Bought a DK Cab

[BillyGaines]

Very nice Kong.  I looked over your pics and everything looks correct.  Congrats! 

[YesAffinity]

Thanks, guys.  I appreciate the feedback and the warm welcome.  I'm excited to be a part of the community!

[YesAffinity]

So I was reading the rules for submitting a DK score to Twin Galaxies, and while the requirements are rigorous and lengthy, one caught my eye: "Show processor at position 7C (must read 780c or Z80)".  Below is a pic of the processor on my board, at 7C.  Is this processor original to the game board?  And, will it be acceptable to Twin Galaxies?

[ebinsugewa]

That's a Z80.

[YesAffinity]

Thanks ebinsugewa, for the confirmation.

One minor fix to the cabinet completed: service button properly affixed.  I found some nuts and bolts in my stash of old hardware from random computer parts, which are a perfect match.  The retaining bracket for the service switch is threaded, and the thread of the bolts matches exactly.  In addition, it is bolted.  Can't get any more bullet-proof than that, in my mind...except for maybe if I had some locking washers to match, but that would just be asking too much.

Anyway, I've got 2 spares if anybody else out there has a dangling service button in their cab, and needs a way to properly secure it.  Reach out to me via PM if you need them.

[YesAffinity]

Couldn't fit the last pic of the secured service button in the previous post...

[ChrisP]

Great looking cab. This shows many signs of having been in the hands of an "arcade guy" and restored in several respects (no DK cab would ever naturally look that good after 34 years, unless it was in a closet the whole time).

- Control panel looks new overall, but at any rate, the buttons are not original. Colors and plungers, etc. are different.

- It's a good paint job (never seen one where they painted the INSIDE of the speaker holes!), but it's not factory. DK's came originally with either a fiberglass gelcoat, melamine, or formica (depending on where and when the cab was made). Feel the material on the inside of the control panel (where the latches are). Unless this was a super-detailed restore, THAT will still have the original finish and you'll be able to feel the difference. The fact that the inner-finish is "DK blue", though, means that this was a DK originally.

- If the paint job is new, then that of course means the sideart is.

- The instruction sheet on the back door is DK (not Junior, Popeye, etc.) So assuming that particular back door is original to the cab, that also shows it to be an original DK.

- That isn't a stock DK isolation transformer. You have a PT-8A. Standard with a DK is PT821B (pic here). The 821B is smaller and a different color. But it's hard to imagine anything that could possibly matter less...

- Probably not worth mentioning, but somebody had some fun diddling with the coin meter. Obviously there has never been a DK machine (or any other arcade machine), that logged damn near a quarter million plays.

- In my experience, an intact Service Switch button cover (the black nub that you press on) is rare. Cool that yours has one.

- Also cool that your cab has the horizontal monitor mounts installed. This will be very handy if you ever want to play Popeye or Mario Brothers. Mine does not have the horizontal mounts (or even the holes for them), so when I want to play Popeye, I just pull the monitor out, turn it, and let it hang loose in there, just letting the shelf support the monitor. Wouldn't want to move it that way, and the screen ends up being a couple inches lower than it should be, but it works.

- The coin slot wiring is just the two wires (orange and brown). To connect both slots, you have to cut the wires and splice one set at the terminals to continue to the other terminals.

[YesAffinity]

Hi ChrisP,

thank you for the feedback.

Any idea what the PVC tube extending from the interior of the front panel/speaker panel is?

The paint now becomes even more of a mystery.  Okay, seems likely that the front panel/speaker panel is re-painted, since the grill is painted and that is not factory.  The side panels however, have probably about 20 nicks and dings, at least 1 or 2 serious gouges, all of which have been touched up with a very good paint match (but when looking close enough, is clearly a touch-up).  So, that would mean that the sides were re-painted and re-stickered, and then the re-paint has been subject to all this damage and subsequently touched up.  I'll have to take a closer look at the side panels, compared to the front panel/speaker panel and some of the other painted areas.  It's more of a curiosity now, based on the info you've provided.

What colors were the original buttons?  Mine appear to be very new, and I'm not surprised to hear they are replacements.

Also, the ball top on the joystick has a small hole in the side.  It doesn't appear to be drilled, and is actually "tiered" for lack of a better word.  I can't imagine what it would be for.  It is very dusty inside the hole, and appears to have been there for quite some time, if not original to the ball top.  Can you provide any insight into the hole in the side of the ball top?  Again, just another little thing that is a curiosity.

[f_symbols]

There's a fitted screw that goes in that hole on the joystick; it secures the ball to the shaft, lo

[jumpman]

There's a fitted screw that goes in that hole on the joystick; it secures the ball to the shaft, lo

I see what you did there..
You can get a replacement set screw at a hardware store. It's a M4 4mm x 8mm. You will need a metric  wrench.

[YesAffinity]

Okay, good info, thank you.  Maybe the screw is there...I'll have to take a closer look.

[YesAffinity]

So here's a pic of the hole on the balltop.  Not completely sure what I'm looking at inside that hole, other than uncounted years of finger funk and dust.  I can't tell....is the set screw in there?  I can tell you that the balltop is firmly secured to the stick.  I tried holding the stick and rotating the balltop, and the two are firmly joined together.

[jumpman]

It looks like it's in there. Especially since the ball won't come off.

[ChrisP]

If the ball won't come off, the screw is there (since that is the purpose of the screw).

Some people find the screw hole annoying, but I always liked it in a tactile sense for some reason.

Being able to remove the ball means that you don't have to disassemble the entire joystick to remove the control panel overlay or the dust ring if you need to do those for whatever purpose (like cleaning them). This has actually come in useful for me a couple of times.

[YesAffinity]

I agree, I like the hole.  I position it toward the screen when playing, and it acts as a grip for my forefinger.