Complete Bally Fathom

[AlanJ]

Decided to make a start on this today - I need a break from an Alien Poker sound / speech card which is driving me nuts !

So fathom - original backglass lost major artwork at the bottom, but i have an ok cpr one to replace this



the cab and backbox ok but need repair and restencilling





The rear of cab floor is loose, quite a bit of the back panel at the bottom also missing



So needs some careful repair


Everything seems there in the cab

Playfield isn’t in too bad a shape. a broken plastic or two, but overall not bad. I’ll eventually put in a new CPR playfield if i can get one.






Underside of pf all looks fine. nothing missing

So on with the strip out:
I have decided to take absolutely everything out of the cab and backbox, and do a real quality inside and out refurb on this one.






Removing the silver foil card liner is a nasty job because it is stapled in with quite a lot of staples that are hard to remove, I used some picking tools to lift up the staples


Next stages are to clean all the rusty metal and screws and then prep the inside of the backbox and repair the cabinet floor and rear panel.
Also have jobs like the coin door to refurb, clean and polish plus the side rails and other metal bits to polish

as usual the lockdown receiver is really rusty and nasty. evaporust time !!

 

[Dex-Jay]

Good luck with your mission! You replacing the lower timber or will it live again? Did the factory use particle board at the rear of the cabinets? Looks crumbly.

You could touch that side stencil paint work up, worth thinking about?

 

[AlanJ]

Rear as usual is chipboard - horrid stuff, I think it's all repairable. I'll take a real good look tomorrow

Cab art could be saved, but I'd rather totally strip and repaint it.

 

[Dex-Jay]

Crumbly junk almost as bad as MDF! Me personally, I'd touch the cabinet up and respray the inside. Either way, it will be nice to see tidied, I love the colours on Fathom!

 

[Big Phil]

I was just watching videos of laser rust removal last week. Is that something you've ever considered?

 

[AlanJ]

I was just watching videos of laser rust removal last week. Is that something you've ever considered?

Ive seen a similar video - no idea where i'd get it done though. To be honest evaporust is the magic solution for me. it really does the best rust removal job.

 

[AlanJ]

Tackling the cab repairs


I glued and tacked the base board back in place, then set about strengthening it up, plus need something to work to in order to repair the chunk out of the back panel :


So glued and nailed a piece across the bottom, and put some edge pieces on. glued up the original edge piece - will fill and sand these all later. rear now got a work line :

Filler:

Next this side piece of ply has risen and warped, i know from prev experience these don’t glue down and stay down, so decided to cut it out, glue the edges down and fill:

 

[AlanJ]

I don’t usually do too much to the rear panel, but on this project I want the back super smooth, so first job remove the rusty old metal furniture glides. they were really yucky and so it the chipboard underneath



The edges of the back panel have been chavvelled off with being scraped around over the years


So I have decided to apply a layer of filler over the whole rear panel.



At the rear of the cabinet sides there were two carriage bolts. I can’t see what they were used for, so removing and filling in these two holes


Had to make up quite a few batches of filler, so started to fill in other areas I can see need it with the leftovers.

 

[AlanJ]

Rust removal well underway

2 trays on the go. the front one is older evaporust, gone quite dark. the tray behind us brand new evaporust.


For the longer items, i use “the pipe”


Next up is to dismantle the coin door

 

[astyy]

Does the Evaporust work on plastic bits? (I see what looks like the toggle switch cover in there). Btw, where are you buying it from?

Enjoying this thread, thanks for posting

 

[AlanJ]

Coin door dismantle.
As usually filthy and rusty but will clean up all ok


Two bolts through the front of the door. not nice



Usual bends on the side and also on the top


Need to photo how the hinge goes on cos i always put in back wrong












Done. nice pile of rusty greasy metal


Now those horrid holes:


Gonna fill with solder, so out with my biggest soldering iron


Two nice blobs of silvery solder in the holes, it will polish up well I hope


Rest of the parts off for an evapobath.

 

[AlanJ]

Does the Evaporust work on plastic bits? (I see what looks like the toggle switch cover in there). Btw, where are you buying it from?

Enjoying this thread, thanks for posting

Yes it is really good for cleaning up dirt plastic - dont know why it does, i discovered it does by accident.

