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Thread: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! Jumping up and down

  1. #21
    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    I know want you mean about the time or lack of. Ive got 4 NOS playfields and one repro to install I my pins. My girl keeps nagging me to switch out the diamond jack playfield since that's her fave but it's a straightforward but time consuming job. Not to mention several arrange ball restorations queued up.
    The flipper rebuild kits from PBR Re great. The kit is for both flippers and contains new end of stroke switches, springs, sleeves, bushings, Bakelite link replacements, and other items. Best of all some of the parts are better designs than the original. Case in point is the part that you had to drill out because of set screws. The new parts are better and the set screws are larger with knurled heads that remain outside of the shaft so they can be hand tightened before using a wrench.
    The fact that these machines last forever and so collectible is great news for collectors but it's very easy to empty the wallet on new parts. Some parts you simply need though to replace broken or missing ones and to make the game play original.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    I've been busy!

    * Cleaned the two drop target banks.
    * Removed the board from the light box frame for cleaning.
    * Removed the frame from the lightbox board which contain the 16 score reels.
    * Cleaned the score reel harnesses.
    * Untangled the high score adjustment wires. (It was a big mess!)
    * Cleaned 4 out of the 16 score reel units.

    I did a most complete cleaning of the two drop target banks. Not only the drop targets themselves but the frames were also filthy. I wirewheeled and polished over any rusty areas I could find and did an overall cleaning and sealing with bees wax. I redone the worn target printing with a Sharpie pen. Some before/after pics are below.

    There is something to be said about a clean machine vs a dirty one. It is much more pleasant to work on an old but clean machine rather than a dirty one. I wouldn't want to work on a newer dirty one either. With that said, when I stepped back to examine the inside of the light box (head of the machine) it looked terrible. The only way to resolve the issue was to remove the frame holding the score reel assemblies and clean the frame along with the reels. I'm glad I did because it is making a dramatic difference.
    I took a lot of time yesterday cleaning the frame and used a damp rag to wipe all of the wiring harness clean. I had enough time to clean 4 out of the 16 score reels and I hope to finish all of them today. Some of them are/were sluggish and really needed help. You can really tell the difference with the clean and shiny metal versus the dirty ones.

    I haven't decided what to do about the groove in the upper playfield. A shot ball runs back and forth stuck in the groove several times until it's almost stopped, then it falls out of the groove to play the game. Maybe I'll just leave the groove and move the metal guide it runs on over a little bit or make an insert to do the same thing out of Lexan or plexiglass. I've heard it said that such a groove "adds character" to a game but me? I'd rather have it gone. But wood working is not a skill I possess.

    I am not sure yet how I am going to fix this missing corner of the machine. It makes that leg weak. Any suggestions?

    The MOST important thing happened yesterday. I got the "OK" from the Mrs. to spend a few $$$ on playfiled replacement parts. A rubber set, new posts, plastic lane guides etc. I hope to order them in the next couple days. I hope to pick up Novus 2 or Naptha this week to strip the remaining along with some Acrylic paints for touch-up. Maybe some Varathane clear coat paint if I'm REALLY lucky.


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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    don't have any good ideas for fixing the corner other than placing a block in there to support the leg as the bolt is tightened down. did you remove the 3 B,C, and D inserts at the top of the playfield just below the groove? if not, looks like someone cannibalized them for another machine.
    you could sand the lower edge of the groove so the ball cannot stay in it.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    don't have any good ideas for fixing the corner other than placing a block in there to support the leg as the bolt is tightened down. did you remove the 3 B,C, and D inserts at the top of the playfield just below the groove? if not, looks like someone cannibalized them for another machine.
    you could sand the lower edge of the groove so the ball cannot stay in it. all my machines have some wear in that area. on some it's barely noticeable and on others it's more pronounced but i've yet to see one where the ball stays in the groove. must have gotten a lot of plays.
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    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    Ok... I finally finished inspecting/cleaning all 16 score reels and the mounting frame/harness. No problems with players 2-4 but the player 1 bank needs sleeves and end of stroke switches. The switch blades are there but the contacts is missing from the 10's and 100's reel. I bent the blade a bit for contact but I don't expect it will last long.

