How hard is it to restore a Rol-A-Top?

[Dave]

I was on eBay today and see that someone is selling a recast of the escalator window frame that you are missing.

The price is $46 (including shipping). I have no idea who the seller is and have never done business with him so don't yell at me if you buy it and it doesn't fit

Not sure of the quality of the frame, just thought I would mention it.

Go to eBay and do a search for 230287111505

Here is the photo of it

[Dave]

To me restore means sand down the wood, revarnish and paint, etc. You're making me think that what you're thinking of is completely remove the old wood, get brand new wood, and make a new cabinet. Which is more accurate? I'd prefer keep-current-wood-just-make-it-look-nice, but if it has to be completely scrapped and started over, that's OK, so long as we can keep the bit of wood that has the label on the inside -- it seems hand written and can't really be replaced, but if it can't be kept inside the cabinet, I at least want to be able to display it with the machine, I just need to know if this is something to tell the restorer, or if it's something I won't have to worry about if the wood that's there now it just touched up rather than replaced.

After this machine is restored, I want to put it on a nice stand. I did a quick search for slot machine stands, but that got me wondering if there were any specifically made for a Rol a Top? Also, several sites had the same stands -- any experience with those, the ones that come with either the silvery feet or the brass feet? Are they sturdy?

No, no, no, no. Restoring the cabinet does NOT mean replacing it with new wood. It means stripping it and refinishing / repairing it to make it look like it did when it left the factory. When I restore cabinets I try to leave the inside of the cabinet untouched as much as possible. I like to leave all original stickers and other markings there. Not sure if that is how other people do it, but that is how I do it.

If there are battle marks on the outside of the cabinet I don't necessarily remove them. They are part of the history of the machine. It just depends how they look and how bad they are.

The only stands which were made for the Rol-A-Top are metal stands which were made by Watling. I have had a few of them in the past and currently only have one (not for sale). To be honest, they are kind of ugly.

You can buy stands which are designed to hold an antique slot machine. These stands are new but they look nice.

Dave

[atac]

RSLOTS4U is Mike Andrews a well known Las Vegas Antique slot dealer. @ $40, you'd be hard pressed to cast & mill that part yourself. However, if you choose to go with Jeff Frahm, I'd just wait--he'd take care of it and it would all be perfect in the end.

[Courk]

You're all so wonderful -- I'd bake you cupcakes. Really, I would.

[Courk]

How much do these things weigh? I want to get an idea of how much shipping is and all I can tell is that I can't lift it.

[Dave]

I would guess about 90 pounds.

If you want to ship it ask for advice here before doing so. There are right and wrong ways to do it.

DON'T use the big brown trunk unless you want it smashed to pieces and your insurance claim denied.

[Courk]

FedEx was suggested. I have no experience with them, so I'm OK with it. All I know about UPS is that they deliver on time, unlike DHL which took an awfully long time to deliver something the first time I dealt with them. I am a bit nervous about packing, though. Tell me how to do it.

[Dave]

Who are you shipping it to?

If it is a collector or a restorer then they should be able to give you detailed instructions on how to pack it.

Dave

[PA23]

I don't know what the currently favored shipping methods in use today are but years ago (25+ years) when my father would ship out a machine he'd get a large fiber barrel (drum) fill in about 6 inches with packing peanuts, put the machine in and fill it the remainder of the way with packing peanuts, seal it and write "machine parts" on the front.

Then again slot machines weren't legal to own in most places at the time either