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POTO is all set.
Hope to get it outside for some final pictures if the weather cooperates.

image (resized).jpg

Do you ever do before/after side-by-sides of the pins you restore (I don't recall seeing any)? Not that you need my advice, but would really highlight your tremendous work and be appreciated by all of us who follow your thread.

POTO finished.

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POTO playfield.

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POTO inside.

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Thing of Beauty!
Better than new

I'm sure this applies to most of the titles you restore, but that's gotta be the most beautiful POTO on earth. And it's a pretty game to begin with.

Absolutely beautiful Chris. Where did you source a backglass if I may ask?

I know many who would get a glass if they were available.

Chris

Quoted from SilverUnicorn:
Absolutely beautiful Chris. Where did you source a backglass if I may ask?
I know many who would get a glass if they were available.
Chris

Thanks. That is the original backglass that I cleaned up and touched up.
The owner has a NOS glass at home waiting for it.
Some of these really long term collectors have done an amazing job of locating and hoarding parts to bring these games back to an incredible level with the work put in.
I was told that this POTO was sold as restored by a very popular outfit in the early 2000s so just the evolution of that term and expectations almost 20 years later is mind boggling sometimes.

I look in the fridge to determine the most POTO like beer I have chilled today to celebrate.
A Piraate?
Perhaps the wife’s left over champagne from New Years?image (resized).jpg
No ,No! it is the Mon Cheri!
image (resized).jpg
Something about that feels theme correct

image (resized).jpg

The quality is mind blowing! Amazing job!!

Quoted from Mr_Tantrum:
Do you ever do before/after side-by-sides of the pins you restore (I don't recall seeing any)? Not that you need my advice, but would really highlight your tremendous work and be appreciated by all of us who follow your thread.

No but someone should. It takes a lot to keep these projects moving and a little bit more to document them but usually once I finish one it is on to the next.

OP
Quoted from High_End_Pins:
Once I finish one it is on to the next.

Sounds like your boss never gives you a minute's rest.

Hi Chris,

Amazing work as ever, but do you ever make any mistakes? I understand that these are customer machines so you may not want to share them, but do you have any kind of bloopers/out-take stories? I have plenty, from the simple thing of just finishing doing up all the screws holding a pcb in place and then realising that it is up-side-down, to me flattening a set of plastics decors in the oven and the wife turning up for a roast dinner when I wasn't watching - melted the lot.

Thanks for my favorite thread.

Quoted from Bakerman:
Hi Chris,
Amazing work as ever, but do you ever make any mistakes? I understand that these are customer machines so you may not want to share them, but do you have any kind of bloopers/out-take stories? I have plenty, from the simple thing of just finishing doing up all the screws holding a pcb in place and then realising that it is up-side-down, to me flattening a set of plastics decors in the oven and the wife turning up for a roast dinner when I wasn't watching - melted the lot.
Thanks for my favorite thread.

Oh yeah. I do! Nothing major anymore but a post upside down here,forgotten rubber there or the occasional diode on a switch backwards even though I know exactly how it is supposed to go by heart.
That’s just part of doing something day in and day out.
My biggest bloopers were in the early days.
At my first shop the back parking lot was all gravel.
I painted a white water head and put it out in the middle of that parking lot to dry in the sun.
Turned out to be one of the windiest days on record at the time and I watched from about twenty feet away as it got blown clean off the stand and cartwheeled into the gravel.
Some rocks were embedded in the wood others just nicely stuck to the fresh paint
That was probably the worst of that type of thing.
On the technical side was the Krull restoration.
It was my first system 80 game and of course there was no manual or anything.
Once I finally got it all done I could not get one single pop bumper to work no matter what I tried.
I sent boards back out even called in some help and never could get it going so it sat here completed for like four months and it would keep me awake at night trying to figure it out.
One day I can’t even remember who or how it was discovered that two of the hidden plugs in the neck were identical but one had an extra pin the other did not.
They were F,”/.:G! Backwards!!! Took five seconds to fix

POTO is playing well and now folded up.