    The assembly turned out pretty good.

    I thought it best to do the A-B-C-D-E sequence bank next since they are mounted under the playfield and I don't want to mess with them when I get a new clear coat in place. All the yellow (Previously white) insulators for each relay was coated with thick stuck-on black gunk that alcohol removed with some rubbing. I cleaned and polished the rest of the unit with wax, cleaned the contacts and checked adjustments. I'm satisfied with the results.

    I also did the playfield bonus unit justice by cleaning. It's not sluggish anymore and should be trouble free.

    Tomorrow I order the needed playfield parts and search for both the Varathane clear coat (I think Home Depot might have it) and the Naptha to finish cleaning the playfield. Time to begin looking around for acrylic paints. Maybe Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Maybe Walmart.

    Other than the playfield repair, really the only thing left is the front door, chimes and knocker. Not much to do with the chimes or knocker other than cleaning. I want to do the door a proper cleaning and get it ready to accept quarters again. I plan on putting a switch in the light box for freeplay.

    Oh yea.. but then I need to deal with the cabinet. I've also been trying to formulate some way to make the stencils for the light box.

    Thanks for reading.

    IMG_3815.jpgIMG_3820.jpgIMG_3812.jpgIMG_3813.jpgIMG_3814.jpgIMG_3822.jpg
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    Fever Hunter Ripweade's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    All I can say is...

    Wow! You are doing some VERY nice work! That is coming out beautifully! I don't think some of those parts were even that clean when they were brand new in the factory! Lol!

    Looking great!!!

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveFury View Post

    I haven't decided what to do about the groove in the upper playfield. A shot ball runs back and forth stuck in the groove several times until it's almost stopped, then it falls out of the groove to play the game. Maybe I'll just leave the groove and move the metal guide it runs on over a little bit or make an insert to do the same thing out of Lexan or plexiglass. I've heard it said that such a groove "adds character" to a game but me? I'd rather have it gone. But wood working is not a skill I possess.

    I am not sure yet how I am going to fix this missing corner of the machine. It makes that leg weak. Any suggestions?

    The MOST important thing happened yesterday. I got the "OK" from the Mrs. to spend a few $$$ on playfiled replacement parts. A rubber set, new posts, plastic lane guides etc. I hope to order them in the next couple days. I hope to pick up Novus 2 or Naptha this week to strip the remaining along with some Acrylic paints for touch-up. Maybe some Varathane clear coat paint if I'm REALLY lucky.


    IMG_3772.jpgIMG_3584.jpg
    For the groove. I would use some clear epoxy to fill it and sand it smooth. As emmadog suggested, a wood block, cut as closely to the shape as the broken area as you can epoxied in place. use the leg and bolts to clamp in place until dry. Then remove leg and belt sand flush, if necessary.

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  13. #28
    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    did some research on rgp forums about fixing the groove. a fair amount of people have encountered this it seems and does need to be fixed since it prevents skill shots. some suggestions are to clearcoat the playfield which is a big undertaking just in depopulating and repopulating the playfield. not to mention the actual clearcoating. the idea i liked best was to move one of the two upper ball arches a fraction of an inch forward. there may be enough play in the existing screw holes to allow this or you may have to file them out a tad yourself but it sounds like a very easy fix.
    check this link out and scroll down to "top ball arch wear" PINBALL: Restoring Arcade and Pinball Games, Part Three
    also, if you haven't cleaned the area already, there's going to be quite a bit of dirt and grime underneath both upper and lower ball arches.
    the pinball google group is here: groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball and there's not an EM or SS problem that someone there has not seen. there's also a bunch of guys dedicated to EM problems and you can direct your post to them. they've helped me quite a few times with problems that stumped me especially as a clueless newbie.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    I was thinking of an alternative way to move the trajectory of the shot ball out of the path of the worn groove without actually drilling out the holes into the guide plate to move it. One idea I had is to cut a clear Lexan or plexi sheet and use it as an insert as the diagram below shows. It would keep the ball out of the groove. The Lexan will eventually wear and need replacing. It should be a cheap and easy replacement.

