A few months ago a friend of mine was over at my house playing pinball and he confessed a dark secret: he'd always wanted to own a pinball table but it had seemed like an unachievable dream. He asked if I could help him purchase his own table and do any repairs etc. Sure I said. So we figured out a budget and I started hunting for a machine.

I stumbled across this Sky Jump table and couldn't see a great deal in the photos, but a score reel was missing and the playfield looked pretty dirty:
16508221_10209977167363064_3663851305301737538_n (resized).jpg16711995_10209977167283062_8276270500588757481_n (resized).jpg16730657_10209977167403065_4670898626097200424_n (resized).jpg16730306_10209977167483067_5706319687314320669_n (resized).jpg16712045_10209977167443066_9023290996352871348_n (resized).jpg
Contacted the seller and found it was located in Teesdale. A bit out of the way, but I had a work trip coming up so I could make a stop on my way back home.

In the back of a shed, I found this poor machine languishing in the dark. While the owner talked about someone coming to repair it at some stage and stealing the score reel, I dug through the machine trying to figure out how bad things were. Apologies that some of these are blurry, it was hard to get good shots.

The playfield was filthy (the owner mentioned they didn't know the glass could be removed) and covered with a bubbling, peeling layer of plastic:20170428_154538 (resized).jpg20170428_154535 (resized).jpg20170428_154533 (resized).jpg20170428_154529 (resized).jpg20170428_154525 (resized).jpg
The backglass looked pretty decent, though with some flaking around the lower left:20170428_154828 (resized).jpg20170428_154833 (resized).jpg20170428_151243 (resized).jpg
The missing score reel was potentially a show stopper for me, but they removed the switches rather than cutting the wires:20170428_154934 (resized).jpg
The cabinet itself looked fairly ok, though the legs were missing levellers are quite rusty:20170428_155804 (resized).jpg20170428_155816 (resized).jpg
There was a few modifications, I assume for freeplay, like the credit reel step down coil being disconnected and some odd wiring changes on the coin door jones plug: 20170428_154944 (resized).jpg20170428_153025 (resized).jpg
The flippers were a bit of a mess, the masking tape sleeve is crispy, only about 2 strands connect the EOS switch and they still have brass sleeves: 20170428_155151 (resized).jpg
The outer pop bumpers have broken limit switches (and the score reels have broken EOS switches too actually): 20170428_155221 (resized).jpg
Everything was seized. The score reels didn't advance. The bonus multiplier didn't step. Neither did the credit or ball count units. The hundred score relay locked on. With a little bit of fiddling, I managed to get the game to set up and kick out the ball. I didn't play though because I didn't want to grind any more of that dirt into the playfield.

In the end, I though overall it wasn't the best, but not too bad. Haggled a bit and picked it up a week later.IMG_20170507_165217 (resized).jpg

Except when things go wrong, I find it quite relaxing to spend time fixing an old machine up.

Is that $1500 in USD? That'd be $2000 in AUD + shipping. Way over what we can afford on this one unfortunately.

First things first after getting the machine home, have a look down the back of the cabinet and find a bounty of hidden treasures. Screws, cards, labels off score reels and relays, shipping block, the strip of wood someone broke of off the bottom of the cabinet, etc and a 10c coin: 20170507_194335 (resized).jpg
Then check the plug. Black to active, red to neutral - also interesting that enough light has got into the plug to fade the insulation:20170507_205628 (resized).jpgCheck the board, red to the fuse, black to the transformer:20170507_210448 (resized).jpgSo that'll need to be fixed...
With better light a few things surface. The tilt mechanism and knocker are complete, but the chime box is a little beat:20170507_210517 (resized).jpg20170507_210533 (resized).jpg
Play meter:20170507_210928 (resized).jpg
There's a patina of oily gunge over things. I guess from its life in the fish and chips shop:20170507_211018 (resized).jpg
An overview of the playfield:20170509_163324 (resized).jpg20170509_163330 (resized).jpg20170509_163343 (resized).jpg20170509_163356 (resized).jpg
The skirts are upside down on 2 of the 3 pop bumpers and the underside of the mylar is filthy:20170509_163553 (resized).jpg
Looking at the playfield, the plastic will have to be removed. I'm not sure it's mylar as it's very different to the stuff on the pop bumpers. It's peeling, cracking and bubbling more like the vinyl contact I used to cover my school books with:20170509_163620 (resized).jpg
And sadly in a few places the edges had been trimmed back quite harshly, leaving scratches in the playfield:20170509_163222 (resized).jpg
I spend the last bit of the evening working on the mechanical side of things. Cleaning the and lubing in the metal on metal bits of the score reels, multiplier unit, credit unit, ball in play unit and freeing up the seized pivot points in each. After an hour or so I get the machine to the point where it sets up and plays, though the score reels are still a little sticky:20170509_185810 (resized).jpg

