Nishijin Rolling Stone Restoration

[mxfaiman]

Well I put the mylar on top of the new background (man it looks good on there ) and punched all the nail holes in the cell yesterday. And then started to reassemble the playfield.

To punch all of the holes I located a hole for one nail and then drove it in. Then I took the old cell (with all the holes in it) and placed it on top of the new one. Then I used one of my handy little picks to go and punch all of the holes (the picks are a great investment I bought them at harbor freight for like $5 they come in a pack of 4 and they are really handy for all projects "pack pictured below"). From there it is making it really easy to put everything back in place (I should have taken some pictures or something to tell me where the little posi-drive and non-posi-drive nails go )

Also I made a handy little gauge for when you drive in pins. They are offset about 3 degrees to the top of the machine. I'll provide a drawing of that with some dimensions a little later.

I also found the # 42 on the side of the background does anyone have any idea why that is there?

Also it looks like I will do a little painting to the chrome cover. I haven't decided on colors but I know I will be doing some painting on it. Also I'm going to use the original green tray not the brown one because I would have to customize the brown tray to make it fit on this machine.

[mxfaiman]

Another update.

Well today I installed all of the pockets and started to put some pins in. I didn't realize how time consuming it is trying to put the pins in. Actually it wasn't hard putting the pins in; it was hard trying to align them all. At first it was fairly hard because this is my first cell replacement. But once I got the hang of how to put the pins in it went faster as I figured out little techniques. The first one I figured out was start putting pins in the very bottom holes first and then move your way up the board.

Another thing that made it go faster was my pin alignment gauge. Attached is a drawing of it for if anyone wants to make one. Just remember the leading edge has a 3 degree slant. You want to make one of these out of a piece of 1/8" plywood. Make sure the sides of it are almost completely flat because I was using the longest side of this to make sure my line of nails was straight... and they are . This is a very handy little tool that just makes the whole system faster.

The attached pictures: #1 on the left is what the background looks like at the moment. #2 is a picture of the rolling stone feature, I painted in the lettering so it would stand out better I also repainted the "stone" halves. #3 is my pin alignment gauge basically showing how it works. #4 is the drawing of the pin alignment gauge, it is ready to be cut out and used as a template for making your own.

[mxfaiman]

update
Okay today I finally got all the pins installed. It took a while to install and align them at the same time.
I also got the spinners back on. Tomorrow I will probably start to put the track back on. It is always really hard to remove the cotter pins in tack and put them back so, when disassembling it I went and cut the cotter pins to take them out easily. Because I planned on replacing them with safety wire instead. That way you don’t have to save the pins and then try to put them back in and you don’t have to take new cotter pins and modify them to work. We will see how this solution works. I have a few other machines that I will be doing in the future so we will see if this is better.

I also took a different lower ball tray off a parts machine I had. The one that was originally on this machine had a few issues and I don’t think they can easily be hidden by cleaning and polishing. It is the same shape and the same green. It is just it has the orange ball instead of the blue / teal one. I also got a different chrome cover off the same machine. The one I had was the right one it was just all the chrome was in bad shape and that I would have to paint it or something to hide it all. But I found a different one that is better shape and I don’t really need to do much to it at all.

Attached Pictures: #1 background with all pins in place. #2 background with spinners in place. #3 old chrome cover. #4 new chrome cover.

[mxfaiman]

Update
Well I started on the track. I have it sitting in place with the wires hanging out and will probably start "locking" them in place here in a little bit. We will see how well the safety wire works. If it works out fine I’ll tell you guys what you need to do it. That way you can stop trying to save those cotter pins.

[Rival]

I think I can already tell you the correct way to do it, but you need a set of safety wire pliers. Loop it through, thread it to the back, and spin it with the pliers. Cut to about 1/2 inch and bend it over and bang it a few times with a hammer to press it lightly into the wood. Then secure with a small short wide-head nail, and bang it down flush. Game over, no fuss. Just make sure everything you do ends up flush. I would not do this on a rare old 50's or 60's machine, it is far more authentic with the original staples.

