Donkey Kong!!!

A Video For Your Viewing Pleasure

2009-09-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Here she is in action!

It's Alive!!

2009-09-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now the moment I've been waiting for - powering it on for the first time (and praying everything works!).

It did!

Here are some shots with the lights off - it is impossible to get a good picture but you get the idea. The marquee really pops and everything looks better than I imagined it.

I am VERY happy with the results. I still have a few very minor things left to do (software tweaking mostly and I also have to figure out a back door even though you can't see it) but this project is about 99% finished.

I'll post a video of it working when I get a chance and other miscellaneous stuff when it pops into my head.

Before & After

2009-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how far this thing has come?

Me neither!

The Brains: Part 2

2009-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Next up was installing the computer - pretty easy stuff. I just placed it on a shelf that spans the two plywood supports as shown below.

Next, I screwed the motherboard to the shelf and then plugged everything in (hard drive, monitor, USB connections for the iPac, etc.). I don't have any pictures of this but it is pretty self-explanatory if you've made it this far.

The Brains

2009-09-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Next up was getting all of the electrical components positioned and hooked up inside of this thing. First up was the SmartStrip. This is a "smart" powerstrip in that it can be set up to turn on a bunch of components when the one "hot" component is powered up. You plug the computer's main power cord into the "hot" outlet and everything else into the "switched" outlets. When the computer is turned on the monitor, marquee light and the speakers all turn on as well. It works great.

I decided to mount the SmartStrip on the side of the cabinet like this:

I had to raise it a little so the plug from the marquee light would reach an outlet on the SmartStrip. The plug of the SmartStrip will go out the back of the cabinet and into the wall just like in an original Donkey Kong machine.

Wiring The Controls

2009-09-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

The next thing I had to do was wire up the control panel. I'm using an ipac keyboard encoder to connect the buttons to the computer (the green thing on the left). I used some computer "feet" to secure the ipac in place underneath the control panel.

The ipac plugs into the computer via a USB cable and the microswitches on the buttons are wired to the nodes on the ipac. Everything is clearly labeled on the ipac and the default settings were perfect for my needs. The black wires are form the "COM" (common) pin on the microswitches and they are all daisy chained together (from button to button and into the ipac). The red wires are from the "NO" (normally open) pin on the microswitches and each one is individually wired to the ipac (to the default node on the ipac that corresponds to what I want the button to do).

The wiring from the hidden admin buttons was done the exact same way and you can see one of the microswitches in the top of the picture that I hooked up after the control panel was in place (by reaching through the coin door and placing the microswitch in the button - blind!).

This whole process couldn't be any easier! When I first started building these cabinets the wiring was the part that I was most intimidated by but it really is a snap.

More later.

Some More Side Art Pics

2009-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK, time for some good pics! Here are some shots of the cab with the side art and bezel installed. I also put the computer inside and wired everything up (which I will detail in future posts). It's about 95% finished. The only thing left cosmetically is the decal above the CP on the black bar otherwise what you see is what you get.

Here's the punch list:

laminate front bar above CP
apply decal on front bar above CP
remake back door (I made one already but it could be MUCH lighter)
streamline computer boot-up
figure out CabVol or some other volume app
disable pop-up boxes (when I first boot, Mala loads and goes straight to DK but after I exit MaLa is no longer the top window and I need a mouse click to get it to respond again and it works fine from then on - annoying)
Re-skin MaLa - I'm using the one from John's Arcade, which is great (I love the Games Played counter) but I want to tweak it a little and I have no idea how
I also might make the black posterboard bezel to go around the monitor but honestly it is so dark in there it isn't necessary at all so I may skip it

That's it (I think). Anyway, check out the pics. It's pretty sweet.

Enjoy!

I really love the way this has come together. It looks and plays exactly like a real Donkey Kong machine and it has 29 other classic games available to play. I'll post the gamelist eventually (I'm constantly tweaking it but I'm pretty settled on it for now).

More later!

The Side Art

2009-08-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK, finally. I got the side art on. It was pretty easy actually once I figured out how to line it up. I felt like a genius when it finally clicked but I'm sure it is an obvious solution.

The first thing I did was put a piece of tape 2-3/4" from the top - no need to be precise here - just make sure that the piece of tape covers the imaginary horizontal line 2-3/4" from the top of the cabinet. Then, using a carpenter's square (pictured) to get a straight line I marked the line in pencil on the tape. This gave me the line to place the top edge of the side art on. I repeated this process along the back edge of the cabinet (2-3/4" again) and now had a vertical line to place the left edge of the side art on (or right edge depending which side you are doing).

In order to use the carpenter's square properly you set the short edge of the ruler in the picture to 2-3/4". Then you place the black handle on the top edge of the cabinet so that the short edge of the ruler is hanging down exactly 2-3/4". Next you place your pencil on the bottom of the ruler's edge and run the carpenter's square along the top while moving the pencil at the same time. This will give you a perfectly straight line exactly 2-3/4" from the top (on the masking tape!). This is an invaluable trick for building things and laying out lines in general.

Now that I knew exactly where to place the side art, I just taped it to the side.

Next, I removed all of the tape near the top and peeled off the paper backing from the sticker and cut it away with the scissors.

Then, very carefully and using my vinyl squeegee, I applied pressure to the top portion of the decal where I removed the paper backing. No turning back now! The decal is in place!

Then, I removed all of the masking tape around the edges now that it can hang on it's own. Finally, I removed the rest of the paper backing starting at the top and working my way down with the squeegee and pressing the decal into place.

After the decal was applied the only thing left to do was remove the top layer of paper. This part took a long time - the paper did not come off easy and in fact during this process there was a tendency to remove the actual decal form the force of removing the top layer of paper. I think this was due to my own inexperience - I did not prep the surface before applying the sticker and I should have used some rubbing alcohol to really clean it and remove any oils that may have been present.

Anyway, it came out great:

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because my hands were tied and I was a little nervous. It was actually very easy! I can really see the finish line now.

More later.

The Coin Decal!!

2009-08-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Finally - the moment everyone has been waiting for is here. I applied the coin door decal to the front of the control panel!! Before attempting this, I bought a plastic squeegee off of eBay for $3 (search "vinyl squeegee") - this really helps in applying the decals and it eliminates any air bubbles.

The first thing I did was put a piece of masking tape in the center of the panel. The tape lets me draw on the cab lightly with a pencil without leaving a mark. It makes it really easy to line up the decal. The decal is centered and the top edge of the decal is 2-1/4" from the top of the panel.

Next, I peeled the back of the decal off just a little along the top to expose the sticky surface and cut the back off with some scissors. This allowed me to line up the decal and stick the top down. Then using the vinyl squeegee from top to bottom while removing the rest of the paper backing I pressed the decal into place.

