STAR WARS COCKPIT 1-1/2" WIDE T-MOLDING

PROJECT BLOG

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(Updated: 03-16-09)

There's been a lot of interest in the progression of various projects over here at RAM Controls, so the following page has been created to provide background information on the reproduction 1-1/2" wide t-molding used on Star Wars cockpit cabinets. 

Background

A very sought after 80's classic from Atari, the Star Wars cockpit version is built around a very unique cabinet which is beloved by past and present arcade enthusiasts.  One of most unusual parts of this cabinet is the special wide t-molding used on the sides.  The t-molding used on this game measures in at 1-1/2" wide which is extremely uncommon for machines from that era.  In fact, it's so uncommon that Star Wars (as well as Toobin' and Assault) appear to be the only machines which used it. 

At the time, Atari used various inexpensive Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) blends as the material of choice for their basic 3/4" wide t-molding which was adequate for the purpose in which they served.  These days, PVC is now the third most widely used thermoplastic polymer after polyethylene and polypropylene.  As a building material, PVC is cheap, durable, easy to manufacture and easy to apply.  PVC in it's base form is very rigid, but can be made more flexible by the addition of plasticizers.  This material served most game manufacturers of the time very well and was considered business as usual.

As widely used as PVC was at the time, polyethylene as a building material was gaining ground in the plastic bag industry.  Because of this wide use, it was becoming a very inexpensive material which had some interesting structural qualities.  Namely, it was very easily modified to work in many applications.  The previous PVC materials being used for typical game t-molding was considered to be "too flexible" by Atari management for the wide t-molding application, so they decided to take a chance on polyethylene t-molding.  Now, there are many different types of polyethylene; high density (HDPE), medium density (MDPE), low density (LDPE) and a few variations to each extreme.  High density is extremely rigid while low density is very flexible.

Atari decided on a blend somewhere in between low density and medium density polyethylene for their wide t-molding.  Although, it must be pointed out that over time, the original t-molding samples Atari used has lost much of its flexibility characteristics, giving it the appearance of a high density polyethylene.  Some advantages of polyethylene is its native toughness and ability to withstand temperature extremes.  However, as tough as the polyethylene t-molding is, most examples of it that exist today are in very poor condition.  On most machines, the t-molding has simply been removed entirely due to it's deteriorated state.  If still in place on existing machines, it's typically found either torn apart or broken in places around bends.  Unfortunately, this material wasn't tough enough to withstand 20+ years of abuse within a brutal arcade environment.  Similar machines which were well cared for in collectors possession over the same time period are generally in excellent condition by comparison.

The exact blend which Atari used for their LDPE/MDPE blend was lost over time and was nowhere to be found in our massive cache of Atari documentation.  We asked around, but nobody had any information to shed light on the subject.  We finally contracted with a plastics expert to break down our original t-molding samples and determine it's chemical makeup.  After a few weeks of testing, the precise polyethylene compound was determined and noted.  While we searched our records for information on the chemical makeup of the t-molding, we discovered that we had information on the original company which Atari hired to make this t-molding.  We further determined that we actually had the original extrusion die in our possession as well. 

As a side note, in 2003 we were able to collect all of the remaining tooling which was originally used by Atari for pretty much all of the plastic items they ever made, plus a few of the aluminum extrusion items.  Midway Games West was shutting down their facility (which was formerly Atari Games up until 2000) and had all of their tooling up for grabs, along with artwork, miscellaneous components and many other items.  It was a honest to goodness treasure trove of parts!  The stash we picked up included pallets loaded full of plastic injection molds, vacuum forming molds, plastic extrusion molds, aluminum extrusion molds, jigs, rigs and various plates.  The tooling alone was enough to fill a 26ft stake-bed truck.  While exciting to obtain these items, it was a sad day to see Atari's legacy reduced to a pile of boxes.  Anyhow, back to the t-molding...

Extensive research revealed that the original company which Atari hired to run their t-molding was no longer in business.  In fact, there are very few companies in the U.S. which still run plastic extrusions (when compared to the number of companies available in the 80's).  As a whole, the plastics industry has suffered it's greatest loss in the last two years.  The economic downturn has made the plastics industry nearly extinct, with very few companies pulling through in recent times.  This bleak situation made the search for a suitable vendor very difficult at best.

We found one such company which was somewhat local and still in business, but hanging on by a thread.  With our original Atari extrusion dies and the exact polyethylene recipe in hand, we contracted with this company to run 10,000ft of the 1-1/2" wide t-molding and 10,000ft of the 2-1/4" wide t-molding used on dedicated Major Havoc and 720 at the same time.  The process was completed, but not without some headache.  While the 2-1/4" wide t-molding ran without a hitch, the 1-1/2" wide t-molding was problematic at best. 

Plastic extrusion is a very complicated process which takes into account many variables, including machine temperature, exact plastic mixture, flow rate, flow restrictions, water cooling temperature, water flow, air flow, gap size(s) in plastic, extrusion die thickness, etc.  All of these will effect the outcome of the finished product.  In this case, we were worried primarily about the spacing between the "ribbing" and the finish of the t-molding (as well as the rigidity).  While the exact mixture of the original t-molding was determined, using that exact mixture created a t-molding which wasn't quite right.  It was either too flexible or not glossy enough.  We had to tweak the formula ever so slightly and slow down the flow rate about 25% to overcome this issue.  The lower density the polyethylene, the more glossy and less rigid it becomes.  The slower the flow rate, the longer the contact with the extrusion die which means the plastic will become more glossy.  Then, of course, there's the "flame polishing" process which can be applied after the extrusion process which can give the t-molding an incredible gloss.  However, this process was not utilized in the manufacturing of our t-molding.

