Updated - 04/06/2008

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Mystic Seer - Kit
Assembly Instructions

It is a good idea to lightly sand the "shine" off of the two surfaces that you are joining.  This will help the purple primer and the cement penetrate the surface of the PVC.  The glue is actually a solvent that melts the two PVC pieces together.

Try using the Purple Primer and the Cement to attach two of the pieces.  Practice using your mini-clamps to clamp the two pieces together.  Wait 15 minutes and see how good the joint is. 

While you're waiting, you can explain to your wife, why your fingers are stained purple.

Try to pull it apart.  You should be able to at this point, but you will get an idea of how long you'll need to wait until you can move to the next step in the building process.

Glue the same two pieces back together and wait over night and see the difference in the bond.

Although the glue sets rather quickly, a full cure will take 24 hours.  The bond will strengthen over the next  week.

Use your square to make sure it is at a 90 degree angle.  I use two squares, one on each side.  Since mine are magnetic, they pull towards each other.  If you don't have magnetic right-angles, you can use the mini clamps to help hold the bottom plate to the table.

Wait about 15 minutes for the glue to set.  Although the glue will set rather quickly, a full cure will happen  overnight.  Just handle it gently at this point.

I found this was much easier to work with and eliminated having to work with the very thin styrene.  I cut the slots while it is straight and then bend it in a jig after heating it in an oven.

After the walls have dried, glue the front/top panel onto the side walls/bottom plate.  The side walls should be flush with the sides of the front/top.  Use you right angles to position the front/top.  You can also use a few small mini-clamps to hold it.  Don't over tighten them they can slide the walls out of place.

The top will extend back past the side walls slightly.  It was purposely cut a little long so that it can be cut/sanded back later.  I found that if I tried to cut it to size before I glued everything together, I risked have it come up short, or end up skewed.

At this point I would wait overnight for the joints to cure.

Cut or sand this overhang until it is even with the side walls.  I use a bench mounted belt sander.  Take off just a little at a time until it is even.

The angled piece in the upper left corner is the coin chute.  It is needed because the coin slot does not line up with the center section of the MS where I want the coins to go.  The handle is pre-molded onto the lever and primed for you.

It will have to be disassembled before gluing the wall in place.  It is sent to you assembled so that you can see how it goes together. 

You'll want to wait until the MS is completely painted before reattaching the handle.

The inside wall will sit on the bottom panel on the insides of the two spacers that are already glued in place.  Keep them tight against these spacers.  The space in between the inside walls will be where your coins go and also leaves just enough space to put in the "Napkin Pushers" bolts.

You may want to put a weight on the top panel to apply pressure and hold in place the inside walls while the glue dries.

I'd wait a good hour before moving on. You could start prepping your devil head if you want, or again try to get the purple off you fingers.

The left Pusher has a notch cut out of the top to allow it to slide by the coin shoot.

Feed each of the 4 Napkin Pusher bolts through the appropriate holes on the inner walls.  It will be a tight fit, but there should be just enough room to get them in.

Put a spring over each of the bolts and screw the bolts into the threaded mounting "pads" glued on the back of the Pushers.

Don't over tighten them as you could pry apart the pads from the pushers.

You'll notice that the pushers have quite a force.

You can leave them in but I'd suggest taking them back out until the MS Cabinet have been painted.  This was just practice for later.

The plastic is easy to cut or sand.  If you have a table mounted belt sander, it is real easy to sand the cover to fit.  I cut the covers to within 1/8 of fitting and then I sand them one side at a time until it fits snuggly.

You can also use a table saw, but be aware if you take too much off, you'll have a cover smaller than you want.

Here's how you do it so that it lines up with the lock on the front.

Lay the back cover down on a flat surface.  Place the pad with the threaded rod on the center of the panel about an inch up from the bottom of the wall.

Gently place the MS cabinet onto the cover so that the entire MS is laying on it's back.  Look down through the hole where the lock goes.  You should see the end of the threaded rod through the hole.  You want it centered in this hole.  Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to adjust it if you have to.

Carefully remove the MS Cabinet and use a Sharpie marker to outline the pad.  Now you can apply the Purple PVC primer and the PVC Cement and put it back in the right spot.  While the glue is drying I set the MS cabinet back on and re-adjust if necessary.  Let it completely dry overnight, to assure a good bond.

Spot putty is not meant to fill any gaps larger than 1/8 inch.  Hopefully this is not a problem.  Apply it in a few applications.  Wet-sanding between each application with a very fine (800 grit) wet sandpaper will give you the best results.

