1969 Williams EM Restor - Post Time

[Rando]

Alrighty,
As stated in my move a Pinball thread, I've taken the plunge on an EM machine that needs some work.  I have no prior pinball experience aside from a 1984 Bally that I have which is in great shape and I have performed no maintenance on.  The list that this machine is long, details below:
1969 EM Williams Machine - Post Time
Horse Racing theme
Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (5), Slingshots (4), Standup targets (7), Add-a-Ball feature
Cost $200 and some gas money

The goal of this machine is to restore to decent looking/working condition, and give to my father in law.  He's in his 80's and was a big pinball fan that spends most of his current time at the track betting hose races.  This machine seemed like a perfect fit.

Pics attached, descriptions below:

Cosmetic issues:
- Entire cabinet needs to be repainted.  Cab should be a generic white with Blue/Red angled striping, Cab currently wears bright yellow paint with florescent writing.  I will prime and paint white, and then stencil new striping.  I'm not going for 100% restore, so I may modify the striping for my taste, and possibly add some horse elements to make it look nicer.
- Wood sides are mostly ok, not sure what prep I should do before paint
- Legs are very rusted, not sure if I should bother trying to clean or just replace, generic legs available yes?
- Glass is good and currently removed
- Playing surface appears ok but is very dull
- Most of features appear to be ok, mis-matching of flippers is apparently correct per other pictures that I have seen
- Missing the instruction card on how to play, want to track down info and retype
- Backglass looks good, some flaking but I'm ok with it, would repair if not hard/obvious when viewed

Mechanical:
- Right flipper doesn't work, apparently worked not too long ago, hoping this is easily remedied
- Some lights are out, hoping this is just bulb replacement
- Scoring apparently sticks at times, I will have to test and research
- Power switch is missing, machine comes on when plugged in, I want to add power switch.  And the power cord is not original and a little sketchy, want to replace
- All rubber/bands need to be replaced
- Sound - I have no idea if sounds are working correctly or not, it's been a looong time since I heard an EM machine play.  When on and a ball moving, sounds are made, but don't know if sounds right or not, maybe I'll record and post once cleaned up a bit for feedback
- I'm sure there is more wrong, just don't know details yet

Interesting:
Inside the cabinet was the coin catcher (old possibly original) and a whole bunch of stuff.  Looks like any repairs/maintenance performed stored any old parts in the cabinet itself.  Lots of wires, fuses, bolts, bulbs, old rubbers/bands, wine botle opener, blade shaver, some small tools, junk mostly.  I went through and kept anything that I could possibly use on the machine or as a reference item.  Few mechanical pieces that I'm not sure what they are, but looks like they were remoed from machine and (hopefully) replaced.  Hard to tell what was part of the Pinball and what was part of an old Kerosene heater as there was a manual and parts of that stored in there as well.

First steps are to get it off the dolley and onto a workable platform (boxes? Sawhorses?) for examination and paint and work.  Once painted I will either put on old or new legs and try to get it up to speed.

Way over my head but very intrigued.  If able to pull this off I would love to repeat and have a couple old machines.  Pics below as promised, the full machine pic in good shape is just for reference!

[smartbomb2084]

Nice find man...  glad to see you are willing to give it hell...

EM games can be pretty daunting to someone new at them...

The best advice you can get here is a buck passing over to the Pinrepair site.

Try and digest as much as you can there.. try some of the those repairs on your game... post back here with any specific questions you have..

http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

 

[ChadTower]

I don't think you're way over your head.  This doesn't sound like a super tough restoration.  You will have to use a whole gamut of skills (paint, disassembly/lube/assembly, metal work) but nothing all that advanced.  You can do this.

I'll give you a couple of starting points so you can Google methods.  And go to pinwiki.com for a lot more info.

Legs:  Two potential methods.  Chemical or physical rust removal.  Depending on how much rust you can use something like Naval Jelly, you can use a wire wheel, or you can use both.  Then you can buff them up or paint them.  New legs are available but IMO too expensive for this project unless yours are real garbage.

Backglass:  Read up on how to Triple Thick a backglass.  If you can manage an aerosol can then you can seal up that backglass so no more damage occurs.  From there you can decide to touch it up or not.  I would not touch that up with the level of restoration you intend.

Gameplay:  First thing you want to do is go through the game top to bottom and clean every switch.  Watch each stepper and relay operate.  Clean and lube them.  Most EMs that have a number of minor issues like yours only need a thorough cleaning of the machinery. 

Playfield:  Novus 2 (a plastics polish) and caranuba wax. 

That should be enough for you to hit Google and pinwiki to read up.   

[Rando]

Thanks for feedback all.

First thing I'm going to tackle will be the easiest for me, the Cabinet.  Below is a picture of the back (non re-painted) portion of the cabinet showing the original white.  I'll try to match the red and the blue of the cab, but don't need to be 100% accurate.  For the white section though, it's not flat white.  If you look at the pic it's a sort of speckled white.  I don't need to hit that 100% either, but got me thinking that a flat bright white might not look that great.

