Big Blue restoration question

Spreadhead81

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So I'm getting one of these back in proper order and was looking for some suggestions. I had to do quite a bit of bondo work to the cab and have decided to paint the cab with the suggested color I found in another thread. To do this right should I just use a roller to paint it or could I use a paint sprayer if that was available? Any insight or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.
 
So I'm getting one of these back in proper order and was looking for some suggestions. I had to do quite a bit of bondo work to the cab and have decided to paint the cab with the suggested color I found in another thread. To do this right should I just use a roller to paint it or could I use a paint sprayer if that was available? Any insight or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.

Spraying correctly will give you superior results to other methods, but requires more time to do and space to do it.
 
I've only ever painted one cabinet, but I can share my experience with that one. I rolled the primer, spray painted (or "rattle can") the final color. I used the best foam roller I could find, and I still got texture. So I had to sand it a lot anyway.

Personally, if you've got the ability to grab a sprayer and whatever else is needed (air compressor) then I'd go that route. Search for threads that discuss HVLP sprayers and you can find a ton of good info.
 
Yes, a foam roller works great. Most cabs had orange peel or a textured vinyl on them and weren't super smooth anyway (except Nintendo cabs). I rolled a matching paint color over one panel of a Dynamo HS-9 and afterwards you couldn't tell which was factory vinyl and which had been repaired and painted.
 
Yes, a foam roller works great. Most cabs had orange peel or a textured vinyl on them and weren't super smooth anyway (except Nintendo cabs). I rolled a matching paint color over one panel of a Dynamo HS-9 and afterwards you couldn't tell which was factory vinyl and which had been repaired and painted.

Do you have examples of those cabs? I don't think I've seen one with Orange peel or Texture.
 
Do you have examples of those cabs? I don't think I've seen one with Orange peel or Texture.

SillyB is right, if you use a fine foam roller, (and you can paint worth a crap), you get the slight orange peel texture that a lot of cabs have. You can even thin the paint a little to allow it to flatten out a little more after rolling it on. Neo Geo cabs, cabs with textured vinyl/laminate sides (like big blue cabs) etc can benefit from the method. I think there is higher risk from spraying to get a orange peel texture that isn't fine enough. Spraying cabs is great, I've done it, but if you don't it too often, or at all, you'll likely have worse results than a fine foam roller. You can always wet sand and buff whether you spray or roll if you need a mirror finish.
 
SillyB is right, if you use a fine foam roller, (and you can paint worth a crap), you get the slight orange peel texture that a lot of cabs have. You can even thin the paint a little to allow it to flatten out a little more after rolling it on. Neo Geo cabs, cabs with textured vinyl/laminate sides (like big blue cabs) etc can benefit from the method. I think there is higher risk from spraying to get a orange peel texture that isn't fine enough. Spraying cabs is great, I've done it, but if you don't it too often, or at all, you'll likely have worse results than a fine foam roller. You can always wet sand and buff whether you spray or roll if you need a mirror finish.
Most informative post yet, thank you sir
 
Do you have examples of those cabs? I don't think I've seen one with Orange peel or Texture.

Maybe your definition of orange peel is different than mine. If you look closely at any Dynamo or 3koam cab the vinyl isn't smooth, it has a small amount of texturing which causes it not to look super shiny like a car. If you look in the pics you can see that the cabs have a diffused, dull reflection of the light source. The black cab was pretty close to NOS, you can see it has the factory stickers still on it front and back. The HS9 is the one I mentioned, I rolled only one of the four grey bottom panels and two of the six light blue with a foam roller and when standing in front of it you couldn't tell which was factory and which was rolled. Atari cabs can probably go on the list with Nintendo as being a smooth silk screened finish but even Williams and early Midway stenciled cabs weren't a high gloss shiny finished product.
 

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Spray it. I am working on a Gen 1 Big Blue restore right now. I thought I'd give it the oil-based primer, then wet sand paint rolled on paint treatment. Firstly, wet sanding is messy and arduous. You are going to hate life. Secondly, the results with HVLP are so much better.
 
Roll it with a super smooth roller. Prime and wet sand, prime again, wet sand. Then roll the paint. You roll it on and once spread evenly on the side, you then roll only one direction. I usually go from bottom to top, very lightly. This makes the sheen all one direction so you don't see different direction shine when the light hits it. I made that mistake with my first cab, and it turned out like shit. Just roll very lightly, no weight at all. I just use my two fingers to hold the handle up as i drag it along the cab. I got it down to where it looks great, and has barely any texture at all
 
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