Looking good - all that's left is to peel away the top layer of paper. Man, you should have seen the smile on my face as I was peeling this off.

It looks pretty sweet! Next up will be the side art - it's actually the same process just on a much larger scale and way more nerve-wracking!

More later.

The Coin Door: Part 3

2009-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is - all installed and looking brand new:

Next up - installing the side art and other random stuff!

The Coin Door: Part 2

2009-08-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

In addition to having the door powder coated, I also ordered two brand new coin mechs from Asahi Seiko in Las Vegas (they still make them!) so the entire thing now looks factory fresh. It was EXPENSIVE ($93 for the new mechs!). Here is what the old mechs looked like - these were unfixable to me with the rust and everything (not so much on the outside but around the coin return button):

It took about a week for the new mechs to arrive but it was worth the wait. Here's some unboxing pictures for the full effect:

They look great. Next up - final installed coin door pics!

The Coin Door

2009-08-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

The coin door is the one thing I didn't feel comfortable restoring myself. I could have taken a can of spray paint to it but I didn't want to risk ruining it. As far as I know there aren't any vendors out there selling Nintendo coin door reproductions which means there is a finite number of these things out there to be had. I was lucky - mine came with the cabinet and was in pretty good shape. No major dents or scratches.

As you can see the door had started to rust in several spots and the paint was bubbling all over the place. A local custom motorcycle shop has powdercoating capabilities so had them refinish it for me (as well as the bottom marquee retainer). It came out very nice and way better than if I had attempted to do this myself.

I ordered some #6-32 carriage bolts from Quarter Arcade to secure the door to the cabinet and they fit perfectly. I had to order 2 sets though since I needed 12 for the door and they only sold them in packs of 10. I also bought a $4 lock from Home Depot which fit perfectly. Here's what it looks like installed:

I'm not sure why - maybe it was the lighting or the sweet finish on the door - but I can't seem to get a good picture of it. The door looks brand new and I couldn't be happier with the result.

More later.

The Monitor Mount: Part 5

2009-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Now that the monitor is in place I guess I can show off what it looks like from the front!

It looks great! I'm hoping the monitor is at a suitable viewing angle - since I didn't have anything but pictures to go off of it was tough positioning it just right. Seems OK to me...

More later!

The Monitor Mount: Part 4

2009-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

There was one more small problem after getting everything ready for the monitor - since we removed those triangular mounting brackets that came with the monitor, the electronics which operate everything were loose and hanging by the connecting wires - not good. This is actually where my mother came in very handy. Every time my father and I lifted the monitor to move it around she had to hold the electronics so there was no tension on any wires - not easy - it was like a game of Twister or something. Thanks mom!

Once the frame was ready, we slid the monitor into its final resting position and stood there holding the electronics. We were tired at this point and I made the executive decision to just screw the panel into the 2x4s with two 3" screws. It worked great. The electronics are at an angle inside of the cabinet but there is no tension in any of the wires:

You can see the screw in the upper corner going right through the metal - there is another on the opposite corner and it is very secure. Here are some more shots from behind showing how the monitor is mounted inside of the cabinet:

I don't know if you can tell but this was by far the toughest part of the project. We spent 2 full days getting this thing in place just right. I'm glad that's over!

More later.

The Monitor Mount: Part 3

2009-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

After getting the monitor into the frame I had to figure out a way to support the frame from the inside of the cabinet at the proper angle and not drill into the side panels. I had my dad slide the MDF panel with the monitor into place (the Donkey Kong cabinet had a mounting bracket for the original monitor still in there so he rested it on there):

Once I thought it was at a good viewing angle we drew a line underneath the panel on both sides which represented the spot where we wanted the panel to sit. All we had to do was build some legs for it. We ended up using some 2x4s to build a frame - imagine a table with 4 legs and cross braces except the table top is set at a sever angle. That's all there was to it but coming up with the design was far easier than actually building it. I don't know why but getting all of the measurements just right really took a long time. This is what we ended up with:

The MDF panel holding the monitor would sit on top of the 2x4 frame - all done! Well, not quite... In our infinite wisdom, we didn't take into consideration the weight of the monitor. We lifted the monitor and slid it in place expecting everything to be perfect (tight fit, eh?):

The problem was since there was nothing actually holding the frame to the cabinet, gravity wanted to force the entire structure, monitor and all, out the back of the cabinet. We felt like idiots for not thinking of this sooner. We were running out of time in the day (a Sunday) and we couldn't leave the exposed monitor in the MDF - we had to figure this out!

After brainstorming for about an hour the solution finally presented itself. I had some spare angle brackets lying around from when I mounted the new base to the bottom of the cabinet. The support pieces we cut for the top of the frame just happened to be long enough to almost touch the plywood where the original mounting bracket was located. We installed a bunch of angle brackets using bolts (not screws) which prevented the frame from tipping backwards and moving at all.

We were so happy this ended up working without seriously modifying the back of the cabinet (which is what most of our ideas centered around).

More later.

The Monitor Mount: Part 2

2009-08-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bear with me on the next few posts - in all the excitement and since my dad was helping me out I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but I will do my best to explain exactly what I did.

The first thing I had to do was cut a piece of MDF exactly the width of the inside of the cabinet with a hole in the middle for the monitor to poke through. Getting the dimensions of the hole was difficult because all of the sides are curved and I had to make sure not to remove too much material. I came up with a method that ended up working but took way longer than it should have. If I ever have to do this again I think I could make it pretty quick.

Anyway, I cut some poster board into some long strips and taped them together end to end. Then I wrapped the poster board around the outside of the monitor. This was done in order to trace the shape onto a piece of cardboard. I figured if I could make a hole in some cardboard that would fit exactly around the monitor I'd be able to use it as a pattern to place it in the MDF.

I ended up using a pizza box held up against the front of the monitor/blue poster board and traced the shape. Then I cut out the hole and tried fitting the frame around the monitor. It wasn't perfect on the first try but what this allowed me to do was refine the cutout. After fitting the pizza box around the monitor there were tons of gaps and nothing fit quite right so while the pizza box was in place I covered the gaps with strips of blue painter's tape. Once I was satisfied with the coverage I removed the pizza box (with the tape still in place) and had a template for the shape of the monitor which I traced onto pizza box #2.

Next I cut out the shape I just traced onto pizza box #2 and fit it around the monitor - much better! I ended up having to make a few tweaks with some more blue painter's tape because I was cutting the cardboard freehand but I eventually got a really nice pattern. Then I centered it onto the MDF panel that will hold the monitor and I cut it out (free hand with my router after rough cutting with my jigsaw). It worked!

