F-14 Tomcat
Williams, 1987All the walnut picked out of the screw heads and organized. I guess I'm on to the mechs next. I was hoping to get this running by NYE. If I need parts I should place an order soon if it has any hope of getting here in time. Whenever I make the parts order this early in the shop job I always end up making 2. I'm hoping I can get away with nothing more than new sleeves, flipper rebuilds and new flipper bats.
2020-12-22 12.42.49 (resized).jpg2020-12-22 13.07.30 (resized).jpgThat hardware looks great.. If someone wanted a tumbler for this kind of stuff what's an entry level look like and what media. Did I see the word walnut?
r/
Mike
Quoted from mikepmcs:That hardware looks great.. If someone wanted a tumbler for this kind of stuff what's an entry level look like and what media. Did I see the word walnut?
r/
Mike
I have a small Cabella's tumbler that was probably intended for brass casings. I also have a larger Harbor Freight model. I would say either is fine. They are also the only 2 I have any experience with, I'm no expert. I'm using walnut shell pet bedding from the pet store. It was recommended here and it works well so I never bothered trying anything else. It's much cheaper than specific tumbling media. A couple squirts of Flitz metal polish and you are good to go!
Quoted from Shredso:I have a small Cabella's tumbler that was probably intended for brass casings. I also have a larger Harbor Freight model. I would say either is fine. They are also the only 2 I have any experience with, I'm no expert. I'm using walnut shell pet bedding from the pet store. It was recommended here and it works well so I never bothered trying anything else. It's much cheaper than specific tumbling media. A couple squirts of Flitz metal polish and you are good to go!
Thank you.
Rebuilt some coil mechs today. The tumbler is a slippery slope. I'm finding a handful of hardware that was missed, and I could do the coil brackets but I need to keep telling myself this is a shop job, not a restore. I still ran everything through the ultrasonic and added new sleeves along with missing or incorrect hardware. Popped into Harbor Freight to grab the smaller 8" clamp while I'm waiting for the 12" to ship. This way I can get the technique down with a more manageable smaller clamp for the inserts closer to the edge. I also grabbed another container with larger and deeper bins. One of the drawbacks of having a gameroom/office/home theater/workshop is I sometimes need to pack up the work and make it look presentable. These are a big help.
2020-12-23 21.59.56 (resized).jpgI've decided not to bother trying to hit my deadline for NYE. I had a water issue at my house today which took up the majority of the day. Also, I decided not to order any new parts because of the disaster the delivery services are dealing with. There is no salvaging most of these flipper parts, and there is basically zero chance anything would be shipped in time, so why bother? Anyway, flippers! This is the 2nd game in a row that goes against my typical flipper rebuild practice. Usually a new sleeve and a new link and we are good to go. Not the case here. One of the pictures shows a washer under one of the brackets. I have no idea what this accomplished other than completely mangling the pawl. There is another with what looks like a brass link. This is a new one for me. 3 out of the 4 coil sleeves were stuck pretty good, but also looked like they have been treated with some WD-40 or oil. I'm really hoping after a bath in the ultrasonic they will be useable. 3 new coils on top of the rebuild kits is a good chunk of change. I'm really tempted to take advantage of the CPR sale on plastics. Will a new plastic set elevate this players F-14 into a higher dollar game? I'm leaning toward no, but I have a couple days to decide. There are a couple damaged plastics.
2020-12-28 00.03.08 (resized).jpg2020-12-28 00.03.18 (resized).jpg2020-12-28 00.03.22 (resized).jpg2020-12-28 00.09.33 (resized).jpg2020-12-28 00.23.29 (resized).jpgThe mechs are done! This is far as I can get without the flipper rebuild kits. After a bath in the ultrasonic, some scrubbing, a good rinsing and a lot of compressed air I got the coils mostly clean and free of whatever oil was on them. A couple of the coil sleeves needed a little persuasion, but I think they will be ok. Resistance measurements were good. Slapped on some homemade coil wrappers, on to the next mission!
