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Looks like I'm back at it again, this time a restoration on contract, which is fun since I should be that much better the second time around after what I learned with my first Ms. Pac-man the same time last fall. (Ms. Pac-man isn't elligible for the contest, and this won't be done in time either, but again, always good to have more content.)

Slowly but surely. I am glad I have my written information, really helpful for helping remember all of the details.


Will probably start sanding sometime this weekend...

Funny enough, I remember having trouble stripping the top on the last one, and to a lesser degree the back. No big deal. Small enough areas to sand down with the orbital or by hand...and I tried spray stripper this time, and it took about a can a side...so I wasn't about to buy a third aerosol can just for the top. I just used the remaining liquid I had from last year to try to take a little off the top.

Tags: art, artwork, cabinet, ms, pac-man, pacman, painting, sideart, stencil, stencils

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Might want to try water based stripper this time.
Does water based stripper work better on wood cabinets? Or better specific to the type of wood, like ply?
Jeff to be honest with you I only used stripper on the Bostonian cabinet. I know there is citristrip and a few others out there that you leave on for several hours and everything just comes right off. Just be sure to clean the cabinet good before painting. You might want to try oil based paint this time around.
Interesting...

Well, if I do this a third time, maybe that would be worth trying. It does sound highly messy though. Especially on a non flat surface like the top. Did you find that you only used one bottle or less of the thinner though to do it?
I used stripper to strip a KISS cabinet. The biggest problem I have, aside from the obvious mess, is the worry about leaving bits of the stripper behind to foul up the eventual paint job.

I recently started on a full repaint/restencil of a Stern - Dracula. Instead of using any chemical stripper, I just hit it with the sander and 80 grit paper. Not the cheap Harbor Freight crap, but the 3M green paper from Lowe's. I had the backbox stripped in less than an hour. It went REALLY fast, and I just changed out the paper every couple of minutes. After that, I won't use stripper on the half a dozen cabinets that I plan to repaint in the near future.

Stripper is great for refinishing bare wood, or removing many layers of paint from an antique door or house trim.. The finish on arcade and pin cabinets, even if repainted black from conversion, is very thin. Sanding works well for me.

Hit it with 80 grit. Fill dings with filler, fix problems, reglue joints, etc.. Resand with 120 or 200something. Primer, light sand. Begin finish.

Might as well add, the latex method I've found that works - 85% Premium Olympic semi-gloss interior latex (from Lowe's), 10% water to thin, 5% Floetrol (flowing agent, to smooth). I was really impressed. I have pics of the Dracula repaint and the DK Jr. cabinet I recently painted here:

http://joeysgameroom.blogspot.com/


Joey
For what it's worth I hit my Ms Pac with 60 grit in a light fashion. Then went to 80 in light fashion then 120 and 220 to finish.
Finally more progress. I hope to have all the sanding done for real, this time, by the end of Tuesday next week. Hoping that the weather stays warm enough to put down the base coats of paint at least on Wed-Fri....

Here is the cabinet in question. Really kills me to have to destroy this one, it really has some great color left, paint is solid not flaking....


I ended up using just 60 grit to try something different. I think overall this is a cheaper method...but possibly more time consuming, not sure yet. But I also like the fact that it seems to be less of a health risk - not putting stripper into the air even with a mask and glasses...

I found that after about half of one side, the 60 grit sure didn't work as well. Picked up from Harbor Freight, so like Joey said, must be pretty crappy. Next time will have to remember trying more of a name brand from a big box store.

Jeff, if your going to be doing "any" bondo work on the back corners be sure to install some new leg levelers and put them out almost all the way. This will protect your back corner repairs while your laying the machine down.
Very good tip. I will do that.
I got really lucky this week and had a couple of warm enough days to think about painting.

But first, the remaining prep.

First, sanded down the other side. There is definitely a tradeoff here between stripper & cost, vs. straight sanding and time. Next time, definitely 3M pads.

Finally the cabinet is all sanded at 150 Grit. I then went over it again with 100 Grit. Like Brian says, it doesn't need to be polished, too smooth and the low tack stencils don't stick, and too rough they don't either (as I found out last year the hard way)

Then, onto all the spots for wood hardener before bondo. I had a TON of oddities this time around, a lot more than last time....lots of knots that were pulling away from the wood that I just picked out...

Here is a shot of the kickplate. One spot that was bashed in, two spots for knots, and then all of the staples and bolt holes on the Ms. Pac front. Last year I filled in my bolt holes and left out the tray. I asked the owner if he wanted the same and he did. It may not be for the 'purist', but I can't stand those four huge bolts that go right through the Ms. Pacman artwork.


And then on the very top, where a nail was sticking out that hadn't been put in true holding the side together. I used the dremmel tool to cut off the end. Is there a better way to do that? Or maybe I needed a smaller dremel extension so that the slot you see wasn't as big. Filled that in with bondo too...

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