The next thing I had to do was remove the triangular brackets from the sides of the monitor (remember, the whole point of this exercise is to remove those things because they stick out of the back of the cabinet). Once that was done, the monitor cannot be put down! I quickly positioned the MDF panel I had just cut out around the monitor and located the holes for the bolts in each corner. I drilled out the holes and bolted the monitor in place - success!

These aren't the best pictures of the panel but you get the idea - the pizza box pattern was for placing the monitor in the MDF and then I had to drill a hole in each corner for the bolts - I had to be precise with everything because the bolt holes are so close to the monitor cutout but you can see on the bottom that my freehand skills with the router aren't the best.

Whew! This was the easy part...

More later.

The Monitor Mount

2009-08-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Next up, installing the monitor. This was so difficult and I definitely could not have done it without the help of my dad (and mom!). From the start of this project I knew the monitor mount would be tricky because I was going to deviate a bit from the original design. I did not want to put bolts through the side of the cabinet in order to support the monitor like this (thanks for the pic Neilyboy):

I don't know why... maybe I just didn't like the thought of poking holes in the side art. The problem with wanting to do this is that the sides are only 9/16" thick which isn't nearly enough material to screw into to support a ~50 lb. monitor so I had to think of a way to get the monitor at the proper angle and supported from the bottom.

Another problem was that the monitor had triangular brackets on each side which supported the monitor in a horizontal position. When placing the monitor vertically in the Donkey Kong cabinet these brackets stuck out the back - this is obviously unacceptable so they had to be removed. Compounding the issue was that these brackets also held the electronics of the monitor in place! See:

The final problem was making a frame for the monitor. After removing the triangular brackets there was no way to actually mount the monitor! Did I figure it out?

Stay tuned...

Camera Dump

2009-08-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I finally mounted the monitor - what an unbelievable headache. It took 2 full days and I probably went overboard so I don't have the energy to write something up at the moment. In the meantime here are some random shots of the cabinet that were on my camera showing kind of where I'm at right now. If I don't post them here I might as well delete them. The marquee lights up really really nice...

The monitor mount is coming...

More later.

The Marquee

2009-07-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now this was fun. After I got the bottom marquee retainer and coin door back painted I was able to install the marquee and marquee light. It looks great!

It was fairly easy - first, I secured the 18" light I bought from Home Depot ($10) in place.

Next, I screwed the bottom marquee retainer in place with the marquee in position. Finally, I screwed the top marquee retainer in place. The light will be in the "always on" position and plugged into a SmartStrip which will be activated when the computer powers up. I'm getting closer!

I need to find some less obvious screws for the top marquee retainer. The ones I used are silver and quite noticeable. I'd like to replace them with some round head ones spraypainted black. I'll get to that eventually.

EDIT: I replaced the screws the other night. I ordered some from QuarterArcade and they look GREAT. No spraypainting necessary!

More later.

The T-Molding

2009-07-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now that I am finished with painting the fun stuff can begin. The first thing I wanted to do was install the t-molding to the edges of the cabinet.

This stuff is kind of a pain but it is easy enough to install I guess. I used a rubber mallet to tap the t-molding into the slot. The only tricky part was going around the bends but all I had to do was use a razor to remove small sections of the spine of the t-molding so it had room to bend.

In order to finish the installation I tipped the cabinet on its back so I could wrap it underneath. It is a weird design but the original cabinets only wrap the t-molding about 1/3 of the way underneath the base. If it were me I would have gone all the way to the back.

It is amazing the difference that it makes. The clean lines around the outside of the cabinet really give it a factory-fresh appearance.

The entire installation took about an hour.

More later.

Reattaching The Base

2009-07-23T06:00:00.001-07:00

What a pain! After I rebuilt the entire base again due to my stupidity it was time to attach it to the cabinet. The first thing I had to do was remove the existing base. This proved to be very difficult because the original was attached from the inside using small staples that I couldn't see. I ended up using a crowbar to pry all 4 pieces off and it took quite a bit of strength.

Here is the bottom without the base:

The next part wasn't so hard. I bought some L-brackets and used them to secure the new base in place. I pre-drilled all of the holes for the screws and it went on pretty quick. I was going to use more but after putting the first 4 in place it was rock solid so I left it.

It looks pretty nice installed. It isn't something everyone will notice but I think it looks a million times better than what was there previously. Plus, I was able to add the rubber feet which will make it easier on the floor of my house.

More later.

The Admin Buttons

2009-07-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Since I have decided to put a computer inside of this cabinet which will run MAME I need some admin buttons in order to work the front-end and MAME itself. The goal of this project is to keep the cabinet as authentic as possible and only make deviations from the original design when I feel it is an improvement or out of necessity. Admin buttons ruin the illusion that this is an actual Donkey Kong cabinet straight out of 1981 so I have to hide them. Fortunately there is a lip underneath the control panel area with plenty of room:

The cabinet is tipped on its side here and you can see the area I'm talking about. Man it drives me nuts the way this thing was originally put together - look at the gap between the speaker panel on the front and the panel underneath! Thankfully no one will ever see this mess.

I decided on three admin buttons - Exit (which will allow the player to exit the current game back to the list of games on the front end), Pause (because I have kids and rarely get 10 consecutive minutes to do anything) and Coin (the coin door will be fully functional but this will make it a bit easier). The Pause and Coin buttons are also going to double as Volume Up and Volume Down when shifted by pressing the Player 2 Start Button in the control panel.

Since I don't want these buttons to ever be seen I decided to countersink them into the wood panel so the top of the button is flush with the panel. It was easy enough to do. I used a 1-3/8" forstner bit to countersink the buttons and when I got about 1/4" down I switched to a 1-1/8" forstner bit to finish the job.

It was tough to get the drill in there just right - the plywood was not even close to level so the lip in the front is actually a little deeper than in the back for each button. Here is how the buttons will sit in the holes I drilled:

The last thing I did was take some powder blue paint and paint the exposed wood to match the cabinet exterior. Even though no one will ever see this I wanted to make it look somewhat neat even though it is a mess. If I was building this from scratch I would have pre-drilled all of these holes prior to assembly and I would have rounded over the edges of the recessed holes. Oh well. It came out OK but most importantly it is going to work great.

I should also note that I drilled a hole to the far left for the Exit button and I drilled two holes to the far right for the Pause and Coin buttons. I don't want anyone to accidentally hit Exit in the middle of a game when they were only reaching for the Pause button!

Things are coming together now. Tonight I'll reattach the new base I made and install the t-molding and some other stuff.

More later.

Measure Once, Cut Twice?

2009-07-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm an idiot. I tipped the cabinet on its side to put the last coats of paint on (latex dries better horizontally, I think) and I noticed that when I measured the base I didn't account for the overlap from the side panels so it is actually an inch taller than I thought.

