Paint! (June, 2017)

When I dropped-off the cabinet for refinishing/rebuilding, I asked Scott if he could recommend someone who could help me out with a few metal items that needed some TLC. He mentioned that a local guy he knew did some sand and media blasting, and thought perhaps he could help me out.

So after dropping-off the cabinet I stopped-by this place, but no joy, as his media blasting would seriously distort the top panel (picture below). However, this guy told me about a local body shop that dabbled in restored gas pumps and the like, and he thought perhaps they could help me out!

And best of all, it was (literally!) "on my way", so I stopped-in at Albertville Body Shop (http://www.albertvillebodyshop.com/), spoke with Pat, and he had all of the correct answers to my questions! So, I left the following pieces with them:

* The top rear panel:

* The front door frame:

* The coin return cup:

* The cash box door and lock washer:

* And one of the nastiest pieces I have, the cash box frame assembly:

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Since I'm trying to update this blog "after the fact", as it were, I'm going to take this opportunity and bring things up to speed with regards to the painting. With the exception of the front door frame assembly, I have already received all of the pieces...and they look absolutely wonderful!

That nasty cash door frame mentioned above? Here it is now:

Here's the top rear cover (picture is kind bleached-out due to the carpet, sorry):

Here's the coin return cup:

And here is the cash door cover and the washer that goes under the lock:

 Absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't be happier!

I haven't received the front door frame yet (today is 8/31/17) as I'm waiting on them to apply the "French Burled Walnut" decal I dropped-off a few days ago.

Funny story about that: When I first started this restoration in 2010, I purchased a whole slew of OEM and remanufactured parts for it. One of those items was a "water transfer decal" from Victory Glass (http://www.victoryglass.com/ ) which simulates the appearance of Walnut on the front door panel. However, like the entire 1452, the decal sat in storage for 7 years, and guess what? When it came time to apply it, it was all dried-out (go figure!), and the guys at Albertville Auto Body had a helluva time with it! (Sorry, Jamie!) I called Victory Glass to see if they had any newer decals, and was told, "We have a few left from a 2007 order, but most people are using the new vinyl decals, as the old water transfer decals kinda sucked." (Really!) Anyway, I ordered a new vinyl decal, and when it arrived 2 days alter, I immediately took it to the body shop.

Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's done!

Disassenbly, Part 3 (January-May, 2017)

So I was sitting in the Barber chair the other day, and I got to talking with Dave, my barber, about the RO. Turns out he knows a furniture restoration guy, and he provided me with contact details! Got home, checked out the website (http://minutemanservices.biz/), and then sent the Scott (the owner) an email, with a couple pictures, asking if he would be interested in working on the RO cabinet.

"Sure", he says. "Bring it by and let's have a look at it!"

Except I didn't have the cabinet completely stripped yet!

So............

Cabinet:

Knowing I needed to find someplace to set the "guts" of the RO, I built a "test stand" for it:

After going through and making sure that all wires were disconnected from cabinet (and taking lots of pictures), with the help of my wife (Yes, I can learn from previous experience!), we lifted the mechanism assembly out the cabinet and set it down here:

It's pretty cool to see this in-person, really!

But still the cabinet is not stripped clean....

So, more bagging & tagging, more pictures (yadda, yadda), until I got down to this:

I stumbled across this little bit of "ugliness" on the lower edge that I had somehow previously missed:

Hopefully Scott,can repair this as well.

I find it very interesting that, in some of the pictures above, the original finish of the side panels can be deduced from where the chrome has covered it for the past 62 years! Look at the top of the panels where it seems to be discolored a bit....

Hopefully Scott can replicate that pattern and color!

Lastly (for now),  the stripped cabinet (with rear panel), the rusty front metal piece from the door, and a small box of parts that need to be painted (more on this next time)

Disassenbly, Part 2 (January-May, 2017)

Yes, I may be publishing things somewhat out of order, but hopefully posting things based on Topic, and not by Date, will make sense. (Since my photos are sorted based on Topic, it makes perfectly good sense to me!)

Moving on....

Door disassembly:

 Well, here's what I have to work with:

The chrome is pitted, the paint is peeling, and the metal underneath is starting to rust. Looks like crap, right? Yeah, but....as they say in the sporting world, "Just wait 'til next year!"

Anywhoooo,  I removed all the "V's", carefully making note of the P/N's, and bagging & tagging everything:

After taking a lot of pictures of all of the screws and miscellaneous brackets ("bracki"?) that hold the door chrome assembly together, I removed both door side castings (w/the requisite bagging & tagging):

Along with the door front casting:

And the key plate:

Apparently I didn't take pictures of these last two items at the time of disassembly, as these pictures were taken solely as "inventory" purposes for re-chroming.

