Staples securing rear mechanism?

[bundito]

Hi all!

I posted a quick intro to the "welcome" board a few weeks back, but I've only recently resumed work on my $15 antique-store beauty.

Here's the front, if you're interested:



It's pretty grimy and needs a lot of cleaning. Naturally, it was jammed with a marble and the rear mechanism was clogged with balls.

All the panels and parts that were directly attached to the back of the board were put on with staples. You can see them if you click the thumbnail and then zoom in...



If you look close enough, you can see that everywhere there's a staple, there also a screw hole neatly made in the molded plastic.

Are machines commonly assembled this way? Is this a symbol of mass production? Or was it done after the fact, when it was ripped from it's original case and slapped into this (fairly ugly) wooden box for Americans in the 1970s?

I finally got the last of the staples pulled out yesterday. I think I trashed my needlenose pliers in the process. I know my bad elbow is sore today from all the pulling and prying and twisting. The rear board is close to 1" thick plywood and those suckers were in there to stay. The fact that half of them were rusted didn't help (but I am current on my tetanus shot, thanks for asking).

I found that I can easily reinstall the panels using #4 x 3/8" wood screws from Ace Hardware. I plan on using my small power drill driver, but with the clutch set to absolute minimum so I don't over-tighten anything and crack the plastic.

Once I get it all cleaned up and working smoothly, I might hit up a friend who's a semi-serious woodworker. We can probably come up with a better-looking cabinet than this.




So... anyone else out there cursing at someone from the past who had a power staple gun and loved to use it?


-Dito

[Moparformances]

staples are original.. allot faster then screws so thats how they assembeled.. cabinet and fram are original to the machine.. thats just how they are made..

[ballsofsteel]

Yup. Staples was how they were put together and screws are how we put them back together. Carry on.

[browne92]

Yes, this is a common way of assembling these machines. Here's the way I figured it in another thread:

Designer designs ball tray with screw holes.
Mold maker makes tray mold with screw holes.
Injection molding company makes tray with screw holes.
Accounting guy says "Screws too expensive!"
Production guy says "Screws too slow!"
Guy on assembly line grabs air stapler.
TACK! TACK! TACK! TACK! TACK!
Ball tray installed.

Looks like somebody broke the cardinal rule of pachinko...never transport the machine with the balls in it. I worked on one about a year ago and dug 108, count em, 108 balls out of the thing.

Enjoy. Nice looking machine.

[p.opus]

Welcome to the JOY of vintage pachinko repair. I have cursed many a foul thought to the staple gods.

For a long time, pachinko machines were only certified for use for 1 to 2 years, so they weren't thinking about repairing these bad boys.

[bundito]

Accounting guy says "Screws too expensive!"
Production guy says "Screws too slow!"
Guy on assembly line grabs air stapler.
TACK! TACK! TACK! TACK! TACK!
Ball tray installed.

Thanks for that clarification. It's pretty much confirmed what I suspected.

Now, a secret... I work in industrial engineering on really big facilities (say, power plants, oil refineries, etc.)... and this mindset still applies.

An old construction superintendent taught me how most things get assembled, be it a maintenance shed or a gas turbine:

"Grind 'til it fits. Weld 'til it sticks. Paint to match."

The other saying I love - which I learned as a programmer - goes like this:

"Good. Fast. Cheap. Choose any two."

It applies everywhere, from my pachinko machine to your local power generating station. Sleep well. :-D

[browne92]

"Grind 'til it fits. Weld 'til it sticks. Paint to match."

Another of my favorites from the metal working group:

"Measure twice, cut once, weld, repeat."

[Habious]

"Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon, and cut it with a chainsaw"

[Rival]

Fortunately the rear parts usually have holes where screws SHOULD go. I take a small nail punch and bang them into the wood in the holes making a nice spot to put screws when I am reassembling. Much easier and it ensures correct alignment of parts.