I had to remake the entire thing using a 1 x 4 (3/4" x 3-1/2"). It was easy enough and only took about an hour but I did have to spend an extra $16 on the maple and I still have to paint it black.

The good news is that I finally figured out how to paint the sides without leaving roller marks - I bought a 1/4" nap roller and that did the trick. The foam roller was spreading the paint too thin and it was drying before I had a chance to even it out. It looks real good now.

More later.

Another Coat of Powder Blue? Ugh.

2009-07-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent some time sanding down the cabinet and getting it ready for what I had hoped would be the last coat of blue paint. Unfortunately, after letting it dry for a few days I have decided to give it one more coat.

There was still a hint of the white primer underneath (since sanding in some parts took it back down to the primer) and there is one part on the right panel that you can clearly see some overlap from the roller. It is all I will ever see on this thing if I don't take care of it.

Anyway, here is what it looks like at the moment after 3 coats of the powder blue paint:

This sets me back slightly in that I wanted to install the t-molding today but no big deal. Tomorrow morning I am going to put the *final* coat of paint on the cabinet and then later in the afternoon I'm going to install the t-molding and maybe install the base if the paint is dry enough.

More later.

Some Progress Pics

2009-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK - here are some decent shots of what the cabinet looks like after applying two coats of the powder blue paint.

I applied one last coat on top of this and hopefully that is it (I'll post some more pictures of that even though it looks kind of the same as these). Once I am finished painting the rest of the project should fly.

It's funny how the color looks different depending on the lighting but it all looks real even in person. Hopefully the sideart will go on nice and smooth - I'm nervous just thinking about it.

More later.

The Powder Blue Paint. Ugh.

2009-07-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well here we go. In case you couldn't tell yet, I hate painting. It is finally time to apply the powder blue paint on the sides and front of the cabinet. The goal here is to apply several thin coats in order to achieve as flat of a finish as possible. The smoother the finish, the nicer it looks and the better chance I have of actually putting this thing somewhere in my house.

I went to Sherwin-Williams to get some high quality paint and I think I got some good stuff. You can get the formula off of the picture below:

I was going to get an oil-based product but due to environmental laws in my area they could only sell me a quart and on top of that they didn't have the right base for the color codes I had so I ended up going with latex. The guy assured me that it was their flagship product and it would dry nice and even (which it did). I'm quite happy with how it is turning out after applying two coats.

More later.

Replacing The Base 3

2009-07-15T06:00:00.003-07:00

Last night I put the black paint on the base I made so that part is now finished. The Rustoleum black paint is awesome stuff. It dries evenly and after 3 quick coats it looks great.

I'm also happy I took the time to mitre the corners - they look great too. After the blue paint dries on the cabinet I'll tip it back and install this thing with some L-brackets and glue.

More later.

Replacing The Base 2

2009-07-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

Not much more progress on the base last night. I was sidetracked by painting the cabinet blue (more on that later).

Here is what the base looks like unclamped:

And here is what the rubber feet look like:

They were the smallest I could find at Home Depot that weren't adhesive-backed (which always come off eventually). I didn't want the base to be too high off of the ground but I did want something on the bottom to protect the base from being beat up over time.

Tonight I'll definitely get the paint on this thing. I put two blue coats on the entire cabinet (one last night and one this morning) and I've decided to wait until tomorrow night (36 hours) before sanding and putting on the third and final coat. I want to make sure it is dry.

More later.

Replacing The Base

2009-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to wait an extra day to let the black paint fully cure before I remove the blue tape and start prepping for the powder blue paint on the sides and front. In the meantime I started to rebuild the base of the cabinet. After years and years of sitting on the ground and being moved around it started to splinter and generally looks horrible.

It was easy to duplicate. I started out with an 8' long 3" x 1" piece of maple from Home Depot. I chose maple because it was harder than pine (the only other choice in the store). I should note that the actual measurements of a 1" x 3" is 3/4" x 2-1/2" which is perfect for the height of the base.

NOTE: SEE HERE FOR ACTUAL MEASUREMENTS OF THE BASE - I WAS OFF BY 1" ON THE HEIGHT.

The dimensions of the base are 22" x 24-7/8" x 2-1/2". I cut up the maple accordingly with my chop saw and put a 45 degree cut on the ends so the corners would join together nicely. I also used my trusty biscuit cutter to cut some slots on the ends for some #10 biscuits. This will create a VERY strong joint when it is glued up. There is more surface area for the glue and the biscuit expands in the slot.

Before gluing everything together I applied 3 coats of the BIN Zinsser primer to hide the wood grain. I will paint it black once the pieces are glued together. I love this stuff.

I laid out everything on my dining room table (with some wax paper underneath in case of glue spillage).

I used two band clamps and 4 regular clamps to hold everything together. The joints are nice and tight and I checked it for squareness and it is pretty good.

It is drying right now. Tonight I'll apply the black paint (probably two coats) and install some small rubber feet for the base to sit on. Once the paint job on the rest of the cabinet is finished I'll take off the old base and install this one.

More later.

Painting Has Continued. Ugh.

2009-07-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I was able to put the first coat of black paint on the inside edges of the cabinet. I had to be careful taping everything because a straight and clean line is important to the overall look of the finished cabinet. I let the first coat dry overnight and then woke up really early to put on a second coat prior to going to work. I'm using Rustoleum brand Black (Semi-Gloss) latex paint.

It came out OK I guess - I am really particular (i.e. anal) when it comes to this type of stuff and my stupid brain can't accept that rolling on paint will never look as nice as laminate. I think I am going to do some light sanding when I get home and then apply a final coat of black paint. There's not much more I can do to make it look nicer.

I will finally be painting the rest of the cabinet powder blue over the weekend. When that is finished I'll be able to do some fun stuff like install the artwork and control panel. I need to start thinking about getting an arcade monitor and junker computer to throw inside to run everything.

More later.

Painting Has Begun. Ugh.

2009-07-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to put a few coats of primer on the cabinet. There's nothing special about my technique - I am using Zinsser BIN Primer (pictured) and so far I've put on 4 coats using a foam roller and a paintbrush (for the inside corners). I sanded with 400 grit sandpaper in between coats and the entire surface is fairly smooth. It isn't perfect by any stretch and there is some "orange peel" effect over the entire surface. I still have to do some final sanding before putting the top coats on.

Here is where I'm at:

I should probably get a shot of it outside instead of in a dark garage but whatever. I didn't take many pictures of this process since it is hard enough to do without worrying about my camera. Plus, this part is boring.

