Make a used Coin Door shine!

[RayB]

Hi. The purpose of this post is to point out that you don't need to spend a ton of money on a brand new coin door in order to have a nice new looking coin door.

My cab is a used one from the early 80's. The coin door is your standard single door style (same as used by Midway). There are two metal coin slots and two round style push-in coin reject buttons.

The door looked pretty good, but had knicks all over (with rust in the knicks of course). The metal coin slots and reject buttons looked pretty ugly, since they were all tarnished. And then there were stains and gunk here and there.

So, first thing I did was take it all apart. There isn't that much to a coin door, so remembering what is what shouldn't be too big of a problem.

Step 2, wash everything that's obviously dirty, with a wet cloth. I of course put more emphasis on parts that end up being visible. The two plastic inserts that say "25c" looked brand new after the dirt and gunk was washed off.

Step 3: Having cleaned off the dirt, it was already looking much better. Next was the the knicks and rust. This door in particular wasn't that bad, so it didn't merit a complete re-painting, but that certainly is an option for making a coin door look new. What I did do was paint the knicks and rust spots with a small brush and satin black paint. While the paint isn't a perfect match, it's barely noticeable.

Step 4: Last step I took made the biggest difference. We all like shiny things, and the metal on these old doors get really tarnished. I've recently discovered the joys of wheel rim polish. I used them on some aluminum Atari volcano buttons, to great effect. So I pulled it out for this. I used them on the coin inserts and on the coin return buttons. They now SHINE! Makes the whole door look near-brand new.


I'd post pics but I don't have "before" shots, and photos can't do justice.  

~Ray B.

[Bgnome]

i would kinda like to see a pic anyway

[SirPeale]

http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/newmame/coindoor/

[NIVO]

well if this helps what Ray and Peale are trying to show, i'll also post, although i dont have a before pic either. Mine was media-blasted then primed and painted. Turned out great imho.  

[Xiaou2]

 If you do not remove all the rust before you paint... I think the paint will end up chipping/falling off.

 They make these plastic strippers - simular to wire wheels, but a lot nicer to use.. and they last longer.   I highly recomend them for rust removal.

 Some metal buffing stuff:

  Not sure if you need this before painting.. but for a nice shiny smooth finish... buffing wheel is needed.   Theres a few types youll need.  Theres cutting type, and a soft polish type.   You need to use the cutting type fisrt - as it gets the deep scratches out, and makes a nice smooth shiny surface.  However... you will also need the buffer polishing sticks with these.   While the wheel is spinning, you place the crayon like stick up to the wheel - and it gets the polish saturated into the fabric.   Youll be able to buff with it for several minutes untill youll need more polish again.

 Once you finish the cutting buff... then you want to fine buff it with the softer wheel.   This will only lightly 'mirror' the surface.. rather than cutting deeper layers off.

  Ive been using these for refurbishing pinball machines latly.  Making dull parts look like they are mirrors.  Very awesome stuff.

[Mameotron]

Wow, great tips for making metal parts shiny!!  I've got some stuff I'd like to polish up around the house.

If you want the paint to stick to the metal you need to rough up the surface a bit.  I use a dual action sander to get a shiny, but rough surface prior to painting.

[RayB]

The main point I was trying to make is that dull tarnished steel (aluminum?) can be polished up and look shiny new.