Ms. Pacman Cocktail Restore

odysseyzine

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Got me a Ms. Pacman this summer that needed a lot of TLC. I haven't posted to KLOV in a while so I figured I'd share a little summary of what I did. The cabinet was kept in a shed for many years (no PCB included) and it was pretty stinky and rusty, so I did a ton of cleaning... Sealed the inside with varnish, new speaker, power cord, etc. rewired mouse-eaten joysticks, removed rust from and repainted the coin door, control panels, hardware, ventilation grills, new CPOs and underlay from Pacific Arcades, new glass from Holland Computers, some other goodies from Arcadeshop and MikesArcade. Sourced a PCB with the speed chip and had to do a bit of repair on that as well. Take a look!

First pics are from when I got the cabinet, plus one where I started stripping the coin door.
 

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More Pics

More coin door action, my disgusting rusted-out, mouse-eaten joysticks that smelled of piss, finished coin door, and my first time hooking up the PCB. The game graphics were all messed up during play, but it was just a bent pin on the VRAM addresser board. Easy fix!
 

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Final stretch

Joystick/CP before/after comparisons, new glass and underlay closeup with a drop of my sweat dirtying up the pristine glass, and then a final shot after dragging it into my basement. I still have to fix some wear on the bottom edges, but I'll get to that sometime this winter I think.
 

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Looks great! I just re-did a Ms Pac-Man cocktail too but I got lucky and it was mostly in good shape and the previous owner even included all sorts of parts he bought to restore but never got to. Did you get the glass cut locally? My glass is ok-ish but has a scratches that are kind of annoying so I've been thinking of getting a new piece.
 
looks awesome. Share some details on coin door as well. e.g. Drilled out rivets did you powder coat or have someone else do it? looks awesome.
 
Did you get the glass cut locally? My glass is ok-ish but has a scratches that are kind of annoying so I've been thinking of getting a new piece.

I ordered the replacement glass from Holland Computers. I tried calling around to windshield repair places and custom window shops to see if I could save on shipping, but nobody was willing to help me out.

Holland had it on sale for $60--so even after shipping it seemed like a reasonable price. They were also great to deal with when I accidentally ordered wrong (I called and changed the order, and it was no sweat)!
 
looks awesome. Share some details on coin door as well. e.g. Drilled out rivets did you powder coat or have someone else do it? looks awesome.

Thank you! I did the coin door myself with spraypaint. Once I got it stripped down, I hit it with some Rust-Oleum texture to bring that back (being sure to mask a spot for the Midway badge), and then I used Rust-Oleum Farm and Implement, low-gloss black for the final coats. I figured if it was made for farm use it would be durable enough for a coin door! So far so good! I really liked how that particular paint applied. It was a nice smooth coat. No spittle from the nozzle or specks in the finish at all. (Side note: I tried using a glossier primer/paint combo for the control panel and I stripped/resprayed a few times before I was happy with it! It's probably been discussed here somewhere else, but I've found that Krylon is junky paint. Don't buy it, no matter how good the sale is at Wal-Mart!)

To remove the Midway badge I drilled out the old rivets and carefully pulled them. Thankfully I didn't damage it! When it came time to reseat it, I didn't have the proper tools for riveting, and nobody I knew had anything either! After finding some split rivets at the hardware store that matched the size of the originals, I CAREFULLY pounded them into place with a hammer and punch tool. I think I set it on a plastic cutting board and a dish towel to prevent any scratching or scuffing underneath. I was totally winging it, but it worked!
 
(Side note: I tried using a glossier primer/paint combo for the control panel and I stripped/resprayed a few times before I was happy with it! It's probably been discussed here somewhere else, but I've found that Krylon is junky paint. Don't buy it, no matter how good the sale is at Wal-Mart!)

Pro tip: always use Rustoleum Satin Black on black metal parts

Looks great!!
 
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