In the end, our formula included a little more LDPE and a little less HDPE which ultimately meant a little bit leaner MDPE.  This was necessary to help create a more glossy looking t-molding while only losing a small amount of rigidity.  The thing about polyethylene is that is becomes harder over time, especially when it's exposed to UV light.  So, the t-molding samples we have today are much more "stiff" than they were in the 80's.  So comparing new t-molding to old t-molding, you have to take this into account when comparing stiffness.

Anyhow, long story short, we finally got it just right and the t-molding turned out perfect!  We collected our dies and the finished product and moved it into our facility.  Sadly, we soon learned that the company we used for this project was yet another victim of the poor economy.

Construction Progress

	06/15/07:  Here's a picture of the original Atari plastic extrusion die used to make the 1-1/2" wide t-molding.  It doesn't look like much, but it had an important job!
	07/12/07:  Here's a small piece of our original sample.  It's not as obvious in this picture, but the t-molding is pretty beat.  It's so bad, there's a crack along the length of the entire piece - it's barely holding itself together.  Still, it's good enough to compare to, so all is well.
	12/09/07:  This is our third-attempt first article sample of the reproduction 1-1/2" t-molding.  It turned out beautiful.  We're placing an order for 10,000ft of the material, so there will be enough to go around for many years to come!  Who would have ever thought after over a decade of this material being unavailable that it would be made again.  The trickiest part of this reproduction was determining the actual plastic material which was originally used.  It took some time, but we figured it out.  We could have gone the way of "best guess" but that wasn't good enough.  It had to be exact!
	03/29/08:  We just took delivery of 10,000ft of the 1-1/2" t-molding.  Here's two of the four pallets as it sits in our warehouse.  Nice!  We will make this available via the online store sometime soon.  Note:  We also have 10,000ft of the special 2-1/4" t-molding used on Major Havoc and 720 Degrees cabinets which will be available sometime soon as well.  It has been mentioned elsewhere, but it must be pointed out again that this (and the 2-1/2") t-molding was made using the very same original extrusion die which was once owned by Atari.  This is essentially an OEM part, but since we had to determine the plastic material and use a new vendor, we won't make that claim and simply call it a reproduction item.  But you won't find anything else even close to this t-molding.

05/22/09:  Here is the final result of our reproduction 1-1/2" t-molding as applied to an OEM Atari Star Wars cockpit.  Level42, a well known collector from The Netherlands, was gracious in allowing us to use photographs of his machine.  You can read about his restoration progress here on the BYOAC forums.  As you can see, the t-molding is an exact match to the original t-molding and looks quite beautiful when applied to a cockpit cabinet.  The blue neon lighting adds a nice effect to the pictures, as well.

05/22/09:  And this is what it looked like BEFORE the new t-molding was applied:

Updates

06/15/07 - This project has been started as of today.   We have a good t-molding sample to work from which was pulled from an existing machine.  We're researching the part and trying to determine the original vendor used to create the t-molding for Atari.  We're also trying to determine the exact material type.  It seems more like a polyethylene plastic than a PVC material.

07/15/07 - After our research, we were unable to determine conclusively what the plastic material used was, so we're hiring a plastic engineer to figure it out for us.

08/01/07 - Our plastics expert has determined that the material is a special blend of polyethylene which gauges in between "low density" and "medium density".  Also, it appears that the original vendor Atari used is out of business....for quite some time now, in fact.  We also found the original extrusion die for this product (and the 2.25" t-molding used on Major Havoc and 720 cabinets) are in our possession from the trove of tooling we picked up back in 2003.

08/16/07 - We have located a semi-local plastic extrusion company we're going to use to run our t-molding.

11/01/07 - Our first article sample has arrived and we cannot approve it.  The ribbing is off, so the flow needs to be adjusted.

11/13/07 - We received the next first article sample after adjusting the flow rate and we still cannot approve it.  The ribbing is still off a bit, so we'll have the flow rate adjusted again.

12/09/07 - We just received the third version of the first article sample and it looks like all is well after making some adjustments.  We had to slow the flow rate down about 25%, raise the water temp a few degrees to slow down the draw-down and the plastic mixture was tweaked a bit.  We had the plastic mix thinned out a little bit so it has more low density and less high density polyethylene in the formula.  That seemed to do the trick.

12/10/07 - We've approved the first article sample and we're sending the special 1.5" t-molding off to full production fab.  We're running off an order of 10,000' of this material using the original plastic extrusion die from Atari.  Once the t-molding is completed, we'll sell this part individually, of course.  We'll also stock up the regular arcade suppliers with this material so you can buy direct from your favorite source.

03/29/08 - The special 1.5" t-molding has been completed.  We have the material in our possession and will be available for sale in our online store.

02/01/09 - The online store has not been updated in quite some time.  With the owner of RAM Controls back from Australia, we are in the process of updating all of our blogs and the online store.  Stay tuned for updates.

03/16/09 - We've updated the project blog with some pictures and we're making this item available now.  If you have any questions about this item or anything else, please direct them to sales.