Most Annoying Cabinet To Work On

Fully laminated an Atari system one cab. Took forever. Looked great, but never again.
 
For me, it is the Exidy shooter cabinets, hands down. Large, heavy, unwieldy, the gun just seems awkward, the vinyl is like heat-infused to the particleboard so it takes forever to get it off. There's always lower cabinet damage, the monitor set up is weird with the mirror, etc. The way they secured the bezel is strange, the control panel is fucked up, the power supply sucks, the board itself is so fucking huge. My God, I can't believe I worked on two of these damn things at once.
 
Mortal Kombat and mortal Kombat 2 cabinets. I just wanna turn some knobs on the monitor but I can't see what I'm doing because the door isn't tall enough, have to pull the whole thing out to do it.
 
Anyone who has ever experienced the absolute pain of removing a monitor from a Taito plywood flat top knows what I'm talking about. It's even worse trying to put it back in.

That. Shit. Sucks.

You have four little nothing clips the monitor attaches into with these mounts similar to how Pac-Man's monitor is mounted. EXCEPT- Pac-Man's monitor mounts are sturdy and reliable, the Taito mounts are flimsy, and you will destroy your monitor if you are not paying utmost attention. Screwed in, it's fine, but that shit is not a one-person job.
 
RE: Z-back access door. Agreed it's a joke. I usually pop off the other panel and make 1 larger panel for better access:

 
Seconded.

I dunno if it was a knockoff, but I worked on a Z-back style cabinet not long ago that had literally no access from the back. Only way to do anything with the monitor was to unbolt it and remove it entirely from the front. There was no back panel. The entire back was one solid piece.

Most cocktails are a pain to work on, specifically for my back. I can raise them up a bit so it's not so terrible, but still have to bend over for long periods of time.

You're speaking of the angle 19 cabinet. Yeah those are a pain as well but the silver lining is that at least it's not that deep if you remove the control panel drawer, making it a bit easier to make adjustments to the harness and monitor.

RE: Z-back access door. Agreed it's a joke. I usually pop off the other panel and make 1 larger panel for better access:


That's the one. I don't blame you for making that hatch modification. Troubleshooting that cabinet without practically gutting it is a nightmare
 
Sega Outrun and Space Harrier - monitor access is a nightmare on those two.
Good to know. Was thinking of doing a top-down restore on my Outrun. Was dreading it. Now I'm dreading it more.
 
That's the one. I don't blame you for making that hatch modification. Troubleshooting that cabinet without practically gutting it is a nightmare
Further Z-back complaints

The bottom of the cab is a total nightmare if you drop anything down there. You basically have to remove the CP/PCB drawer to get at that area. You might be cable to go via the coin door, but it sucks either way.

While we're on the subject, the pcb drawer concept in these cabs also sucks if you want to do a Switcher setup. There's not enough room on the drawer and the bottom area access is blocked as well.

And finally, the CP angle sucks. I really don't like the z-back, sorry. HS-5 is way better.
 
Further Z-back complaints

The bottom of the cab is a total nightmare if you drop anything down there. You basically have to remove the CP/PCB drawer to get at that area. You might be cable to go via the coin door, but it sucks either way.

While we're on the subject, the pcb drawer concept in these cabs also sucks if you want to do a Switcher setup. There's not enough room on the drawer and the bottom area access is blocked as well.

And finally, the CP angle sucks. I really don't like the z-back, sorry. HS-5 is way better.
Really glad I never bought one now that I here all the complaints
 
Sega Outrun and Space Harrier - monitor access is a nightmare on those two.
Good to know. Was thinking of doing a top-down restore on my Outrun. Was dreading it. Now I'm dreading it more.
It is true that the monitor access is a problem in Outrun, but the adjustments can still be made fairly easily. Just have to slide the monitor in from the front.

The biggest issue is the control panel restoration, that's a pain… some inspiration to get you motivated @quickray is here.

p
 
I would agree with 90's Midway and the Z-Backs simply due to the monitor issues. Having to adjust anything picture wise is a total nightmare in both these cabinets. I was surprised at how heavy a HS5 was though. Also, to add another cabinet that I don't like working on is a Jaleco Pony Mark IV. Brittle plastic everywhere and pulling the monitor out was a shit show. Basically a 27 inch monitor with no metal frame so you have to set it down on something to unplug the wires while you're taking the monitor out. Maybe there's an easier way, but I got the monitor out with only collapsing one lung so that's a win in my book!
 
Agreed! Space Harrier especially…. Oh you want to adjust the monitor? Oh just take apart the whole freaking cabinet…

Exctactly. I had to shoot a video with my phone on wide angle while i waved it around up inside the cab to find the flyback adjustments and pots
 
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