I start stripping the playfield down. Removing the plastics and finding a few decades of gunk underneath and that vinyl just keeps looking worse:20170512_183741 (resized).jpg20170512_223809 (resized).jpgI don't think those posts in the outlane are supposed to be there:20170512_223823 (resized).jpg20170512_223841 (resized).jpg20170512_223854 (resized).jpg20170512_223940 (resized).jpg
The careful observer would notice a couple of pictures back that at least one of the screws used to mount the drop targets was a bit longer:20170512_225132 (resized).jpg

I didn't realise quite how beat the chime box was till I pulled it apart. The long bar looks ok, but the other two have been chewed out on the nut:20170515_204210 (resized).jpg20170515_204238 (resized).jpg20170515_204254 (resized).jpg
Looking at the drop targets, I assume these coil stops are non-standard:20170518_183708 (resized).jpg20170518_183747 (resized).jpg
There's a few screws missing:20170518_193120 (resized).jpg
But I'm glad they didn't replace them all like they did with the mounting screws. Are any of these standard?20170518_193859 (resized).jpg
I'll need to replace the targets, and the reset bar has a funny sticking point in the action that I need to investigate:20170518_194140 (resized).jpg
People should not lubricate things. I imagine all this oily stuff on the surface the set screws tighten onto made life difficult:IMG_20170517_171659 (resized).jpg
Started stripping the playfield in earnest. Looking under the apron:20170517_221517 (resized).jpg20170517_223057 (resized).jpg
Progress:20170517_224826 (resized).jpg
With the pop bumpers off, it's time to start peeling off the vinyl. Freezing was a non-starter - the stuff just shattered - so I ended up using a citrus adhesive remover:20170519_180825 (resized).jpg
With the plastic gone it was time to start the tedious process of cleaning:20170519_183544 (resized).jpg

Well, actually, I stopped working on it for a bit while I waited for some schematics and a score reel to arrive:20170525_194842 (resized).jpg
Then I started cleaning...
Well, actually, first I joined the rest of the civilised world and built a rotisserie:20170527_204748 (resized).jpg20170527_204930 (resized).jpg
Then I started cleaning...
Well, actually, first I desoldered and removed all the targets and switches that protruded through the playfield, and unscrewed and removed the wireforms on the 1-7 switches etc. Removed the rails. Also pondered this block but found it mentioned on a thread on here as securing stuff in the lightbox during shipping:20170528_143830 (resized).jpg
With everything off the playfield, I gave it a quick once over with the vacuum and then Novus #2 to get rid of all the easy to remove stuff:20170528_155843 (resized).jpg
A few before/during and after details. The scratching here is disappointing. I assume a previous cleanup of the peeling vinyl:20170528_170628 (resized).jpg20170528_174941 (resized).jpg
More muck:20170528_174549 (resized).jpg20170528_183121 (resized).jpg
Still more muck:20170528_183253 (resized).jpg20170528_184039 (resized).jpg
The playfield came up better than I was hoping:20170528_200037.jpg

They say you should never skip leg day, right? Started thinking about legs... They were rougher than I would've liked:
20170522_181747 (resized).jpg
Especially up close:
20170522_181841 (resized).jpg20170522_181802 (resized).jpg
I started around here somewhere:20170531_114405 (1) (resized).jpg
Foil and water:20170531_115957 (1) (resized).jpg
Steel wool:20170531_121045 (1) (resized).jpg
Brushing:20170531_140405 (1) (resized).jpg20170531_140503 (1) (resized).jpg
Then I relented and bought some evaporust, which I should've done in the first place:20170603_180209 (resized).jpg
They won't look perfect, but then I don't think anything on this machine will. They look way better than they were, but if I end up a couple of hundred bucks left in the budget I'll think about getting them re-chromed or locating replacements.

I've been a little quiet on this one, but things have been happening slowly. I had some success with evaporust on the coin door and some other bits:
20170907_100052 (resized).jpg20170907_100117 (resized).jpg
Cleaned up well: IMG_20170907_215829 (resized).jpgIMG_20170907_215846 (resized).jpg

I also finished stripping the playfield a while back and dropped it off for clear coating. When it left it looked like this: 20170528_200037.jpg
Finally got down to pick it up yesterday. As per my friend's request, the repairs and touch ups were very minimal, but the clear really helps the colours pop: 20170925_110629.jpg
Couple of months to wait before I start reassembling things. Hopefully I can still remember where it all goes by then.