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel - Cost

2009-07-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

For those that are interested, here is the cost breakdown of the control panel:

Control panel overlay: $30 from eBay
Control panel instruction card underlay: $5 from Arcade Shop
Button set for Nintendo Classic control panels: $15 from Mike's Arcade
Nintendo Control Panel bolt set (8 bolts/nuts): $10 from Mike's Arcade
3 Nintendo button holders (with microswitches): $12 from VAPS member
Nintendo CP Strike Set: $5 from Mike's Arcade
Joystick (Sanwa JLF) and harness: $35 from lizardlick.com
1/16" ABS plastic (24" x 24"): $17 from eBay
1/2" MDF panel: $0 (on hand)

TOTAL: $129! Holy. Crap. That really added up fast and I didn't even include the cost of the t-molding since that is primarily for the cabinet itself. I'm very happy with it and it is as close to original as I could get it (other than the JLF which I think is an improvement over the original Nintendo joystick).

Control Panel - Finished!

2009-06-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is:

I know I said I probably wasn't going to finish this for a while but I couldn't resist. I applied the instruction card to the back of the plastic control panel overlay with some scotch tape. It was way easier than I thought because I was under the impression that the instruction card was actually a sticker. Oops.

I also peeled off the protective layer of plastic and it cleaned up really really nice. It is stunning in person and it looks like it came right out of the factory!

Next up - painting the cabinet. Ugh. I've kind of started this but the problem is finding a couple of days to devote to it.

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 8

2009-06-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. This took WAY longer than I thought it would (probably about 5 hours overall) but I am happy with the results. I still have to apply the instruction card and wire everything up but you can get the idea from the pictures. I won't be doing either of those things for a while though.

The instruction care obviously goes underneath the plastic control panel overlay but you get the idea from these pictures. There is also a thin layer of protective plastic over the... um, overlay which will look a lot crisper once it is removed.

Next up - priming and painting the exterior of the cabinet. What a pain.

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 7

2009-06-10T06:00:00.001-07:00

The last thing I had to do regarding construction was drill the holes to mount the joystick. This was a bit tricky since I was only leaving about 3/8" of material to screw into. This joystick needs to be secure because I imagine it will take a lot of abuse over the years. I was in the local Home Depot looking for a solution and I came across these:

They are perfect. There is a post that gets installed from the top and then the screw fits into the post from underneath. It makes things very secure. The only problem was getting the head of the post to be flush with the top of my control panel.

I eyeballed the placement of the stick, marked out the holes with a pencil and drilled them out. Next, I used some masking tape to cover each hole:

Then I placed the post in the hole (through the tape) and used a razor to trace the top and score the ABS plastic. The idea was to leave a circle made out of masking tape so I would know where to cut with the router but it didn't work as well as I had hoped. The bit caught onto the tape and removed it so all I had to go by was the score marks left by the razor. I'm sure a permanent marker or something could have done the job but oh well. Then I just used my 1/4" straight bit and my router set at the depth of the thickness of the head of the post and carefully removed enough ABS plastic so the head of the post would be flush. Like this:

Any imperfections here are hidden by the plastic control panel overlay. It worked great and the joystick is VERY secure.

Next up - final pics! More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 6

2009-06-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

The next thing I did was route the slot for the t-molding. There is no magic here - I just used my router and 1/16" slot cutting bit. It slot is actually a little small but the t-molding fit in there nice and tight.

Here is a side profile of the t-molding as installed:

And here is what the finished edge looks like:

It looks nice! More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 5

2009-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

The next thing I did was route out some material on the bottom of the control panel in two places. First I cut the groove/slot for the metal plate/catch thing to sit in so the control panel can lie flush when installed.

It was pretty easy to do. I used a 1/4" straight cutting bit with my plunge router positioned against a straight edge. I marked off the end points and made the cut in two passes.

Here is the finished groove:

And this is what the setup looked like with the straight edge for the router to run along:

To set it up perfectly I just lowered the router to zero level and lined up the edge of the bit with my layout line. Then I just played with the straight edge and the clamps until I could run the router bit exactly along the layout line. Then I adjusted the depth of the bit and made the cut in one fairly smooth motion.

Next, I removed the material along the back edge so the control panel would fit in the cabinet properly. For whatever reason, the cabinet was designed so the back edge of the control panel sits in between the block of wood where the instruction card will eventually go and the control panel supports on the sides. I have no idea why they couldn't make this "slot" 9/16" and then not require the back edge of the control panel to be cut.

No big deal though. I set up the straight edge and router exactly the same way as when I cut the groove and just slowly removed the material working back towards the straight edge. I don't have any pictures of this part but here is the back edge of the original control panel so you can see what I'm talking about:

Next up - cutting the t-molding slot and installing everything.

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 4

2009-05-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Almost there... the next thing I did was line up the joystick in the hole I had cut out. I just eyeballed it but I have a good eye and it looks like I got it dead-center. To help out with the process I installed the control panel overlay and sandwiched the joystick dustwasher in between the MDF/ABS panel and the overlay. All I had to do was center the dustwasher hole in the overlay.

Once it was lined up I flipped everything over, made sure the joystick was square to the panel and then traced it with a pencil. Then, using my router set to a 1/4" depth I freehanded out the rectangle I just drew.

Not bad, eh? It will take some fine tuning with the 4 corner bolts in order to secure it and make sure it is perfectly centered in the plastic control panel overlay.

Next up - cutting the groove on the bottom which receives the metal latch thing on the front of the cabinet. It's hard to explain until you see it...

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 3

2009-05-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Next up is the lamination process. The original Donkey Kong control panel is 9/16" thick to accommodate the t-molding which goes on the front edge. In order to get this thickness I decided to use a 1/2" piece of MDF and laminate it with a 1/16" piece of ABS plastic. This stuff is available in lots of different places (eBay and Amazon have it) and isn't too expensive.

The first thing I did was cut out a piece of the ABS plastic about 1/2" oversized all the way around:

I used my trusty contact cement to bond the plastic to the MDF:

I use a foam brush to apply the contact cement to both mating surfaces. I probably went a little overboard but it didn't make a difference - the MDF is porous so I wanted to be sure I had enough on there.

After waiting 20 minutes for the glue to dry I placed a scrap piece of MDF on top and used a cinder block to apply pressure in order to achieve a tight bond.

It worked! After about 10 more minutes I used my router (with the pattern bit again) to trim the ABS plastic flush with the panel. You can see what a clean job the router does - it came out perfect.

The next thing I had to do was trim around the button holes. I used a drill and a step bit to start and then when the hole was big enough I stuck the pattern bit in there and flush trimmed the button holes just like I did around the outside.

After that was finished I used my drill bit to drill out the 8 holes in the ABS plastic for the control panel overlay. Easy!

We are almost there. Next up is routing the recess in the back for the joystick and routing the groove for the front latch to rest in.

