Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Face plate oxidation experiment :)

Instead of spraypainting the face plates right away, I decided to try something else first.
I have read sometimes that when you leave aluminium outside, exposed to oxygen and rain, it oxidates. When that happens it should get it's grey matt color back which is actually a protective layer which seals and hardens the aluminium. Which is exactly what I am looking for.

So i gave it a shot, sanded the face plates untill all scratches were gone. Wet sanded after that to polish it. And now it is as smooth as it can be and outside exposed to the weather. Just have to wait and see what it does.




Face plates sanded and polished to a buff. Waiting to oxidate!



This is what they looked like after removing the ugly thick paint with paint remover. A lot better than before, but scratched up pretty bad.


This is how I got them. Poor coin selector :( And poor me for need to restore it.


6 comments:

strugglingwriter said...

How did it turn out? I'm thinking about attempting the same thing with the faceplates from my donkey kong junior.

Unknown said...

I just stumbled on you blogg, because I'm planning to make my own DKJR Cabinet.

What kind of tool did you use to make slots for the t-molding?

Barry said...

Hi Ernesto,
The slots are made with a router and a special slot cutting bit.

I googled it for you, http://www.vectrex.nl/gfx/mame/Routing_For_T-Molding_2.jpg

Jim said...

So, how did it turn out? I need to do this with mine!

Barry said...

First, thanks to you all for sticking to this blog for so long without updates from my side :)

For Strugglingwriter and Jim, about the oxidation-experiment. I waited a couple of days. Then found the oxidation process was way below my expectations :) Because the metal wasn't treated it was very prone to scratches. So I just spray painted it with aluminium look. But it looks OK.

Do you have pics or a blog of your cabinet? I am always curious about someone elses arcade stuff.

Regina said...

Hi, thanks for sharing this