(Topic ID: 152714)

Bally Four Million B.C. Cabinet Latex Paint Removal

By Xerico

8 years ago


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  • 21 posts
  • 11 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 8 years ago by AlexF
  • Topic is favorited by 10 Pinsiders

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#1 8 years ago

My Bally Four Million B.C. had a terrible cabinet repaint experience sometime in the past.

Some genius decided to paint the cabinet a solid white.

image_(resized).jpegimage_(resized).jpeg

After reading up on latex paint removal experiences, I decided to tackle the paint removal myself and document the experience.

So I went to my local Home Depot and purchased some supplies.

1. Bottle of Motsenbocker's Lift Off
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2. Bag of white rags
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3. Box of Painter's gloves
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Here is the left side head with white latex paint.
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I decided to start on the cabinet head first.
The process I used was to spray a white rag until soaked and then sit it on top of the cabinet section. I would periodically spray it down and press it into the cabinet.

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After letting the rag sit for roughly 2 minutes, I would scrub the area with another white rag that had been sprayed with Lift Off. It took some strong pressure to get the latex paint to start separating from the original paint.

Here is initial progress after 10 minutes

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Here is middle progress after 40 minutes
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Here is the final result after 60 minutes
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I will provide additional updates as I proceed.

Marcus

#2 8 years ago

Looks like it's working great for you. I have used xylene in the past with no harm to the oil based original paint below.

It's funny what people think is an improvement over the original look.

#3 8 years ago

Right side cabinet head was done with a different method of "scrubbing".

Instead of scrubbing, I used a plastic paint scraper.

Here is the right side of the cabinet head with white latex paint.

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First section took roughly 9 minutes. This includes a 60 second soak time.

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Second section took roughly 9 minutes. This includes a 3 minute soak time.

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Final section took roughly 13 minutes. This includes a 7 minute soak time.

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Total time was 31 minutes. Much faster than my previous method.

More to come.

Marcus

#4 8 years ago

Wow. That's two of these games I know of where someone covered the original art. My Four Million BC I sold in 1980 was covered by the new owners with butcher block contact paper. I was livid. I regretted selling it...

#5 8 years ago

way nicer then white paint

#6 8 years ago

Looks great Xerico. Thanks for sharing your results.

#7 8 years ago

The front took 56 minutes. This included a soak time of 7 minutes before I started on a section.

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I soaked, then scraped, then used rag for cleaning up the remaining paint.

Section 1 took roughly 17 minutes once I started scraping.

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Section 2 took roughly 15 minutes once I started scraping.

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Section 3 took roughly 5 minutes once I started scraping.

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Final section took 19 minute once I started scraping.

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I found that scraping was easier in small sections. So beginning with section 2, I would section off the area as shown in the picture.

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I also took a rag and soaked it with Simple Green to give the original paint a good cleaning.

Here is the final result.

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So roughly 6 hours after starting the project, I was able to restore the cabinet head.

The bottle of Lift Off cost $9.00.
The bag of rags cost $11.00.
The gloves were $7.

Since I used roughly 10% of the rags and gloves, I would estimate that I spent $11 on materials and 6 total hours of time. I did take plenty of game breaks as well as a leisurely lunch. So I think actual work time was closer to 2.5 hours.

The cabinet body is next. Lord help me.

Marcus

#8 8 years ago

Coin door area is almost done.

Took 30 minutes including 10 minute soak time.

Before:

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After:

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Marcus

#9 8 years ago

Done for the evening.

The sides of the cabinet body are much tougher!

But the Brontosaurus did appear!

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Marcus

#10 8 years ago

Had to come back and finish this side.

Once on its side, took 30 minutes.

Dinosaurs need to breathe!

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Marcus

#11 8 years ago

Cannot stop now!

Rags soaked with Lift Off are hard at work!

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Marcus

#12 8 years ago

And 3.5 hours after starting the body cabinet, I have freed the dinosaurs!

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Marcus

#13 8 years ago

Ok. My Saturday Project is complete

Bally 4MBC painted white Picture:

White 4MBCWhite 4MBC

After stripping off the white latex:

Original PaintOriginal Paint

Total costs of materials used was roughly $20.00

Lift Off Bottles: qty 2 ($18.00)
Gloves & rags: $2.00

Total working hours: 6

I am tired but this was worth it.

Glad to have the dinosaurs in the collection now!

If you have questions about this process, please ask. I will do my best to answer.

Marcus

#16 8 years ago

Looks great,
Now take care of that heat wave in the corner

#17 8 years ago
Quoted from Vreuls:

Looks great,
Now take care of that heat wave in the corner

It's next in the queue.

Marcus

#18 8 years ago

Looks great.

#19 8 years ago

Wow, that worked way better than I would've expected. Nice.

#20 8 years ago

Impressive - thanks for documenting! That being said, I hope I never have to do it...

#21 8 years ago

I gave this one the Motsenbocker's Lift Off treatment with some success. It was as Xerico mentioned a bit labor intensive. My biggest pitfall was that I started with Goof Off. Not realizing the new formula had acetone in it. Goof Off took off the gray latex paint but also burned through the original underneath. If not for that, the original paint would have came out nearly perfect (aside from the non-original coin door).

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