I think I've finally put together all the parts that will go out for chrome. Now, I'm sure you may be asking "Why the hell would you chrome the pop bumper ring and rods?". Well, consider it an experiment of sorts. I'm curious to see if the led lights will reflect a little off the chrome when the pop bumpers fire off. Maybe they will maybe they won't but I've never done it before, lets find out!

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Hey Chris! Funny you mention that. Literally as I was tearing this apart I kept telling myself to be aware of that (it was in the BSD club thread). Like clockwork, I believe they all ended up in the same ziplock bag (figures). I've reached out to a few people hoping they would remember which goes where but to no avail. But if I do find out I'll measure them, take pics, and post them so others won't have to fall into the same trap I did.

That is high praise coming from you Chris, I really appreciate that!

Are those all the posts that look almost identical in length?

So I'm working on a few different things tonight (yes this is my idea of a fun Saturday night). I have some carriage bolts that are rusted after stripping the cab. The plan for these is to soak them in Evapo-Rust, sand them down, re-paint, then clear them. They should be ready for painting soon.

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Aobrien, you bring up a great point that I don't believe I've touched on; organization. Organization is obviously key for any of this work and everyone seems to have their own system. When it comes to the top of the playfield I don't draw any diagrams or anything but I do put all parts from certain sections of the playfield in one bag. I'll also label the bag and list pieces that I may have sent out for chrome (also really important to note). On the underside of the playfield, Ill do the same but Ill draw and number diagrams since its a little more complex. Of course, lots of pictures are key as well. I wish I could label pics more easily on my cell. It would be great for the picture titles to match up with the numbers on my bags (hmm I need to look into easy picture labeling).

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It never ceases to amaze me how well Evapo-Rust works. I left the carriage bolts in for a couple hours and they look ready to paint, no sanding.

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Painting these carriage bolts, much like anything else, is all about light coats. Unfortunately, tonight I guess I just got tired and made a mistake. I put the first coat on a little too thick so I'll have to wait until the morning to apply the clear.

In the mean time, I removed all the Mylar from the playfield. I'm pretty impressed with the condition under the Mylar after cleaning the glue off. The only Mylar I may reapply to the playfield are where the ball enters the playfield off the plunge and small rings around the pop bumpers. But I'm still torn on it. After all, I may end up doing a swap or having this one cleared. Some decisions are still up in the air.

All in all, a lot got done today. More tomorrow!

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Thanks Shoot! I'm excited to get my chrome parts back. I'm not sure how long it will take but in the mean time it looks like the only shiny parts you'll be seeing is out of either the tumbler, off the new bench buffer, or just a good cleaning by hand and some mothers mag polish. (More on that later)

Thanks MN, I appreciate the kind words!

You know AO, every day I work on this thing brings me closer to wanting to clear this playfield. It's still up in the air but that's the way I'm leaning now.

The clear has been applied and dried.

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As I'm working through this project I'll attempt to keep people apprised of the parts I have coming and going. I had mentioned earlier how we have some very resourceful and talented people. Mcclad is certainly one of those people. He hand painted these for me which look stunning. My camera phone certainly does not do it justice. So a big thank you to Mcclad for these!

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I received a part order today from http://www.pinballlife.com/ today.

Backbox Latch
Side Rail Tape
Flipper Rebuild Kit
A handful of Red Cliffy Posts (Not all in picture)
A handful of Red Star Post (Not all in picture)
Pop Bumper Mylar Rings (Not sure if I will use these or not yet)
Blue Pop Bumper Caps (For the blue moon conversion)
Ground Braid
Pop Bumper Lamp Sockets (Wire non-traditional. I'm not sure if I'll use these or the traditional ones yet. I've never used them)
Lockdown Bar Adjustment Screws
Black Lightening Flippers

It will be nice to be at a point where I can use this stuff!
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I decided that this play field is getting clear coated. While the top parts are being tumbled or chromed its time to start stripping the bottom!
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Thanks for the appreciation! I have a passion for saving these machines. Posting the progress keeps me motivated and organized as well.

I hope so Chris, we shall see!

The light boards come off first. They are pretty easy to keep straight since they are all different shapes and or screw patterns.
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Next comes the light harness. To keep things as organized as possible I'll split the playfield up into 3 sections marked by painters tape; top, middle, and bottom. I then work left to right in each section taking pictures of the pieces I'll be taking off, in this case light sockets. Then I draw a diagram of that section on paper and number the sockets by picture. I also make notes if something appears broken or out of place. It sounds far more complicated than it really is. Hopefully the pictures make it easier to understand.

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In case anyone is curious, I use the Hakko 808 desoldering gun for easy removal of the pop bumper lights. Also good to note, when removing the harnesses, I desolder only as much as I have to.

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And that is that, the light harness is out. A few more to go and this sucker will be getting shipped out for a nice clear coat. While the playfield is out I'll also be sending out the parts to be chromed. While all that is gone I will be doing the following:

Looking for missing or broken parts I've come across (I keep a list)
Cleaning light boards
Cleaning all the harnesses
All the underside parts will go into Ultrasonic cleaner and then in the tumbler for all metal pieces.
The cabinet will get redone as well.

If I finish these tasks prior to getting my playfield or chrome pieces back in time, I'll certainly find something else to work on and update the forum with. There is always work to be done. When we get to that point maybe I should start taking requests from you guys.
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Switch harness now off. One more to go plus assemblies.

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Not only is the coil sleeve fused to the coil but the coil stop as well. Needless to say, the flipper rebuild kit will be put to good use on this one.

