Those are great looking decals, and they are going to need a super smooth substrate to be applied to.

If it were my machine, I'd just get a brand new cab for $250.

A new cab will be plywood with a thin veneer of MDF on the face side (called MDO plywood). The face is super smooth with no wood grain, patches or plugs - and it's already primed.

There are just SO many hours of patching and sanding on that old cab. It is always a worry when part of the Bondo loses it's grip under the decal and leaves a lump.

Under the lockdown bar or the coin door, you can chip out an unfaded section of paint for the paint store to match - they need a dime sized sample. Or take the decals themselves to the store and show them where to match (it has to be an area near the edge to fit under the machine).

If you are absolutely set on spending 25 hours on that cab, remember to sand outdoors because the paint will contain lead and will poison your garage forever. You need a bunny suit ($11) and a respirator rated for lead ($26).

To get the old bottom out:

1. use a trim router with an edge guide.

2. rout out the inside lip on the two long opposing sides of the cab bottom. Don't try to do it all in a single pass unless you have a 3hp router.

3. chisel out any triangular cleats from the inside of the cab (if there are any). Don't hit staples with your chisel.

4. the bottom will flex out.

5. Use the old bottom as your template for the new one.

6. Use plywood, not fibercrap™

7. If you use a pilot bearing router bit, you can use the old bottom as your guide to cut the speaker hole in the new one.

holy shit, if there was a game that would have to suffer the fate of decals, it would be this game. Sucks to have to settle for decals, but in this case, it's going to be a vast improvement.

Just imagine how much faster, easier and better it would turn out with just buying the new cab. Buy the cab, spray the paint apply the decals and BAM your done in 2 days, looks perfect and you didn't even break a sweat. That's the way I'd go. Best of all....you get that new game smell.

http://www.xtremepinball.com

Actually I'm curious as well. CP could use a refurb of the cab and a new cab would be easy. Just need the decals.... But the DE cab is a slightly different size...

I didn't know about the new cabinets either. I'm intrigued. I don't think it's a reasonable solution to use a cabinet that doesn't match the original, even if it all fits OK.

If Xtreme has never built a DE cab before, they may need you to email them a few measurements so they can account for any differences.

Once they have built one DE cab, they will have the CNC program on file, so future cabs can be made automatically.

The company that cuts my cabs did not have the "real" Williams wide body drawings (like Scorpion). I took some pictures, noted the measurements in Photoshop, and the next day I had my pile of parts.

Now, anytime I need another, I just call, they pull up the Cut File, vacuum down a sheet of plywood on the router and it's done in 30 minutes.

This is a great idea. If we had decals made up, new DE cabs would look so @#$@$@ good

Let's say he has not done a DE cab yet.

How do we make sure the dimensions are correct and not made wrong?

We all pitch in as a group.

You draw your cab dimensions on a piece of graph paper and post them here.

Then a couple of other people with DE cabs verify the dimensions and post here that they are all good.

Now you know the dimensions are correct because you have 3+ samples of identical data.

Xtreame knows that the plywood is 3/4" thick, so he simply adjusts the dimensions of another cab he has drawn in CAD slightly to the new DE dimensions and now he has the DE cab on file for the future.

May I ask how much you paid for the pin?

Happy to help if needed. Let me know.

I'm in the same boat right now.....picked up a SW project pin. Decent playfield but needs a new cab.

I talked to Paul at VirtuaPins and YES they can make a cabinet for DE. They have not done one yet but he was going to be gathering measurements. He told me "No Problem". Of course theirs are not $250.

Edit.....funny how the two places that can do this are located in Michigan. Lucky for me I can skip the shipping charge.

Edit #2....you can send a message to Extreme right from the "contact us". I just did.

The company I buy my cabs from charges me $200 out the door; don't let them sell you on rocket science, lol.

Extreme will do a "flat pack" for $250 or fully constructed ready to paint and transfer your components for $350.

Brian,
I don't want to steer this thread the wrong direction. But if vids great idea gets bogged down then fix the cab. It will be the original with a simple new bottom panel. Take a week end to prepare it with Bondo and sand paper and the next weekend paint it with auto spray paint in a can. AJ Foyt store matches my paint perfectly and puts it in the cans. I do use a primer they have on the shelf there first and 30 mins it is dry. Two coats of your base color are a further hour or so and you ready for decals. Primer 1 can $5 each (you need only one) and for paint mixed and put in can ready to spray per can less than $30 (you need 2 cans). They have special nozzles that spray so perfectly a caveman or me can do it.

Steve J

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My CP has a bad bottom and head back. There's no CP decals, so new cab would be fantastic but lack of the decals kind of sucks. If I could replace just a panel it would work. I think I've seen one person do a bottom panel, but I didn't know how hard that was.

Using an edge guide on a router, you trim off the lip on the two long sides of the cabinet.

Remove any inside cleats with a chisel (don't hit staples with your nice chisel).

The bottom will now "flex" out.

Flex in your new bottom and use some 3/8" molding along the two long sides to secure the bottom.

If you use 1/4" plywood instead of Fibercrap, it will be the last bottom your game will ever need.