[mxfaiman]

I think I can already tell you the correct way to do it, but you need a set of safety wire pliers. Loop it through, thread it to the back, and spin it with the pliers. Cut to about 1/2 inch and bend it over and bang it a few times with a hammer to press it lightly into the wood. Then secure with a small short wide-head nail, and bang it down flush. Game over, no fuss. Just make sure everything you do ends up flush. I would not do this on a rare old 50's or 60's machine, it is far more authentic with the original staples.

yeah I was thinking about doing something similar to that. I too probably won't due that to a 50's due to the fact that most of mine are in decent shape.

[Rival]

You could also go with short staples instead of the little nails. I just ordered some 6" safetywire pliers from ebay for $16.00. I used to use that stuff all the time when I was in the airforce. It takes a little practice, but eventually you can really do it right. I'll pick up a spool of safety wire from the local hardware store, as well some short staples for my staplegun. I just pulled the last nail from a 1975 Shiroi Kamome and will be scanning in the background tonight, so I should have everything ready to go by the time new background comes from the printers. I think the safety wire solution is probably the best if we can refine it to best practices by some trial and error. I tried the cotter pins and was not happy with the results. The best I have done so far is bending some inch and a half staples and using them, but it is a lot of work to get the staples bent right.

[mxfaiman]

You could also go with short staples instead of the little nails. I just ordered some 6" safetywire pliers from ebay for $16.00. I used to use that stuff all the time when I was in the airforce. It takes a little practice, but eventually you can really do it right. I'll pick up a spool of safety wire from the local hardware store, as well some short staples for my staplegun. I just pulled the last nail from a 1975 Shiroi Kamome and will be scanning in the background tonight, so I should have everything ready to go by the time new background comes from the printers. I think the safety wire solution is probably the best if we can refine it to best practices by some trial and error. I tried the cotter pins and was not happy with the results. The best I have done so far is bending some inch and a half staples and using them, but it is a lot of work to get the staples bent right.

Yeah I was planning on hammering it into the back and then stapeling it in place. I can pick up a pair of those pliers at my local hardware store for less. But I'll be able to manage without them at the moment. But I will buy a pair for my next machine. We are using .020 gauge saftey wire if you go any bigger it becomes to hard to bend and it sticks out farther than the cotter pins did.
______________________________________________________
just rember it is sharp once you cut it. I poped a hole in two of my fingers while I was bending it. They are fine now and it won't leave any marks.

[mxfaiman]

Okay I found the way of how to do it. Make sure you read through all the step before attempting.

Twist the wire like you said James up till it is about an 1/8" to a 1/4" above the back. Then get a pair of locking pliers and grab the end of the two wires. Pull it up as tight as you can and then while holding the tension pull it back so it is near flush with the back. Then take a staple gun and nail in a 3/8" staple while holding the tension. Keep holding the tension after putting in the staple because some times they don't go down all the way so you have to hammer them down flush. After hammering it down flush you can then let go of the ends. Then the hole that the cotter pins were bent at a 90 at and then hammer it down cut the wires about a 1/16" past the whole. Then bend the wires at a 90. But start hammering them down at where you put the staple in and then work your way up the wire. Then hammer them down flush. After that take a little wood glue and spread some of it over the staple and the end of the wire and a LITTLE in the hole that goes to the playfield. And then you are done and you can move onto the next wire.

I know it seems really time consuming but it is faster than trying to reuse the cotter pins or modifying something to make it work.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

[mxfaiman]

okay well I took some pictures of one that I installed on my own. Truthfully this is a two person job. If you have two people they turn out looking nicer. So mine looks kinda ugly because I tried it alone.

Anyways below I attached some pictures that follow along with the steps. I don't think I really need to explain what step they go with. The last picture is of one that two people installed. I'll probably make a video on how to install it this afternoon and post it. It will make much more sense in video format.

[Rival]

Excellent. very clear and does a great job of showing exactly what needs to be done! Congrats and thanks!

[mxfaiman]

I have a video but I'm having issues uploading it. and the ones that do upload are of very bad quality.

[mxfaiman]

Okay I finally got one of the nicer one to upload.

Hope it is helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsU3B0W3TMs

Sorry about me calling things different names and stumbling when talking. It is my first video. I'm so use to just doing things and not having to explain them. Also sorry about the jumps when I'm hammering. I don't have anyone to hold the camera so I had to put it on a tripod and set it on the table.

[Moparformances]

Okay I finally got one of the nicer one to upload.

