branching out in the repro field

DPtwiz

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I've decided i want to do more than just build cabinets. I recently did a small run of repro metal parts, i have to do some finish work on before i offer them. I also took on another repro project that is in the works, and i'll announce it once the parts have been ran. It's a common part, with a special finish, and i went overkill on it, 20,000 of them lol!

I have some other ambitious things i want to take on, making obsolete metal parts, and to make it cost effective i would need to do it in house. My next investement is going to be a cnc plasma table. Pretty much like my shopbot, but for cutting metal. Also a hydralic press, punch, a sheetmetal brake, and powdercoating equipment.

I would be able to make control panels, marquee brackets, monitor brackets, joystick parts, and the two ambitious projects, midway and nintendo coin doors. Looking at march of 11 to have everything in place.

me personally, i'd rather buy a good control panel than scrape off old cpo's, weld extra holes shut, and pound out and bondo dents. Also, i figured some of my cabinets would sell alot better if i offered a hardware kit that included all the metal cabinet parts.

Anyone like the path i'm about to go down?
 
Nintendo Coin doors really got my attention. Oh and marquee brackets. This sounds great and best of luck! Me like!
 
This is good news. I'd love to see these parts repro'd, especially the hard to find ones!
 
Go for it Brett, I agree, I think adding metal part options to your cabs is definitely a value add!

FYI- I have a guy up here in Michigan that is a professional painter (mostly show cars and prototypes for the auto industry). He is starting to stencil cabs as well. I have only seen pics so far, but they look top notch. Not sure how far you are from Ann Arbor, but there may be some type of option there for you for stenciling some of your cabs as applicable and demand determines. If you did a run of Moon Patrol cabs for example, you could work with him to offer a fully painted cab. Not sure if this is of any interest to you, but I have told him about your work and he was quite intrigued. He has a full shop and is a stand up guy. Let me know if you have someone on board for this already, or if this sounds in any way interesting to you.
 
Wow thats an ambitious upgrade.. Do you have a larger space to move into?

A press, punch, brake, and power coating eq is going ot take up a LOT of room and a huge amount of power.. never mind the new Plasma CNC. Its a pretty massive investment.

I actually run a small company that manufactures and sells plasma cnc systems. I would have a dedicated area/room for it if possible. Plasma dust gets in EVERYTHING and its electrically conductive. I highly recommend a water table.

Reproducing a midway coin door wouldn't be easy. Those appear to be stamped out of sheet metal
and then painted.

I think what is holding you back on the cabinets is the cost of shipping. Obviously having all the little metal bits would help as well:)

I'd pick up a couple cabs if I didn't have to pay crazy shipping. That way I almost break even on your cab + parts to recreate the game vs just buying one in really nice condition.

You might want to look into self assembly kits for your cabs and flat pack them. This would allow them to be shipped via Fedex (if they are under max dimensional weight) or use a company like fedex freight to get a flat rate shipping cost across the us.. probably $99.

Personally.. I'd love to see more reproduction parts made! I dont think anyone will disagree.

Just some friendly advice and my 2 cents:)

Malice95
 
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I would probably pre-order a couple of Nintendo coin doors. If you're certain you'll be making a run, for a decent price, I'll hold off on straightening and having mine powdercoated. Nearly every Nintendo coin door I come across looks like it's been pried open with a screw driver.

Midway brackets would be good to do, if you're selling the cabinets.

Cocktail control panels, Dragons Lair stuff, Bally pinball stainless coin door skins might all be worth considering.

Make sure you consider the pinball collector community. There are a ton of metal parts to be made there. I'd do a poll on RGP if I were you.
 
Count me in as someone who would be interested, anywhere from coin doors to complete kits.

I would have bought multiple cabinets by now, just have had really bad timing with making a trip out there to pickup. Hope to be able to when you're back to work in 2011.
 
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i'll try and memorize all the comments to comment lol, percocets are working today! my arm is REALLY sore today. I've thought ahead on alot of these parts, and how to make them. for space, my layout sucks. i can fix that, but i gotta get all my games out of the house. Sell, or store one way or the other. I have to take out an L Shaped non support wall between the garage and den. Then i have to put in an engineered beam to take out a support wall between the den and game room addition. That will give me a 19' X 49 workshop. I currently have a 19X 19 L shape with an 8X8 square shape for part of the den. I'm calling to check on leasing options today to get this moving sooner if possible.
 
I'd love to see some metal BattleZone joystick shells. I'm getting tired of dealing with fragile plastic ones.

Yeah, I know, heresy. Whatever.
 
I'd love to see some metal BattleZone joystick shells. I'm getting tired of dealing with fragile plastic ones.

Yeah, I know, heresy. Whatever.

BZ joystick parts, handles and rings cut out of metal, would be awesome, especially since you're supposed to be driving a tank. I wouldn't expect that to be cheap, but would be an interesting project.
 
Seems like a really good idea ! I am sure you will get quite a few people wanting to do small private runs thru you for reproing parts.

Best of luck !

Rich
 
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