There is only so much troubleshooting that we can do from outside an arcade game. In order to fix the majority of arcade game issues, we must be able to access the parts inside the cabinet. In this post, we’ll discuss how to open an arcade cabinet so we can fix any problems that might be plaguing our game.

Opening An Arcade Cabinet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyze2iYeo1c

You never know what to expect when trying to open an arcade cabinet. Some of the games we’ve seen have had everything from frayed wires to malfunctioning power supplies. This is why we recommend unplugging or turning off your game as a safety precaution. Some arcade games have a safety switch on the door that will automatically turn the power off, however, the previous owner of the game might have disengaged it. Do not take chances! Turn the power off to the game and restore it once you have opened the cabinet and located any potential hazards inside.

First, we want to unlatch our control panel so that we can gain access to our arcade controls. You can gain access to the control panel latches on most arcade cabinets through the service door. Insert your hand into the service door and reach up to the far left and right sides of the control panel. You should feel some latches. These latches hold up the control panel and prevent it from falling down during normal play sessions. You should be able to flip them down to release the tension on the latch. If you release the tension on both latches but the control panel still doesn’t release, check near the top center of the control panel to see if there is a third latch located there. Once you have released all the latches, the control panel should fall or come out giving you access to the arcade controls.

With the control panel folded down or pulled out of the cabinet, you should be able to access the monitor bezel and screen. This is very handy in case you need to replace the bezel or clean the screen. When you take off the bezel, you might notice some bolts that are going into the wood and the monitor frame. These bolts are used for mounting the monitor. If you wanted to remove the monitor, you could unscrew these bolts and pull the monitor out of the front of the cabinet. If you are going to attempt this, make sure that you follow our instructions on Safely Discharging An Arcade Monitor so that you know it is safe to pull out.

Next, we’ll focus on opening up the back of the cabinet. You can remove the back door of an arcade cabinet by either using the key, unscrewing a screw that’s holding it in or drilling out the lock. For more information on drilling out locks please see our post on Replacing A Coin Door Lock. Once we have opened the back door, we should now have access to all of the internal parts of an arcade cabinet. You will usually find the power supply and isolation transformer at the bottom of the cabinet, the PCB or board mounted on the side of the cabinet and the monitor located near the top of the cabinet. There is usually a button located just inside the service door. This button is typically a test mode or service credit button. This can be really handy if you are trying to troubleshoot your game.

Being able to open an arcade cabinet is one of the first steps in learning how to repair an arcade game. While not all arcade cabinets are arranged the same way, the overwhelming majority of them contain the same parts that we have described in this post. Please post any questions or suggestions you might have in the comments section below.

Arcade cabinets tend to take a little punishment over the years. Time really does take it’s toll on your arcade cabinet and sideart. In this post, we’re going to discuss how you can restore some of the life back in to your arcade cabinet by laminating it.

Laminating An Arcade Cabinet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1hBA0011eI

One of the most popular parts of our old website, Tim’s Arcade Restoration, was a post that we put together about laminating an arcade cabinet. We thought that we would revisit this topic in this post and provide some additional information that we forgot to add the first time. Also, I thought for nostalgia sake that I would repost the original article on the site for those of you who haven’t seen it. Yep, we’ve definitely come a long way! Well, enough reminiscing, let’s get started.

Before we begin the lamination process, lets do some prep work. We started off by using an electric sander to sand our cabinet almost down to the bare wood. This allows the spray adhesive we use for the laminate to stick better to the cabinet. After sanding the cabinet, we took some bondo and filled in some of the holes and rough areas. Once the bondo hardened, we sanded it down to make it even with the cabinet. While this prep work can be time consuming, it can really make a difference in the quality of your laminating job.

With the prep work complete, we can now start laminating our cabinet. Laminating a cabinet requires three things: laminate, spray adhesive and a laminate router. You can purchase these items from your local hardware stores such as Lowes or Home Depot. You can also follow the links below to purchase these items. We usually use a sheet of black laminate (4′ by 8′) per cabinet side. You should have enough left to also laminate the top and the front depending on the size of your cabinet. These sheets are typically priced around $50 each. The spray adhesive that we recommend is High-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive by 3M. It usually runs around $15 a can and most jobs can be completed with one. Laminate routers vary in price depending on brand but you can get a basic one for around $100 or less.

Buy 3M High-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive from Amazon.com now!

Buy the Porter-Cable Laminate Trim Router from Amazon.com now!

