Rehabbing my first cabinet. Need some advice on routes to take.

[aldub516]

im not sure if this belongs in the woodworking forum, as ill be looking for general advice on things here... feel free to move

Ill keep the intro short. Im rehabbing my first cabinet ever.. I just uploaded pics and the backstory about it here to please reference this first: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,145750.0.html

At this point, i have removed my CP, and stripped the whole cabinet down. Basically, just the sides are reusable, BUT im lucky enough to have the other pieces to copy and cut new pieces from. My first move is to copy those damaged parts,and rebuild the cabinet to get it to its original state. Remove old bolts, screws, etc. Now, ill provide lots of pics. You will be able to see all the damage. Mainly all the edges and corners. I dont know what cabinet this is so feel free to throw out ideas from the link above. Judging from the pics im about to post, id like some advice on the bigger defects on it. I know it looks horrible, but with some diamond plate sheets placed right and aluminum L angles for the edges painted, a lot can be very successfully covered with never knowing its crap under. But id still like to rehab it as much as i can. I am doing tons of research on wood fillers, sanding techniques. As skilled as I am with woodwork, i heavily lack in "finishing" skills like sanding and painting. But with that, id like some or any advice or input anyone may have. My first move so far was to use the tablesaw, and i straight up cut off about a 1/4 inch of the back of the arcades side pieces. This did a few things. One, it gave me a clean edge to route for molding. As you can see theres 10000 lbs of orange paint saturating every crack.. Also at the top and bottom corners it took away from some of the repair needed for some of those giant chunks missing. Im thinking about just basically shaving off like 1/4 inch wherever i can while retaining all the brackets and stuff in place. Im fortunate in that the way they built it, a lot of the pieces was recessed with lips at edges.. I can shave that 1/4 off of a lot of the edges, keep the brackets and all that in place, and still add new plywood which would just leave the edges flush. Im trying to do this using as much of the already done work as possible. Ill do research on my own, but for some of these massive wood defects, what kind of techniques ,or links can you direct me to with some good help on fixing those big breaks. Again, I still have about an inch on certain edges that will but aluminum Corner angles painted, so it will be a lot of covering. whats your first over all thoughts on my build? and any idea on the original cabinet based on that top link? It had a centuri coin door in it if it helps.































































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[aldub516]

Even more than the giant cracks holes, one thing ive had little success with is wood filling those little chips and small defects that run along edges of wood, right next to where the tmolding would go.. Meaning, take any routed edge of your cabinet with tmolding in it.. the wood that falls right under the edge of the tmolding has imperfections from the edge being cut in the first place. Its so little, but the fact that it runs along all cut edges, what if any method would u have to get this done in under a millenium. I was thinking just some type of putty/filler and a spatula, just scraping filler along the edges in excess.. let it dry and sand down. Just seems like a lot to get uniform. Am i just being anal considering most retail arcades probably have this?

[yotsuya]

Here's what it probably was, if that helps...

[aldub516]

It actually does help! Thank you

[mgb]

Bondo is your friend. you can use it to fill large holes and gouges.

for the busted corners, what I have done is just make a new corner from some particle board (use existing corning as a guide) and then cut out the old corner and join the new piece by using a biscuit joiner. I'd then gouge it up a bit where the two meet and then bondo it.

If you find yourself using a lot of filler, you may want to consider laminating the cab after all of it. you will then have perfect smooth sides and your filler doesn't have to be so perfect.

[behrmr]

Even more than the giant cracks holes, one thing ive had little success with is wood filling those little chips and small defects that run along edges of wood, right next to where the tmolding would go.. Meaning, take any routed edge of your cabinet with tmolding in it.. the wood that falls right under the edge of the tmolding has imperfections from the edge being cut in the first place. Its so little, but the fact that it runs along all cut edges, what if any method would u have to get this done in under a millenium. I was thinking just some type of putty/filler and a spatula, just scraping filler along the edges in excess.. let it dry and sand down. Just seems like a lot to get uniform. Am i just being anal considering most retail arcades probably have this?

Brush on a couple of coats of Wood Hardener on all of your edges and let it dry.  Then you can sand and fill if needed.  A lot of folks butter up the entire edge including the t-molding groove with bondo and sand to get a perfect edge.  Then re-route a t-molding slot and prime and paint a similar color as your finished cabinet.

On particle board based cabinets I am brushing wood hardener on every exposed surface to stop the flaking.  Just be careful with it because it's like superglue and it will run and get on other parts.
 

[mgb]

Agreed on the wood hardner. That stuff works well and easily available at places like Home Depot

[aldub516]

great suggestions and i think that wood hardener makes a lot of sense.. i shall give that a try

[eds1275]

Looks to be less work to use the side as a template and just cut a new machine!

[aldub516]

That is both right and wrong.. This machine is for my use and since I'm not making it for someone /getting paid, it's kind of on a budget. Not to be confused with going cheap,  but I  wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the minimal work and such. While yes I could just recut the sides for like 40 bucks,  that still requires buying and transporting wood, tracing cutting, cleanings/finishing.  And I still have to transfer over all the brackets, hinges and already cut bracings which is more measuring and trial and error. By keeping the sides I can literally trace the smaller inside pieces, clean up the sides and have this back together in a day.  Also by trimming edges by 1/4" or so I am actually already giving myself new edges as well as taking away from the destroyed corners

As for the wood Hardner, is it easy to sand and smooth as well? Also would you suggest filling in the tmold slots before hardening, or would the hardener fill them up by itself. Also, since I'm
Sure it will be covering the tmold slot edge as well as the edges around/under it, I just give it a nice sand to get nice edges? What would be the exact order you would follow to get those edges cleaned up and ready for new tmolding

[aldub516]

I would love to laminate the sides but I see that going 100 ways of wrong, but I'll research laminated sides and methods as an option