2020-12-28 01.05.08 (resized).jpg2020-12-28 13.25.20 (resized).jpgQuoted from Shredso:I'm really tempted to take advantage of the CPR sale on plastics. Will a new plastic set elevate this players F-14 into a higher dollar game? I'm leaning toward no, but I have a couple days to decide. There are a couple damaged plastics.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Which plastics do you need? Show me a picture. I got some extras with my F-14. Mine look to all be in good shape on my game. I saw 2 for sure in your pics that i have. My extra right sling plastic is broke in the same place so no help on that one but maybe someone else close by can help.
There are individual plastics on ebay as well.
If you want them you can have them but it'll cost you about a half hour drive time. I might head to the Encore tomorrow around noon to waste my spouse's free play. I could bring them.
r/
Mike
20201229_135638 (Medium) (resized).jpgQuoted from mikepmcs:Which plastics do you need? Show me a picture. I got some extras with my F-14. Mine look to all be in good shape on my game. I saw 2 for sure in your pics that i have. My extra right sling plastic is broke in the same place so no help on that one but maybe someone else close by can help.
There are individual plastics on ebay as well.
If you want them you can have them but it'll cost you about a half hour drive time. I might head to the Encore tomorrow around noon to waste my spouse's free play. I could bring them.
r/
Mike[quoted image]
I cleaned them all up last night. They weren't in as bad of shape as I thought. I was able to repair a couple of them. These are probably the worst.
2020-12-29 15.51.50 (resized).jpg2020-12-29 15.52.05 (resized).jpg2020-12-29 15.52.10 (resized).jpg2020-12-29 15.52.13 (resized).jpgThis is what I got. 2 solid replacements for sure. Most of the big one. Looks like you can scab the end in to at least complete the 3 lens side and the outer rounded rim is intact on the upper side if you want to build it in to your repair.
I bet you could use the broken right sling upper half to repair the lower half of yours or better yet use your upper to repair the lower of the sling plastic in my group because there is more skin there?
...and a random piece of square-ish plastic that at least has edges and color to fabricate whatever is left.
They are yours if you want them.
r/
Mike
Quoted from mikepmcs:This is what I got. 2 solid replacements for sure. Most of the big one. Looks like you can scab the end in to at least complete the 3 lens side and the outer rounded rim is intact on the upper side if you want to build it in to your repair.
I bet you could use the broken right sling upper half to repair the lower half of yours or better yet use your upper to repair the lower of the sling plastic in my group because there is more skin there?
...and a random piece of square-ish plastic that at least has edges and color to fabricate whatever is left.
They are yours if you want them.
r/
Mike
[quoted image]
PM sent. Thanks!
Pictures didn't really show anything, but leveling these inserts is turning out to be a major PITA. I had to pull the playfield from the rotisserie for easier access. The rotisserie was blocking the sides. This is funny because leveling the inserts was the main reason I decided to go with the rotisserie and not just leave it in the game. I'm finding the clamps to be very awkward. This playfield is totally loaded on the bottom. I don't want the clamp landing on a thin piece of wood in-between inserts. The hammer with a block of wood is more successful. I'm about 75% done.
I bought the Treasure Cove polishing kit maybe 10 years ago. I haven't touched it in a long time. I figured I would give it a go on the cloudy mylar. Big mistake. I knew it would fling residue all over my workshop, but I did not anticipate it flinging polish under any loose mylar. Unfortunately I think the only solution here is to remove the mylar. I told myself I would not ever attempt this on anything older than WPC again after past troubles. The playfield looked decent, I really shouldn't have pushed it.
2020-12-31 00.26.13 (resized).jpg2020-12-31 00.26.17 (resized).jpgMylar is gone. I lost some insert outlines, overall it went well. I used the freeze spray method. I'm far from out of the woods, the glue residue remains.
2020-12-31 00.37.10 (resized).jpg2020-12-31 00.40.50 (resized).jpg2020-12-31 00.44.43 (resized).jpg2020-12-31 00.44.46 (resized).jpg2020-12-31 00.44.50 (resized).jpgI like reading these threads; sometimes it scratches the same itch as actually taking on a project. I had a similar goal with my whirlwind, get it shopped and playing, but not restored. Your effort here is top notch and making me wish I took my shop job a little "deeper". I definitely didn't have the guts to pull the mylar.
