Subscribe to our newsletter today!

Applying Side Art to Your Arcade Machine

I had never applied side art to an arcade video game before, so I did some research and found out the most widely accepted method required you to use soap and water to wet down the side of the cabinet to position the artwork. This didn't appeal to me because water can seep into the wood and cause it to expand and also allow air bubbles back up under the side art. Additionally, the soap and water method just seems too messy and requires you to put the cabinet on it's side, which I didn't want to do. So, I applied my artwork in a way that I thought would work better.

Tools Required

• Side Art
• Small 8" Level
• Pencil
• Squeege
• Wrench (to remove bolts)
• Razor Blade or other sharp object
• Paitence!

Step 1. Prep your cabinet

This is the most crucial part of applying side art to your cabinet. At this point I am assuming the side of your cabinet is either primed and painted or laminated, and is ready for the side art to be placed. Clean the side of your cabinet with alcohol, or something that will evaporate quickly. After this you can use a tack cloth to remove any dust left behind. Once you are sure the cabinet side is as clean as possible you are ready to test position the artwork.

Step 2. Position position, position

For my Donkey Kong cabinet I searched but couldn't find the measurements for where the side art is placed from the top and back of the cabinet. If you cannot find measurements like this for your game you can do what I did. I looked at other Donkey Kong cabinets online and found where the bolt heads for the monitor shelf appear through the artwork on one side of the cabinet. I ended up finding a nice shot of the right side of a Donkey Kong cabinet here. Now that I know where the bolt heads appear in the artwork I can place mine in the approximate spot on the cabinet.

Next, keeping the backing on the side art, using one hand, I roughly positioned the artwork on the side of the cabinet and used a small level, in the same hand holding the artwork, to tell me when the top was level. I made sure the bolt heads were in the correct position on the artwork by feeling them under the side art and made a mark on the cabinet in pencil where the top of the artwork belonged. I then moved the level to the right side of the artwork, made sure it was vertical and still in the correct position with the bolt heads and made another pencil mark. With these two pencil marks I now know how far from the top and the back the artwork should be placed.

Now I knew the position for the side art from the top and from the back of the cabinet. To make sure the artwork would be perectly straight I measured how far down from the top (and how far in from the back) the previous pencil marks were and made corrosponding marks about 6 inches away from the originals. I then used my level as a straight-edge and connected the two points with a pencil line makign sure the level shows each line to be either vertical or horizontal. This game me a border with which to line up the edge of the side art.

Step 3. Remove Monitor Shelf Bolts From One Side

You can safely remove the monitor shelf bolts on one side of the cabinet without the monitor falling out. This is important because side art looks awful when applied over bolt heads! It's easy to jump ahead and forget this step only to regret it later.

Step 4. Make it Stick!

This is probably the trickiest part of applying side art. My method was to expose about a 1" swath of the top of the side art by peeling the backing of the side art. Once the side art glue was exposed I positioned the side art along the vertical pencil mark and the horizontal pencil mark. Be careful not to allow the exposed glue strip to anchor itself while positioning the side art. I was able to do this by positioning the side art placing my hands in the center of the side art.Once you are satisfied with this test placement press down on the exposed area at the top of the side art. This is now where your side art will stay, there is no going back! Since I measured twice, added the pencil lines with a level, and followed my pencil guidelines, there was no reason to worry the artwork may be crooked

Step 5. Make it Smooth!

This is where you use the squeege. Since the top is stuck to the cabinet you can easily reach under the artwork and start peeling off the backing, exposing more glue. What I did was to use a squeege on top in one hand to follow my other hand as I exposed more of the glue backing. Work down the artwork from top to bottom, left to right in 4 inch increments. This ensures there are no bubbles and the artwork is firmly in place. Once you've remove the backingentirely, start again at the top with the squeege and run it down the artwork. This is not to remove air bubbles, but to make sure every inch of the side art is pressed onto the cabinet.

Once you are satisfied, pull off the protective film (if needed) from the front of your mounted side art.

Step 6. Reinsert The Bolts

Now that the artwork is in place and the protective film is removed, locate the bolt holes under your new artwork. Use a razor blade to make an "X" in the middle of each bolt hole and slide the bolts back in. Make sure you do not over tighten these bolts because they will grip and twist the side art around each head if you do, wrinkling it around each bolt head.

Step 7. Do The Other Side

Measure the position of the artwork from the top and back of your cabinet on the completed side and repeat the steps outlined above.

Step 8. Clean Up

Use a damp cloth to remove any visible pencil marks and admire your work!