From the couple people that have tried/done it, their number one complaint was production cost. Between having the apron made, to the painting or powder coating, to the art application(whether decals, screen printing[which is difficult on aprons], dry rub transfer, or even direct printing), they've all said that there's pretty much zero profit in it unless you're doing hundreds of them. With that said, though, the guys who were going to do the TAF apron had well over 100 pledges to buy a new apron from them, but life things happened that complicated production and it pretty much got abandoned, sadly.

Operator did you really need to install your decal directly on top of the screen printed apron art? It’s nearly impossible to remove them without damage. Does anyone have a Creature apron that they would like to sell?

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You'd think Todd would know better.

toddtuckey we demand an explanation!!!

We've got $2000 toppers so why not $500 aprons!

I saw some of Brian's results with UV printed aprons, looked good but very pricey I suppose.

The best way I have found to remove old op decals from the apron without removing paint or damaging the art is to soak with WD-40. It absorbs into the decal and slowly causes the adhesive to give way. If you apply heat it makes this process quicker but most of the time I just have a little patience. As it softens I use either my finger nail or a plastic razor blade/putty knife and lightly mar the back of the decal. Eventually it just falls apart and your left with the adhesive which you then scrap off, adding more WD-40 as you go. Keep it wet.

I was able to scan, trace, produce stencils and airbrush my BSD apron. Turned out pretty well --

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/silhouette-cameo-pinball-restorers-club/page/8#post-5382809

He puts his sticker where a person is most likely to see it and where it will last the longest. Every used car dealer puts there sticker/badge on the back of the vehicle they sell. No difference. Good investment for the money based on the exposure.

Is this true today? I notice the sticker looks old school in its style and lack of website. Thought maybe this is just a reminder of a period of time where Pinball was less collectable and more operator focused.

There were some aprons done with cut vinyl which looked good -- so long as you can find the right colours.

Try low concentration isopropyl alcohol.like 70%.

He still installs a sticker on every apron, generally in a corner.

WD-40 method

First pic: If you look close and zoom up you can see this had a round sticker dead center of the apron. Can't find my close up pic of before and after.

Second pic: This apron just had hardened adhesive leftover when I got the machine. Physical damage already done.

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If anyone has CAD files for an apron would be interesting to see how much an online service quotes for it, like

https://www.xometry.com/capabilities/sheet-metal-fabrication

They do powder coating too.

There are some Fusion360 models out there, if anyone can convert one to a compatible format and get a quote would be interesting.

You need to remove the rust down to base metal. Then prime/paint/clear. Clearing is optional but provides longer protection. The paint itself will keep any new rust from forming if you remove whats there.

Examples in pics below.

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Ha...no I wouldn't think that.

My thoughts.

Matt and Dave were the ones who did these originally. They lived in the same town when they started this a few years ago. Dave moved out of state and Matt now owns at least two dental offices. This is no longer a priority for either of them. I'm not sure they were making enough on each apron to make it worth the effort anyway.

Matt and Dave were able to source a company that would not only make the aprons but powder them and silk screen them. Sounds pretty sweet but they had to be done in quantities (not sure how many). Dave stopped at my place one day and he had a huge box (4'x4'x4' maybe) in the back of his pickup and another two of them on a trailer. They were full. This isn't like having 200 stickers or decals made. I can only imagine the pain in having a space to store these and the packaging and shipping. Matt also told me at one point, the woman doing the screening threatened to quit if she had to do anymore. They were that much of a pain to do.

The pic shown is one that got done for a local guy (Brian) I did a restoration for. He actually has artists that scanned and redid the artwork. He also has a printer that can print it. I had a body shop friend strip and paint it. It then got printed. It then got cleared.

Way too expensive of a process. and this is if people sent us their original.

We came to the conclusion, the only way to do this, keeping the cost down and making some kind of profit, would be to find a manufacturer that could do all of this....manufacture, powder, print and clear. Brian knows of companies that could do this. He's huge into arcade reproductions. I thought he was going to move forward with this but he has not. The fact that he's a surgeon might have something to do with it. Just no time.

So I say to anyone who thinks this is something that's relatively easy to do and there's all kinds of money to be made....knock yourself out!

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Aprons are one of the top reasons I’m investing in a sand blasting cabinet (I used to take stuff to a local shop, but they went under, so I had to take the plunge.)
You really need to get them down to bare metal and build back up.

dr_nybble has done wonderful work with stenciling, proof it can be done with tools I have in house, and I’m really looking forward to trying my hand at this process.
It’s by far the best method I know of for reproducing the artwork on most aprons - but it’s also labor intensive and extremely fussy. Have to get it right every step or you’re starting over.

Another method that can work acceptably is use of waterslide decals and a clear topcoat. I used them on a Bally Kiss>Geiger Miss World conversion a while back, and it really did work well.
This won’t be as useful on aprons with long “pinstriping” lines, but for self-contained chunks of graphic, this is a decent workaround.
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I'm amazed that people still think Todd is an idiot. The guy has been in coin op nearly his whole life. If he cuts corners its to save time and money. Not because he doesn't know any better.

The quote "Forgot more then you'll ever know", is very fitting for Mr. Tuckey when compared to most in the business, industry, hobby.

