FT cabinet art replacement

[swampy76]

It begins. A mate and I are starting a weekend cabinet re-decal job.......

Front end has been pulled apart, and tomorrow we will get stuck into it. Question. Do people generally pull playfields our completely to do this job? I've seen the youtube video of the guys in NZ and they take the PF out but leave it connected. best course of action?

Any other hot tips or 'gotchas' are welcome. And EB, are you able to pop over or has your leave been rejected??    

Photos to follow......

[MartyJ]

Each time I've done one I have fully removed the playfield, all boards and looms.  Although it sounds like a lot of work, its not.
The process I usually follow is this:

• Remove playfield, boards and loom
• vaccum cabinet, remove transformer and door
• nifty clean on floor
• heat gun to remove old decals and glue
• hand sand cabinet back to bare wood
• check its square and not separating
• repair any dents, dings and delamination
• spray acrylic primer and let it set
• hand sand (400grit) - check again for repairs missed
• spray colour (acrylic)
• sand (800 grit) to take shine off cabinet where decals going
• Use coin door filler (home made) on coin door area
• install decals - wet or dry method but wet (windex/water/isocol alcohol mix)
• trim decals
• install new rails
• stand back and admire

I would usually spend a minimum of 20 hours to do the job.  With new decals they show every bump, nick and imperfection so its worth the time to spend as much as possible on the preparation.

[Extra Ball]

Dave I just tossed the idea around, and it didnt look promising lol
Dont forget the plastics! Hope the redecaling goes well, am sure it will with Julien on hand.

[Strangeways]

Great rundown on your method, Marty 

[Caveoftreasures]

yes, well said Marty. definately agree with full removal.
just take ya time. good to mark the plugs which go back on the main boards so u dont blow things up if you put a plug back on the wrong place.

heaps of photos and even a decent video of everything before you pull it apart helps heaps.

p.s- dont use goo-off or some other stuff on the cabinet, cause later it will leach back out of the wood and the new decals will start falling off.
heat gun and straight edge hand tool plus lots n lots of sanding. I just pay someone. thats easier for me. lol 

[johnwartjr]

This is not somewhere that you want to cut corners as you can imagine. Another 10 hours of work is better than years of regret.

I'm not saying it's not possible to do the job in a weekend, but I doubt I could!

[Extra Ball]

This guy does a sweet job, and he doesnt stuff around.

[swampy76]

UPDATE:

Got well and truly stuck into it yesterday. The PF is out, the backbox is out and has been redecaled after a sand back and tidy up.

I spent about two hours removing the old cabinet art with the heat gun (a time consuming process).

Cabinet is back to the bare timber and is ready for sanding/prepping.

Photos:

[swampy76]

More photos:

[ajlaird]

Looking forward to the final result! Where did you source the decals?

[swampy76]

Looking forward to the final result! Where did you source the decals?

Decals are from IPB in the states. Good quality screen printed ones. And I believe they are the only company who have the official licence to reproduce them? Anyone want to correct me?

[Extra Ball]

very nice, looking fwd to seeing end result

[Caveoftreasures]

Looking forward to the final result! Where did you source the decals?

Decals are from IPB in the states. Good quality screen printed ones. And I believe they are the only company who have the official licence to reproduce them? Anyone want to correct me?

I bought a licence to reproduce them. I got mine from a kellogs corn flakes box as well. lol 

p.s- cabinet art looks good. keep the photos coming. 

[MrMaloo]

Looking like it's coming up nice swampy . Be great to see the final product . Amazing just how faded the sides were when you look at where the side rails used to be .

[swampy76]

UPDATE:

Well after a few hours in shed this evening we’ve smashed out a heap of progress. The new cab art is on!!!!

We sanded back the sides and repaired the timber where required. We also painted the inside of the cab sides in flat black (makes a huge difference doing these little ‘one percenters’. After that the new art went on. It was actually pretty easy to do (with two people). Took our time to avoid air bubbles. We then trimmed the sides and used a black marker to tidy up. We then cut the holes for the bolts and flipper buttons.

After that new side rails went in followed by new black glass trim. We finished up by reconnecting all of the PF wiring and then dropping the PF back in.

Check out the pics in the next post. Looks awesome!! A couple more hours of reassembly before I can admire the finished product. Thanks to Jules for the help.