Hope it is helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsU3B0W3TMs

Sorry about me calling things different names and stumbling when talking. It is my first video. I'm so use to just doing things and not having to explain them. Also sorry about the jumps when I'm hammering. I don't have anyone to hold the camera so I had to put it on a tripod and set it on the table.

link is some kind of music video?? music by computer???

[mxfaiman]

Sorry about that. Wrong link.

This one should be the right one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bYHutoSKxM

It was taking a while for the video to load so I started searching in another tab and I must have copied the wrong link.

[mxfaiman]

Update.
I’m now getting closer to finishing this machine. Yesterday I started to put the back components on and had most of them on within 2 hours or so. (I have some updated pictures of the machine below). I still need to paint some trim parts and polish the tray and then it is done. Well once I find the main pin to the chrome frame it will be done (I know it is around here somewhere. It just got misplaced when I was polishing the frame.).

I also found out what the little pin on the chrome frame latch does. It acts as a lock so you can open the frame and it also makes it near impossible to open the frame up from the front.

Yesterday I also made a little pin for the ball dump lever. I had a bag of parts so I went through it and found the top of a rod that was broken off. So I went and filed down so it would fit in the hole for the dump lever. And it works perfectly. It is just barley long enough too if it were any shorter it wouldn’t have worked as well.

Today I also started to play with Ideas on how to cover up the 3^rd hole at the bottom. I have a picture of the hole attached. The main hole is approx. 5/8" Dia. And overall minimum Dia. is 1". Maximum Dia. is 1 ½". But if not a circle maximum is 2"

I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I want to have a lens over the hole and but a light behind it. But I don’t want to spend forever making a lens but I still want it to look good. So I came up with the basic idea of a triangular lens. It consists of two different sized triangles stacked on top of each other. I made a cheesy mock up (it might become the actual lens). But I don’t feel very satisfied with the lens. Anyone got any ideas as to a different lens I can make or some type of improvements to my triangle?

If none of the ideas work I’m planning on going out and just buying a chrome plated bolt to shove in the hole.

[mxfaiman]

Update.
Well I got the machine back to the point where I could play it. Down at the bottom is a link to a video of a test run I did on the machine. I also have some updated pictures attached. I just need to polish the ashtray and attach some minor parts and do the wiring and this thing is done.

In the time when I was waiting for paint to dry I started to play with the machine. In a box I had a loose Sankyo upper tray and panel. So I wanted to see what it looked like on the Nishijin. So I went over and put it in place and to my amazement it fit almost perfectly. This could be a mod to a machine because all you need to do (it looks) is change the latch mechanism and mod the win ball chute that feeds to the tray. So in the last picture I give you the "extremely rare" SANKIJIN.

I also forgot to mention that if ANYONE has an idea of how to fix my lens or a better idea please post it. I don't want to put a big bolt in that hole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnUvb-DtVQg

[mxfaiman]

Well I got this project moving again.
I now have polished the ashtray, fixed the lower ball tray, and installed the lights. I still need to buy a chrome (or a polished stainless steel) bolt to shove in the hole at the bottom. And then this thing should be done.

This machine will eventually be going onto ebay. When? I haven’t decided yet.

I have some updated pictures attached.

The first pic is of the back. With all the wiring done (we simplified it a little bit but it isn’t low quality)
The second pic is of the back with the lights on.
The third pic is of the front with the lights on.
The fourth pic is of the whole front (sorry hadn’t installed the lower tray when I took it)
The fifth pic shows the issue that the lower tray had when we took it off
The sixth pic shows the way we fixed the tray (we found the right sized bolt and then chopped the head off of it)

[Rival]

I find it interesting that you highlighted the lower left "superdx" badge with yellow over the pink, as the factory color was silver. Interesting look, and it goes well with the playfield features.

[mxfaiman]

I find it interesting that you highlighted the lower left "superdx" badge with yellow over the pink, as the factory color was silver. Interesting look, and it goes well with the playfield features.

thanks.

I did that because I didn't want to go through the hassel of putting the chrome leaf on it. So I decided to pain it a color. The first color I had in mind was black But after a while I thought it would look bad because the seagulls are already out lined with it. I got the idae of yellow because I saw a model A that I had that had a pink background and a little arrow with black and yellow in it.I liked the look of the yellow on the pink so that is what I went with. Sorry you can't see the badge that well. I'll post a better pic of it later.