Gorf restoration

[Spyridon]

For any Midway coin door - Rustoleum textured black.

Thanks.  I'll check that out.

[SirPeale]

What paint has everyone used on their coin doors?  I used the Rustoleum hammered black, but after looking at the back side that I painted it seems to be too glossy.  Also, the hammered look adds some texture, but it isn't the same kind as the original.  Maybe a dull coat on top will help?

For any Midway coin door - Rustoleum textured black.

Unless it should be grey or brown. 

Only if you're going for 100% authenticity.  Then I *suppose* you could put a light coat of another color on top of the textured.

[Spyridon]

What paint has everyone used on their coin doors?  I used the Rustoleum hammered black, but after looking at the back side that I painted it seems to be too glossy.  Also, the hammered look adds some texture, but it isn't the same kind as the original.  Maybe a dull coat on top will help?

For any Midway coin door - Rustoleum textured black.

Unless it should be grey or brown. 

Only if you're going for 100% authenticity.  Then I *suppose* you could put a light coat of another color on top of the textured.

Pay no attention to Level42.  His coin doors don't even say $.25   

[Encryptor]

Nice work so far. If you want to get a new centering grommet for your joystick you can get one from divemaster. The one from the Happ Heavy Duty 8-Way Trigger Joystick fits the Midway Tron/Xenephobe/Gorf type sticks. I think it was like $17 when I ordered one to see if it would fit my Tron stick. It bolts right in. Part # 96-4550-01

I had my Coin door sand blasted and powder coated with what was called wrinkle finish but it doesn't look like wrinkles. Just a rough texture. While not 100% authentic I think it looks nice. I'll post a pic if anyone wants to see it.


Encryptor

[WunderCade]

For any Midway coin door - Rustoleum textured black.

At my local Home Depot they have "textured" and they have "hammered" finishes in the Rustoleum product line. The finishes are duplicated on the lid of the spray can for reference.

I just sandblasted my Ms. Pac coin door and the Rustoleum Hammered Finish looks closer to the original than the Rustoleum Textured finish did.

Did you check out the Hammered finish Peale?

[SirPeale]

Did you check out the Hammered finish Peale?

Yes, which is why I suggested textured.  To each their own.

[Spyridon]

Did you check out the Hammered finish Peale?

Yes, which is why I suggested textured.  To each their own.

The hammered finish doesn't look correct.  I think the textured, while still not exact, looks better.  I painted the front with the textured and will post pictures later.

[Spyridon]

Cleaned up the coin entry plates.  I used a dremmel with a wire brush attachement to remove the rust.

Front before and after:

Back before and after:


After the dremmel work, I polished them with some Brasso cleaner.


I also used the dremmel on the bolts that hold these onto the coin door

Before and after:

[Spyridon]

Continuing on with the coin door today. 

I ended up switching to the textured rustoleum paint.  The hammered was too glossy.  I didn't redo the back side since it was good enough for the inside of the cab.  I did paint the front with the textured paint.  Again, not exact to the original, but it looks pretty good.



A few days later once everything was dry, it was time to start reassembling the parts.
I didn't spend too much time on the interior parts.  Most of it was cleaned off with a wet paper towel.  The coin shutes were scrubbed with water and dish detergent to get some of the heavy dirt off.

Before and after (not a big change but still cleaner)


I picked up replacement $.25 inserts from thisoldgame.com.  Much improved over the old ones


I used a picture of the coin door before I removed everything to make sure I put it back together correctly



The lock was purchased from Bob Roberts


You can see how shiny the hammered paint looks

[Spyridon]

One piece that was missing from the coin door was the vibration leaf switch.  I wasn't going to worry about it, but I remembered that I had one on a spare coin door that I picked up on eBay.  I pulled it from that coin door and installed it.




The only thing left on the back side is to connect the vibration switch.  I'll do that later when I have the soldering iron out.

[Spyridon]

Now the exciting part (never thought I'd get this excited about a coin door...but wait until you see it)

I put on the new Midway manufacture plate on.  This is the one from Arcadeshop

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. 

Before and After


More After shots






I'm really pleased with the way this turned out.  Time to take a break and have a cold one!   

[Level42]

Excellent job !

I do miss the logo plate rivets though....

[JeepMonkey]

Great work on the coin door.   

[Spyridon]

Excellent job !

