I'm getting a replacement, so we'll see if it measures up. I told Jimmy the measurements of the different lengths of rods. I wonder how they came up with their 7-1/2 measurement, and if they manufacture some of their own parts? Not sure where it comes from. He said they changed their website, but I couldn't find it. I'm going to need to put a new spring in it too, because the rod I have now needs a full plunge to make it all the way through and I have to make sure the playfield is pulled tight to the cabinet.

Cliffy to the rescue! Now the ball rolls smoothly to the flipper and I can (attempt to) hit shots on the fly! How much difference removing the ball hop makes! Also installed the double saucer protector. Looks and fits perfectly as usual!

I also replaced the disc capacitors and diodes on all the pop bumpers and the diodes on the left bank of drops and the inlane and outlane switches. I noticed the phantom pops stopped from the few games I played. I was getting a bonus 5K at the start of the game when the ball gets kicked into the shooter lane. I was hoping changing the diodes would help but I still get it every once in a while. Any thoughts on this?

Otherwise game is pretty darn near complete!

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I've gone through most, if not all of the switches cleaning and adjusting gaps. When I replaced the diodes on these switches, I checked the gaps again and they're all good. I'm not overly concerned with it. I'm going to check the outhole kicker to see if it has any diodes or disc caps and replace them, as it only happens when the ball gets kicked into the shooter lane. Idk, lol. Just doing what I think *might* help.

Yes. The sound effect that accompanies it, I believe, are the inlane switches. They award 5K when unlit.

Yep, I've done that also

Yep, just replaced those, but there are other switches that I haven't replaced them on either, so it could be one of those. idk. i'm sure I'll find it eventually, and it doesn't have a huge impact (negligible really) on gameplay. It's only at the same moment that ball 1 gets kicked into the plunger lane, so there's a link there somewhere.

Yeah, I know! I'll look at the schematics. I think of it as Emperor Ming giving me a 5k point handicap

Got the new shooter rod installed that is the correct length. Also replaced the spring and it launches much better now. I'm not a fan of the knob finish though and will probably order the proper pointy knob from Marco the next time I need parts, but it's functional 100%

Unless someone knows how to swap out knobs?

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I didn't see any pins in the knob. I'll try to grab a pic of it.

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed with the chrome knob...

Wow, it's been over 2 years since I got the game. I'm necro-bumping this thread back up because I was able to get a copy of a CPR digital print this week and a new set of plastics, so my first pf swap/restore will take place! It's not going to be anything crazy. A cabinet repaint, some new rails, legs, and lockdown bar. Since I already went through all of the mechs and replaceable plastic bits, I won't have to do anything above the playfield really. Just can't wait to get rolling on this game. First will be sanding, prepping and painting the cabinet. Likely in a couple weeks once I order a set of stencils and the weather starts to cool down a bit. Plus it'll give time for the pf to fully cure.

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They did a short run using their digital printing process a few months earlier. They may do another short run since there seems to still be some demand for it.

Haven't gotten around to the swap yet as I've brought in a few other games that have since gone into my lineup. But hoping to get to it this winter yet. Planning on redoing the cabinet when the spring rolls around in 2021.

The swap begins! Topside is pretty much stripped. All the posts went through several cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner and will be nice and clean when I start to repopulate the topside. Ordered a tumbler, so metal parts will be getting a polish when it (hopefully) arrives on Monday.

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So I just realized today that I don't have any staple down sockets . Pinball Life is on vacation until Jan 4, so that means my whole plan to get the playfield swap done is pretty much delayed until after the new year, and after my vacation as well

Kind of bummed, but I'm willing to wait to do it right and doing it bit by bit after work. In the mean time, I can get things labeled and the new playfield prepped as much as I can.

I think I have inserts, switches, and coils labeled. I know its probably overkill, but I'm not going to wash the harness, and I'm not going to doubt my stupidity, so I took the safest route for me

I think that's all I can do until my new sockets come. I'll start next by hammering T-nuts, nails, and guide rails on the new pf, and prepping screw holes with Kruzman's pf prep kit.

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Did some polishing...