I've been getting on with a few bits and pieces recently. Legs retapped:IMG_20170805_203314 (resized).jpg
Made some new chime bars: 20171012_130325 (resized).jpg20171012_135907 (resized).jpg
A bunch of parts arrived from PBR so I could start replacing all the worn and broken bits. A couple of crispy coils:IMG_20171026_212710 (resized).jpg20171022_191326 (resized).jpg20171022_192105 (resized).jpg
Rebuilt the pop bumpers:20171027_132520 (resized).jpg20171027_132506 (resized).jpg20171027_132517 (resized).jpg
Rebuilt the flippers
20171027_135942 (resized).jpg
When I touched the wrapper on this one:20171027_144028 (resized).jpg
The whole thing disintegrated:20171027_150049 (resized).jpg
Everything was coated in grease, including the inside of the pawls:20171027_140925 (resized).jpg
The coil stops:20171027_141147 (resized).jpg
The return springs were greased too:20171027_142946 (resized).jpg
The links were a little beat out:20171027_145328 (resized).jpg20171027_135915 (resized).jpg
New coil stops:20171027_141559 (resized).jpg
New EOS:20171027_140811 (resized).jpg20171027_140827 (resized).jpg
Cleaned up the stand ups:20171027_153050 (resized).jpg
Cleaned the drops and replaced the targets:20171027_154833 (resized).jpg20171027_155005 (resized).jpg20171027_154758 (resized).jpg20171027_155509 (resized).jpg
I cleaned up and filled the oversized holes for the drop target mech in the underside of the playfield and then started putting things back on the playfield:20171029_181741 (resized).jpg20171031_224724 (resized).jpg20171101_150304 (resized).jpg
Made a couple of EOS switches for the pops that were missing them:20171031_224845 (resized).jpg

Dropped the playfield back in the cabinet to sort out any electrical issues:IMG_20171101_161217 (resized).jpg
Other than a couple of switch adjustments and a few light sockets that needed attention, it's working.

A friend from Melbourne dropped off a can of Krylon Triple Thick that I couldn't source locally which meant it was time to turn my attention to the backglass. It seems every time I look at it, more is threatening to delaminate, with the obvious damaged area being the lower left corner where the ball count is.
20171104_094307 (resized).jpg20171104_094300 (resized).jpg20171104_094413 (resized).jpg20171104_094343 (resized).jpg20171104_094333 (resized).jpg
From the inside:20171104_094455 (resized).jpg20171104_094448 (resized).jpg

Cleaned as much as I dared, using just a dry brush and then masked off the widows.

I did a really light misted coat on Saturday morning and then with the assistance of my lovely wife, laid down a couple of sheets of glad wrap and tapped down the loose flakes. On went some flat pieces of wood and then weights went on before much patient/nervous waiting.

With the prices here in Australia, I'm pretty close to that far in already without repro backglasses or playfields.

After taking the weights and boards off this morning, things looked pretty good:20171106_100459 (resized).jpg
Managed to peel the glad wrap off 100% cleanly: 20171106_100810 (resized).jpg
There were a couple of flakes in the badly peeling area that hadn't stuck down 100%:20171106_100818 (resized).jpg
And some of the delaminations were still well proud: 20171106_100841 (resized).jpg20171106_100853 (resized).jpg
But the main face looked pretty good:20171106_100911 (resized).jpg

Back to the garage for a wet coat which sadly cost 1 of the tiny flakes in the bottom. At this stage I used a few scraps of glad wrap to push the flakes down and got some good adhesion this time. Maybe I was a little too light with the first misted coat, but I figured I could always add more.

A bit over 2 hours later, I peeled the cling very carefully and then gave the whole glass another wet coat:20171106_132042 (resized).jpg20171106_132234 (resized).jpg

Now more patience is required. :-/

Today I put the playfield back together.

Pops
IMG_20171209_101824 (resized).jpg
Lunch break
IMG_20171209_131501 (resized).jpg
Back in the cabinet
20171209_161532 (resized).jpg
A few switch adjustments and it's sorted
IMG_20171209_164315_164 (resized).jpg
Couple of light sockets don't like the vibration and it throws an extra ball out at end of game, but otherwise it's running well. Plays pretty sweet.

I'll attend to those last couple of issues tomorrow and then drop it off at my friend's place.