MTPPC

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I picked up a local Ms. Pacman score today:

Cabinet: 5/10 (solid but shows the life of a bar machine)
Monitor: Works but terrible screen burn (tested)
Board: Dead Super pacman conversion including Bally/Midway Authorized Enhancement Kit

It came with a complete spare control panel. At this point, I have a 25" WG 7000 connected to a mame computer via soft15khz - radeon 9200. I'm probably going to install a custom bracket for the horizontal 25" monitor and mame the gutted cabinet. I'll use a j-pac and run a new JAMMA harness with a few additional buttons on the worse of the control panels.

I considered a 60 in 1, or even going back to original Ms. Pac, but seeing how the monitor is shot and I already have the mame setup, I'm probably just going to be lazy.

I guess my question is how much more it would take to bring it back to original? I don't even know where to look for a replacement monitor/tube and board.

BTW, does anyone have any tips on where to find some good angle brackets? I'm probably just going to find something at lowes or home depot, but it sure would be great to find the right thing.
 
A computer monitor will never look right in that cabinet, if you want the authentic look/feel of the graphics.. You say the monitor works. All you probably need to do to keep it working is do a cap kit, but if it's a G07, would be smart replace the caps and the flyback. The kit for that is only $28, containing the cap kit, flyback, HOT, and fuse

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/parts.html

As far as the screen burn goes..any Pac, Ms Pac, or Centipede, among others, are pretty much guaranteed to have a lot of burn. If you're tech-handy, you could do a tube swap with a $10 thrift store TV from the 80s. You could, with some work and luck, make the monitor look new again with about $40 and some time and cursing.

There are folks here that will repair the board. Also, I see working Ms Pac boards sell on here for under $100.

Personally, I'd rebuild the monitor and either get the board fixed or buy a working one..of maybe someone would take your dead one as part of a trade.

If you want to do a multi cabinet, 60-in-1, etc..find a crappy cabinet that's not a classic like Ms Pac.

Oh, and on a scale of 1-10, my keeper survivor Ms Pac that I plan to fully restore is probably close to a 6, as someone put 2 nasty holes in the front for a hasp. Not drilled..but they look punched..it will take plywood patches.
 
I am going to speak up for keeping it original. Before trying to mod it, it might be a good idea to try to fix it. It may be as simple as a fuse or bad fuse holder, if the board is totally dead. Is the black plexi still in place over the monitor? Both my Pac and Ms. Pac have screen burn but it doesn't bother me.

Let's see some pics of just how bad this old girl is.
 
Oh, and on a scale of 1-10, my keeper survivor Ms Pac that I plan to fully restore is probably close to a 6, as someone put 2 nasty holes in the front for a hasp. Not drilled..but they look punched..it will take plywood patches.

A couple of years ago, I sanded down and repainted my Raiden cabinet (originally a Ms. Pac) I used rattle can but it came out nice. Anyways, there was a hasp hole on either side of the coin door. I filled them with spackle and sanded them real smooth. You can't tell to look at it. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I read your post.
 
just fixing it and finding a working pac board will not be that hard. someone can just cap or fix your G07 if that's an issue.

It'll be way easier than trying to stuff a 25" monitor in there... which is really going to be an issue with loads of structural modifications. IMPOSIBLE in horz layout if I read that correctly.
 
I have to add to the original route or even a XXX-in-1. As mentioned, it's going to be a lot more trouble than it is worth getting a PC monitor in there. Worse comes to worst, someone can do the cap kit for you for a fee.
 
Again, hoping for leaving it as original as possible. Along that line, the Pac 96-in-1, is easy to install on a Pac/Ms. Pac PCB if that is what is in there. It was mentioned that there is a "Bally Authorized Enhancement kit" installed in the cabinet. This is likely the module for Pac-Man Plus. A Super Pac PCB would not be labeled that way. Some pics would help.
 
Upon closer inspection, I have a pacman plus conversion. Please see attached:

CIMG2635.jpg


CIMG2636.jpg


CIMG2637.jpg


I shoehorned the WG k7000 25" monitor into the cabinet horizontally by using four 3" x 1/2" corner braces I found at Lowe's. I have a custom piece of glass cut to 21" x 23" and will build a bezel from black posterboard. I'm keeping the 19" monitor, original glass bezel, the plastic bezel and the smoked glass monitor cover for future restoration.

I'm committing to the mame conversion using this: http://www.jammaboards.com/store/pc...oller-usb-interface-pcb-kit-pc2jamma-usb.html .

I have a second complete control panel and I'm going to add a few buttons and this trackball to the worse of the two: http://www.jammaboards.com/store/2-1-4-led-illuminating-pc-mame-arcade-trackball-led-trackball.html .

I'm going to have the modified control panel punched at a local machine shop. I expect to have a very limited gamelist similar to a 60 in 1 plus a williams multi. I'll try to post pictures of the monitor mount and custom bezel later. Thanks for the tips an suggestions. I'd love to do a restore, but I need a monitor due to horrible screen burn and board which is just outside the budget at this time.
 

