How to make cabinet stronger

summersquall22

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Hey guys have a MC upright. Do you guys have any advice to make cabinet stronger. Wood , lumber?? Any tricks. I just want my game around forever
 
Whats wrong with it now structurally? If it wobbles or seems flimsy check the joints and gussets to see if they have separated from panels. You may need to reglue. If its damage thats causing the issue you need to identify whats weak and address.
 
The cabinets (unless exposed to water) are fairly robust. If you see areas where the MDF has swelled, then you can look at options like applying glue or wood hardener to stabilize the water damaged area, and then sanding and painting to restore the fit.

Or just leave it alone if it doesn't bother you visually. Minor swelling (unless severe with the side collapsing) isn't a problem.

Can you provide some pictures of the areas of concern, and what your specific concern is? I too am perplexed by your question.
 
The cabinets (unless exposed to water) are fairly robust. If you see areas where the MDF has swelled, then you can look at options like applying glue or wood hardener to stabilize the water damaged area, and then sanding and painting to restore the fit.

Or just leave it alone if it doesn't bother you visually. Minor swelling (unless severe with the side collapsing) isn't a problem.

Can you provide some pictures of the areas of concern, and what your specific concern is? I too am perplexed by your question.
Guys I'm still a newbie but my missile command is really coming along nicely. The question was really perplexing. I just want this game around forever and I have to move it a couple times and wanted to know with it's age if they made these cabinets strong enough
 
Guys I'm still a newbie but my missile command is really coming along nicely. The question was really perplexing. I just want this game around forever and I have to move it a couple times and wanted to know with it's age if they made these cabinets strong enough

The answer is to stop obsessing about your game. This is the main mistake people make when they are noobs.

Get it working, keep it dry and clean, and play it often. Don't feel the need to replace, repair, and 'upgrade' every possible part. You actually don't need to do as much as you think to most games. It's more a matter of doing a handful of right things, then leaving the rest alone.

These cabs were made to take abuse. Using them in any home environment is nothing compared to what they've already been though. So as long as you do the right things to get the electronics working reliably, the rest of the cab mainly just needs a good cleaning, and it will be fine.
 
The answer is to stop obsessing about your game. This is the main mistake people make when they are noobs.

Get it working, keep it dry and clean, and play it often. Don't feel the need to replace, repair, and 'upgrade' every possible part. You actually don't need to do as much as you think to most games. It's more a matter of doing a handful of right things, then leaving the rest alone.

These cabs were made to take abuse. Using them in any home environment is nothing compared to what they've already been though. So as long as you do the right things to get the electronics working reliably, the rest of the cab mainly just needs a good cleaning, and it will be fine.
I know. I have a brand new track ball with new optics. Was thinking of doing new side art. But no I will not. The thing is when I was 15 my father bought me one and it was brand new. You guys are so right.
 
I know. I have a brand new track ball with new optics. Was thinking of doing new side art. But no I will not. The thing is when I was 15 my father bought me one and it was brand new. You guys are so right.


You should keep the original trackball, and rebuild it. Just replace the rollers. You can replace the bearings if they are really rusty, but if they aren't that bad you can just lube them.

There are people out there who want to sell you any repro parts they think you will buy. Most of it you don't need. Your goal should be to do as little as possible to get the game working reliably, while keeping as much as possible original.

50 years from now, whoever ends up with that game will thank you for it, and have a game that is worth more than one where lots of parts have been replaced. Just like for all other antique collectibles, cars, musical instruments, furniture, etc, the more original they are, the more valuable. Replacing parts that don't need it only hurts the long-term value.
 
A lot of solid advice given, there's a lot to be said about an "original survivor" it tells a story. If you dive deep into the hobby and completely restore a few games, you'll start to get the picture that less is more. Not to mention restoring games will take a toll on you to the point where if it doesn't warrant it, don't do it. Not that you specifically stated that you wanted to restore this game. Welcome to the hobby and the forum.
 
Guys so the game is in storage and that's where I work on it. It is climate controlled. So it won't be booted up for a year. Do I need to do anything? When I get my home and get it set up do I just plug her in and put her on? The game is fully functional right now and I just changed big blue and cleaned up the power brick as it was filthy. So I have not done anything else to mess her up
 
Guys so the game is in storage and that's where I work on it. It is climate controlled. So it won't be booted up for a year. Do I need to do anything? When I get my home and get it set up do I just plug her in and put her on? The game is fully functional right now and I just changed big blue and cleaned up the power brick as it was filthy. So I have not done anything else to mess her up


See this post for how to safely bring up an unknown-condition Atari game for the first time:

 
Andrew how do I unplug the monitor? I can do everything else.


There's one pair of power wires that supply the 120V power to the monitor.

In raster games, it's usually a 2-pin mated molex-style connector of some sort, usually within a foot of the monitor frame. Then there's usually a separate connector with 4 to 6 pins, which is for the video signals. You can generally leave that one connected and it won't hurt anything.

Most vector games combine power and video into a single 12 or 15-pin connector, which is more convenient, since you can unplug everything at the same time. But for whatever reason raster games usually separate power and video. (Probably to reduce noise from the 60Hz power interfering with the video signals.)

I don't know the specifics for MC, but it should be some kind of 2-wire connector.
 
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