Diamond Jack

[emmadog]

Some pics of what's going on so far.
First is of the back of both playfields with the old and still populated one on the left and front of new on right.
After that is just about everything removed from the old and just placed on the new but nothing's secured yet. I can't attach the standup targets yet because I've got new ones on the way and they're riveted on and they need to be free to switch out. The large carousel will be unsoldered and taken apart for likely its first cleaning in 46 years. Plus I have new decals for the worn out card targets on it.
The other pic shows a hack I did to dry the enamel primer faster. I initially bought 2 cans of rustoleum primer and it wasn't enough especially after all the sanding and filling. So I bought the same product but in a quart container and rolled it on. Theres a slight orange peel but I expected that from a roller. Thats what the final sanding is for anyway. Should've done that from the beginning and saved time and money. Anyway, once it skinned over I put the yellow bag over the cab and head along with a small heater set on low. The primer normally needs 12 hours to cure in optimum conditions which my basement is not. It's heated but I have the heat directed into the house. Anyway, with this method it fully cured in around 4 hours and is ready to sand now even with the basement door opened and a fan to vent the fumes to the outside An interesting thing about buying this primer in quarts as opposed to spray cans is that there's much less solvent-it was actually hard to smell any solvent. The bags were at a Ace hardware for 2 for 5 bucks.
Last pic is of worn out carousel targets.

[emmadog]

Forgot the pic of the components on the new PF.

[jodini]

I'm surprised the bag technique doesn't effect the paint with the vapors...I would think you would want it to breath. But if it works...cool!

So I don't know where I missed this part but where the heck did you get a new playing field??? That's awesome! You are spending some CASH on this puppy! But well worth it! I bought my Gigi for only $250.00 but by the time I bought new pop bumpers, new lock down bar, coils, schematics, and other parts I was up to $750! That being said, I've fixed up other machines for much less!

Well, keep up the great work! It's going to look great when you're done! Where in the USA are you located Emmadog!? Snowing?!
Joe

[jodini]

O.K...just saw that your first post mentioned the new playing field...but still, where did you get it you lucky son of a gun!

And your paint job should be pretty easy. Very basic...one diamond design with yellow behind it. That will be awesome when you're done.

[emmadog]

There's a guy on eBay from Italy that has a bunch of NOS playfields. He's way overpriced and has gotten worse over time. Anyway, I made a deal with him to buy 4 PFs-Diamond Jack, Dimension, Sing Along, and Mini Pool. I bought these right after I got into the hobby a few years back and even before I had a Dimension but I had played one and knew I'd get a machine eventually. I've since sold the Sing Along playfield.

[emmadog]

Had time today to work on the carousel unit. Some of the rollovers on the playfield cause the carousel to spin and present several card targets to the player. So there's 2 ways to get a specific card-either by the card's rollover somewhere on the PF or hitting the carousel. Anyway, this is the familiar Gottlieb non resetting stepper unit which means brass rivets and corresponding "snow shoes" that are spring loaded and ride over the rivets to make the variable electrical connections. It also means old solidified lube on the sprockets, spindle and tube, and rivets/snowshoes. Sure enough it was caked with grease and again I was surprised that it even spy as freely as it did. It took about 2 hours but I completely dismantled, cleaned, and lubed it and put the new number decals on. The before and after pics don't look too different from each other but the internals were a mess.

[Mrtoad]

Looks great!

[jodini]

Holly cow!That looks good! Did Callie make those?

Joe

[emmadog]

Holly cow!That looks good! Did Callie make those?

Joe

No, the best pinball parts place there is-The Pinball Resource. Without that place alot of pinheads would be proper screwed in terms of restoration and just getting machines coin again. I buy parts from him eve if they're available somewhere else or cheaper although his prices are great. He has original Gottlieb production machines that hot stamp all the 1000's of different targets and pop bumper caps, make their own replacement coils and on and on.
Anyway, I finally attached all the parts to the bottom of the new PF but I still need to staple the ground braid. A needle nose stapler looks like what was used originally but a regular one will work. The flipper coils and linkage are new but they've been in the machine awhile. They're " orange dots" which are 10% stronger than stock. I also installed for the flippers new end of stroke switches, flipper shaft bushings, springs, and the part that attaches to the shaft via set screws that the return spring attaches to. Also did the solder mod to all the lamps for reliable connectivity.
A pic of the old PG with parts on it. When I got the pin I did the alcohol and magic eraser thing but I didn't remove the ball arch or apron-tons of dirt under there.
Other pic is of the flipper parts and other pic is of topside with carousel and pop bumpers attached.

[jodini]

Pinball Resource- The best place in the world for parts! Probably one of the fewest places that will only take checks...very old school, but I love it!
Just don't tell them that you LED, hightaped, and used magic eraser on your machine!

Can't wait to see the cabinet paint job!