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel: Part 2

2009-05-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Next, I had to lay out the button locations and the holes for the control panel bolts which hold down the plastic control panel overlay. This part was simple. Using the old control panel as a guide, I placed a 1-1/8" Forstner bit in each hole and gave it a light tap with my rubber mallet to mark the center point of each button and the joystick hole.

Then, I used my drill to bore out the holes I just marked.

Once that was finished I installed the buttons I ordered in the holes I just drilled with the control panel overlay in place. I wanted to make sure the art would line up with the button holes and...

... this allowed me to layout the holes for the eight (8) control panel bolts that will secure the plastic overlay in place.

Finally, I removed the plastic overlay from the MDF and drilled out all the holes I just marked.

Next up - laminating the MDF panel and installing some components!

More later.

Recreating The Control Panel

2009-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, Bender from BYOAC was kind enough to send me his old Donkey Kong control panel so I could make an exact copy. Even though I wanted to finish painting the cabinet over the long weekend, I decided to get this part of the project completed since I didn't have that much time to work and I also want to get the control panel back to Bender as quick as I can.

Here is what I started with:

This should have been very very easy but of course, the old control panel was made out of 9/16" plywood which Home Depot doesn't carry. In order to get the required 9/16" thickness I decided to use 1/2" MDF as the base and then laminate the top with 1/16" black ABS plastic.

The first thing I did was trace the outer shape of the control panel onto the sheet of MDF.

Then I cut it out with the jigsaw leaving about 1/8" around the edges.

After that was finished I used some double sided tape to secure the old control panel to the MDF and then cut the exact shape out using my router and a pattern cutting bit.

Next up - laminating the MDF panel I just cut out, mounting the joystick and a bunch of other fun stuff!

More later.

Memorial Day Madness!

2009-05-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

As expected I didn't quite get as much done over the long weekend as I had hoped. We had plans on all three days so I was only able to work on the cab on Monday afternoon for 2 hours while my son napped. Instead of trying to paint the cab in a rush I ended up making the control panel. I took a ton of pictures and I'll try and do my best to explain the process.

More later.

Even More Parts Are Here!!

2009-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a fun week of getting mail. Yesterday when I got home from work the Nintendo button holders I bought from a VAPS member ($12) had arrived. They would have been $37 shipped from Mike's Arcade so I decided to go the used route. No one will ever see them and they are original parts!

The shaft of the button will go through the hole in the metal and trip the microswitch lever. These things are pretty funky.

More later.

Some More Parts Are Here!!

2009-05-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I got home from work I had a package waiting for me! Last week I placed an order with Arcade Shop for the marquee, bezel art, 9/16" white t-molding and the instruction cards (taped upside down to the Plexiglas). Check it out:

The bezel and the marquee came with protective plastic coverings which is why they look a little "off" in the pictures.

I can't wait to get everything installed and this is extra motivation to get moving with this thing. Unfortunately, my schedule has been extremely busy and I haven't had time to work on the cabinet. I did put on a coat of primer last week (no pics yet) but I still have to go back and fill in some small imperfections with bondo and sand again. It is tedious! I expect to finish the painting over Memorial Day weekend. After that the rest should go pretty quick.

More later.

Second Attempt With Bondo

2009-04-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK, after a somewhat long delay due to the weather, I was finally able to make a little more progress. I enlisted the help of my daughter who has really taken an interest in arcade machines (I think she just likes hanging out with her dad) and she inspected the side that I first filled and sanded. She noticed several imperfections by running her fingers over the surface which she circled with a pencil (thanks Bella!). Then I applied some additional bondo in those spots and sanded everything smooth.

I was pretty satisfied with the results so I did the exact same thing on the other side panel. As you can see in some of the pictures there were several spots along the back edge that needed to be filled in so I clamped a piece of scrap wood behind the panel in order to apply the bondo. Before applying the bondo I wrapped the scrap wood (which was actually fireplace kindling) in plastic so the bondo wouldn't stick to it.

It seems to have worked - I'm not sure how strong it will be but I don't envision that area taking a beating or anything so I think I'll be OK. The tricky part is getting a nice clean edge along the back - I think that would be noticeable if it wasn't exactly straight.

This part sure is taking forever. I still have to go over the entire cab one more time at least (probably 2) filling in the small imperfections with bondo and sanding it smooth. Once that is finished I'm going to go over everything with 220 grit sandpaper to get it ready for the primer. What a pain!

More later.

Respect

2009-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Damn. I have a whole new appreciation for people who take on these restoration projects. Getting the bondo just right is very difficult. I haven't even started painting yet and I've already put in about 5 times as much time as I thought this would take. The edges are especially tricky and smoothing out the rough spots sounds easy in theory but getting it *perfect* is not a quick job.

I've made some progress but it's more of the same (filling, sanding, filling, sanding, etc.) so I'm not sure pictures will make a difference...

More later.

First Attempt With Bondo

2009-04-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I tried working outside like I had planned but it was really really windy out and it was also pretty cold (46 degrees). After about 30 minutes my hands started to go numb and I realized I wasn't having any fun (which is the whole point) so I decided to hold off until warmer weather. Of course on Sunday it was 65 degrees but I had other things to do...

Anyway, here are some pictures showing the small bit of progress I made. I laid the cab down on its side to make it easier to work on. I sanded the entire surface using 100 grit sandpaper just to rough it up so the bondo would have something to stick to. Then I started patching the holes and dings. I had to work fast because after mixing the hardener there's only about 4-5 minutes before it sets.

Here are a couple of close-ups so you can see how sloppy I was. The edges were a mess in some spots but I'll just sand it all smooth and no one will ever know.

I used this type of bondo (there are several differnet brands/types to choose from):

It was easy enough to work with - the real challenge in making it look nice will be in the sanding and painting.

I hope to get out this coming Saturday but it looks like it might rain.

More later.

The Control Panel

2009-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am finally in a position to start recreating the control panel! The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend and more importantly, I got my hands on an original control panel to copy - huge thanks to Bender over at BYOAC!!! He sent me his control panel all the way from Maine!

Here is what the top looks like:

As you can see, the top is actually laminated because the control panel overlay does not completely cover the plywood. You can see the outline of where the control panel overlay used to be. The two holes on the right and left sides in the middle hold the control panel strikes in place underneath (they allow the control panel to be locked into place). Someone also drilled an extra hole in this thing for god knows what.

Here are a couple of shots from underneath:

Nothing crazy here - the area by the joystick was routed out so the joystick mounting plate could sit flush with the top. I'll be recreating that as well.

I am actually quite surprised how well it has held up considering it is 25+ years old. The edges on all 4 sides are still very crisp and it should be easy to copy it with a pattern bit and my router. I'll also use it to place the 8 holes for the screws which hold down the overlay. Once that is in place I'll be able to exactly drill out the 3 button holes and the hole for the joystick.

