Coin door restoration/wiring

[Ken Layton]

Found this nice tutorial and wanted to share:

http://www.arcaderestoration.com/index.asp?OPT=3&DATA=153&CBT=3


http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap2/coindoor.html

[Jdurg]

Nice links Ken.  I now wish that I had taken pictures of my coin door when I first got it.  It was in "workable" shape, but had definitely taken a lot of abuse.  Tonight I hope to get the final coat of paint on the door and then I'll be able to reassemble it.  I'll definitely take pictures of that process.  It feels pretty good when you take something that looked like crap and turn it into gold with a bit of hard work and some replacement parts.   

[BradC]

Thanks for the links. I'm going to be doing some coin door work on my cab this weekend.

[Jdurg]

The only problem I seem to have with my coin door is that the paint doesn't like sticking on the edges of the metal.  That's something that no matter what paint I use, I won't be able to solve.  (Hence why coin doors are probably powder coated instead).  However, the small little dings and whatnot in the paint job give it a used look which is pretty nice.  Once I get my coin meter in the mail and attach it to the door, it will be all set to go.  (I then just have to figure out how to attach the coin meter to the switches so that it will actually increment by 1 when a coin goes through).

[Jdurg]

This evening, as I was leaving work, a friend of mine had gotten some floor mats for his jeep and was mentioning how the mats just looked like plastic with Truck-Bed Liner sprayed on it.  When he said that, I suddenly realized that bed-liner paint exists and looks EXACTLY like the texture present on coin doors!  It's a shame that I've already painted my doors and frame and don't feel like re-painting everything, but if I had to do it again I'd do it with the truck bed liner material.  It's textured, it's VERY durable, and it sticks to metal like nothing else on earth.  It's also the right shade of black so it would look great on a coin door.  It's a real shame I didn't think of that stuff before I painted my door.

Anyway, I finished painting my coin door and let it cure in a 170 degree oven for a good twenty minutes to help solidify the paint.  Sadly, it still comes off quite easily on the corners and I don't think there's any paint on earth that won't work its way off of sharp corners.  Still, it looks damned good and when I finally reassembled everything it looked GREAT.  I'll take pictures soon and post them someplace here.  The only time I didn't take pictures was when I first got it, but other than that I have documented it all.  The door and mechs look and function great.  I really wish my cabinet was all done now.  I wish spring would hurry up and get here.   

[BradC]

This weekend I cleaned up my coin door a little bit. There were a couple of small rust spots on the face. I used some Bar Keeper's Friend, and the rust came right off.  It also removes the paint/powder-coating so if you use it, be sure to localize to the rusted area.

I then sprayed the door with this "chalkboard" paint I had in the garage. It doesn't really have a noticeable texture, but it did stick to the surface a bit. I did notice a couple of drip marks so I'm going to sand and re-spray but I think the combination works pretty well.

Chalkboard paint


Barkeeper's Friend