I'll prime first, then want to lay a white basecoat, then I'll stencil and paint the striping.  Questions are:
- What type of white should use, and any ideas for the speckling?
- What finish for the paint should use, semi-gloss or enamel or what?
- Should I finish with any type of clearcoat/protective layer?
- Best looking results with brush, rollers, or spraycan?
- There is some wood damage around the edges, should I try to repair, and how would I?
- The legs damaged the wood somewhat, I've seen soft/hard/metal/plastic leg protectors on newer machines.  Is that more for decal/cabs or worth it for painted as well?

Appreciate!

[ChadTower]

- What type of white should use, and any ideas for the speckling?

I would use a slight off white.  There is now way now of knowing what that cabinet looked like 50 years ago.  You sure aren't going to figure out the exact shade of white without an expert in both EM pinball and paint.  Since you're not going for a high end restoration I say just get it to a white you are comfortable with.

- What finish for the paint should use, semi-gloss or enamel or what?

Either satin or semigloss, I suppose.  Enamel if you can get it and oil if not. 

- Should I finish with any type of clearcoat/protective layer?

This is entirely up to you.  The originals did not have any. 

- Best looking results with brush, rollers, or spraycan?

Spraygun will be the best option.  High quality low nap rollers would be second.  For the other colors either the gun or a can should do.  No brushes.

- There is some wood damage around the edges, should I try to repair, and how would I?

Repair it with either bondo or wood filler depending on the extent of the damage.  Bondo is better.

- The legs damaged the wood somewhat, I've seen soft/hard/metal/plastic leg protectors on newer machines.  Is that more for decal/cabs or worth it for painted as well?

Cabinet protectors are not required.  They're not expensive, though, so if you feel better with them after all that work then go for it.  You could also make your own out of any number of different materials.

[Rando]

First off,
I'm really, really slow.  This is due to having a wife and kids and a house, and not really knowing what I'm doing.

Having said that, I identified and resolved (almost) my first issue with this machine!

Right flipper not working.  Switch firing on left flipper, not right.  Examined wires and see one off on right.  Stuck it to the metal thingy right next to it (power off) and powered back on and Voila!  Flipper works, until it shook wire off again.

Off to buy my first solder gun and try my turn at that.

Also futzed with machine, identified some lights that are out and the 1,000 wheel isn't turning.  Will likely look at that next.

I also want to take some vide of the sounds of the machine to post to see if it "sounds" right, as I don't have EM knowledge to really compare it to.

Game looks fun on the surface, has a couple kickers that really move the ball nice.  Also ordered a right/light set to start replacing the old/cracked items.

[HaRuMaN]

Don't get a solder gun, get a pencil style soldering iron.

[Rando]

Don't get a solder gun, get a pencil style soldering iron.

Thanks,
That's exactly what I got and worked well, my first solder!

I then replaced a bunch of the playfield lights, and played a game and noted that the 1,000 reel worked and scoring appears fine.  For the moment.

Ordered a new rubbers kit, so will put those on after cleaning the playfield.

For the most part it appears to be functioning as intended.  Right now it looks like my main issue is sound.  There is a bell and set of chimes in the backbox.  Bell appears to be connected, but not ringing.  Chimes are not connected and I don't see at a glance how they would get wired.  More research on those two issues next I think.

But, I'm enjoying working with this thing and looking forward to having it come to life!

[smartbomb2084]

Looking good man... It's nice to work on a game you know pretty much works BEFORE you spend a bunch of time on it....makes you go that extra mile on the details...

Take it you have the schematics for this game?  If you do.. it'll be easy to find out why your bell isn't ringing and how to reconnect the chimes...

[Rando]

Looking good man... It's nice to work on a game you know pretty much works BEFORE you spend a bunch of time on it....makes you go that extra mile on the details...

Take it you have the schematics for this game?  If you do.. it'll be easy to find out why your bell isn't ringing and how to reconnect the chimes...

Nope,
It came with instructions on how to operate a kerosene heater, but no Schematics or Manual.  I'm learning some things on Pinside as I have a post there as well which is proving helpful.  Between these two sites I should have a decent machine!

I'm not seeing any copies of the schematics/manual online though, know of any resources that have scans available, or will I have to bite bullet and buy?

[Ken Layton]

No scans available. Contact Pinball Resource or Marco Specialties and buy the schematic and manual.

[SlammedNiss]

Looks like you and I are working on restoring extremely similar machines.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130567.0.html

Good luck and I'll be following your progress.

[Rando]

Looks like you and I are working on restoring extremely similar machines.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130567.0.html

Good luck and I'll be following your progress.

Sweet,
Posted to your thread, hopefully gave you some motivation!