Author Topic: Pacman cocktail restoration - COMPLETE! (Read 15355 times)

shardian · « **on:** March 28, 2007, 11:07:11 am »

With a few catches: Alot of hardware stripped, and the control panels have been cut out effectively ruinin the base of the cabinet.
The good news: The glass, top, and monito shelf is in great condition.

I have the Mike's arcade plans and will rebuild the main part of the base. Already have a pc monitor for it, and will print out my own artwork. My hope is to get the machine in great shape for about $100-$150 out of pocket.

If anyone wants to donate parts, I will gladly accept them.

Jeff AMN · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2007, 11:42:26 am »

I've got nothing to donate but jealousy and envy.

horseboy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2007, 11:53:31 am »

I'll chip in some laziness, but that probably won't help matters.

Crax · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2007, 12:10:39 pm »

Quote from: horseboy on March 28, 2007, 11:53:31 am

I'll chip in some laziness, but that probably won't help matters.

Maybe if a bunch of us all chipped in with our laziness, it would make a difference!

But probably not

Chris G · « **Reply #4 on:** March 28, 2007, 12:12:45 pm »

I'll donate an hour of my playing time once it's all finished.

Congrats - nice snag!

RayB · « **Reply #5 on:** March 28, 2007, 02:25:28 pm »

Shardian, if you get the "official" repro overlays, you don't even need to fill in the extra holes on the control panel. The overlay is about 1/8" thick. It covers the holes and is sturdy enough as is. (assuming you only have a couple button holes to worry about).

shardian · « **Reply #6 on:** March 28, 2007, 02:30:07 pm »

Quote from: RayB on March 28, 2007, 02:25:28 pm

Shardian, if you get the "official" repro overlays, you don't even need to fill in the extra holes on the control panel. The overlay is about 1/8" thick. It covers the holes and is sturdy enough as is. (assuming you only have a couple button holes to worry about).

I don't have the control panels anymore. When I say "cut out", I mean that a sawzall was taken to the cabinet to remove the entire wooden control panel housing.

modessitt · « **Reply #7 on:** March 28, 2007, 06:17:45 pm »

That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard of! What possible reason would they need to that? The CP come out with only 5 screws, and the Wood on the sides doesn't stick out farther than the glass top! Some people....

shardian · « **Reply #8 on:** March 29, 2007, 08:20:44 am »

Quote from: modessitt on March 28, 2007, 06:17:45 pm

That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard of! What possible reason would they need to that? The CP come out with only 5 screws, and the Wood on the sides doesn't stick out farther than the glass top! Some people....

On the pacman, the cp's are glued in. The corners of the cabinet are rounded 45 degree pieces with dovetail pieces that fit into the side panels. No screws at all. Different construction than the Ms. Pacman cocktail if that is what you are referencing to.
The cocktail was sold on ebay, but the buyer only wanted the control panels and wood housings. I saw the buyer post this message so I asked the local seller if I could have the rest of the cabinet. I still can't believe the buyer bid up to $100 when all he really wanted were the wood sides - and I doubt they'll even be useable.

I thought it was a crime too, but to each his own. At least I saved the rest of the cabinet from the dumpster.

Encryptor · « **Reply #9 on:** March 29, 2007, 09:45:07 pm »

Is this a cocktail? If so I may have a couple of cps in the basement.

Encryptor

shardian · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2007, 02:01:07 pm »

Quote from: Encryptor on March 29, 2007, 09:45:07 pm

Is this a cocktail? If so I may have a couple of cps in the basement.

Encryptor

U have pm.

Encryptor · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2007, 10:00:13 pm »

This is what I have. I thought I had the wooden part for 2 of them but I don't.

paccp1.jpg is the cp parts. One looks like it is new. Still in the plastic wrapping.

paccp2.jpg is the wooden portion of the cp.

I bought these as a package just for the 4 way leaf joystick. You're welcome to them for the shipping if you want them. Let me know.

Encryptor

shardian · « **Reply #12 on:** August 20, 2008, 03:39:54 pm »

heh, bumping this up because I have finally acquired all of the misc. parts and am working on it again. I have rebuilt the sides, and am in the process of building the control panel boxes. Attached is a pic of how the cabinet looked when I got it. See what I mean by butchered?

