Pac-Man Cabaret scratch build

[Shun]

Ok, I started a new project about 4-5 months ago, I decided that I would build a scratch built dedicated Pac-Man cab.
I watched the restore videos of a Pac-Man cabaret cab over on the John's Arcade youtube channel and I thought that the smaller footprint of one of those is perfect for guys like me living in the UK where space can be a bit more limited.

The first issue I had was that I couldn't find Pac-Man cabaret plans that were exactly what I wanted. There seem to be lots of plans for Ms. Pac-Man cabaret but not for standard Pac-Man cabarets. Luckily there is a sketch up model of one here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=81d2e6eb0768c15110145cc1b33dac39

However, not all of the dimensions are correct (the front "step" is completely missing for instance), so I used the sides of the model to start my build and I have modified the model as I have gone along (see attached picture)

The sketch up model isn't perfect yet as it is a work in progress as is the cab.

I've made videos of the build so far and posted them on my Youtube channel over at: https://www.youtube.com/user/Shundi12/videos
However I am going to be posting progress in this thread as well.

Once I get around to painting this cab I'm going to finish my MAME cab off at the same time as I've neglected it for a while now

[Shun]

I'm currently at part 7 in my video series over on Youtube, so I'm going to try and get this thread caught up over the next day or so.
So initially I only had the dimensions of the sides of the cab so they were the first thing to cut. I'm using 18mm (I think) MDF for this project as I did  with my MAME cab.

I sketched the dimensions on to two pieces of the MDF that were clamped together and used a jigsaw to cut the sides out.
This went surprisingly well and I didn't get many rough edges.

However the sides on the original taper in towards the bottom of the cab which was not the case for mine as the width of these sides had already been cut by B&Q for free 

So a simple job of cutting a tapered line in these two pieces of wood, turned into a nightmare. For some reason, my jigsaw started to pull to the right all of the time and made a mess of the edges that I was trying to cut even with a straight edge used as a guide. 

So after a lot of "No more nails", bondo/P38 and sanding, I managed to save the two sides 

More to come...

[Shun]

As I did in my MAME cab, I am going to be using No More Nails glue to put this cab together rather than screws and wood glue.
After the almost disaster with the jigsaw when trying to cut the leading edge of the cabinet sides I decided to pick up a tool that would by better at cutting straight lines and bought a circular saw.

It turns out they are not that expensive and I suspect that it may come in handy for non-arcade related jobs.
However the power of these things still scares me a little when using them so I am really careful.

Using this to cut out MDF is soooooo much easier now. I measured and cut the base of the cab and also cut a wooden batten to join the base to one side of the cab.

Once dry, it stands up on its own!

[Shun]

Using my now trusty circular saw, I cut the lower back vent section out.
This has four rounded rectangular holes that have a wire mesh on the inside of the cab.

I managed to make a mess of trying to re-create these rounded rectangle holes, but with a lot of sanding I managed to make them presentable. I may re-visit them at some point but for now I'll leave them as they are.

I used no more nails and a wooden batten to attach this panel to the back of the cab. Once dry, it don't look too bad 

While waiting for various pieces to dry, I pre-glued a batten on to the other side of the cab, so that it was ready to be stuck on.

To stick the second side, I needed to lay the cab on its back. I used another piece of MDF to make sure that it was square at the top of the cab.

[Shun]

Once the glue was dry, the second side of the cab was now attached to the base. At this point both sides were a bit wobbly at the top, so the next thing to do was to fit the top panel to both sides to give make the strutter a bit more rigid.

I had to make a bevel cut for the top panel so that the back edge would be flush with the back edge of the two sides (see pic 3 below).
I measured it at about 20 degrees and to my surprise, came out really well. That circular saw is now my favourite tool that I have 

I stuck the top panel to the two sides with no more nails with the help of some clamps. Once dry, it was time to cut and fit the upper top panel. This has a square hole for another vent, so I cut that out with my dodgy jigsaw and then stuck it in place by resting the cab on its back again.

I think I need to drill a hole for the "kill switch" that was in the original Midway cab, but I'll do that at later when I'm wiring the cab up.

