(Topic ID: 320244)

El Dorado Upper Arch - Cleaning suggestions?

By ChipS

1 year ago


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  • 14 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by LORDDREK
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 1 year ago

I'm helping a friend do a full tear down and clean of his El Dorado - which hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in 36 years.

The upper arch, which is mostly hidden by the top plastic, has something all over it - not exactly sure what it is. You can clearly see the difference when looking at the right edge, which was covered by wood. Any suggestions on how to clean it?

I want to be gentle with it. I've been told those arches are nickel plated. And a few years ago I tried cleaning the large upper arch for Abra Ca Dabra and ended up stripping away some of the nickel plating, which then turned black when I stuck it in Evapo-Rust.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gottlieb-upper-arch-and-orbit-rough-metal#post-5320630

In the bottom photo, you can see the nickel plating beginning to pull away at the bottom.

Part of me wants to throw the entire thing in the tumbler, strip off the nickel plating, sand the edges and paint it with metallic paint - which was one of the suggestions in the other post. But I'll entertain other suggestions.

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#2 1 year ago

somebody has reproduced these. hit the parts thread

#3 1 year ago

Thanks!

Have you ever tried to refurbish one of these? On the last thread, you mentioned you have a guy in Fort Worth who can nickel plate it. Since most of it is hidden, I'm wondering if I should just sand it and paint it. Then again, since most of it is hidden, perhaps I should just leave it be...

#4 1 year ago

Fine Steelwool and elbow grease is what i use. It may never look new, but should look better than it does.

#5 1 year ago

Have you tried that? Does it also remove the nickel plating? And if so, what do you do with it then? Paint it? Or just leave it without re-plating it?

#6 1 year ago

Yes, it removes the nickel plating. Here is a Williams top arch I dry sanded starting with 600 grit then 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000. Finished off with mothers mag. Came out to almost a mirror reflection.

Before
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#7 1 year ago

After

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#8 1 year ago

That looks great! And I take it the edge - the part the ball touches - is nice and smooth?

#9 1 year ago

I'd soak it in CLR for about 20 minutes, then clean with hot water and Brillo, then polish with Mother's mag polish. You can hardly see the arch once installed anyway.

#10 1 year ago

The reason I polish the under arch is because I add cabaret lighting to all of my Williams machines. Here is a Space Mission I just completed. You will notice that the light reflects both on top and bottom. You can’t get that unless you polish both sides.

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#11 1 year ago

Very nice!!

#12 1 year ago

This is a playfield pic from a modded Target Alpha I once owned. Has anyone else experimented with top arch lighting.

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#13 1 year ago

I tried using one of Comet LED's trough lite kits under edge at the top. I like how it illuminated the area but not the relflection of the LED's on the playfield. You could install bulbs as well but that area is pretty tight.

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#14 1 year ago

Is one of those last two available? If so I’ll take one. Sent you PM.

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