Gold Crown Barn Find

Progress!!!

A week in Little Rock, AR for work threw a wrench in my pace but I've made some real progress over the last few days. After some trial and error with my Finish Super Max HVLP Sprayer, I am happy to report all white pieces are complete except for the skirts. Some fine sanding marks are showing through so I plan to give them one more coat tomorrow morning. Overall, I am very happy with how everything turned out. They are not 100% perfect but I am probably the only one who will know of the flaws. Here are some pics:

Foot End Pedestal:





Head End Pedestal:




Pedestal Runner:




Ball Box:
The back of the ball box was busted out when I bought the table. I cut a new piece from 1/2" poplar to match and painted it apart. I will install the back once the paint cures.





Skirts:

I also made some progress on the metal work. I originally thought the feet were aluminum but they are a nickel plated die cast steel alloy of some sort. The pocket castings are also die cast (anodized) and the rail trim is extruded aluminum, also anodized. The rail trim is being re-anodized and should look like new once finished at a cost of $170 for the set. The feet and pocket castings would be very expensive to bring back to original and there is no guarantee they would look as new. I made a visit to a local powder coating shop and discovered a near dead match powder color I will be using on the pocket castings and feet. The person who quotes was on a fishing trip and will not be back until next week so I will not have a price until then. There is another shop I've used in the past so I may see if they can get the same color.

dlvh said:

Thanks for updating this thread.

Paint job looks very nicely done. Interesting that your casting seems to have a Coating on them, that I don't believe (now seeing yours) mine has/had. I'd be very interested to see your tables feet.

Keep up the great work!

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Thanks!

Gold Crown 1 & 2's had anodized castings so the metal wouldn't oxidize.

xianmacx said:

Thanks for keeping the updates going Scott. Looks great.

Ian

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Thanks, Ian!

dlvh said:

Any new updates, Scott?

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Thanks for asking! I've got some minor updates.

I purchased the reproduction Brunswick decal from Classic Billiards but was hesitant to use it since it is water transfer, just like the original. I was worried about durability as the original that was on my table was quite withered. I had a local graphics company reproduce it as a vinyl sticker. She nailed it and it is the finishing touch on the restored base assembly.

Original:


Vinyl Reproduction:





I also dropped off the pocket castings and legs at the powder coater. They should be ready for pickup Thursday or Friday at a cost of $150 for all 10 pieces. I also pick up the extruded aluminum rail trim form the anodizer Monday. I believe the color is a dead ringer for the original finish on the pocket castings and feet.






If all goes as planned and the parts are ready for pickup from powder Thursday or Friday, I plan to assemble the base assembly and mount the frame next weekend. I should have time this week to start prepping the aprons for paint and start building my light. I made some templates for the aprons for my light using the table aprons as a guide. I did not realize that the head apron is not as deep as the side aprons at the deepest point. It's shallow by over 2 inches. As such, I had to slightly modify the head and foot panels of the light. I'm not completely sold on the shape and may rework it slightly.




You're probably wondering, why not just buy a Gold Crown light? For starters, I can build my own for a fraction of the cost and I have the luxury of access to my father in law's 50 years of wood working experience and his professional grade wood working shop. I also do not care for the way the Gold Crown light is constructed. The side panels are 90 degrees from the top but on a Gold Crown 1, the aprons are angled inward slightly. My light will emulate this design and will more closely match the aesthetics of the table.

I've got some experience building a custom light. We built this light which matched my old AMF table. I had the corner castings rolled from 1/2" aluminum and we built the rest of the enclosure around them. Yes, I plan to mount the mini pool ball counters to the top of the new light.





I hope to have more updates next week.

dlvh said:

Wow...very nice Scott! Love that decal, and to have access to your Father in laws wood working shop and his expertise, makes building the overhead light, much more enjoyable, I would most certainly think, than buying a original one.

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Thanks, man! I'm loving the project thus far and can't wait to play on it.

xianmacx said:

Scott, thanks for keeping the thread active. Its fun to watch your progress and your detail. That decal looks great. Better than original!

Ian

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Thanks, Ian! Your help thus far has been invaluable.

A bit of progress to report. The first round of filling, sanding (120, 180) and priming of the aprons is complete. Interesting side note: one of the aprons was blue under a white repaint while the others were white.

Blue-haired step child:



All primed and ready for the next round of filling, sanding, priming:



I polished the rails with my DA polisher using Meguiar's D300 Correction Compound and an Orange correcting pad. Still a few deep scratches but overall they came out nice! I didn't have the guts to wet sand them per a thread in the Mechanic's Section.



I also picked up the rail trim from polishing and anodizing. These look brand new but were more expensive than I initially thought. $385 for the set but they are perfect; not a scratch or dent in them.

FeelDaShot said:

Dang, you paid the same amount for the trim as you did for the whole table. I'm sure it will look great though. I just hope you have money left to fix the rails and pocket openings. Playability is much more important than aesthetics...to me anyway.

I really enjoy following the project and I'm looking forward to future updates! If possible, it would be cool to see the total project cost tally with each new update. (For example, just bought the trim for $385, which brings the total project cost up to $XXX so far)

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Yup, restoring the trim cost just as much as the table. Such is life. I will be having the subrails extended and calibrated and new rubber installed to reduce the pockets to 4 1/8" for the corners and 4 7/8" for the sides. I'm still contemplating Diamond Black, SuperSpeeds or Klematch rubber. You bring up an interesting point. Here's a cost breakdown thus far:

Table Cost: $400
Paint and Supplies: $175
HVLP Spray Gun: $100
Bridge Holder: $89
Decal Reproduction: $55
Decal Sales: ($153)
Polishing and Anodizing: $385
Powder Coating: $150
Rail work, cushions, 860HR and setup: $1,200 (estimated)

All in, I should be right around $2,400 once complete.