How did I repair an arcade machine

What do you feel when you see your favorite thing in a broken state? If you immediately have an irresistible desire to fix it, then welcome to cat.

I continue to talk about my projects Arcade machines. Today we will talk about the very first do-it-yourself machine that I saw last time in 2015 and saw again under new circumstances. It was a Bartop-type machine stuffed with Core i3, a 19-inch monitor, a 500Gb HDD and running on the HyperSpin shell. After the assembly, I posted the result of work on the network and the machine found a new house in 24 hours. RetroCade, as we called it, has left us to please the new owner with its games.



A lot of water has flowed from that moment, many new projects have been done, but the fate of the first machine has always been a mystery to me. One day, the new owner of RetroCade contacted me and said that the machine had broken. I was glad of any news about the first project and offered to repair the machine at my own expense, taking all the costs of transportation and repair. This is the picture that appeared before my eyes when I saw it again:





First of all, we dismantle part of the parts and all components, clean them from dust and dirt. We clean the motherboard and change the thermal paste for prevention. The lack of a monitor is striking, we add. We are looking for vulnerabilities and find the increased temperature of the HDD 3.5 in operation, we change it to a new HDD of 500GB format 2.5. So more reliable. The old power supply also goes to the basket, it’s a pity that we will never know where the big dent appeared on it, but we won’t take any risks and install the power supply with a beautiful appearance, reliable and most important for us of a suitable size. Important, because we will change the back cover of the machine, and with the old block this can not be done because of its size.



They forgot something. Right! Control Panel. Probably the most intimate part of the machine. It is necessary to remove and clean all the buttons and control sticks, to arrange a bunch of wires. We install acrylic glass panels to prevent Artov from rubbing on the panel from contact with the hands of the players. They perform not only a protective function, but also look beautiful.



It's time to replace and re-stick all the machine guns with new ones. Replace the back cover and install one ON / OFF button, one power cable with a fuse instead of a large hole with protruding wires. Mount all elements back. Install speaker grilles. Replace the screen with a stylized frame for CRT. Replace moldings.











Done! I was very happy to see the first arcade machine made again. Even more pleased to repair it, so that he continued to work and please his master. Remember that the past cannot be fixed, but it can be repaired and improved!

The list of improvements:

• Monitor replacement
• HDD replacement
• Power Supply Replacement
• Thermal Paste Replacement
• Replacing the back of the machine
• Magnetic Lock Installation
• Installing the power connector and power button with a fuse
• Replacing the main part of the control panel
• Cleaning controls (buttons, sticks)
• Install security features on the control panel
• Installing speaker grilles
• Replacement moldings
• Replacing the protective screen (styling under a CRT)
• Replacement of artifacts on all parts of the machine