Lots of bondo (or your wood filler of choice), a lot of sanding, and a lot of time.

You're going to strip the cabinet down to bare wood, remove any loose chunks, fill with bondo, sand smooth, prime, paint, and apply decals. It's going to be messy, and requires a lot of time and space to do properly. Down the road, you will probably never get out what you put in in terms of money and time.

My opinion is you really don't play the cabinet... my gameroom isn't a showroom or a museum, it's a place to play a few pins. My enjoyment of a pin comes out of how good the gameplay is, so I'll definitely go all out on the playfield. I could care less about the cabinet unless it's filling a simple small gouge or something.

While I agree you don't play the cabinet it is still nice to look at a good one. If you want a better ft cabinet just reo yours. It is going to cost 250ish to get decals, plus bondo and your time. In the end you will end up with a much nicer setup short of paying 1500 for a predone one.

I wasn't implying a complete machine. I was talking about a new cabinet with the decals already installed. You would still have to move all the hardware over.

Josh,

It's easier than you may think. I've done six cabinets so far and have enjoyed each one. While I agree you don't play the cabinet, I like to bring a pin back to a full life and cabinet work is part of that. If you want, bring it over and I'll strip it down to bare wood for you using my Festool RO125. Less than 30 minutes work and we'll have it ready for bondo and primer.

I've got two more in line (Strikes & Spares and Skateball) before I redo my AFM cabinet. I've been sitting on new decals for a long time now and want to get them on the cabinet (while swapping in my new HEP pf).

Having someone who's done a cabinet show you how it's done is the best way to do it, otherwise, you will make mistakes on the first few you do. You'll learn as you go.

It's the part of a restoration I enjoy the most but it's also the most time consuming, if you want it done right.

From the time I start removing everything from the cabinet until the time everything is done, I think I spend about 50 hours or so.

You also need the right tools and the right space to sand and paint. I know my wife would kill me if I did this in my garage.

Bryan (CARGPB 14)
http://usergallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/bspins

www.letsplaypinball.com