[Shun]

The next things to add to the cab were the "runners" that support the bezel and the speaker panel.
I cut two equal lengths of square dowel and glued them to the inside of the cab after a lot of measuring and checking against my sketch up model.

Once these were dry I made a fake bezel out of some thin wood. This way I could see if the real bezel would fit between the runners and the speaker panel. This seemed fine so I went ahead and cut the speaker panel.

I managed to find a standard 6x9 speaker on ebay that I am using for the build, so I then used this to measure the hole to cut for the speaker and the mounting bolts.

Once this was done, I used glue and clamps to attach it to the cab.

[Shun]

I decided early on the build that I would use a scart tv as a monitor as these are so easy to come by over here in the uk.
I bought 4 13/14 inch crts for a total of £6. Out of the 4, the philips tv was the best because a soon as it powers up the screen turns on, so there is no fiddling about with remote controls.

Here is a screenshot of my Hyper Neo Geo hooked up to it.

[shrunkenmaster]

Looking good - great to see another UK builder too! Will be watching your videos later today.

[Shun]

Looking good - great to see another UK builder too! Will be watching your videos later today.

Thanks mate. I've just had a look at your projects.  The build quality is amazing. I'm going to have to work hard on the Pac for it to be half as good as your cabs. 

[shrunkenmaster]

Just watched your videos, they will surely help people who are new to the hobby, especially those who are new to woodwork. With basic tools and a bit of thought (and Google) it's not beyond most people to knock up a decent cab! Look forward to the next instalment

[Shun]

Just watched your videos, they will surely help people who are new to the hobby, especially those who are new to woodwork. With basic tools and a bit of thought (and Google) it's not beyond most people to knock up a decent cab! Look forward to the next instalment

Cheers mate. Being a software developer by trade I try and keep things nice and simple when it comes to wood working therefore its not too technical . I'm glad you weren't too bored with my vids. They do go on a bit. I record pretty much everything I do and the try and condense as much as I can in iMovie. I have some new videos that need to be edited so a new video should be up soon!

[Shun]

With the speaker panel in place I could make a start on the lights for the marquee.
I cut a piece of MDF to size and with the speaker in place, I could figure out how much extra material needed to be removed before the panel would fit correctly.

Once I was happy with the fit of the "light panel", I measured how far back it would sit in the cab. I then glued two battens to the inside of the cab sides, and when these were attached, I screwed the panel into the battens to hold it in place securely. This is how the panel is attached on the original machine as the light panel needs to be removed so that the speaker can be removed if needed.

Also, on the Midway original, this panel is painted white, so I got some white tester pots and give it a couple of coats.

While the paint was drying I made a start on the lighting.
On the original cab there are five bulb holders for small incandescent bulbs.
While trying to figure out how I was going to install this, I came across this video on youtube showing LED strip lighting being used as a replacement for standard bulbs and tubes:

The advantages of these LEDs is that you can cut them to length and re-wire them, they come with a self adhesive backing, you don't have to worry about wiring as they come with a standard 12v power supply and in theory should last forever which means not having to replace any bulbs.

So I bought a 1 meter length strip of warm white LEDs from eBay.

I wanted to place a strip at the top and bottom of the light panel, so I cut the 1 meter strip into two approx. 400mm pieces.
I then re-wired the two smaller pieces together with two wires, attached them to the light panel and screwed it into place.

I switched the lights on and they seem pretty bright so should provide enough lighting for the marquee when I buy/make one.

[kamshaft]

I'm in the process of building plans in Adobe Illustrator at the start, then convert it to a CAD format.  I'd like to work with you get stuff accurate.

[bfauska]

You may have problems with hot-spotting with the lights that close to the marquee.

[Shun]

I'm in the process of building plans in Adobe Illustrator at the start, then convert it to a CAD format.  I'd like to work with you get stuff accurate.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try and answer them as best as I can. 

[Shun]

You may have problems with hot-spotting with the lights that close to the marquee.

