Robotron Cabaret

[opt2not]

Ok, play-tested the new grommits a bit today, and look what happened!



This is the best I've ever done in Robotron! Having new grommits really make a difference with the feel of the game. Oh man, this could get crazy -- I rolled over the waves a few times, till it reset the difficulty back to wave 1. I burned through about 20 lives when I gave up at the end, because it was just going on too long!

I'm lovin' this cabinet!!  Gotta stop myself from playing too much and not progressing on the rest of the restore.

[Spyridon]

Gotta stop myself from playing too much and not progressing on the rest of the restore.

Step away from the controls and unplug the game!  Any progress?

Don't let me finish mine before you!

[RayB]

You'll still be way ahead of mine, and I've had it going on 5 years!
I just let another summer AKA "outdoor paint stripping season" pass by. 

[opt2not]

Gotta stop myself from playing too much and not progressing on the rest of the restore.

Step away from the controls and unplug the game!  Any progress?

Don't let me finish mine before you!

Haha, I know, it's a trap!
But unfortunately I haven't started on the physical stuff yet because of our home renovations and other obligations. I haven't even had a chance to play it lately.
But I'm hoping to get everything done by the end of this month, so I can start in December sometime. So it looks like you'll probably finish yours before me.  

[Spyridon]

But I'm hoping to get everything done by the end of this month, so I can start in December sometime. So it looks like you'll probably finish yours before me.  

 

[opt2not]

You got me bro...haven't done much on this other than some cleaning.
Still planning on restoring this baby this year though.

It's sitting next to my New Astro City cabinet now, and in comparison to the clean white cabinet, Robotron is lookin' even more tattered.

I'm going down to the states this month, so I'm probably going to order stuff from there since the Canada Post strike is making things really difficult to get anything delivered.
I promise to make an update to this soon.

[kampcool]

Dang,   Called out and everything infront of God and everybody.   I feel you OPT2, hang in there, time sux...  Too many projects, so little time.  That full time work gig (paying the bills) keeps getting in my way....    

[mytymaus007]

  dude are you restoring or what i wanna see how your wood is going to come out all bondoed and painted. What plans do you have for paint kind brand etc steps ahead anything.

[opt2not]

It’s been a minute since I’ve been back to this forum. I don’t come by here much anymore, and these days mostly deal with Japanese cabs more than Woodies. But I figured I should put some closure on this thread and project that’s been on my task list for a while. I also had referenced my own info here to get up to speed on what I had done to this cab previously.

10 days ago I wanted to fix-up the Control Panel and replace the CPO with a repro I bought a bunch of years ago. I also wanted to fix the wood chipping on the base of the front too. It was supposed to be a quick project just to refresh and fix the major things that were annoying me while playing over the years.
One thing led to another and I ended up doing the full restore... lol

So for the control panel, the first step was to remove the old CPO. Using a heat gun, I loosened up the adhesive under the overlay and slowly peeled it off the wood:


Cleaned off the remaining adhesive with Goo Gone:



Applied this new reproduction CPO I've had in my stash for years. Beautiful repro, spot on recreation of the original. It has an adhesive back as well just like the original:


Comparison of the old and new:


Cleaned up the joystick rust, and washed all the plastic parts.
Threw the shafts in the drill chuck, gave it some wd-40 and used some sandpaper to clean it up. Then polished the shaft and balltops with automotive polish:


Warm soap water and scrubbed the rest of the control parts.


I also installed KLOV member jlpmauldin's new Low Force silicone grommets for Wico's joysticks.
My original grommets (left) were still in good shape, but I heard good things about these low force grommets that I had to see for myself.


All reassembled, looking GORGEOUS. I plan on using whammoed's LightMites to get the blue Start buttons lit-up better than the original bayonet bulbs under the panel.

[opt2not]

Now for the cabinet. This is Part 1, consisting fixing and restoring all the black painted areas. I gutted the cab, and applied Citrus Strip to the black paint.


Cleaned it off, hit it with some 80 grit sandpaper to remove the rest.


Bondo'd the damage at the base, and the corners too. After shaping the corners, I routed out the slot for the t-molding.


After wiping it all down I covered the sides and coin door holes, it was time for primer:


After a second coat of primer I started with the first coat of Rustoleum Semi Gloss Black (rattle can).


I didn't notice a little divot at the bottom of the base. Oh well, I'm not gonna stress over it. It's small and low enough to not really notice. We'll call that "reinstating the patina"


After a Second and Third coat of paint, I'm happy with the results!


Brought it back into garage to allow the paint to cure/harden for at least 24 hours.


