Galaga Cabinet restoration

I have some questions about the cabinet itself and what I can do to try an keep it mostly original as possible.. I know that there maybe some wood working involved for sure...
Seems this guy has sit in a damp basement some where for a long time and the base and the edges around the back door have started to expand badly.. here are some pics of what I am running into...
I am open to any suggestions to try and fix it back to its original glory.. I already know that the side art has been scarred beyond repair so it will get sanded,painted and new decals.
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There are a couple of ways you can go about fixing it.

1- Cut out the bottom up to where the swelling ends and scab in a new piece of wood. Glue, fill, sand, fill, paint or vinyl/laminate

2- Use wood hardener and inject it into the swollen area thats breaking apart and clamp the edges back down using a hard piece of flat wood or steel backed with wax paper so it doesn't stick. This will compress the blown out edge and make it solid. You may have to do this in several steps.

3- add wood hardener to the flaking damaged area. Let dry. Sand swollen parts back to even. Add more hardener and refinish with paint/laminate/exc.
 
There are a couple of ways you can go about fixing it.

1- Cut out the bottom up to where the swelling ends and scab in a new piece of wood. Glue, fill, sand, fill, paint or vinyl/laminate

2- Use wood hardener and inject it into the swollen area thats breaking apart and clamp the edges back down using a hard piece of flat wood or steel backed with wax paper so it doesn't stick. This will compress the blown out edge and make it solid. You may have to do this in several steps.

3- add wood hardener to the flaking damaged area. Let dry. Sand swollen parts back to even. Add more hardener and refinish with paint/laminate/exc.
I appreciate the response.. I think the easiest for me to do since it doesnt balloon out to far and the material acts more like foam board than actual wood I can just cut the edges off and cut new pieces to match and shore up the support on the inside... I will have to do this on the back side where the door is supposed to go as well. I will post in stages once I complete each one.
This is going to be a fun one for sure :)
 
Looks like the bottom gave way and broke where the wheels are, I'd try and get something to fix that as well.

p
 
I appreciate the response.. I think the easiest for me to do since it doesnt balloon out to far and the material acts more like foam board than actual wood I can just cut the edges off and cut new pieces to match and shore up the support on the inside... I will have to do this on the back side where the door is supposed to go as well. I will post in stages once I complete each one.
This is going to be a fun one for sure :)
Just take your time and spend more time planning than you think you need to and it will turn out just fine. I had this machine in the shop for a customer. It was ready to topple over. Now its one of the nicer Galaga's I've worked on. It might act as a guide in your restore as I too needed to add panels/supports.



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These cabs are made of of crappy fiberboard. Wear a mask when sanding.

As said above wood harder and several passes of sanding and Bondo with compression treatments.

Phoenix Arcade has the best quality Galaga artwork.

Good luck.
 
how did you apply the wood hardner to those edges? I assume just apply with brush or cloth then use some clamps against hard surface to make it more slim and compressed...?
 
how did you apply the wood hardner to those edges? I assume just apply with brush or cloth then use some clamps against hard surface to make it more slim and compressed...?
If possible I use a disposable pipette. This allows you to inject a considerable amount deeper into the fibers then a brush would allow. Also helps if you use gravity to your advantage. And yes use a flat board or metal edge to clamp against. Remembering to keep wax paper between the hard edge and cab.
 
I wouldnt use bondo for the edges. It's not very durable, I reserve bondo for inner nail holes. I used epoxy and wood flour. Search my other threads for more info. Every couple of months this gets brought back up so it's been covered and recovered in depth.
 
I wouldnt use bondo for the edges. It's not very durable, I reserve bondo for inner nail holes. I used epoxy and wood flour. Search my other threads for more info. Every couple of months this gets brought back up so it's been covered and recovered in depth.

What he said ☝️
 
Looks like the bottom gave way and broke where the wheels are, I'd try and get something to fix that as well.

p
Yes, I think I can get all of it looking great again for sure.. The nice thing about this one is that the Game actually came up and worked with a small vertical collapse on the screen which I believe a cap kit can fix...
First thing to do is Gut it entirely down to nothing but wood and place it on my bench lift to be able to get around all sides of it freely and get all the wood working done..
 
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