I have a set of Convolux plastic protectors for my BSD. Problem is that the added thickness has now made the hardware too short. I'm talking about these: http://www.shop.freddys-pinball-paradise.de/index.php?f=3&q=convolux%206515 Do I have to buy additional hardware? Also I bought translucent star posts from pinballlife and they look like fossil amber. As in there is TONS of air pockets in the posts. I mean I won't see it but it looks pretty bad with light going through them. Does that happen often? Sorta thinking about returning them.

Hey does anyone have a set of ramps in good condition? I have ramps but they are in rough shape. PM me.

A Pinside user has an extra set and is selling them to me. Onobtainium can be obtained apparently a couple of miles from you.

I got 2 questions for you folks. When I attempt to make the skill shot, the ball travelling up the shooter lane slams into the curve in an attempt to hit the target for the skill shot. When it slams into the curve though it loses the momentum and you lose the accuracy of the skill shot. How can I fix this?

The other is the plastic ramp that leads to the right in-lane has no rubber padding on the end to prevent the ball from slamming into it (repro ramps). In the past I tried to put a piece of rubber there but using a slow-mo camera it actually "bounces" the ball not perfectly straight down and it can go to the outlane. Is there a specific thickness rubber I need?

Got a question for you folks. I'm thinking of selling my BSD to aid in the funding of Sterns Godzilla Premium. What is the high end and low end for a game based on this condition?

1) It was routed heavily of at least 1 known location.
2) A Sun Process playfield filled with planking. It has a playfield protector on it however.
3) A Color-DMD display with new clear speaker panel.
4) Converted to NVRAM.
5) Rottendog Power Driver board and 10 Opto Switch Board. I have the old boards still that I was told can be fixed but the previous operators did a hack job on it and it caught fire. No battery acid damage on it. I just got new boards to reduce a potential headache.
6) New repro ramps installed. I still have all the old ramps but they are chipped, stress cracks, etc.
7) New plastic set installed. I also have all the old plastics.
8) Pinnovators kit installed in the coin door.
9) Pinballbulbs Ultimate LED Lighting Kit. I was too lazy to get bulbs and liked the style they did. https://www.pinballbulbs.com/products/bram-stokers-dracula-ultimate-led-lighting-kit
10) Orange plastic protectors.
11) Titan pinball rubbers including red feet protectors.
12) Art blades that are made for Monster Bash but they look like the town riot are going to Dracula's castle. Unfortunately have been torn a bit with lifting of the playfield. You take off the art blades and the entire sides are all scraped up.
13) Cabinet artwork is very slightly faded but it still looks pretty darn good. I have seen other BSD's and they are way worse.
14) Cabinet condition and decals are pretty good except the legs have dug into the cabinet on the front. I'm half surprised the underside doesn't have a galvanized plate underneath.
15) Flipper buttons are lit red with a Cointaker flipper button kit.
16) Bent plastic to prevent DMD glare on playfield glass.
17) Translite signed by Barry Oursler.
20) Purple flippers and purple pop bumpers that are lit inside the translucent pop bumpers.
21) Cliffys installed. Surprisingly enough the holes aren't really chewed up.

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I'm currently doing a full restoration on my BSD and I'm hiding the carriage bolts on the cabinet under the decal. Is there any downsides to this?

So you don't see any carriage bolts but just the cabinet artwork. You use a Forstner bit and make the head of the carriage bolt counter-sunk. People have done this in the past and some complain the head can poke into the decal. However I have an idea and it's to use some blue Loc-tite on the carriage bolt so it doesn't loosen.

So a person had commented that I should post my restoration pics from Facebook and I wanted to do it when I was done. However I think it would be neat to post some of it now. This is the Bram Stoker's Dracula that I purchased from the Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, NH. 117771118_10164157326115506_3782071441077287195_n_10164157326110506 (resized).jpg It also lived for a time at Electro-Magnetic Pinball in Providence, RI. I'm pretty sure it was also routed from at least another location before NH. I co-own a Space Mission but my dad tried to restore the playfield and instead of putting Super Glue on the inserts to level them, then clearcoating the playfield, he tried to heat/push up the inserts. Really bad idea since it added a hairline crack in the playfield. At this point it's my fathers and it looks like it will be forever not be working.

