How to re-foil Pachinko Parts

[Phulkrum]

Attachment 75044 Attachment 75045

Not RC but are model airplanes...

ahg! those always made me want to barf trying to fly it and I always kept getting the string control messed up lolz

[cardwwi]

have you tried foiling parts other than a single flat surface. like a piece that has some depth to it. it would appear to me that it would not work once you are no longer on the same plane. like going 90 degrees off of the main part. does this make any sense? i am thinking about the coin insert piece on my arrangeball machine.

AG

Some parts I have done don't have the same surface plane, nothing on a 90 degree but different levels. I just up the temp on the iron a little and only used the tip of the iron to foil the part. I know they make a small adjustable iron for hobbyist that is used with the material to cover RC and CL airplanes but I have yet to find mine. Just take your time and work in small areas at a time, overlap doesn’t show as bad as you would think, practice on some junk parts.

[emmadog]

I bought a 5"X200 foot roll of the brilliant silver color and did some preliminary testing last night. In short, this stuff is great and is the answer to "chroming" plastic parts in many situations.
This is the stuff used in foil stamping machines to decorate invitations, certificates, etc.
The adhesive is heat activated and the foil that is deposited to the surface is extremely thin and leaves behind a clear section on the plastic carrier. IOW, only the color is deposited.
My main concerns initially were is it really chrome so the original chroming could be reproduced and can I apply this to very narrow parts i.e, the raised borders on cell plastics? The answer is yes in both cases. It is a chrome color and not just shiny silver and since only the color is deposited, extremely small areas can be colored.
I did a spare pocket in about a minute if that. This pocket has raised edges that I painted with a silver paint pen and then cleared. Clearing basically turns silver paint pigment gray and is not acceptable IMO.
For this I used an iron and quickly completed the process without being too careful as I was just trying to see how well small areas are covered. What I learned was:
Its easy to use.
A small heat source would be better than an iron for this type of detail work. My soldering iron is adjustable from barely warm to solder temp and is what I'll use when I do this Mext time and ill use a wide solder tip. In this case though the iron is just too clumsy and some silver got into unintended spaces due to the broad application of heat.
Like a primer coat when painting, any sort of surface flaw is enhanced and this is particularly true with a reflective surface such as this foil. So what I'll do in the future is wet sand and polish the part perfectly flat especially on larger parts. For real narrow surfaces like these raised borders, this may not be necessary.

[Rival]

Anyone have a simple quicklink to a place to get this stuff at a reasonable price?

[emmadog]

It's already cheap. A 2" X 200 foot roll is only 12 bucks at aamstamp and will last a lifetime. The core size mentioned is irrelevant for our needs.

[Rival]

Cardwii link is all php busted at the moment. Can anyone post a link to purchase some of that stuff?

[emmadog]

Uhhhh you could always just google search aamstamp, metallic stamping foil, etc...
eBay too.
AAmstamp Store Front - Foil: 212
other places have more colors in metallic, fyi

[Rival]

Thanks emmadog, ordered a roll of B silver and a roll of B gold. Hopefully this stuff will solve some annoying problems.

[cardwwi]

web site went away for awhile but now is back

[emmadog]

Thanks emmadog, ordered a roll of B silver and a roll of B gold. Hopefully this stuff will solve some annoying problems.

I think it would have handled all the metallic covered surfaces I've ever encountered. I wish I would have know about this a few years ago. It would have saved me hours of masking and airbrushing although my results were great going that route.
The only question concerns durability but most of the cases where this could be utilized would be for parts that are seldom if ever touched.

[CarlW]

Coverite makes some nice, temperature adjustable, irons. Available at hobby stores and typically used on RC plane covering.


First picture is the trim iron; second picture is larger size iron, used on wings.

covr2750.jpgcovr2700.jpg

[emmadog]

Spent the last half hour or so on my Space Wars arrangeball. Every part of the center feature has a raised border that was chromed from the factory and I never was happy with what I ended up with after restoration concerning these areas.
Ideal, its best to remove the parts from the machine so they can be laid flat and easily moved. In this case, I removed the machine from the wall and laid it on its back.
I wrapped the tip of the soldering iron in a scrap of t shirt and set the temp T the mid way point.
I then laid a large section of foil down and then pressed down with the iron on one spot to tack it into place. Its good to have a pic of the area to reference to see what areas need application. If you pull up the foil and you missed a spot, no big deal just put it back down and go back over the area.
The pics are:
Section of foil with the rocket plume gone over. When the area is properly adhered, an outline is visible.
Pic of the "explosion" area next to a spinner. The pic shows the red circular parts before and after application. The rest of the explosion hasn't been done yet.
Pic of the underside of the foil after use with the tip of the solder iron also visible.
The completed areas look sort of sloppy but that's from so much more light being reflected off of the newly chromed areas. These areas are in fact just as neat as the original chrome finish. With my camera phone, its impossible to get a sharp pic due to the reflections.

[pachiwall]

WOW! That looks GREAT! I'm gonna have to get me some!

[CarlW]

Haven't tried the foil yet but did find some paint/stain at Hobby Lobby.

Called Basic Suncatcher Paint from Art Blast. Doesn't show up on google or on the Hobby Lobby web site?

It was about $4 for 8 basic colors. Used a toothpick to apply...

Red, Green and Blue colors are the new paint touch ups on these two pieces...


Paint Touch Up.jpg

[MrAl]

Hi, I have been a member for a month now and cannot figure out how to post new questions. Can someone help me. I know this does not fit in this thread, but I can't get the system admin to reply to me and I am not sure if I simply don't have the privileges. I am about to give up on this site

[hanabi]

Hi, I have been a member for a month now and cannot figure out how to post new questions. Can someone help me. I know this does not fit in this thread, but I can't get the system admin to reply to me and I am not sure if I simply don't have the privileges. I am about to give up on this site

Hello

Please don't give up

I am a Site Admin, i haven't received any messages at all?

I will send you a PM explaining how to post, but I can see you have posted here with no problems?

So if you can let me know what the issues are and i will do my best to sort them for you, (are you trying to post somewhere and it's not letting you for instance?)

Angie
Site Admin.


**PM sent **

[cardwwi]

WELCOME

[CarlW]

The foil fusing temperature is 250 degrees. 300 worked ok. Going to try 275 next time...

[Rival]

Just got my roll of chrome and gold today. I have a few dozen Nishijin Badges to do. I want to shoot them with white paint and then polyurethane to make the non-chrome areas look good. Can I use the foil over this?

[DaveCapps]

good question. As far as a protective coating against heat damage, polyurethane is not in that "go to" bunch of finishes. BUT (always one of those right?) given Carl's data above it just might work out at the low end of the temp scale. I would strongly suggest a good cure before heating the finished parts. Would love to see a finished example.

Dave