Markrvp's PACMAN Cocktail

[markrvp]

The only videogame I was ever great at was PACMAN.

[tbombaci]

I've done this from scratch.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=22008.0

My cost breakdown here:
http://www.myuselessprojects.com/cocktail/mid_ctail.html

Progress thread on KLOV here:
http://forums.webmagic.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB3&Number=152785&page=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Find a dead one. They're around.

-Tom

[markrvp]

tbombaci:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR POSTING THIS.  I want to do basically exactly what you did.  The Mantis Amusements nod is hugely beneficial. 

Are your control panels 9" wide or 11" wide?

Did you get your Midway coin door in that good a shape or did you have to restore it?  I've got one exactly like that, but it's rusty and will need to be fixed up.

[tbombaci]

I used the 9" panels. Mantis products are top notch. I have used their Defender repro joystick as well.

The coindoor came from a dead Tron. I painted it with Hammered texture paint.

I converted the cabinet to Ms. Pacman (daughter board and new artwork) and sold it  earlier this year. It was hard to sell it, but life goes on.

-Tom

[markrvp]

Okay, Tom has inspired me to go in a new direction.

[tbombaci]

Go for it.

$150 is a nice price for that cab. You saw the cost for the custom repro parts.

Looks like I did indeed leave off the Pacman harness from bob. The harness on he breakdown was a JAMMA harness.

Every time I ground up a game, i say I am never going to do it again. To date:

1. Williams Multigame
2. Stargate
3. Pacman cocktail
4. Centipede


-Tom

[Timoe]

inebriation edit* cant wait to see pics

[markrvp]

Quick update:

I bought the dead GORF cocktail cabinet and have been diligently restoring/converting it to Pacman.

[Timoe]

pictures...... oooh yeah


c'mon, give us a shot of the CP's backside   ...

[markrvp]

I posted this question in ARCADE MISCELLANEOUS and I'll ask it here as well - on the back of the translucent plexi there are two lamps that light up the CP.

[Franco]

Dude, you can tell you're a photographer, your pics are like arcade hardware pr0n! 

[markrvp]

This next run of pictures won't be that nice.  I was very excited to get to work on this project and I just used a point-and-shoot digital at the house.

Anyway. . . here are a couple of shots of the cocktail when I got it home:

[markrvp]

Here are before and after gutting pictures (about a 30-45 minute process).

[markrvp]

Gutted cab showing the top folded out with the hole for the monitor bracket

[markrvp]

One reason why I was reluctant to build my own cocktail was because I have seen several other people attempt it and have problems getting the monitor mounted just right.  I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get it perfectly centered and at the right depth so that the bezel fit flush against the monitor tube and the top of the cabinet.

By buying an existing cocktail, I got the factory made metal mounting bracket.  If you are building your own, you can also get one from Mantis Amusements (which I did not know until tbombaci pointed it out in his project thread).

Here is the magic bracket:

[RetroACTIVE]

Is it correct that these are wired in series or should they be wired in parallel?

[RetroACTIVE]

Oh... one more thing if they are 6V lamps and you are using a 12V supply you could wire them in series, each lamp would get 1/2 of the 12V source. 

[markrvp]

The nice thing about this bracket is that you mount your monitor tube and chassis to it and then the whole unit drops in from the top of the cabinet.

[markrvp]

I had to remove the old G07 tube & chassis (broken) from the mount and put my Kortek 19" CGA monitor in it.  I had to remove the Kortek tube & chassis from its own stock mount first:

[markrvp]

Notice that the cocktail monitor mount had special mounting holes for the G07 chassis:

I had to hammer down the right side mounts and drill new holes for the Kortek Chassis:

[markrvp]

And these pics are of the Kortek 19" CGA monitor tube & chassis bolted into the cocktail monitor mounting bracket.

I know I spent a lot of thread space documenting this, but it was the part of the project I was most apprehensive about.  It turned out to be fairly easy.  If you are building your own cocktail project from scratch, then I would highly recommend getting this bracket from Mantis Amusements.

[markrvp]

Here are both control panels with the artwork and controls installed.

RETROACTIVE:  thank you for the formulas.  Ken Larson posted that the original Midway cocktail cabinet lights were wired in parallel.  Some cheap bastard must have rewired this one sometime in the last 25 years.  I wired up the CP harnesses last night and re-wired the lights parallel.  Even then, the light is not as bright as it could be.

[markrvp]

I just got my Pacman PCB in the mail.  I was getting really upset that I hadn't received it yet.  Hopefully tonight I can wire it up and see if it works.

[nostrebor]

Nice job as always Mark.

Not to be a party pooper, but it's a bit sad to see that complete Gorf gutted. Hope you saved all the goodies so a Gorf lover (like me) can bring them back to life at some point.

I do really enjoy your builds because of the descriptions and the great photos.

[markrvp]

Nice job as always Mark.

Not to be a party pooper, but it's a bit sad to see that complete Gorf gutted. Hope you saved all the goodies so a Gorf lover (like me) can bring them back to life at some point.

I do really enjoy your builds because of the descriptions and the great photos.

I was very meticulous in removing all of the parts.  I even made sure that I didn't snip a single harness wire.  I also bought new glass instead of scraping the GORF screening off the glass it came with.  I also want to preserve arcades.  This one was going in the trash if I hadn't bought it though.  I'm at least finding a new home for a homeless Pacman PCB (at least that's what lets me sleep at night).

The G07 tube was broken on this which is why the arcade operator didn't try and do anything with it.  I think he said he powered the boards to see if they worked and they didn't, but I didn't try it myself so I don't know.

Anyway, it's all still here and could be converted back if someone wanted to trade me another cabinet for this one.

[markrvp]

I came home at lunch and plugged in the PCB.

IT WORKS!!!

Holy Cow I have a real PACMAN - what I always wanted.

[TurboC--]

I made a big mistake and ran the numbers on what it would cost.

Once you are sure of the final cost, don't forget to add on an extra 30%. 

[CheffoJeffo]

Mark -- nice work -- glad to see that you preserved the Gorf stuff AND got a Pac cocktail working.

Cheers.

[Havok]

Here are both control panels with the artwork and controls installed.

RETROACTIVE:

[markrvp]

Okay, I've been trying to re-learn the patterns I knew back in 1980 for Pacman.

[eccs19]

In 1980 my all-time high score was 186,000.