Quoted from arcadenerd925:Well, here i am.. 25 days after my "I'm going to get it done by the end of the weekend" proclamation.
I thought the easy part was done... The holes in the new PF are drilled, dimpled... screw some shit in, hook some stuff up.. BAM. done.
one word.
nope
by the end of the weekend I was frustrated and defeated. Nothing went wrong, I didn't crack the clear, skid the drill across the PF or anything like that. It's just that... every part of re-populating the PF took 20 times longer than I thought it would.
I decided to disappear for a bit and just try to sort this out over the next 3 weeks.
I had to:
- Widen holes that were the wrong size
- Drill through the holes that were the wrong size and did not go all the way through the PF
- Route down the recessed area underneath the steps ramp so it would sit flush (not sure whose fault that was, probably the repro ramp)
- Tweak several of the repro plastics so they would fit (the one behind the trap door is missing the flange that fits under the trap door hinge... WTF)
Next up, game time. time to get that bad boy off the rotisserie and back in to the game, that actually went fairly smooth. but of course more fun was to follow.
When doing the cab, I had routed out a bit more to the left of the steps ramp shooter as I had heard it doesn't line up to the new PF. Once I put the housing on I could see I still wasnt dead on and steps ramps shots where just bouncing around the posts instead of going up the ram. UGH. so i busted out the dremel and took a bit more off... THEN, the housing over that shooter lane kept holding the ball in a funky spot, so i had to bend that too. (similar follies on the right side housing as well)
The icing on the cake.... re-attaching one plastic I forgot about while the PF was up in the service position.. I dropped the nut and it fell down the back (oribt shot against the ball guide). There was no way to get to it without taking the ramps off (or the PF back out). fuck that, heh, At 11pm and with no patience, I used a magnet rod that i bended and tweaked so that it could go around Rudy's head and get to the nut. Of course, I couldnt get the nut to stick, but i moved it enough to where I shot a ball back there and it hit the nut off to the side.. when I brought the PF back up, it fell out the back and into the bottom of the cab. lol. that whole process took 1 hour of my evening (and the success of it was pure luck).
At that point, I was ready to turn this beast back on and see if it explodes..
Nope. it just turned on, lit up and I swear I heard angels sing.
Suddenly all the trials, tribulations, shit, crap and stuff that was way harder than I thought it would be suddenly faded into the back ground.
it worked
i did it
it didn't explode
the usual tweaks needed were minimal; 3 lights had to be reseated, one pop bumper switch adjusted, left flipper gap was too close and that was about it.
(there were a few plastics i did not replace since they had riveted pieces on them, will save that for another day when I get a rivet press in)
Last night I just stood there and played game after game for roughly an hour and just enjoyed what I thought would take 2 weeks (but ended up taking 8 months)
Much props to those that helped me get this done (too many to list), specially Bryan Kelly (whom I owe a 6 pack of livermore's finest, which is next on my todo list) as well as mschonbrun for meeting me at starbucks to rivet the ramp flaps in.
After I enjoy this thing a bit more I will take some time to think about the process in general and things I learned that I feel others would benefit from if they happen to be doing this for the first time as well.
These are crap pics (before i fixed a few of the pastics) but it's a start:
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