1970 Model "A" Front Overflow Restoration Thread.

[p.opus]

Well, my front overflow from Goodwill arrived and so far it looks really good. They packed it in an oversized box within in a "sea" of packing peanuts. The peanuts were large enough so they didn't get into any major orifices. I was amazed that it was packed so well.

It looks pretty good. Of course, it needs a decent cleaning and front glass. But this should be fun.

Here's some pix. More to follow as cleanup and restoration progresses.

IMAG0234.jpgIMAG0235.jpgIMAG0236.jpgIMAG0237.jpgIMAG0238.jpgIMAG0239.jpgIMAG0240.jpgIMAG0241.jpg

[mxfaiman]

Nice to see it made it in one piece.

Looks like you got your work cut out for you though. You should have fun with this one.

Can't wait to see how it will turn out.

[Moparformances]

ya should be able to treat is like a pop rivet... take a drill bit that is a little larger then the shank of the screw.. drill on the head till its gone and ya should be able to slide the metal bit off the shank of the screw.. then ya should have some screw shank to get pliers on and unscrew it...

or use a dremal tool and a cutoff wheel to make the slot in the screw head bigger so ya can get a larger flat blade screwdriver on it...

[p.opus]

Progress Report.

Status Report as of 5/29, 11:30pm

The Good: All jackpots worked fine with no adjustment needed. Also shooter and shooter feed seemed to work great as well. This is with absolutely no initial cleanup. I'm cleaning the parts as I take them apart and put them together. So at least I'm don't have to try and replace or manufacture any parts thus far.

The Bad: Staples, Staples, Staples. Also, although it is very similar to my 71 model A, there are quite a few minor differences in the mechanics. Case in point, on my 71 the entire jackpot seesaw and associated ball return mechanism was one piece that could just be screwed onto the background. On the 70, many of the pivots are nailed right into the background, so I don't have the luxury of taking off the pre-assembled mechanism.

IMAG0243.jpg

The Ugly; It seems one of the screws holding on the whole jackpot arm and 14 ball jackpot tray mechanism seems to have stripped out the head. One little screw has brought me to a screeching halt. Since this plate is metal, I've got to get this screw out somehow. I don't have a dremmel tool and I'm at a loss how I'm gonna get the screw out. I just need to get it a little loose so I can grab it with some pliers. If I can get it out, I can replace it, so I don't need to save the screw, but if I can't get it out, I'm screwed (pun intended). Getting that jackpot arm out with the counterweight assembly is always a chore because you have to rotate the arm 90 degrees to get it out of the slot.
IMAG0242.jpg(how am I gonna get you out, little screw?)

It's getting late, so I'm gonna call it a night before I get into any hotter water.

[mxfaiman]

What you need is Neji-saurus!



Engineer PZ-58 Screw Pliers GT - Amazon.com

I have this pair along with the smaller version. Aven 10957 NeijiSaurus Screw Removal Pliers 120mm: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

They are the best things ever. I hardly ever use a regular pair of pliers anymore.

[Moparformances]

ya should be able to treat is like a pop rivet... take a drill bit that is a little larger then the shank of the screw.. drill on the head till its gone and ya should be able to slide the metal bit off the shank of the screw.. then ya should have some screw shank to get pliers on and unscrew it...

or use a dremal tool and a cutoff wheel to make the slot in the screw head bigger so ya can get a larger flat blade screwdriver on it...

same answer

[Moparformances]

cut a slot in it with a dremel tool... if ya dont have a dremel tool this is a great reason to have one..

[p.opus]

Thanks. I tried to delete the post because I wanted to add photos and was running up on the 10 minute limit to edit, so it now looks wierd.

Yes, a dremmel would be nice. I used to have one, but then never used it. I'll have to see how much one is. I like your drill out the head like a pop rivet though.

[p.opus]

Off to bed. The drill idea worked. I drilled into the head and was able to pry off the plate.

Not much of the screw left to grab, if any. No big loss, I don't have to use that screw as there are plenty of other screws to keep the mechanism stationary. If I have to, I could drill a hole elsewhere on the plate, but don't think I'll need to. Will see how secure it is on reassembly.

Got the jackpot actuator arm and assembly off as well as the ball dump chute and then removed the electrics. So it's a good time to stop.

Tomorrow most of the back should be disassembled as well as the front frame and door, With luck I'll be sanding and putting on the new background this weekend.

Mxfaiman: For the citrus, I think I'm gonna follow your advise with the 1/16 plexi then put some laminate over it so that the piece has a "shine" to it instead of looking flat. Then I'll figure some way to mount it to the existing pocket that won't damage the pocket, maybe some of that sticky play dough like stuff to hang photos, or just some double-sided tape.

[browne92]

You may be able to get the remains of the screw out with a good pair of wire cutters. Hold the cutters straight out from the screw and dig into the screw as much as possible before you start twisting. Once you get it going, you can switch to pliers. I've been removing stripped screws for many years this way.

Good luck!

[p.opus]

Thanks, I'll try that... By the way, did I tell anyone how much I hate staples? Whats even more frustrating is that so many of the components already have holes for traditional fasteners, but were ignored so they could shoot four staples in it. Makes no sense.

