Horrified, would you buy this if it came up for sale

[MartyJ]

Always inspect thoroughly, very thoroughly when ever buying machines based on description alone.

Nothing more from me on this

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Those pictures will haunt me for a long time
I may need grief counciling

[Strangeways]

Always inspect thoroughly, very thoroughly when ever buying machines based on de******ion alone.

Nothing more from me on this

That's the common sense approach, and I'm glad this has been brought to any potential Australian buyers. This was done here in Australia. I still find it hard to believe.

[femto]

I was quite shocked to see this done and could not understand why you would do this. Personally, if the surface was that bad I would replace the whole side with a new piece. The funny thing is I saw this thread and later logged onto Aussie Arcade forum and saw a thread there detailing this restoration. You would need to read the thread to see how ironical this really is. I laughed out loud.

[swinks]

unfortunately done in Newcastle

[4_amusement_only]

Quite proud about his techniques,

"The cabinet was very banged up. We removed 3mm of ply off both sides of the headbox and re applied a nice new peice so we have no nicks or damaged edges. We also did this for the front door."

[goodolddays]

I still can't believe someone would do that , it just doesn't makes any sense to me

[Crashramp]

"The cabinet was very banged up. We removed 3mm of ply off both sides of the headbox and re applied a nice new peice so we have no nicks or damaged edges. We also did this for the front door."

Why not just replace the entire panel of Ply in question? It's easier, it's a stronger finish, it's going to fit better and there'll be no issues down the track. Trying to remove ply one layer at a time is very difficult if your objective is to acheive a flat workable surface ready to receive a new layer of ply. By the look of the hack job being performed on this cabinet then I don't think it would be to difficult to spot his workmanship on the finished product.
Maybe this guy should take a short woodwork course before attempting his next cabinet restoration. I'm sure he'd be happier with his finishes and with less effort.

[pinball god]

It did look like doing it the hardest way possible. But it seems he has a lot of followers that believe in him.  I dont know him

[Mr Pinbologist]

I watched this yesterday and thought to myself, that has to be a Gee up?? i mean.. was this seriously a proper resto or was he having a lend of us??!!

I would've liked to have seen pics of the cab before just to see exactly WHY he was going to this extreme  

Sorry... but that is just plain ROUGH   i couldn't imagine doing that to a cab/backbox

Kinda reminds me of watching this guy   sorry but i just HAD to post this link 

[swinks]

I know him (not terribly well) but not his tech that assists him.

He does alot of nice work and takes pride in how the pin looks especially with custom treated accessories, I posted this to get a honest opinion from people without the name being known about the restore technique. On the other forum I feel that the members have supported him because he took a break and in the past was a positive contributor to that forum. I do feel no one is being honest there to share their true feelings of the restore strategy as he may leave the forum or the hobby. Myself personally posted a comment and then retracted as didn't want to change the vibe of the thread and would only be hated out and plus I don't want to drive him out of the hobby. I did replace the comment with a shocked face icon as that was enough. But personally don't understand the approach and it ust shocks me.

I have not done a restore of a pinball myself but have done alot of timber work over the years using alot of plywoods and exotic timbers and even made timber cnc's for 8 years so I know the timber industry to a degree. I have almost cleared the shed (sold my cnc) and have 2 pinball projects and possibly a 3rd, so to me if a restore was going to be done and you were going to patch the cabinet would you empty out the parts and have a plain cabinet to fix - yes it is more work but at least it could be done properly. I think the restore is a bit of a lazy attempt as the back box is still bolted to the cabinet during the chop, the playfield is still in while the cabinet is being filled and sanded. I know he is making it public but personally don't think it is helping himself on this one.

This isn't a bash a person thread, just wanted a unbiased opinion on a technique of a unknown as others elsewhere were supporting it and I thought "was I the only one that didn't understand or agree with this approach"

[Mr Pinbologist]

This isn't a bash a person thread, just wanted a unbiased opinion on a technique of a unknown as others elsewhere were supporting it and I thought "was I the only one that didn't understand or agree with this approach"

Good point, and i was very hesitant to post a comment myself, as i wouldn't like it either if someone posted bad stuff of my resto work. But hey it obviously worked out for him doing it that way, its just a very odd approach though.

But having said that, I'm by no means perfect, there are sometimes things in my own work i wish had turned out better.

I guess everyone has their own way of doing things, i sure do! But so long as the end result comes out looking nice and it lasts, and everyone involved is happy, then happy days i say 

[Retropin]

oooh that is ugly viewing!!

But..... i can see why the guy has done this.
Golden rule of any restore is to work in whispers... in other words, do as little to the original to gain as much as you can for the end result.
No doubt a decision was made to only remove part of the head rather than the whole side... the logic being that its a smaller peice of timber that needs replacing and therefore we have our " whisper" yes?

But when you start to hear splintering timber and are ripping ply apart then you do have to wonder if the right decision was made... and then the decision to make the process public.. well.. i need say no more! LOL.

In fact.. a much better result with far less labour would have been achieved by replacing the whole side... its very easy to do and then we can call it " restoration"... the technique shown whilst still a restoration of sorts is known as a hack job.

It did say " Low End Restoration"... you cant argue with that.

[Strangeways]

It is not a technique I'm aware of. Using a heat gun and scraper would have taken less time. Looking up a YouTube video of "decal removal" would have instructed any newbie on decal removal and application. If the cabinet was damaged before he started, then simply buy a new cabinet. At the end of the day, I wonder if the fanbois supporting this method would buy this machine knowing it's history ?

I don't think so.

I know several respected restorers, and none would use this approach for any reason.

[pinball god]

I dunno if I misinterpreted one of his photos but the main cabinet decals were removed via the heat gun/scraper method. So why he did the chisel thing has got me. what I saw I believe was 10 times harder to do than what we consider the normal methods.

not defending this guy, but there was a comment that leaving the head on or the playfield left in the cabinet while doing cabinet re-decaling is a lazy short cut thing may be a bit harsh. I did it for my first and its because of ignorance in not knowing or having the guts to remove things with fear of stuffing up. Believe me some short cuts require lots more effort than doing it properly, hence why I try my best to do things the right way as it saves a lot of time. Again I'm not defending him as he probably does know the right way and is short cutting, I dunno