Just got this one in yesterday.... lot's of water damage.
Will be a "bit" of work to get this one where it needs to be.
IMG_20210113_182635 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182644 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182651 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182716 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182724 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182737 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182912 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_182929 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_183002 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_183309 (resized).jpgGot it mostly sanded down last night before ran out of time.... the area around the right flipper button hole is really rotten. I need to carve it out even more than it is now to begin fiberglass repairs, but stopped there for now.
Spending a few weeks in an 80+ degree room with 18-20% humidity should help get any remaining moisture out of the wood the best I can.
IMG_20210113_204621 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204633 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204640 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204646 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204702 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204737 (resized).jpgIMG_20210113_204812 (resized).jpgSo, I forgot to take a pic after I caved out the entire flipper button hole area & removed all the rotted wood that had basically turned into balsa wood before I began repair.... wish I would have, because it was a gnarly sight.
Built a dam for fiberglass resin repair.....
IMG_20210116_152037 (resized).jpgIMG_20210116_152043 (resized).jpgStarting to get there..... just a lot of fiberglass repairs, all over the cab. All 4 corners, plus the flipper hole disaster, & the rear bottom, plus the bottom sides are sketchy in a variety of areas. Those will be the final areas to get repaired once I get everything else freshened up.
IMG_20210117_120747 (resized).jpgIMG_20210117_170723 (resized).jpgIMG_20210117_170729 (resized).jpgIMG_20210117_170743 (resized).jpgIMG_20210117_170755 (resized).jpgYes, I built the sides out of cardboard, then pour the resin. Once it's set, you rip off the cardboard & sand down the remaining cardboard remnants.
Starting to look like a nice cabinet again. Still have some minor woodgrain on the sides to fill in with spot putty/primer, but the corners & edges are razor sharp & the flipper button area that was worse than a wet noodle is now looking better than original. I still need to machine out the slotted area where the glass retainer rides that got filled in with resin during the flipper hole repair.
IMG_20210131_192059 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192105 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192123 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192130 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192136 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192148 (resized).jpgIMG_20210131_192206 (resized).jpgThere has been a LOT of sandpaper (& Elbow grease) used on this one. But it is also in my opinion the best cabinet restoration job I have done to date, & that's saying a lot as some of the more recent ones have not exactly been turds when finished. So yeah it is satisfying to see one this rough become this nice. I have bit more stuff to touch up here & there on the inside, but the outside is as close to perfect now as it's going to get. Once last nights primer has few days to fully cure I'll get it sanded down to sharpen the corners to a razors edge & then it's on to color.
Fantastic work. I am really impressed with your results so far.
Can't wait to see the finished product.
WeatherbyMAG
I noticed your seams were coming apart on the cabinet. How did you repair those? Just glue and clamp? They turned out really nice.
Quoted from Ballypalooza:WeatherbyMAG
I noticed your seams were coming apart on the cabinet. How did you repair those? Just glue and clamp? They turned out really nice.
This one was so bad, I used fiberglass resin. Sometimes I just Elmer's wood glue & clamp. Just depends on how bad it is.
Just have some very minor sanding left on inside in couple of places I touched up & she's ready for color.
IMG_20210214_134101 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134114 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134121 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134129 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134142 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134153 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134205 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134215 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134223 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134242 (resized).jpgIMG_20210214_134300 (resized).jpgUsually I sand the corners down flat at a 45 degree angle so the resin buildup will be thicker & stronger. Also on this particular one I opened up the gaps in the wood to allow the resin to get deep into the gap, again, strengthens the hell out of a cab.
Fiberglass resin IMO bonds even better than wood glue. And wood glue when compressed does a hell of a good job....But fiberglass resin is quickly becoming one of my favorite tools for cabinet/backbox repairs.
I really like fiberglass resin too- been using it to fill splintered out parts of the bottom of my Gottlieb 2001 cabinet. But I didn’t realize it bonded so well. I have been driving in nails, screws, and staples to create a forest of “anchors” before pouring in the fiberglass. I had no idea you could sand a surface flat and then pour resin onto that surface and have it stick without anchors. Cool stuff.
Was that OSB or particle board on the back?
They should be shot for using that shit anywhere. My Wizard had particle board back there. Once you chunk a piece out or get it wet, it will start to disintegrate. Mine had a hole on the bottom you could put a fist through.
It's history, replaced by plywood. It is bad enough by this point they were using cheap plywood but the particle board is really junk.
The contrast between that wood quality and the 1960 Gottlieb Merry Go Round I'm doing is night and day. High quality, heavy duty plywood.
Excellent work especially on the flipper button area.
I just use Bondo brand resin, you can get almost anywhere.... Wal Mart, Home Depot, Lowes etc.
This cab was OSB board on the rear. It's not as coarse as modern day OSB, but was definitely wood chunks & not MDF. The Later Stern backboxes use MDF on the outer front edge pieces...... when that stuff gets wet it "feathers" out & is a nightmare to repair as well.
Wait till I post pics of my Meteor turned into star gazer cabinet....... makes this FG look like a peach. Before this FG, I did a Cheetah that was worst cab I had repaired..... Meteor was unreal. It's almost ready for final primer, once it is in color I'll post before & after pics of it. I probably have 30-40 hours in it, but I am most proud of it, because it went from the worst cab ever to by far my nicest.
Pardon the noob question: with the FG, it looks like you fully primed it, but then partially sanded it down and perhaps added bondo or fiberglass resin. Can you talk through your workflow around primer?
Primer is made to fill in minute imperfections.... so you spray it, & sand high spots & primer fills in the low spots. It's a rinse & repeat kind of thing.... Prime it, sand it, prime it, sand it.... until it's straight & smooth. Some stuff you are seeing in there as well is spot & filler putty, the orange colored stuff. That's for small imperfections, sanding swirls, small scratches, wood grain issues etc. anything high build primer does'nt want to easily fill.
TOUGH color to get pics of, at least in my garage with the lighting I have. Too dark, too light.... somewhere in between. It has some watermelon color in it as well in right light.
IMG_20210228_211151 (resized).jpgLOTS of work to get to this point
IMG_20210228_211200 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211412 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211420 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211428 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211453 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211546 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211606 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211623 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211635 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211641 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211655 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211701 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211751 (resized).jpgIMG_20210228_211757 (resized).jpgMVIMG_20210228_211553 (resized).jpgTop 5 Best Wood Glue for Cabinets
https://bestwoodglue.info/best-wood-glue-for-cabinets/
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Julian, PA
Melbourne
Looks great.