I'm getting ready to do this myself. Thanks for posting how you did it.

How was it getting the old glue/tape off?
What did you use for sticking the new rails on?

Did remove the siderails for the first time from a Williams' machine. Went easily with just a putty knife, no need for a heatgun. To my surprise did not even need to remove the backbox for the work. Used tape for protecting the cabinet, but did not go for the playing cards. Cleaned the old glue residue with naphta. Now I can really start to plan new armors for my pinballs, yay!

Excellent. Thanks for posting this. I've only done one set (CV), but the existing rails were pretty much falling off already. I'm picking up brass plated rails and lockdown from Mike Chestnut this coming weekend for IJ. This will help me a bit in figuring out how to remove the existing rails. I have never seen this technique yet.

One additional thing I do when removing rails is to use some shims along the way to keep the removed rail from going back down and resticking.

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You guys have some balls! Always wanted to do that just always ended up nicking the artwork and re-decaling

did something similar with my Funhouse....the harder part was cleaning the old tape off of my rails. I hated that....

Hmm, I'm in the middle of removing siderails on a Williams' machine. At the end of the rail, there is also a bolt to my surprise, usually the last bolt is not there. How in earth is this bold remove as even with the backbox down I don't seem to find the nut for it?

To answer myself, I would suggest putting a knife between the siderail and the cabinet and using the siderail as a lever to get the nail head come up a bit and then remove the nail with pliers

Yep. They are typically not there, but I do see them from time to time. I believe they're always the screw nails, so it should be easy to remove.

Sweet. I'm about to change out the rails on the STTNG we picked up this week.

Can anyone do this without ruining the rail? I was doing a redecal, removed the rails, which were fine, but ended up with so many creases had to buy new rails.

Yes. Just never pull on the rail. Use shims to hold it away.

Some have reported dental floss will do the trick.

Old RGP threads exist on this method.

I'm debating upgrading to either piano wire--or possibly ripping a band-saw blade--and then simply sawing upwards with either, to possibly save the nice stainless rails on my AFM.

Still thinkin'.

I'm scared to do this.

FWIW, the EATPM I pictured above, those removed rails went out for powdercoating.

I just buy new rails, they're cheap.

BTW, IMHO one does not have to do a lot a preparing of the cabinet - just use your other hand as a protection so that they putty knife's handle does not harm the cabinet. And when inserting the new rail, I just make a small marker on the top part of the cabinet trim without using the double-sided tape on the rail at that time to see that the rail's and cabinet's hole align perfectly - its easy to get the rails with the double-sided tape to align after that.

Word of warning though: the process is easy with printed cabinet sides, but they get very difficult if you have new decals and decide the switch the siderails e.g. to have them painted - you have the risk that the new decal will stick in the process to the putty knife and come off when you pull the putty knife away from under the siderail. Happened to me once - I had to exchange those rails extra carefully and fortunately in the end the tear-down pieces of the decal stayed under the siderail and are not visible.

True, however original factory parts in virtually any hobby are generally always of higher quality in terms of fit and finish vs. reproductions--why I personally always prefer to re-use a nice original.

Thought I'd resurrect this to ask a related question..

What is the best way to reattach the rails?

You put the double sided tape on - how high up or down on the rail should you put it? i.e. closer/flush with the bottom edge or the top corner bit?

How about alignment when refitting? Rest rail on machine and tape along the bottom so that the rail acts like a hinge, remove the double sided tape mask and lift rail up to attach?

LOL, I've done many removals with nothing more than a steel scraper and a heat gun. Never damaged an inch of the cabinet art.