Making mirror signs

[thunder]

Can anybody advise where to have a reverse painted mirror sign made for a palm reader?
Mine is in a sorry state - the silver has disintegrated and the gold lettering has flaked off.

[grabber]

Most print shops will be able to make a sign for you. I have had transfers made for the Electric Travelling Crane
and also a mirrored sign for a gipsy fortune teller. The sign shop put gold coloured letters on top of the mirrored glass, then clear glass was placed on top of that. I think it worked very well.

[thunder]

Thanks for the info on that.

[pennymachines]

There are companies offering sand-blasting, acid etching, and colour screen back printing (transparent & opaque) of mirrors. For a one-off mirror, it's going to be pricey, I'm sure, but may be worth it for a valuable machine like the Palmist, especially if you can round up the other owners of Palmists and make a few. Almost all of these machines have lost their mirroring.
I've had a simple BMCo top sign done, which came out very well. The lettering was sandblasted into the mirror, then hand painted and backed. It didn't cost a great deal, but I suspect the company is out of business now.

Just a couple I googled:
Orchard Glass
2K Mirror UK

[jimmycowman]

I've got to re-create a BMCo top sign. I've got the top wood bit, missing the mirror...... Is there a simple way of doing it DIY????

[pennymachines]

The simplest alternative to sandblasting stencilled letters and back-painting, would be Grabber's suggestion above.

[gameswat]

This is how I did it. Bought the game in the USA without a marquee. Later picked up the wood on UK eBay. Cut a piece of old mirror with suitable ageing. Then bought some stick on sheet from a sign store that is made for sand blasting. Acts as a resist, but thick soft tape will do the same thing as long as the pressure is low. Found an original advert in that Honk Kong Works catalogue I seem to remember and blew it up to size and copied it. Then just had to lay the artwork over the film and cut away with a sharp scalpel. Blasted with low pressure as only needed to remove the paint and silver which is dead easy. Then painted in the colors needed. Tried my hardest to add the small lettering along the bottom edge that says BMCO etc, but was too small to cut the letters good enough so eventually abandoned that. Was very happy with the result though.

As for the separate mirror behind the artwork. My father owns a stunning "Matrimonial Bureau" 6 draw card vendor that looks to be BMCO with a Bollands name. The front glass is hand painted reverse on glass with a mirror behind, and the marquee is reverse screened with a mirror behind. Both appear original so i think this method was being used back in the day too.

[pennymachines]

I knew we'd get you to give away your mirror painting trade secrets eventually Gameswat.
I particularly like the old oxidized mirror glass idea.

[badpenny]

Gameswat, I'm starting to believe that on the seventh day you didn't rest at all, I think you invented clever stuff for slot machines.

[gameswat]

I try....but if you look too close it's just an illusion, all sand and mirrors.

[badpenny]

I try....but if you look too close it's just an illusion, all sand and mirrors.

Show me a religion that isn't.

However you do seek to improve us and yours doesn't start wars or subjugate.

[arrgee]

Nice looking machine Gameswat. Looks like it started life as an automatic coin return mech. Presumably the internal gubbins has now been altered to traditional allwin style mech. Interesting you say that you tried to add the small lettering BMCo etc. To my knowledge, these machines never displayed any makers name or identification anyway.

Well done that man

[pennymachines]

To my knowledge, these machines never displayed any makers name or identification anyway.

Some did and some didn't. You can just make out a line of text, at the bottom, in this low res. image of a Lucky Star mirror top.

I'm curious to know what Gameswat used to support the flash as a substitute for BMCo's pressed steel brackets.

[arrgee]

Thanks Mr PM, never seen this on BMCo before - live and learn as they say.

[gameswat]

Looks like it started life as an automatic coin return mech. Presumably the internal gubbins has now been altered to traditional allwin style mech.

Yes, started life as an auto pay but was fully converted a long time ago. Have never seen the Allwin autopay mech in person so not sure why anybody would bother to convert them?? Sad thing is back in 2005, a few months before finding the machine in Long Beach, a rough door only turned up on US eBay. At the time I had no idea who made the mech but figured out it was autopay of some kind, which I'd never seen before and was intrigued. Didn't reach reserve so I was in the process of dealing with the seller but he was holding out for some high price and not easy to negotiate with, so never agreed. It was re-listed a little later without my knowing and sold for something over $100. Wasn't until a year later when I restored this Lucky Star that I figured it out, and was pissed off! The US buyer who eventually got the door did a fantastic job of restoring it though, pics are on this site somewhere - link please PM?)

I'm curious to know what Gameswat used to support the flash as a substitute for BMCo's pressed steel brackets.

Was a while ago but think i used some old steel bar stock to bend up replacement "L" brackets. Matched to the original holes and stains to the oak. Used the brackets on my fathers BMCO Matrimonial Bureau as a pattern from memory.

[arrgee]

never seen the Allwin autopay mech in person so not sure why anybody would bother to convert them

Lovely mech, absolutely ingenious and beautifully engineered if not over-engineered with tiny roller bearings and substantial castings, as for converting them, see my BMCo article in The Arena about these machines whereby I suggest that perhaps the standard allwin mechanism was just more able to take the every day knocks and bumps during transportation by the travelling showmen. The balance and counter balance of these Coin Repeat mechs require careful setting up.

[gameswat]

I did once own and restore the large size BMCO autopay prize vendor. But was a while ago so I'm hazy at best regarding how close they are to each other? I would like to one day work on the Allwin mech and see the exploded view laid out on a workbench.