Who restores vintage pachinko?

[johnnynormal510]

I am trying to find somewhere to refurb my dads old pachinko machine.

I have only found one site that repairs and refurbs Vintage Pachinko, but the prices are a little out of my reach right now.
My PowerFlash-Flush has some 24v Solenoids in it, thus an extra charge.

About $500 for the refurb + $150 total shipping ($75 Each Way).

That is quite an investment...

Any suggestions? Big Plus if they are in Northern California!

[luckydog]

when you read about how many hours members here spend restoring their machines, you can see why your estimate is so high.

its all depends if your willing to spend that much or tackle it yourself, you will get a lot of help and tips from members here along the way

[Eddie]

Use the Money to get some proper tools for this and the other machines you will soon be getting.

If you Dig through the forums you will find most of what you will need to look for and do to refurbish your machine.

If you get stuck and still have questions then feel free to ask away

You might be surprised at how easy it is to refurbish them once you have done the first.

IF all else fails Ill refurbish your machine for half of what you were quoted.

But again that money could be used on getting the tools which would be cheaper still.

[mudfud]

hey there.

why don't you bring your powerflash to sacramento, berkeley, or salinas when i'm there (I work a lot of places), and we can fix it together.

chewy

[sharmoni]

Those solenoids are cheap (Heavy Duty Solenoid-The Electronic Goldmine $1.49). I had no trouble replacing the one that was missing on mine—just used a cotter pin to attach it. There's no circuit boards, just wiring, so you shouldn't have trouble getting it to work again. We've got about three threads going right now with people in various stages of restoring their Power Flash machines, so dig around. We'll all be happy to help and supply photos of how your machine should look.

[FTKServices]

Just make sure if you are going to do this yourself ( which is always the fun way ). Just take lots of picture not just for us but in case you forget where something goes you will have a record of it.

[wrkey]

Johnny,

The cool thing about these vintage machines, is there is just not that much that can go wrong that can't be easily fixed. Now, if you want the machine to look like 'brand new' then I could understand the desire to find someone that does it professionally. But a professional restorer price of $500 is probably reasonable once you realize the number of hours it will take.

Does your machine work at all? For me, if I can get a machine to play right and consistant, then I'll clean up the front as much as I can and am happy at that level of restoration. But, then there are some that pull them completely apart, clean every little nook and cranny, rechrome, repaint, replace and the put it all back together. That process takes months of part time work but obviously worth it and part of the fun of it all.

I guess each of us has to decide at what level we want to obtain with each machine and the price we are willing to pay to acheive that level of restoration.

I'm curious to know if you've got the machine to work yet?

Good luck!

[johnnynormal510]

The biggest issue with the machine is dirt in the back of the machine.
I would be a little nervous disassembling the guts and throwing them in the sink. Might never get them back together again.

Yes, the machine DOES work, and is complete... Lights, 110v transformer, solenoids, Etc. I have shot a couple balls through it, and the pockets mechanics all seem to work fine.. Even dropping a ball in various tulips opens and closes other tulips.

The other problem that i am having is that it DOES NOT pay out balls when i hit a pocket... BUT IT WORKED LAST WEEK! I believe that this is just a lever somewhere that i need to locate. (Any idea where?)

Thanks Again!

[pinball wizard]

i have worked on a few of these,and they are not really that complicated.if i were you,i would take into consideration the advice of the others in this post,and do it myself.if you get stuck,there are many people here who would be happy to help you,myself included.i get as much enjoyment from working on these as i do from playing them.

[Moparformances]

looks like u have a few great offers for help all ready,,,if your looking for help i may be able to lend a hand to ya as well

i live east of Sac near Placerville.

let me know if i can help

[mudfud]

The biggest issue with the machine is dirt in the back of the machine.
I would be a little nervous disassembling the guts and throwing them in the sink. Might never get them back together again.

Yes, the machine DOES work, and is complete... Lights, 110v transformer, solenoids, Etc. I have shot a couple balls through it, and the pockets mechanics all seem to work fine.. Even dropping a ball in various tulips opens and closes other tulips.

The other problem that i am having is that it DOES NOT pay out balls when i hit a pocket... BUT IT WORKED LAST WEEK! I believe that this is just a lever somewhere that i need to locate. (Any idea where?)

Thanks Again!

hey there. PM me and we can get together to clean it out, if you want.

when I did mine, I had the advantage of a second sophia B right there, to help with the reassembly. it's not that bad as long as you take pix.

here's my other sophia B at the take down phase.