    Some people consider such a worn path to be a tribute to the enjoyment of past games. Me? I'd rather have no groove at all. I think it's ugly. But we all have our strong and weak points... and fixing/restoring wood is definetly my weak point. If I work on the groove it will likely look much worse than before so I've decided the groove stays.
    guide.jpg
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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    I agree about the groove. However if it were my machine, I'd go the hole enlarging route. It only needs to be a fraction of an inch and from what I can tell from the research, it's the standard way to remedy the issue. The machine would still look stock, it's an easy fix, and you'd never have to worry about the lexan chipping, or needing to be replaced. If you go the lexan route post some pics, should be interesting.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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  18. #31
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    Today I got my Napthia along with a good quality red, blue, white, black and yellow acrylic paints, a color wheel and some brushes too. I'm ready to rock.
    My mother's been painting artistic wall paintings and things like that for over 70 years and very talented. She's willing to help me match the colors. The only drawback is she's 2hrs drive one way.
    I'll see what I can do myself but if I get too frustrated it's going to be ROADTRIP! She'd love the company anyway.

    I was able to remove the star rollover inserts for proper non-jamming cleaning. I used a blunt end large steel punch and worked it with a small tap hammer around the underside rim, moving it very little by little and they popped out.

    I need to take a bit of a Pachinko break from all of this then get busy.
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    Something to keep in mind with acrylics is that they dry a darker shade. Of course it's your machine to do with as you please and I don't know your skill level but touch ups are extremely difficult to pull off. Or I should say difficult to pull off with even just decent results. Color matching is very hard and the touched up area needs to be sanded and clear coated or the new paint's edges will catch the ball and flake off. Most people who do it themselves airbrush the acrylic on and mask off areas The idea is to redo an entire area since touching up a small spot within a larger space is noticeable. This is why good touch up artists charge an arm and a leg and are few and far between. There is a technique where a close color match is simply rubbed in to the area and wiped off with the recessed parts where the planking has happened hold onto the paint. I thought about touching up some areas on a few of my pins but I knew I couldn't pull it off to the standard I wanted and it looks better worn than with an obvious touch up job. The pin repair website has all these techniques outlined with photos.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    The blue I bought was a perfect match, maybe just a hair bit lighter shade but hardly noticeable. The only time it becomes noticeable is in a specular reflection of a light source because the playfield has a bit of gloss to it and the acrylic is completely flat. But looking without a light shining behind it looks really good. I like the acrylic a lot. It dries perfectly flat without brush strokes.

    I wanted to start with the blue because I found it the easiest to do. When I finished the blue I really dreaded the red although I considered it the next easier to do. The red isn't really a deep red but more a shade of orange. I used the color wheel to determine what color to mix with red to get orange and it was yellow. So I mixed a surprising amount of yellow to the red to match the playfield red. I am also very surprised with the match.

    Now I need to mix the yellow. It's more like a yellowish green color. The yellow I have is noticeably darker than the playfiled so I'll put out a blot of yellow add some white.
    My color wheel also says I need to mix yellow with blue to get green so I'll add a little blue into it at a time and hopefully come up with a fair match.

    Keep in mind that I am not shooting for a pristine showroom floor beautiful machine. If I can end up with something that appeals to people and beg to be played and have a lot of fun then I'm happy. Just so long as folks don't think "Eeew" what happened to the paint... and it detract from the fun. I think I'm on the way to that goal.

    Now back to the dreaded yellow...

    Here's a pic so far, with the Blue and Red done:

    Red and Blue Done.jpg
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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    White is done.

