Smithtown, NY
That Alien cabinet could have been half the weight and twice as strong.
(Topic ID: 225528)
Linked Games
Addams Family, The
Bally, 1992-
Airborne
Capcom, 1996
-
Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
-
Black Knight
Williams, 1980
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Bram Stoker's Dracula
Williams, 1993
-
Centaur
Bally, 1981
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Centigrade 37
Gottlieb, 1977
-
Champion Pub
Bally, 1998
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1 month later
When your trying to sand the clear to get rid of edges, there's a fine line (see what I did there) between sanding too much and taking paint off, or sanding too little and not getting rid of the edges. I guess it's just experience? Take that letter 'B' for instance, that's from sanding, I assume. I'm also assuming that you save the paint so you can touch that up. But doesn't touching up that red create as bump with the paint that will show up through the next layer of clear?
1 month later
1 month later
1 week later
Where else can you get restoration tips, cooking tips, beer tips, exercising tips!! Happy Birthday Curtis!
1 week later
1 month later
Quoted from Jarbyjibbo:18, Thumlers is the only way to go. I love mine.
Definitely pricey though. My dillon cv-2001 crapped out after many years so I tried the thumlers uv18 because I hoped they were quieter, they definitely are but not as big as the dillon. Not sure of they perform any better but time will tell, just got it. I'm splurging for the UV 45, hoping I can do bigger parts in it. Wish I had a bead blaster like Chris but haven't figured out what they work best on.
3 weeks later
2 weeks later
Quoted from heni1977:You are going to have to start a, How to live like HEP thread!!!
He can start a new thread, High Energy Pinball 
Remember to always paint the tops and bottoms of doors. Steel doors need it less that all wood doors but still a good idea. Keeps moisture from rotting out the bottom prematurely, and easier to dust the tops of the doors. On wood doors it helps with expansion and contraction due to temperature change.
1 month later
NOW I finally understand how you get that crisp clean line at the bevel at the bottom of the cabinet! I'm fascinated by the sanding method you use for trimming decals, never even heard of this method. But I'm curious, you do the sides and then the front, no problem there, but when you sand the front, you don't have a problem with the sides wanting to peel off? I'll assume you do it at a certain angle so it's not an issue.
3 weeks later
Quoted from flynnibus:Chris, what's your preference for dealing with the rubber boot on prop rods? It's usually chewed up and worn away. The different liquid rubber products out there I don't know if they actually would get the same elastic feel and thickness as the factory pieces..
Spoke to Terry at Pinball Life and he had the yellow boots made for the lockdown receivers but he said he had no plans on making them for the prop rod, says you have to make too many and it wasn't a big seller. I tried dipping a few but the cans don't last once you open them so unless you do a bunch at a time it's not practical.
2 months later
I don't want to talk for Chris but I think I've become familiar with his methodology from reading his threads. Chris doesn't have unlimited space for equipment so I assume he picks and chooses what equipment to invest in wisely. Plus he stated a few times that his skill set is not in computer graphics, cad, programing a cnc machine etc. I have a feeling he can make those ramp flaps pretty quickly and accurately out of stainless and doesn't use the blue steel anyway.
Not bad Grampa, not bad! Any tips on buffing a playfield without overheating the inserts? I know you prefer the wool pad over foam because I pay close attention to your posts. I also think you use Meguiars 105, but I'm looking for some pointers on your method if possible.
Quoted from chalkup8:Same here. A good listen.
Ditto! I was hoping the interview with Chris was the whole 2 hours! If I was interviewing him it would have been! Thanks for taking the time Chris!
Excellent alignment! That's what makes a huge difference in the final product! Do you always put the front on first or just sometimes when you have to align the corners? Did you know in advance the right side would line up or just did the left side and assumed it would line up? One of my favorite tips I picked up from reading your posts is sanding the edges, makes a much much better job than I was ever able to achieve with a razor blade.
2 months later
Merry Christmas to the Hutchins family! Learned a lot from reading this thread and it has become part of my daily routine, hope it continues!
Ron
New York Pinball
1 week later
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!
2 weeks later
2 weeks later
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Has the typical and honestly almost expect ghosting on some inserts.