You maybe right, I haven't tried it with a marquee yet. However I need to extend the two pieces of wood above and below the light board outward slightly which should help. If there is an issue, I'll probably buy one of those diffusers that can be used with LED strip lights. Once I get hold of a marquee we'll see what issues there are 

[kamshaft]

As stated on YouTube comments.. I have a friend confirming all the measurements for me.
I'll share my plans once done.

I'm also fitting all the big boy art to fit this one. 

I'm also curious how your control panel will turn out.  I'm still figuring out the best way.

[kamshaft]

If you need a control panel, check this guy out...

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1854736#post1854736

[Shun]

As stated on YouTube comments.. I have a friend confirming all the measurements for me.
I'll share my plans once done.

I'm also fitting all the big boy art to fit this one. 

I'm also curious how your control panel will turn out.  I'm still figuring out the best way.

I would be interested in the height of the step between the control panel and the marquee. I think I may have already committed to this measurement on my cab but I would like to see how close it is to the original as I measured it by eye looking at photos online.

With regards to the control panel, I'm probably going to build one. The original is a wooden CP with metal overlay, so I should be able to make the wooden part myself ok and then ask someone locally to fabricate the metal overlay. I think I should be able to get the artwork for the top of the CP ok, however the silkscreened art on the front of the CP I haven't figured out yet.

If you need a control panel, check this guy out...

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1854736#post1854736

Thanks for the link, however that thread seems to be from 2011/2012 so I'm not sure if the guy is still making them. If he is, this may be a good solution for someone in the US, however I suspect that this may cost a fair bit more to get it shipped over to the UK.

[kamshaft]

I would be interested in the height of the step between the control panel and the marquee. I think I may have already committed to this measurement on my cab but I would like to see how close it is to the original as I measured it by eye looking at photos online.

I was told it was around 3" - Not 100% sure though.

With regards to the control panel, I'm probably going to build one. The original is a wooden CP with metal overlay, so I should be able to make the wooden part myself ok and then ask someone locally to fabricate the metal overlay. I think I should be able to get the artwork for the top of the CP ok, however the silkscreened art on the front of the CP I haven't figured out yet.

Do you have photos of the original CP, the backside and all that?  I know John Jacobsen from John's Arcade took his apart on camera.  I'll have to go back and see. The wood backing on the CP should easy to reproduce.

Thanks for the link, however that thread seems to be from 2011/2012 so I'm not sure if the guy is still making them. If he is, this may be a good solution for someone in the US, however I suspect that this may cost a fair bit more to get it shipped over to the UK.

I sent him a message, and he asked me what I needed.  Not sure if he's got part available.
We'll see.

[Shun]

I would be interested in the height of the step between the control panel and the marquee. I think I may have already committed to this measurement on my cab but I would like to see how close it is to the original as I measured it by eye looking at photos online.

I was told it was around 3" - Not 100% sure though.

Thanks. I did have the step measured at 3" on my model, however it seemed slightly too big for my cab so I've reduced it to 2.6" by increasing the angle of the CP upwards, so its good to know that its close to the original.

Do you have photos of the original CP, the backside and all that?  I know John Jacobsen from John's Arcade took his apart on camera.  I'll have to go back and see. The wood backing on the CP should easy to reproduce.

I have watched a few of the John's Pac-Man restore videos over and over again trying to figure out the relative sizes of the cabs measurements.
I also got some pictures from here which shows some of the internals of a cabaret cab:  http://www.mombu.com/games/mame/t-fs-pacman-galaga-ms-pacman-pac-man-cabaret-cabinets-in-indianapolis-in-5472051.html

Finally with regards to the control panel, I found this picture of a Tron cabaret control panel with measurements:

[Shun]

Ok I have some new progress on the Pac-Man cabaret along with a new video on my Youtube channel.

Firstly, I got some Midway coin doors through the post recently that I will be attaching to the front door of the cab. I'm in need of the metal surround of the coins door though, so if someone in the UK has some spares, please let me know

So, the next part that I wanted to install on to the cab was the "step" between the control panel and bezel.
This "step" needs to a have an angle that is the same as the runners that support the bezel and also a lip to hold the bezel in place with gravity.

I also added some additional battens to increase the surface area of the wood to attached the panel to.

