Atari T-molding

Wolfinator

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Anybody here replace the T-molding on an Atari cab? I just noticed my Centipede t-molding goes all the way around and under the cabinet...but I only ordered 20'

Do you think it'll look lame If I only replace 10' on either side where it show? Top and front? The new stuff will be green.
 
I just ordered 40feet because I'm pretty sure it's over 10 feet per side all the way around. If you started about 4 inches under the bottom on the front and worked the front and over the top stopping where each 10 ft section ends it may not look bad. Then just leave the black for the rest. When it's against the wall, especially between games, it would look fine. - Barry
 
i did an atari cab all the way around and i was in the middle of another restore and i "borrowed" the t-molding from the back af the cab to complete the other resto! noone noticed
 
I bought 40' when I redid the t-molding for my Asteroids. I had less than 10 feet left over. You always want to be safe when buying molding. Buying more than you need is a LOT better than not buying enough.
 
Speaking of Atari t-molding, I own the original Atari extrusion dies for the 3/4" t-molding they used on their games. I've been in-process of remaking this material for about two months now. I've about got the mixture and flow tweaked to my liking, but I just realized something...

Is this t-molding even necessary? The only reason I decided to run it off is because I'm anal about everything being as perfect as possible AND I can run it off cheaper than buying it from someone else. Only downside is having to run off so many thousands of feet of the material and STORING it.

Is anyone after true-to-original Atari 3/4" t-molding? I've already done the 1-1/2" SW cockpit t-molding and the 2-1/4" Major Havoc/720 t-molding... why not do the 3/4" too? LOL

Seriously, does anyone want this stuff?

Dave
 
Speaking of Atari t-molding, I own the original Atari extrusion dies for the 3/4" t-molding they used on their games. I've been in-process of remaking this material for about two months now. I've about got the mixture and flow tweaked to my liking, but I just realized something...

Is this t-molding even necessary? The only reason I decided to run it off is because I'm anal about everything being as perfect as possible AND I can run it off cheaper than buying it from someone else. Only downside is having to run off so many thousands of feet of the material and STORING it.

Is anyone after true-to-original Atari 3/4" t-molding? I've already done the 1-1/2" SW cockpit t-molding and the 2-1/4" Major Havoc/720 t-molding... why not do the 3/4" too? LOL

Seriously, does anyone want this stuff?

Dave

Is that the same T-molding for Gauntlet? I just noticed on the control panel that it seems to have a lip.
 
Speaking of Atari t-molding, I own the original Atari extrusion dies for the 3/4" t-molding they used on their games. I've been in-process of remaking this material for about two months now. I've about got the mixture and flow tweaked to my liking, but I just realized something...

Is this t-molding even necessary? The only reason I decided to run it off is because I'm anal about everything being as perfect as possible AND I can run it off cheaper than buying it from someone else. Only downside is having to run off so many thousands of feet of the material and STORING it.

Is anyone after true-to-original Atari 3/4" t-molding? I've already done the 1-1/2" SW cockpit t-molding and the 2-1/4" Major Havoc/720 t-molding... why not do the 3/4" too? LOL

Seriously, does anyone want this stuff?


Dave

I have 6 Atari Cabs that could use new T-Molding, but I have no idea what is different between the Atari molding and normal 3/4" T-Molding, if there is a difference. I would buy it if it was about the same price as what is available, but I don't know if it would be worth a premium price.
 
Speaking of Atari t-molding, I own the original Atari extrusion dies for the 3/4" t-molding they used on their games. I've been in-process of remaking this material for about two months now. I've about got the mixture and flow tweaked to my liking, but I just realized something...

Is this t-molding even necessary? The only reason I decided to run it off is because I'm anal about everything being as perfect as possible AND I can run it off cheaper than buying it from someone else. Only downside is having to run off so many thousands of feet of the material and STORING it.