CP is almost as famous for that as CV.
It's so true! C.P ruined my theory that you don't get ghosting on smaller and round inserts. I still wonder why certain games like C.V and C.P are almost guaranteed to have ghosting. I've always been curious to see how you fix ghosted inserts when you don't have a new playfield, although I assume you have a new one for C.P
1 month later
When reading and watching your posts I’m always asking myself if you ever make mistakes. I did notice the button off center but didn’t have the nerve to say anything. But I personally appreciate you sharing that, makes me feel better when I make mistakes, and yes after 40 years I still make mistakes! So please show more mistakes! Maybe I shouldn’t even be using that word, corrections!
1 month later
3 weeks later
Quoted from High_End_Pins:I just grabbed one off amazon and will experiment.
Might be the missing link here. Thanks for the suggestion.
The aging you did was a great improvement, took the color brightness down a notch to make it look older. Being that you're looking to experiment with the graining tool, I've had good luck using burnt amber translucent paints to give a nice subtle woodgrain effect when touching up shooter lane wear. Needs to be translucent.
The graining and aging you did on the home stretch with that playfield took it to another level. Perfect amount of graining, subtle, perfect colors, A +++
I didn't hear anyone mention the most important part. You have the make the screws on the light switches all vertical so the dust slides out and doesn't collect...
1 week later
3 months later
1 month later
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Gathered everything up for powder and plating. This will cover two projects. The CFTBL and the Cyclopes.
I have not done a Creature in a few years so it seems that the repro plastics sets are no longer available?
Can’t imagine why not. You can get ramps,playfields,cabinet art.
Silly toppers and all kinds of other stuff you don’t need why not the F*ing plastics?!?!?!
The business nature of this hobby is so incomplete and inconsistent it’s annoying as hell.
If anyone has a set they don’t need let me know.
I can buy outright or trade. [quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Lol, you sound so much like me in this post! If I’m doing a game I haven’t done in a while I get reminded that certain common parts still aren’t available and I start ranting! Plastic sets for Creech is a no brainer. Wish I had an inside track to the people who decide what parts to make !
4 weeks later
Have a Heppy Thanksgiving Chris! Thanks for all things you teach people about how to restore pinball machines the right way!
1 month later
Quoted from Johncare07:This is such a smart idea to put the clear tubing to prevent a short. Where do you source it?
You can also use heat shrink tubing.
2 months later
I would find it useful to hear how you rate a good clearcoat job from a bad one, I could understand why you would want to avoid the drama of mentioning who did it but if you can without mentioning the person I would find it educational.
BTW, I was doing a cabinet decal job the other day and I had a "I wonder how Chris does it 
" moment. Using a plastic squeegee I've used before, made specifically for applying decals, I tried 2 methods that worked well for me in the past, wrapping the squeegee with a blue paper towel and I also tried a microfiber rag to keep from scratching the surface of the decal while applying. But if you look at the surface you can see some mild abrasive scratches on the surface of the decals. They came right off with some novus but I was wondering if there was a better trick for that. Maybe I was applying too much pressure or maybe it was just the quality of the decals.
2 weeks later
Quoted from flynnibus:Is there no bulletproof ing people do on the sanctum to try to prevent future damage? Even when kept clean that dragging effect is a bear.
Why not just a mylar circle, when it wears out it's a 5 minute job to put a new one.
I've always wondered how you seem to move so fast, and it seems you always have the parts you need, you must have some amazing organized system. Me, feels like I'm always waiting for parts. No matter how many boatloads of cash I spend to have parts I need, while doing the restore, I find myself constantly needing to order additional parts. And the time to locate what you need, the extra money spent on shipping for these last minute parts, gets frustrating! Enjoy the steak and beer!
Quoted from High_End_Pins:I really work hard behind the scenes to have everything in place before I even start and there is so much time effort and money invested in infrastructure that it probably hampers growth or profits .It’s not a concern for me I like the smooth transitions from game to game and project to project way more than an extra check in the bank or some green paper.
What can happen every so often though is enough things just don’t line up or come through and all active projects come to a stand still and I have to start another at a less than ideal time to keep progressing.
