Front Panel Separating from Cabinet (Royal Guard)

Hi All,
Please take a look at the accompanying pics. The front panel on my Royal Guard is separating from the sides (the rear panel and sides are intact). I need some advice on how to best proceed with the repair. The wood looks like it is salvageable, so I am hoping to be able re glue and clamp, but want to make sure I have a solid repair. Do I remove the entire front panel, clean out old glue and re-clamp? Would it be best to remove the coin door while doing the repair. Thanks in advance for any advice and comments.
joe

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#2 5 years ago

MMD

Freeplay40

Encore Pinball

Bothell, WA

6y 116K 3,665 13

Wood glue and long bar clamps (front to back and side to side of cabinet) to clamp it back into place....test the clamping before applying the glue to be sure they will close up. After cured fill any problems with wood filler...I like to use Bondo.

#3 5 years ago

CJN

Joey_N

Pinside member

Madison, AL

8y 28,650 274 1

If and only if you can cleanly remove the panel, do so as you can get glue in the joint better. Elmers wood glue or Titebond glue and clamps.

#4 5 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Prop up game with milk crate, open up joint and clean out any muck, glue with Titebond, put ratchet straps to hold joint together, drill leg holes clean of glue with 3/8" drill bit.

#5 5 years ago

???

ChillyWilly

Inactive member

Thanks for all of your responses ... I'll update with work in progress, as I tackle this project ...

#6 5 years ago

???

ChillyWilly

Inactive member

Update:
Okay, so after propping up the machine and removing the legs, the front panel came off very easily with very little nudging or prying. As you can tell from the pics, the joints on the cabinet sides seem to be in good shape. However, the wood on the outer edges of the dado on the front panel were broken off all the way around (both sides & bottom). I have very little wood left on the front panel, that will interlock with the joints on the sides (about 1/8"). I'm not sure of the best approach on this one and would like a sound repair with joint integrity. I hope I am not going to have to make a front panel or go find one somewhere. Any ideas would be appreciated. Not sure if glue alone would take care of this, or maybe insert some would strips and glue into the joint? Dowels? Screws? Help! Thanks ...

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#7 5 years ago

ALP

anthony691

Inactive member

Chicago, IL

5y 35,650 295 3 33

That doesn't look great.

I can't think of anything noninvasive that would be a quality repair (shimming, right angle brackets, lots of wood glue).

I'd probably just build a new front from scratch and either distress it to match or restore the whole cabinet.

#8 5 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Easy fix if you have a tablesaw.

Cut new triangular gussets at 45* on the saw.

Clean out all the old crud from old joints.

Chisel out the old gussets, make sure you have a smooth surface to glue the new ones.

Apply glue to both sides of the remaining tongue and groove. Clamp, let dry a hour or so.

Now glue in the new gussets up both sides. Again make sure you apply glue to both the cabinet and the gussets.

After 24 hours, 3/8" drill out the leg bolt holes.

Your new gussets will supply 80% of the holding strength, and with the new Titebond glues, your joint will be stronger than it ever was.

As you can see while you pull it apart, they used crappy glue and did not apply it with 100% coverage.

#9 5 years ago

???

ChillyWilly

Inactive member

Thanks Vid,
I do have a table saw .... re: the Gussetts, it looks like they are in 3 pieces stacked on top of each other per corner. Should I cut 3 pieces, or just one (the length of the current 3). Should I keep the the same length or longer (to run up the entire corner)? Just wondering why they used 3 pieces stacked instead of one continuous? Yes, I did notice that factory glue job was somewhat shoddy ... in addition, a previous owner used screws and nails on the left side ... but to no avail .... thanks for your assistance, I'll keep posting on progress.

#10 5 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from ChillyWilly:
re: the Gussetts, it looks like they are in 3 pieces stacked on top of each other per corner. Should I cut 3 pieces, or just one

Cut them into a single length.

OP
Quoted from ChillyWilly:
Should I keep the the same length or longer (to run up the entire corner)?

Longer the better, but obviously make sure you don't create any obstructions.

OP
Quoted from ChillyWilly:
Just wondering why they used 3 pieces stacked instead of one continuous?

Probably just whatever junk they had laying around.

Some cabs have "z-brick" printed bottoms, so you know that was just left over garbage from some other product.

#11 5 years ago

JJG

jgreene

Pinside member

Hartland, MI

8y 43,400 358 9 9

Just cut the gussets from a single piece. This will simplify the assembly. Poplar has worked well for me when I have made similar repairs to cabinets in the past. Its hard to say for sure but in my Williams IJ the gussets appeared to be poplar from the factory.

#12 5 years ago

???

ChillyWilly

Inactive member

Quoted from vid1900:
Cut new triangular gussets at 45* on the saw.

How wide should the gussetts be for a solid repair (cut from a 1" x 1" or 2" by 2" -- the wider the better?)? The one's on this machine are about 1.25" on both sides of center.
Thanks!

#13 5 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member