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

Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

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Arroyo:
Well done Bobby. There seems to be a majority consensus that arcade manufactures really screwed up by not putting more emphasis on the leg levelers to prevent cabs from ever touching the ground. I know there are purists that would disagree, but that’s one place I would certainly call an upgrade from the original.

bperkins01:
Thanks guys - it someone ever wants to put this on the ground - they can pull the levelers out..
But while I own it..... no ruining the cabinet dammit!

bperkins01:

I've showed this little trick in other posts, but it's worth repeating. The rear edge of the plywood is banged up from 38 years of existence (brown patches at rear edge). Many would leave it and the rest would use Bondo to fill in the voids. I'll use Bondo under very limited circumstances - and this isn't one of them. Bondo has no strength and this area will get hit again or it will flake off. It is not an adhesive.

That said - I have a piece of wood which has packing tape on it (clear in this case) clamped flush and tight to the rear edge. Epoxy will not stick to packing tape and it leaves a smooth surface.

Next I skimmed in 2-part epoxy thickened with wood flour (very fine saw dust). All of the low areas get filled in with glue that is stronger that the wood. Once it cures, pop off the form and finish sand. Its a good way to clean up dinged edges.

Reached a milestone today - cabinet got its first coat of paint. Here is the Kobalt HVLP spray guy I use. I picked it up at Lowes years ago and it does a decent job.

I used Rustoleum satin black oil-based paint reduced with a little mineral spirits. The back doors got painted and my temporary spray booth is set up near the front of the shop. HVLP is nice because there is very little over-spray.

Before...

And after... Its still wet here. The satin black tones down once it dries. The coin door panel needs a sand and second coat of paint to finish it off.

The top is made of MDF and has that pebble texture from years of humidity and absorption. I'm not crazy about how it painted up. There is a little too much texture for my liking. I'm considering re-sanding, sealing and repainting. A wood hardener/epoxy sealer will firm up the MDF so it will provide a more uniform surface. Having to spray another coat of black makes this an easy decision. Using the spray gun takes a little practice - but cleaning it is a real pain. If I'm going to spray more black - I'll maximize the effort and get the top a bit nicer. Even though you will almost never see it.. I'll post some before and afters on the top once its done.

The sides will get a coat of primer, sanded and then a color coat of "Joust Brown".

Stay tuned..

Arroyo:
Nice write up, very informative. Curious how the HVLP helps prevent overspray? I figured that had to do with how good of a taping job one did.

bperkins01:

--- Quote from: Arroyo on July 12, 2020, 11:38:35 am ---Nice write up, very informative. Curious how the HVLP helps prevent overspray? I figured that had to do with how good of a taping job one did.

--- End quote ---
It doesn't really "prevent" as much as it doesn't create a cloud like high pressure guns. I don't know all of the science behind it..
It somehow creates a high 'volume' of air under low pressure which atomizes the paint vs. using high pressure air to atomize it (which creates the cloud)

The pressure at the gun is ~29 psi.. it shoots the paint slower is the best way to describe it..
There is a lot of art to spraying and I'm a C+ spray painter at best.. getting the air, paint, pressure, viscosity all right is not that easy.. The guys who do it all the time have a good feel for it. When you need a color that's not in a can - then it can't be beat. Black is obviously in a can.. But Joust Brown isn't... So this is a bit of practice ;)

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