(Topic ID: 195886)

Gottlieb DAC Cabinet Resto Nightmare

By Isochronic_Frost

6 years ago


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Gottlieb Apron Redrawn.pdf (PDF preview)
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#1 6 years ago

Hello all Pinsiders!
This is my long-awaited start on restoring my Gottlieb Drop-A-Card. The cab was in pitiful shape and needed a new bottom and paint, it was splitting at ALL the seams...
I went about knocking off the back to slide the bottom out, and it turns out a previous owner had put about a handful of nails at random throughout the back and sides of the cabinet to hold it together! To make matters worse, to cover a hole in the bottom of the cab, they took a big hunk of 2x4s and nailed them all together with about 40 nails all along the perimeter of the pin underside...
After lots of prying and hammering I got all the offending pieces off and pulled out the rotten bottom, but the pin was too flimsy after it's horrible hack job and the sides completely separated.

At this point I have 4 individual sides of a cabinet and I am hoping the armchair experts at Pinside can genuinely offer some advice on how to put this pin back together!

DISCLAIMER: No I'm not parting this out even with the state if the cab, please don't ask or encourage such barbarism! I will save this game with your help!

TL;DR: My wedgehead has experienced hard times and a rough hack-job of nails to keep the cab together and now it fell apart. What is the best way to put it back together and how do I go about doing that?

I'm preferring to do this as original as possible as any help is appreciated.

#2 6 years ago

Here's a lovely timeline of when the wheels fell off. I thought the cross supports were supposed to be glued in but they just fell out when I turned it over.

Please help! I am very committed to taking this pin from rough to royalty! (If this is in the wrong sub-forum please feel free to move it)

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#3 6 years ago

I would use that cab as a template and build a new one. Get some stencils or make your own for a fresh look. Easier said than done but it would be nice when finished.
-Mike

#4 6 years ago

Not every cabinet is worth saving.

#5 6 years ago

Lots of glue, clamps and putty! You'll have to obviously cut a new bottom panel, and fit it in whatever remains of the grooves along the lower edge of the panels before assembling the box. You'll likely have to fabricate some other wooden components as well, such as corner braces. Having, or having access to woodworking equipment is obviously what you need as well.
It's more than I would be willing to tackle at this point, but I once bought a game that was held together with stretch wrap and men's belts. The cabinet totally fell apart when I cut off the "bindings", but it turned out to be a nice game. There have been some pretty remarkable restorations documented here. If you have the will, which it appears you do, you're most of the way there.

#6 6 years ago
Quoted from jrpinball:

Lots of glue, clamps and putty! You'll have to obviously cut a new bottom panel, and fit it in whatever remains of the grooves along the lower edge of the panels before assembling the box. You'll likely have to fabricate some other wooden components as well, such as corner braces. Having, or having access to woodworking equipment is obviously what you need as well.
It's more than I would be willing to tackle at this point, but I once bought a game that was held together with stretch wrap and men's belts. The cabinet totally fell apart when I cut off the "bindings", but it turned out to be a nice game. There have been some pretty remarkable restorations documented here. If you have the will, which it appears you do, you're most of the way there.

This is the correct answer. It's not really that difficult. Clean out all the joints, get all the nails etc out of there, and glue and clamp it back together. I have a Royal Guard that was almost that bad, the front had a bunch of screws and nails in it and a rotten bottom on it, and when I pulled all that it basically fell apart. I fixed it and restored it. Mike O on here has seen the restoration and can attest that you'd never know the condition it was in when I got it.

#7 6 years ago

I just did a cab in similar shape. As long as the sides are in good shape with bottom groves it should go back together. Dry fit everything before glueing. clean old glue off with a sander.

You'll note my 3 dimensional clamping going on. Diagonal for squareness. Ive got iron stakes up each side such that the long side clamp puts pressure up and down the edge at once. Also a fine 1 1/2 nailer is useful too. Make a new bottom board. Table saw a must...

The front edge and sometimes the back edge will need a cleat to build up the bottom. I like to use oak, pine is too soft.

Anything can be fixed. It takes practice and learning from ones mistakes... Find a wood working buddy to guide you.

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#8 6 years ago

I know someone who bought a pile of rubble which was once a pinball machine. It was a Gottlieb woodrail, and so it had laminated side panels. It had fallen off of a truck, and landed hard, totally wrecking the cabinet. A few months later at the Allentown show, I was enjoying a game of "Hawaiian Beauty", one of my favorite woodrails, when this same guy approached me and told me that this was the one that fell off the truck. I almost fell to the floor!

#9 6 years ago
Quoted from pinhead52:

I just did a cab in similar shape. As long as the sides are in good shape with bottom groves it should go back together.
You'll note my 3 dimensional clamping going on. Diagonal for squareness. Ive got iron stakes up each side such that the long side clamp puts pressure up and down the edge at once. Also a fine 1 1/2 nailer is useful too. Make a new bottom board. Table saw a must...
The front edge and sometimes the back edge will need a cleat to build up the bottom. I like to use oak, pine is too soft.
Anything can be fixed. It takes practice and learning from ones mistakes... Find a wood working buddy to guide you.

You're just the guy I was hoping would post here!

#10 6 years ago

Pimp stencils and a little paint and nice finished game. A $1200 restoration for a local client

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#11 6 years ago

If you try and restore the cab, I have stencils already made for DAC. Pinball Pimp has not yet made these.

#12 6 years ago
Quoted from EMsInKC:

If you try and restore the cab, I have stencils already made for DAC. Pinball Pimp has not yet made these.

