I say Half restoration because the check book says I have to for now! Even though I'd like to do a real resto, I can't, so I have to use anything I can right now, then pick at it over time. I did buy new plastics and almost all of the inserts for the play field. The play field isn't in the best of shape.

This one will take me a while. I have a few different projects(DE Simpsons, Heavy Metal Metdown,Pacman, and ICE Flintstones) and I usually jump to which ever one I have some materials, parts, or whatever to work on them.

I'll be touching up the play field too..But for now I'm building a cabinet.I bought the wood months ago.

I wasn't originally going to post this but I wanted to so other low budget guys can see that you can do it with minimal tools. I read awesome restoration threads, but sometimes even 50 bucks extra is a rarity! And parts and materials add up fast!!

The High Speed cabinet was a mess, I could have repaired it, but it was actually cheaper and easier to build another cabinet.
I started this cabinet with a dremel and a circular saw! It was working out ok, Then I picked up a router! My Grandfather had all kinds of tools and my grandmother was generous enough to give me a router and my Dad gave me a few bits. Unfortunately the bearings locked today! haha

So, minimal tools. It is time consuming, but can be done. Using the circular saw, I had to make guides and sometimes leave wood longer than I needed to screw it down to 2x4's as a way to hold it so the circular saw wouldn't take my fingers out trying to cut smaller pieces. I do have a chop saw, or miter saw but it's only good for short stuff. I have a few mistakes, but I'm actually shocked at how well it's coming out. One of my biggest mistakes was the router getting away from me on the shooter hole! That ticked me off, it will never be seen, but I know it's there.

Anyhow, Here are some pics...I may have them out of order...I always seem to do that..They are out of order but you'll get the idea. Another small mistake is in the last pic. When I measured to route one of my grooves I was an 8th off, oopps! By the time I figured it out It was too late, glue and nails were already in. Bugs me, but I'll have to live with it! But it won't happen on the next one!!! Another ws the groove around the bottom, I've never used a router before and it took me a little while to get use to it. It walked on me in a couple places, nothing huge, but again...I know it's there and by the time I was done, I had it figured out. Won't happen on the next one.

The support for the backbox was just laying on the cabinet, I have to build the rest of it before it gets glued and nailed. I was working on that this evening when I locked the router up. I'm going to break it free ad some grease and hope I can limp it to the end!!

The burn marks are from the way I was cutting it. But I got the stuff really accurate!! I'm dead on or 1/16 th of at the most. Except my groove mistake. haha

I did most of this in a driveway, never mind the background mess, I moved stuff from storage to the garage and haven't gone through it yet. So stuff is piled everywhere.

I'll add more later.....

cabinet HS 010 (resized).JPG
cabinet HS 012 (resized).JPG
HS cabinet 008 (resized).JPG
HS cabinet 010 (resized).JPG
HS cabinet 015 (resized).JPG
cab2 001 (resized).JPG
cab2 006 (resized).JPG
cab2 003 (resized).JPG
cab2 004 (resized).JPG

My writing stinks, I'll clear up and clean up the above later on...

Today, I wanted to finish the back box mount(?). I had no clue how I was going to do this.....So, it took some messing around but I got it!!!

I had to take the bearings out of the router, clean and grease them. It doesn't sound good, but it's held together so far!

HS back box mount 010 (resized).JPG
Reused old hardware, looked ok....I tapped them out with A punch and pounded them in the new wood.
HS back box mount 009 (resized).JPG
After cutting and grooving the front, back, and sides with router...
HS back box mount 006 (resized).JPG
Haha I clamped it to a square to keep it straight after gluing.
HS back box mount 007 (resized).JPG
Then when the glue tacked up pretty good. I predrilled and nailed. Then glued, nailed to the bottom section
HS back box mount 012 (resized).JPG
HS back box mount 013 (resized).JPG
Cut some angle, and little blocks to match the original, then drilled the front holes, and cut the groove in the back.
HS back box mount 008 (resized).JPG
Out of order pic...Shows where the router slipped again!!!! I cleaned it up and it doesn't show too bad in the end.

I left any over hanging wood just a hair long, so on the mount where it hangs over the cabinet? It looks a little wavy, that will all be sanded or filed out when I match it to the lower cabinet.

I have some minor gaps here and there, nothing that glue or primer won't fill. I do plan on getting as much glue in any gap that I can, My thinking is that it will help strengthen it. Who knows....

My pics are crappy but it's actually turning out way better than I thought it would. I've never built anything out of wood this complicated before. It's been a learning experience so far. And I'm learning and seeing things along the way that I would do better next time. But it's ok for my first one, and the limited tools I'm using!

Thank you! I bought the plastics about 2 years ago. I bought them from Marco. At the time I think they were the only place that I found that had them.

Thank you!

Today, I cut the smaller angles corner pieces, I don't have a way to cut the 12 in long. So, I'll have to wait on those. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that yet.

Cut the groove for the glass slides(?). Sounds easy! I had to search around for something just right. My circular saw blade was too wide, and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them straight with the dremel. I got lucky and found a saw blade looking bit that fit the router.

I also cut the ovals in the back and the power cord hole. I used a hole saw on the ends, and the bit got away from me on the start, and I have one of the oval holes a little crooked!! Once it slipped and started going there was no turning back!

Even with some of the mistakes I'm pretty happy with it so far. I've never built anything this complicated out of wood before. I'm learning as I go. And did a couple things out of order, that would have been easier if I would have thought it out a little more. I would have also kept the glue a little cleaner too. But Hey! I'll know on the next one!!!

I haven't drilled the leg holes yet, kind of scared of messing those up. I have to drill holes, for flipper buttons, and the speaker too.

High Speed 4 001 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 002 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 007 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 009 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 010 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 011 (resized).JPG
High Speed 4 012 (resized).JPG

For now I have to put the cabinet aside until I get more materials. I'm also going to rebuild the back box so it all matches.

I have some stuff laying around to start the Play field. I'm jumping to that for now....I'm not nervous about the paint work, I'm nervous about doing the inserts. I've read the guides, but I'll still just have to jump in and go from there. I can read the great guides all I want for me to learn I have to just do it and mess up. So....There really isn't a plan yet.

Here are a few pics....

HS Playfield 001 (resized).JPG

HS Playfield 002 (resized).JPG

HS Playfield 003 (resized).JPG

HS Playfield 004 (resized).JPG

Thank you!

The paint part is fun for me. It's a little tough to match color. I'm still learning with that and sometimes it takes me as long as an hour to get it right (paint match). Your right though, it is a lot of time and work. More than I ever thought. Some of these guys make it look so easy.

My first play field was a Simpsons DE. It wasn't perfect, but it was a cool learning process. This one actually doesn't look too bad. The inserts scare me the most.

This whole project is a learning thing for me. So, I know it won't be perfect. I had to start somewhere and just start diving in. I spent two years not touching it because I was afraid of messing it up. Time to just dive in!!!

Here's the Simpsons, the pics are a little crappy, I should take some better pics. .....

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/data-east-simpsons-playfield-first-attempt