Putting Ms Pac back together: The story of a DPTwiz cab

smalltownguy2

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Putting Ms Pac back together: The story of a DPTwiz cab

Started with this:

IMG_8899.jpg


IMG_8901.jpg


Then went to this:


IMG_8902.jpg


Then bought this:

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And then....................

THIS thread happened:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=215713

:D :D

And then suddenly, THIS was in my garage:

2012-05-27_13-47-22_93.jpg


To be continued...
 
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Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO have boards and a monitor. I have a very nice looking Pac board with a 96 in 1 kit that I'll be using for this cab. My monitor will be a Makvision 19" that was donated to me by Ken Jeffery (kjeffery) in stack of monitors he left for me:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=2228608

I had the monitor professionally repaired by Chad over at Arcadecrt.com. He did a beautiful job for me. I had to mail him both my chassis and my yoke, but he got them up and running just fine. Thanks, Ken and Chad!

Since I'm still waiting on the bezel for this cab, I figured I'd turn my attention to the control panel. I've already stripped the CP and had it powdercoated black, so that's already done.

The CP bolts, however were in really nasty shape. They're a pretty small size for carriage screws. Not readily available hardware at my local Ace, which usually has EVERYTHING I need. I decided to clean them up instead of put something else in there. At first I tried my water + aluminum foil trick, but that wasn't getting me fast enough results, so I decided to cut down the top layer using a power drill and sandpaper. I followed the same procedure I did for my coin door bolts here.

Here's a before and after shot of my control panel bolts:

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After getting those all cleaned up, I went ahead and replaced the centering grommet in my joystick, and wired everything back up:

IMG_9432.jpg


More to follow later.....
 
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Finished up work on the control panel today. This will NOT be my final panel, since there are a few dimples in it. I'm trying to source another dent-free panel. But for the time being, it will have to do.

CPO and hardware applied. Things are starting to come together now.

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I had the same problem with my Ms. Pac CP... dimples dimples dimples but I didn't do a thing about it. Not only that but there's a rough matte part in the paint where it gummed up. Yours looks pretty good.

Is that the errored CPO that Advertgrafix was selling? How's the color and alignment?
 
Ran into a small problem last weekend, as I was test fitting pieces for the new cabinet: my bezel won't fit :(

The cabinet is about a 1/16" of an inch too tight to be able to slide in the bezel properly. I knew it was going to be a tight fit because of how difficult it was to get the control panel mounted. The CP fit was so tight that it actually scratched the paint putting it in.

I'm going to have to cut a channel in the side of the cabinet to get the bezel to slide in properly. Now, to sit and think about this logically - how do I cut this slot?

My first thoughts are to use a dremel with a slot cutting bit.
 
Ran into a small problem last weekend, as I was test fitting pieces for the new cabinet: my bezel won't fit :(

The cabinet is about a 1/16" of an inch too tight to be able to slide in the bezel properly. I knew it was going to be a tight fit because of how difficult it was to get the control panel mounted. The CP fit was so tight that it actually scratched the paint putting it in.

I'm going to have to cut a channel in the side of the cabinet to get the bezel to slide in properly. Now, to sit and think about this logically - how do I cut this slot?

My first thoughts are to use a dremel with a slot cutting bit.

You don't want to try trimming the bezel with a tablesaw? JUST KIDDING...don't try it!
 
Is the bezel from Phoenix?
The paint scratching is normal in Ms. Pacs. The black was perfect until I removed and reinstalled the CP.
You can always get a cardboard bezel and a piece of glass. ;)
 
I actually thought about trimming the bezel - briefly. I contacted some friends that I know in the glass business. They said that I could try nibbing off some of the edge, but I run the risk of exploding the tempered glass. Not worth the risk.

I'm not going to do anything right away - I'll wait until my Phoenix bezel comes in and see if it's just as tight. If so, then I'll deal with the problem then. Until then, I have to think about how I'll cut the dado. I would use a router, but the back of the monitor opening prevents me from doing a through cut. I have to cut from below, at a 90 degree angle.
 
I actually thought about trimming the bezel - briefly. I contacted some friends that I know in the glass business. They said that I could try nibbing off some of the edge, but I run the risk of exploding the tempered glass. Not worth the risk

My ex-wife and I had our bathroom featured on an episode of the DIY show: Bathtastic. They ordered a blue-colored tempered glass custom cut to the faucet for the back-splash. The piece was (as you guessed) incorrectly cut for the faucet--it was off by about 1/4 inch. The entire piece was about a 12" tall and 3 & 1/2 feet wide and about a 1/4" thick. The contractor that was working on the show attempted to cut/trim the glass and brought it back into the house in a very small box.

I agree with you--and would hold off on trimming. ;)
 
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My biggest challenge is going to be figuring out how to get a nice dado cut in the cabinet when I cannot lay a router down to cut it. The back drop of the monitor area is in the way.

Dremel will probably be my best option, as long as I can fashion some sort of jig to assist me in making a straight line cut.

do-dremel-craft-projects-800x800.jpg
 
i am still baffled the size issue. I know Gatordad on here assembled his mspac, without issue, same plans. I am picking up a converted mspac in about a week, and i will figure out what the issue is!
 
Two options re the bezel.

1: You can wet grind the glass to remove the excess. Talk to an expert.

2: Get a repro made that fits and save the original for another project or sell it to fund the repro.

I personally wouldn't cut a slot in the cabinet because the slot would have to come all the way to the front edge for you to be able to slide the bezel in to place. Then the slot will have to be filled and repainted

Good luck!

:)
 
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