Regardless, that only left the metal frame (make that "rusty" metal frame), and the perforated grille assembly, shown here from the rear:

 I separated these into their component parts and set them aside.

While I was at it, I also took apart what I refer to as the "roller guards". Here is one of them fully assembled:

If you look closely you can see they were a riveted assembly, but I didn't take pictures of the drilling-out process. Too boring (no pun intended)! As I mentioned previously, the front and rear pieces are cast, and will go out for re-chroming, and the joining center piece I will have re-plated.


So at this point I'm still (only!) down to this:

Need to keep moving!

Disassembly, Part 1 (January-May, 2017)

After finishing-up the work area I was able to (finally!) start digging into the 1452.  During the time it was in storage I had built a pretty sturdy shipping-like carton to protect the RO, but unfortunately I seem to have lost pictures of that. Regardless, even without that carton, once we moved into our current home it was well-protected underneath the stairs:

I had removed the (4) front "waffle glass" pieces years ago and placed them aside for safe keeping (3 of them are still good!), and the left and right interior dress panels were removed as well.

I may go into more detail on some of these things at a later date, but first order of business was to record the condition of the cabinet, and while "not too bad", it's also not too good:

Obviously the cabinet is going to need some attention!

I then removed the door assembly and set it aside:

And then tipped the unit on it's back to remove the "feet" and roller assemblies:

It may be hard to see from this view, but the front and rear of the "roller guards" are cast pieces that will be re-chromed!

Once the rollers were removed I put it back on a dolly I built so I can wheel it around the basement:

Next item up for removal was the top rear cover panel, which was simple and straight forward enough, but I took quite a few pictures to record how the top light was wired. Here it is inverted on top of the RO, before I disconnected the wiring:

Once the top rear cover was removed, the top dome assembly was next. First step, record, then remove, the top selector switch assembly (w/assorted wiring):

Removing the front dome assembly, alone, was a bit scary (not to mention stoopid!), as this is an irreplaceable part! I could have waited for my wife to come home and lend a hand, but for some reason I kept moving forward. Looking back I realize I was really fortunate that it came apart without injury (to the RO! the heck with me!), and when I get to the point of re-installing it, I'll make sure to have plenty of help available!

This is a bit out of sequence (note the stripped door assembly and the missing glass), but I don't have a better picture of the front dome glass taken at this time, as I had my hands full!

Once the dome assembly was removed, the side glass assemblies removed quite easily, leaving me with this:

 

Careful removal (and storage) of the rear dress panel and side chrome pieces left me with this:

And that's it for this edition! Next time I'll briefly cover the disassembly of the door and door hardware, and more of the cabinet tear-down. 

Preparing the workshop (November, 2016)

Before I get to the 1452, some info regarding the work area:

I've done enough projects to know that having an organized and dedicated work space is a "must" if one expects to have successful results, and thankfully the new house came with an unfinished basement that absolutely screamed "Basement Workshop" to me when we first viewed it!

Realtor picture of basement

Very early-on I decided that this would be the perfect space to work on the 1452! However, I had to make some changes....

The first thing I would need would be walls (naturally):

Center wall, under construction

Center wall, installed

Center wall, installed

North and West exterior walls

And insulation (on the exterior walls) and outlets:

Insulation and outlets

West wall insulation

Since this space is intended to be used as a workshop, I chose to use plywood instead of sheetrock for the walls, as it is much lees susceptible to damage:

Plywood walls

Toss-in some white ceiling paint (I had several gallons left-over from painting the ceilings in the house)....

Painted walls

Some used kitchen cabinets I purchased off Craigslist....

Shop 1

And some pegboard and tools, some lights, an exhaust fan and some shelves, and....Voila! A fairly nice space in which to work on the Rock-Ola!

Shop 2

Which was patiently sitting underneath the stairs:

1452 under the stairs

Waiting, waiting....

7 years and no updates? What the...?????

Yup! I started this blog over 7 years ago, but unfortunately "Life" happened during the past 7 years, and several things kept me away from this project. 

"Little things" such as:

* I got divorced
* I sold my house
* I've moved several times
* I took three new jobs
* I remarried
* I bought a house
* And I became "semi-retired" (and/or self-employed)

So, I've been just a little busy...😉

Regardless, I took-up the restoration project on the 1452 once again this past January (2017), and as you can see I've made quite a bit of progress since then!

I've taken MANY pictures along the way, and over the next few weeks, when possible (rainy days and what-not), I intend on updating this blog site. If you happen to be reading this in somewhat "real time", stay tuned!

(Note: I'll include the dates when the work was performed in the Title of each of the following "update Posts".)


Jim