Cary, IL
Well, it started when my wife said that she wanted to get a pinball machine for the basement. It surprised me, but I thought it would be fun. Found a Night Rider EM on Craigslist for $300 a few miles away. Before I bought it I searched and found a schematic., and all kinds of information on the web. I love the Internet!.
Bought it, cleaned it, repaired it using clays guides and there was a lot to do. I loved the challenge. Tore down the play field, and repainted and repaired that too. Was lucky enough to find someone on line who knew the paint colors I needed. I did NOT clear coat it - and still haven't - maybe some day.
Bought a Bally Playboy after that. It was in pretty good shape but I ended up replacing a lot of the light sockets, rebuilding the sound board and displays. Practiced soldering (and desoldering) on some old PC Boards from work. Figured out that there were two wires crossed on the light matrix (or was it switch matrix?) anyway fixed that too. This is an ok game, but eventually I will sell it.
A few months later I found a Tomcat on CL for $700. I inquired, the woman told me she had all kinds of interest, but no one actually showed up. I did and when i got there she told me it was now $500 because there was some kind of error. I bought it, took it home and replaced the batteries in the board (and moved them off later. There was very little wrong with it other than that. I really like that game.
Made a bartop arcade game after that using a 60 in 1 board and a LCD Monitor from CL. My woodworking skills are not good, so I made a lot of mistakes - but I had no real plans to build from.
Then I wanted a juke Box, but not the size of a jukebox. So I bought a WallBox (like at your booth at the diner), got it functioning, and bought a kit to connect up an iPod. Its pretty cool.
I can follow an EM schematic, and have limited electronic schematic skills. Other that cutting door and window molding, I had never built anything before the Table Top Arcade game.
But I love a challenge!
Doug