I need to find a piece of black laminate or something to cover the plywood with too. Hopefully Home Depot has something I can use.

More later.

Some Interior Shots

2009-03-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Time for the camera dump! Here are a few interior shots for those who are interested. It was pretty dirty inside and there were leaves, nails and staples all over the place. I cleaned it out pretty good but this is what it used to look like:

The last shot above shows where the original Donkey Kong board sat inside the cabinet. It was mounted vertically on the shelf.

The next shot is from behind looking up - you can see the metal bar which is used to secure the bezel in place. I'm glad this thing came with the cabinet - it is expensive to replace.

This last shot shows the back of the coin box. The holes on the top are where the quarters drop down into the box. There is a drawer on the front which pulls out so the box can be emptied. I'm not sure what to do here - the drawer works just fine but it is a little banged up. I think I'm just going to leave it as is since it would be a lot of work to rebuild something no one will see - plus it is original right now. I' ll post a bunch of pictures of the coin box eventually.

Overall things are in decent shape. I should be able to start filling the holes all over the cabinet and putting on a couple of coats of primer this weekend.

More later

Some Parts Are Here!

2009-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last night when I got home from work there was a package waiting for me from Mike's Arcade containing the buttons, CP strikes, top marquee retainer and the control panel bolts. Here are some pointless pictures of my loot:

The buttons are actually pretty neat. They aren't the standard "Happ" buttons that I'm used to working with - they are actually called Nintendo buttons which is fitting I suppose...

Nothing like fresh metal, eh? I can't believe I had to shell out $17 for this... Oh well, I want to keep it authentic so spray painting an L-bracket just wasn't going to do it.

The next order I place will probably be for the side art, marquee and bezel but I'm going to wait until I actually begin painting.

More later.

Removing The Side Art

2009-03-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I finally started work on this thing! Yesterday it warmed up to about 55 degrees (after snowing the day before!) so I decided to start working on the Donkey Kong. The first thing I did was remove the side art. This was very very time-consuming. The existing side art came off in about an hour per side but it took twice as long to get the glue off - what a pain!

This is what I started with:

Even though the art was mostly peeled off of this side there was still leftover glue all over the place which had to come off.

After reading some threads over at BYOAC, I realized there were several different ways to go about this. Some people use a belt sander with 80 grit sandpaper and just let it eat through the art down to the wood. Other people spray/brush on some chemicals like paint stripper or something and then scrape the art off. I decided to try the third option I read about - a heat gun and lots of patience. It seems to be the least messy way of cleaning up the sides.

I don't have a heat gun but I do have a hair dryer (well, my wife does ) so used that. It worked quite well. I put the hair dryer on "hot" and turned it all the way up. This melted the glue just enough for the art to be peeled off. I started of by gently scraping with the end of a flat head screwdriver and when I got enough of the art up to grab onto I started peeling. It didn't come off all at once - there were lots and lots (and lots) of little pieces to pull off.

After removing the side art it was time to remove all of the excess glue. There was an outline on each side where the side art used to be:

My wife suggested trying Goo Gone which I had never used before. It worked but it took a lot of elbow grease to get rid of all of the glue. The process was spray on the Goo Gone, let it sit for 5 minutes and then rub it off with a cotton rag. This was the key - for some reason paper towels weren't working - at all. Once I switched to the cotton rags I noticed an improvement right away.

If you look close you can see all the glue balled up - this stuff was extremely sticky and was tough to get off of my hands even with a towel. I was constantly running inside the house to wash my hands and then continue (I had to pick up the glue balls with my fingers to get them off of the cabinet). Once I thought everything looked nice, I washed the entire side using soapy water (per the Goo Gone instructions). This was the finishing touch - everything came off!

Here are some final shots of the sides - it doesn't look like much but this was after about 6 hours worth of work.

Nice and clean! Next up - using some bondo to fill all the holes and imperfections. More later.

First Order

2009-03-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I'm hoping to make a little progress on the cabinet. I'm excited to get started. I placed my first actual order for parts today - I'm going to keep a running tally so I'll have a ballpark idea of what the cost is.

Today's order (from Mike's Arcade):

SKU Code	Description	Price	Quantity	Total
CPSTRIKESN	Nintendo CP Strike Set	$5.00	1	$5.00
CPNINBOLTSET	Nintendo Control Panel Bolts (8)	$10.00	1	$10.00
MBRKTOPN	Nintendo Marquee Top Bracket	$17.00	1	$17.00
TKGU-23-32	Nintendo Orange Button	$5.00	1	$5.00
TKGU-23-31	Nintendo Blue Button	$5.00	2	$10.00
Subtotal:				$47.00
Shipping & Handling:				$11.92
Total:				$58.92

Not too bad I guess - this just about takes care of the parts for the control panel. Also, the top marquee retainer is expensive - too bad it was missing from my cabinet. It came with the bottom one.

More later.

The Unrestored Coin Door

2009-02-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was really lucky when I went to pick up this cabinet - the coin door was in excellent shape! It is the only thing on a Donkey Kong cabinet that you can't buy a reproduction of (to my knowledge) so in order to get everything looking factory fresh you have to find an original and restore it. The problem is that over time they tend to get bent out of shape due to people trying to break in and they all rust due to age and less than ideal storage conditions.

Check out the coin door that came with the cabinet (I still can't believe it was only $36!):

As you can see, the paint is chipping all over the place and there is a considerable amount of rust. However, there are no dents! It is in great shape and once I strip off all of the old paint and rust I can prime and repaint it and the coin door will look brand new! I hope...

Here is a shot of behind the coin door:

The original wiring harness is still there (I'm probably not going to use it) and if you look really close you can see the coin counter!

The coin counter is set to 31,071 which means that while this cabinet was in service it made $7,767.75. Not too bad considering that amount is a quarter at a time! I'm going to look into resetting the coin counter for when I put the finished cabinet in my house so I can keep track of how many games I've played - it's a pretty neat feature.

The next pictures are close-ups of the actual coin mechs:

There are not in great shape and the finish has completely worn down around the coin slot. I'm not sure if I'll be able to restore these to factory condition so I'm contemplating replacing them with similar looking coin mechs from Asahi Seiko. They look like this:

Notice the coin catcher on the bottom is slightly different (the "U" shape vs. the "ear" shape on the original). I'm really undecided right now - they are expensive at $40 each but sure would look nice!

Here are some more pictures of my coin door (yeah, it's overkill but what else am I going to do with them?):

More later.

Random Close-Ups

2009-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures to give you a better idea of where I'm starting. There are a lot of places which will need to be touched up or filled with bondo and then sanded down before I apply the first coat of primer.