[p.opus]

End of night 2 and finished removing the back mechanics. and the front frame and ball tray. Tomorrow I'll start on removing the tulips and center feature and work on separating the playfield.

I thought since this would be another "A" model it would be much simpler. I was wrong. It's amazing the slight differences between the front overflow of 1970 and the 1971 Model A.

The 1970 has a lot more stuff mounted directly to the backboard, and even the payout passages are stapled directly to the backboard. I can't be believe how many staples are on this machine. My hats off to mxfaiman and others who have successfully restored the front overflows. They are pretty challenging.

I tell you this machine makes me appreciate my 78 Sankyo even more. If I ever had to do a replacement on the '78 it would be almost a cake walk compared to this one. The '78 mechanics are all contained in one piece that mounts to the backfield with 4 thumb screws.

I really am enjoying the challenge, but had no idea how much a difference a year makes.

[pachiwall]

By the way, did I tell anyone how much I hate staples? Whats even more frustrating is that so many of the components already have holes for traditional fasteners, but were ignored so they could shoot four staples in it. Makes no sense.

I'm not sure what method you are using to remove staples...but I found that cutting them in the middle with wire cutters, then bending them straight up makes them easy to grab with the cutters and leverage them out one leg at a time. Sometimes I slide the plastic part off the straightened out wires before pulling them...depending on circumstances. It helps to pre drill the pilot holes before removing plastics, makes sure things are aligned without pencil marks.
WHY??? Probably to save money, and speed up assembly time. Probably no robots taking jobs back then.

[browne92]

Guy designing ball trays leaves holes for hardware.
Guy producing ball trays leaves holes for hardware.
Guy in finance says "Nails too expensive!"
Guy in production says "Nails too slow!"
Guy on assembly line grabs a pneumatic staple gun. Tack! Tack! Tack! Tack! Tack! Ball tray installed.

[p.opus]

Guy designing ball trays leaves holes for hardware.
Guy producing ball trays leaves holes for hardware.
Guy in finance says "Nails too expensive!"
Guy in production says "Nails too slow!"
Guy on assembly line grabs a pneumatic staple gun. Tack! Tack! Tack! Tack! Tack! Ball tray installed.

You said a mouthful. I try using wire cutters where I can, but sometimes the staple is located where you can't get a hold of it. I have a tiny pry-bar that I sometimes use.

Almost done with staples on this one, thank god.

[p.opus]

Night Three: Chapter from the "Silver Linings Playbook". (Never saw the movie, just like the title, and the fact that all clouds have a silver lining)

Disastrous start!!! Destroyed not one, but both of my side pockets trying to take them off the playfield. The plastic tulips were mounted with paper thin plastic leaves instead of going through the pocket like my previous model A. The results were predictable. Should have avoided them and used my paint scraper to take them off.

Moving forward, however, I managed to part the playfield from the frame and remove the nails with no further damage and removed the lower race, jackpot low light lens and jackpot window before calling it a night. Started trying to find ways to manufacture or buy new pockets and lo and behold, two identical pockets, (but better, since the nail holes on these go through the entire pocket) showed up on ebay with two mechanical tulips. Snatched them on a BIN and paid a pretty penny for them but far less than what it would have cost to make them myself.

This morning, visited the glass store and bought my replacement glass for 10 bucks which was about half of what I expected. Decided to return two hours later to replace the plexiglas on another machine with glass and got that glass for free. Great store, and it offset some of the price I paid for the plastic pockets. Double win there.

Smarting from my side pocket debacle, I am going to proceed with removing the races and all the nails before I tackle the last two playfield elements. They look well secured, and I will need all the room I can to use the paint scraper to carefully pry them up. Then it's scraping off the background and sanding, with the actual playfield replacement slated for tomorrow.

Go HEAT!!!

[browne92]

Wondering: On machines with fragile pockets, would it be possible to drill the head of the nail off, remove the pocket, then extract the remains of the nail?

If this seems a foolish suggestion, pardon me. I've never torn a machine down to this level.

Bill

[p.opus]

Wondering: On machines with fragile pockets, would it be possible to drill the head of the nail off, remove the pocket, then extract the remains of the nail?

If this seems a foolish suggestion, pardon me. I've never torn a machine down to this level.

Bill

That might work, I would make sure you find some compatible brass brads to replace them. It was really my fault. I tried to punch them out from the rear like I did with the metal tulips, without looking at the front sufficiently. The punching out worked on my other machine because there was much more plastic there. Also on the older machine they were a little looser.

If I had taken my time and removed the playfield nails first, I could have gotten under the plastic just enough to get some pliers on the brass nail heads.

Just goes to show you have to think things through and look carefully at each component before you start ripping stuff off.

It's only my second machine, so I'm still learning.

[p.opus]

Right about now, you begin to ask yourself, WHAT HAVE I DONE???

Will strip the paper off the backboard tomorrow. Several have given good tips using a spray bottle to mist the paper first to make it come off easier.

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[p.opus]

Well, the original background is off and the new one is on and punched. Now comes the hammering and the twisting...