Here are a few I have done with before and after pics. I really like doing them and I have the process pretty refined. There was definitely a learning curve. I am my harshest critic and I think they come out beautiful now.

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Don't use hammer-tone. Flat black for the door and glossy black for the speckles. I use clear as well. I follow treasure-cove's process for the restorations, but I also replace all the orange coin slot plastics, they are cheap to replace and look fantastic. I strip the backside of the coin door to clean everything and repaint if necessary and I also have started spraying the glossy paint onto a paint brush and flicking it onto the door instead of slightly depressing the nozzle. I had started seeing some air bubbles in the glossy specks by slightly depressing the nozzle so I went to the flicking method and it looks amazing. If the door is really damaged or worn like in a couple of these pics, I will also sand it down before painting. I'm really happy with the results.

http://www.treasure-cove.net/coindoor.htm

We're do you get the replacement plastic coin release buttons ?

Brian Kelley made a YouTube video on this topic:

-Steve

Mad-amusements.com

mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=1077

and

mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=1076

Here's mine.....the original picture was the coin door on a trashed BSD cabinet. It had holes where some plate was bolted over one of the coin slots. Why?????? Used JB Weld SteelStik to fill the holes. Sanded the hell out of it. I did use Rust-oleum Hammered paint, and clear coated it. I'm very happy with the results for a first-timer on coin door restoration.

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First time coin door resto. this past week I used a semi-gloss paint and it came out glossier than I would have liked. I then used a gloss paint to do the 'spatter'. In another post recently I had asked about using the brush/flick method as I have done on a few EM cabinet restorations and then decided to try the 'spatter' spray can method(as in Bryan Kellys vid and allens from Treasure Cove...thank you both for contributions)just to see what it was all about and if I could do it. As LesManley mentions the air-bubbles in the gloss do occur at times. I found that if I started the spray can off the door and got a good flow of 'spatter' going I would then move onto the coin door and continue it till it stopped....that seemed to work great instead of trying to get the 'spatter' right onto the coin door 1st press of nozzle. Didn't clear door but thought about it.

I did take everything off the back and clean...great learning process. Only had to go back upstairs about 25 times to look at my before pics of how everything went! : ) Guess that's where an I-Pad would come in handy.

Sooooo...if I was to restore another door I would get a flat black paint and probably hand 'splatter' the paint on the door. I also would have sanded the marks down on the door where there was an imprint form a lock-bar that must have been across the door at some point in it's life. Same marks as in LesManleys 3rd pic. I posted a before and after pic and am open to critique.

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Good thread! Ive been wanting to do this also. Great info here.

Here's a Williams "8-Ball" coin door I restored a few years ago. I literally found this door rusting in the field of a junk yard. I had it bead blasted before I painted it with Rust-Oleum # 7213 Silver Hammered paint.

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This is how I restore all my classic Stern doors. I sandblast everything. Paint the coin door with RustOleum Hammered 7212 first and then immediately follow it will a full coat of 7213.
As they dry and blend together you end up with a perfect match for the original color which is silver with some blue.

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Here's my last two. Bright buffed on the outside, fully disassembled, cleaned, and gone through on the inside.

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Here's the one I did a couple of weeks ago for the SM.

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Bub I like how you blocked out the coin slots. Are those special cut etched and colored inserts?

The SM inserts came with the plastic set from CPR and the Bally I got from Marco., They have them for Bally, Stern and Williams.

Can't compete with Bub but here's my shot at it!

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I'll give you the before shots on my Congo coin door. Waiting on the powdercoater to be able to get it back and reassemble it.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q57/phetishboy/Rampagee/DSC02652_zpse058fbd0.jpg

Yo taxi

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How many f%$@# hours do you have polishing those parts, looks awesome!
Don't answer that I want to find out, I have a couple of the drops, I am going to try.

About 20 hrs of polishing on all the door parts.Black rough grit paste to start and white paste for finition.
Coin return chute was real easy to bring to a shine!

Yep. Far less.

Submitted for your approval

The coin door from my prototype CFTBL

Holes drilled through the coin entrance bezel, wires clipped out of the harness.

The process of restoration included filling the holes with JB Weld and block sanding the door flat, rebuilding the harness using a harness from a parts door, combined with the CFTBL door harness, cleaning and refinishing everything.

cd1.jpg cd2.jpg cd3.jpg cd4.jpg cd5.jpg cd6.jpg

The rest

cd7.jpg cd8.jpg cd9.jpg cd10.jpg

How about these! image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg

I like the one in the middle

Here's a pic with it installed:

http://s437400854.onlinehome.us/wp-content/gallery/attack-from-mars/12.jpg

Here's my favorite (not really a restoration though):

http://s437400854.onlinehome.us/?page_id=115

Not for a pinball, but an asteroids machine. This is my favorite looking coin door.

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amazing work by one and all.

ok, now where's the kickstarter fund to get you guys to start a D.I.Y. pinball channel on cable?

I have a couple questions for folks who have done this.
1) Are you stripping the paint down to bare metal or just painting over the existing paint?
2) Are you using any primer before the black/hammer paint?
I have a few coin doors I need to restore.

I sand if there is significant damage to smooth the area, but I don't strip to bare metal. I like to leave the bumpy finish on the WPC coin doors and that would take it off. No primer.

Got a question for the experts.

Is it possible to get dints/dents etc out of the chrome Gottleib doors? Re-chroming will just make them shiny and dinted!

Just want to know if its even possible as would have to go somewhere to get it done if it can be?

Thanks

I would try a paintless dent removal place that usually get dents out of cars. Bet they could do it.

Bumping this old thread since it was an interesting topic and I was working on a coin door recently.

Basically, the black paint was wearing off in places and the bolts had no paint. I disassembled the coin door, did some light sanding, a coat of metal primer on the bolts, and a couple of coats of rustoleum's satin black on everything, and what was once old and beat-up is made new again.

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Didn't have a clue this thread existed but loved reading through here. Thanks for bumping it, ForceFlow.

Faved!

I've done some more of these in the last few years. They are fun to do, but very time consuming.

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Gottlieb System 1/80 coin doors have a ridiculous number of parts--probably more than most any other coin door. It was very time consuming to strip it down, clean, de-rust, and polish every part. The door also had a dent near the lock that had to be knocked back out. I had to figure out a way to remove the decal, so I wrote up an easy procedure on pinwiki. I also printed nice new coin inserts with a laser printer.

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Started here

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And ended here

09_Inside_coin_door_after_(resized).JPG

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In those "before" pictures your coin door looked like a murder suspect. Nice job cleaning up that crime scene!

My god...did you buy that new? That is a thing of beauty.

No, the brushed look was polished out and then highly polished to a mirror finish to complement the chrome work on the top panel.
Before and after pics....

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Coming soon for you Bally guys and other manufacturers sometime after...

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That is fantastic!!!

Mike,

Could you elaborate on how you do the bright buffing? These coin doors are fantastic.

Thanks
Yves

Minty fresh! Reminds me of the work Dokert does over on KLOV for arcade harnesses.

Did you polish it or was it sent to a buffing shop?

It went to a local buffing shop.

What sort of a business does one look for when searching for a buffing shop...and how much does a service like that run?