Should I gold plate Pac-Man edge connectors?

jsissel

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I've been having fun playing with a few Pac-Man boards that have been almost completely harvested. I've managed to repair 3 of them so far. I know one of the weak points is the edge connections. A few of the boards have burn damage there. I know I can get a kit to electro-plate the fingers gold. But it is expensive and is it worth it?
 
I've been having fun playing with a few Pac-Man boards that have been almost completely harvested. I've managed to repair 3 of them so far. I know one of the weak points is the edge connections. A few of the boards have burn damage there. I know I can get a kit to electro-plate the fingers gold. But it is expensive and is it worth it?

not worth it, ten bucks gets you fixed for a looooooonnnnnggg time

https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.co...r-eyelets-44-pin-with-shrink-wrap-tubing-kit/

https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.co...nger-boards/arcade-finger-boards-22-44-jamma/
 
You'd be throwing your money away. Gold plating would be useless on those high amperage power terminals that always burn up.

I use copper foil tape to replace the burnt foil and I also clean or replace the mating parts in the connector housing.
 
replace your fuse holders too.

one overlooked facet of those corroded old ones is that's where the heat that nukes your edge connectors is coming from. it's a bottleneck effect from poor connectivity, it leads to huge drops in voltage and I'm guessing the rectifying hardware on the board probably works too hard and it burns up the contacts.

another nasty side effect of bad fuse holders is the hum bar effect. if you really want your boards to be virtually indestructible, replace the caps on them too.
 
I've heard about both and have replacements ready to go. The big job is building the cabinet. But right now I'm just having fun rebuilding the boards. :) Thanks for all the information!
 
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