What is a laminate?

Taken from Wikipedia, “A laminate is a material constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which in common speech refers to the placing of something between layers of plastic and sealing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an adhesive. Examples of laminate materials include Formica and plywood. Formica and similar plastic laminates (such as Pionite, Wilsonart or Centuryply Mica) are often referred to as High Pressure Decorative Laminate (HPDL) as they are created with heat and pressure.”

Important to understand what we’re dealing with first and now you’re asking, “How does this relate to arcade games? “ If you’re already an avid collector you know this answer, if not, many classic arcade games had laminated sides instead of paint. Why? It was cheaper. You could buy the crappiest particle board or plywood sheets and cover up all the imperfections with a nice sheet of thick laminate. Laminate was produced in large production runs which kept its price low and made it an attractive alternative to a full scale painting operation. I’d even speculate that many of the builders responsible for early arcade cabinets were cabinet makers by trade and using laminates was second nature to them. Hence the arcade cabinet name. Most of the major arcade game manufacturers used laminate, if not on a full size upright cabinet, then on the cabaret or cocktail versions of the game. Laminated games were everywhere during the hey-day of arcades.

Repairing or replacing laminate

Laminated cabinets were not meant to last. Any avid collector has had his or her fair share of broken corners, swollen sides, gouges and dings. Repairing this damage is relatively easy; getting your repair to match the rest of the cab is another story. You either need some excellent faux finish ability to paint up your patched area, or you have to find a replacement piece of laminate. Good luck. When I took on the restoration of Tapper CT #300, it had a major chunk of cabinet damage, gouges and a crack in the particle board. I was pretty sure that #300 was one of, if not the last Tapper CT made and I wanted to do a good job. I stripped off all the laminate and prepped the cab for new material. Oops, that was a mistake. After searching and searching for an exact match I discovered that it just didn’t exist. I talked to suppliers, distributors and even the sales people at Wilsonart. The answer I got was the same. Product runs from the 80’s became obsolete and once the stock ran out, that was it. It’s probable that manufacturer’s, like Bally Midway, bought out the entire remaining inventory of a color because it was discontinued and heavily discounted. Once they used it up, that’s it. Many of the dies, glues or other materials used in manufacturing the laminate would change over time. Running another batch of laminate now, to match the various 80’s wood grains, would be costly and not 100% guaranteed. Even the material I used a few years ago on the Ms. Pac CT seems impossible to find now that Home Depot stopped carrying it.

So what does that mean? If you have to do a complete arcade game in laminate, either a new build or a restoration, find a color, pattern or shade that you like and go with it. Don’t stress over a slightly unmatched bit of laminate. Don’t fret if your beautiful restoration project has English oak color laminate sides instead of plain medium oak. Slide the cabinet between two others and you won’t even know the difference! Well, you might know, but you’re guests never will. Happy gaming.

After carefully removing the tiny nuts from the bottom of the pcb, you can carefully remove the button assembly, revealing an odd looking glass tube with some leads. This is called a reed switch. When the button moves up and down it passes a small magnet over the tube which effectively opens and closes the switch. I’m told they are very durable and should last a long time with proper care.

The buttons that were numbered came as larger assemblies with a shared housing. The others had individual housings. I took them all off the pcbs and disassembled each one. Each individual button consisted of 9 small parts, amazing how much effort went into making these things! I used a little oxy clean in a small bucket of warm water and let the parts soak. After about 20 minutes I started taking them out one by one and cleaning each bit with an old toothbrush. Lots of work, but after a good rinse you can see a huge difference. The buttons still have a bit of aging or yellowing, but they look 100% better.

After removing the chunk off the side I also pulled off the bottom and the back part with the vent. They had minor issues but overall it would be easier to just replace them with new pieces. The table saw makes it simple to cut new parts so why not take advantage of the opportunity to make it a really clean restoration. I used a little contact cement under the front laminate as it had started to de-laminate a bit. Even after clamping I only had moderate success. I got enough down to keep it from pulling away from the cab, good enough. I cut the bottom and back pieces and reattached the newly repainted mesh screen.

I cut the replacement panels for each side and used black and white vinyl laminate to match the original finish. The inside of the space war is this textured black vinyl and outside is white. Brian at game stencils supplied the vinyl, great stuff. Wasn’t sure how to work with it, but I just applied it directly to the particle board and it worked perfectly. Once I had both panels covered in vinyl I could attach them to the cab. I used a slot cutter and #10 biscuits to join the panels.

I used the saw board again to trim the excess from the new panel, after it was dry. The front of Space War has an angled edge and the saw board was the easiest way to match the angle. I also cut and fit a small block into the upper corner that had damage. I used a utility knife and a chisel to remove the damaged area. It was too small of a piece to cut out with the circular saw. Using a utility knife and a straight edge was a pain, but it got the job done. I used the chisel to clean it up. I cut a slot and used a laminated piece with a biscuit for a solid replacement corner. I used the saw board again to trim the excess. The grooves in the surface are for the filler material when I get to that point in the restoration process.

The last thing I had to do before working on the other side of the cab was to cut a template of the area around the control panel. The other side was damaged and creating a template would allow me to fit in a block and cut to shape later. I used 1/4 birch ply to make the template.

I’ll wait until I’m finished with the wood repair before I start on the filler material. Next update will be the other side and assembly. Stay tuned!