Here is a shot of the speaker grill. The original Donkey Kong only had one speaker mounted on the left underneath the control panel. The sound escapes through the slots that are cut out as you can see. There is minor damage here (chipping) that I will fill with the bondo - the tricky part will be sanding it down evenly. Check out the t-molding slot on the left. It is in great shape!

This next shot shows the other side of the control panel area but this time from above. Unfortunately this cabinet did not come with a control panel at all so I will have to recreate that completely from scratch. It did, however, come with the control panel clips as you can see in the picture. These are what is used to secure the control panel in place.

The last shot below is the marquee area. The hole in the back panel is for the power cord for the light that goes behind the marquee. I am most likely going to be using a NovaMatrix LED Light from GroovyGameGear here instead of a florescent one. The bulbs last way longer and they are easier to power. Along the bottom edge you can also see the metal retainer (it's oxidized over time) which is used to secure the bottom of the marquee and the top of the bezel in place. I'll have to clean that up somehow and repaint it.

More later!

From This To ... ???

2009-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

After getting the cabinet home, I took a bunch of pictures (both inside and out) so I can have something to compare the finished product to and to track my progress. The cabinet is in decent shape but there is a lot of work to be done to get it looking like it just came out of the factory.

Here are a few shots of the entire cabinet from several angles to give you an idea of what I'm going to be working with. The existing side art will have to come off first.

The next shot shows the cabinet from the other side - the side art is already peeling off! Maybe I'll get lucky and it will come off easily.

I don't know if you can see but there are multiple holes punched through both sides that will have to be patched. It appears as though this cabinet was converted from a Donkey Kong to a Nintendo Vs. cabinet at some point. The vertical Donkey Kong monitor would have to be turned on its side (or replaced) because the Nintendo Vs. games all ran on two(!) horizontal monitors stacked on top of one another. The holes are for the various supports for the monitors. The original Donkey Kong cab had two bolts on each side in order to support a monitor bracket - right through the side art! Even though I'm going for authenticity, I think I'm going to make some minor design "improvements" along the way and this will be one of them - no bolts through the side panels!

Finally, here is a shot of the back of the cabinet. I really should take some head-on pictures of the front and back but this will have to do for now. You can see the two holes cut out near the top - this was for transporting it around. There are two casters on the bottom so all you have to do is tip it back onto the wheels and grab it by the two openings. It is quite easy to move around.

I will post some close-up shots later but I can already tell that the back part is going to be the toughest to restore - plus, the back door was missing when I picked it up so I'll have to make an entirely new one!

More later.

Getting Some Help

2009-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I asked my dad if he wanted to help me restore the Donkey Kong and he agreed! He is very handy and I think it will be a lot of fun to spend time working together. We are planning to set aside a few Saturdays in the Spring once the weather gets better. The first steps will be:

1. Fill all holes on the exterior and sand
2. Mask off sides and front and paint interior black
3. Apply 3-4 coats of white primer (sanding in between)
4. Apply 2 top coats of powder blue paint (sanding in between)

Once all that is finished we will be well on our way. I can't wait to get started!

Back Door Operation Sheet

2009-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Since I'm going for authenticity I will be including the "Back Door Operation Sheet" that was stapled to the inside of the back door of an original Donkey Kong cabinet. Here is a pic of what it looks like:

I'm not sure if I'll be using the same monitor or even running a Donkey Kong board on the inside so the operation sheet might be a little misleading but hey, no one will know except me... the goal is to restore the cabinet to be as "authentic" as possible so every little detail matters...

Board or Computer?

2008-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't decided how I am going to run Donkey Kong on the cabinet once it is complete. I could:

Get an original DK board and install it
Get a "48-1" board and install it (includes DK among others)
Put an old computer inside and run MAME. I can set it up to boot straight to DK when turned on so it would appear dedicated but also have it run every 4-way/1 button game out there (DK, DK Jr., DK3, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Pac-man Jr., Mr. Do!, Frogger, etc. - there are TONs of them and most are classics).

I'm leaning towards #3 because it's the cheapest and easiest since I already have a couple of old computers laying around. It's not really necessary though since I have other machines running those games... I guess I'll make that call once I'm finished restoring the exterior of the cabinet.

Red or Blue?

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

I am undecided on what color to paint the cabinet once I'm done filling all of the holes, sanding it down and applying a few coats or primer. Most Donkey Kong cabinets came in powdered blue - in fact, the cabinet I am restoring was powder blue at one point and the only Donkey Kong cabinets I can recall from my youth were all powder blue. However, the first batch of Donkey Kong cabinets actually came in a deep red because they were converted from another Nintendo game - Radar Scope - which failed miserably.

Check it out:

The only reason I am considering red is purely for aesthetics - I just like the way it looks. I am really undecided at this point although I'm leaning towards blue because that is how I remember it...

Why Restore?

2008-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got into this hobby I have been building my arcade machines from scratch. There are a few reasons why I am choosing to restore this one:

Cost: $36 for the cabinet is WAY cheaper than I could have built it using 3 sheets of plywood or MDF. I am estimating that this entire project will cost somewhere between $300 and $400 depending on how much the monitor ends up costing.
Ease: All that I'll really have to do to get this thing back in shape is sand it down, fill any holes or dents and paint it. Not having to construct the cabinet will take months off of the completion time since I move pretty slow with these things.
The "community": For some reason, other people really like it when an old cabinet is "saved" - I don't fully understand it but I guess it is a little piece of history and since no one is manufacturing these things anymore and the arcade era is either dead or on its last legs it will be nice to have a piece of it in my house.

If this one goes well enough I might try restoring another one on my "dream list" fairly quickly.

First Pictures

2008-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture from the eBay listing. I haven't even picked it up yet so I really don't know what condition the cabinet is in but it looks pretty good from what I can tell. It also comes with a coin door and two coin mechs - hopefully it is not dented and I will be able to restore that as well.

I will definitely be posting more pictures once I have it in hand. Stay tuned!

It's On Like.... um... Donkey Kong!

2008-09-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here I go again - another project! While completing my touch screen jukebox I had been thinking about what to work on next. I have already made a custom pink mini-arcade and cocktail table from scratch (and I'm in the middle of a slim upright) but ever since I was little I've always wanted a real, working arcade cabinet in my house.

I decided it was time to try my hand at restoring an old cabinet to its former glory so when I saw a gutted Donkey Kong cabinet on eBay that was only about 90 minutes away, I couldn't resist. I managed to snag it for $36! You can't beat that!

I am very excited about this one since it is on the short list of dedicated cabinets I want to have in my basement arcade some day (along with Pac-man, Galaga and others).