration] Veni, Vidi, Vindicators

[Laschek]

No wonder you don't find the time to FINALLY send back my PCBs 

[Superully]

Amazing story! so interesting to follow! i really admire your craftsmanship and patience!!

thx a lot, michael! to be honest, i sometimes admine my craftsmanship and patience as well why, you might ask? well, let me go a little bit off topic here and give you guys some background information!

about 6 years ago, i didn't even have my own screwdriver, let alone a drill or a router. one day charlotte came up to me and told me that she'd like to have a hamster for her birthday. since we both are animal lovers, it was a no brainer and so we got her one, a lady we called DIVA (because of her behaviour)!



it was a lot of fun getting to know her, her habits and hamster life in general, but two or three weeks after we had taken her into our home (and into our hearts ) we realized a change in her behaviour. at first we thought something horrible was wrong with her, when in fact she was totally fine - or should i say: THEY were totally fine ...



without us fully realizing it, she had given birth to eight baby hamsters and from that day on we had a new television channel: hamster tv!!! we spent countless hours in front of the cage watching those tiny animals grow up and explore the world around them!



but soon we realized that a single cage is simply to small for an army of nine



we joined hamster forums, read about proper cage sizes and how to build them yourselves - it was obvious that we had to do something. we were able to give most of the hamsters away into caring hands of people from the forums, but we decided to keep two of them to ourselves: diva and one of the white hamsters who we realized was something special: a teddy bear hamster. charlotte named him ully, not because of his long hair (which i don't have), but of the way he acted. she said hamster ully reminded her of me ...



diva was allowed to stay in her original cage, but for ully we decided to build a palace! for that, i had to buy a lot of tools and learn how to use them, but the results were beyond our expectations: it really was a palace!



ully even got his own maze



our hamster days (and unfortunately our hamsters as well) are long gone (and so is ully's palace), but we often look back at that time of our lives and how it changed us in so many beautiful ways. believe me, being new to the hamster world and suddenly having to take care of not one but nine of those animals is not easy, but it's something we embraced and will always cherished.

one thing that came out of this is my dedication to build / repair stuff. when people ask me how / why i started with the arcade hobby i always tell them it wasn't me, it was the hamsters - and that is not a lie!

hope you don't mind me going off topic, but somehow i wanted to share this with you!

[level42]

Phew, glad you didn't have them around anymore when I were over at your place because if there's one animal that I am MUCH more allergic for than cats it's hamsters !!!!

[Superully]

Phew, glad you didn't have them around anymore when I were over at your place because if there's one animal that I am MUCH more allergic for than cats it's hamsters !!!!

in fact, my workroom is now the place where all the hamsters used to reside - glad i have so much space here!

[Womble]

Hi Ully - Womble from Oz here, love the photos of your vinyl application - can I ask how you trimmed the edges so neatly? Also am waiting with baited breath for the photos of all the metal work when it comes back from the powder coaters.

[Superully]

Hi Ully - Womble from Oz here

hi womble, nice to see that you've found the way from your restoration thread over here - WELCOME!!!

love the photos of your vinyl application - can I ask how you trimmed the edges so neatly?

a friend of mine is a doctor and she provides me with scalpels - those things are extremely sharp and work way better for me than an exacto knife. unfortunately, she's at home from work right now after giving birth to her third child and i'm down to my last (used) scalpel ...

Also am waiting with baited breath for the photos of all the metal work when it comes back from the powder coaters.

i'm waiting anxiously myself, but to be honest i'm a little bit afraid of putting those controllers back together again - this is not going to be fun! plus i'm still missing replacement screws for the handles, those guys from modelfixings.co.uk aresimply ignoring my emails ...

[Superully]

guys, i need your help! i'd like to replace the rusted screws which hold the plastic handle grips together and andré has mentioned a uk-based shop: modelfixings. however, i have no idea which screws to get because i don't know how to measure a screw and what all those different terms mean (more an that later). but let me show you the screw i'm talking about first in pictures





here's the problem: the site lists tons of different cap screws, but i don't know what HT, BA, UNC or UNF means, the thread data doesn't help me either, it confuses me even more!

extremely confusing are all those different terms! let's say i click on stainless steel capscrews i'm once again given tons of options: what is meant by thread, overall shank length, thread length and socket size (probably the size of the "scsrewdriver" you plug into the screws socket, right?)?

the site says "you can send us your screw samples and we tell you which screws to get", but i've sent them two emails over the course of the last two weeks, none of which was answered!

could someone help me out here: what are those different screw types, what do the individual terms mean and what do i have to measure how to find the correct screw? would be cool if i could get some input ...