[emmadog]

Yeah they are old school to be sure. No Paypal or online payment of any kind.
I don't think using color correct or warm white LEDs for only the inserts will ruffle too many purists' feathers. I don't like LEDs in EMs for the most part even the warm white ones for the general playfield lighting. It needs the glow of 44's. For inserts though, its a different animal. Tim Arnold over at the PHOF in Vegas has the EMs with all LEDs and it just doesn't look right. All my pins still have the warm glow of incandescents in the playfield and backglass.
I've been on the forums quite a bit in search of paint (lacquer) for the webbing and saw where a company called Bohning paints makes lacquer for people who make their own arrows. Apparently it works well for flicking with a brush so I'm interested to see how that will work. I ordered 8 oz of it which should be more than enough. Still can't paint the cab yet but since I have an airless sprayer there's minimal overspray. I may drop cloth off one area of the basement and do it later this week.

[jodini]

Emmadog...you could clean up that old playing field, touch it up, clear coat it and sell it on ebay for a couple of hundred I bet! If guys sell flaked backglass on ebay for $2-3 hundred, I would think a descent playing field would sell well!

Just a thought. I agree 100% on the LEDs. I like them better underneath than on top.
Joe

[emmadog]

Emmadog...you could clean up that old playing field, touch it up, clear coat it and sell it on ebay for a couple of hundred I bet! If guys sell flaked backglass on ebay for $2-3 hundred, I would think a descent playing field would sell well!

Just a thought. I agree 100% on the LEDs. I like them better underneath than on top.
Joe

It's pretty rough, especially when you see it in person. For me to touch it up would take a ton of time to get it where I would think it's acceptable. I'm not sure what I will do with it-but I will do something cool. It's a nice reminder of when I got that game when I was in New Orleans and the thousand or so games we've put on it since then.
So today I tackled the 5 stand up targets which are attached by rivets. I don't have a rivet gun or press and I didin't want to buy one for the 5 rivets I do every year. So I ground off the back of the rivet with a dremel and put the new target, rivet, and backing washer on. To peen the rivet back over the washer I needed a spherical surface. I took a pachinko ball and taped into the end of a nut driver. Then I put a several pieces of electrical tape onto a metal surface to protect the rivet face from scrathes. Then it was a matter of tapping the end of the nut driver onto the rear of the rivet to mushroom it out. Once that was sufficient I was able to just use the hammer to finish the flattening of the rivet. Worked great and took about 30 minutes including desoldering the targets and reinstalling them back on the PF. Pics are of the materials I used and the new target in place on the PF.

[Mrtoad]

Nice way to think outside the box. I hate spending money on a tool that I really will never use again or hardly ever.

[emmadog]

Have about 95% of all the components mounted to both the front and rear of PF. Still have to install the upper ball arch, lower apron, and the 3 wood ball guides. 2 of these guides are what guide the ball after its shot and onto the PF. The 3rd one becomes the left "wall" of the PF. These were basically a dark brown after all these years and exhibited no wood grain. I sanded them down which removed all the dirt and grime. This really brought out the wood grain especially on the one piece. I then sprayed them with a couple coats of satin acrylic and then sanded with 2000 grit which really highlighted the grain-they turned out great. I haven't polished the metal ball guides yet. Unfortunately the plating is coming off of them a tad but I'll polish them anyway. The pics show the wooden ball guides and a few different angles of the populated PF. The nickel jeweled posts are a huge improvement over the original white plastic ones. I know its not original but the replay version of this pin-King of Diamonds, had metal posts so its a small change.

[Mrtoad]

Looks fantastic! You have gotten a lot done. My project has a lot less parts and taking me as long. You move fast...

[emmadog]

Its more of being able to devote alot of time to it as opposed to being fast. I'd say the PF is about 15 or so hours of work front and rear and I'm not quite done yet. You're right, lots of parts and polishing every screw that fastens down a PF feature took forever. Not to mention the nickel PF posts which are 2 parts each. My fingers are still sore. The parts tumbler gets things clean but the final shine has to be done by hand.

[Mrtoad]

Its more of being able to devote alot of time to it as opposed to being fast. I'd say the PF is about 15 or so hours of work front and rear and I'm not quite done yet. You're right, lots of parts and polishing every screw that fastens down a PF feature took forever. Not to mention the nickel PF posts which are 2 parts each. My fingers are still sore. The parts tumbler gets things clean but the final shine has to be done by hand.

Yep, I put everything that fits in a tumbler but I still do final by hand. My hands are a cracked and dried out wreck...

[jodini]

Emmadog,
I just played a Retro King of Diamond (the solid state remake) and man...you are better off! The lamination that is on the playing field tends to peal after a while and then you get a EM game with ramps...LOL! Not a good thing. It does have the EM feel with the chime and it's fun to have the score reels that keeps the settings of multiple players. Nice game, but nothing beats the real deal!

[emmadog]

I played one before too and I liked it but it doesn't compare to the original. I don't like those overlays either and the original KoD/DJ had bells and not chimes. They're not cheap and for the price you could get a couple fully restored originals.