Buckley Jewel Box Digger restoration

[andydotp]

Not heard of 3D printing then chaps?
It's all the rage down here and you can set yourself up for a few grand now.
Need a part? Digitally scan it and send it to your 3D printer and it'll replicate the part to the millimetre in 3D - literally in minutes before your own eyes,,,, at home!
Then send it off for casting if the polymer thread in the printer isn't strong enough or use one of the other feeds like Titanium..
This 3D printing is the future........in medical, manufacturing, architecture, you name it.

Sorry, off topic, check it out for the machine door?
vainattempt@somethingnotsarky.p

[slotalot]

Jewel Box Pattern

I've not put it in Resources, not likely to be needed much unless someone needs a pair, or there's a run in them.

So that’s were that sock went??

[arrgee]

Not heard of 3D printing then chaps

Been around in the field of architecture for some years now but until recently was quite expensive. There are limits as with any other technology and one element is the cost effectiveness of the technology ie: the size of the finished unit against the cost. Small items still cost a few hundred quid but in time this will come down and probably be cost effective.

One down side to the process (as applied to architecture) is that as time goes on it will gradually replace the immense skill that the professional model-maker has. As has happened with computer aided design which has now virtually replaced the skills of comunication produced with pencil, pen, drawing board and tee square. I constantly see CAD drawings that may be 'practical' but have no heart or 'feeling' and lack comunication, and in fact are quite crappy. 'So what?', you may say, this is technology, and ignore it at your peril. True, but it is nevertheless sad to see human skills gradually dissappear. And I think that this rings true in the field of slot machines, especially the small scale manual production of English machines which were replaced by the then modern technology of electro-mechanical and finally fully electronic machines. Don't get me wrong, I am no Luddite, I just enjoy seeing the product of human skills.

Interesting how we as a society often eagerly embrace new ways, but still lament, and collect, the old which were a product of their own time.

[badpenny]

I expect 3D printing may well be the future and in a few years we'll wonder how we had the patience to mess about trying to make moulds. Much the same as we now question how we coped only a few years ago without digital graphics or cheap computer memory.

I can remember when RAM was £1K a Gig and had to bolt down our model 256 PCs at work otherwise next morning they'd surface in the canal minus their memory chips.

I expect quite quickly 3D printing will move on regarding cost and the ability to manufacture the item straight off as needed.

I still enjoy fettling about with needle files and taps & dies as I used to 40+ years ago in the back room of my uncle's arcade.

There is however a troublesome element as I'm sure we've all seen the video demonstrating a working firearm made by a printer.

BP

[pennymachines]

We discussed this briefly in 2010 (3D printing machine parts), but the technology has come on in leaps and bounds since then.

I'm hoping sooner or later to make a missing aluminium top flash for a wall machine this way. The idea is to make a slightly scaled-up (allowing for shrinkage) plastic copy from which to sandcast. I'm held back by having no original to scan, only a poor resolution, enlarged copy of a B/W flyer. I gave up trying to draw it in Google Sketchup but may try again using other software.

The guy at the foundary told me 3/16" shrinkage for every foot of material. Since this door is a little over 5 inches, I left a generous 1/8" on the inside lip all the way around.....but what you are implying is that the shrinkage is much more.

The shrinkage will depend on the metal used. Your caster should know what's required.
Shrinkage Allowance for Metal Casting

[gameswat]

ARRRGGHH, just lost a long reply!!
Anyway, long reply short - I think the 7% told to me by various older restorers is well oversize. I guess that includes extra oversizing for the machining specifically needed to sand cast parts which can be bloody rough sometimes. I don't mind a few spots but sometimes I've had to braze or solder the newly recast parts to fill deep voids.

Here's a cashbox door I recast a few years ago for a Challenger. Lower example has only been roughly machined and is just a smidge oversize, but you can see the added thickness to the outside edges to make sure it's a snug fit in the machine. Without an original door to compare with nobody will ever know. But on measuring, the shrinkage was very low - over 20.5" length it was only 5/16"! Compared to a Clown ball lift armature of 14" that was re-cast in brass for me years ago, which needed to be cut and filled with a spacer of between 1/2" and 5/8"! . So big differences in different foundries and metals. You should be fine as your foundry will know what they normally average on their own pours. These days I guess by experience most times, but always err on oversize.

[pennymachines]

ARRRGGHH, just lost a long reply!!

Forgive my blasphemy, but I swear by the free Lazarus Firefox add on. It's saved me so much lost-masterpiece grief. There's also a Lazarus Google Chrome add on.

[badpenny]

Thanks for re-mentioning The Lazarus add on.
You recommended it several years ago and I immediately loaded it.
I was so impressed by it that when I changed to a laptop I straight away forgot all about it.

I have cursed and bliged many a time since, so be assured one and all it is worth a shufty.

BP

[slotalot]

I was going to have a go at "backyard foundry work" myself, but kind of lost interest over time. I have just listed my home made furnace on Ebay if anyone wants to have a go https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350788783467 ... 1558.l2649
It is new and unused..... only problem is, it is collection only from Halifax.
Might swap for something slottie related???

[gamblingman]

The only pic I have here at work was during the creation phase, and was just short of the finished product. I added the actuating arm bracket later, added a small drawer pull on top of the lip on the lid, and changed out the little hinge hardware to more in line with what was in the pictures. Those little hinges are hard to carve with all of the little curves, but I think I got close.... I'll post a pic of what comes back from the foundry. I already have the Jewel for the top, and my only real worry is the actuating arm and whether it will be in the correct spot. I don't have the roller assembly anyway, but I hope to find one or at least find one to cast somewhere along the line. I was only able to fashion the arm from photos and your sketch, so hopefully I am close. If I don't find a roller, it will never go on anyway, and the door will work the way it is. Plan "B" will be to add a switch trip on the back of the door and an electronic actuator to close the flap when the door is opened, which will re-create the process. The pictures helped out a BUNCH, especially fashioning the star on the top of the door. Thanks for all of the help.