So officially this is MY first game paid completely by me and it had some issues when I got it. Burned out DMD, hacks to the boards, etc. Eventually I decided that the planking Lenc-Smith playfield just needed something done to it. This was back in 2017 when I first started the "mini-restore". I first started by replacing instead of fixing the circuit boards because I just didn't want to bother with the burnt up boards.18527447_10158712580200506_7164935799587243142_o_10158712580200506 (resized).jpg18556517_10158712579385506_6115613437850535276_o_10158712579385506 (resized).jpg18620932_10158712579350506_4409690251941905232_o_10158712579350506 (resized).jpg18671809_10158712580390506_8434428084822100355_o_10158712580390506 (resized).jpg18699595_10158752939080506_3656843180556612618_o_10158752939080506 (resized).jpg18738782_10158752938600506_7687075753022793018_o_10158752938600506 (resized).jpg30073660_10160315027875506_1759925706604730199_o_10160315027875506 (resized).jpg30052489_10160315027570506_1929833227987566302_o_10160315027570506 (resized).jpg118592319_10164214517945506_3247254005319806139_n_10164214517940506 (resized).jpg

There was also some other hacks that operators did like instead of disabling the knocker, they simply cut the leads to the knocker or added a physical play counter mechanism that sat inside the cabinet. Also at one point the circuit boards caught on fire and left a scorch mark on the ground plate. Oddly there was footprints all over it. 18588861_10158712579300506_1454556120621541078_o_10158712579300506 (resized).jpg18588761_10158712634205506_808670899784381618_o_10158712634205506 (resized).jpg

So I tried to create my own clear speaker panel by a technique I learned here that you can use Citristrip to remove the red film! Unfortunately it's like an acid and it literally ate the (I think acrylic) speaker panel. I tried to polish it but I could never really remove the haze. I ended up buying a clear speaker panel and ColorDMD.18891798_10158770170095506_8069403619709675427_o_10158770170095506 (resized).jpg18739290_10158770171515506_910559701633892254_o_10158770171515506 (resized).jpg18766409_10158770171870506_8439162991505420025_o_10158770171870506 (resized).jpg18766806_10158775201955506_9097702878426748032_o_10158775201955506 (resized).jpg18768475_10158775202515506_2400133035868127868_o_10158775202515506 (resized).jpg18815379_10158775202980506_3466556502791216738_o_10158775202980506 (resized).jpg

Stripped the playfield down and replaced incandescent bulbs to LEDs, etc.28164864_10160055378360506_8103575327441752947_o_10160055378360506 (resized).jpg28164559_10160055379990506_8298048912359321785_o_10160055379990506 (resized).jpg28164348_10160055379720506_979662583194608989_o_10160055379720506 (resized).jpg28161908_10160055378410506_2947158917971661772_o_10160055378410506 (resized).jpg28161958_10160055379015506_8764442075619771521_o_10160055379015506 (resized).jpg

Now at this time money was short, I didn't think I was capable of a playfield swap and nor did I want to do one. So I opted for a playfield protector and it looked great for a while. I also added some colored plastic protectors and got new plastics, new rubbers. 28165132_10160055428925506_3651284379153424109_o_10160055428925506 (resized).jpg117943308_10164157325780506_91546843433392072_n_10164157325775506 (resized).jpg28234804_10160055379625506_9174764761275957024_o_10160055379625506 (resized).jpg28238447_10160055378375506_143161595408138255_o_10160055378375506 (resized).jpg

Now while the playfield protector looked great for a while it started to really look poor and affect gameplay considerably. It started to look hazy with the amount of dirt underneath or just in general wear. Most of all however the protector sort of conformed to the playfield and created a wavy effect to the game like Orbitor 1. I considered selling the game in 2021. However when I cleaned it up ready to sell it at Pintastic, I just couldn't sell it! It's a fun game, it looked amazing and you just can't find another one and I have sentimental attachment to THIS game from Pin Wiz. So with a better paying job I was like "I'm gonna make this the best BSD that has EVER been made". This begins the full restoration phase I'm currently in. That was at the end of May last year and I'm 3/4 of the way through the wiring harness under the game. This time aside from having more money I also did all the cabinetry work at a Makers Lab at Make-It-Labs in Nashua, NH and I did all the cabinetry work there. This wouldn't have been possible without that space. I also used Forstener bits to make the playfield lag bolts sit underneath the cabinet Rad-Cals.

