Phrenzy's First Restoration - Blue Donkey Kong

phrenzy

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Hey Gang,

Woke up this morning and felt like being productive. Set a goal to have the DK machine fully stripped down and prepped for body work. After doing some stuff around the house, grabbing a bite and a trip to Lowes, I starting working at about 2:00 PM. By 8:30 PM I was ready for a beer. Made a pretty good amount of progress, and didn't hit any major roadblocks, but then again, I suppose tear down is the easy part.

Here are the pics:

Before Pictures

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Cabinet looks like its in pretty good shape other then the broken piece there. Good luck with it!

If you get a chance, could you post more pics of how your wiring is done? I know I'm looking for how it was originally laid out and I think someone else here asked about it the other day and yours looks to be pretty complete. Thanks if you can!
 
If you get a chance, could you post more pics of how your wiring is done? I know I'm looking for how it was originally laid out and I think someone else here asked about it the other day and yours looks to be pretty complete. Thanks if you can!

I can do that. I took a decent amount of pictures before removing the electronics. I'll post them when I get home from work today.
 
Body Work

I've started on body work on the cabinet. The first day on body I got to the point of filling the knicks on one side (the right side), but it got dark on me so I had to quit for the night. Today I sanded that side and prepped it for primer, filled the front and the left. I also used bondo for the first time. Not much to it really, but ask me again after I've tried to sand it down.

I've also got the replacement piece cut for the damage I had to cut out of the front (which took me two tries with the scroll saw, then my mom, the scroll saw ninja, took over and did it perfectly on the first try *grumble*). The cabinet measured roughly 17/32" wide, and I'm using 1/2" birch ply to fill it in (slightly thinner). My "plan" is to use bondo to make up the difference, which should leave me with a seamless repair. Should being the operative word. We'll see how that goes. haha

The first picture here shows how they skimped on the paint for the small piece that faces down under the control panel. The two pieces in the first picture had the same amount of sanding.

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Thanks for the wiring pics. It looks like I have some missing ground wires and I was able to find where they cut them loose at. I was also able to confirm that the wires for my monitor were run the same as yours when I got mine so are probably in the right way.
 
Thanks for the wiring pics. It looks like I have some missing ground wires and I was able to find where they cut them loose at. I was also able to confirm that the wires for my monitor were run the same as yours when I got mine so are probably in the right way.

Cool, no problem. :)
 
I'm working on this project at my parent's house. I own a condo and am currently house shopping, so it's just easier to do it there. So I head over after work today and my mom (who absolutely cannot resist a project) had scrubbed the entire inside of the cabinet with murphy's oil soap and a toothbrush. O_O

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First thing I did this evening was disassemble the coin door assembly.

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Then I tackled my bondo job on the front panel. Way easier than I expected! Sanded it out, ran my finger over it... smooth as silk.

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Then I sanded down all the wood filler for the nicks and gouges on the front and sides.

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Now the only thing left to tackle with the cabinet before priming is bondo-ing the cabinet edges and the thing I've been dreading... The major repair to the front.
 
Looking great so far. Looking forward to the progress! Thanks for all the pics and what would any of this be without beer?!?! :)
 
Looking great so far. Looking forward to the progress! Thanks for all the pics and what would any of this be without beer?!?! :)

So true. I tell you, even after just a week, I have a huge amount of respect for some of the restorations I've seen posted on this board. Restoring one of these things is quite a chore! A dirty, gunky, smelly chore. lol
 
Thanks guys. Ok so here's what I'm thinking for the major repair for the right side panel near the kick plate... I've never done anything like this, so there may be a better method. Feel free to shoot holes in this.

I've got a piece of 1/2" birch ply that I'm going to use to fill the majority of the gap, that has a nice clean curve that follows the other side, which I used as a template. 1/2" is slightly smaller than the ply used to make the cabinet originally. This gives me some space on either side to fill with bondo, which should result in a fairly seamless repair.

Ok so here's how I'm thinking about doing it.

1. Wood glue in the replacement piece. Clamp it in place.

2. Drill two pilot holes and counter sink two small wood screws deep enough to clear the t molding groove in the replacement piece. Use very thin screws so as to not split the original plywood.

3. Fill in the screw holes with wood filler. Let glue and filler cure overnight.

4. Clamp a strip of plexi to the inside of the repair to use as a mold.

5. Quickly mix bondo and put inside an icing bag like this:

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6. Squeeze bondo into small gap between replacement piece and plexi using said icing bag.

7. Glob bondo on to outside gap. No need for a mold here because it can be easily sanded.

8. Let bondo cure over night.

9. Remove mold and sand.

10. Use dremel tool to meticulously cut a new t-molding slot in the replacement piece.

Ok... so does this method have any shot at working? Haha
 
Do everything you said but instead of screws, drill 1/4" holes edge-on through the repair piece into the cabinet, keeping the bit perpendicular to the cab sides and use 1/4" dowels. After the glue sets, cut off the dowel stubs, bondo, sand and cut the new t-molding groove.

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Ok, so here we go! It needs a bit of sanding and lots of bondo, but the difficult part is over! I don't have a drill press; it was pretty scary drilling 1/4" holes end-wise into half inch ply freehand! But it's in there, it's straight and I don't think it's going anywhere. The dowels with glue on them were really snug... nice and solid, even before being clamped.

Thanks Phetishboy for the tip! :D

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Thanks! I'm pretty happy with the progress considering I've never done any woodworking of any kind, really. If nothing else, I'm going to come away from this project with a rather nice stash of new tools. :)
 
So I spent the majority of the day on a motorcycle ride with my dad and brother, but I did manage to clean the electronics and apply some bondo to the inside of the major cab repair. Was BLOWN AWAY by how well Mean Green and the garden hose worked. Great tip!

Cleaning the Electronics

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