Last lot i bought was 20l (4x5l) off ebay £110 mins you that was 2020 !!

it’s not cheap but lasts plenty of uses

 

[Jay Walker]

The coin entry plastics look like Williams ones, or copies of them. At least the 50 pence was central, as I supposed Bally placed it to ease the reject path for such an awkward coin. U.K. spec. Stern games with 10 pence to the left and 50 pence to the right could have problems with an old 50 pence coin if rejected.

 

[Gonzo]

Good luck Alan, I'm looking forward to this one.

 

[AlanJ]

Another tray of parts in evaporust

Tip: large packs of chicken breast packaging are good trays

Gonna have a go at electroplating so first step make a nickel plating solution

it’s bubbling away nicely.

need to find some hydrochloric acid next. not sure where you get that???

 

[AlanJ]

Got family stuff on today, but just time to do a bit more filler work and empty the initial lots of evaporust treated stuff:



All nice and rust free. so need a good polish and cleanup, lockdown received loping a whole lot nicer now.

14 hours so far on this project. Will be interesting to see total hours at the completion !!

 

[AlanJ]

Evaporust comparison:
before:

after a 24 hour soak:


Even the rusty credit button has come up sparkling clean

All the backbox and coin door metal work done:


Plenty of polishing to do next. But I think I’ll get on with the woodwork as the next job.

 

[AlanJ]

Absolutely zero progress today. Had some friends round for pinball and last night. they didn’t leave until after 2:00am. Many bottles were consumed. I’ve just started to come round at 21:15, been wiped out for the whole day. #GettingOld

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Sanding the cabinet day if the weather is good.

 

[AlanJ]

Made a start on the cab stripping.

 

[AlanJ]

Tried the acetone method of paint removal. pretty good , almost down to bare wood

will reduce sanding time considerably

sanded the rear of cab and then been round refilling edges and missed bits. using a strong epoxy type glue


Spent a leisurely afternoon polishing metal



not bad:

Lots more polishing tomorrow.

project time so far. 30 hours

 

[Ashbo]

Tried the acetone method of paint removal. pretty good , almost down to bare wood
View attachment 164318
will reduce sanding time considerably

sanded the rear of cab and then been round refilling edges and missed bits. using a strong epoxy type glue
View attachment 164319

Spent a leisurely afternoon polishing metal
View attachment 164321
View attachment 164322

not bad:
View attachment 164320
Lots more polishing tomorrow.

project time so far. 30 hours

Is that two polishers at once??? Skills!

 

[AlanJ]

Is that two polishers at once??? Skills!

Life is too short for changing polishing mops every two minutes so i just bought an extra motor

 

[AlanJ]

Boring day today, filling sanding filling sanding filling sanding sanding filling sanding filling. then polishing and polishing and polishing and polishing. i’m ****e at polishing it’s such a boring job.

no pics cos they would have just been pics of a grumpy old bloke polishing bits of old metal and sanding old planks of wood.

Worst thing is, I’ve got several more days of this s**t.

 

[Ashbo]

Boring day today, filling sanding filling sanding filling sanding sanding filling sanding filling. then polishing and polishing and polishing and polishing. i’m ****e at polishing it’s such a boring job.

no pics cos they would have just been pics of a grumpy old bloke polishing bits of old metal and sanding old planks of wood.

Worst thing is, I’ve got several more days of this s**t.

You love it really...come on, we need pics!!

 

[AlanJ]

Groundhog day , sand, sand, sand, fill, fill, sand. First coat of primer on the rear of the cab, then a bit more filling. One side of the head primed.

 

[AlanJ]

Another long slog day. sanding inside of cab, then a bit of primer and a nautical themed blue first coat inside. primer outside all round and more filling and sanding between coats.

 

[Ant-H]

i’m ****e at polishing it’s such a boring job.

100% agree with you. Polishing is such a mind numbing job to do.

 

[AlanJ]

Getting to the slightly more fun bit

 

[meesterpieter]

nice, keepin busy

 

[ronsplooter]

@AlanJ I've probably asked you this before but how are you painting the cab....compressor/gun, rattle can, roller etc? What specific colours are you using for Fathom as I need to start thinking about doing mine soon, it's only been waiting for 5+ years