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So I got a piece of glass cut and seamed 3/16" x 21" x 23". I applied 20% automotive window tint to it and installed it over a black cardboard bezel I made by hand. The 25" horizontal monitor looks perfect under the new tinted glass. It turned out really good.

IMAG0094.jpg


IMAG0092.jpg


The next steps:

Set up a gamelist for mala.
Find a set of speakers to chop up for the amp and wire in the original speaker.
Install tiny stealth buttons in the coin return slots for coin up and "escape" functions.
Install a pushbutton for powering the computer up and down.
Install a smartstrip to make the monitor and marquee follow the computer.
Wire in my pc-mame-ps3-to-arcade-controller-usb-interface - http://www.jammaboards.com/store/pc...oller-usb-interface-pcb-kit-pc2jamma-usb.html
Configure Mala and mame to use the joystick buttons because that controller is NOT a keyboard emulator. It actually emulates 2 joysticks.

In retrospect, I should have bought this to save 9 dollars: http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/e...layer-arcade-controller-to-usb-pc-or-ps3.html

Anyway, I've made no changes to the cabinet that can't be undone to restore the machine. Now I'll be keeping my eye out for a decent 19" vertical replacement monitor and original ms. pac boards.
 
Totally the wrong cab for a horizontal monitor.

You are going down an ugly road.
A Dynamo would have been a better choice and would give your room for 2P

When you post pictures of a project like this in an arcade preservation and restoration site you really open yourself to the natural negative reaction to what you are doing to a Pac cab which is something that like most guys here would want in their collection.

Your stuff, your choice but seriously stop posting whatever hideous creation you are working on Dr Frankenstein...
 
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You are now banished to BYOAC POOF! lol

The BYOAC members don't generally endorse hacking original classic cabinets either.

OP: That cabinet looks a lot better than a 5/10. I know that low resolution pictures can be deceiving (they tend to hide minor flaws), but most of the artwork is intact; I don't see any chunks of wood missing; the CPO seems to be in good shape; there is no lockbar; and the coin door even looks decent. It looks like it's had a relatively easy life to me.

You're not planning to Swiss cheese an original control panel or hack original wiring are you? I'm guessing you've already gone at the interior with a drill to mount that wrong monitor the wrong way ...
 
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The BYOAC members don't generally endorse hacking original classic cabinets either.

OP: That cabinet looks a lot better than a 5/10. I know that low resolution pictures can be deceiving (they tend to hide minor flaws), but most of the artwork is intact; I don't see any chunks of wood missing; the CPO seems to be in good shape; there is no lockbar; and the coin door even looks decent. It looks like it's had a relatively easy life to me.

You're not planning to Swiss cheese an original control panel or hack original wiring are you? I'm guessing you've already gone at the interior with a drill to mount that wrong monitor the wrong way ...

This is probably the wrong forum to talk about MAMEing a nice dedicated cabinet. However, there may not be a good place to talk about that.
 
That WAS a very nice looking Ms Pac before you violated it. Next time find a generic cab to destroy and pass on the classic to someone that will appreciate it and restore it.
 
Turn her back into a Ms. Pac! That was a really nice cab! Find a generic cabinet to make a multi in. Get her out of the sun, it'll fade horribly! That Ms. Pac had all the nice bright pink left, you want to save that.
 
I'm shooting for something like this:

bezelandcontrols.jpg


Being serious, I'm actually trying for a stealth conversion. My gamelist consists of 4-way joystick games with 2 buttons or less so I won't have to modify the control panel at all. I do have a second control panel to hack up if I feel a need for trackball and more buttons (like the picture above :) ) in the future.

Like I said earlier, nothing I've done is irreversible and I'll patiently await the score of a replacement monitor and original gameboard (maybe a 60 in 1?) to convert it back to an original restoration at some time in the future.
 
Being serious, I'm actually trying for a stealth conversion. My gamelist consists of 4-way joystick games with 2 buttons or less so I won't have to modify the control panel at all. I do have a second control panel to hack up if I feel a need for trackball and more buttons (like the picture above :) ) in the future.

Like I said earlier, nothing I've done is irreversible and I'll patiently await the score of a replacement monitor and original gameboard (maybe a 60 in 1?) to convert it back to an original restoration at some time in the future.

Hacking an original control panel is irreversible, as is drilling into the interior to mount that oversized monitor sideways.
 
Hacking an original control panel is irreversible, as is drilling into the interior to mount that oversized monitor sideways.
I'll be sure to fill in the 8 screw holes with invisible wood putty when I convert it back. It's not like there aren't already dozens of screw holes where harness retainers and the pacman plus conversion were mounted. And I know how sinful it is to chop up a control panel when there's only 5 of them on ebay for under $50 right now.

Why the hate? Are you jealous of my skillz?
 
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