Picked up a Dungeons and Dragons machine this weekend and after some consideration I decided to try my first restore project (inspired by all of you). The machine is in dire need of a complete tear down and I don't think it was ever shopped. Someone tried to be unique and only worsened the clean up process. The good news....the PF is in REALLY good shape with only a hint of burn thru at the ramp. All the inserts are pretty much level and hopefully are only going to need a steady hand to touch up the lettering. All of the plastics are there with the exception of one tiny corner and look almost new (minus the dirt). The electronics are all working as far as I can tell and the game actually fired up and played. Short of a topper (hint, hint) this is a complete machine. Now the bad........the outside looks like it was well, outside. A lot of pealing on the vinyl and a little chipping at the back of the cabinet. The inside as completely covered in the infamous black dust and apparently when they painted the side rails they did it with the glass off and poor masking (will be cleaning overspray for the next 2 weeks). All in all a good pickup for me as its on "The List". This one will be staying with me. Here is what I'm starting with:
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Thanks, Started stripping the field and I'm having a minor anxiety attack thinking about how the hell I'm gonna get this all back together. Should be finished stripping by tonight and ready to start clearing the back side (gulp)

Yeah, I have not decided what to do with that yet. Definitely not going to stay purple. Looking to see if I can find new vinyl for the whole cabinet and will just strip it down and cover it then. Does anyone know if the brick front is the original or the black?

Cool, Shoot me a PM with the list of extras if you find them. I'm still tearing down and may find some problems yet (god I hope not). Thanks for the info on the front. Got a lead on a decal guy here locally and hopefully I can talk him into a side project to get me a brick front. I think the black looks a bit off myself so if I can I'll vinyl it.

Its been a couple days (I took Sunday off) but the top of the table is almost stripped. Any advice on getting the knockdowns on the right and the ramp on the left out would be appreciated.

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LOL, does that mean your "some people" Archaik? I was already leaning that way. I have not heard from the guy yet but figured if I could get something done I would get a few extra just in case I screwed something up or someone else might want some.

no, I wish it was that one, I heard the one in MN has the topper. Mine was from a guy here in WI. I was a CL listing but the guy was looking for help fixing it and I went up to do that. When I started going over telling him what he should do just to not damage it any more, he asked if I wanted to buy it. Hell, he didn't even know the top glass came off. I probably over paid but he bought it from "a guy at work" and I gave him $500 for the machine to get him his money back. This is one of the machines on "The List" for me so I'm fine with the price.

Yeah I'm totally freaking out today. Got the wiring harness pulled and flipped the table over to try and figure out how to remove the back piece of plywood and free the PF finally and it slipped and almost fell onto the floor. If I wasn't freaking out worrying about not being able to get everything back together, I would definitely be loosing it if I dropped the table and broke something. Its not the money, its the fact that I have not seen a whole lot of replacement parts. Thank got the plastics are available. I am taking a break now and decided pulling the mylar off the play field would be less stressful. Did the inverted air can trick and everything came off without a hitch. Now I know what the PF is suppose to look like. Holy Crap is it dirty.

Slow progress today. I'm having trouble getting the back plate loose from the playfield and I can't find my saw horses to just pull the whole thing out (no rotisserie yet). I did manage to get the last of the plastics off and they got a bath today. Still debating on new plastics. They have a little yellowing but all in all look pretty good. All the mylar is off now and the goo is all cleaned up

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Got it. I'll take a look today and see if I can get it off. On a side note, when I flipped the PF it was really clean. Like I can easily see the wiring notes printed from the factory for assembly. If its this good do I really need to pull the wiring harness or can I get away with a good vacuum and wipe down? Gonna clean and redo all the coil assembly.
Opinions?

LOL your killing me Stu Thinking I'm gonna use the old ones and get a nice minty fresh set just in case. your right, there is nothing like a brand new fresh set of plactics. Now what about the cabinet decals (my guy fell thru)?

ok, what happened during clear coat. Got a buddy who use to work autobody that's doing mine but I gotta do all the prep. Any advise or even horror stories so I know what to look out for would be appreciated

Right where you said. Just had to get the thing on some saw horse so I could access the back and underside. Thanks a million on the assist.

That's too bad. All in all my PF looks pretty damn good. Now if Stu would get some topper kits reproduced or PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE some vinyls for the cabinet I would have a brand new machine.

I know there is a long list of other machines that are more popular and quite honestly just plain more of them. I am good if someone just says "its on the back burner" I'll just wait impatiently

Stu is the man! I was more wishing then asking Stu. You guys are doing GREAT work and I'm keeping tabs on the few more machines I want to get so I can get the reproduction parts when they come out. The vinyls appear to be the hang up on this project as I can't seem to get any traction on finding a source. Everyone says they can do it but no one will (copyrights) or the setup and layout are cost prohibitive.