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Now around Fall last year I made a mistake in 1 afternoon that turned into a good thing but overall cost me something like 3 months lost mainly due to the holidays.317645758_10167225033945506_4026870609127712764_n_10167225034040506 (resized).jpg317616622_10167225035765506_55694956000059873_n_10167225035790506 (resized).jpg I attempted to paint the white MDF backbox lightboard and rather than use blue painter tape on the holes, I tried to remove the lamp housing. This was a REALLY bad idea! At least 20+ years and heat had made the plastic brittle and the lamps crumbled while being taken out with tiny wires torn with how they are connected into the socket. I went to look for these lamp sockets online and nobody had them and my dad suggests we make a new lightboard. Even better is that it will be made of solid wood instead of MDF.317649772_10167225037505506_5893224212793313116_n_10167225037520506 (resized).jpg My dad also added copper rings in the holes that I still don't understand why. 317749035_10167225034720506_7119531300265495129_n_10167225034780506 (resized).jpg Anyways I learned about the joys of painting, I lost a lot of time and money, and I had to strip the thing like 3 times at least!

The first attempt was a dumb idea my dad had which was to use poly-acrylic. Either the mixture wasn't correct or the Makers Lab had old poly-acrylic but it never cured and had to be sanded off. 317669559_10167225034390506_8195007333897709637_n_10167225034430506 (resized).jpg

Second attempt was to use spray paint but my father used so much paint (like 1 can a side) that it never cured and/or humidity levels or moisture in the wood itself was creating issues. 317598689_10167225034760506_2871596222631760738_n_10167225034815506 (resized).jpg

The third attempt was me first trying to get the moisture out of the wood with a hot air gun but TONS of tree sap was coming out of the wood and water. I got as much out and I started to roll on paint and it looked great! Then I put a layer of clearcoat and....it started to turn yellow and had adhesion issues.317629862_10167225038065506_3252930835414254754_n_10167225038105506 (resized).jpg

So at this point my dad came up with this absolutely brilliant idea I didn't know was possible nor did my friends and that is that you can dye wood. It's how they have purple guitars. So we did some tests. 317674913_10167225038250506_6678606979699914107_n_10167225038270506 (resized).jpg317697399_10167225038350506_2645863795168228584_n_10167225038375506 (resized).jpg I liked the look and we dyed the entire lightboard and it's easily one of the creepiest/coolest things I have ever seen in a pinball game. The wood filler makes it look like marbling in meat. Putting it on we had no tables available at the makers lab so we had to dye it next to a table saw. We put down plastic everywhere but it looks legitimately like someone had a major accident while we were working on it hahaha!317616057_10167225038365506_281570648650890415_n_10167225038390506 (resized).jpg317683711_10167225034995506_5055905570533842426_n_10167225035035506 (resized).jpg317700659_10167225038630506_8475657251051456667_n_10167225038660506 (resized).jpgI was so excited to see the lightboard light up for the first time! It was also near Christmas when this was done.320820614_513959757187145_1056713826286893197_n_10167291211400506 (resized).jpg

I also made the lamp sockets in bayonet style instead of wedge style.320745648_5807370215967576_6293594186648247959_n_10167291211525506 (resized).jpg

Quick question for you folks. Does powdercoating the wireforms affect the game in any way?

I asked the same exact thing I think at Allentown last year or possibly it was this year? Anyways I know I asked him this year and he said it was coming "soon". Then I saw him at Expo "soon". There is this subway ramp I need for my restoration because all the legs to affix it to the playfield are snapped off. I have to somehow epoxy them on or something.

Should I get an LED OCD board for Black Friday or non-ghosting bulbs for BSD? Not sure if it ghosts either because I think it does but some websites say it doesn't.

I didn't know this existed until now. Comet it looks like aren't doing a discount on their LED OCD board. I'm waiting now to see what it looks like because it's cheaper than Comets and it might be better. Currently I have a pinballbulbs kit and while it looked great, it was a little dark because of all the dark purple. The kit that Comet has looks like it did from the factory and most importantly brightens the playfield.

Yeah I'm in the similar mindset but I think it can sit next on my desk. To me most of the Dracula mods don't look good. Some look like a zombie grandma, others jump out like a jack in the box, while others stick their arms out like Frankenstein. I got this one from Rudedogg Customs and it looks really good. https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1484-rudedogg-customs-/08044-bsd-coffin-amp-tombstone-lock-light-mod

Ah. Well I guess free shipping is a plus?

How in the heck do you fit a rubber in this spot? Also it can’t be 1.5” but a 2.5” rubber.

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How crucial is this part? Either I lost this part restoring my game or I need to buy it but I don't know what it's called. Is it necessary though?

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