Q*bert. A man and his grail... FINISHED !!!

[level42]

Gottlieb neatly labeled the connectors so.....and since I have no keys (yet!) in the connectors I clearly indicated the pin numbers too....

[level42]

Gotta loveeeeeee those hack jobs sometimes........

Remember this ?




.....wanted to fix that and when I removed the clumsy isolation tape I discovered that they didn't even bother to actually SOLDER the wires.....so I unwound the hacked in wires and was left with this....

Not a single strand was damaged so I decided to isolate them again with some neatly installed insulation tape. No need to cut and solder etc. LOL.

[Nic-fryer]

Wow. Somebody went to a lot of effort to splice that together. That looks so much harder than cutting the wire and doing a 'T' tap

[level42]

Interesting.....I couldn't remove the "power" harness becauseI couldn't reach the connector going to the fluorescent light.
Turns out that there are two latches on the speaker panel in the top. Those latches are like the one's you see on control panels.

When you open the latches you can remove the speaker panel completely. This also made it possible to remove the power switch bracket and the vent cover.



Of course it looks a bit "old". Looks like maybe some fluid has been spilt over it, in anyway there's some dirt/aluminum rust on it.

However, when I removed it, there was a little surprise.....

[level42]

The surprise was that on the INSIDE there is another one of those vent covers......and it looks like spanking new because it is installed upside down 

[level42]

OK, there's always a catch, right ?

There is. The one on the inside is of thinner aluminum than the one on the outside. This is of course because of possible abuse.

Not much chance on that anymore, so I'm definitely going to switch them !!! In fact, I might "forget" about the one on the inside just as well to improve airflow.........not sure yet.

So, here's the power switch bracket. The top of the switch is gone and there were no wires attached anymore (these are twisted together and actually covered with a neat "lasdopje"....I have no idea what the word is in English )

It's a switch just like used on my Ms.Pac Man....guess they're not that sturdy. However....if you look at the bracket from the side you can see that some weirdo's have been smacking it with some good force.........WHY !?!?!? I wonder....

[level42]

While we're removing stuff....here's another grill.....

No it's not the speaker grill but that of the air inlet at the lower bottom...

[Etienne MacGyver]

So, here's the power switch bracket. The top of the switch is gone and there were no wires attached anymore (these are twisted together and actually covered with a neat "lasdopje"....I have no idea what the word is in English )

I Always wondered myself too, i though there must be some fancy word for it, guess not... 

[Nic-fryer]

So, here's the power switch bracket. The top of the switch is gone and there were no wires attached anymore (these are twisted together and actually covered with a neat "lasdopje"....I have no idea what the word is in English )

I Always wondered myself too, i though there must be some fancy word for it, guess not... 

If you put up a photo of these 'lasdopje' I can give you the exact name if you like

[level42]

Here is one:



The picture name says "wire nuts".

It's the smallest on that picture. When I went to school we still got taught with those old fashioned one's for 230V mains installations......they were a PITA, had to twist the solid core wires and then cover them with one of those wire nuts.....if that is the right word

However, in those days there were already these:
Today there are these, which are superior for sure....



They can be dangerous though....the spring tension is so high that if you snap down one of the latches with your fingers in the wrong position you will get a nasty pinch from them......but you quickly learn not to do that this way

[Nic-fryer]

Yep. I'm pretty sure they're wire nuts. You're right though. They suck. I have seen those clip ones (Orange lever) but more commonly used are the 'BP Connectors' due to their cheapness. (The side bit is a screw)

[level42]

Never saw those here, then again, I'm not into mains home wiring....

OK some random shots I took last evening...

This is stapled on the bottom of the cab...handy ! However F1 is now 2A because of the 230VAC conversion



The second pic shows the inside air vent cover and power switch bracket still in place...

[level42]

Random side-art shot....I am actually glad they are much busted on both sides....doesn't give me any doubt about replacing them

O pulled off a bit on the other side and was able to actually get a fair amount off without any tools or stuff. The yellow paint there is of course (more or less) the original color......I feel a trip to the DIY store "Bruno-style" coming up !!!!

Q*berts are infamous for their wood.....they often swell. However I think the back door is really pretty thick originally already...

You can see some of the typical "wear and tear"....

[level42]

So how thick is it ? pretty thick.....

Second pic, yup gotta fix those corners....

[level42]

....all corners....

I'm going to need some wood-hardener.....the stuff Ully uses looks good ! No idea what I can get here....