So I cut the step panel to size width ways and then a bevel cut the length of the wood at about 38 degrees.
Test fitted it in place and the angle seems to fit well.

Before attaching the panel, I needed to add the lip that holds the bezel. This was made with some right angled edging from B&Q.
Once glued in place I then glued the panel to the runners/batens. The edging had a curved side that needed to be sanded flat, this should have been done before I attached the panel to the cab, however I managed in the end.

Once dry, I tested it out with a mock up of the bezel and it seems to fit great!

Next job I think is to tackle the tv/monitor 

[Shun]

More progress on the cab and a new video on the Youtube channel.

I decided to dismantle the Philips 14 inch tv that I bought for about £4. Its a great little TV as it switches to AV as soon as it is switched on, so no need to use the remote to power the tv.

The TV had some torx security screws holding the plastics in place. These will come in handy as the original machine had two of these holding one of the security brackets between the CP and bezel.

I've separated a Sega Naomi monitor chassis from its tube before so I went through the steps of discharging, removing the neck board, unplugging the yoke and ground cables. Once all of the cables were disconnected the chassis was then free. There was also a mini pcb that is used for the power switch. This was freed by removing two more torx screws.

With the tube separated I put it on to a duvet to protect the screen and the removed the remaining plastics.
To mount the tube, I decided to create a small wooden frame by adding some triangular mounting points to two pieces of wood. This would then be held in place with some bolts.

With the frame done, I then mounted the chassis to a scrap piece of MDF. I mounted it by cutting up a biro pen to use as stand offs.

The next thing to do is to add some mounting points within the cab for the tube frame to attach to. The chassis mounting board will be screwed to the inside of the cab.

[Dwill]

Can you upload your sketchup file? I'm kinda interested in something a similar project. Thanks

[Shun]

Can you upload your sketchup file? I'm kinda interested in something a similar project. Thanks

I'll upload this to the 3D warehouse soon, just need to finish it before I do so.

[Shun]

Ok, time to fit the TV/monitor. I've been dreading this for a while now as its probably one of the most difficult parts of the build.
New video of the build is here:

The first thing to do was to fit the mounting points, this is where the monitor/tv will be attached to. It took a couple of attempts to get the first mounting point in place but at the third time of asking I managed to get it positioned correctly. Once it was attached and the glue had dried, I cheated a little by lifting the monitor into place and with the help of the missus I managed to attach the top mounting point temporarily with hot glue and then later with no more nails glue.

When all of the glue had dried I did a test fit of the monitor, which only just squeezed into place. So I trimmed the wooden frame down a little so that it would fit easier.

To make sure the monitor wouldn't fall if for some reason the glue failed, I added some additional support to the mounting points with screws and more glue. With these fitted, I was confident that I could attach the monitor to the mounting points. To do this I clamped the frame in to place with the monitor attached and drilled 6 holes and secured with nuts and bolts.

Next I screwed the chassis mount to the inside of the cab and re-connected the cables to the monitor.

Finally it was time to test the tv/monitor to see if it still works... and it does!

The next thing to do is to connect a game board up and see what it look like...

[Shun]

More progress. I received an original Midway Ms. Pacman through the post a few months ago and I have been trying to get it to work with the scart TV that I have mounted in the cab. Video here:

I bought the pcb on eBay for £70 delivered from the US to the UK.
It made the journey almost in one piece, however the Sync Bus controller came loose and its adaptor was damaged. Most of the pins were bent or had fallen out. Luckily its a standard socket size, so a quick trip to Maplin and a replacement was found and fitted.

With the Sync Bus controller fitted back on the board, I created a Jamma to Pac adaptor to provide power and video to the board to try it out on my test scart tv. I powered it up and got what looked like a scrambled mess. Thinking it was an issue with the TV, I plugged the board into the tv in the cab but got the same thing. So I wired up a speaker to the jamma adaptor and tried to coin up and it played blind!

So the issue seemed to be a sync issue. I tried a few different things to get it to work (thanks to matsadona for the help and suggestions: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,143558.0.html).

