Galaga Cabinet Rebuild

YellowDog

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Donor 2011, 2013
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This is just a quick repair log on the state of my Galaga cabinet rebuild. Once I finally got a chance to get a good look at it, I was very surprised at how bad it really was. It had obviously been flooded at some pint in time. The base is badly swollen and the bottom piece of particle board was disintegrating. It had in fact cracked in half and had pulled away from the the sides. It was a mess.

The first thing I did was to remove the marquee and bezel, so they didn't get broken. The marquee is not great, but might be serviceable. The bezel just plain peeled all but a small border around the edge. I will need to scape it all off. I have an underlay to replace the original bezel art.

I then carefully removed the monitor and surprisingly it not only fired up, but the picture looked fantastic. So one less thing to worry about.

The bottom was the immediat issue. I removed the particle board and cut a replacement out of 3/4" plywood. Unfortunately, HD only had AA birch in 3/4" so the botton (where no one will ever see it) is a beautiful piece of cabinet grade birch ply (oh the irony).

These pics document the bottom replacement. As I get time and complete various things I will try to document those as well.

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The original water damaged bottom.

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Cab with bottom removed.

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A better look at how bad the bottom was.

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Bad picture of the new bottom.

ken
 
Some more miscellaneous pics.

The wheel brackets before and after a good wire brushing and some black Rustoleum.

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It is hard to see, but I did the same thing to the interlock bracket.

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First attempt to rebuild the power brick. Now instead of popping the circuit breaker it only pops the GFI.

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Please some interior pics of any bracings you did. Did you just use a straight-cut piece, or did you router any grooves or notches so it would fit better?

I need to do this to the bottom of a Ms. Pac cab I've got...
 
Right now, it is just a straight cut with 2.5" black drywall screws through the side walls into the plywood. I put some glue along the sides of the plywood as I set it in. I am not sure if that will help or not. When I get it upright, I will glue (Liquid Nails) some square blocks onto the top of the plywood to add support. It is too hard to try and do it now with everything at goofy angles.

The hardest part I had with it was just getting the new board in place. The bottom cabinet edges are so swollen that I ended up sliding it in and gently tapping with a hammer to get into place and then it shifted while I was putting the screws in so it is not even across the bottom. Oh well, nobody is ever going to look at it but me.

Edit: The original bottom had these plastic disks with inset screws that were a pain because they were so corroded. I chose to ignore them because I couldn't find exact replacements at HD or Lowse. They look the kind of anchors you find on the Sauder knock together furniture. The disk part went into the cabiner sides and the mounting screw went into the original bottom. If the Ms Pac is put together like that you will know quickly enough.

ken
 
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Yours is in great shape! On mine the bottom fell off when it was moved. I replaced the bottom and 2 ft up all the sides.

Modd I biscuit jointed mine and also used wood glue on all the joints. Then I used an air stapler to secure triangle wedges at every 90° angle. I cut these on the table saw, look just like what they used from the factory.

Were working on my website now and I hope to have it fully up in a month or two. This restoration will be well documented on the site along with others. www.pacmandotcom.com Since the weather is much better than when I did the wood work, im working on painting the galaga and new artwork. Right now im in the body filler stage getting everything nice and smooth then it will get primed.
 
My Galaga is no where near as bad on the bottom as yours was, but the particle board on the from right corner broke off (only half-way through) with the leg. I want to replace the bottom too, but it is attached using some special screw peg thing like used in Sauder furniture. Anyone know a way to remove without damaging the rest of the cabinet?
 
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I was thinking about using one of those hand saws and sliding it up between the wall and the base and just go all the way around with it.
 
I don't like that idea, I want to keep my looking as original as possible. If possible reuse the plastic anchors. Anyone done that? I might just glue the piece back on.
 
Here are a few pics of mine. As you can see mine had wood swelled over an inch thich up the sides. The bottom was close to two inches thick.
 
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Nice job on the restore! Looks like your control panel over lay is worn along the edge too. I am debating if I should replace it with a reproduction, it really isn't that bad, I just wish that the previous owner hadn't painted the area black:

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As you can see I am also missing the black plastic bezel and tinted plexi. Both have been ordered! Woo Hoo!
 
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I'll be bastardizing the control panel next. I need to put an 8 way joystick in and add a couple of buttons. I decided to go with a 48n1 to get more games in a smaller area. So it is a rehab/conversion.

The swelling is nowhere near as bad as yours Riptor, But I will probably need to shave it down a little or figure something else out. But at least it won't disintegrate on me any more. :D

ken
 
I'll be bastardizing the control panel next. I need to put an 8 way joystick in and add a couple of buttons. I decided to go with a 48n1 to get more games in a smaller area. So it is a rehab/conversion.

The swelling is nowhere near as bad as yours Riptor, But I will probably need to shave it down a little or figure something else out. But at least it won't disintegrate on me any more. :D

ken

Oh no! poor Galaga! Just kidding. But I couldn't do that to my galaga, maybe my Marvel Vs Capcom. Are you going to drill the original panel? Before you do check out Arcadeshop.com, they have reproduction panels for $28 so you can save your original if you decide to restore completely.
 
Oh no! poor Galaga! Just kidding. But I couldn't do that to my galaga, maybe my Marvel Vs Capcom. Are you going to drill the original panel? Before you do check out Arcadeshop.com, they have reproduction panels for $28 so you can save your original if you decide to restore completely.

After getting into this, poor me! This box is a mess.

I may end up with a repro control panel, just because this one is so rusty. I'll find out when I drill it if there is enough metal to really support a joystick and buttons.

ken
 
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