I like the work you TwistedPin folk do, but the machine is already costing me some money, a little here and a little there -- it all adds up. Not that I wasn't aware going into it, but the price of a stencil is a bit steep for me....a little bit. Unless you want to trade advertising banners or something to lower the prices. I am an artist, but not a painter or stencil maker -- at least not yet.

Let me know. Thanks!

I have designed all of my own stencil sets for the classics Bally & Gottlieb 70's era machines. Most of them are TOP titles. My art is damn close to PERFECT unlike a lot of other stencils out on the market. Mine art has perfectly smooth curves and vector done correctly. All are saved as FULL SCALE vector files and can be cut on a plotter. I'm a CPR artist with over 30 years of vector art experience and a graphic designer. If anyone ever wants me to cut them a set, they can always get ahold of me.

I made my own when I repainted my CC Hollywood.

I first used some tracing paper I had laying around to copy the image. Then placed it over top some manila paper and cut the images out using a Olfa rotary cutter (http://www.olfa.com/splash.aspx).

Each stencil was then attached to the cabinet using some 3M Spray Mount Adhesive (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Super-77/Super77/SprayAdhesive/Product-Information?PC_Z7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE204A00000000_univid=1114284886905).

Worked out fine and it did produce the over spray pattern as well.

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I made a set for a Six Million Dollar Man, took ages but used then 3 times now

image.jpg

I've painted a number of cabinets mostly with stencils I have made. I've gotten better over the years. Recently, I did a Flipper Cowboy with stencils I purchased. I will NEVER buy another set of stick on stencils again. They don't allow you to have that tapered kind of fuzzy edge ...especially important on Gottliebs. Stick on stencils are very difficult to use (for me anyway) as well. I trace the design using tracing paper, then attach the traced paper on top of oil board that is the actual stencil. I then put carbon paper in the middle and retrace the design. I do this for all colors. Oil board is expensive, but it's much better than poster board that I've seen discussed. Cut out the stencil and compare it to the original cabinet if I have it.

Here are some photos of a TKO I did for a friend.

http://s710.photobucket.com/user/pinballdave/library/TKO/In%20progress%20Painting

There are a lot of stencils available on the web but some of the artwork on them in not very clean and some colors do not have traps and bleeds like the factory stencils did. This can become a pain in the ass to go back in with a brush and manually touch up everything. I have been doing Museum quality restorations for clients all over the country for the past decade and have always re-created all of my own artwork coming from a 30 year career as a hi-end designer. My stencils are NEW to the market and are the BEST artwork available. Go see my new site for all the info. Jeff

http://pinballpimpstencils.com

I made mine with 3/8 MDF , first traced it with tracing paper , placed tracing paper on the MDF then made reference holes with small drill bite , used ruler to join holes , for curves I used my metal ruler on its side ( with the help of someone bending to right curve then double checking pencil mark with over laying tracing paper stencil ) then you can give he stencils to a friend that has the same machine.20140617_162234.jpg

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Jeff, if I have a rare title like Andromeda that I need stencils for, can I create the art and color separations and send them to you? I know that pics don't work well, due to parallax. So, what are the steps involved in creating the correct artwork, if I want to do it right? Scan, vectorize, separate? Using Illustrator, or is there a free program that works?

Thanks - John.

Yes, I realize this is an old thread. But as I argued in another Pinside thread -- why not keep like stuff in the same thread? Why not refresh the thread rather than having twenty threads scattered all over dealing with the same thing? Yes, I understand how Google Searches work.

Anywho,

I finally came up with stencils that I am happy with. These are for Gottlieb Totem, and they are solid, will be reusable, will allow for the overspray (if you wish to do it like it was done in the factory) and here they are -- one for each color for the sides and one for each color for the front. The purple side color includes the cutouts which need to be sat in place while spraying. The stencil edges will all be clear-coated to give them long lasting rigidity that the wood would not have on its own.