[Superully]

btw, the manual lists those screws as M4 x 18mm socket head cap screws, but i have no idea how to find those measures on the screws!

[level42]

Are they REALLY M4 ?

Well then it's easy !

If there's any size with M before it it means Metric !

M4 f.i. means that the diameter of the screw is 4 mm.

Now  you, mr. teacher, may guess what the 18mm, part means

By the way, not answering PM's/E-mails happens to more people..........  

[level42]

And my guess is that Modelfixings might be on holidays, as the UK had a number of days off the last weeks....but usually he does mention that on his site...

[level42]

but i don't know what HT, BA, UNC or UNF means, the thread data doesn't help me either, it confuses me even more!

HT= High Tensile steel. This means the steel can withstand more mechanical force. Not needed for our cabs BUT they look black and often we want black screws/bolts....

BA, forget it. Some ancient British standard you won't find in cabs.....

UNC = this is what you will find most often in (US) cabs, or also Irish Atari cabs. This is the "standard" imperial sized system of screws and bolts. The system drives any normal CRAZY. The system works with a number which determines the "size" of the screw. Then there is the indication of the length of the screw.

UNF = the US (imperial) FINE alternative, this is only used in special applications, you won't find them in any cabs AFAIK.

Then there is the standard Metric system (M....) as discussed before, and there is also a "fine" alternative, but also I've never seen those...

So, basically what you will be looking for in our hobby is UNC or Metric.

The tables list following:

Thread= the DIAMETER of the screw. So in our CLEAR and SIMPLE metric system, M4= 4 mm. M8= 8 mm. etc. (Hard to believe you never heard about this, have you never bought any screws before ??)   
Overall (Shank) Length (mm)= the length of the screw, I think including the top....not to sure about this one, ignore it...
Thread Length = this is what you're looking for. Thread Length and M size are usually the only two things you need to know...
Socket size   = the size of the hex tool you need to use for it. You cannot "select" this, this is just a help to find the right tool...
Pack Qty = nr. per pack
MF Ref = The code that Modelfixings uses to identify all parts. Give that code and they know what you want (handy for repeat orders f.i.)
Price = the amount of money you will have to pay for the indicated quantity.............

[level42]

Now, in your case, I wouldn't go with stainless steel because it looks "blank metal" and you want them to look black right ?

So, you now DO select HT steel: [HT Steel Capscrews M3 - M8]

Then, you sroll down to M4 ......thread length 18.......oops, no 18. There's 16 and 20. You'll have to take a look at your application to see which one to choose (if 16 is long enough, take that, if there's plenty of room for a longer screw, you can also get the 20. It's only 2mm longer.
I've got one particular screw that's a tiny bit longer in my SW yoke, but since there's "empty space" at the end of the screw, it doesn't matter at all.

If it REALLY MUST be 18mm. ask if Modelfixings can add it to their program. They did with one particular size that I needed for the SW yoke.

[Superully]

Are they REALLY M4 ?
If there's any size with M before it it means Metric !
M4 f.i. means that the diameter of the screw is 4 mm.
Now  you, mr. teacher, may guess what the 18mm, part means

diameter where? the head? and as i've said: i can't find those 18 mm anywhere on the screw, the entire screw is longer and the screw without the head is shorter. plus this measure is coming from the manual and i'm pretty sure this was made in the usa - strange though that it says mm!

By the way, not answering PM's/E-mails happens to more people.......... 

really? i've had the same thing ...

[level42]

Sometimes I think I'm getting old, but I remembered seeing this page a long time ago, but I couldn't find it anymore.....until now.

Here it is:

http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/

Read, read read my friend. Printable Fasterer tools also available !!! Woo-hoo !

Learn, feel, breath....mmmmmm, no - no clear your mind, there is no why, just you, the force, and the screws....

[level42]

Are they REALLY M4 ?
If there's any size with M before it it means Metric !
M4 f.i. means that the diameter of the screw is 4 mm.
Now  you, mr. teacher, may guess what the 18mm, part means

diameter where? the head? and as i've said: i can't find those 18 mm anywhere on the screw, the entire screw is longer and the screw without the head is shorter. plus this measure is coming from the manual and i'm pretty sure this was made in the usa - strange though that it says mm!

By the way, not answering PM's/E-mails happens to more people.......... 

really? i've had the same thing ...

The diameter is ALWAYS measured on the thread ! Since the heads of screws vary so much, there's no sense in measuring that !

The LENGTH is usually the length of the thread, so from the bottom to the underside of the head....


Here's a better answer:
Diameter:
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/Measuring/Measure-Diameter.aspx

Length:
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/Measuring/Measure-Length.aspx