    I can not reproduce the yellow on my own. I don't have the correct paints. It's a day-glow type yellow and it takes a special paint. Maybe my mom knows a trick or two. Either way this is my result tonight, I'm happy with it. I'll need to redo some black borders with a sharpie pen:

    Red white and blue but not yellow.jpg
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    This is amazing first post I check when I come on. Love the restoration doing an amazing job

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  26. #36
    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    If you wax the playfield which you should do, it will very likely cause the sharpie to bleed. Happened to me even though I knew better. It's the solvents in paste wax which they pretty much all contain. Test in a small area first.
    Nice work so far.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter SteveFury's Avatar
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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    Thank you for the replies.

    I have planned to clear coat with Varathane. Perhaps I can pick up the phosphorous yellow/green I need in a couple days and the Varathane in a week or so, if all goes well. My playfield work has paused to wait for materials. Given the time Varathane takes to cure, maybe I can be playing pinball in a month or so.

    In the mean time I have a rotten (dirty) coin door to deal with. The cabinet top/front steel bracket that locks the glass in place is rusty from past beer/soda spillage. Can't have that!
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    From the pinrepair website you can order their TOP ( This Old Pinball) DVDs. Hugely informative and they show how to do all the work you're doing, the reasons behind it and more. I think they're maybe 12 or so bucks each and theres 2 in the series that deal with EM pins in particular. Only downside are the continuous juvenile wisecracks. I'd much rather just get the straight info without the BS.
    The lockdown bar is stainless though I'm not sure about the internals of it but it should all clean up nicely. At both ends of the glass you can put a "beer seal" made of weather stripping to prevent liquids from seeping into the game. I'm sure you already know much of this but it's good to mention it.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    +1 on the TOP DVDs. I have a few of them and they are absolutely invaluable when it comes to pinball restoration. Shaggy and Norm do an awesome job and present the information in a "fun" way and not a boring, drone on and on technical way. Those guys know their stuff!!!

    Stunning work on the playfield! From the pics, that is looking close to NOS. Your very hard work is really paying off and showing very nicely!

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    Default Re: I FINALLY got me one! Yaaay! (Jumping up and down)

    All the playfield touch up is completed. My hand and eyes are not good enough to do the black borders so my 17yr old daughter was kind enough to help. She's really very much into art and was happy to help. I was surprised that she asked to be the first one to play the machine. It's the first spark of interest in any of my "arcade" things like pachinko, pachislo or pinball. It's a good sign.

    I think the playfield looks 120% better than before, although it looks touched up. See the completed photo below. I hope to get some Varathane for the clear coat in a week or so. I have all the sub-assemblies ready: the lightbox is reassembled, bottom relay board done, chimes unit cleaned/fixed, front door stripped, cleaned and reassembled and the playfield underside gone over. Once I get the Varathane and have it applied and dry it should only be a matter of repopulating the playfield with parts.

    I will someday make some stencils and re-spray the entire cabinet and light box but probably later this summer.

    If anyone is interested, these are the colors I used in Liquitex Acrylic paint, heavy body:
    Blue=Cobalt Blue Hue
    White=Titanium White
    Red=Cadmium Medium Red Hue
    Yellow1=Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue
    Yellow2=Cadmium Yellow White
    Black=Ivory Black

    These are my mixing formulas:

    The blue did not need mixing. The color was an extremely close match.

    The red needed to be orange. I added just a dab of yellow.

    The white in the tube is too pure. I added a touch of black to tone it down and when it was still a slight shade too light I added the Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, just a slight amount.

    The yellow is really bright, almost day-glow with an ever so slight green hue. I used the Cadmium Yellow Light with a little black in it, then a very slight bit of blue. I had to toss out 3 batches of the mixture because I added too much of another color before I came close to the original hue. The color ended up just a slight bit too greenish but it still looked OK so I went with it.

    The black on the playfield is just... well, black.

    I needed this to be done by the end of this week, and I made my goal.

    6-All painting done .jpg6-All painting done Details 1.JPG.jpgLightbox.jpg
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