I finally got a pin...RESTORED AND LOVING IT.

[shardian]

Now that my garage is a gameroom, I am getting back on this long, drawn out project. Last time I messed with it, I covered the playfield with a towel and set all the 'baggies' on the towel. When I cleaned it off a few weeks ago, I was pissed to find that the towel left  an indented pattern in a few areas. I have serious doubts about the long term durability of water based Polycrlyic!! This thing cured for well over a month initially, and cured an additional month or so before I ever put a towel on it.

Most of it buffed out with polishing compound and the buffing wheel. I don't want to polish anymore though, because I am afraid of taking off any more of the clearcoat. I will go ahead and wax, which is why I haven't started reassembly yet. (Wade is saving me cash-ola by letting me use his wax...if he ever gets it to me.)

I flattened the plastics last week and they look real sharp. The oven method works, but I had to go with 300 degrees to get the plastics to droop.

I also broke down and ordered a Pascal Pi-1 board! My hope is to be reassembled before it gets here from France. I have a whole box full of possible good untested CPU boards, but my test bench power supply crapped out when I tried to test them. I will eventually test them and sell them on ebay to further recoup the cost of the pi-1. Maybe even turn a good profit if enough test out working. 

[shardian]

Playfield is thoroughly waxed up, pop bumper assemblies all shiny, and all metals polished. Now I suppose I have no more excuses to keep me from reassembly.

A note on polishing metal though...it sucks! I tried multiple cleaners/polishes on the stainless stuff. The ball trough parts were very dirty and dull. I started with a basic cleaning, then Bar Keeper's Friend, then Novus. No matter how much Novus I used, the rag still turned instantly black.

On the next piece I used Bleche White initially, then scrubbed, then started the same process. It didn't go much better.

Finally, I went with what I should have used in the first place - Eagle One Wadding metal polish. Rub the hell out of it with a small piece, then rinse/scrub with terry cloth  = smooth, shiny finish. A second pass yielded a more mirror finish. I'm sure if I did 4 passes or so on each piece, I would have been using them as a mirror to shave. Alas, that kind of perfection is a waste of effort on this specific machine.

So use this as a lesson, young Padawan learners: Go straight to the Eagle One Wadding to polish metal pieces.

[shardian]

A question for the peanut gallery:

The drop targets need to be redone. They originally had an explosion looking graphic. The red 5-bank had silver ink, and the white 3-bank had green paint. I brought a target to work today to scan and make stickers or stencils, then noticed the image was stamped and recessed. Interesting...

Anyways, as a test I filled in the recess with permanent black ink. I'm considering being lazy and just doing black. What would you do:

1. Go ahead and make stickers
2. fill them in black and be done
3. Hunt down fine tipped paint markers that match original

[Cyberflexx]

That thing really does look NICE.. It does look better in person.. You did an AWESOME job on it..   

[shardian]

That thing really does look NICE.. It does look better in person.. You did an AWESOME job on it..   

Thanks! I have stared for so long at all the flaws, that it is hard for me to appreciate the overall improvements.

[shardian]

I was just gonna post some notes, but I bet you all are getting sick of seeing my post bumped with out pics. Am I right?

It was a busy weekend with the family, but I did get the drop targets done. The silver paint was a very close match, and went on easy. The metallic green paint went on translucent, and I had to cake it on to make it opaque. This also caused the paint to be darker than I would have liked. I don't recommend using the glittery metallic paints - they are a pain to work with.

The original image created a depression on the plastic, so I had a pretty good built in template on each target. One white target wasn't original, so I used my wife's wax fabric pattern transfer paper to put on a light colored boundary. It worked well.

As you can see, I am about 75% finished. It takes a while when only working 5-10 minutes a day. 

[shardian]

No responses all day? Damn that's depressing...I suppose I'll have to do some actual work while at work then.

[pinballwizard79]

That clear is pretty, I hope to eventually do that on my Time Fantasy..............hmmmm, since you did so well I will just send it to you 

It looks like you did a total restore, good job man!

[shardian]

That clear is pretty, I hope to eventually do that on my Time Fantasy..............hmmmm, since you did so well I will just send it to you 

It looks like you did a total restore, good job man!

Eh, if I can do it then anyone can do it. If you wanted to send me a stripped board though, I would totally do it. It would be a super simple job without having to mess with underside parts and having it in the cabinet.

[shardian]

Reassembly is DONE! I also have the super cool Pi-1 set up like I want it. Unfortunately, I have a switch issue with the 5 bank drop target. I have absolutely no clue what is wrong. All 5 targets pass the switch test. There is a switch on the back of the assembly that I have NO CLUE what it does. Can someone explain this to me? It seems to be set up to stay closed, and there is nothing that opens/closes it. What 'switch' controls the reset coil???

[shardian]

I figured this one out finally. The problem was a loose fuse holder. This new cpu board rocks. It gets the wife stamp of approval.

[Wade]

It's looking good!!  So show us some pics of it all assembled and lit up too.

Wade

[shardian]

Maybe tonight I will get it cleaned up for pics/video. I still have one bonus light that refuses to work. Also plenty of backbox lights to replace, adjust a popbumper, vacuum the playfield, then the glass can go on. I think you all will be impressed with the video, and all of the cool things the Pi-1 can do.

[Cyberflexx]

Yeah.. show us your goods..

I'm still working on my BuckRogers.  says I have a switch stuck but cant find it..

[shardian]

Yeah.. show us your goods..

I'm still working on my BuckRogers.  says I have a switch stuck but cant find it..

Which stuck switch? It tells you on the displays what it is.

[shardian]

Video of the 'Wizard mode' Pi-1 modified gameplay. The original light scheme was very boring. Nothing flashed, no attract mode, no flashing events, etc. The displays were also very boring - just showing scores. This game was for all intents and purposes an EM that simply replaced the relay banks and reels with a pc brain, but acted exactly the same.

With a Pi-1, the game behaves more like a CPU controlled game should of that era. Flashing waves of lights all over the place, satisfying light events when you get a skill shot (also new), and the displays do all sorts of scrolling messages.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFkYNfpUHo[/youtube]

[pinballwizard79]

Damn, that turned out well.

Now onto the pics!!!