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Ready to set Spirit 3 up so I can gather some parts off it to have plated.
Good thing I had some cabinets built and ready to go this one can really use it.

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Just some basic evaluation.
The playfield is trashed
Hardware rusty and or bent some missing.
Apron has surface rust. That sort of thing.

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Looks like Spirit 3 lived a hard life!

Do you know what you are getting into before you agree to a restore, or do you just have a surprise reveal when the pins show up at your door? I’ve also wondered if you’ve ever refused to restore a game based upon its condition (ie is there anything beyond your skill level)?

Quoted from Mr_Tantrum:
Do you know what you are getting into before you agree to a restore, or do you just have a surprise reveal when the pins show up at your door? I’ve also wondered if you’ve ever refused to restore a game based upon its condition (ie is there anything beyond your skill level)?

There’s nothing beyond Chris’s skill level, there is only the question of whether he wants to learn something new or not. He doesn’t do EMs, but there’s nothing in an EM he couldn’t learn, for example.

And in the realm of the games he knows, there probably isn’t much he couldn’t do. I mean if you have completely unobtainable art and yours is missing, well, he obviously can’t help a ton. But to give you an example, I sent him a completely blown out TAF. Playfield burnt and with tons of wood showing, cabinet swelled with water damage, etc. Also sent a wired semi complete prototype playfield. So early it had been hand wired and all the weldments obviously hand made. And I sent him nearly every plastic part in NOS form along with an NOS playfield.

He then got a new cabinet and new cabinet art. Started building a TAF with that pile of goo. We used the donor TAF for all the cabinet pieces and a few play field things, and boards. All the boards got sent out to be gone through and he did the rest. The result is a brand new TAF where the only used parts are probably those weldments, some top side assemblies, red lamp PCBs, some cabinet goodies he made look new, etc. So it looks and plays like new.

I’m guessing Chris has a limit on what he’ll repair in terms of cabinet damage and whether he can go to a new cabinet depends on if there’s art available (stencils or decals). Outside of that? Just not much he can’t do.

—Donnie

OP
Quoted from High_End_Pins:
Oh yeah. I do! Nothing major anymore but a post upside down here,forgotten rubber there or the occasional diode on a switch backwards even though I know exactly how it is supposed to go by heart.
That’s just part of doing something day in and day out.
My biggest bloopers were in the early days.
At my first shop the back parking lot was all gravel.
I painted a white water head and put it out in the middle of that parking lot to dry in the sun.
Turned out to be one of the windiest days on record at the time and I watched from about twenty feet away as it got blown clean off the stand and cartwheeled into the gravel.
Some rocks were embedded in the wood others just nicely stuck to the fresh paint
That was probably the worst of that type of thing.
On the technical side was the Krull restoration.
It was my first system 80 game and of course there was no manual or anything.
Once I finally got it all done I could not get one single pop bumper to work no matter what I tried.
I sent boards back out even called in some help and never could get it going so it sat here completed for like four months and it would keep me awake at night trying to figure it out.
One day I can’t even remember who or how it was discovered that two of the hidden plugs in the neck were identical but one had an extra pin the other did not.
They were F,”/.:G! Backwards!!! Took five seconds to fix

One of my favorite posts of this thread! I've been wanting to ask the same question myself. After 40+ years I still make mistakes, to know that you do too makes me feel so much better! The rocks embedded in the wood had me rolling, please, just once, post the pics of a mistake! And remember it didn't take you 5 seconds to fix the Krull glitch, it took 4 months and 4 seconds . THE best thread of pinside right here folks!