Short note for those keeping track. Nothing really to post for the last couple days. Waiting on parts and arranging a shop to shoot the PF.

Sorry for the long wait on an update. Parts finally came in last week and like everyone else I forgot a couple things. Pinball 6 080.JPG
On the road for a bit and didn't really get a chance to work on the machine. I finally got everything off the front of the playfield and started cleaning and assessing. I have ALOT of inserts that are high of all things. I was toying with leaving the back side of the PF populated but with all the lights that have to come off now that's not going to happen. In the mean time, KEEP CLEANING!Pinball 6 117.JPGPinball 6 118.JPG

There will be a slight delay in the D&D rebuild, Working on the road for a few days and some "interesting" events are putting the PF on hold for a week or 2. Updates to follow.

Appreciate the support. Unfortunately, the PF is going to be COMPLETELY de-populated before spraying. After destroying a couple Magic Eraser, I found the inserts I was hoping were going to be able to be clear coated over to lever are going to need some attention. The PF will now be fully stripped, inserts leveled, paint touched up and then clear coated. My little rebuild has turned into a full blown restoration.

lol, that's an option in game setup. there is also an option to auto close when the roll overs are charged I think. And its "Warlock Purple" thank you very much!

Oh I'm pretty sure there are a lot of "All Time Low Scores" on this particular game. the out lanes are a nightmare from what I understand. Since I only played 3 games back in 1989 and 1 game when I got it (way screwed PF electronics) I will be looking forward to seeing what the game really plays like. Since I bought it instead of just feeling like I was, it should be fun.

And we are back. Just getting back to the machine and finally got the wiring harness off tonight. If I had come crazy glue (always something) I could start setting inserts. Oh well, guess that's tomorrows project. Pinball 8 001.JPGPinball 8 007.JPG

All the inserts are still in, They need to be re-seated and glued back in place. then a little touch up and CC.

Little coil work today as I'm trying to stay busy on the machine. Parts for the magic save and drop targets (which were well oiled and almost completely stuck) went into the shaker today and the kickers rebuilt and coils cleaned. Starting on flippers tomorrow or Thursday. Any recommendations on flipper rebuild kits? Links and coil stops all look great so was wondering if I really needed a full rebuild kit or just new EOS switches?

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More coils today. Got the Magic Save re-assembled with new coils (dear god did you see how cooked the old ones were) and the drop target bank is ready to go sans no grease. Flippers parts are in the shaker now and are going to take a couple days. Discovered that the pressure washer is suppose to go between the coil sleeve and the coil. OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!! Don't know who did this but the should be shot. I'm having a hissy fit that the knocker and drop target bank both have the washer on the lug side but that's how its suppose to be according to the manual. Pinball 10 003.JPGPinball 10 010.JPG

Flipper are out and boy did they turn out nice. Waiting on EOS switches to come in but that's a simple solder job when they do.
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BTW, apparently the flippers call for a .01Fu capacitor to be installed on the EOS switch. Anyone know anything about this?

SO...........after a couple misfires and some delays, D&D is back on the front burner and getting ready to get some love. To bring everyone up to speed (if anyone is still keeping an eye on this thread), I'm on my 4th Dungeons and Dragons pinball machine. Over the last year while dragging my feet getting the touch-ups done on the playfield, I have bought fixed and sold 2 other D&D machines. The original purple cabinet was used to build another machine and was populated with a factory mylar playfield. The front was stripped and the damaged areas were filled. A fresh coat of semi flat black matches perfectly to the original black plastic coating used on the front. I'm hoping to get some pictures up and fill you in on the progress on this machine. stay tuned.

Here is a shot of the striped front. Again, it appears to be black plastic

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I have been lacking this week mostly since we got a cold snap and 10" of snow. I know it's Easter Sunday but I'm hoping to hit it hard this weekend and get a ton done.

And here we go. The playfield has gone out to clear coat and as of this past Tuesday was ready for wax and re-population. Since I posted a couple pics in the Vid's PF restore thread I wasn't going to go thru it here but it look too damn nice not to.
Here is what we started with.....2014-06-30_22.31.10_(resized).jpg2014-06-30_22.30.49_(resized).jpg
and here is what we have now....2016-03-08_21.14.00_(resized).jpg2016-03-09_16.50.32_(resized).jpg

and a little side by side of the ball trail repair. 2014-06-30_22.30.07_(resized).jpg2016-03-08_21.14.29_(resized).jpg

All in all I very pleased with how the touchups came out. I hand painted everything either making a template or just free handing it.