I do miss the logo plate rivets though....

Yeah, I agree.  When Rich gets his plates done, I'll replace this and add them.

[arcadefever]

 

[SirPeale]

But where do you get the rivets?  The ones used aren't actually rivets, they're snaps.

[Spyridon]

But where do you get the rivets?  The ones used aren't actually rivets, they're snaps.

I haven't looked yet, but I know people in the nuts and bolts industry.  I'm sure I can find something close.  When (if) I do, I can probably place orders for anyone who wants some.

[Level42]

Wasn't Rich planning on including something ? I don't remember it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long ago....



 

[csa3d]

I emailed a bunch of rivet distributors and didn't have much success finding a good rivet match.  I've also emailed Rich a total of about 3 times about that Midway plate that he keeps teasing us all with.. I hope it comes out soon too.  I'm to the point where it's time to give in too and get the yucky one.

-csa

[Encryptor]

I thought I would post this anyway. The door and frame were powder coated with black wrinkle finish and the coin shoots were done in what they called chrome but it's much more like silver.

The Midway plate was taken off and had several spots where the black paint was worn off so I masked off one area at a time and sprayed them with new black paint. It didn't come out perfect but it looks much better than it did. The rivets are fake. They are some kind of little craft rivet that you split after putting them through. But they look decent.

It has a new lock, the 25 cent plexi pieces are original just cleaned up nice and the coin return plungers are original just cleaned up.

While not looking 100% original I think it looks good.


Encryptor

[JeepMonkey]

The first thing I did was to use a dremel to put a nice shine to the carrige bolts.

What did you use with the dremmel?  Wire wheel, polishing wheel?

[Level42]

I emailed a bunch of rivet distributors and didn't have much success finding a good rivet match.  I've also emailed Rich a total of about 3 times about that Midway plate that he keeps teasing us all with.. I hope it comes out soon too.  I'm to the point where it's time to give in too and get the yucky one.

-csa

I have a feeling he has a secret deal with Arcadeshop to wait until AS sells out all the "bad" one's........

[Spyridon]

[What did you use with the dremmel?  Wire wheel, polishing wheel?

I used a wire wheel from a 20 piece dremel polishing kit.  Similar to this one:

[Spyridon]

Okay, back from vacation and back on the project.  Today I taped off some areas of the cab in preparation for painting. 

On the front interior is some art on each side that is in pretty good shape.  Even if it wasn't, I don't believe a reproduction is available.  I masked off each side with blue painters tape and newspaper.

Left side:

Right side:


I also maked off the coin door:


And the bottm side of the back:


And the upper back part (bubble area):


My goal is to put the first coat of primer on tomorrow.

[Spyridon]

I picked up the paint today as well as the HVLP spray gun.

I was planning to get an oil based paint, but they weren't able to match my colors in oil, so I went with latex.  First attempt at spraying the primer did not go well.  The instructions with the spray gun are pretty much useless.  I only got splatters of paint to come out of the gun.  I was testing on some card board so I didn't mess up the cab.  I need to do some research on the gun to figure out what I'm doing wrong.  It may be that the paint is too thick but I'm not sure.

[Donkey_Kong]

Try thinning it down. I've heard latex is harder to spray and wider tips are good.

[WunderCade]

I just used a very similar HVLP gun. This is important: Get a big can of lacquer thinner to keep your gun and its nozzle and pathways clean.

Before getting to the paint, prep your gun by putting about 2 oz. of lacquer thinner in the hopper and spray it all through into a cloth you are holding in your other hand, use the cloth to clean the nozzle's outside etc. Also, if you've used the gun already, disassemble and use the thinner to clean all the parts and put it back together, then spray the thinner through it.

After that, the key is thinning the paint with clean water (bottled) until it is the consistency of heavy cream, it'll be quite runny (almost watery) and that is what you want. Again, getting the paint thin enough is key to eliminating your problem.

Make sure you have at least a 15-20 gal compressor or you'll have a lot of down time waiting for the compressor to catch up.

Now, load your thinned paint into the hopper and test/adjust the "fan width" (using some scrap) to about a 10-12 inch span. The fan width should be top to bottom, not side to side. Make sure to also practice your painting stroke from side to side. You want to start the spray stream just before you make contact with the cab spraying uniformly from side to side. Keep the spray gun about 8 inches away from the surface. Each pass back and forth should be like mowing your lawn....as you move along, make sure the next pass crosses by half, the pass before it to get proper blending. Don't worry about "lite spots" as you will want to apply at least 2-3 coats. Make sure each coat goes on criss-crossing the direction you went on the prior coat. So, if you went from top to bottom on the cab the first time; on the next coat go from side to side.

