Hey all, lthis looks like a great forum, just joined today. First time poster!
I picked up a Tornado T3000, at least that's what I think the model is. Can't find a model number anywhere but it looks exactly like this:
![](http://johnda.com/t3000.jpg)
It was up for auction and unusable as it sat due to a single missing bearing and the laminate was chipped and peeling in areas. I was not there when it went on the block but bidding stopped at $200 so the owner "bought" it back. Some call it shill bidding but it's unfortunately allowed at this auction. Long story short, I paid him $250 for it.
I spoke to the owner, an op out of Greensboro NC, and he told me it came from a laundromat. It had all manner of things inside, his "customers" used for a ball to avoid paying the .75 to play. Bubble gum capsules, mentos mints, wads of paper, even a hot wheels car. After cleaning it out and carefully inspecting I was very please to find absolutely zero MDF swelling. I have it torn down and am currently restoring it. The playfield is mint, the laminate on the top and inside walls are also mint. All rods are perfectly straight and all the men are dirty but umdamaged. All she really needs is an exterior facelift a thorough cleaning and conversion to free play.
Q1: has anyone ever tried to use vinyl car wrap to refinish a cabinet over laminate? I removed the badly damaged pieces, cleaned off all the glue with acetone (works great) filled screw holes underneath with bondo and will prep all surfaces with a coat of gloss enamel to provide a smooth finish for the vinyl to adhere to. I purchased silver carbon fiber matte finish vinyl wrap to replace the laminate. I think it'll look very close to the original stainless steel appearance but a bit cooler. (IMO)
![](http://www.johnda.com/cf-roll.jpg)
![](http://www.johnda.com/cf-close.jpg)
While the coin mech and ball server work perfectly, I believe I will unfasten the center ball trough (3 screws), push it to the top and create a free play version that will feed the balls directly back to the ball tray for an endless feed of balls.
The last thing I want to do is increase the score keepers on the ends to tournament match style since games will no longer be limited to 9 balls as with coin play.
Q2: I am a novice, never played tournament foosball. I want to cover the existing holes the 5 bead rod created so I figure that place can be used for the game count rod (3 beads?) how many beads go on the game score rod? I think I can fit that to the left or right of the game count rod.
Thanks!
John