I love my tumbler (Mine is blue not red).  While I work on other things I can just throw parts into it and they “magically” become clean.  Some come out better than others but as you can see above its worth the effort.

Yes he did!!!  I was at a crossroads after damaging the playfield with the mylar removal; do I clearcoat the inserts in place and try to make it nice or do I get all ballsy and remove the inserts to make sure they are pefectly smooth?  On one hand I don’t want to make the playfield worse and on the other I want it to be as nice as it can be while at the same time testing and improving my restoration skills.  I swallowed my fear and removed 6 of the damaged inserts from the playfield.

The last time I removed inserts it tore some of the art from the playfield so I was a bit apprehensive.  I’m glad I decided to remove them in the end.  Next steps are testing how I want to clear this area.  I still have more testing to do with Minwax Polycrylic and Auto Lacquer before I make a final decision.

It was going great until I got to the top of the playfield.  The area of the playfield with the repair inserts, beckoning me to remove this horrible mylar that has obscured its view for years, would prove to be my downfall.

See the A insert, 4th from the left?  The screened ink lifted off the insert!  NO!  That’s the worst thing you can see when removing mylar.  That wasn’t where the horror stopped either, check out the rest of the damage:

Not the best mylar removal job I have done that’s for sure.  Now I say mylar but I don’t think this stuff really is mylar.  Its much thicker and not as hard.  Whatever the stuff is it was the devil spawn.  As things go with these types of projects  I have to move on, no more wasted thoughts on what could have been.  So how am I going to fix that?  It’s experimentation time!

Luckily the majority of the inserts with damage have no art on them so I believe I can make it look pretty nice with a bit of care and attention.  I know what I have to do first, I need to fix the A insert.  I took some thin CA glue and wicked it under the insert:

[ INSERT PICTURE HERE ]

As you can see it looks much better.  Not perfect but better.  The inserts in front of the time expander will need a bit more work.  I know I need to clearcoat it but with what?  In comes two products to the rescue:  Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss and Duplicolor Paint Shop Lacquer clear:

I ran out and bought a quart of Minwax Polycrylic last night and tried it out.  I have the satin version of this product and it is excellent for protecting wood, I typically use this stuff to coat the inside of a refinished video game cabinet to lock out any smells that might be there from being in an arcade for years.  The first step was to remove an insert from one of my parts playfields, in this case a Funhouse playfield.  (Note I won’t be removing the inserts from the Dr Who playfield to repair it, too much risk with my skill set).   I sanded it down with 320 grit and finally finished it up with 1200 grit sandpaper to make it nice and smooth.  Next I put it back in the playfield and with a pipette I put some of the Polycrylic on top of the insert:

The Polycrylic is applied with a pipette

It looks milky when wet and dries clear.  Here is what it looked like after drying:

It looks pretty nice and clear.  There is a bit of bubbling from the drying process that will hopefully sand out as seen here:

But it is nice and shiny!

I bought a quart of the Duplicolor Paint Shop Lacquer clear today at my local Advance Auto Parts.  I will do a similar test tonight and post the results.

Holy crap!  This is the dirtiest game I have ever shopped out.  My gallery pictures don’t reflect it yet but I have almost the entire top of the playfield stripped.  Once I have everything removed I will start removing the mylar.  It’s not one solid piece in places so I have quite a bit to remove.

I’ve gotten a decent amount of work done on Dr Who.  I am about done with the cabinet now, all that is left is to get the launch and start buttons wired up.  I have reinstalled the cabinet wiring, cleaned up the lockdown bar receiver, installed all boards and connected all of the cabinet wiring.    Its looking pretty nice!

Next up is the playfield, then its gametime!

My gallery is updated.

Wii
Zelda:  Twilight Princess
Metroid:  Other M (Picking this up @ the end of the month)
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
New Super Mario Bros Wii

Gamecube:
Metroid Prime 2:  Echoes
Metroid Prime 3:  Corruption
Super Mario Sunshine (Started have not finished)
Resident Evil 4
Paper Mario:  The Thousand Year Door
Legend of Zelda:  Windwaker (Started have not finished)

Xbox 360:
Halo:  Reach (Preordered)
Dead Rising (Started have not finished)
Perfect Dark Zero (Started have not finished)
Gears of War

PS3:
Uncharted:  Drake’s Fortune
Uncharted 2:  Among Thieves
God of War Collection
LittleBigPlanet
Final Fantasy XIII

PC:
Mass Effect 2
Bioshock
Fallout 3
Portal (Started have not finished)

Sega Saturn:
Panzer Dragoon Saga

Xbox:
Prince of Persia:  Sands of Time
Star Wars:  KOTOR (Started have not finished)

Nintendo 64:
Perfect Dark

• Reinforced Leg Brackets
• Start Button
• Launch Button

Other parts were cleaned up.  I can’t install the power box until my air stapler comes in which will hopefully be later today (ground braid must be installed first).  I have painted the head brackets that attach it to the lower cabinet.  Hopefully the cab itself will be completed by the end of this week, next up the playfield.

Pictures:

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=7599&g2_page=2

I’m waiting for my furniture stapler and then I can replace the ground braid in my cab.