Removing nails safely from plastic features - a Q

[Siouxzan]

Hi!
I'm about half done stripping the face of my Model A, and had to take pause with the plastic cell features that are tightly nailed on.
I can't pull them (no gripping point) and it seams grinding off the heads would be asking for them to heat and melt the plastic.

Any advice? Thanks for the help!

Also, I now have every minute piece pulled from the back, and I found the half that were nailed rather than screwed somewhat obnoxious. Wonder why they chose to nail certain parts. I plan on replacing them all with screws. Seems naughty, but I'll get over it.
It will be interesting to see if I can get it all together and working god-knows-when down the road when I get to that stage.

[Microbus99]

Hi Siouxzan,

Removing the plastic playfield parts isnt that bad. If you have some sort prying tool like what some people refer to as a "door panel tool" it will do the job quite well. You've made some custom tools already so you could probably modify a screwdriver to work. Kind of like what you made for your last nail puller.

Very carefully wedge your tool in between the plastic part (or metal if removing tulips) and the playfield just enough to get up under it slightly. This will pull the nail up off of the playfield enough to get a good grab on it with a pair of pliers. Then yank. They're not in there that tight and they're not very long

Just my personal preference but staying with nails looks better than screws. It just looks right. Maybe a brass or gold plated screw might look ok. I found good replacements at Ace Hardware (1/2 inch or so).

Have fun!!

[Siouxzan]

Just my personal preference but staying with nails looks better than screws. It just looks right. Maybe a brass or gold plated screw might look ok.

Thanks. I certainly agree on the front, but I strayed to talking about the icky steel nails holding some of the components onto the back. I'd like to think it would for another 50 years before "needing" a complete teardown restoration again, but I'm thinking, just in case, it would sure be nice to have screws there.

[TilionMtl]

I'm restoring my first vintage too, and I thought the same thing about the nails. Not useful when time to clean the machine. I plan to use other method than nails too. not sure yet what I will use.

[JACKSJE4]

I always replace the nails and staples on the back with new screws. I think it looks better and it also makes is easer to disassemble when the kids put something other than a pachinko ball in the machine and it gets lodged in the back!

I use 4 x 1/2 (round top) zinc screws from Ace Hardware.

[NJ_Mike]

I agree with Jeff - #4 x 1/4 or 1/2" wood screws work perfectly for the back pieces. I pre-drill a small hole or mark the hole with a sharpie before I pull the back piece off just to be sure of placement.

[Microbus99]

[mudfud]

Hi!
I'm about half done stripping the face of my Model A, and had to take pause with the plastic cell features that are tightly nailed on.
I can't pull them (no gripping point) and it seams grinding off the heads would be asking for them to heat and melt the plastic.

Any advice? Thanks for the help!

Also, I now have every minute piece pulled from the back, and I found the half that were nailed rather than screwed somewhat obnoxious. Wonder why they chose to nail certain parts. I plan on replacing them all with screws. Seems naughty, but I'll get over it.
It will be interesting to see if I can get it all together and working god-knows-when down the road when I get to that stage.

I used a knife to get under the plastic and get the nails started slightly. then a brad puller worked from there. the plastics are held in with short nails, so once they are started, it's not much to get them out from there.

I did grind a few heads on the powerflash b/c the plastics were so brittle. even then, the plastics got grooved or broken off, so then the plumbers' putty to rebuild the pieces.

[TilionMtl]

For the nails, twist counter-clockwise while pulling them, all the parts on the front my vintage have nails with extremity like a screw.

To hold the protective parts behind, I plan to try to use some butterfly lock.. not sure of the name of these but here's a link:

PAPILLON SIMPLE EN NYLON... - 40PR chez Quincaillerie Richelieu

[cardwwi]

I have been replacing all nail, staples, and rusted wood screws with stainless steel screws I order them from Bolt Depot.

Bolt Depot - Product Catalog - Nuts and Bolts, Screws & Fasteners

They don't rust and cost less then getting them locally.

[jwegger]

I use bolt depot too, they have a huge selection, ship fast and are less expensive than any one locally that I could find. The only problem is their selection is so good you pick up extra sizes just to have them on hand.

[Siouxzan]

I used a knife to get under the plastic and get the nails started slightly. then a brad puller worked from there. the plastics are held in with short nails, so once they are started, it's not much to get them out from there.

I did grind a few heads on the powerflash b/c the plastics were so brittle. even then, the plastics got grooved or broken off, so then the plumbers' putty to rebuild the pieces.

There are several pieces that are not only held down with the full-sized brass nail/screw hybrid thingies, but also driven to an extreme into the insets molded into the plastic. In the end, the only thing I could figure out in some cases was to carefully measure and drill down to them form the backside so I could knock them out from there.

This thing went on and on and on last night. Broke a key plastic piece-- do you mean plumbers epoxy? I'd like to see that building process. I'll need to figure something out.

Anyway, this disassembly of the cell is WAY more work than I expected. The standalone nails were the easy part.
My wife's opinion at 2:00am was to cut bait. Momentarily tempted but... I think NOT!

[mudfud]

here were some broken pieces off my PF. I used plumber's putty AKA mighty putty to repair. could use that JB weld, too, if you don't mind waiting a bit for it to set up.

[Siouxzan]

Cool. Then you followed it up with plastic paint?
Here's what I did this morning for the real difficult ones with the full-sized brass nails driven beyond reach from the front. I drilled a 1/4" hole from the rear at each. I only had to go about 1/8" before hitting the nail point. Then I tapped a punch on the point end of the nail, knocking it loose enough to remove from the front. I'm happy to say it worked like a charm!
I probably don't need to, but I will fill those 1/8" deep holes with 1/4" dowelling.

[mudfud]

great idea to knock them out from behind! I should have thought of that on the powerflash, since I didn't care about the wood anyway. some of the plastics on mine were broken already, though, so it wasn't all my fault...

acrylic paint or model paint will work on the plastics. just make sure it doesn't have a solvent that will dissolve the plastic.