My first restoration: A 1975 Nishijin B

[Colecovision]

Hi everyone,

I just finished the restoration of my first pachinko machine, a 1975 Nishijin B, and wanted to share the pictures. This is the other machine that came with my eBay purchase 6 years ago. Honestly, this machine is probably the worst looking of of my three machines (I just picked one up off of Craigslist a couple of weeks ago), but it was a good one to start with because I wasn't as worried about screwing the machine up. I still have some work to do to touch up the paint, but the machine works beautifully, and my kids love it!

As for the restoration process:

- I had already performed the major cleaning on all of the chrome and plastic pieces when I got the machine years ago -- I just needed to wipe them down again

- The machine already had one piece of plexiglass in front, but I wanted two layers, so I bought a 16"x16" piece of glass from Lowes. The glass is against the pins to give a louder plinking sound, and I moved the plexiglass to the outer frame. I figured that the plexi would be better on the outside with kids around.

- The brass pins all needed a good cleaning. I used Brasso and the cloth rags from the Walmart paint section. I cuts the rags into 1"X3" strips, put some Brasso on them, and rubbed them around the pins like you'd dry off your back off with a towel. I've added a half-and-half picture from cleaning the pins.

- The frame I build was made out of two 1"X8"X6' boards. I stained it to match the rest of the furniture in the rec room. It's hung on the wall with 2 L-brackets screwed into studs. There's also a 2"x2" board under it that was used to help level it on the wall, and help support a little of the weight -- it'll eventually get painted the color of the wall. The machine door opens by pressing down on the lever instead of up, so I attached a chain to the lever and drilled a hole through the bottom of the frame. The chain is hidden underneath the machine, and being metal, should it ever get closed in accidentally without putting it through the hole a magnet should be able to get it out.

Total time spent:
Cleaning pins -- 9 hours
Building and sanding the frame - 2 hours
Staining the frame - 1 hour
Hanging the machine - 1 hour
---------------------------------------
13 hours


Now to build a frame for the other machine!

[sharmoni]

I really like your cabinet. Nice and simple. I plan to make a few like that for my old vintage machines.

[hanabi]

Nice clean restoration and those pins came up beautifully!!

[new in town]

Thanks for posting it.

[Ikaria]

What a difference on those pins. Nice job.

[Sid]

Lovely Frame and Machine

[jwegger]

Nice job

[Bigdog]

I read with interest your method of cleaning the pins.

Here is how I've been cleaning mine:

1) Use Q-tips to "lather" the pins up with brasso.
2) Let the brasso dry.
3) Cut up white shoestrings into 15-18 inch strips
4) Wind the shoestrings around the pins and pull it back and forth...you get the friction going all the way around the pin (already coated with brasso).

Depending on the placement of the pins, some are easier than others to clean, but many times you can clean 2 or 3 of them at a time with ease.

The level of "buildup" on your pins will dictate how much effort you have to put into the job...apparently, mine are worse than most.

I've seen some who just shine the heads of the pins, but I'm anal...gotta clean the whole thing.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

[heavyguitarman]

nice looking machine, im working on my first refurb myself.

[Colecovision]

I read with interest your method of cleaning the pins.

Here is how I've been cleaning mine:

1) Use Q-tips to "lather" the pins up with brasso.
2) Let the brasso dry.
3) Cut up white shoestrings into 15-18 inch strips
4) Wind the shoestrings around the pins and pull it back and forth...you get the friction going all the way around the pin (already coated with brasso).

Depending on the placement of the pins, some are easier than others to clean, but many times you can clean 2 or 3 of them at a time with ease.

The level of "buildup" on your pins will dictate how much effort you have to put into the job...apparently, mine are worse than most.

I've seen some who just shine the heads of the pins, but I'm anal...gotta clean the whole thing.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

I'll have to try that one my next machine. The method I used worked pretty well at cleaning the entire pin, but the nail heads weren't too kind to my fingernails.
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One thing I didn't work on yet on this machine was the lighting. It's the 3-light model, but the fuse panel that's normally in the upper corner is gone.

The wires are mostly there, but they were all cut, so I'll have to resolder them. Will it hurt anything to do a 9V battery setup without a fuse?

[Meathead]

With a 9 volt, I don't think you'll harm anything with a short. Why not try an inline fuse similar to ones you see on aftermarket auto electronics, etc.?

[chmer01]

Will it hurt anything to do a 9V battery setup without a fuse?

Should be fine. I've seen a lot of vintage machines that the owners put a meteal bar in place of the fuse.