I know! I was afraid I'd have to try and make my own, although I know it's a very simple design, I've never made stencils! I could really use them! I think the cab is just too far gone to keep the paint. It's all flaking off. I wanna repaint the entire thing

#13 6 years ago

Here is what all the side pieces look like. Let me know what you all think!
The front panel is the worst with the water damage, should I attempt to make a new one?

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#14 6 years ago

It's not that bad, you can fix that.

The other option would be to try and find an empty cabinet, there's usually someone on here who has one, and being you're in the pinball Land o' Plenty, I'm sure you could find it.

It needs a repaint. Once it's all glued back together, you'll have to sand it all down, fill, and repaint. Make new corner pieces for the inside and glue those in place too.

#15 6 years ago

your cab face is missing most of the veneer, you need a replacement or a remake. A little tough with the routed section for the door plate.. If you were closer to PA I'd have you strike up a conversation with Boilerman, he usually has an extra cab or 2.

#16 6 years ago

Yeah, the cabinet face is the worst part because of the damaged veneer. You can mark the strike plate on a new piece of veneer and possibly cut out it's contour with several passes of a razor knife if you don't have access to a router.

#17 6 years ago

I had a local cabinet maker mill a new one for me out of birch. It came out perfect.

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#18 6 years ago
Quoted from Playdium:

I had a local cabinet maker mill a new one for me out of birch. It came out perfect.

That looks great! So the striker plate has a small groove it sits in so it's flush with the cabinet?

Any idea what kinds of business I should look for to get a new one?

#19 6 years ago
Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:

That looks great! So the striker plate has a small groove it sits in so it's flush with the cabinet?
Any idea what kinds of business I should look for to get a new one?

Call up Playdiums guy... send your old face, get a new one...

#20 6 years ago

I'll ask him to see what his schedule looks like.

#21 6 years ago

And get some of those corner blocks... whenever I trash a cab thats one thing I save.

#22 6 years ago

"So the striker plate has a small groove it sits in so it's flush with the cabinet?"

Yes, that part is routered so the striker plate sits flush to the panel.

FYI, You are looking at about $300 for a replacement front panel.

#23 6 years ago
Quoted from Playdium:

FYI, You are looking at about $300 for a replacement front panel.

Ouch!

#24 6 years ago

That front panel looks great, but not $300 great!

#25 6 years ago

Oops, I misspoke. That included labor for general repairs. Let me look into this.

#26 6 years ago
Quoted from Playdium:

Oops, I misspoke. That included labor for general repairs. Let me look into this.

should be $100 or less

#27 6 years ago
Quoted from Playdium:

...FYI, You are looking at about $300 for a replacement front panel.

Yikes! Sounds like I'm gonna live with it :b I have a friend who does a lot of woodworking, I'll see if he has the tools to do it.
I'm on a bit of a tight budget so anything I can do on my own for little money helps. Definitely going to re-use the corner blocks. All but one is still good

#28 6 years ago

Ok tight budgets call for drastic approaches.
That outer thin layer seems to be coming off pretty cleanly leaving quite a solid smooth exterior. Try gently removing the rest using a wide scraper & see whats left. If it looks good you may need to slightly further rebate the striker section but maybe there is enough rebate left.
It is amazing with cabs no matter how bad they look if you are prepared to put in the time they are often recoverable. Ok to the purists the cab may end up 1/32 shorter in length but to me no prob.
A further alternative is to shed the remainder of the outer layer as above and apply with wood glue an outer layer of the thinnest timber material you can acquire & jigsaw the coin slots & shooter holes, use a router for the striker rebate & a circular saw to get the side edges at 45deg.
Not a perfectionists approach but you did say you are on a tight budget.

#29 6 years ago

You could also prep it after removing the delaminating ply and glue a fresh layer of veneer on.

#30 6 years ago

If someone would pencil trace the cab artwork and send to me, I could design the stencil art. I've just never had one of these come thru. Jumping Jack would be nice as well.

4 months later
#31 6 years ago

After 4 months this project is finally on its way off the ground!
I’m working with a friend of my Dad’s who is a skilled craftsman.
The entire cabinet is going to be remade as there are more underlying issues with delamination that would risk the stability of the entire restoration.

To ensure a stable, quality cabinet that can withstand the future and properly support this restoration it will be a complete refab.

Coin door is first and I will help gauge the entire project.

Does anyone have pictures of the corners and inner grooves for better examples of how they fit together?

Also are there any blueprints for which steps to assemble the cabinet? That is the only part we are having issues with. How does the head pedestal fit into the cabinet during assembly?

Any references and help appreciated!

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#32 6 years ago

The pedestal is it's own 4 piece frame (nailed together). It mounts to the top of the cabinet with two long finish head screws and is easily removed if desired.

2 months later
#33 6 years ago

Does anyone have the stencil artwork for a Drop a card please ? I just bought one and it is stuffed up

#34 6 years ago
Quoted from alistaircg:

Does anyone have the stencil artwork for a Drop a card please ? I just bought one and it is stuffed up

http://pinballpimpstencils.com/?page_id=1442

#35 6 years ago

Here is vector artwork of the apron I redrew. Have it for free, hope it makes your old machines look new again

Gottlieb Apron Redrawn.pdfGottlieb Apron Redrawn.pdf

1 week later
#36 6 years ago

Whoa, I’m happy to see that PinballPimp has made Stencils for Drop-A-Card! That’s fantastic!!

Quoted from alistaircg:

Here is vector artwork of the apron I redrew. Have it for free, hope it makes your old machines look new again

Thank you for this! I greatly appreciate it!
My cabinet is still in the works, hopefully done by May! Schedule is tentative at the moment but we shall see.

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