Crystal Castles Renovation!

[Tyrem]

Thanks to ChrisChris I was able to catch one of my fav. dedicated Cabs: Crystal Castles.





I did not have much time after the warmup of Brunos arcade one week ago but I will let you guys know how things are going with the renovation.

So far I was only able to clean this trackball (it was about time)...





and to take off the vinyl from the panel (doing this hurts... but since i have the new cpo here next to me it had to be done):



I will take care of the coindoor tomorrow... and as promised I will keep you updated.

Have a great weekend everybody and greetings from Trier!

Tyrem

[Belike]

Nice cab, but I wouldn't replace that cpo, it looks really good and ORIGINAL!!!
You can use a magic sponge on it, it will look like new.
At least put the new one top of the old, instead of removing it.

[Tyrem]

Nice cab, but I wouldn't replace that cpo, it looks really good and ORIGINAL!!!
You can use a magic sponge on it, it will look like new.
At least put the new one top of the old, instead of removing it.

nope, this one was gone for good. metal was shining through on the curved edges. i cleaned it a bit but then i decited to go for a new sticker. trust me.

[Tyrem]

Nice cab, but I wouldn't replace that cpo, it looks really good and ORIGINAL!!!
You can use a magic sponge on it, it will look like new.
At least put the new one top of the old, instead of removing it.

Touched up the rest of the original vinyl though. Looks good im my opion.

Before:



Now:

[DarthNuno]

Damn it! I had the idea to examine it last week during the 'swap car' operation, but just to busy with the guests/party 

Not a huge fan of the game, but the cabinets itself rocks! 

[Tyrem]

Damn it! I had the idea to examine it last week during the 'swap car' operation, but just to busy with the guests/party 

Not a huge fan of the game, but the cabinets itself rocks! 

yeah... the cab is just amazing. every gameroom should have one.
but bruno... don´t worry. there are a few cabs in your room(s) that I have an eye or two on. so whenever you plan to sell something (except the galaxian) let me know.

[level42]

Wow looks great, did you use the magic sponges for that ?

Tell you what.... my niece has a little girl of 1,5 years old. She was here yesterday while her mum and dad were working. I lost the little one out of sight for 15 seconds and she managed to find a pen and make a nice "drawing" on our coffee table !!!!! (Maybe I am also spoilt, my son never did these kind of things.....)

Since I was working on the Ms.Pac cab anyway, I had a magic eraser right at hand. I didn't doubt and went for it. The ink was gone very quickly !
I do have to put some new "white wash" on the table now but even so, I was very happy that the ink was gone like that !

OK, back on topic: I have always hated the fact that Atari's trackballs are mounted with those bolts. They always seem to get "in the way" when playing. Maybe it's just me. But I remember I had a friend weld some threaded rods on my Puckman CP to invisibly mount the joystick from the backside. This was because there were a lot of extra holes made which I closed with Bondo anyway. Since you will have to replace the CPO anyway, maybe you can find someone who can do this too.

Yes it's not original, but yes it looks better and especially plays a lot better.

If my Centipede didn't have a new CPO already installed I would ask my friend to do it on that one....it's just something that annoys me a lot during play....

[level42]

That trackball needs new rollers. See how far the ball has worn out the rollers in the middle ?

And while you're at it, get some new bearings too.

No cleaning is going to get that back in decent condition...

[level42]

This is how the rollers look when they're new:



I always order rollers and bearings from Bob Roberts. Although it's more hassle, his rollers are custom made from stainless steel instead of regular steel but maybe even more important, he greases the bearings and breaks them in using a drill. Each and everyone of them. This means they are rolling absolutely perfectly right from the moment you install them.

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/moretb.html

[Tyrem]

Wow looks great, did you use the magic sponges for that ?

Tell you what.... my niece has a little girl of 1,5 years old. She was here yesterday while her mum and dad were working. I lost the little one out of sight for 15 seconds and she managed to find a pen and make a nice "drawing" on our coffee table !!!!! (Maybe I am also spoilt, my son never did these kind of things.....)

Since I was working on the Ms.Pac cab anyway, I had a magic eraser right at hand. I didn't doubt and went for it. The ink was gone very quickly !
I do have to put some new "white wash" on the table now but even so, I was very happy that the ink was gone like that !

OK, back on topic: I have always hated the fact that Atari's trackballs are mounted with those bolts. They always seem to get "in the way" when playing. Maybe it's just me. But I remember I had a friend weld some threaded rods on my Puckman CP to invisibly mount the joystick from the backside. This was because there were a lot of extra holes made which I closed with Bondo anyway. Since you will have to replace the CPO anyway, maybe you can find someone who can do this too.

Yes it's not original, but yes it looks better and especially plays a lot better.

If my Centipede didn't have a new CPO already installed I would ask my friend to do it on that one....it's just something that annoys me a lot during play....

used magic sponge and finished it with a very gentle touch of WD 40 (I know some of you hate me for doing that.. but this stuff is just amazing for the finish).

actually this is a good idea. i will check and see if i can do something about the bolts allthough it did not really bother me that much. i will see what I can do.

[Tyrem]

That trackball needs new rollers. See how far the ball has worn out the rollers in the middle ?

And while you're at it, get some new bearings too.

No cleaning is going to get that back in decent condition...

cleaned it a few days ago and i am totally surprised how good it works. will do it´s job till the new rollers arrive.

[DarthNuno]

cleaned it a few days ago and i am totally surprised how good it works. will do it´s job till the new rollers arrive.

Do you know a good shop for them? I also need a TRACKBALL Rebuild kit for my WACKO, but the guy on ebay (here) asks... $50 + ...$40 shipping cost, and sorry but I don't want to spend 90$ for that!   

[Q*ris]

Great, a real time WIP.
Cool results so far, I'll follow this thread closely 

[Tyrem]

Did not do that much last weekend. Here is the progress so far:

Before:


Now: (still some cleading to do... but this one goes without major renovation):



Oh yeah... the new control panel:


I think it was good to put new vinyl on it.

Will keep you updated!
Tyrem

[Tyrem]

Sorry about the long silence. I had not much time to work on the CC lately. This week I finished the coindoor and I did apply the kickplate sticker from ThisOldGame.com.





The machine works but the screen is pretty much done because of the burned in grafix... still playable though. I will have to do some woodwork now, new t-molding and possibly a new trackball as well. This one is still working... but it has seen better days.

Isn´t this cab a beauty?



Greetings!
Stefan/Tyrem