I had many conversations with person clear coating the PF and followed his instruction to the letter. From what I could use on the PF for paint to what I couldn't use (pencil for layout) to the type of scuff pad he liked to use for giving the PF bit for the clear. If your thinking about doing this, I would recommend talking to the person doing the clear coat for you and get detailed instructions like I did. It truly looks like it was dipped in glass!

Lets talk about flaps for a sec. I wanted to clean up the blue spring steel instead of replacing it because the metal was 3 different thicknesses and some pretty funky shapes. I know a lot of people like to just replace it but seeing as I'm running short on time and I know I wouldn't be happy with the results of hand cutting the metal, we are going to re-blue the flaps for the side playfields and the magic saves. I decided to leave the magic saves attached to the ball guides since we are just trying to clean up a ball trail. The other flaps have a little rust on them (like all D&D machines) so we will strip them and totally redo them. After a little shopping at gander (yes I got ammo too) I came home with this. 2016-03-26_21.24.11_(resized).jpg

The Magic Saves are in good shape they just have a ball trail so they will not get stripped 2016-03-26_21.23.59_(resized).jpg

The flaps are a little rusted and have some pretty ugly ball track too.2016-03-26_21.23.53_(resized).jpg

This is a pretty nasty smelling process and since your working with cold chemical blue, I recommend gloves and some form of eye protection (you don't want this crap in your eye). Following the directions I cleaned everything with the cleaner/de-greaser and rinsed with water. Immediately dry every thing to keep the metal from re-rusting. The next step is to strip the metal. The direction say to rub on and leave sit for 2 minutes. It also suggests you use a little steel wool soaked in stripper and rub to remove stuck on bluing. I suggest you just got for it with the steel wool to start with. I find it helps to even out the metal and gets everything off in one treatment instead of having to go back over it again. Again, rinse in water and dry immediately to help prevent rusting.2016-03-26_21.30.52_(resized).jpg

Next we clean/de-grease again (use the steel wool again) and rinse.

Now we start the bluing process. I got the paste kit as I thought it would help stick better. Same instruction as before, rub on and leave sit for 30 seconds then rinse in COLD water. This is where is gets interesting. I followed the everything to the letter for the first coat. Knowing it would take at least 3 coats I could play around a bit. I noted that the first coat came out a bit blotchy and I attributed it to uneven coating. As you can see, the paste kind of clumps even when spread around. 2016-03-26_21.44.48_(resized).jpg2016-03-26_21.44.52_(resized).jpg

I decided to go back to the steel wool since the your suppose to polish in between with it in between coats. I helps to clean up the blotches but I still didn't like it so I just used the steel wool to apply the bluing. I also used it to help polish the metal while I was rinsing. Worked like a charm and helped even the coats out. I stopped at 3 coats since it seemed to match the original color there. The last step was to polish the metal with clean steel wool and seal the metal with a finishing oil wipe. I'm very happy with the results and see no reason not to do this again. 2016-03-26_22.06.29_(resized).jpg2016-03-26_22.06.32_(resized).jpg

So it was in the 50s today and since it wasn't snowing for once, I got a lot done on the D&D. I started the day clearing another cabinet (not D&D ) and worked the star rollovers with a microfile to clean out any clear coat that was binding it up. 2016-03-28_11.31.56_(resized).jpgIn between coats of paint I also got the side rails on the playfield and started attaching the aux wiring harness to the backboard. Stopped when I figured out I needed to have some power to make sure the LED were working and got the other D&D set up so I could test it out. 2016-03-28_12.51.18_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_12.51.23_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_12.51.02_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_11.58.52_(resized).jpg

After some "testing" to make sure the second machine was working right, I got down to going over the cabinet. The neck was more then a little beat up and every screw had some rust on it. Screws in the tumbler, neck scuffed and re-painted. 2016-03-28_12.11.21_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_12.11.35_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_13.58.11_HDR_(resized).jpg

After getting the neck out and cleaned up, I took a good look at the front and back of the cabinet itself. They were ok but my OCD wouldn't let it go. Since they don't make replacement decals and these are in nice shape, I masked off the sides and shot fresh paint on the exposed areas.2016-03-28_13.58.22_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_13.58.32_(resized).jpg I let it flash and got the masking off to let it dry 2016-03-28_15.26.41_(resized).jpg

About this time I got a call from powder coat. My order was ready and I was like a kid on Christmas. 2 sets of bally legs in black chrome and the grill and side plated in flat black. I even got 3 sets of leg bolts coated to match the legs. 2016-03-28_14.39.34_(resized).jpg2016-03-28_14.40.58_(resized).jpg

Last order of business for the evening was to get the neck all put back together and get speaker and grill installed. 2016-03-28_18.02.18_(resized).jpg

All in all, she is coming along. Got most of the playfield harness laid out but having a hell of a time getting it re-run. Will be working the underside of the playfield for most of the week.

