| Arcade Collecting > Miscellaneous Arcade Talk |
| Pinball Restoration (1976 Bally Freedom) |
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| JoyMonkey:
I was in my cousins basement today and found a 1976 Bally Freedom pinball machine. She'd like to get rid of it, or have it restored. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, I know nothing about pinball machines. It's in two pieces, looks pretty dirty, but she says all it's missing is its legs. She talked to someone a couple of years ago that said it could be restored for $100. Are pinball machines all that complicated (I would think so)? Is this something I could do myself with a couple of spare days? Or is there a reputable restoration person in the Boston area that I could recommend to her? |
| danny_galaga:
without having even seen it, i would imagine it would take more than a couple of days. but that shouldn't be a reason not to do it. i'd start by looking for those legs. go for it! :D |
| D_Zoot:
That's something that would get you hooked. Pinball can be such a fun hobby, once you do that one you'll probably feel like trying to find another one! Anyway, the first thing you should do is try to find out exactly which version of Freedom you have. Bally made two different ones, an electromechanical and a solid state. You can tell by looking at the score displays, electromechanical will have score reels and a solid state will have digital displays. If it's an EM and if it's been sitting for a long time, chances are it doesn't work. Fixing EM's can be a frustrating experience. They appear so simple, yet one poor set of contacts can bring the whole machine down. EM's can be fussy and without a sound knowledge of how they work, proper contact adjustments and setup it's easy to create more problems with the game when trying to fix it. If it's a Solid State game you are in luck. Fewer of those were made, making them harder to come by and slightly more valuable. In addition, they generally are more reliable. If there are any major problems with it, the circuit boards can be sent out for repair to any number of shops at a reasonable cost. Have a very close look at it to determine if it's worth restoring: -What kind of shape is the cabinet in? Any water damage? -How does the playfield look? Lifting, cracked or worn off paint is very hard or impossible to repair. How about the plastics? Broken or missing plastics on a game of that vintage can be very hard to replace. -Look at the backside of the backglass, is it flaking or peeling anywhere? Minor flaking can be stopped and won't detract much from the enjoyment of the game (but does affect it's value). Major flaking is more serious problem and very very difficult (if not impossible in some cases) to repair. -If it's a solid state, inspect the CPU board for acid/battery damage. If there is any corrosion, you'll need board repair for sure. The cost and time frame involved will all depend on what you find when you inspect it. If it's clean and dry, with a good playfield and backglass you'll likely only have some tinkering to do plus replacing rubbers and lamps. That's not too time consuming or expensive. playfield rubbers can be bought in kits and contain everything you would need to re-rubber the game. If it's got cab, backglass or playfield damage, you'll have to put some serious thought into it. That can get expensive and time consuming quickly and may possibly cost you more than the game is worth. How about some pics ?? Regards, D |
| JoyMonkey:
Sounds like a challenge ;D I'll take another look at it next weekend (probably take some pics too). I'm pretty sure it's electromechanical. I only looked at it for a minute, but it seemed to be in good condition, just a little dirty. I don't really have space at my place to work on it (another excuse to finish the two cocktail cabinets in my second bedroom :D). Thanks for the info! |
| D_Zoot:
I forgot to mention, If you do tackle it, you can get replacement legs from many places. A quick google should net you several mail-order pinball part places. I use these guys for some stuff: http://www.marcospec.com They also carry rubber kits, lamps, coils ,replacement pinballs and many other common parts. If you get into looking for game-specific stuff, post back up with what you are looking for, or better yet, check out the newsgroup rec.games.pinball Good luck! D |
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