A Joust restoration.. this is going to take a while

Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

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Mike A:

--- Quote ---but this part has a serial# stamped on it.. So.. I'll preserve it.
--- End quote ---
:applaud:

Thank you.

Arroyo:
I want to setup a tent in your shop and play. Excellent work.

bperkins01:
(thanks Arroyo - the shop is open... I bet you've always wanted a shot at a wood lathe.)

(rant on)
If anyone gets ONE takeaway from that last picture - it should be this:

Bondo is for filling surface defects - 1/8" or less. Epoxy is structural and strong. They make boats, ski's, airplanes and corvettes with epoxy..
No one makes anything structural out of Bondo!

Learn to use epoxy.
(rant off)

bperkins01:
My original plan was to just rebuild the control panel. After spending time drawing it in Sketchup and re-looking at the original and trying to keep the original panel since it had a factory date stamp on the inside... I'm going to repair it.

From my panel designs - I was able to create a DXF file that I send to an online laser cutter. The steel replacement panel that came back is nearly perfect! I have to tweak a couple of items and I can reproduce the steel plate at will for reasonable cost.

But what to do with the Swiss cheese I already had. I've seen some hacked up repairs to this style of panel - but came up with something that will be pretty nice.

The holes are all 1 3/16" - I see people trying to match the existing ones - which just means when you redrill for the buttons, you are compromising the plug you just made. Drill it oversize - here is a 1 1/2" Forstner bit creating a clean hole for the plug.

Then head out to your local hardware store and get a 1 1/2" dowel. Here it is with a stop block set to the thickness of the panel.

Clamp it down to some plastic and epoxy them in place. The joystick openings are supposed to be square. However the mounting plate and blind nuts make the round part not relevant. This will get sanded smooth and cleaned up.

The hard part is getting the adhesive off from the old overlay. I've gone through every solvent I have and the best I can do is get it kinda gummy.. Paint stripper and a putty knife have worked the best - I give it a "C-" But nothing else has worked.

Mike A:
Very nice. I like watching you save what you can of the original cab.

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