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.

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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

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

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

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

Done for the evening.

The sides of the cabinet body are much tougher!

But the Brontosaurus did appear!

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Marcus

Had to come back and finish this side.

Once on its side, took 30 minutes.

Dinosaurs need to breathe!

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Marcus

Cannot stop now!

Rags soaked with Lift Off are hard at work!

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Marcus

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

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Marcus

Ok. My Saturday Project is complete

Bally 4MBC painted white Picture:

White 4MBC

After stripping off the white latex:

Original 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

It's next in the queue.

Marcus