Let’s start off your laminating project by measuring your cabinet and tracing it out on the laminate. Remember to add 4 or 5 inches to your measurements to make sure that every part that touches the cabinet has spray adhesive on it. Take the spray adhesive and apply it to your arcade cabinet and laminate. Spray the laminate only in the traced area that you are going to apply to the cabinet so that you don’t waste your spray adhesive. After this, wait 10 minutes so that the spray adhesive can start creating a bond with your cabinet and laminate.

Once you have waited 10 minutes, we can now apply the laminate to the cabinet. While you can do this yourself, it is nice to have help as the laminate can break if you are not careful with it. Line up the cabinet with the traced area on your laminate. Make sure that the laminate hangs over at least 2 inches on each side of the cabinet. With the laminate applied, push on it and wipe it down with a cloth so that it bonds with the cabinet. Let it sit for a minute while you get your laminate router ready.

Now that we’ve got the laminate on the cabinet, we can now use our laminate router to cut off the excess. Make sure you use a laminate router as sometimes regular routers don’t work as well on laminate. Also, make sure you have a laminate cutting bit as well. Take a look at the bottom edge of your cabinet and adjust the depth on your laminate router accordingly. It might take you a few tries to get just the right depth but once you do you can fly around the rest of the cabinet. With your laminate router adjusted to the right depth, start tracing the outside of the cabinet to cut the laminate. Remember, try not to force the router around the cabinet. It should move easily around with very little effort. After you’ve cut the majority of the excess laminate off, go ahead and trace it at least one more time to remove any small pieces that are still attached to the cabinet.

When you have finished cutting the excess laminate off, you can retrace the cabinet with the laminate router using a 23 degree bit. This is nice because it does give the cabinet a sharp looking beveled edge, however, it also allows you to see the edge of the laminate. We usually just take a sponge style sanding block and go around the edges to sand off those rough spots that are left over from the laminate router. Of course, you want to repeat this process with the other side of the cabinet and perhaps the front and top. Once you have done this, your laminating project is complete.

While it might take a little more effort than painting, laminating an arcade cabinet takes less time and the results are typically just as good if not better. It really gives new life to cabinets that have been beat up over the years and allows you to easily apply any sideart that you have. Please see our comments section if you have any questions or suggestion about our site or this post.

While the look of arcade cabinets has changed over the years, the general makeup of the parts has remained basically the same. For those of you who are new to arcade game collecting, you might not be familiar with the general terms that are used relatively frequently for these parts. The diagram above is of a classic Mario Bros cabinet. You can click on this diagram if you would like to see a larger version of this image. We will be using this diagram to identify these parts. You will find a brief description of each part below.

Marquee: A piece of plastic or glass which has the arcade game name and related artwork printed on it. It is typically located on the top of the game and is usually backlit by a florescent light.

T-Molding: Flexible, plastic trim that covers the leading wood edges of an arcade cabinet. While a simple black t-molding is used on most games, t-molding is available in many colors including orange (found on Pac Man cabinets), white (found on Donkey Kong cabinets) and chrome.

Bezel: A piece of cardboard or plastic that surrounds the monitor. This can also refer to a glass or plastic item that covers the monitor. Bezels usually contain artwork relating to the game. Other names include monitor glass and monitor shroud.

Monitor: The screen that is used for viewing the game play of an arcade game. It is typically a combination of a CRT (Cathode Ray (Picture) Tube) and a chassis (a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) that powers a CRT). The most common monitor sizes are 19″, 25″, and 33″.

Sideart: Artwork located on the side and/or front of an arcade cabinet. It can either be a large sticker or artwork that has been directly painted on the cabinet.

Control Panel: The panel that houses the main controls for the arcade game. Some of these controls include joysticks, trackballs, and buttons. Older games typically have a big sticker known as a CPO (Control Panel Overlay) that contains artwork and instructions related to the game.

Speaker (Grill): The object that produces sound for an arcade game. Arcade cabinets typically have speaker grills that designate where the speaker is in relation to the cabinet.

Service Door: The metal door (usually black) on the front of the cabinet that accepts coins for game play. It is made up of lights that illuminate the price of the game and a coin mechanism that is designed to verify the right coins are being inserted.

Coin Door: The metal door (usually black) on the front of the cabinet that contains a bucket where the coins get stored until pulled by the operator. Some people refer to both the service door and the coin door as the coin door collectively.

Now that you know the major parts of an arcade cabinet, you should be able to more effectively communicate the part of that special game you need. Good luck in restoring your arcade cabinets in the future.