Opened up Spirit 3 today.
I instantly saw all the signs of a true project game with numerous hidden issues to find and fix.
431EA0AF-1AE7-4279-B489-129F727C53C6 (resized).jpeg

Sure there is rust of course 3BA21CF5-E7F0-47B3-87A4-F8D216D17BB1 (resized).jpeg
But that doesn’t burn coils
ECB39F22-162A-43A8-BC75-B55EEFFA0AC6 (resized).jpeg
Or blow fuses so bad that you just abandon them entirely. 266FDB45-9E7A-4EBA-921E-B55C32E0495B (resized).jpeg

85A8825D-C24A-4E8D-B1EA-7F441E04F4CD (resized).jpeg

When I get a basket case like this in with even basic conditions unknown and unverifiable I just go through everything expecting it is all bad.
The best place to start is at the source of the power.
That would be this on these games.
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Pulled from the cabinet. It looks bad

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Hopefully the transformers are good.
The amount of dirt and other unknowns make me want to separate the transformers from all the rest of the panel and wiring so I can really clean and inspect/verify each wire one by one.
This is a pretty big job for just one small part of the restoration overall but it might be one of the most important.

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The parts are removed from the wooden panel. C256407B-33E5-4FDB-80D2-9ABE9CB4EF50 (resized).jpeg

One wire at a time I remove the original from the transformer lug and create a new sub harness off that with a little added protection for those lugs. 007A653D-C2F2-469C-ADB0-8918FEDE4CF3 (resized).jpeg

I lightly flash each pin with a little solder because these pins can carry a good bit of voltage and I don’t want to worry about one coming unseated EVER!
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The rewire continues on. 4D38D5FD-66D8-445F-9533-8BA19BC0B09F (resized).jpeg
Finally the first transformer is free so that is keyed to be specific to that one. C67B52CD-E385-4775-A076-918043B6A4B4 (resized).jpeg
Now it is independent.
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The wood panel is sanded clean. 0A1FE975-7936-4E59-9878-FDC2946D59B7 (resized).jpeg
I polish or replace things as I start to rebuild CB27023D-317B-4B42-865A-DE4B930B92F4 (resized).jpeg
Main transformer placed. CD6D44EE-5503-4506-99A5-994E97B073EA (resized).jpeg

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Panel is being rebuilt.
Major components on plugs
New bridge recs all legs have short protections.

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Now the minor plugs and details.
Fuse holder to replace. A73EE563-7A70-496A-A05F-6DD9EA2D6855 (resized).jpeg
That’s done and the panel is now something I have much more confidence in moving forward.
This was a full days work. Just that!
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Inspector #41 would be proud!

Not to derail this awesome thread. With the same SEM products and some attention to detail, I was able to redo a set of rails and lockdown bar for an X-Files using the procedures Chris detailed out in his POTO restore. I'm very pleased with the results.

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First weekly update of 2020.
First Curtis and his girlfriend had a huge party/baby shower over the weekend.
We are running out of places to store everything. It has started now filling up the bonus room.

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I have been steadily working on a couple things.
The worst is Spirit 3
The plating needs on this one might exceed what was needed on #2
Even the ball guides are rusted.

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When this much plating is needed it is like an extra job all by itself breaking everything down
Categorizing it and keeping up with it all not to mention the extra down time and expense.
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Once the plating needs are somewhat addressed I start digging deeper into the mechanics and electrical.
This game just screams of unknown problems.
Many wires are cut and spliced. This is usually an indicator that someone was having some major issues they could not find so they are going through a very rough process of elimination. This is why I really like placing things on plugs. 7AB049CA-7B59-4278-9A9B-BA9FDABA94D9 (resized).jpeg
50FCFD3A-CD1D-4694-8879-4EE918ACB9CB (resized).jpeg
Missing the pop bumper assembly entirely. 69640BBF-5AFF-4849-AE3B-554527709849 (resized).jpeg

Not too surprising 5416F1AA-0DCE-4BD2-AECD-0E6FB053437D (resized).jpeg
Apron is mangled.
582E328B-6895-4FB2-A15D-32685ADA975B (resized).jpeg

We have only gotten thus deep so far

0CCEDBB8-9243-4C8B-9145-80AABDCC966D (resized).jpeg

Congrats to the family. My son and daughter in law just had their baby shower yesterday, as well. I'm not ready to be a grandpa.

Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:
Congrats to the family. My son and daughter in law just had their baby shower yesterday, as well. I'm not ready to be a grandpa :O

Thanks. Congrats to you as well.