1. I used a roll of vellum tracing paper to carefully trace the entire design, separate vellum tracing for each color
2. Then I cut out sheets of 1/8th" panel plywood to the exact size of the machine sides and front
3. Next I used removable adhesive and sprayed the wood, for each panel and color, laid the vellum sheet down and aligned it properly
4. I used an Xacto knife to cut out the shapes from the vellum, leaving the wood exposed
5. I used a fat drill bit to drill a single hole in each shape (giving me room for a jigsaw blade)
6. Using a flexible speed metal blade, I cut out all of the shapes (saving the purple insert shapes -- as per picture)
7. On the side pieces, because they are long and now have many holes in them, I added a lower and back 1x2 for support
8. Finally, I labeled them with a marker, so there would be no question which stencil they were, and no issue with where to align them on the cabinet when it came time for painting.

Gottlieb Totem - Front Cabinet Stencils.png
Gottlieb Totem - Side Cabinet Stencils.png

Looks good!

I have three Eight Ball cabinet to stencil so I made my own. Tracing paper as described above and then I used an adhesive vinyl that is thicker than paper. I purchased it in a roll. I also used a stencil cutter which is just a soldering iron with a different tip.

Project cost $25 to make a set and 8 hours of work for the Eight Ball. That is 8 hours to make the stencils. Will need to reapply adhesive when I do the remaining two cabinets.

Big Bob

Thanks!

If I was doing Eight Ball or one of a million other machines, your method with vinyl or any of several other materials would have worked great, because over-spray wasn't done on those cabinets, but with overspray...it changes the game a bit.

I've seen many professionals use posterboard. I've even used it myself, just have to be careful to keep it flush with the surface if you're using spray paint to get the colors. In the factory (according to Vid1900), I believe they cut master stencils from very thin sheets of steel (which would have slight overspray)

Ideally you want sharp edges, is to use frisket laid over the cabinet, and cut out each layer very carefully so you dig into the cabinet. Then use an airbrush so you can have good control with light coats.

I used to use posterboard way back in the day on simpler art Gottlieb titles BUT some artwork is way too detailed to cut by hand and no patience to spend that long with an x-acto knife in my hand!

They weren't thin steel sheets. From everything I have read, they were heavy metal plates of a cast material.

most of the sheets I saw were made of brass..if you use any kind of cardboard or poster board it should be single ply .I cut stencils for my projects many years believe it or not most of my stencils are cut from fruit loop or apple jack boxes..yes this is great stuff that cuts nice with nice edges,does not bleed .im making some stencils now for sing along..i cut these stencils myself for this monster gun..yes this one easy but same technique used for larger projects.after I finish with stencils I sometimes hang up.DSC00295.JPGDSC00291.JPGDSC00294.JPGDSC00691.JPG

Nice job on all of that. Very cool.

When you say "overspray" do you mean the fuzzy edges that look like an amateur did it?
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How do you account for that? hold the template a little distance off the surface when spraying?

Yes,

To make these older machines look like the originals, the stencil edges can't be crisp. As illustrated in your picture, it might look a little like an amateur did the work. For the effect to be done properly, what you said is absolutely correct, you raise the stencil slightly away from the cabinet.

Which is why I don't understand how these lightweight cardboard or paper stencils are so popular. There is really no way to lift them from the machine, they require being held tight to the surface.

Some good looking stuff here. MinnPin's in particular looked very interesting, would have liked to see some shots of how the cabinet turned out. I'm toying with the idea of resurrecting my own project, now that I've had some time to get un-frustrated with it.

I've done two so far

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/polishing-up-a-silverball-mania/page/2#post-3927310

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/laser-ball-just-because-resto-mod#post-4705117

took lessons from here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/silhouette-cameo-pinball-restorers-club

Just purchased a cameo machine myself. Perhaps for cabinets and hopefully for playfield masks. I've got an Ice Revue with a poor cabinet. Too low-volume to have one purchasable so I will have to make my own stencils.

Check my thread to see what using 1/8” MDF laser cut looks like.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-1954-spitfire-restoration-complete

You naturally get soft edges using them.

Also all play field touch ups done using the Silhouette Cameo and GerberMask