At this point I also suggest you take the "edge" off of all the edges/corners.  Cutting the plastic leaves the edges very sharp.  You'll want to lightly sand the edges to round them off a bit.  Not too much.  I couple swipes back and forth with the sandpaper will do.  This gives the MS of a less boxy and a more worn look.

Apply a coat of primer paint.   Now you can really see how your seams look. 

Don't forget to paint the bottom and the rear cover at the same time.

Touch up with your spot putty anyplace that needs it.  Lightly sand and wipe it down again.  Let it dry and then give it another coat of primer.

Repeat the spot putty/sand/primer steps until you are happy with the finish. Be aware that the final top coat will not hide any imperfections, but rather highlight them. 

The key to a nice finish is having a nice primer coating

But, also it's good to know that the two labels and the yellow stars will cover over some small imperfections that you may see.

Give your final coat of primer a lightly wet sanding.  Be sure not to sand through the primer coat on any of the edges (where it is the thinnest).  Wipe it down and you are ready for the top coat.

You need to drill the holes for the two Menu Holder Hooks.

Measure up from the bottom 2.5 inches and measure over 1.75 inches from each side.  Take the screws & nuts off the menu holders and place them on the back cover like shown in the picture.  Use your square to make sure they are even and square.  Take a Sharpie Marker and poke it in all four screw holes.

Now you can either drill and tap the holes for 6-32 pitch threads or drill holes 9/64 in. and use the nuts on the back of the screws.

You'll want to prime and top coat both the menu holders and the back cover before putting together.  Don't swap the left and the right as the holes will not line up exactly if you do. 

Try to keep the spray nozzle at a 90 degrees to the surface.  If you spray at an angle you will notice the paint does not go on smooth but rather grainy.  This is especially noticeable if you spray the front and the sides get the overspray.  The overspray will not be smooth. 

I use a small spray booth with the MS sitting on a lazy-Susan so I can keep turning it as I spray.

What I do is lay the MS on it's back and lay (not peel and stick) the stickers in their appropriate place.  It's also a good idea to set the lock in place. The chrome lock overhangs the hole a bit so you don't want to paint the one star too close to the hole.

This will give you an idea where the stars need to go. Refer to the full color picture provided with your kit.

You want to use very little (buttercup yellow*) paint on your brush.  Don't get a brush full of paint and glob it on, as the paint could start dissolving the red and primer layers.  I like to paint the stars so that you can see the brush strokes and they look a little worn.  This adds to the overall worn look.

* - I felt a little funny buying a paint with the word "buttercup" in the name.  But I figured the fact that it would be used in such close vicinity with a devil head, made up for it.

Nothing is exact here, so if your stars are in slightly different spots, or smaller or bigger,  no one will know.  It's the overall look you want

Note: the top picture was done with Photoshop to illustrate how I start drawing my stars.  I know it's pretty simple but I didn't know how to say that in writing.  After using the word "outline" above,  I figured some people might actually try to draw the outline of the star and that's tough to do.

Some finishing touches

Now it's time to put on the labels.  Use the above photo as a guideline for placement.  A few tips.  Put in the lock first.  This way you won't want to install the label too close to the lock hole.  Space the "1cent- Mystic Seer" label equally between the slot and the lock.  Line up the top of the sticker with the slot.  It should be centered left to right like the slot.   Warning, the stickers are very sticky.  It's best to get them on straight the first time.  If you have to peal them back off, you may risk pulling up some paint.

For the "Ask Me" label, space it equally from both slots, about a 1/4 inch.

Now, install the handle through the front slot.  If you forgot how it went together, refer back to the picture above.

I provided 4 rubber feet for the bottom.  Place them on the bottom about 1/2 inch in from each of the 4 corners.

If the center of the lock is still in place, insert the key and take it out.  Now, install the back cover.  hopefully, the threaded rod with be centered in the lock hole.  Put the lock w/key back in place.  It should take 1-1/2 to 2 turns to tighten it down.  Don't over-tighten as you could pop the rod/pad off the rear cover.

Now, the most important part, face the entire Mystic Seer machine towards Syracuse, NY (where Rod Serling was born) and put on the devil head.  I tried pre-adjusting the spring so that it would wobble when the lever is pressed.  If it is not sensitive enough, take the head back off (not by the horns) and expand the bottom turn of the spring slightly.  Also, if your head tilts one way or another, you can adjust the spring by bending it a little more in the opposite direction from the tilt.  Always make adjustments with the head off.  It might be easier to take the entire spring off and use a pair of pliers. 

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