Replacing the sides of a Nintendo Cabinet

MFW

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I picked up a PLaychoice single monitor cabinet and the sides are pretty beat up. The rest of the cabinet is in great shape. How would I go about taking the sides off and replacing them with new ones? Are they held together by glue or screws? I am new to the hobby and would like to take on this restore. Any advice or tips would be appreciated.
MFW
 
Post some pics. Unless the wood is rotten or the panels are torn in 2, I doubt you need to replace the sides.
 
These are pictures of the damaged area. This is in the front right corner. I was thinking of just laying the arcade game on the side and remove the side and replace it with a new mdf piece of wood.
 

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you might get away with bondo,you would be suprised what its capable of,here in uk a lot of us use p38 car body filler (which is basicly the same thing)

just lay and fasten some wood against the cab and fill and shape whats missing.or even better you might cut away whats bad and replace by fixing a replacement piece in there,bondo and sand and paint.

makes more sens than removing the job lot.
?
:)
 
I was thinking about just cutting off the bottom 8 inches and replacing it with new wood and then patch it with bondo. I just thought that getting all new would would be easier then repairing and refinishing it. Well, I guess I will have some deciding to do.
 
As others have said, you could go with bondo. Many guys have had great success with this.

Another way to do this (and possibly stronger) would be to cut out the corner and replace. Something like what was done here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=686491&postcount=7

Both solutions above would be way easier then replacing the entire side.
 
Its really rough along both sides. Do you think by cutting and replacing the bottom on both sides would work as seen in that pic? I think that would be easier.
 
Its really rough along both sides. Do you think by cutting and replacing the bottom on both sides would work as seen in that pic? I think that would be easier.

I've done both. Cut out bad wood, added in new wood and used bondo to fix a broken corner. Both methods work, but you need some sort of rebar in both cases. I use 1/4 oak dowels when adding new wood, and you can use screws driven into the edge of the cabinet wood for the bondo.

With the dowels, you wanna first cut out the frayed wood and cut a straight edge into the existing cab wood. Then cut an oversized piece of 1/2 plywood, favoring the outside edge if the new material is slightly thinner than the existing cabinet wood. Mate it to the cut edge on the cab and use bar clamps to hold it in place. Now get out your hand drill and a 1/4" inch bit and drill 2-3 deep evenly spaced 6-8 inch holes edge-on thru the replacement wood and into the cabinet side, making damned sure to keep your drill bit centered and parallel to the outside and inside planes so you don't break thru one side or the other. Now, remove the clamps, add glue to the holes, insert the dowels. Now add some glue to the holes in the new piece, then add a bead of glue to the cab edge and the new edge, and slide the new piece onto the dowels. Now reclamp the edges of the new piece, using the pressure to drive the new wood into the cab edge, using the bar part of the clamp to keep the 2 pieces plumb and in the same plane. After the glue cures, use a straight edge to mark the edge lines and use a router with a flush trim bit to trim the excess wood to match the original cabinet edge, following up with a sanding of the edge.

With bondo/screws, you wanna clean out the loose wood first. Then drive the screws, (usually 3-5 " deck screws) into the cab edge about 2 -3 inches, leaving enough sticking out to strengthen the bondo. Make sure to drive them far enough in so that they don't stick out into the area near the new edge where the t-molding slot needs to be recut, as router bits don't like screw heads. Now you'll need to make a form out of plexi or plastic or some material that doesn't stick to bondo. Now build the bondo up in 3-4 layers. when you are satisfied, remove the form, fill in the remaining voids and sand flat, using a straight edge to get the edges true.
 
Thanks guys for the great suggestions. I am going to probably cut the bottom 3 or so inches off the bottom then follow your instructions. I am new to the hobby and ineed of guidance. I really want to get both of my PLaychoices in great shape.
 
Oh, and I kept mentioning plywood cuz that's what I'm used to, but in your case, if you still do the repair and not the replacement, use 5/8" particle board to match the original material. When I fixed the broken corners on my R-Type (same cabinet as you know), I used bondo and rebar. Turned out nearly perfect. I did a very similar repair to my Space Wars which is basically the same cabinet material:


P9030766.jpg

P9050780.jpg

P9060787.jpg

PA290012.jpg
 
Same thing, I have a Simpsons cabinet I am in the middle of repairing, and the front corner was all busted up, I used a biscuit joiner to replace the broken part. Came out really good.

Busted up:
2011-01-01-time-12-22-03-day-6.jpg


2011-01-10-time-00-05-11-day-1.jpg


Repairing:
2011-01-15-time-00-00-16-day-6.jpg


2011-01-15-time-00-17-10-day-6.jpg


2011-01-16-time-17-41-17-day-0.jpg
 
That turned out great. What type of wood did you use for the repair piece?
 
That turned out great. What type of wood did you use for the repair piece?

I used medium density fiberboard, it is nice and smooth. The original cabinet is High Density Particle board. You could use plywood too, but don't use Oriented strand board.
 
If you get the template that michiganclassicarcade.com sells for DK, you can use it to trace out your side profiles and then cut them yourself. You can put new sides on your cabinet it they are really bad. I bought one from them and actually made my own cabinet.
 
If you get the template that michiganclassicarcade.com sells for DK, you can use it to trace out your side profiles and then cut them yourself. You can put new sides on your cabinet it they are really bad. I bought one from them and actually made my own cabinet.

Aren't you actually michiganclassicarcade, pretending not to be, but giving (yourself) a good reference?
 
I believe thought the DK cabinet is a different design then the R-Type? PLus I heard some questionable reviews about them. So not sure if I would do business with them. THanks
 
I believe thought the DK cabinet is a different design then the R-Type? PLus I heard some questionable reviews about them. So not sure if I would do business with them. THanks

Ohh really? I wonder what you heard cause as I said I bought one and didn't have a problem from them at all, got it within 5 days. I live out in Orlando FL. I also read in the forums a guy in CA got a free one last summer off KLOV (won it), they must be legit if they did that.. I wish mine was free, but I paid 95 for it, and I see they are 60.00, they have a Tron template I may buy next.
 
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