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Bottom side removed. I left all of the mechs in place and connected since it's all been gone through already. I had the hardest time removing the flipper bats, of all things. I used a literal 5 lb hammer to get them out. I never would have gotten them out while in the game. All new parts too.

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Holy shit....I just spent the last 2+ hours cleaning out the clear from 5 of 7 star rollovers. The first one took a while, as I didnt quite know what I was doing, but then I started to get a feel for what to take off and where. It's not perfect, but hopefully once new star rollovers are in, it wont be noticeable. But damn...that is a lot of tedious work.

This kit from Ron Kruzman is a must have.

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Rails got a fresh coat of black lacquer and are back on the game. Gotta say, it's starting to look pretty darn nice.
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I suppose I could start to repopulate the topside while I wait to order the.reat of what I need from the bottom side.

More progress. Parts order placed yesterday, hoping to get it by Tuesday so I can start repopulating the bottomside

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Yay for progress! Braid has been laid....

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Need to do a little bit of rework. After I had soldered all of the wiring to the brackets and tabs of the staple-down sockets, I realized that I didn't pay attention to the orientation of the tabs on the staple-down sockets when I was stapling them in. I learned in another thread that GI is fine and that the orientation doesn't matter, but that feature lamps/controlled lamps do matter. So since some of the staple-down sockets are controlled, it looks like I'll be doing some rework to correct that. Pay attention to tabs! For next time.

I'm pretty sure I bought the braid from Pinball Resource. I had bought it a while ago, not specifically for this project, so I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure it is from there.

It seems that the tabs from the staple downs are isolated from each other. I did continuity tests on one of them. One tab is connected to the socket housing, and the other tab is connected to the spring inside...I'm pretty sure that is consistent with what I found with the screw down lamp holders you are referring to.

Looks like you were right about the sockets. The socket is isolated from the bracket, so it looks like I will have some more soldering to do.

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Finished soldering up the bottomside, but that's not really anything special to look at. Just a couple more things to solder. Plastics will go on last, then I'll set the playfield back into the cabinet to do the flippers, hangers and apron to finish it off. Hopefully I didnt fudge anything on the bottomside.

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And I can't forget the spinners! Those have to make it back on too at some point

I don't have clear rings and these were new Titans when I shopped it out from before. I tend to use clear rings on games with RGB lights and solid colors for most other games. Nothing too crazy either; black or white usually for older games. I might do colors on DMD-present . I guess I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the older games.

Had some slow down this week. We got a new TV and are rearranging the living room, so that's been taking some of my time away from the swap The flippers are presenting a bit of an alignment problem. With the wise wisdom of Vid, I will need to elongate the mounting hole on the left side lane guide to allow enough adjustment so that the guides an ride in line with the flipper. The right side seems just right.

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But after this, there isn't too much left to do. I'm nervous about plugging the playfield back into the game. The main thing is the braid for the sockets and hoping that everything was run correctly. I forget to check for continuity from end of run to end of run...so I might do that before I get everything reinstalled.

Plugged in the playfield for the first time this morning. I was halfway expecting some things not to work. So...no upper left GI, no mini bonus or bonus insert lights, both lower pops are tied together, no left flipper.

I haven't done any more troubleshooting besides that. The game was working 100% prior to the swap...so I've got some info to collect in the next few days.

Not sure why the pops or flipper are funky, since the flipper was never disconnected and the pops were wired the same way they were removed (or so I thought).

A few switch adjustments resolved the flipper and pops so that's good news, and I totally missed soldering a set of a couple wires, so I've got my inserts working. There are a few inserts that are out, so I'll need to investigate that further and the upper left GI is still out. I'm sure I didnt connect something correctly there, as it was kind of messy before I took it apart.

The playfield swap is all wrapped up, I think. I missed soldering on another set of wires which got all of my lights working, then fine tuned some switches, got the plastics on and played a few balls and tweaked some more. I think I can put the glass back on until it warms up and I can do my first cabinet restencil. All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I definitely made some mistakes, but I definitely learned a lot and will do better on my next game.

Next updates will probably in the spring when I repaint.

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