Right now I am working actively on
1)Mystic(was initially sent a severely warped playfield had to find another ,owner wants a mod that doesn’t even exist yet made by XPin)
2)Shadow 2(pulled the cabinet art marked for it and it’s garbage. Ordered more but it comes from overseas SLOW these days)
3)STTNG (bought and received two terrible playfields at full price was only offered token refunds not decent replacements,cabinet art on the slow boat from AU already losing my ass on this one honestly)
4)TOTAN(bought cabinet art in the states its washed out licensed hologram worthy but not useable in my eyes so I had to order more from overseas. Slow
boat.Brass trim requested and hard to get all that at once these days)
5)Tommy(Waiting on a cabinet build in the states and parts from Europe)
6)C37 (cabs being built no complaints just in process)
7) Centaur Charcoal( have everything I need but it’s a slow roller a filler project because of the complexity of the conversion and upgrades )
8)JD (this project went so off the rails I just couldn’t prepare for it. It’s been one thing after the other based on what the perception was and what the reality is and I am happy to say the owner is cool and understands .We have found a way to overcome many obstacles but it isn’t flowing as a result. A lot of stop and go)
To have eight projects in process and none that can easily move to completion beyond my control is rare and frustrating but it does happen and it’s not a big deal but probably worth explaining just to keep things transparent and interesting.
Thanks for taking the time to detail that, I think it's helpful for people to understand the behind the scenes hurdles. I can only imagine the organizational complexity of working on so many games at the same time. Having to be careful not to mix up parts and lose track of where stuff is. Losing momentum and forgetting where you left off is another possibility. Waiting for a part from overseas can take forever nowadays, the postal system is so overburdened with everyone buying on line. Getting an inferior quality part is a big hold up, frustrating, and then they don't want to take it back. I know in my case, some of these types of delays can add weeks to the restoration. On top of it all you document everything which adds another layer of complexity. Thanks again for sharing all these things, priceless!
1 month later
Just a quick point on automatic washing machine valves. If you have a washing machine on the 1st or 2nd floor of the house you should seriously consider one of these automatic shut-off valves. Even if it's in a basement. They sense when the machine is on and open the valve, when it senses the machine is off it closes the valve. It shuts it off at the valve so there is never any pressure in the hoses. And make sure you change the hoses once in a while and use braided hoses. A broken washing machine hose can cause a significant amount of damage to your house!
Now back to your regularly scheduled HEP greatness! Those freaking ramps came out amazing!
Yep, that's another thing I hooked up, an automatic water main shut off. I went with the Phyn plus, it's supposed to be pretty high tech. It has an app that tells me water usage, water pressure, how many times I flushed, showered etc. But I don't really use the app, I just like that it gives me peace of mind if I'm away. It will also pick up the smallest leak if you have a leaky faucet or toilet it will tell you. https://www.phyn.com/plus-smart-water-assistant/
phyn-plus-with-pex-100746262-large (resized).jpg 2 weeks later
Judge Dredd looks so much better than the original art package! "emergecy" vehicle exit plastic on Judge Dredd got my attention (shooter lane plastic). No matter how much you try to do a perfect restoration, there are always forces involved beyond our control
981ab67b069b6d9e83ac784f39c37a29cb99ea65 (resized).jpg 1 week later
1 month later
Quoted from slochar:What assemblies are those? They are nice because they're one piece.... no alignment fit issues! I'm in the middle of a mystic swap and would do this upgrade in a heartbeat as the linear slings are poor in action.
my guess is they're the slings used on Data East games.
Quoted from jgentry:C37 arrived home last night. The only thing as impressive as HEP's restores is his prep for shipping. Thanks Chris.
[quoted image]
That thing belongs in the Smithsonian! You're very lucky to have it!
1 month later
I think we need to respect his time more and realize how busy he is, the less questions, the less private messages, the better. I think he tries to be nice and help people out but he already spends enough time posting pics and info here. Don't know this for a fact but just my 2 cents....
