Punch out restored!! Arborite laminate over paint ANY DAY!!

sugar_ray

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Punch out restored!! Arborite laminate over paint ANY DAY!!

Just wondering how many of you use Arborite laminate over paint? When I restored my punch out cab. I decided to go with Arborite instead of paint. It saved a zillion hours of sanding and in my opinion the results were far better then any painted cab I have seen restored. It covers up any peeks, valleys, and imperfections that your cab may have suffered over 20+ years of abuse. It is paper thin so it lined up with the T molding just perfectly.

It is available at almost any hardware store. I paid $29 for a single 4x8 sheet. 2 sheets will do an entire cabinet. You would pay close to that for all paint supplies anyways.

I DID lightly sand the cab then used a tack cloth before applying the laminate. Here is how my progress went.....

Side art, control panel over lay, T molding, 2 cap kits, laminate, contact cement, brushes, and a pint of black paint for the rear of the cab. About $240 total to restore the unit
 

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on we go...........
 

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more pics..........
 

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on we go........
 

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down the home stretch.........
 

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a few more.......
 

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depends on the game I guess....but I do like laminate a lot on certain ones. I just did one and we filmed it for those of you who have yet to laminate a game look for it to post later this week.
 
worth watching for those that have never laminated a cabinet before.
I have to admit that I did MESS one sheet of laminate up. Contact cement means "CONTACT"
I made the mistake of trimming a sheet down FIRST then laying it on top of the cabinet. When I layed it down, it wasn't lined up correctly. The glue sticks on CONTACT! A second later went to lift the laminate off then SNAP!! It is very brittle stuff. Learned the hard way. So just use an entire sheet for one side of the cabinet then TRIM after it is down.
 
Thanks for the idea, I am going to hopefully start on my PO cab in the next couple of months.

Dennis
 
Looks pretty damn good. The laminate will surely hold up a lot better then paint.

I am however interested in what others think about not painting the control panel before applying the overlay. I would be to worried about it rusting underneath the overlay.
 
The only thing that irritates me about the idea of laminate is that I can't seem to find any with a perfectly smooth finish (no texture). I know it is possible to make it with a smooth, satin finish, because there is some on my kitchen countertop that has been there for about 40 years (not black though). It's a mystery to me why everyone refuses to make black laminate with a smooth finish.

Otherwise, I think the stuff is perfect for arcade cabinets.
 
So just use an entire sheet for one side of the cabinet then TRIM after it is down.

so, you put the contact cement on the side of the cab and the entire 4x8 sheet? if so, that doesnt make sense to me. i understand you want it larger than your cab, but not the whole thing.. did you use little strips of wood to lay the laminate on, then slowly remove 1 at a time to ensure you had things lined up correctly?
 
CUEBALL:

like I said, it was a brain fart I had NEVER used laminate before. Guess my point is, you do NOT get a second chance with the stuff. I wished I had known about the stick - trick BEFORE I layed the sheets down. I had a good friend tell my the stick procedure AFTER the damage had already been done. As far as the 4x8 sheet. YES I used an entire piece for each side. Once trimmed, there is NOT very much left of use. Just enough to cover the quarter door front and speaker grill area.

So by posting my mistake and your suggestion regarding wood sticks before laying, hopefully we can save SOMEONE out there the agony of wrecking a perfectly good sheet. A complete 4x8 sheet is fairly big for one person to be laying down. So it helps to have a second hand, but care full because the middle of the sheet will always bow. Just to answer the same question that everyone seems to have. "NO, by laying wooden sticks between the cabinet surface and laminate back they do NOT stick" Contact cement only reacts when 2 surfaces have been both treated with the chemical. Its amazing stuff. After letting it dry for 30 minutes you wonder how the stuff even works cause to touch it, its completely dry

MaximRecoil: you would be very surprised to learn that the perfectly smooth surfaces ARE readily available. If you go to your hardware store they should have a wall full of swatches similar to paint swatches. Almost every color and texture imaginable. Arborite seems to be the most affordable stuff. However, there are tons of other makes and models

arcadeannex: The directions that came with my overlay stated to NOT paint the surface. Sand until extremely smooth. Clean and apply with no need for paint. Any air bubbles can be worked out with a squeegee and stubborn air bubbles can be poked with a small pin and are unnoticeable. Not sure how much moisture would get under the panel to cause rust?
 
How do you trim it? Router?
I'd love to try it, but I don't have a router. I wonder how else you could do it.
 
How do you trim it? Router?
I'd love to try it, but I don't have a router. I wonder how else you could do it.


Rotozip, laminate trimmer, possibly a dremel with the right attachment/bit. Then use a file to get a nice edge. That Punch Out Looks great. In the arcade world, I have only used laminate on an Asteroids Deluxe kickplate, but it worked great and still looks flawless. I used to work for a cabinet shop, however, and we built laminated ticket counters for dog and horsetracks. We always laminated each part, let the cement cure, then trimmed off the excess laminate on a table mount router followed by a flat file.
 
So, which finish and sheen did you use?
http://www.arborite.com/collection/us/sampleinfo.asp?ID=12&idProduct=155

At first I was going to laminate my PO, but after getting samples it seems that only gloss is offered in perfectly flat textures. The samples were just too glossy. So, which did you get?

Looks great though, really makes it a tough decision on how to finish a PO. Can we get more pics of the completed cab?
 
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