Removing formica

[RacerX]

I have a Defender cabinet that over the years was converted to a couple of different games (Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Aurail), and the sides have light blue formica on them.  I figure this was put on to cover up the original side art.  I was considering removing the formica to see if by some miracle the original art is still there.  However, I am afraid that if the artwork is still there, I will destroy it when I remove the formica.  

Does anyone here know of a solvent that will remove the cement that is holding the formica in place but will not harm the paint underneath?  I know I'm asking for the extremely improbable here, but what the heck...  :-/

[Thomas Andrews]

The only way I know of removing formica is with a heat gun and prying up on it with a flat bar.
This will prob. ruin the artwork though.

[delta88]

actually the heat gun should work...but be carefull when removing like always...afterwards if ther is still paint over the old art use 3M's safewst stripper. I have used it to remove the top layer of paint off of my mspacman cab and can be seen on my site..addy at bottm....if some sticky gluse is left over the stripper may work but I use PPG wax&Grease remover.. it will not harm painted surfaces or plastics

[dhansen]

Here's what I did.

I got a putty knife under the edge and pryed up the formica.  Using a heat gun I kept working at it until it all came off.  I then took some Goof Off brand remover and applied it to the residue, this loosened it up quite well.  I then took some paint thinner and wiped the sides clean.  The colored parts were in pretty good shape but I repainted the black parts.  I first took some clear shelf paper and covered the colored part of the side art.  Then, I took an exacto knife and carefully cut around the artwork.  I then painted the sides with a high gloss oil based enamel paint, peeled off the contact paper and voila!  Looks as good as new (aside from a few scratches in the colored parts).

Your mileage may vary!  

http://www.doughansen.net/arcade/joust1.jpg
http://www.doughansen.net/arcade/joust2.jpg

BTW - I picked this up at an auction on death row for $40 ...suckers!

Doug

[matt]

Done more Laminate removal than I care to think about, save yourself some time (and lots of money) and get lacquer thinner, and work in a well ventilated area, use a paint scraper or putty knife & lift a edge and squirt it under with a squeeze bottle (like a glue bottle where you get the thinner) and let it work and dissolve the glue a little bit, keep in mind most contact adhesive uses neopreme rubber in it, and it gets tougher with age, so some time to dissolve it will help, it also gets a little brittle and may come off in small chips, but unless the glue was blue or green (possible water base, but not likely on a Defender cab, its older than the water base glues!) the solvent used will be lacquer thinner, they make a commercial contact adesive solvent from Columbia adhesive and from Wilsonart and others but most shops just use plain old lacquer thinner (cheaper) and so far we have never been able to tell much diffrenece in 16+ years! Take Care Matt

Does anyone here know of a solvent that will remove the cement that is holding the formica in place but will not harm the paint underneath?

[RacerX]

Thanks for the replies, guys!  Now if I can just psyche myself up for this...  

[delta88]

Does anyone here know of a solvent that will remove the cement that is holding the formica in place but will not harm the paint underneath?