To rebuild the sides, I evened out the hack job with my jigsaw. I then clamped and traced some 3/4" material to fit the hole. Then I cut some backing strips that were small enough to not interfere with the monitor housing or the CP cutouts. I glued/brad nailed the strips to the new panel, and then to the cabinet. The benefit of the strips is that it aligns the new material very well with the face of the old cabinet. I now just have to make the CP cutouts, and give it a good coat of filler to smooth things out.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #13 on:** August 20, 2008, 04:03:42 pm »

Yikes, I'm having a tough time seeing that that is indeed a Pac cocktail.

shardian · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2008, 04:36:09 pm »

I have the top half, it just isn't in the picture.

Mauzy · « **Reply #15 on:** August 20, 2008, 04:36:36 pm »

What had that been hacked up for?

shardian · « **Reply #16 on:** August 20, 2008, 04:47:57 pm »

Quote from: Mauzy on August 20, 2008, 04:36:36 pm

What had that been hacked up for?

The original local seller had the original but dead machine on ebay, minus boards. A bidder had posted the question if the seller would just ship the panels if he won. I saw that and asked the seller if I could have the leftover cabinet if that did happen.

Well it turns out that the buyer wanted the entire control panel assembly, and also all the other hardware 'just because'. The seller tried to explain that the panels would not simply detach, but the buyer didn't care. I took the machine anyway because it still came with the top, the glass, monitor mounts and heavily pac burned monitor tube.

As I've said before, the foot in door method works very well with the misses. She wouldn't let me bid on the complete machine (which sold for $150), but she was okay with me getting a free cabinet that needs work. It has taken me a year and a half to source and get decent prices on all of the parts needed.

Mauzy · « **Reply #17 on:** August 20, 2008, 09:42:05 pm »

Oh. Thats an awful big chunk to take out. I guess Midway thought up the bolt on pans and wood sides with the Ms Pac cocktail...

shardian · « **Reply #18 on:** August 21, 2008, 08:21:00 am »

The pac control panels are much bigger than the Ms. Pac control panels too.

shardian · « **Reply #19 on:** June 06, 2009, 01:01:59 pm »

Wow, I have had this thing for over 2 years now and still haven't finished it!

I am hitting it hard and hoping to have it done by Wednesday. Over the past year, I have done little things here and there. The sides are intact and reinforced now. I just need to cut out the control panel areas again. I got the CP sides cut out a few months ago. I got help from a coworker with a scroll saw. UNfortunately, he only had 1/2" material on hand. No biggie.

Today, I finally set up my router table to get some stuff done. I slot cut all the CP sides, cut out the CP bottoms, and routed the back shelf groove on both. I also spent a while determining my monitor situation. I decided to abandon the horribly pac burned tube and go with a 19" PC monitor. This will save me the hassle of fixing a chassis and simplify the software/hardware aspect.

For mounting the monitor, I decided to go with double stacked 3/4" plywood on both sides. The pc monitor is 1-3/4" shallower than the G07 tube from mounting tabs to front of tube. The plywood braces will be cut to fit around the tube, and be bolted to the original cabinet monitor mounts.

Still to do:
-~~Assemble control panels~~
-~~cut CP area on cabinet~~
-attach CP assemblies
-~~finish cutting monitor mounts~~
-clean up and bondo cabinet smooth
-apply vinyl
-get piano hinge
-drop in pc

Think I can do all that in a few hours?

I'll add pictures later.

shardian · « **Reply #20 on:** June 07, 2009, 07:18:09 pm »

Knocked a few items off the list. The monitor was a bigger pain than I anticipated to install. IT just barely fits into the cabinet. I had to trim the wooden coin box 'just in case'. Since there was room, I kept the aluminum cage around the monitor. I zip tied it to the tube, which is a surprisingly easy and secure way to keep the chassis attached.
According to my measurements, the pc monitor (flat) should have been 1/4" lower than the arcade monitor (curved). That's all fine and dandy when measuring from the face of the monitor, but for bezel purposes, the outside edges of the pc monitor was 1/4" CLOSER to the surface than the arcade monitor.

I destroyed a perfectly good bezel trying to get it to lay below the glass. Luckily, I had another oddball bezel that fits almost perfectly once cut to size.

