Side Art Prep

I'm going to be doing my missile command side art shortly and used chris25810's method of putting down 3 coats of urethane with sanding in between each coat. looks smooth right now, we'll see what happens once the art is down.

i've wondered that about atari also.
 
I'll shortly be replacing my Star Wars side art. I contacted Darin from Phoenixarcade and asked about the best prep for side art adhesion.

I was told the best route is to prime, then paint, then install side art (full side stuff)...

Now, I don't doubt that advice, I was just wondering why Atari didn't follow the same advice and simply stuck their vinyl/side art directly on particle board... no primer or paint?

Is adding primer/paint going to assist in adhesion that much more that applying directly to a nice cleaned side? My SW side art appears that it will come off nice and cleanly... saving the time of primer/paint is certainly desirable but not that big a deal when it comes down to it.

Good question... What I've found with every Atari cab I've dealt with is when you peel off the vinyl... the adhesive is left behind on the particle board... albeit dry... its still there and its pretty darn tough to get off. So it usually fails on the vinyl side... not the wood side. Good clean particle board is bonded with a glue that generally coats the fibers of the wood through and through so as long as there isn't any dust on it... I would think that you could put vinyl directly on it like Atari did. Of course I would think it would greatly depend upon the adhesive of the artwork.

Which brings me to to the second issue... the adhesive of the artwork itself. Darrin's Star Wars art is really great. Its a light gauge vinyl (at least mine was) and it doesn't have a vicious adhesive, which makes applying it nice. Other types of artwork like Nintendo DK is thicker and has a real nasty adhesive which doesn't lend it self to mistakes ;)

blah blah blah ... I would definitely prime. ... but sanding that glue off of the particle board is a bitch!
 
Atari's process was no different than it is today. The melamine (vinyl) didn't have an adhesive on it so a sealer/adhesive was applied to the cabinet and i believe it was a heat/pressure method of applying the melamine to the cabinet itself.

Polyurethane works fantastic for todays vinyl graphics but the best way to apply it is with the cabinet laying down. Poly is thin will run really easy but it's also more self leveling than paint.
 
I will be doing this with the Galaxian I am restoring, and I was wondering if anyone has tried Krylon Triple Thick? My only concern with using polyurethane is that is yellows over time and can crack. The Triple thick is acrylic.

http://www.krylon.com/products/triplethick_crystal_clear_glaze/

The yellowing of the poly wont mean a thing if the vinyl you're putting over it isn't transparent. Peel back the art on your gaplus machine and tell me what color the wood is, i bet it's not white. Acrylic would probably work fine too but the key is to not overdo any of whatever you put on the cabinet.
 
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The yellowing of the poly wont mean a thing if the vinyl you're putting over it isn't transparent. Peel back the art on your gaplus machine and tell me what color the wood is, i bet it's not white. Acrylic would probably work fine too but the key is to not overdo any of whatever you put on the cabinet.

Good point, also they are in my dark basement too.
 
I've been thinking about using Zinsser Seal Coat for this:

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It's 100% wax free de-waxed shellac. It won't raise the grain of plywood or swell particle board. I've mostly used it to seal MDF prior to finishing, for speaker cabinets, but I used several coats to seal the MDF front panel on my Robotron, then primed, then finished with satin black oil based Rusto.

Since the original adhesive laminate/vinyls were applied over un-primed or un-sealed particle board, then this would have to be better than that. Several coats, sanding in between, not too much film build up, the wood is less porous and the adhesive should stick better.
 
Remember these cabinets were never meant to last 30 years. They were only expected to be played for a couple years. At least that would be my suspicion.
 
I have an empty Blitz with peeling side art. I can't believe the side art looks so smooth considering what they put it on top of.
 
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