Four 1952 Tadashi-mura pachinkos with ball lifters (part 1 of 2)
Well I finally have last years back log of machines knocked out and can start on this year’s!!!!! I purchased five of these in a group last year (to reduce costs) and after restoring one never bothered with these four. These particular restores are quite tedious due to SEVERE rust. What happens after 60 years of sitting is the nails that hold the back ball tracks actually form a bond with the wood. Attempting to remove the nails usually results in the loss of the nail head and track damage. Having that said I have learned a few technique to remove the nails and restore machines in these conditions quite effectively and efficiently. One of which I call “shocking the nails” not electricity of course, but a physical shock. This breaks the rust bond between the nail and wood and with carefully coordinated pressure points the nails will come out whole.
First up for observation is “Red Umbrellas”. My photography is awful, but hopefully you can see the young woman, flying umbrellas and the pagoda she is walking down the street to.
Red Umbrellas back.jpgRed umbrellas close.jpgred umbrellas front.jpg
Second up is the “Black Mamba”. This was one messed up machine. The wood was so damaged it required an entire frame and door replacement. I used oak and thought it turned out rather nice. Another challenge was the level of rust. Pot tinning small pieces of track are one thing, it’s another recreating a ball tray with three cut outs in three dimensions and with rounded edges. This tray has a ball lifter feed, the normal ball flow feed AND a trap door for balls to drain down the side. Still did the entire restore in a week.
Black mamba back.jpgBlack mamba close.jpgBlack mamba front.jpg
repair1.jpgrepair2.jpgrust and stuff...Ball tray rust.jpg
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