Eventually I rewired everything from scratch and double checked the continuity of the sync cable. Powered it up on the test tv and I got sync!
Also tested it out on the TV in the cab and it works and with the correct orientation.

Now that I have the wiring to connect the board directly to scart, the next thing to do is to transfer the wiring into the cab.

[Shun]

Now that I had the board working with the scart TV connection, it was time to tidy up the wiring. Video here: .

In most arcade machines there are wiring looms to connect the PCB to the power, sound, controls and video. For my build I decided to group the wires up into different connection by making a sort of IO board. To do this I mounted a scart socket, two din connectors (a 6 way one for the test and coin switches etc and a 7 way one for the player controls) and a two socket molex connector for the audio to a thin piece of MDF. I then mounted a 22 pin edge connector and also a pc power molex connector.

I then wired up the pinout of the Pac-Man board from the edge connector to each of the other connectors. I added some wood to the edge of the MDF to make a small box, which will be mounted above the Pac-Man PCB. However before I could do this, I needed to mount the PCB to work out where the IO box would go.

In the original cab the board is mounted to the inside of the cab with some metal brackets that allow the pcb to be slid into position. I couldn't source any of these locally, so I thought I would use my circular saw to make some. To this, I cut a slot into a piece of MDF which I then connected to a wooden baton. I made 4 of these of various sizes and screwed them in to the inside of the cab. Once done, I was able to slide the board into place. I haven't mounted the Ms. Pac-Man daughter board yet as I am unsure if I will use it.

Once the board was in the cab I could mount the IO box to the inside of the cab. I then measured the distance to the PCB and made a small extender that connected the IO box to the PCB. I then plugged the scart cable from the TV to the IO box and a PC power supply into the molex connector on the IO box. The first time I switched it on, I had an issue with the sync again, but this turned out to be an issue with the pin that I connected the sync to on the scart socket. Once I connected it to the correct one, the PCB displayed correctly on the TV.

The next thing to do is to sort the alignment on the TV and connect the speaker up.

[Shun]

More progress on the Pac Cabaret. I've had a few goodies sent over from the US and replaced the TV. New video here:

The first thing to arrive in the post was a NOS Wico 4 way Pac-Man joystick! I'd been looking for one for a while and one came up on eBay for a reasonable price. Looking forward to installing this on the cab in future.

I had to replace the TV as the original one that I had didn't have the controls on the chassis to align the screen and the service mode was of no help either. I have several 13/14 inch TVs and so deceased the one that I was able to align correctly with its service mode. I removed the old TV and luckily the new TV dropped into place perfectly . The only problem I have now is that the TV doesn't come out of standby automatically, so will need to find a solution for that.

The other thing that I had issues with was the speaker that I got of eBay months ago. It was a car speaker so therefore wasn't shielded and caused distortions to the TV. For some reason, I couldn't find shielded 6x9 speakers for sale in the UK, so I ordered a speaker and speaker grille from Mike's Arcade in the US. Both parts were easy to fit using the existing bolt holes that I had created for the original 6x9 speaker, however the hole for the speaker was slightly bigger than the speaker grille. So I had to make a little wooden adaptor that reduced the size of the hole. This was glued in to place and then I used P38/bondo to fill the gaps. I also created a wire that connected between the IO board and the speaker.

I then fitted the speaker, speaker grille and marquee light panel (after slightly modifying it to fit). The next thing to do is the control panel!

[harveybirdman]

Looking good man, looking forward to seeing the progress.

[Shun]

Thanks Harvey. I'm slowly but surely getting there .

Its finally time to work on the control panel! Video here:

Fitting the control panel is probably the second trickiest part after mounting the monitor/tv.
I started by adding the wooden batons for the front/coin door panel, I then cut the front panel to size to. I could then use this panel to make sure that the control panel would line up correctly. Using my sketch up model, I measured and cut the two pieces of wood for the control panel. It took a couple of attempts but I got there in the end.

I then marked where the control panel should go to see if they would fit with the front panel in place. Once I was happy, I screwed the two pieces of the control panel together at a right angle. I then cut two square(ish) blocks of wood for the CP to sit on in the cab. I used the width of the CP to figure out where these would go. I then glued and then screwed (oo er  ) them in to place.