Stay Tuned.......

So I have had a couple bad days this week but today everything kind of fell into place. Ran into a couple problems with assembly order and pretty much had to take the harness back off the playfield during the week. I only had a few hours each night to really look at it and nothing was really working so I stopped until today. Here is the nightmare I started with this morning. 2016-04-03_08.09.17_(resized).jpg

After many hours and some hair pulling I'm here 2016-04-03_23.49.34_(resized).jpg2016-04-03_23.49.41_(resized).jpg LEDs are installed throughout. hopefully I have them installed the right way.

As a side note, anyone who bitched about lamp boards, this is what you have to deal with without them. 2016-04-03_16.53.14_(resized).jpg2016-04-03_16.53.18_(resized).jpg That's a good 2 hours soldering to get all the leads back where they needed to go and I didn't pull the ground braids!

Harbor Freight got benchtop buffers back in FINALLY so we are going to spend most of the morning tomorrow doing this 2016-04-03_17.48.19_(resized).jpg

Last but not least I started on both side playfields and should have both of them installed tomorrow. The backboard will also be installed tomorrow.

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Progress was a bit slower today. Got all of the metal buffed out and a real nice shine on the lockdown receiver hooks and the apron brackets. Nice before and after.2016-04-04_11.27.48_(resized).jpg2016-04-04_10.07.37_(resized).jpg2016-04-04_10.07.28_(resized).jpg2016-04-04_10.07.17_(resized).jpg

After that I I was working on attaching the side playfields and noticed some black dirt on my new playfield. Turns out the foam in the stand up targets was done 2016-04-04_14.39.17_(resized).jpg. Quick trip the the hardware store and we are good. 2016-04-04_14.23.36_(resized).jpg2016-04-04_14.37.13_(resized).jpg

Last, I helped move a few pins and got the side rails and lockdown re-grained but I'm too tired to finish cleaning then tonight. I'll post pics tomorrow

Lots more assembly done today. After putting the head on I decided it looked like crap compared to the cabinet it repainted so I blew 2 hours masking and painting the head quick2016-04-06_17.50.22_(resized).jpg

I had a door powder coated but the hinge was coated shut. I was going to pull the pin out but while I was hammering it out, the hinge broke loose. We got the door installed and it looks great!2016-04-06_17.50.06_(resized).jpg

Side rails and lockdown bar were re-grainded a couple day ago so I cleaned them up with some novus 3 and then waxed them with some mothers. 2016-04-06_17.49.46_(resized).jpg they look great 2016-04-06_19.29.48_(resized).jpg

I populated more of the playfield and got the apron on 2016-04-06_19.39.08_(resized).jpg

I have my first real work stoppage of this project as I had to keep my hand elevated for 10 minutes 2016-04-06_20.26.41_(resized).jpg

When I could get back at it, I drilled out all the holes for the wires on the playfield and got all of them installed. I HIGHLY recommend doing this as even with the drilling, the clear coat pulls a little. I can only imagine it would crack like an egg if you just hammered them in 2016-04-06_21.29.06_(resized).jpg

I was actually ready to turn it on 2 hours earlier but was just a bit nervous. Finally got to the point I had to because the plastics covered a bunch of the lights. I decided to go with LEDs but kept it a little less radiant. Staying with bulbs for the flashers as I don't like the led ones. Spent another hour going thru the bulbs and sockets getting everything up and running. It looks great. 2016-04-06_21.52.22_(resized).jpg

I know I missed some stuff yesterday but I was really throwing myself into getting this done. I would like to get it on the truck for MGC.

Well, it's on the truck. Final pics tomorrow at MGC. Still kicking a couple gremlins out but she was playing FAST before we wrapped her up. Progress for today was the Punchout list. Little bit of everything. Best description would be a basic shop job clean, rubbers, adjust and clean pop bumpers and switches, clean and wax playfield, and clean and novus plastics. All the lights are now working and look really good with the LEDs. No real action shots today as I was really feeling the time crunch. One shot of the cleaned pop bumper rings was all.2016-04-07_10.39.04_(resized).jpg

See you all at MGC

Everyone is welcome to come play the beast. It is SUPER fast. Come on down do MGC and say hi. image_(resized).jpg

Little update on this one. The lighting was ok but I felt it was still a little dark and hard to play in a dark room so I fixed it

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