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Thread: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Decided to take it completely apart and make it like new. Wanted to start simple and sand and refinish the box. Nothing simple about that! There is no way to simply unplug the wiring etween the door and box.DSCF8320.JPG No connector between the box and door.DSCF8321.JPG The low coin indicator lamp had toe cut in order to remove the coin acceptor. Since I didn't have anything to label wires cut with...I decided to clean and polish the coin acceptor. It did not clean as well as I expected. Lots of angels, and corners made it difficult, and time consuming. It looked OK, DSCF8344.JPGDSCF8340.JPG and I probably should have left it alone. But I sanded it with 400, 600, then 800 grit paper, DSCF8357.JPGand polished some more,,,a lot more. DSCF8340.JPG A lot of work for not much better. It is an extremely simple coin acceptor for a gambeling machine!DSCF8342.JPG Only 3 parts, with no adjustments. Have not tested it yet to see if I screwed it up! I then removed the relay board and main power relay, and polished them. The clear housings are cool and polish up nice!DSCF8348.JPG Here is the big power relay next to a Bic lighter to show size.DSCF8352.JPGDSCF8349.JPG It is cool that you can see through it (them), instead of just being a black box.

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    I bought some masking tape, and some generic zip lock bags for parts. I wanted to just unplug the wiring harness...but that was NOT gonna happen! I had to cut MANY wires, and label them with masking tape. I really didn't want to do this...but was a necessary evil.DSCF8360.JPGDSCF8365.JPG Many wires are soldered to switches that are labeled and removed intact...but stuff like the solenoid had to be labeled and cut, because it is bolted to the cover...and access to the nuts are only avaliable once the cover is removed. I have been working on it for a few hours. It could have been stripped very quickly...but I would have never been able to remember where everything went! Much studying, and labeling with masking tape, and a sharpie...to make as few cuts as possible. Digital pics were also taken...but they never seem to be enough, or the right ones! Finally got the wiring harness loose.DSCF8366.JPG Emptied a dresser drawer to safely stash it in for when time to clean and replace it. Cabinet now looks like this.DSCF8367.JPG Now I can sand and finish the box. NOT nearly as simple as I hoped it would be! Next is to remove the back mechanics to clean and polish. Not nearly as complex as a vintage pachinko machine...but all the wiring makes up for it!
    I bought a new cell from Rivel. That is a challenge for me. Never dune that before. I also bought 2 others. One for a front overflow, and I am especially excited about the single shot one. single ball spiderman 002.jpg I traded an unloved, functioning machine...for this, obsure, but HIT single shot machine. Cardwwi was kind enough to make me a PDF file ( I think that is what it was), o I could restore it. Since he has it for sale on his site, I decided to just buy it from him, instead of letting a local printer do it WRONG, Comparing it to what is left of the original cell...HE DID GREAT!

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    good on you for attempting to restore your arrangeball. i was a little anxious when i did my first one but i wanted to do it right and that meant taking it completely apart. tons of pictires and labeled containers are the key. restoring these machines doesn't require much talent since there's no art being created or new machine design for example, it's just mainly a matter of cleaning and touching up what was already there. others claim it's some grand enterprise requiring a multitude of talents. it's not but it does require patience, persistence, a little common sense and being methodical. i'm about as untalented as they come and have done quite a few arrangeballs to date with great results. the first is the hardest but after that it's much easier like anything else. concerning coin mechs, i've found sometimes from the coin insert down to the coin ejector are sometimes so pitted that it'll never look as good as you want but any cleaning is an improvement.
    i highly recommend getting a soldering iron and desoldering all the wires next time around. it's more professional and neat looking and also much less work. you're now going to have to splice the wires and those connections should be soldered together and then heat shrink tubing applied. that can get very frustrating in tight spaces. so if you're soldering those connections anyway you might as well have desoldered the wires from their attachment point.
    i use 0000 steel wool to polish many of the metal parts such as the ball drop linkage and bar the balls rest on. those are typically pretty gummed up. the small parts go in my tumbler but don't use steel wool on or near any of the solenoids, electrical parts, etc. all of the debris coming off the wool will short stuff out. alcohol and magic erasers work well to remove grime as well. for tight areas that are really dirty such as the front ball channel that feeds into the shooter, i take a piece of magic eraser and clamp in in a pair of hemostats with soap and water. it works great because my fingers are too big to get in there. the M.E. can slightly scuff the plastic so I take Novus 2 and the same setup but using a piece of cotton t-shirt to polish it. looks brand new when done.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Thanks for the tips. I have never tried Magic Eraser before so I'm gonna get some. I have head about the dangers of steel wool around electrical stuff. You should keep some and a 9v battery in your survival kit or bugout bag because it makes a good firestarter. I do have a soldering iron, and considered your points before you made them. When I was cutting wires, usully fter tking a pic of where the wire went, I cut it close to the solder point leaving just a tiny piece of insulation behind as an identifier of the color wire that came from that point. and tagged it with a piece of masking tape. As you can see, all those wires make me a little nervous. I plan on resoldering most, if not all connections anyhow. Some wires I did cut in the middle because of space limitations I always solder and shrink tube splices. I never rely on twisting and taping. I don't thinki I have bought a roll of electrical tape since high school. Some switches have multiple wires attached to a terminal. I didn't want to unsolder a wire and the others come loose, then have to resolder them. I understand that it can happen when I reassemble it...but I expext it and am prepared for it at that point and it won't be an aggrevation at that point...like it would have been last night.

