Or looking for 1/2 the parts they would forget to pack , as we all know Stern QC is perfect

Shredder565 - It's a massive undertaking that you, er, undertook! But please don't get disheartened and give it up! Brilliant work, and it's been a pleasure to watch your progress. Keep going, I'm sure a lot of pinsiders (including myself) are following this and rooting for your success. You will have a unique TAF to be proud of.

Glad to see you pressing on, your getting very close dont lose interest now.

That's what has held me back from attempting a TOTAN scratch build. Lamp assembly alone is $650.

Put the diodes on ALL the switches first, then install them, then wire them.

Sometimes you will have to unmount a switch to get it wired, then just reinstall it.

If a screw strips out just put a piece of toothpick in the hole with a little titebond on it.

Double and triple check that the diodes go in the right direction to avoid problems later on.

Your diode is backwards, make the leads go outwards instead of inwards.

Silver banded side goes towards the "nubby actuator hinge" end of the switch

Chris hutchens posted some great pictures here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/24#post-4689438 (Second picture in the post)

If your soldering on the playfield, put a small rag around the work to catch flux splatters. It will look cleaner when your done.

Solder the side with the silver band to keep the diode from falling off. Leave the other side of the diode unsoldered and solder it when you attach the wires.

Best thing to do it make up a batch of diodes with the ends bent and cut to attach to the switch so that you loop the diode in the switch lug then solder. This will save you a little bit of time over doing one at a time.

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IMG_5418 (resized).JPG

You've got the switch mounted backwards. The actuator should be on top of the finger on the bracket.

You'll also want to cut off the excess leads on the diode. You don't need those touching things they shouldn't.

Cut them off as you go.

Solder both sides of the diode. The wires are soldered to the legs of the switch on the outsides, just below the diode holes. The wires dont go thru the holes in the switch legs, so you might as well just solder both sides and trim off the excess lead/wire.

Tin the bare wire ends before soldering them on. Then just stick them to the legs with a little more solder.

And put the diode on right. See picture.

LTG : )

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If you want, you can push/crimp a tiny spade lug connector on to the center leg/wire of the switches.

Its not necessary but makes it easy to tell which wire goes on the center leg.

the other wire ALWAYS goes to the non banded side of the diode.

This is helpful if you have to replace a switch, you only have to solder one side.

Switch is still mounted backwards in the picture.

the actuator wire goes over the "L" finger of the mounting bracket.

Yes.

LTG : )

Perfect!

You can bend the diode to the right/side a bit with fingers to give you room to install the wire on the center leg of the switch.

I would use the insulated spade connectors for the center wires to avoid shorts and problems down the road.
Or you have to put on 1" pieces of aquarium tubing over each and every center lug for insurance.

This does 2 things:

Keeps the wire from direct shorting.

Makes it easy to take the switch out of the circuit for testing.

Here is some good info about switches on pinside:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stupid-question-about-micro-switches

Where can one buy the tiny female insulated spade connectors? I just ran out and forgot where I got them 20 years ago...
I was going to post a picture but I used them all up on my Funhouse earlier this year.

one down, 150 more to go ....

Shredder565

I just bought some of these as I ran out of them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0925QNCP7/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1

PM me your address and Ill send you 50 for free, postage included.

You will need to get some vinyl tubing to insulate a few things as you wire up the game.

Aquarium tubing works really well in 1/8"-5/32" inside diameter. Home depot or Lowes has it.

Take a diode with you to size up the inside diameter. It just has to fit in easily but not be too big.

Pinrestore has the exact diameter you need:

http://pinrestore.com/Supplies.html

Half way down the page.

Excellent work on this so far.

Do you have a speaker panel for your game?

I was going through my parts stash the other night and found that I had one I forgot about. Has some scratches in the DMD window, but not too bad. Better than nothing if you didn’t have one yet.

I can hook you up if you need it. Or you can pick it up if you’re down my way. I work in Princeton.

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The size you want is:
Size 110 insulated female.

This equals:

2.8mm x .5mm, very small, and fully insulated with a shank for #18 wire.

They can be a bit rare.

Electricians wouldnt have too much of a use for these really. But you never know.

Most spades are too big for the switch leg,
Usually the 187 version thats 1/4" wide, or the 22 version that has a too small of a shank.

See what you have and let me know if you need some.

You are going to have to adjust those switches so that the actuator wires dont touch the wood at all.

Side drilling the mounting plates to elongate the holes in them will give you the adjustment you need.

When installing them its best to not rely on any dimples in the playfield, but to line them up and make new dimples with a center punch or sharp nail set.

Moving the screws, once installed is difficult do to the close proximities.

Dimitri posted some great photos on here, are you referencing them? Your switch placements seem to be off

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Good catch!

Yep they definitly are installed backwards, I didnt see it that way.

the switches are definitely crowding and slightly covering the light inserts.

That isnt right at all.

A close up of the picture shows dimples for the screws!

Most of the markings for drill in screws will be tiny dimples as a reference to where you might put a screw, not holes.

However they are just a guide, often they are not exactly spot on, but close.

Always you have to position the switch or mechanism mounting foot so that it fits properly first.

If the dimples are in the right place, thats a plus, but not a deal breaker.

You will see that over 90-95% of the dimples are really close to where they should be, but dont bet on it.

You will find them if you look closely, they are everywhere for various things.

As always, thin metal takes a gold 3/8" screw, thick metal plate takes a 1/2" screw.

If you think you want to use 5/8" screws, line them up on the edge of the playfield, to make sure what you are installing doesnt poke thru the painted surface.

Be very sure that you have the right screw for what you are installing.
It only takes a second to ruin the surface by guessing.

One other thing:

You can put a gold 3/8" screw in one of the notches of each T-nut to hold them in, if there is room for it.

Just one screw per T-nut will do.

Its not that important at this time, but if they fall out later on, you can put a small screw next to them to hold them in with the side of the screw head..

Good rules of thumb are:

• #6 x 3/8" (usually yellow/gold in color) for lamp sockets. The metal tab with the hole is thin.
• #6 x 1/2" (usually plain zinc plated steel) for things with a thicker metal tab - like that magnet bracket or the flipper base plate. Most things have a thicker metal tab and will use 1/2". If in doubt use a 3/8" but they are almost exclusively used for lamp sockets, t-nut anchoring and one small cable clamp.