Re: TECH: Cracked Backglass Preservation - Williams 1970's EM
- From: KYPinGuy <kypinguy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:23:16 -0400
Matt wrote:
Guys,
I've just got an EM (it is frickin amazing, I am in now hopelessly in
love with EM's...it's a 1973 Williams Travel Time...giving me a
serious contact high I never got with SS games) and it has a crack in
the backglass that, if you can imagine, is rougly "hill" shaped.
The "hill" starts an inch or so above the bottom edge of the glass,
and about a three inches from the left edge. Were it to "extrapolate"
on down, it would probably hit the lower left hand corner exactly.
It rises smoothly to a height of about five or six inches from the
bottom edge, then falls back down about 2/3's of the way across the
bottom edge (so the hill is shifted to the left of the glass) and it
does continue through the edge making a clean break on the right side
of the "hill."
It is staying in when I lift it with the lift channel. Have been very
gingerly with it and it does not seem to want to move front-to-back
(suggesting to me that the surface of the crack is somehow "hill
shaped" itself, giving the fragement a round-topped tooth shape to
hold it from falling forward or backward out of the main piece of
glass.
What's more, my lift channel is completely loose.
I have seen people talking about Mylar'ing the front of their cracked
glasses. I have already triple-thicked the back of it as it was
flaking. I assume this will solidify it a little at least, but I would
like to both get the lift channel glued/secured and reinforce the
front with either thin glass or clear mylar.
I am curious to know:
1. What should I use to glue the lift channel on?
2. Will Mylar be the best way to preserve this glass? I would assume
this is the only material both strong, thin and clear enough to serve
this purpose.
3. What sort of "crystal clear adhesive" would you use to slap this
Mylar on?
4. Where do you get a big 2.5" x 2.5" or so sheet of clear Mylar, and
what is the general cost?
Thank you, all. They are not making repro's for these things and I
would like to keep this baby looking relatively good.
Thanks again.
- Matt
Most backglasses use a type of fabric tape to hold the channel on by friction. They just used about 1" of the tape formed around the outer edge of the glass in a "U" shape, then slid the channel over that. There would usually be two or three strips of tape per side. They still make the tape, but I've only seen it sold as bicyclist handlebar tape. I've been known to use two layers of electrical tape to emulate the old fabric tape friction hold.
I'm sure there will be several options for saving the remainder of the backglass, but you might also want to consider trying to get ahold of a scan or really good picture of a glass, then printing it at a local print shop. If you're really good, you can make a mask layer and print it on vellum or transparency, so that you don't lose the numbers hidden behind the art. In effect, you can create a "poor-mans" translite until you can find a replacement. I have two like that for hard to find backglasses and they look just fine.
I happen to have a lot of plastics for that machine. Shoot me an email if you need any.
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: Williams EM Schematics for download?
- Next by Date: Re: Looking to buy in NJ, PA, MD, DE, VA, DC
- Previous by thread: TECH: Cracked Backglass Preservation - Williams 1970's EM
- Next by thread: Re: TECH: Cracked Backglass Preservation - Williams 1970's EM
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