Agree with that

The message is Todd Tuckey is not an idiot. If he wanted to restore a vid/pin/juke/exc. to mint he has the resources and knowledge to do so. If he needs to fix something quickly and on the cheap he can do that too. If a customer wants A but not B, he is capable. Todd's peers know this. Even if pinside and klov don't.

I tried that method on a BSD apron many years ago. It worked pretty well. I went real slow and soaked it thru but it still faded the silk screened art by about 15%. Fortunately I found a replacement on eBay for $35 but that was many years ago before eBay went to shit. I have also tried the alcohol method and got the same result. The decal comes off but the silk screen art Is slightly faded .
Thank you for the tips everyone.
In defense of TNT other operators in the area did the same thing in the mid-late 1990’s. I always likened it to pimps who have their ladies get their name tattooed on them so everyone knows who they work for. Pinball Pimps!

The two methods that would I think work best for art reproduction are waterslide decals and/or dry transfer decals.

The waterslide decals can be tough because you really need a white base to reproduce all the colors correctly. Whether that means you can print the white base using white ink(which is VERY rare), or you print on a white decal sheet, which when cut out, can result in the white cut edges showing. Color matching can be tough with these because the factory typically used standardized Pantone Spot colors and most home model printers can't hit these colors with 100% accuracy.

The dry transfer decals work extremely well and look damn good. They can also be made by companies that use those Pantone Spot colors and can hit them perfectly. But, they're a one and done kind of thing. You only get one shot to place them once you start rubbing them into place. You really have to be sure of your location. This can be worked with and there can be ways developed to make sure you place them just right. Plus, they can be really expensive. You'd have to get a very large sheet and cram as many sets on there as possible to bring down your per game cost.

But before you even get to that part, the reproduction of the artwork can be very time consuming to do it the proper way. Depending on complexity, it could be anywhere from 10-40 hours worth of work just to get it dead on AND in a state that is print-ready.

You can see how the cost really starts to add up with doing these. PPS most likely has the artwork and the original screens to most, if not all, the big B/w titles we'd all want/need. If there's anybody who can start doing these with some of the harder steps already taken care of, it'd be them. But again, they're probably not interested in doing quantities less than 500 or so for each title, and that's not likely to happen, even with TAF.

If there was good availability of rub on transfers I think that would satisfy a lot of restoration needs.

A rub-on transfer is basically a screen print with adhesive.

I used rub-on transfer to restore a Williams wood-rail shooter gauge. On the nickel plate a decal just wouldn't work.

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Sorry my bad. Planetary Pinball has some now but PinRescue was the other company that had a bunch for many titles that went out of business recently.

I think you mean Pinball Rescue from Australia, which closed up shop a while back. The did have quite a few restoration decals.
Planetary is still in business.

Edit: Ha, you were editing while I was typing.

Yes thats correct I changed the original post.

Did you clear over it once applied?

Nope. Can't see anything that would go wrong with it in the next 50 years other than wiping dust off it once in a while.

It's living a pleasant life now in the comfort of a home environment!

I did try a PinRescue decal for this purpose but it didn't look good on the reflective surface.

I thought the transfer would be pretty delicate and scratch easily.

That is a sticker we used up until 1999. (because its red lettering), we started with just black lettering. Our last stickers have red lettering with yellow insert. We now only use a small square foil sticker with the year we shopped the game and its easy to remove.

Well, we used stickers like this from 1988 through 2013 when we stopped and just have a small easy to remove foil sticker. Remember, this was before people treated these games as they had the Hope Diamond in their home. It was a way to insure us to do the repairs rather than some bonehead dimwit who "fixes games on the side". They would at least call us...as that bonehead would get inside a game and bend stuff and blow stuff out.
I have PLENTY of horror stories about hacks since I started 44 years ago in the actual business of selling the games, and not "on the side" after I got home from my "regular" job! Also, I started using plug in Lithium batteries in 1999 on every game we sold (except brand new games, voiding the warranty) and saved hundreds and hundreds of games from battery damage all these years later because of it. I got screamed at by "nutties" for "altering" the original parts on the logic board and not replacing it with a new AA battery holder and AA batteries that would always leak! Now, we use Frank's wonderful battery board with the extra blocking diode with a standard 2032 battery...we have sold hundreds of these boards, saving hundreds of games for the future enjoyment by others! Todd

Todd for PRESIDENT ! ! !

I saw a post the other day on the Strictly Custom Pins Facebook group, where a guy had a apron made with the site Send Cut Send.

I think you need a die and a hydraulic press to make the indents for the score and pricing cards.

If YouTube is to be believed you could get away with 3d printed dies and a manual press from Harbor Freight for a small run.

I've created reproduction aprons for IJ

I've made CAD based reproduction aprons for IJ. Online fabricators like Xometry can do the bends for something like IJ but not aprons that have indents for the cards. Finishing is the big issue in my book. I've not been happy with my own attempts at painting, or the quality of powdercoating from places like SendCutSend.

In thinking how these things were made originally, I'm curious if they were all stamped. Or at least multi-process stamped, like, they stamped the tops with the punches and dies for the apron card recesses and holes, then a second stamping die came down and folded all the sides over.

I wonder if PPS has those dies or at least, the drawings/specs for those dies.

The first thing I have always done when buying a new car is to remove the dealer advertising. There is no excuse for this being done to a pin sold to a collector (to an operator is totally different).

I use Noxon.