Ebay Powerflash

[mbodi]

My Ebay PF arrived UPS today.
Got lucky on this one.
After removing some jammed balls, all 4 solenoids work. No visable water stains, and nothing cracked or broken, that I noticed. Only things wrong so far are: a little heavier rust than normal on the frame, loud humming on the transformer, lock is missing, and no ball track cover (again).
He sent me over 500 balls, but they weren't pachinko balls. Previous owner must have been trying to use some type of ball bearings. Not perfectly round, and pitted. Did find about a dozen good balls inside.
Looking forward to getting started on this one.

[emmadog]

Ahh the good feeling when all is working properly and no major bad surprises.

[Moparformances]

another great find

[mbodi]

Stripped down the cell and loaded the tulips and plastic parts in the dishwasher.
Have done this many times before with no problems, but this time a couple parts came out twisted and warped. The white and blue trim pieces are what got damaged. Tried to repair them with a heat gun. Got them better, but not good enough. Also, 2 of the tabs on the white trim broke off.
Will contact Bill Connelly to see if he has what I need.

[Moparformances]

ohhhhh man

i have heard of others using the dishwasher befor but i would never try it myself.. with all the oil in plastics i would think the plastic would be brittle... not to mention the heat

sorry to hear about this

[compirate]

use a warm instead of hot wash and no dry.

Still do all mine by hand though

[mudfud]

I know it's kinda late now, but did you remember to turn off the heating cycle at the end? maybe your dishwasher has temp boost to superheat the water? is your water heater set really high?

ttc and I have talked about this technique, but we agree with mopar that using the dishwasher is probably overkill, not to mention stripping the plastic of its oils.

I have found good success with just warm, soapy water. soak a few minutes and use a toothbrush.

I did run an old sankyo's parts through the dishwasher, but the parts came out kinda faded in color. not bent, however.

bummer that this happened on a PF.

I will check my collection for another B tray. at least B machines are easy to find! I may have one with a green stripe. I have to start digging to look for a clear ball feeder part for johnny anyway...

[emmadog]

That's unfortunate but don't sweat it. Those same parts and colors were used on plenty of B models.

[mbodi]

I was a little nervous when I first started doing it, but didn't have any problems. I don't think my dishwasher has a cooler setting. Maybe it was the drying cycle that did it.
Guess I'll go back to hand washing.
At least it didn't do any damage to any hard to replace parts.

[mbodi]

I know it's kinda late now, but did you remember to turn off the heating cycle at the end? maybe your dishwasher has temp boost to superheat the water? is your water heater set really high?

ttc and I have talked about this technique, but we agree with mopar that using the dishwasher is probably overkill, not to mention stripping the plastic of its oils.

I have found good success with just warm, soapy water. soak a few minutes and use a toothbrush.

I did run an old sankyo's parts through the dishwasher, but the parts came out kinda faded in color. not bent, however.

bummer that this happened on a PF.

I will check my collection for another B tray. at least B machines are easy to find! I may have one with a green stripe. I have to start digging to look for a clear ball feeder part for johnny anyway...

Hey Chewy
The ball tray is OK. Its just the white trim and the blue strip that attaches on the bottom of the tray that warped.

[mbodi]

Bill Connelly had the parts I needed. Showed up in yesterdays mail.
Cleaned up the chrome frame and got the ball tray and the rest of the hardware back on it.
Ready to start cleaning the cell and the brass nails.

[mbodi]

Finally finished the resto on my T-bird.
Only problem is the guard for the bottom of the chrome track snapped as I was trying to stretch it back on. Ran about 1000 balls through the machine with no problem, but can see how a ball could occassionaly slip through. If anyone has a Mod. B parted out, I would be interested. I have a Mod. A part machine, but the guard on the A is a few inches too long. Last photo is the part that broke.

[emmadog]

Beautifully done.

[wrkey]

Very nice t-bird there!

[TilionMtl]

Really nice work!

Don't know if it can help, but here is how I repaired the white trim (broken tabs)

Repairing broken tabs on white trim for vintages

[mbodi]

Hey Tilion
That looks like a good repair for broken tabs on trim. Mine had to be replaced since it also was partially melted from the dishwasher. Good repair to know though, since those tabs are brittle and can break off easily.

[digital1]

Nice work