Baby Pac-Man issues... :(

PacManPlus

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Hello all!

I have a Baby Pac-Man that I've fixed up (cleaned, replaced all lights, buttons, replaced bad monitor with a 17" LCD Panel), but I have two issues that I'm not sure about:

- The left flipper sometimes gets stuck in the 'up' position, and I have to keep hitting the left flipper button to get it back down.
- The back drop down targets, when hit by the ball, only go down about half-way. I *can* press them all of the way down manually, but when they reset the issue is back.

Has anyone had these issues and know how to resolve them?
Thank you in advance!

Bob
 
I tried... I couldn't get it going. :(

Actually, the 17" LCD Panel doesn't look bad in that cabinet. Funny enough, the Stand-Up refurbished Ms. Pac-Man I mentioned in my 'Welcome' post had an 19" LCD panel in it. Hated it. Modded a 20" Flat Tube TV for RGB input and put that in it instead. Looks much better.
There are just some cabinets that shouldn't have LCD panels in them. :D IMHO, Baby Pac-Man isn't one of them.

Alignment issues... With the drop down targets?
 

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i can fix it.
if you want it fixed send it in.

yes if they are out of alignment they will stick.

if bolts of nuts are to tight, it will cause sticking issues due to pulling parts out of alignment.

it does not take much to over tighten theses things in a pinball machine.

it could also be dirt, oil or grease that should not be there to make them stick.
it does not take much for this to have an effect.

Peace
Buffett
 
Baby pac-man has linear flippers unless someone converted them. Search for an exploded diagram of how they are assembled and make sure you have all of the parts. Check for resistance in the flipper by manually moving the mechanism. If there is resistance then you may need to replace some parts or at a minimum take them apart and clean them. Make sure your spring is in place and strong enough to return the flipper. Compare to the other flipper if you're not sure. If there looks like any oil or grease has been applied take the mechanism apart and thoroughly clean everything and replace the coil sleeve. Check that the coil sleeve freely moves and can be removed. If the EOS switch is misadjusted, then holding the flipper can cause the coil to overheat and melt the sleeve. If the sleeve is distorted replace the sleeve and coil (you can get rebuild kits). One other oddball scenario I've seen is that the flipper plunger can actually get magnetized and what happens is that it will magnetically attach to the coil stop. If this happens you can rebuild with new parts or try to demagnetize the plunger by striking it with a hammer or other means. Your flipper bushing could be cracked and also your flipper may just be misaligned. Search for methods to make sure you have the proper spacing between the flipper bat and the bushing. Those are just a few things to check. Good luck.
 
Thank you so much for that explanation....

I think I may leave that part alone for now. What you described seems like it would be too easy for me to make things worse, not having worked on a pinball machine before (aside from this one). I don't trust myself to do all of that correctly... especially on something as rare as that machine.

Thank you,
Bob
 
I know, I know... :( and like I said I hated the idea of an LCD panel being in a Ms. Pac upright, so I had to change it.

Having said that, I do have some experience with modding TVs for RGB input, and there are a *lot* of old 13" CRT TVs out there. So, if I can get a good picture on a 13" tube, I may swap it out. At this point I need two 13" tubes however; as I also have a cabaret Pac with 6 arcade boards on a switch (Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Ms. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man Plus, Hangly-Man, and Jr. Pac-Man) which needs one as well.
 
I actually don't remember the type or even where I got it; it was hanging around the house from an old pull:
20230113_160834.jpg
I actually do kind of like how it looks here... I don't know. Part of me wants to keep it authentic, and the other part likes how this turned out.

Also just to show you what I mean about converting TVs into RGB monitors, I did this with a 32" Panasonic (it can't be used as a TV any more, but who cares) It's running a Ms. Pac-Man board with a hack called Ms. Pac-Man Plus (not the one in the arcade that just had different mazes, this one is Ms. Pac-Man with the 'Pac-Man Plus' rules hacked in). I'm going to eventually build a cocktail cabinet (to scale) with this tube in it:
20230113_160917.jpg

NOTE: The picture on the TV looks 1000X better in person. It really is a beautiful picture. I don't know what happened to the camera work here.
 
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Hey all!

Just wanted to update on these issues. I had a new set of drop down targets come in, so I decided to replace them last night. Lo and behold, they work perfectly now! The old ones were quite worn so maybe that had something to do with the issue.
...and as a bonus, for some reason the left flipper doesn't seem to 'stick' up any more... Not sure what one had to do with the other, but I'm not complaining!

Thank you for the guidance and suggestions. :)
Now all that's left are the cosmetic issues (mostly just new side art and t-molding). I'll pick those up from eBay (phoenix.arcade sells the side art)
 
It's nearly always better, easier and cheaper to repair the original CRT arcade monitor than it is to replace it with LCD or modify a television.
 
Well, it's funny you should say that...

I picked up a 19" Sharp tube TV, that I couldn't get working by intercepting the RGB signal from the jungle chip, so I decided to take a chance on one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/313519428052?var=612353509712
It came in two days ago.

After removing the TV chassis, I replaced it with this new chassis. First of all, I couldn't believe the neck board fit perfectly, as I know that the neck board connectors can vary greatly. Anyway, after I connected the yolk connectors to the board I plugged it in... AND IT WORKED! I got a BEAUTIFUL picture from what now looks like a brand new monitor. This is going in my Ms. Pac-Man to replace a burned-in screen.

I just ordered another one. There are a lot of 13" TVs around here that people are getting rid of. If I can get this to work with a 13" TV (the description reads that it starts at 14", but I imagine it will work with a 13") I will absolutely be replacing the LCD with a TV with this chassis.
There's a long road ahead of me, because not only are the neck connectors smaller on the 13" TVs, the pinout is different. So this should be fun.

If you never hear from me again, you'll know I had too many volts going through me :vollkommenauf:
 
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