I went with wood filler instead of bondo, since I felt this was too small of a job for bondo. I've never liked working with wood filler, but this stuff was supposed to be good...allegedly. As usual, I cannot get smooth results with wood filler. That stuff SUCKS! I went ahead and got it as good as possible and primed the cabinet with automotive filler primer. I'll go with trusty spackle to tackle rough areas.

I don't think I am going to get this done before Wednesday. If I did, the finish work would be rushed and sloppy. I don't want to do that. It is a ridiculous amount of work. Even the wife now agrees I should have just bid on the damn thing from the beginning (see original post to understand this comment). I think I will stop where I am, mount the control panels, and leave it primer grey for the party. At least it will be functional.

Ummon · « **Reply #21 on:** June 08, 2009, 06:15:42 pm »

Yeah, wood filler likes to pull away in jagged seams. Maybe if the trowel or putty knife were a little damp.....

shardian · « **Reply #22 on:** June 09, 2009, 07:41:12 am »

Well, it won't be operational for tommorrow night's game night. I am hosting the church youth, and wanted to have one more game to be operational since there will be so many kids.

Anyways, I got the panels mounted last night. Mike's arcade plans are subtly different than real equipment when it comes to the CP. Nothing a few modifications couldn't remedy, but it was a pain in the ass to get the panels properly aligned.

It seems noone wants to comment too much without pics, so here is a whole stash of them!

shardian · « **Reply #23 on:** June 09, 2009, 07:45:05 am »

First off, here is the current status of my once spotless gameroom. ---Cleveland steamer--- happens when you part out one game, fix up another, then do a hog wild resto on a third in that space. Of course it is also our main entrance off the drive and general 'catch all' area.

Next is my shed, which was purchased to allow me to convert the garage into a gameroom. I haven't had a proper chance to organize it since I converted the gameroom. I had like a day to get it ready originally, so everything just kind of got piled in. Since then it has only gotten worse...alot worse.

And here you see the cut to hell pacman after I cut out the sides for the control panels. Since I used 1/2" CP sides, it is 1/2" smaller of an opening.

shardian · « **Reply #24 on:** June 09, 2009, 07:56:31 am »

Here are some shots of the progress on the pacman.

Here are the assembled sides. They are biscuit joined and glued. After clamping the 1/2" sides, the tmold slot was compressed on the bottom. I had to re-route that area, and slightly made the opening too big on the first cut. Nothing a bit of glue can't fix.

Next is the mounted 19" PC monitor. This was a real pain to do. I decided to keep the cage, and zip tie it to the tube as an easy way to keep the chassis attached. Anyone who has decased a pc monitor knows that accounting for the chassis is a pain. Keep this method in mind for the future - it is WAY easier than building a mount for the chassis.

Here is the cabinet after priming. It still has the original laminate on it, and I am skeptical of 'stickage' to it. this primer will indeed scrape right off if you want to. I sanded it with coarse sandpaper, but it didn't help much. It should be alright once the vinyl laminate is on. At a later date I will paint the inside flat black to pretty it up a bit. All that patch work is pretty ugly!

Here are 2 assembled shots of the cabinet. As you can see, I ran out of primer near the bottom.

I am officially quitting at this point for the sake of my marriage. My wife is precariously close to taking a sledgehammer to pacman. She already would have if there had been a 'Ms." at the front of this cab's name - just because she's a woman.

I need to quit too so I can clean up the house and gameroom tonight for the game night tommorrow. I'll take my time from here on out to make sure I can get a smooth surface for vinyl. Then I will decide what route I will take for the finished hardware. For resale purposes, I suppose I will wire in a 48/1.

ChadTower · « **Reply #25 on:** June 09, 2009, 09:40:06 am »

Damn! Now I feel 100x better about the state of my shed.

What type of primer did you use? If you can scrape the primer right off then maybe a plastics primer would work better (if you didn't use that to begin with).

The end product does look good to that point. May as well finish it up eventually given how much time you already have into it.

shardian · « **Reply #26 on:** June 09, 2009, 09:47:18 am »

I used an automotive filler primer to smooth out minor imperfections.

I will finish it, but I have to take a break to host a few game nights and do a few 'honey do' projects. If I gave the impression that I was abandoning the project, that is not what I meant.