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Well put. Magic eraser is great stuff-extremely versatile and cleans well. It's like wet sanding with 2000 grit in a way.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    While cleaning the solenoid labeled "ATTACK" that opens the "dollar door", I noticed a small screwdriver operated potentiometer, accessed through a small hole in the housing.DSCF8369.JPG I have to assume that this is to adjust the time that the door stays open. I can't test this theory until I reassemble the machine.DSCF8371.JPGDSCF8368.JPG I was having trouble getting the "dollar door" off the from the front. Small stubborn screws so tight (rusty metal, and swollen wood), the screw slots wee stripping out of 2 of them. Keep in mind that I don't like Great Neck tools, but this screwdriver set bailed me out!DSCF8390.JPGDSCF8391.JPGI have GOOD precision screwdrivers, but you can't get any torque or downward pressure on the tiny shafts. The large handle allowed both pressure and torque to be applied. I was afraid I was going to have to try to drill these screws out. With the door off, I started pulling nails. All nails out and in a tumbler with crushed walnut shells, and a squirt of metal polish. I launched 2 nails across the room, can't find them. And 3 fell inside the box while it was flat on it's back while I was pulling. I could only find 2 when I opened it. So I pulled 5 nails frpm "melted side tross" and tossed them in the tumbler as well. I didn't bother straightening them tonight, I'll pull them out tomorrow night to see how they look, then straighten the slightly bent ones, then tumble the for a couple more days.DSCF8386.JPGDSCF8388.JPG

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    That's really cool to have a pot to adjust the time open. I've only seen that on one other arrangeball and that's my Satomi Space Wars where the length of time the ships slide open and how many times per activation.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Not much left to take apart!DSCF8392.JPG Soon will be putting it back together! How exciting it will be to see the CLEAN and SHINY parts going back on.Putting the ball track back on looks a little tricky. Seems like I saw a thread on that before...something to search for tonight. If anyone has had great sucess with a particular method...please share! Exactly as factory made is not as important as a secure ball track, and longevity.

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    Don't reuse the original metal fasteners if you have any left. Usually the break in two from corrosion anyway. I use stainless wire, pull it thru to the rear and bend it up against the wood. Then while holding it tight with pliers, staple it down a quarter inch or so below the hole. Hammer the staple in then cut off the excess.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Sounds like your thread was the one I was thinking of! I remember reading something that sounded just like that. I am removing the ball track now...and broke one staple.

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    I thought I could leave some flat tin nailed to the back intact...I was wrong! It was in the way of the staples holding the ball track on. Absolutely everything had to go.DSCF8393.JPGDSCF8394.JPG Misted with water and scraped the paper off as MAX once suggested. Now I need to sand it smooth. To what grit is recomended? Also, should some sort of sealer be applied to promote adhesion? Or, would it be better to just tack cloth to remove dust, and apply directly to bare wood?

