To restore or not to restore? That is the question!

[Col_Phil_Bilko]

UPDATE: Just added a picture I forgot to before

Hello all;

I am the proud owner of a Bally Bow N Arrow pinball table that I love and deeply cherrish for personal reasons. However it is now starting to show its wear So I am banging my head against the wall trying to figure out what I should do.

Ok first off let me explain what it is The table is from 1974/75, the playfield is solid wood (love the sound a wooden playfield makes ) And now the tables paint is starting to crack and fade. Also the wires are all original and causes some shorts causing lights to shut on and off when certain things are hit. (not ment to happen) The rubbers I replaced 6 years ago and are still fine. I did some contact cleaning, but sometimes the ball ejector (top right) does not spit out the ball. The back glass is MINT condition, All plastics are mint and all mechs work fine.

What I am proposing that I do is:

Replace entire playing field with new wood and get it painted and then sealed. What wood is used on these table tops?

Rewire the entire cab, under the table and back board.

I might replace the flippers with new ones, and new bumpers.

Replace all rubbers.

Clean all contacts.

Repair gate spinners.

Replace ALL lights with bright LEDS.

I am NEVER going to sell this as I said it is more of a personal item than anything else. But doing what I mentioned above will breath new life back into the machine, and keep it going for many many more years to come. Oh and when I say replace the table I will NOT wreak or throw out the original table... that will be kept and stored. Same with the replaced electronics (flippers, bumbers e.t.c)

What thoughts and comments do you guys have and can you please help answer the few questions I had in the above post ?

Thanks for your time.

Take care.

[Ninja Supremacist]

Sounds like have a plan.

Jump.

[DarkKobold]

Uh, negative on the new playfield. You are better off doing a touch-up job on the original, and then using a sealer to cover it after you are done. Check out the newsgroups on pinball, they have a lot better idea of what is right to do. Don't make too many alterations until you've checked with them, as they are experts, for the most part.

[Col_Phil_Bilko]

Hi again;

Why would you not remake the entire playfield if you could? All it would take is percise recreation in wood working skills and art.

Please elaborate on your answer

Thanks

[RayB]

Keep in mind that all original parts will retain greater value in this machine than if you replace/remake parts.

Wires are shorting? FIX all connections. But try and keep original wiring where you can. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[tcheat]

I would just restore the playfield that you have.  Check out rec.games.pinball on Google: 

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball?hl=en

That is a very active and helpful group.  There are a couple of members of the group that restore pinball playfields.  I've seen some of their work and it is fabulous.  You could do it yourself, but if the game has sentimental value, you might want to let a pro do it for you.

If you ask, one of them may have a spare playfield for the game you've got.  They can certainly help with any issues you're having with the game.  I bought a game that I used to play as a kid.  I'm a novice, but was able to fully "shop" it with their help.  One member even had a beautiful set of plastics for my game that he sold me for a really reasonable price. 

If you haven't already gotten one, get a copy of the manual and schematics for your game.  There are several sites that have them available for download, such as:  http://pinball.veire.com/manuals/index.php

Lastly, The Pinball Resource has lots of NOS and reproduction parts for many games.  The owner can be difficult at times, but he generally has what you're looking for.

Good luck.

Tim

[Col_Phil_Bilko]

Hello;

Thank you very much for that great information. I will post there soon and seek some help. Again thanks.

Take care.

[ChadTower]

Why would you not remake the entire playfield if you could? All it would take is percise recreation in wood working skills and art.

Do you have that skill?  You're talking hundreds of hours of detail work here.  It has great personal value, but this is not a $5000 pin.  As was said, the most realistic option here is to touch up your playfield and then seal it.

Of course, had you performed proper routine maintenance on it, all that playfield wear wouldn't have happened.  When was the last time the playfield was polished and waxed?  The balls replaced?  The old EMs require very little in the way of topside playfield maintenance, but the wax is CRITICAL.

[fredster]

Looks nice.  Anybody that can keep any old pin running is doing their part.

Keep it as original as you can.  I agree that replacing it is too much, just touch it up.

You'll have a lot less trouble than trying to tear that thing down.

Have fun!

[Stingray]

I'll throw in a vote for just touching it up. Overly ambitious projects tend to get discouraging quickly. I hate to see a beautiful old pin get abandoned.

-S

[babydickonboard]

another vote for a touchup!

[Col_Phil_Bilko]

Thanks guys, I will stick with touching up and all that. As for caring for the unit I have cared and waxed it, however the owner before me did not. Thus the reason for the cracked paint on the playfield.

I think for the touch up though I will get a pro to restore the playfield. I will also go around and clean all of the connections, replace all of the bulbs, replace all of the rubbers. As far as working the game itself works perfect except with the minor shorts here and there due to dirty connections or faulty wires.

And this project would NEVER be abandoned, as I stated before it is to much of a personal item to not get it back to its former self

Thanks again all for your feedback and comments. I will take this to heart and do more of a restoration than a rebuild.

Take care

[ChadTower]

You should also replace all coil sleeves and rebuild the flippers.  The coil sleeves are absolutely mandatory, the flippers can be saved until later if the cost of a rebuild kit is prohibitive right now.