ChadTower · « **Reply #27 on:** June 09, 2009, 10:06:01 am »

Hrm. Being able to scratch the primer off concerns me. It could end up one of those games you can't ever move because you're afraid of putting a gash in the paint.

Wade · « **Reply #28 on:** June 09, 2009, 10:15:03 am »

That's looking good!!! Take your time and make it nice. Either you can keep it as a true keeper (a pacman should be a true keeper in my opinion) or if you sell it, you will get much more for it if it looks very nice. Definitely paint the inside black.

I'm not sure what to suggest for the outside before the vinyl, if the primer comes off that easily. Maybe light sand it all before putting the vinyl on?

The monitor mount looks good. Looks like the tube fills the space well.

Wade

shardian · « **Reply #29 on:** June 09, 2009, 10:15:35 am »

I'm not too concerned - it is getting vinyl over the primer.

shardian · « **Reply #30 on:** June 09, 2009, 10:22:10 am »

I would agree it is a keeper - especially with the blood/sweat/tears factor. I could get a pretty penny for it though if I finish it cleanly. I could fund several good machines with that kind of profit, or fund gameroom walls/carpet. It will stick around for at least a little while so I can properly appreciate it.

Wade · « **Reply #31 on:** June 09, 2009, 03:28:30 pm »

Besides, it isn't going to wear much in your home and you can enjoy it while asking a high price until the right seller comes along, or the game market and economy picks up. Everyone wins.

Wade

shardian · « **Reply #32 on:** July 04, 2009, 02:40:09 pm »

I finished off filling/sanding the sides, and also painted the inside flat black.

Quick post of the start of the laminating. The laminate goes on pretty easy, and trims up nicely. Somthing snuck under my work in 2 small pinhole areas, but I will live with it. Trimming the sides where the rounded edges are made me nervous. It worked out very well though, but the masking tape I put down on the rounded edges pulled up the gloss black paint in spots. I'll just touch them up with a brush.

shardian · « **Reply #33 on:** July 08, 2009, 08:10:39 am »

Made a large T-molding order yesterday for all my games. Sucks I had to buy 20 feet of 1/2" black when I only needed 6. I guess the rest can be held onto for when I finally get around to that wall mount jukebox.

As for progress, none to report. I've had another rather large project sidetrack me since Saturday.

Wade · « **Reply #34 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:00:19 pm »

Lookin good. I look forward to seeing it assembled!! What else do you need to do to it?

Wade

shardian · « **Reply #35 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:08:33 pm »

Finish the vinyl. Get a hinge. install T-molding when it comes in. Put in a PC.

shardian · « **Reply #36 on:** July 13, 2009, 06:28:31 pm »

Here is a shoddy cell phone pic of the finished vinyl. I have to say, it came out absolutely stunning. There are a couple tiny dimples where something got under the vinyl. I don't know where the 'pebbles' came from though, because I was extra careful about keeping the surface clean.

Other good news is that a forum member her has been kind enough to hook me up with a section of wrap around hinge from Rockler. I hope to be moving onto guts work in a few weeks.

Bad news, I seem to have lost my underlay! I found the tube I thought it was in when looking in the garage - but it was empty. This coming weekend I plan on gutting the shed and reorganizing it. Hopefully many things I have misplaced over the last 6 months will show up.

Wade · « **Reply #37 on:** July 13, 2009, 11:00:51 pm »

Looking good! Can't wait to see it wrapped up. Love to see another pac cocktail saved. Every gameroom needs a Pac or MsPac cocktail IMO.

EVERYBODY remembers playing one. Plus, Pac and MsPac are just great classic games that a player can be challenged forever with.

I hope the hinge arrives quickly and you get that vinyl and other tidbits finished up!

Wade

shardian · « **Reply #38 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:46:00 am »

Got the piano hinge in over the weekend, and hope to work on this again some this week. Special thanks to byoac member system01 for the piano hinge.

I picked up a few games this weekend, so I didn't get a chance to do anything. I did find the mini-itx computer I plan on using. I just need to find a CF card to act as a hard drive. Donations of 128-256mb CF cards greatly appreciated!

Wade · « **Reply #39 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:39:15 pm »

I have an CF->IDE adapter I bought to use on my MsPac cocktail actually, but I still have no CF cards. If you find some on the net for dirt, let me know, I'll probably want to throw one in on the same order if possible.

Wade


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