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    I sand to 600 grit at least and you can put sealer on it or not. I'm not a proponent of using water to remove the old paper. I have an orbital sander and it makes short work of paper residue. The vinyl film is very conformal so the main thing is to get the wood very smooth or the grain will show thru the vinyl-especially when light hits it at certain angles. To help with that I also put down two layers of vinyl. The first helps to make a completely smooth surface and can be any color. I have a roll of blue left over from redoing a Powerflash a long time ago so I use that. The next layer is the artwork.
    Really the cool thing especially with the restorers and the prices they charge would be to replicate the original process of being printed on paper and then covered with a clear layer. If I ever come across one of the couple remaining arrangeballs I'm interested in, I'm going to go that route.
    Anyway, once you get your vinyl on, use the old cel as a template to find the holes or press down on the lay field and the holes will dimple. Take a nail and poke all the holes. Not a necessary step but makes it quick to locate the holes when putting the nails in.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro mxfaiman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    I normally sand up to about 400 grit. Put on a few coats of sealer, then light sanding with 400 grit. Then 3 coats of semi-gloss clear (you could use matte or gloss. We just have a lot of semi-gloss.) Also I don't know if it is possible but the background goes on a lot easier if you have 2 people to lay it down. One pulls off the film slowly while the other pushes it down then go over it with a J roller or the like (rolling pin would probably work too.) Then like Emmadog said use a nail or small pick and poke all the nail holes with the original background. (also hope you have a picture of the playfield before you stripped it as some holes can deceive you.)

    Typically I just put down the vinyl background then a layer of clear mylar over the top. This is the same process as the original just I use vinyl instead of paper and glue. Clear mylar can be found here. Grafix Dura-Lar Clear Adhesive-Backed Film - BLICK art materials
    the 20" x 25" sheet is enough to do one machine.


    Oh and for the ball track I don't bother saving the original wire. I replace it with 20ga stainless steel saftey wire. Loop it around feed it through the hole, twist, pull, staple, done. Then I smear glue over the top just to fill the hole and keep things from pulling up.
    Last edited by mxfaiman; 03-09-2014 at 07:00 PM.

    100 machines and counting...

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Been busy and working on it when I can.DSCF8395.JPGThe background is larger than the playfield, so iI was concerned about centering it. I made a template from the Plexiglass with a Sharpie. With that I could get an idea of how it looks centered.DSCF8396.JPG Of course, the Plexiglass is too small, so I still had the same problem.DSCF8443.JPG So I made a cardboard template of the wood from cardboard. Then I traced the cardboard to cut the edges down. This seemed to work well because I was able to put it on, and it is centered right.I didn't like the large gaps at the end of the numbered catch tray at the bottom. It also had a large gap below it. So I filled the end holes with wood and wood puttied the gap at the bottom.DSCF8455.JPG Followed by hours of sanding and test fitting.DSCF8470.JPG The horizontal line of filler below is from the edge of the belt sander.DSCF8471.JPG Put it on and looks good!

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Looking good so far.

    100 machines and counting...

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    As soon as I tried to screw the "dollar door" on with new brass screws...one snapped off flush! I used a rotary tool with a drill chuck attachment, and a 1/16" drill bit chucked WAY into the chuck...only about 1/4" sticking out to minimize flexing. Drill still wanted to slip off, gouging into the wood around it. I was able to wiggle the screw with a pick, but needle nose was too fat to reach. I used a bench grinder to make the needle nose slimmer and more needle like. Was able to get a grip and wiggle out.DSCF8495.JPG The screw tip is pointing at a small gouge in the dark blue stripe that I made by bumping it with the running drill. I took a piece of scrap from the center and made a tiny patch, then covered the whole thing with clear. It is hardly noticeable. But you can still see it. At least the door coves the hole around the screw! I attached the ball track last night, but haven't stapled it yet. I borrowed my sisters stapler to do it tonight.DSCF8496.JPG The wood strips that space the background from the frame stuck to the background. When I removed them, I glued them to the frame trying to use original nail holes as a guide. Then I attached the background to the strips, using the nail holes and drywall screws. I added the ball track, and the final piece showed me that it wasn't lined up correctly.DSCF8498.JPG Stapleing the safty wire and repositioning the background are my next 2 steps.
    I tried to get a key made. No luck. So I bought a lock cylinder that fit the hole, but looked cheezy.DSCF8431.JPG So I got an attachment foe my rotery tool that acts like a mini router, and counterbored the holeso the lock is recessed.DSCF8433.JPGDSCF8437.JPGDSCF8402.JPG Now i can put the trim piece back on and it looks original.DSCF8401.JPG I haven't got the lock pawl engagement correct yet, so still more work to do there.

