EZ2DJ Restore

[actown]

EZ2DJ is a Korean knockoff of Beatmania made in 1999 by Amuseworld, who was company looking to cash in on the popularity of music gaming at the time and the lack of gray market imports of the real thing. Oddly enough, they actually hit it off in their home country of Korea, with the series still being popular even with Konami's lawsuit of Amuseworld and later expansion into the Korean market. Still, Amuseworld managed to make 7 versions of the game (including Platinum) before the lawsuit. The team reformed to create 3S Entertainment, creating 6 more expansions of EZ2DJ along with their own game--Sabin Sound Star. This was supposed to be the true sequel to EZ2DJ, however the company suffered a fate typical of many Korean games; trying too hard. Every song had its own nicely produced HD video, they hired popular composers, and in general they blew their budget. With Amuseworld and 3S no longer operational and the game still being popular, a small group of dedicated fans calling themselves "Square Pixels" have made their own well-produced hacks of the game aiming to continue the series.

....so then we have this machine. It's one of two in North America.

There's actually a long story behind the machine getting in my hands. It belonged to Eddie of Bemanistyle fame (I'm sure some people know about things he did) before going to an arcade operator in California who was intending to fix it, but never did. Being that we're in MA and the machine is in California, we had to ship it all the way across the country. A friend and I were splitting the cost of two games at the time--this EZ2DJ machine, and a Crackin DJ machine (another rare music game). He agreed to handle the shipping for EZ2DJ and I handle the shipping for Crackin DJ. To sum up an already long story, EZ2DJ sat in the seller's warehouse for months until I handled the shipping myself. Don't trust anyone else to handle important tasks!

It arrived a few weeks ago. I knew I was in for a project, but wow.




-REALLY DIRTY
-Wood is water damaged and moldy. It's still usable, mostly.
-Almost all the laminate needs to be replaced
-Lots of rust
-Front door was kicked in
-Subwoofers rotted
-Lots of cracked acrylic
-Computer needs rebuilding
-Much more!

The first thing I did was clean as much as I could. This thing was clearly left outside in a field, then left in the corner of a warehouse for years. After the initial surface cleaning, I took a chisel and began scraping all of the laminate off.



A friend took home the control deck and began cleaning it. All of Korea appears to have put out their cigarettes on the button acrylic, so it will need to be recut and made with polycarbonate instead so it doesn't crack.



Now we need to take it apart to replace some wood. It looks like it should come off into a few chunks using big thumb screws. The deck and two side speakers come off, but the monitor box is screwed in, glued in, AND stapled in. This wood needs to be replaced anyway, so a crowbar was used.



I had a Korean contact source me a kit for the latest fan version EZ2AC:EC, along with two full turntable assemblies. I also got all new screws for the entire thing and new subwoofers to replace the rotted ones.

My (abridged) to-do list:
-CLEAN IT MORE
-Cut and attach all the new wood
-Relaminate cab
-De-rust and paint metal
-Build new PC. Pentium 3 with VIA Chipset and ISA slot
-Somehow fab better monitor mounts, mount 32" 480P Sony CRT
-Measure acrylic and get it cut
-Figure out the wiring and get it all working.

So yeah, EZ2DJ.

[chapddr]

Awesome project, good luck! I hope that I can get a IIDX machine myself one day

[actown]

Low on money right now dealing with fixing a dozen new machines for our arcade, but I managed to get a package from a crazy kid in Korea.

I learned that the second gen machines have black turntable plexi whereas the first gen machines (like mine) use a clear acrylic. This hides the small amount of artwork underneath, but it's a small sacrifice for improved durability. These turntables aren't in the greatest shape but after I combine them with what I have already it should be a nice looking result.

http://i.imgur.com/pGtAjJb.jpg

[arcnl]

Wow, looks like building it up new from scratch would be easier!

[actown]

It's not done yet, but it's come a long way.



I will do a full writeup when it's actually done.

[denson]

Looking good I bet it's hard to play!

[geotrig]

Excellent stuff looks good

[fuse]

Always wanted to play EZ2DJ properly - as a big Beatmania fan I remember playing emulated .bms files of some of the tracks and so on, but to the best of my knowledge I don't think there's ever been many of these cabs about in Europe. Impressive work so far!

[chapddr]

Man, that cab looks hella good!

[DJKero]

Did you finished the project? Would like to see it! Good job man... I want to buy one, probably will this year... ^^

[tunab]

If that still have the previous software that was included in the machine to wonder if the idea is to sell its software if the 1st tracks.

[actown]

Bump up. So this project is actually done now. Even the "I'm never going to get to this" list has been done. I was so busy last year I didn't get a chance to do a full build log as I was planning to, so here's an imgur album with a big photo dump instead.

