Penny Machines Restoration: ARCHIVE

If you are lucky enough to find a machine at source (i.e. the damp cellar, the chicken shed or the leaky attic), the chances are it will have suffered the ravages of time. The initial euphoria of the "find" is quickly replaced by a sinking feeling as you contemplate the effort required to turn an unsightly tangle of woodworm, rust and broken glass into a fine, working antique amusement machine. Well, the glass (provided it wasn't once beautifully mirror-etched) and the wood (provided you know the original dimensions) shouldn't present too much of an obstacle. Missing or broken parts, damaged art work and seized mechanisms are the real headaches. Here, we offer a solution (quite literally) for the latter.

There are various methods of cleaning mechanisms. Wire-wool and sore hands is the cheap and cheerless way, but this is only effective once the machine has been disassembled. Bead blasting with fine abrasives can produce clean surfaces with no significant loss of metal, but unless you have access to a blast cabinet, you'll be placing your precious bits in the hands of strangers (it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it). And although blasting will produce a clean-looking mechanism, it won't un-seize a single rusty nut. The common approach is to give all once-moving parts a liberal spray of freeing oil, leave a few days and repeat as required. If applied patiently over time, this will free all but the most corroded joints. It also leaves a nasty oily residue which will have to be cleaned-off with degreasing agents. So will the more thorough method of separating the mechanism from its case and other perishable parts and leaving it to soak in a toxic bath of solvents (nasty).

Collector John Husk suggests a sweeter solution for dealing with thoroughly rusted and seized machines: Remove the mechanism from its case and art work. To do this without causing damage requires a methodical, patient approach and can be a day's work in itself (see stubborn screws). Go to the pantry and get three bags of molasses sugar. Take one teaspoon as a reward for your hard work so far, and pour the remainder into a suitably large bowl of warm water, stirring until dissolved. Place the mechanism into the sugar solution and leave to stew for up to three weeks before washing off and drying.

Your first attempt is your best chance of a clean extraction, so make it a good one. As in all restoration work, a bit of preparation can save a lot of perspiration. The vital thing is to ensure the screwdriver doesn't slip and mangle the screw head as you try to turn it. The first thing is to clean the slot with a needle-ended file. You can apply a dab of gripping agent to the screwdriver tip (expensive stuff, but sometimes it just gives you the edge). Insert a tight-fitting screwdriver and whack the handle with a hammer a couple of times to bed it into the slot and help break the screw's grip.

Penetrating oil followed by heating the screw head with a soldering iron several times, causing the screw to expand and contract can break the grip of even the most stubborn rusty screw. However it has taken me an hour or two to free one screw! Patience is the restorer's greatest ally. Failing that, one can dig the rusty thread out, which often reveals little more than a stump, then drill out the hole and fill it with a plug of the same wood, matched as best you can with the grain orientated the correct way. Simon Parkes

The impact driver is best used on heavier jobs. It allows you to apply maximum turning force to the screw head in one short sharp burst. It can be great for quickly releasing beefy bolts etc., but the downward force applied makes it unsuitable for more delicate work involving wood or fragile castings.

If a screw head offers no purchase, the screw extractor can sometimes come to the rescue. You drill a hole into the top of the screw, insert the extractor and twist. The extractors come in a range of sizes, but I've not had much luck using this method on small screws. There's just not enough metal in which to embed the extractor.

How do you make a shiny new brass replacement part match the rest of the machine so that it doesn't stick out like the proverbial sore thumb? If it is highly polished, start by scrubbing with a medium grade wire wool to dull the surface slightly. This also removes any protective lacquer which would obstruct the chemical tarnishing treatment (a blowtorch will also burn off lacquer and can produce some tarnishing). Now clean the metal thoroughly (ideally, with an acid solution) to remove greasy fingerprints etc. which would spoil the results. Rinse well and apply a cold patinating fluid such as Liberon's Tourmaline Brown. Do this with a brush, cotton wool or dip the object in a 10% solution until the desired colour is achieved. Rinse again and apply jade oil as a fixative. You can fine-tune the effect with further applications if required and by polishing the highlights with 0000 gauge wire wool.

I have always found water, rust and other penetrating stains which are too deep to sand out a problem when refinishing slot machine cabinets. Trying to hide stains by darkening everything to match is the least satisfactory approach. the marks go darker as well and the whole piece is spoiled by the heavy overall colour.
One product that is available for removing these blemishes is hydrogen peroxide wood bleach. This works well, but lightens the wood which must then be re stained. Because it removes more colour from the softer parts of the wood it can exaggerate the grain pattern - particularly with oak. This may be undesirable if you wish to maintain the original character of the wood. Conversely, it can leave the wood looking lifeless. Test it first, if you can find a part of the wood that is not going to be visible.
Cheaper and easier to use is the milder oxalic acid bleach. You can buy it as a solution (e.g. 3M Wood Cleaner and Spot Remover) or make it up yourself by buying the acid in crystal form from the chemists. Make a small amount of wet paste, mixing hot water and oxalic acid crystals. Use a mixture of three parts oxalic acid to one part hot water. It removes stains and cleans the wood with less effect upon the natural colour. As with hydrogen peroxide, deep, dark stains require repeated applications. Neutralize the acid bleach by wiping the wood surface with diluted ammonia (1:1 with water) or baking soda solution (one tablespoon to a litre of water) using a clean sponge.
Complete removal of marks is not usually the object. The aim is not to make the wood look new, but to reduce the contrast of particularly strident and distracting blemishes.

Frequently, when you acquire an old slot machine, it's locked with the keys missing. Anxious to examine what you've really got, you reach for the power drill and start grinding away. Don't do it! You're destroying part of your valuable antique. Just be thankful it has a lock. If it's original, it's older than the machine and chances are it'll be hard to replace. Original locks are a first sign to discerning collectors that a machine hasn't been "got at" or "messed with". Drilling is the last resort. Be patient. If you don't have a skilled safe-breaker in the family, try your local locksmith. A good locksmith should have little problem picking the lock and cutting a new set of keys - all for less than the price of a new lock.