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    During the last couple weeks, I have been cleaning and shining.DSCF8448.JPG Removed the bank of leaf switches to clean and shine this part. I removed all the wire actuators except one. Left it in place to remember how they went back on. They all had surface rust on them, so I sanded them with 600 grit sandpaper and tossed them into the tumbler.DSCF8459.JPG Before and after, except the before is out of focus...but it the best pic I have.DSCF8449.JPG The rusty one is the far left...still looks better in pics than in person. Of course I sanded and polished it as well. DSCF8460.JPG Lightly sanded the contacts with 600 grit, tried to polish the copper leves...but quit on the 2nd one determining that it was more work and unsatisfactory results for the effort.DSCF8463.JPG DSCF8465.JPG Happy with the results, even with tarnished copper leaves. I added some more parts to the play field.DSCF8503.JPG For now, I am about to use a heat gun to carefully try to take the warp out of the matrix plastic.DSCF8499.JPGDSCF8502.JPG After that, time to realign the playfield to the frame. Earlier I showed how the shooter did not line up. It is curently keeping other parts from lining up.

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Straightening the matrix Plexi appears to be successful. Heated to a moderate temperature, then placed a folded paper towel on top and weighted it with a foot long piece of railroad track that I use as an anvil when I have to hammer on something. It flattened nice, but the paoper towel left a texture on the top left quarter of the grid. I sanded the textured area with 320, followed by 600, then finally 800 grit sandpaper. Now I am polishing it. Still some sanding scratches, but no texture, and almost good. Will be able to install soon. Sorry, no pics...too lazy to take, and nothing worth taking pics of.

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    Thanks for the pics and info. Very nice work.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Default Re: Restoring 3 STAR arrangeball

    Tried centering the play field on the frame last night. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but did not expect it to be so troublesome. I have some small clamps, bought from Harbor Freight...on sale $1.00 each, impulse buy at the cash register, some time back. Anothe example of "I just don't understand why people don't want to own tools!." You know what I mean...people who buy a $2 screwdriver, use it, then return it claiming they didn't need it after all! Like they are never going to need a screwdriver ever again! I don't know what I would have done without these things!DSCF8523.JPG The throat was too shallow to reach from the outside edge. Thankfully the outer jaw has a thumbscrew to reverse the jaw to make a spreader out of them as well. I removed the jaw, then inserted the bar through the latch, and coin mech holes, and reattached the jaws, as rhe head was too big to insert through the holes.DSCF8524.JPGDSCF8525.JPG As you can see, I still haven't stapled the safety wire yet, staples are too long to drive home...and bend over when trying to hammer them down. First I center the hammer on a ball resting on the track.DSCF8504.JPG then try to find a way to determine the rest is centered. So far I have been using calipers and measuring the distance of the scoring holes from the frame. Each time I tap the board with a brass hammer to shift it to where I want it...it changes other positions. Just when it looks good enough, put a ball in the track...and it is not lined up in the most important spot!DSCF8522.JPG Close in this pic...but I am under the impression that if not dead center, it will not shoot well. I gave up last night because it was late, and I had too many beers, and was getting frustrated. I will try again after work tonight. This time I will mark a center line on the board and the frame, and some other reference lines to make use of the calipers minimal. This should save some time and frustration. I am planing to use drywall screws long enough to go into the front frame. What do you guys use? It was nailed together with square spiral shank nails. I don't like the idea of pounding on it that hard. putting the laminate front on a solid backing to back up the strikes seems like it could damage it. plus all that pounding could shift the wood. Plus any mistake would be hard to fix. Any suggestions?

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