Shout outs to my buddy Steve for handling most of the woodworking, and shout outs to my Korean contact who helped me source some extremely difficult to find parts. Also thanks to Square Pixels for letting me purchase a brand new Night Traveler upgrade kit.

If anyone from Korea comes across this post, I am looking to purchase parts and real drives and dongles for older game versions. You can PM me here or contact me on twitter @trianglewaste

https://imgur.com/a/DWcuj

Here's a list of everything done in rough chronological order

• 3/2/15: Machine arrived on truck from California
  
  -Initial cleaning. This took a very long time. Literally mud caked on the inside of the machine.
  -Chiseled off the rest of the already bad laminate (water damage)
  -Cut wires and added connectors to allow removal of the monitor box
  -Disassembled subwoofer boxes
  -Replaced rotted subwoofers
  -New casters on subwoofer boxes
  -Replaced soggy wood under kickplates (water damage)
  -LED blue bulbs in subwoofer boxes
  -Crowbarred the cabinet in half. The top box was glued and bolted to the bottom box
  -Purchased Endless Circulation HDD and dongle, two turntables from Korea
  -Monitor shelf panel removed and replaced (water damage)
  -Monitor box back panel and top corner panel replaced (water damage)
  -Top neon/lamp area and floor of bottom box bleached multiple times to combat mold
  -**** of rusted fasteners replaced
  -Built the appropriate PC to run EC
  
  6/23/15: PC tested working outside machine, IO boards tested working outside machine
  
  -Neon transformer replaced with 115v unit
  -Replaced the mud-filled power outlets with a power strip that had American plugs
  -Replaced main power supply
  -Amplifier shelf replaced
  -Bottom box front wood panel replaced (somebody hit it with a forklift)
  -Bottom box top wood panel replaced (water damage)
  -Front door unbent (somebody hit it with a forklift)
  -All new laminate applied to all areas in in which it was removed.
  
  7/7/15: Machine test assembled with new wood. Game was playable for the first time.
  
  -2x4 pieces screwed between the bottom box floor and the computer shelf to combat wood warp
  -Disassembled the lamp bars. Cut wires and added connectors to allow easier removal
  -Replaced broken ceramic lamp holder
  -Soaked the HEAVILY rusted metal trim in salt and vinegar overnight. Repeatedly sanded and painted trim until smooth.
  -Repaired torn spider on top mid speaker
  -Sanded and painted lamp housings
  -Replaced rusted spacers with shiny chrome ones
  -Removed flexible metal lamp wire pipe things. Soaked in salt and vinegar for rust removal.
  -Replacement amplifier power supply installed. Delta 800w server unit.
  -Temporary monitor installed from gutted Pump GXv1 cab
  -New Samducksa/Crown buttons from Korea
  -New 50g Omron switches. New pedal microswitches.
  -New pedal springs
  -Less blinding LED bulbs in top lamps
  -Reproduced metal turntable emblems
  -Purchased pedal cover plates from Korea
  
  Machine was basically “done” some time in August. 12/12/15 had a party while the owner of the only other EZ2DJ machine in the country was nearby.
  
  5/16/16: Purchased Night Traveler after some back and forth
  
  -Purchased Kortek KT-3414DF (Pump GX monitor). Didn’t fit despite being an A80 tube like the temporary monitor. New monitor mounts were made and the tube fit after heavy modification.
  -Replaced LEDs in tuntable rings and replaced the resistors to match button LED brightness
  -Built new computer after returning 4 motherboards. I had the worst luck with this.
  -Bought new PC case, built front panel with wiring harness for power switch, test buttons etc.
  -Hired plastics fabricator to professionally remake the control panel using Polycarbonate.
  -New turntable bearings. Turntable also modded using FEII’s guide.
  -Sanded and painted monitor surround, front coin doors.
  -One of the rear top metal corner trim pieces was missing. I used the bottom trim, drilled new holes, filled the old ones with Bondo, sanded and painted.
  -Everything finalized. Subwoofer vibration dampening, cable management, final cleaning.

[skate323k137]

A true labor of love... well done!

[geotrig]

looks fantastic

[d123456]

If this machine is turned on, it's an instant party. Looks great.

[Molloy]

That is a phenomenal job you've done there. I used have a friend was into dance games who raved about how much better he thought Pump It Up was than Dance Dance Revolution. This looks pretty spectacular just as a cabinet. I think I'd need it at home to learn how the hell to play it as well I always find music games in arcades a bit intimidating.

[Eddhorse]

What an amount of work, brilliant stuff, you should get a medal for saving that poor soul !

[sebasrs]

Hi friend i have the same machine and wish restore it.
But i need your help.
I rescued this machines from the trash.
But my problem is the beginning.
I don't know where to start.