Is anyone after true-to-original Atari 3/4" t-molding? I've already done the 1-1/2" SW cockpit t-molding and the 2-1/4" Major Havoc/720 t-molding... why not do the 3/4" too? LOL

Seriously, does anyone want this stuff?

Dave

is it much different than the standard t molding on the market these days? If not can you compete price wise with what is on the market. I would think many people here would buy the correct atari t molding if they could get it for the same price as the other t molding available. Now if it's distinctly different then I suppose charging a little more might not hurt sales a lot. Although from my recollection the stuff on my atari cabs looks pretty similar to the stuff that most t molding vendors sell.
 
I ordered two rolls of bright green, one for the centipede the other for a reserve in case I come across another machine. It looks like I will be getting into the second roll just for the first machine....Bummer....
 
Arcadeshop has t-molding for $10. But if you specify Midway you get 20 feet and if you ask for Atari you get 35. If you want to wrap around the entire cab on some Ataris you need 30-35. I have an Asteroids and I had two or 3 feet left over.

It's actually pretty strange, because one side of Asteroids had the T-Molding groove wrap around the entire cabinet. The other side had a two or 3 foot section on the back that didn't have a grove. Is this normal for Asteroid or other Atari cabs?
 
Speaking of Atari t-molding, I own the original Atari extrusion dies for the 3/4" t-molding they used on their games.

May I ask how you got these dies? I'm always amazed that these things like this (original dies, artwork films, etc) still exist and that they found their way into the hands of people who can actually do something with them. I find the stories behind these aquisitions fascinating.
 
Atari's stuff all got liquidated when they went out of business so no surprise this stuff was all over the place...Scott Evans has just about all the atari films that survived which is most and a lot of the secret internal atari documentation..but I"m sure other stuff went to various collectors who were fortunate to be there when they sold all of that stuff...

Same deal with the guy who got all the Gottlieb pinball stuff (Steve Young)

Gene Cunningham got most if not all of the Williams Pinball films when he purchased the Williams rights..only in last few years has he really started reproducing the stuff and make it available to public..for a while that stuff was in question as to what was going to happen..

We recently had some Bally films pop up on here that we had access too...I got a few pieces and I know so did some others..
 
Midway Games West shut down one of their facilities in 2003 and they had tons of ATARI material to offload. I was right there when it happened! I ended up with a huge amount of tooling (dies, molds, jigs, etc), components, reel to reel tapes, file cabinets full of paperwork, etc. Now this material would most likely resemble a pile of junk to most people, but me being in the manufacturing business, I immediately recognized what it was! I almost couldn't contain my excitement when the opportunity was presented to me.

Anyhow, that's what I grabbed up in the first trip. I had planned to go back for a second run, but the place was cleared out by the time I was ready to run back up. Come to find out, Scott Evans ended up with most of the films. :) At least, I assume these are the same films that Scott ended up with. LOL

It's all good - we're making the most of our hauls.

In fact, if it were not for the fact that I have this tooling, many of the items I'm reproducing probably wouldn't happen as making new molds/dies can be quite expensive. Since I can avoid the majority of those costs up front, all I typically need to worry about is the material cost and, sometimes, minor cost to repair said molds.

Interesting note: the tooling was not stored very well during their stay with Midway Games (possibly during their stay with Atari at some point in time as well) and some of the molds suffered damage. Simple precautions could have been taken to avoid it, but I believe that the tooling was considered to be obsolete garbage which would explain how it was treated. I know how to store this kind of material correctly so no NEW damage has been inflicted upon them since 2003.

Watch for more reproduction items this year. 2010 is going to be exciting, that's for sure!

Dave
 
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When I only have 20' of new T-Molding to work with for a cab that needs it wrapped all the way around, I cut it in half... use each on each side starting from about 4" back from the bottom front...work my way up the front, across the top then down the back. It'll stop somewhere a couple feet down the back. I then use the best of the old stuff for the remaining 5 feet or so.
 
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