[slotalot]

It's looking good Can't wait to see the finished item.... Good luck with it

[arrgee]

I gave up trying to draw it in Google Sketchup but may try again using other software

Try Inventor Fusion 2013 Mr pennymachines, great little programme

[gamblingman]

I know it has been a while since I posted about the digger, so I thought I would throw out an update. A lot has happened since I made the mold for the Buckley door.....I sent it to the foundry and the owner called to tell me it needed work, but he also told me he knew a guy that had good originals of the door and a lot of the other parts I was looking for, and he only lived a few miles away. Long story short, I called the guy and talked him into taking a whole lot of pieces to the foundry to have casted. Great guy, and he never charged me a dime! I was smart enough to have extras made, and as it ended up I wound up with a bunch of great and impossible to find parts for very little cost. Shortly after I had the castings made, I found another Buckley digger that was missing a bunch of pieces, and I bought it off of ebay with the intention of using it for parts. Once I got everything apart on both diggers, I soon realized with the extra parts I had made, I had enough for TWO diggers. The only thing I was missing was the faceplate....which I figured was going to be impossible to find. I called the collector back to see if he had a face he would loan for casting, and to my surprise, he said he had a Treasure Island face he would just sell me outright! So the project of two diggers is now fully underway. I disassembled everything down to the brass washer, and cleaned and detailed every piece. I sent a huge lot off to be nickel plated, and I also sent the castings off to be polished. Last week I got all of the parts back and I am now underway in assembling and fitting the mechanisms. I'll be done in a week or two and will start on the cabinets next. I've already stripped one and it is ready for paint.....I counted no less than 7 layers of very thick paint that were stripped away (what a chore). The other cabinet was too badly damaged to salvage, so a local cabinetmaker is creating a new one for me. The only dark cloud came when I picked up everything from the plate shop and they told me they had caught some of the tin work in their buffing wheel and had creased it pretty severely. Luckily Jim Roller had another set that he sent me, and I will be having it plated later next week. I hope to be completed with both diggers by the end of winter, and I an anxious to post some pictures of the finished products. I've restored slots for years, and when I first looked at the digger I bought, I thought "how hard can it be". Little did I know how detailed those things are, and how many parts they have.....the guys that made these were geniuses! It's been quite a ride just talking with people. finding parts, and getting tips. A big thanks goes out to all of you for the help in getting me started. They are both going to look great when done, but then I am never doing a digger again.....lol OK maybe one or two, but my wife tells me she wishes I would go back to slots so she can feel like she has a husband again. Anyway, that's the update for now.....thanks again

[gameswat]

Gambling, look forward to some pics. Thanks for the update, sounds like you've done a first class job. Always sucks when someone else buggers up parts though. As a consequence I always do the prep work for plating myself, and helps keep the price down as a nice benefit. Back in the old days I was always pissed when sometimes the parts came back with the previously sharp edges rounded off. Or with ripples in the once flat surfaces, which the brand new plating would then accentuate. And once the idiot polished the wrong side of the part, and it was easy to see that side had never been polished in the first place and had been protected against the cabinet!! Then i had to mark each piece so they wouldn't do the same thing again. Those were old time platers and did a decent quality job most of the time, the best we could find for jukeboxes. But eventually they got too old and closed. That's when i started stripping and polishing myself and telling the new platers, "Just nickel plate, don't touch them, don't even look at them!" haha.

[gamblingman]

Definitely good advice for sure. I am building a framework for the new set of metalwork I got, so it will be a lot sturdier, and just as you said, I am going to do the prep work myself. My hope is the frame will keep them from catching the metal in the buffer again....it will be a little cumbersome to work with, and cost me a bit more in plating, but it is going to be worth it for sure. Life lesson learned....I'm just thankful it was a part I could replace. The shop did such a great job on the first one I sent them, I never dreamed this would happen....... I do have to say, at least they told me about it and took ownership of the issue and didn't try to hide it.....which is a lot more than I can say for some shops.

[gamblingman]

Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

With the help of a couple of folks on this Forum, I finally finished the restoration of the Buckley Jewel Box Digger that I have been working on for the past year. I started with pieces to this puzzle, and the intent was to do a simple restoration on what seemed to be a simple arcade game. By the time I got to the end of the journey, I had restored a second (Treasure Island) Buckley digger, and spent countless hours tracking down parts, and putting these things together. Thanks to everyone who supplied pictures and information to me.....it really helped a bunch.

What started the journey..............

Pics of the Treasure Island. The colors are not as bad as they look.....the camera flash made them look much different.

Buckley Jewel Box Digger.

[coppinpr]

Very well done, a really great job.

[wembleylion]

Wow, what a brilliant restoration job; the Jewel Box especially looks really fabulous. Well done.

John

[pennymachines]

I've enjoyed following this little saga. When you originally asked for assistance with the missing casting I wasn't optimistic but your results prove once more what can be achieved with perseverance plus a little help from our friends. First class!

[gamblingman]

Looks like this gets in your blood.....I just purchased two more old unrestored Buckley diggers from a picker in California. One is a Jewel Box, and the other is a Deluxe. Both are in a little rougher shape than what I started with on this last project. I should be able to bring both back to life though. And the saga continues...........................