I took a few days off from this project. I did a good deep cleaning of the game room and made sure all my working games are clean and working for my NYE tournament which consisted of myself, my 2 boys and my brother. Stupid Covid (sometimes there are one or 2 more people. Ha!). It's a good excuse to get my basement looking more like a game room and less like a repair shop. I knocked over my toolbox in the process of cleaning, so that turned into another huge project. The upright organizer is screwdrivers, nut drivers and pliers/cutters primarily. This has stayed relatively static over the years. The pliers/cutters section rotates somewhat. Pretty much everything fell out of the bottom organizer and everything that was stored below. Absolute disaster. I should have taken a before picture. I'm already an hour in of throwing way trash and making sure I don't have doubles or triples of tools. I rarely do mobile repair anymore so I don't need every single tool in existence to be in here. I bought some organizers, not sure if they will be of any use.
2021-01-04 23.34.50 (resized).jpg2021-01-04 23.34.56 (resized).jpg2021-01-04 23.41.37 (resized).jpg2021-01-04 23.41.43 (resized).jpgI'm stalling because I really don't want to remove the mylar adhesive. The go to used to be the orange 909, but I've lost paint on System 11 previously. I wouldn't try that again on anything older than WPC. I tried the flour trick once. It was really messy and didn't work all that well. I did some more research and everyone says Goo Gone gel is the way to go. I was using regular Goo Gone. I found some Goo Gone gel and some things to help organize the tool box a little better. Putting that aside for now and I wanted to look at this ramp. Small project to end the night. Ha!
2021-01-06 22.28.29 (resized).jpgAs expected this did not go well. the "Lock On" decal left a ton of residue. I tried my new Goo Gone Gel and it didn't do anything. I tried the 909 because the ramp is relatively inexpensive and available. If I kill it it's not the end of the world. It wasn't much better. After tediously removing the glue residue and trying to polish the ramp I realized there was another decal. After a ton of hand of polishing by hand with Novus 1 and 2 the ramp is still very dull. I'll give either the dishwasher or the ultrasonic half at a time a try tomorrow. I was thinking maybe an automotive plastic polish or flame polishing might bring it back? Suggestions welcomed. Done for today.
I tried some automotive plastic restorer today, 2 different varieties. Boy, did it look great going on, but quickly dulled back down to the old finish. The weird thing is about half the ramp is shiny, and half is dull. No telling what the last person tried, maybe it was near a window, who knows. As a last resort after a couple shots of JD I figured I'd try some firepower. It's what Steve Ritchie would want. Flame polishing did bring some sheen back, but not like clear ramps. I burned through a small spot on the ball trails. I was nervous to sand them down thinking I'd never get the shine back. I have no experience with black plastic ramps. I think the pictures look a little better than the actual result, maybe I'm too critical. The new decals make it pop. It's certainly on par with the rest of the game, no need to replace. On to the next task....
2021-01-06 22.28.29 (resized).jpg2021-01-07 23.32.51 (resized).jpg2021-01-07 23.29.04 (resized).jpgI think this is my third time trying this method of flour and Goo Gone. I was hoping the missing link was the Goo Gone Gel but I realized I had some and was likely what I used the last time. It's very messy. Some people post like it's magic and after a few minutes the adhesive is gone and you are good to go. Maybe that is the case for some, but it's not my experience. I'm a couple hours in on my 3rd application. I found some black specs in the goo mess. Some is probably dirt, some keylines from the inserts. I don't see any major insert text coming up and no paint. I think it's a great method, it's just not as easy as some make it out to be.
2021-01-08 23.56.28 (resized).jpgIt's far from prefect, but I'm very happy with the result. I'll give it a couple coats of wax before I populate it. there are a couple spots I may try to magic eraser again. If i knew I was going to remove the mylar I would have done it before leveling the inserts. The inserts are acceptable, but they would have been better if it wasn't for the mylar.
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Reykjavik
West Point, IN