1 month later
2 months later
3 weeks later
1 month later
I never get bored with repeats, I get bored if there’s no new posts to read! Personally I like to learn more about techniques, like how you handle specific things like cleaning metal, polishing, fixing hard to replace or obsolete mechs, all the little odds and ends kind of details. But please don’t ever stop!!
4 weeks later
What app is that you're using? I don't like running with my phone, I find no matter where I keep it, it gets in the way. What is cadence? For me, I find variety works. My staples are skiing in the winter, mountain biking/long hikes in the warmer weather months. Then I fill in with squats, running up & down stairs, jump rope, jumping jacks, heavy bag that kind of thing. That takes care of the legs/cardio. Now that I'm 61 I can't do heavy weights anymore so I use dumbells and body weight, mostly calisthenics. If I don't use variety, I get bored, and boredom is the enemy of discipline. I'll do push-ups, but I vary the type and position, and there are tons. Squats,planks,pull ups,dumbbells. I'll set goals to see how many push-ups I can do in a day. Or in a row. That kind of thing. Alternating days between body parts, one day concentrating on arms, then shoulders, then back, squeeze in legs and cardio in between. I don't have a schedule, I just work out till I get sore and move around to parts of my body that aren't. This kind of mixed up variety seems to work well for me so I don't get bored and stop exercising. I find I'm so much more productive when I exercise and sleep better.
I think the price of everything has gone up, not just pinball parts & gas. And I find inventory is always low no matter what I'm looking for these days.
3 weeks later
I think it's nice that you share the behind the scenes events in your life, the kids, cooking, exercise etc. Seems you're as good at parenting as you are at restoring. Life throws us challenges that interfere with work sometimes, I think everyone can relate to that!
2 weeks later
1 week later
I had really good luck with these:
Fits in the same holes as the original.
Mr Pinball in the UK stopped making them so I sent Cliffy my last one to copy, he did a great job.
http://www.passionforpinball.com/ijpros.htm
ij-deflect-compare02 (resized).jpgij-mode-def004a (resized).jpg 3 months later
2 months later
Quoted from cp1610:Hep pinball ,motor bikes ,closets etc and your passing of the flooring? Somes guys may think your in the dog house but a good way. just you drinks and pinball You probaly need a venue change each day as you spend so much time out in the pinball shop.
Let's not forget mailboxes!
5 months later
I remember you went through the trouble of transferring the white plastic backbox tubs to wood so wanted to bring this to your attention.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wpc95-insert-panel-project#post-7535053
4 months later
Quoted from High_End_Pins:In those cases I usually work them over with SOS pads and metal polish then wash them thoroughly.
I always thought you used the bead-blaster, would love to see the process you use to clean up old nasty metal.
1 month later
If you only had smoked, no one would/could buy clear so they would just buy smoked. The smoked should be the one to sell by default being it matches the original game. I hear the people who say clear is better, brightens up the game etc, but clear looks just as shitty as smoked when it gets old. I also don't think it looks great seeing all the wires, but I get that everyone doesn't think like me, I'm more of a purist and like to leave things original.
2 months later
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Out of rocks for this week. Made good progress.
[quoted image]
[quoted image][quoted image]
Going to have this tree taken out this week before I continue since they will probably destroy the area anyway. [quoted image]
No need to workout once again today but I would rather. One hour is better than six of this shit. [quoted image]
Time for a beer break. My wife tells me I should take a shower but I need to contemplate my next move first and make sure I am really done for the day.
[quoted image]
You look tired, maybe play a game of pinball and relax...
Rock-Pinball-Machine-Gottlieb-1 (resized).jpgFound this "dear operator" letter amongst my flyers and uploaded it, thought this might be an appropriate place to share with all these Earthshaker restorations in progress: https://nypinball.com/flyers/earthshaker/
1 month later
Might as well show off my Hankin flyers. The Empire Strikes Back is a pretty rare flyer and I assume the game is too, will be cool to see it getting the full treatment. Most people in the U.S have probably never heard or seen a Hankin game, me included.
1 week later
Came across an old 1950 Select-a-Card that immediately reminded me of one you restored a while back, might have been the last E.M you did, one of the more artistic restorations. Someone offered it to me free so I'm giving it away, might have been a better starting point than what you had. That was a cool restoration.
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