The control panel will now sit nicely in place, but we need some way of making sure that it sits in the right place every time. On the original machine there are some metal pins attached to the under side of the CP which slot in to two metal brackets with holes in on the main cabinet. The pins are similar to those used on window casement stays and luckily Screwfix had one of these for just over £3 which came with two pins (http://www.screwfix.com/p/antique-casement-stay-black-250mm/72539). For the slots, I just drilled a hole in to some square dowel and cut two pieces to size.

I screwed the pins on to the bottom of the CP and then placed the CP on to the cab. I could then glue the slots to the cab using the pins on the CP.
Once dry, the control panel now slots into the correct place.

I also got another goodie through the post... a new old stock Pac-Man Cabaret Control Panel Overlay! I'm going to use this to figure out where the joystick and buttons go. I also need to fit the latches to the control panel blocks.

[ridge_woods]

Hey Shun! Its Ridge from your channel. Just registered over here on this forum. I do still have that overlay,so contact me when you get your panel made, and we can get a custom size cut and fit to your panel.

[Shun]

Two new parts of my build are up on Youtube if anyone is interested:

A Pac-Man Is Born: Part 15. Control Panel clamps and button holes -
A Pac-Man Is Born: Part 16. Creating the CP metal overlay  -

I managed to get hold of some Control Panel clamps and fitted them. Seems to keep the control panel securely in place.



I also drilled the holes in the CP:



To make the metal overlay, I created a simple metal brake which I used to bend some custom 1mm sheet steel that I bought:





Then drilled the holes in the metal. This was quite tricky and I had to hammer the metal flat after the step bit caught on the metal.



But with the CP overlay on, no one will ever see the dents :



Zoomed out pic:



Next up, on to the control panel wiring

[matsadona]

Any progress? Looking good so far by the way 

[leapinlew]

Love the joystick. I have one too and it is the 4 way joystick of choice to me.

[Shun]

Any progress? Looking good so far by the way 

Thanks. Yep, should have another video and thread update this week.

Love the joystick. I have one too and it is the 4 way joystick of choice to me.

Yeah the joystick is great. When you are used to using micro switches, its so odd using a joystick with no clicking! 

[yotsuya]

I appreciate you posting update threads and pictures in addition to the videos, as I usually don't have time to watch videos like that. That's how it should be done! Good for you, following with interest.

[Shun]

I appreciate you posting update threads and pictures in addition to the videos, as I usually don't have time to watch videos like that. That's how it should be done! Good for you, following with interest.

Thanks mate. Yeah I think its important to post on here, as well as uploading videos. Hopefully should be updating the thread in the next couple of days 

[Shun]

A bit later than planned due to the fact that the newest version of iMovie is crap, new video here:
A Pac-Man Is Born: Part 17. Fitting and wiring the Joystick and buttons -

So time to fit the joystick to the control panel.
I started off by cutting a hole for the joystick to fit through and also some (crudely cut) notches for the switches to fit through.
I will have to come back to this a tidy this up at a later date, but for now it seems to work well:





Next I routed out the hole to a depth of 5mm. This is so the joystick will sit flush with the top of the control panel and allow the metal overlay to fit over the top:



Now to put the control panel back together along with the joystick. Looks alright  : Although I forgot to fit the dust washer 



So now the joystick is fitted, it was time to hook u the controls to the board. Firstly, I wired up the ground which is pretty easy when there are only 6 switches .



Then the wires for each button:



When hooking the board up to the power, video and sound I made a little IO box. I also pre-wired a couple of DIN connectors, one for the controls and one for the coin and service switches.

So I mirrored the DIN connection at the control panel with the ground and other wires:



Then all I need to do was connect my own DIN cable between the IO box and the control panel, power up the cab and have a game of Ms. Pac-Man (I currently have the fast version of the ROMs):



Playing Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man with a leaf switch joystick is pretty fun and also very weird when you are so used to clicky microswitches.

Now that the control panel is pretty much done with the exception of paint etc, the next thing to tackle is the front panel and coin door.

[harveybirdman]