Freddy Glove Repair

shardian

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I've heard folk say they've done this online, but have never seen a 'how to'. I figured I would document my process for anyone who has considered it, but didn't have the confidence to have at it.

This Freddy was missing all three blades. Fortunately I found a busted blade in the bottom of the cabinet to gauge by. I decided to go with craft sticks.

My tool of choice is a dremel. I have a nice corded dremel with the flex head attachment...but that thing is a cumbersome beast. I decided to invest in the $20 cordless Dremel model for its compact, light weight design and 'grab-n-work wherever you happen to be standing' convenience.
 

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Step #1: Prep the glove

I don't know what other people have done, but to me the best course of action would be to completely remove the old blades and create a slot for the new ones. This would give a very solid connection and add to overall strength.

To do this I used a cutoff wheel to remove whatever was left of the protruding blades. Then I used a barrel sander to grind down the blade tops on the fingers. Finally, I used a thin cutoff wheel to hollow out where the blade will go. Popsicle sticks are almost exactly the same thickness as the original, so you have a built in template of where to cut. I went to the same depth as the original blade goes on the tips of the fingers.

Sorry for no progress pics here, but I did all this work before deciding to document. Sometimes I get a wild hair and accomplish more than I plan on in a sitting.
 

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Step #2: Make the blades.
There is a high probability that many of you won't have a spare blade to use as a template. In this case, go by pics on the 'net and improvise. If anyone is interested, I could just scan in my blades before I glue them on.

Since I had a broken blade on hand, I used it to lay out the blade size and dimensions. I put it back in place and measured from tip to the end of the blade back on the hand. It then cut the stick to size.

Next I laid the existing blade on the stick with the tips lined up. There is a slight curve to the blade, but you don't have to go by that. Feel free to shape the blade as you see fit. I personally tried to keep them identical to the original. At the other end, I traced one of my cutoff wheels so it would match the cutout in the finger.
Here's the other catch - I only had one blade to go by. I decided to cut them all the same, then address the asthetics later. See a post further down for more on that...

Now to cut them out. Once again I went with a barrel sander to shape the stick based on my tracing of the original. Once that was done it is a simple task to dry fit the blade and adjust the cutout and/or blade as needed. Next you just use the finished blade to cut all the others out.
 

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Step 3: dry fit and adjustment

Now you can fit in the blades to the hand and see where you stand. If you followed the original blade outline for your plunge cut, you should have a snug fit. As you can see on my dry fit, the fingers need a little trimming to tie in better with the actual flipper blade. I'll trim down the ring finger blade a bit, but that's about it.

Once you are happy with how the blades look as a complete unit, it's time to spray bomb them with some silver paint.

More tomorrow assuming I'm not at the hospital welcoming my new little gameroom helper into the world.
 

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I did this about a month ago (on Todd Tuckey's tip) and am really pleased with the results. It looks very good, and the wooden blades hold up really well.
 
Every Freddy has broken glove fingers, you think gottlieb would have noticed this during testing. It only takes a few games to break 'em.
 
Another bad one is the Mini Me in the austin powers, they mounted it on the spinner and after a few games Mini Me flies apart so you've got little midget body parts lying all over the playfield.
 
I finished this up and installed it yesterday. I am very pleased with the results. I used a metallic chrome spray paint. Now I need to polish the actual metal flipper because it looks like crap next to the new blades. I also did trim down the ring finger blade to better transition to the flipper.

Sorry for the pic quality, but all I have right now is my camera phone.

Also, if anyone wants this done to their hand but is afraid to do it, I'd be happy to do it for you for a nominal fee.

Now onto my next custom Freddy project.
 

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That's the exact same fix I've seen others do, and it looks very good. Though I think I remember seeing some small zip ties added around the fingers, which makes me wonder if after some play, they end up getting knocked out? In fact, Dennis had one a few years ago and that's the first place I saw this fix, and it looked really good.

Nice job, looks good.

Wade
 
Though I think I remember seeing some small zip ties added around the fingers, which makes me wonder if after some play, they end up getting knocked out?

On mine, I used hot glue when setting the blades and can't imagine them going anywhere anytime soon. ;)
 
I don't know that the straps are necessarily needed, but it wouldn't surprise me if they do end up being needed. Especially since the original plastic blades get broken off so frequently, that tells me that the ball frequently hits the blades with some force. A ball is pretty heavy and those things are long enough for there to be some real leverage, plus if that ball has some speed the flip is going to be some real force if the ball comes up at all. Hot glue isn't good for much, crafts maybe. :) I guess if the glue is strong enough the next weakest thing would probably just start breaking (the wood blades).

Wade
 
I think it came out pretty awesome. I actually like the idea of the wood sticks because they'll break before the rest of the hand. I thought about something like cutting up old butter knives but then the hand would probably break and you'd really be screwed.
 
I think it came out pretty awesome. I actually like the idea of the wood sticks because they'll break before the rest of the hand. I thought about something like cutting up old butter knives but then the hand would probably break and you'd really be screwed.

Popsicle sticks will break easy on the flat, but they are strong on the edge.I don't see them breaking any time soon. Just in case though, I'm giving the guy a set of unpainted extras. If one breaks, he just has to clean out the hole and glue in a new one.
 
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