In Progress 1976 Moon Flight

[ronsplooter]

Nice one @JT.

 

[Nedreud]

Have you decided whether to earth the machine?

Is this really an option? It's a device with exposed metal parts that has mains voltage on the inside and isn't Class II double insulated. I realise an old EM would have originally been a non-earthed appliance when it was made, especially as it hails from a 110V country, but Class 0 appliances have been banned in the UK for over 25 years. I wouldn't risk maintaining originality over being electrocuted to death.

I started by trying to use a thin mylar sheet to create a template...

I'm so glad you've come to the same conclusions regarding using Mylar for a stencil. I didn't buy a proper craft cutter like yours; I just butchered an old soldering-iron tip into the right shape! But it was very difficult to get really smooth curves (they make it look so easy in YouTube videos) and this showed when sprayed. On Bally's a little overspray may be desirable, but on a big sheet of Mylar I would stick it down with low-tack re-positionable mounting spray (this is like the stick on the back of frisket).

Here's my homemade stencil too:



Tracing the two-tone stencil on my PARAGON:





Cutting it out on the glass top of the kitchen cooker (figured this was tough enough to withstand a soldering iron):



And the result:



Admittedly I used cans of £1 budget enamel and it was a bit sticky even after 5-6 hours which is why a few bits are missing, but I decided this wasn't the way to go.

frisket

Yes, frisket. My next choice too. And exactly the same dilemma. Cut and store before preparing the cabinet, or find some way of tracing the outlines and then transferring to the frisket when the cabinet it ready?

don't want to have to remove it and store it

But it looks as though @ronsplooter has helped us make that decision!

 

[Spandangler]

Ahhhhhh so you're making a paragon stencil hey!!

 

[Nedreud]

Ahhhhhh so you're making a paragon stencil hey!!

Rumbled... and yes, it needs to be reusable because I'll be damned if I'm going to cut the same stencil twice when it could just be flipped over for the other side!

This is the drawback of frisket. It's really only one-shot use.

Have been investigating getting some stencils cut on a commercial stencil cutter, but it's quite pricey, almost to the point where I might as well buy a second-hand cutter from eBay (the old Roland ones are very robust). As long as it can do at least 50cm wide it should work.

 

[Nedreud]

Hey, @JT., might be worth looking at something like 70 micron self-adhesive vinyl? Thin and transparent enough you can see through it to do the tracing. Then cut out the stencil when ready and peel off the back paper. The adhesive is usually re-usable several times (at least twice for doing the opposite side of the cab!)

5m roll by 24" (610mm) wide for around £17 on eBay, like this: Ritrama Ri Mask Vinyl Paint Masking Airbrush Stencil Film - Plotter / Cutter http://r.ebay.com/EcJ0WU

 

[Jay Walker]

it needs to be reusable because I'll be damned if I'm going to cut the same stencil twice when it could just be flipped over for the other side!

That's what Bally did, unless reversing the design produced a problem, as with 'Kiss' - one of the band members was always made-up with a star over one eye, so stencils had to be made for each side of the cabinet.

 

[JT.]

Hey, @JT., might be worth looking at something like 70 micron self-adhesive vinyl? Thin and transparent enough you can see through it to do the tracing. Then cut out the stencil when ready and peel off the back paper. The adhesive is usually re-usable several times (at least twice for doing the opposite side of the cab!)

5m roll by 24" (610mm) wide for around £17 on eBay, like this: Ritrama Ri Mask Vinyl Paint Masking Airbrush Stencil Film - Plotter / Cutter http://r.ebay.com/EcJ0WU

That's a good price @Nedreud, but I'm not sure whether 70 micron might be too thick still - the mylar I had was 125 and that no good. I'm not sure how thick the frisket I have is, but that's much easier to cut.

But your Paragon is a Bally, so you need the overspray to recrerate the original really It would be possible to get a nice curve using the heat iron using a set of french curves - the only problem is you'd probably need to get a set of metal french curves specially made with a laser cutter, as all the ones I found (and the set I have from my uni degree - 20 years old) are plastic.

 

[JT.]

hmm, just realised that the only way this can work is to draw a tracing paper stencil, then cut through that, along with frisket at the same time, and the frisket will have to be stuck to the pinball cabinet when it's cut. This is because of the complex artwork on the rocket - it's not a simple single shape that can be cut out of a template, rather it lots of small shapes-within-shapes that will need cutting out. Makes the decision easier, but a downside is that the stencil will be single use only.

 

[JT.]

So, today I finished tracing the first side of the cabinet. It'd be great if I could just photocopy it this size straight onto tracing paper, so I could have a copy for the other side, and a couple for @ronsplooter's Moon Flight too - has anyone ever seen a service to photocopy onto tracing paper?

Here's the original artwork.

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The full thing traced out - sorry the photo's not great due to bad light.


And here's a close up of some of the detail

 

[Nedreud]

What about a flat-bed or hand-held scanner? For such a large size you'd need to stitch multiple scans together and ideally it would be best to vectorise it to just the outlines. It could then be printed on a large format commercial printer at 100%.

I've got this coming myself one day as I want to re-stencil both my Bally restoration projects, Gold Ball and Paragon. There is a stencil available for Paragon but it's well over $130 plus shipping/import and that doesn't exactly match my "budget" ethos, especially as it's one single-use. I don't mind a stencil being single-use but it would have to be less than a few quid each as I've got 5 sides (front/left/right cabinet + left/right backbox) in 2 colours so that's 10 stencils. There isn't one for Gold Ball.

I'm tempted to buy a commercial vinyl plotter/cutter, get my pins done and then sell it on eBay to recoup some of the costs. Would definitely work out cheaper than buying a commercial stencil for Paragon.

 

[Nedreud]

Here's the original artwork.

View attachment 14137

That's actually pretty detailed for a stencil! I'd guess it might have actually been screen printed. Those parallel lines on the rocket and going to require a steady hand to cut.

 

[JT.]

That's actually pretty detailed for a stencil! I'd guess it might have actually been screen printed. Those parallel lines on the rocket and going to require a steady hand to cut.

Yeah, Zaccarias were screen printed originally. I'll mask it with frisket to get nice straight lines on mine.

 

[rockhouse]

any updates on this nice to see an em getting some tlc