Baby Pac-Man refurb

Pimpbot5000

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I picked up this Baby Pac-Man recently. This is one of the games that apparently sat in a makeshift warehouse since 1987, partially exposed to the elements, which you can hear about in the Gameroom Junkies podcast.

I've started work on refurbishing this, and plan to document it here. I hesitate to use the word "restoration" because there are people here on KLOV who really elevate the art of restoring video games, and I'm not at that level. However I do plan to bring this game back to life and get it looking good.

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The first order of business was to get the interior of the cabinet cleaned up, as well as the transformer assembly.

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I removed the transformer assembly, vacuumed out the cabinet and then scrubbed it down with Simple Green and water.

I found the original joystick shaft under the transformer assembly, as well as a quarter from 1981.
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The rectifier board was caked with filth:
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I decided to try putting it in the dishwasher, as many other people have done with PCBs. I didn't use any soap and skipped the drying cycle. Unfortunately this didn't work out that great for me. The board came out only marginally cleaner, but the PCB mask had peeled away in several places.

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I decided to try putting it in the dishwasher, as many other people have done with PCBs. I didn't use any soap and skipped the drying cycle. Unfortunately this didn't work out that great for me. The board came out only marginally cleaner, but the PCB mask had peeled away in several places.

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That probably would have happened no matter how you cleaned it.
 
:-o

/ohhhh **ck face

I keep forgetting this was one of those waterlogged cabs from that thread that still makes me cry from time to time.
 
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Next I cleaned up all of the metal pieces on the transformer assembly with a drill and wire wheel. Then I sprayed it all with a coat of primer.

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I installed a new power cord to replace the one that had been inexplicably hacked off.

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I cleaned up all the wires and miscellaneous nooks and crannies and then put it all back together.

Transformer assembly before:
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Transformer assembly after:
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I also polished the plexiglass fuse cover with Novus. Here it all is installed back in the cabinet:

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The next thing I'd like to do is start getting this thing powered up so I can see what state the monitor and boards are in. It looks like I'm missing some wiring though. Can someone tell me what the circled items below should plug into?

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I hear you. The good news is, I WILL bring this one back from the dead.

from the looks of it your going to do it like a true professional as well. :D (that power brick looks amazing).

The bottom of that cab looks almost like you could eat off it (as it should be imo), how many white rags did you turn dark gray to get back to that?

what condition is that cabinet ground wire in (the bare braided wire that runs the cabinet)?
 
It looks like I'm missing some wiring though. Can someone tell me what the circled items below should plug into?

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Ok, I see that the purple wires are for the playfield. Can't seem to figure out what to do with the black and white wires though.

EDIT: My guess is the black and white wires plug into the interlock switch... which is missing on this cabinet.
 
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from the looks of it your going to do it like a true professional as well. :D (that power brick looks amazing).

The bottom of that cab looks almost like you could eat off it (as it should be imo), how many white rags did you turn dark gray to get back to that?

what condition is that cabinet ground wire in (the bare braided wire that runs the cabinet)?

Thanks. The pros around here probably would have repainted the inside of the cab, but it cleaned up enough to meet my standards. The ground wire looks good on it, amazingly.
 
Well I have a new interlock switch ordered from Bob Roberts so I can get this cabinet wired properly.

In the meantime, I'm going to start cleaning up the playfield. It doesn't look like there's any paint missing on it, so I'm happy about that. I think it'll clean up nicely.

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The first thing I did is clean all the plastics with Novus 2 and 1. They cleaned up really well. I was especially happy with the U-shaped portion in the middle of the top playfield plastic, which is now perfectly clear. Unfortunately the Ms. Pac plastic is missing a small piece, but I can live with it until a replacement turns up.

Before:
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After:
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Very nice! I'm also doing a total Baby Pac restore. I bought a new cabinet from DPTwiz and I'm currently repainting the coin door and metals parts. Nice job on the power supply. I wire brushed mine, but stopped short of painting the bracket. Moving all the components into the new cab was enough fun for me!
 
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