The base is now fixed, after so many years of owning this cab. I'm so happy! lol


Oh yeah, and the coin and cashbox door bolts got a refresh too.


That's it for Part 1.

[opt2not]

Part 2, the sides.

Here's a better look at all the damage for each side.
Side A:



Side B:



Lots of scratches and gouges. some chipping on the edges, base and corners.

I'm opting to touch-up the original art, rather than completely stripping and redoing it. mainly to save time/money, but mostly because I like that classic Williams "overspray" look. I don't think I could reproduce that.

I took a day and went around to various shops to look for matching paint.

After a few trips, and many swatches later, I was able to land on paints for the red and blue.

From Home Depot, the Behr brand - Fire Cracker PPU2-16 - is a spot-on match to the reds of my cab.
For the Blue , from Sherwin-Williams - Blue Plate SW 6796 - is very close, almost exact and should blend in well.


For the grey I picked up Rustoleum - Metallic Aluminum, as per KLOV member Phetishboy's recommendation, which is very close to the grey on my cab. I tried a test spray in the bottom corner and it looks pretty good. It is a bit more shiny than the original, but I think I can make this work.


After doing some tests in small areas, I'm happy with the match.
Before and After comparisons:



I then did all the touchups on the art, let it dry, then got it ready for masking.

[opt2not]

There was a couple rainy days that delayed me a bit from painting the Metallic paint, but I managed to go around the cab and bondo/fill and shape the broken corners.


Side B needed a lot more damage repair work than Side A. The base was all chipped up, so it required a bit more filling and sanding.


I masked off all the art, and covered the front and back. This took a long time to do, but I was patient and took my sweet time. Did the sanding to rough up the surface too.


Also, I ended up using a heat gun and removed the TM sticker very carefully. I will put it back on when the cabinet paint has fully cured.
The R is on a blue dot, so that will just be masked off. But the TM has the grey behind it so it needed to be carefully removed.


After hitting it with 3 coats of Metallic paint, I removed the masked tape on the artwork, and this is the result!




I gotta say, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!
The dents are still there from some of the deeper gouges, but I don't mind it, it's that reinstating patina ploy, and gives the cab some character. But I really love the sheen. 


I'm glad I made this decision to retain the original artwork. I like how I was able to retain the look of the original, but cleaned it up a bit in some places. It still has a bit of that classic Williams overspray, but everything looks much more vibrant now.

[opt2not]

One of the things that really annoys me during gameplay is the light leak from behind the top of the monitor bezel where the game instructions are:


The light from under the bezel bleeds/leaks out onto the monitor causing glare at the top.
To combat this, my quick and dirty solution is to cut a light blocker out of cardboard or something to stop the light from creeping out onto the monitor.

I ended up cutting-up posterboard into a rectangle, cut out some slits and fold the flap up.


The blocker slides into the groove, on top of the monitor mounting board. then just push it in and let the flap naturally fold back up.


I had to adjust the flap height a couple times but I was able to find a good height/angle it stands at.

Speaking of lighting, I picked up some of these bayonet LED lamps.
The Coin Reject button, marquee and the top of the monitor bezel all use #44/47 incandescent lamps, which can run pretty hot and not last as long.
I didn't know about them before since I don't own any pinball machines. But you can feed these 6.3v AC or DC. huh. I'll keep the old incandescent bulbs in my stash for now. We'll see if I like these LEDs.


Anyway, I start putting everything back together, and installing the t-molding. I went with the original black leathered t-molding:


This part is my favorite, it's always so satisfying to put it on at the end and really makes the cabinet come together.👌

Here it is all assembled, plastics all buffed and shined, t-molding added, LED bulbs installed.


Sharp edges and corners, vibrant, clean, plus vastly reduced damage. Still a bit battle worn, with some covered-up patina but a greatly better condition now.

Here's the light blocker working. No light leaks!


The phone camera is capturing more of the blue light here in the Start buttons, I was able to get a good angle, but in person they're not this bright. This is with the LEDs as well.


The cab is at 98% complete now. I still got a few things left to do, but it's at a point where I can bring it into the house, and those last tasks can be done inside.
Mainly getting the wiring ready for the LightMites, and organize some wire management inside the cab. But I'm stoked this project is coming to a close. I started this resto 10 days ago, and I'm glad at how smooth it went. Break-neck speed.
Thankfully, it was only the cosmetics, otherwise this would have taken a lot longer if I had to repair the hardware. I've been running this game ever since I got it running way back when, and now having a fresh looking cab, I can enjoy this rare cab for many years to come.

[jasonbar]