Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Job 7: Refinishing the Cabinet


With the backbox done, it was time to move on to the big job: refinishing the body cabinet.  The first order of business was to take things apart. The head and pedestal came off, I slid the glass out, removed the playfield and cabinet mechanism board and took off the legs. All of this tucked away in the corner of my kitchen.


That left me with the body cabinet...


... which still needed some disassembly, once I got it to the workshop.  I took off the coin door, play field lock lever, side rails, flipper buttons and a few other pieces and carefully set them aside.




Check out the unexposed finish that was under the side rails - it really shows how the machine has aged over the years - probably in an arcade that allowed smoking.


Also, note the discoloration to the front of the machine from decades of sodas accidentally getting spilled all over the machine and seeping into the cabinet.


Fortunately, the damage wasn't at all severe.  Here's a final look at the stencil work before it gets sanded away:


And it sanded up really well.


Primer and paint were applied...


...and the stencils went back on.



I have to admit that the stencils were tricky. They bled a little bit, so I had to go back with a fine brush to clean up the edges and sharpen the lines.  Next, it was ready for the hardware to go back on.


Done!  Now I just had to get it back home, re-install the legs (with felt pads to protect the new finish), attach the cabinet mechs, playfield, glass, pedestal and head and plug her in. Here's where we started:


And here's the machine now:


Beautiful!

A few more minor fixes and everything should be ready to go!

 

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