Inquiring minds often wonder how much work goes into a complete restoration of an arcade cabinet. I maintain a “log” on each machine I restore and keep track of the total spent on new parts and how many hours have gone into the restoration. Since the Dig Dug restoration is essentially complete, with the exception being a new back door, I’ll use it as an example:
Parts Ordered
| Date Ordered | Part Ordered | Cost |
| 1/18/08 | New coin & back door locks | $8.00 |
| 1/21/08 | Self test switch | $3.00 |
| 1/27/08 | 2 cans of spray paint | $6.96 |
| 1/27/08 | Bondo | $6.84 |
| 1/28/08 | Side art @ $1.80 per foot | $21.60 |
| 2/4/08 | Liquid laminate for side art (1 quart) | $17.95 |
| 2/4/08 | Primer (1 gallon) | $17.00 |
| 2/10/08 | Flat black paint (1 gallon) | $17.40 |
| 2/24/08 | Rustoleum “Hammered” spray paint | $5.28 |
| 2/24/08 | 40 feet of black t-molding | $29.90 |
| 3/2/08 | Poster board for monitor cover | $1.08 |
| 4/11/08 | New AC line cord with ground | $5.00 |
| ??????? | Plywood for new back door | ????? |
| Total Spent: | $140.01 | |
Work Log
| Date Performed | Task Performed | Time |
| 1/21/08 | Installed new self test switch | .25 hours |
| 1/26/08 | Stripped parts out of cabinet | 1 hour |
| 1/27/08 | Sanded utility panel & repainted | .5 hours |
| 2/2/08 | Sanded coin box & repainted | 1 hour |
| 2/2/08 - 2/4/08 | Repaired damaged corner with Bondo | 2.5 hours |
| 2/4/08 - 2/7/08 | Removed old side art from cabinet | 5.75 hours |
| 2/8/08 | Printed new side art | .75 hours |
| 2/9/08 | Sanded & primed cabinet | 2 hours |
| 2/10/08 | Repainted black portions of the cabinet | 2 hours |
| 2/20/08 | Installed new left side art | .75 hours |
| 2/21/08 | Installed new right side art | .75 hours |
| 2/22/08 | Laminated side art | .5 hours |
| 2/23/08 | Reinstalled wiring, control panel & marquee | .5 hours |
| 2/24/08 | Sanded & repainted coin door | 2 hours |
| 2/25/08 | Reinstalled coin door, monitor & new locks | 1 hour |
| 3/2/08 | Cut & installed new cardboard monitor cover | .75 hours |
| 3/3/08 | Repainted marquee retainers & vent cover | .25 hours |
| 3/4/08 | Installed new t-molding, marquee & vent cover | 1.25 hours |
| 4/15/08 | Installed new power cord | .25 hours |
| Total Time Invested (so far): | 23.75 hours | |
Let me know, via the comments below or the contact form, your thoughts on this information. I’ll continue to maintain the logs for my own personal information, but am curious to know if anyone else is interested in seeing the content of the logs. I don’t intend on maintaining a “running log” on the blog for each game but will post one similar to this as each restoration nears completion.
One of my favorite posts of yours so far Jeff. ‘How much does it cost to restore a Dig Dug arcade game? ‘ That would be a typical newbie question. They would also ask, ‘How much time does it take to restore / build an arcade game from scratch’. Great data…I had seen something like this on Dave’s Basement arcade website…but nothing about hours for project completion.
I think it might be helpful to even show where you got each of the parts in case another collector needs to do the exact same type of replacement and / or in case they want to evaluate whether repairing classic arcade games is going to be their ‘thing’ or not…based on the amount of parts and work that goes into a project.
@Jeff Rothe: Great suggestions. While it’s probably too late to do it for this cabinet and some of the parts I have obtained for other cabinets, I’m definately going to start keeping track of where each part was obtained.
I think a lot of people don’t understand the time and dollars involved in some of these projects. Take this project for example, if reproduction side art had been available or had I opted to purchase the ink jet sideart from another source, the price could have easily gone up another $150 to $200. I’ll add that if silkscreend, reproduction side art ever becomes available I’ll put it on my machine in a heartbeat.
I don’t restore my games to “flip” them, they are all for my personal collection and I’m rather selective about the games I obtain, unless the price is right. However, those interested in “flipping” or just restoring games for their personal collections can get some idea of the costs involved.
As my collection grows, there may be a need to clear out some machines and it will be helpful to know what I’ve spent on the cabinet (not included here, as I don’t think it is relevant due to fluctuations in pricing based on location) and how much I’ve put into “restoring” it.