Pac-Man Coin Door 99% Done
Pac-Man, Restorations December 29th, 2006I’m almost done restoring the coin door.
It used to look like this.
I stripped everything off of it and hit it with a wire wheel to get all the old paint off.
I then hit it with the orbital sander using 220 grit sand paper to get rid of the scratches from the wire wheel. After that, I hit it with some fine steel wool. I don’t have any pics of that. Next, I did one coat of Rustoleum Satin black spray paint. It looked pretty good, but I guess I didn’t clean it off well enough and had little bits of stuff (steel wool?) in the finish. 
When I thought it was dry I sanded them off and hit it with another coat. Big mistake…it wrinkled like an old lady (or a young wrinkly lady). The problem was that I didn’t wait the recoat time after sanding it. I also don’t have any pics of this, but picture the alligator handbag that old lady probably has and you’ll get the idea. After sanding, waiting 48 hours, painting some more and finally putting it all back together:
The 25c coin labels were pretty nasty looking.
They were loaded with scratches (like an old lady that has been scratched up). I couldn’t find replacements for these, and there is no easy way to remove the scratches. I scanned one into Photoshop and redrew the “25c”. I then printed it out on my inkjet on glossy photo paper, put a transparency sheet (like for a projector) over it, and cut it out with an x-acto and a ruler. After that, I made a plexiglass, photo paper, and transparency sandwich and taped the edges together. It looks much better and you’d never know it wasn’t original. The pic is a little blurry, but it looks very cool in person. The transparency should protect it and gives it a shiny reflective appearance like new plexiglass.
You couldn’t do this for any Midway doors that have these pieces backlit, but for Pac-Man there was no light so it works good. If anyone needs the file I made to print these let me know.
December 29th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
What do you have against old lady’s? I don’t think I follow exactly what you did for the 25 cent piece (I understand the parts you used, but how did you get them to keep sandwhiched together? did you glue them? You mention tape, but I don’t see any tape in the pic).
I would definately want the file as it really does make a different (your coin door really turned out nice, I’ll have to do the same to mine).
December 29th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Hey…old lady’s are pretty cool I guess.
I know a couple.
Those inserts are a little bigger than the visible area. If you look at the last pic showing the new one, and look at that raised rim, it actually sits inside on that lip so not all of the edge is visible. I used scotch tape, and ran it down the edge so it was just barely on…about 1/8″ from the edge. I then rubbed it so it would stick could, and folded it over the edge of the plexiglass, and again over to the back. I only did it on the left and right sides, just enough to hold it in place on the plexi.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
.25 Logo
I was wondering if you could email me a copy of this for my Pac-Man restoration. Thanks!
wildmanaaron@hotmail.com
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Sure…you can grab it here: http://noiselandarcade.net/downloads/
February 9th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
What did you do to clean up the chrome coin accepters, the barrel lock, and the two coin return buttons on this? I’ve got a coindoor exactly like this and am trying to figure out the best way to refinish them. FYI - I’ve found a replacement Midway logo here in case you’re looking for a source: http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm
Could you send me an email at csa3d@yahoo.com with this information?
Great updates!
February 10th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Hey Chris,
Thanks for commenting. Glad you like my posts! For the coin acceptors, I used steel wool. I just kept rubbing them until I got rid of all the dirt and rust. I then hit them with some brasso on a rag. For the bolts that hold them on, I followed the same process except I put them in the chuck of my drill and spun them on the steel wool, and then on the rag with brasso.
For the coin return buttons…if I remember right I think I hit them with a wire wheel in the drill first, then steel wool. They actually looked pretty good after that, but I sprayed them with chrome paint. I think I may have been better off leaving them without the paint, because it doesn’t quite look chrome if you know what I mean…it’s a little too gray looking.
I didn’t do anything to the lock. I think it had been replaced because it looked pretty new. I don’t have the key for it so I’m going to replace it with a new one.
I’m going to put an order in at arcadeshop soon for that plate and some other stuff. Can’t wait to get it done.
The plate they have doesn’t have holes for rivets. I looked around to see if I could find some sort of rivets that are flat on top, instead of the typical pop rivets but couldn’t find any. I drilled the old ones off from the back, and it didn’t affect the front at all. I may clean them up, drill holes in the new plate and pop them back through. I may be able to secure them from the back with some epoxy or something.
When I get that last bit done I’ll write another post to show it complete.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I have 3 of these doors I’m doing. One has no frame and is missing other things as well so I guess it’s for parts. One set of the chrome coin chutes are ok but the other has chrome flaking off and is discolored. I’m going to see about getting all 4 re-chromed if it isn’t going to be too much. I to am looking for some of those small flat head rivets for the label. I’m also looking for some of the small carriage screws that hold the coin chutes on. I’d appreciate it if you could let me know if you know where I could get any. Thanks.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Hi Bill,
I drilled out the rivets from the back, and I’m going to try to clean them up and put them back in and hold them on from the back with some epoxy. I’m not sure where to get the mechanical parts you mentioned.
If you need a new label for them, you can get them at ArcadeShop.com:
http://www.arcadeshop.com/pics/midway-logo-plate.jpg
After I wrote about how I redid the 25c coin labels, I found them for purchase here:
http://www.thisoldgame.com/thisoldgame/new_page_2.htm
February 24th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I just wanted to say thank-you for all you help in getting my coin door project rolling. If you figure out those rivets, please please please let me know
If you’re curious what I’ve done, then you can visit my WIP page at http://www.csa3d.com/galaxian_coindoor.php
-csa
February 26th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Hey Chris - your welcome! That coin door looks great.
I picked up a Space Invaders Friday that I’ll put on the site soon. The door looks like the same style as that one.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I know this is an older post but I just wanted to comment on the coindoor plate repo’s at arcadeshop.com.
They are super nice, and you can forget those rivets, the repo’s have a 3M adhesive backing so they apply very easily! They seem to be the same exact metal thickness and everything. I put mine on about 4 years ago and it’s still on there nice and tight.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Hey Gunbu,
I actually ended up getting one from them, and it is nice! I haven’t stuck it on yet, but once I get going again on my Pac-Man project I will.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Could you say a little more about your process of retracing various artworks in Photoshop and Illustrator? I’ve done some pixel-by-pixel corrections, and used inkjet-printable Shrinky-Dink to make a new insert for the joystick handle of my Tron game, but wouldn’t know how to get started on redrawing digital photos as vector art.
Found your blog via the Pac-Man Peggy on the Make blog and have been working my way back through all the posts.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Hi Keith,
Thanks for commenting! I’m not sure how well I could describe the process of tracing art. I just sort of stumbled my way through it. What I did was read through the first few lessons in a book I have called “Adobe Illustrator CS - Classroom in a Book”. I think I got it at Barnes and Noble a couple of years ago. It helped explain exactly how to use the drawing tools in Illustrator.