New project alert. While the Defender’s monitor is still off with the tech, I couldn’t resist picking up a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail cabinet that came up locally – the sit-down table style ones, always liked these but never owned one. Condition is “used, worked when unplugged” which in seller-speak could mean anything from a dry joint to a dead board, so this weekend was teardown and assessment.
Good news first: cabinet itself is solid, glass is intact (genuinely surprised, cocktail tables usually have a cracked corner from being used as an actual table for twenty years), and the coin mechs are complete even if grubby. Bad news: whoever had it last clearly spilled a drink into it at some point, there’s corrosion on part of the board and one of the edge connectors is in a sorry state.
Cleaned up the connector with contact cleaner and a fibreglass pen, reseated everything, and got a very promising flicker on power-up before it died again – so there’s life in there somewhere, just not stable yet. Going to trace the corrosion properly before I power it on again, last thing I want is to cook a board that was actually salvageable.
Part two coming once I’ve had a proper look at the board under decent light. Garage is now officially out of floor space with two cabinets on the go at once, which the other half has noted, several times.
Two cabinets on the go at once, brave man. Looking forward to part two.