I pulled the Spirit 3 lamp panel and started working through that.
584ED247-12FD-4CDA-9D80-CACDE362F164 (resized).jpeg

I think new displays are going to be my best bet on this one. A7D0CB78-D7FD-4B25-BBEB-D10484DECFEC (resized).jpeg
I can’t tell if this thing has been underwater or on fire maybe both?
AFD1A98A-E26B-445B-8724-D207B46AE198 (resized).jpeg

I break the lamp panel down to my comfort level as much as I would like to cosmetically do something more with the back I just don’t want to open that can of worms I already have way too much to do to this game.

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The missing light shield is made for the lamp panel and the face is refinished. 6636FA31-1CAD-4FCF-8F3D-911990469B69 (resized).jpeg

The wiring is cleaned and panel dry. E04BD7A0-5E3B-4742-9D05-E6BE08371004 (resized).jpeg

The motor is toast but a replacement is provided.

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The panel is rewired and rebuilt as far as it goes until the displays arrive.i will try to clean up the backside a bit more later on but for now this is progress.
F90B06AD-5583-47EE-B451-C4F3E496D79A (resized).jpegCA552855-E1BB-4A0B-90B4-3C60F8D1A7BE (resized).jpeg454E95DB-7158-4EBF-9B22-8C3FE9CF653D (resized).jpeg

Nice, someone got the baby a Yahama drum kit

Quoted from Strohz:
Nice, someone got the baby a Yahama drum kit

No that is Marshall’s but he never uses it. We thought he would like it a few birthdays ago and we might get a little peace since it has a headphone feature but he enjoys rocking,chanting and writing in his notebook much more

Ready to do the final assembly of the main playfield on Spirit 2.
Should go quickly from here since the cabinet and upper are all done. image (resized).jpg
I left everything attached on the underside because I am going to largely copy it until I actually need the harness which I will free with my newer system 80 wire scheme. image (resized).jpg
I scoured the internet to find the correct transistors and diodes. Both are deemed obsolete although I am sure there are suitable replacements.
image (resized).jpg
They are needed because I see replacements already in place I can’t verify.
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
I will feel better on power up and testing if it is in spec and looks correct.

image (resized).jpg

Quoted from epeabs:
Not to derail this awesome thread. With the same SEM products and some attention to detail, I was able to redo a set of rails and lockdown bar for an X-Files using the procedures Chris detailed out in his POTO restore. I'm very pleased with the results.[quoted image][quoted image]

Looks good.
Usually as a painter you are trying to avoid texture so it takes a different approach and mentality. The right products are crucial.

Spirit 2 playfield build is underway.
image (resized).jpg

Turning it from this 6728D60B-C323-4ABF-BF06-17DB567578F9 (resized).jpeg
340B45C2-F45D-40CA-B2AA-F507C20B86EF (resized).jpeg
AF42B0BC-66B1-4F29-84F0-F8AF6ECF3419 (resized).jpeg
To this is a long ordeal and hard to appreciate once fully assembled.

image (resized).jpg

Prepping my next two Fathom cabinets. The first is a new build.
That one just needs it seams wiped and some finesse work.
Then it is ready to prime.

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The second will be reworking an original head and mating that to a reworked Big Time Cabinets lower. 1DADFB82-F1D7-42B5-95DF-ABAA09164885 (resized).jpeg
6886C774-E08A-4966-ACF9-6E2CBD0FC0FD (resized).jpeg
I can’t use the BTC head because the glass didn’t fit properly so that makes reworking an original best.
I can salvage the BTC lower. I am doing this because the owner bought and supplied the BTC cabinet in good faith so I want to make it work as well as I can.
Stripping it comes first.

74779DF6-129B-4F34-ACE4-71B6CE212B5F (resized).jpeg

Head is striped.

image (resized).jpg

The nail ,staple and previous assembly holes are being filled in the BTC.

image (resized).jpg

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By High_End_Pins

5 years ago

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