Do a light sand (I used 220 grit) in between coats for a great sheen.

This is very important. After each coat, CLEAN your gun and it's parts with the lacquer thinner and repeat the process from the beginning, spraying a bit of lacquer thinner through the gun before loading the hopper with the next batch of thinned paint.

Also, as your painting, keep a wet cloth in your non-painting hand and frequently wipe the nozzle tip between passes as you paint. This prevents dried debris on the tip from flying onto your paint job.

For painting I placed the cab on its side spanning a couple saw-horses with towels on them. This allows easier painting and it eliminates runs. You may get some pooling if you linger in one area too long so make sure you keep your strokes consistent and moving.

Hope this info. helps.

[Spyridon]

Great information WunderCade.  I'll try out your advice and post the results.

[WunderCade]

Great information WunderCade.  I'll try out your advice and post the results.

One more thing, and I always assume people do this....but just the same....always wear eye protections, gloves, and a respirator when spraying/handling thinner and paint. Your spray gun will atomize those liquids into a fine mist that will get into your lungs, nose, mouth, pores and eyes if you don't wear the proper protection.

Also keep other people away from the area that don't have the protection equipment on. Especially kids that wanna see what you're up to. Make sure they are not breathing this stuff in.

[ChadTower]

That's a fantastic project.  Great work.  I love it.

Good post from WunderCade on the HVLP sprayer tips, too.

[shred5]

Anything new? i like the way you are documenting every little thing you are doing and taking pics... Even though my gorf is in excellent shape this makes me want to restore it even further..


Dave

[Spyridon]

Anything new? i like the way you are documenting every little thing you are doing and taking pics... Even though my gorf is in excellent shape this makes me want to restore it even further..


Dave

Not yet.  I don't get too much time to work on this.  I should be able to paint this weekend, so stay tuned.

[JeepMonkey]

Spyridon - I used your wire wheel method on some old bolts I that needed to be cleaned up.  It works pretty well, but I am going to try to get by Fastenall to see if they have these small carrige bolts new.

[Spyridon]

After some trial and error with thinning the paint, I finally got the spray gun working.

First I finished masking off the areas I didn't want painted


Here is the base primer that I used

Based on WunderCade's advice above, I also picked up some laquer thinner.


Here's some shots of the first coat of primer.  When it dries, I'm going to hit it with some sandpaper and then apply another coat.




When I was done spraying, I cleaned up the gun with water and they sprayed some of the laquer thinner through it for a final cleanning.

I'll get a better idea on how it turned out when it dries, but it seems to have worked out pretty good.  I should get enough practice on the primer coats before I get to the final colors.

[Spyridon]

Spyridon - I used your wire wheel method on some old bolts I that needed to be cleaned up.  It works pretty well, but I am going to try to get by Fastenall to see if they have these small carrige bolts new.

I've had pretty good success with the wheel.  I do have some that aren't perfect however.  If you can get new ones, then go for it.  Should add a nice shiny touch.

[WunderCade]

Coming along nicely...

You'll never go back to brushes. 

When you get to the latex paint, make sure to let it dry completely before sanding or else the paint will "gum up" on the sandpaper and ruin your day.

[Spyridon]

You'll never go back to brushes. 

Yeah, I will agree with that.  The process is so quick with the gun compared to using brushes.  Plus a much better finish.

[JeepMonkey]

The primer looks great.

How much did you dilute the primer with the laquer thinner?  One part thinner to how many parts paint?

[WunderCade]

I think that primer is water based, like the paint. Which means you dilute it with water. The lacquer thinner is for clean up only.

[Spyridon]

The primer looks great.

How much did you dilute the primer with the laquer thinner?  One part thinner to how many parts paint?

WunderCade is correct, the laquer thinner was for clean up only.  I'm not sure of the mix ratio, but it was probably around 2-3 parts paint to 1 part water.  The first time with the water, it was still a little too thick, so I added more.  It was much more liquid than I would have expected to get a good coat, but it worked well.  Plus your paint goes farther