New Legs, Wheels and Panels

I got my package from ChannelBeat today with new wheels, leg levelers and panels. I also bought a new connecting tube since it was totally absent from my machine. I am happy to report they were friendly when I asked questions, shipped quickly, and included everything ordered in the condition listed on their page (in this case, everything was in new condition). I am surprised at how heavy-duty the connecting tube feels. I don't think I've seen too many real ones in the wild.

The new wheels and leg levelers went in without issue and feel really nice. Playing on the pads on legs is like playing with shock absorbers. It's a totally different (and better) feeling than playing with the pads flat on the floor.

Here is a comparison of some of the old arrow panels next to the newly installed ones:

It doesn't really come across in the picture, but the old panels are flat-matte looking in the light while the new ones are all glossy and shiny. The new ones also feel more flexible and just better overall.

While replacing the panels I stumbled upon the solution for the player 1 down arrow getting stuck problem. It seems what was happening was that one of the washers holding the top L-bracket was getting stuck on a groove in the paint caused by wear. This would pin the L-bracket down until it was jostled loose by another action. I stripped some of the paint to smooth out the area on the L-bracket and replaced the washer which seems to have remedied the issue.

I also installed a small usb wireless adapter so that I can remote into the machine to make changes or add songs without having to connect a keyboard and mouse every time. This is currently how I am shutting down the PC when I'm done, which is less than ideal. I'm looking into alternatives for this currently.

Here is the machine as it stands today - running Stepmania with all the replaced parts so far:

Next up is reconnecting the bass neon. I will hopefully will get that done today.
The machine is in pretty excellent working condition, but there are still a lot of things left to do:

• fixing the inside switch on the player 2 left arrow (wiring issue)
• replacing the burnt out bulb in the player 2 select button
• replacing the micro-switches for the select panel on the cabinet (I bought 6 to replace them but the blades on the switches are too large - I guess there are multiple standard sizes for these things...)
• printing a new custom marquee image to replace the ink-jet printed bootleg Extreme one
• figuring out what's up with the lights on the left side of the marquee (wiring issue)
• replacing a few missing miscellaneous screws
• cleaning the cabinet and replacing the wheels/levelers