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Finally, the playfield is stripped. Well, except the T-nuts but stripped none the less! Sending this out for clear coat this week and all parts that need chromed as well. While waiting, lots of cleaning coming up next!

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I hope your right! Thanks!

Thank you for the kind words, they are certainly appreciated! It will be a long process, especially since I have decided to send the playfield out to be clear coated. But I intend to document everything through-out. If anything in this thread helps one person out there restore their machine all the time is totally worth it to me. Thanks again!

That is exactly what I figured after I tore everything down. The only thing missing was the clear coat, why not just wait the extra couple months and have it done proper.

Coming from you Bryan, I consider to be extremely high praise. That means a lot, thank you. What can I say I learn from the best;

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ij-restoration-started

^Best thread on pinside (IMO). For anyone reading my thread trying to learn, what the hell are you doing? Quit reading this crap and go read that one start to finish!

I've seen this done just about every way possible. Each way seems to work best for the individual doing it. My way to sort parts out of tumbler media is to take an inventory of what I'm putting into the tumbler (just to make sure I don't miss something). Then I just use my telescoping magnetic tool to grab everything out of tumbler. I never liked straining the media, it always seemed to get dust and walnut shell everywhere no matter how how careful I was.

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Every time I think I have all the parts I need, without fail I'll put in another order the following week (or day sometimes). This order was from http://www.pinrestore.com/. A lot of great pinball specific tools as well parts on this site. I decided to get their air powered stapler for the ground braid. The manual staplers seemed to give me inconsistent at best in the past. I also needed more rivets. Again, I ordered their rivet press (not shipped with this order more on that later) because I found the squeeze rivets to give me inconsistent results. In summary, this order included;

Stapler
Silver Color Staples
Copper Colored Staples
3M Tape for Rails
Rivet Kit
Extra Long Rivet Dies
Power Cord
Plastic Tac Glides
Lots of Beer Seals and Spot Target Foam (Can never have enough of this on hand)

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Sorry for the lack of updates guys, between the York show and Expo going on things in the pinball world have been distracting to say the least! I still have the playfield and pieces for chroming all packed up and ready to ship, I just need to physically take them to Fedex/UPS. Mostly all I've been doing aside from packing that stuff is tumbling. I may be purchasing a second tumbler to make that process go faster. I've also considered documenting some type of smaller project if I am still waiting on the playfield or chrome at that point.

Here is a quick tumbling tip. After a few batches, a lot of dust builds up on the center of the tub. Clean that off with a papertowl between batches and your tumbler media will last longer and you won't have to clean as much fine dust or clumps off your parts.

(Ignore the quality of my tumbler media in the pic, it was just about to get changed)

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So these are the original flipper assemblies. As you can see, one of them has a broken link and a very badly worn plunger. Unfortunately, as many old parts that get cleaned up and reused, just as many new parts need purchased to replace stuff like this. If you enjoy these 90s Bally/Williams machines, you may as well just keep these in stock - http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/WFLTRON

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Sorry for the lack of updates guys, real life gets in the way of the pinball life sometimes. I've been really busy with work, training, certifications, etc. Not to mention I recently co-founded a non-profit which has taken up the rest of my life outside of work. But, I am still fully devoted to projects like this, they just may get pushed to the back burner for other things from time to time.

Now onto a few minor updates. All the parts to be chromed were sent out to Mike Chestnut. Shipping cost around $40 for everything. I need to check and make sure he received them. I'm about to ship my playfield out for clear coating. For anyone that needs information on packaging a playfield, I highly recommend Vids guide:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-proper-shipping-playfields

As for as actual pinball work, I'm still tumbling batches of parts. I'm also trying to clean the harnesses in a smaller ultasonic cleaner. I'm cleaning them in sections since the entire harness does not fit. It's not the best solution so I'm seriously considering buying a new ultrasonic cleaner.

ebay.com link: INDUSTRIAL 900 W 27 Liter HEATED ULTRASONIC CLEANER

Okay, back to it. Just got the playfield back. Pics don't do it justice but I'll try.

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Thanks! Brian at HSA Pinball (http://www.hsapinball.com) did it and I'm very happy with the result. There were some wear spots he took care of, sanded the back, clear coated, etc. Also, his customer service and communication was great throughout the process. I wish there were more guys like Brian of HSA and Clive of Coin-op Warehouse in the pinball service field, great customer experience with those guys!

If you love pinball, I highly recommend doing at least one full tear down/restore. It really gives you a better appreciation for the amount of effort that goes into the design and creation of these things. Not to mention you are taking something that is nearing the end of its functional life and making it new again, very rewarding!

The underside of the playfield is now back together. It's not picture worthy yet, it needs wire tied and straightened up. The top side is coming together slowly but surely. To summarize the past three months:

-Rebuild and tumbled all assemblies
-Ultra-sonic cleaned all harnesses
-Tumbled or replaced every single fastener
-Ordered new cabinet (Thanks to Paul at VirtuaPin)
-Ordered alternate artwork decals
-Custom powder coated playfield metal side-rails (Not the cabinet side-rails, those are chrome)(Thanks to Matt at Back Alley Creations)
-Pre-drilled the freshly clear coated playfield to lessen the likelihood of cracking the clear
-Re-installed all assemblies onto the playfield
-Re-installed all three harnesses onto the playfield
-Purchased full set of translucent rubbers (Thanks to Titan Pinball)
-Purchased translucent plastic posts (Thanks to Marcos)
-Purchased full set of new plastics (Thanks to Bryan Kelly)
-Began reassembling the top of the playfield

(Pictures Incoming)

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