A great place for information regarding EM maintenance and repair is www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

Marcus

Most of those, you have to pretty well just take them apart. There's really no other way to get them clean.

I use a tumbler and Simichrome to polish metal parts. Lots of stuff goes in the ultrasonic cleaner.

Unless you're going to repaint it, the best way to clean the cab is use Mean Green or Simple Green and a rag, and don't get too happy with it. If you start seeing paint you'll be in a bad spot. That's for the outside. For the inside, empty it out and vacuum it out.

Some guys use Magic Eraser and 91% alcohol to start cleaning the playfield. I do. Some guys don't. You'll find a ton of opinions on playfield cleaning and I wouldn't say one is right and one is wrong. It's worked fine for me.

Whatever you do, if you're going to disassemble steppers and motors, take a ton of pictures. Not really as necessary for relays, but you get a stepper/score motor apart and don't know how to put it back together, that's another bad spot to be in.

Ah. Well, I can help you with some of that. Unfortunately, it is not a simple request. There are lots of steps involved.

Of course, the easiest path is to hire a restoration professional to restore your game. That takes the most money, but is the simplest method. The restoration professionals will do all of the steps necessary to bring your game to a "like new" appearance.

If you insist on doing it yourself, then you need to start doing your research. Because you will need to learn how to remove your wire loom for cleaning, strip a playfield so that you can clean it properly, prep a cabinet for a repaint, remove lamp sockets, remove staples, remove large metal pieces like the coin door and side rails so that you can either replace them or properly restore them.

What you are attempting to do is very time intensive and requires a very patient mindset. It will not be an as

A great thread for research purposes is https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration

The first rule of getting your game "shiny & new" is a willingness to break down your game. In order to properly clean the dirt that has accumulated over half a century, you will need to remove parts from your game. This occasionally means desoldering the wires, unscrewing metal braces, breaking down solenoids, etc.

If you are not yet willing to break down your game, then your cleaning will only be as good as your rag can reach.

With that said, you will need to invest in some items to help make your game as shiny & news as possible.

Here are some items that you will need to acquire:

01. Metal Tumbler -- typically found in gun stores
02. Walnut Media -- used in tumbler as the abrasive medium for cleaning your metal parts
03. Flitz polish -- used in tumbler
04. Small metal pick -- used to remove media from tumbler
05. Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish - used for cleaning side rails and really large metal pieces
06. Simple Green -- used for cleaning dirty from an assortment of item
07. 400 grit sandpaper -- used for cleaning brass rivets on stepper units.
08. Industrial degreaser -- used for cleaning wire looms
09. Magic Eraser -- Used for deep cleaning an EM Playfield
10. 91% Alcohol -- Used for deep cleaning Playfields, stepper units, relays, basically any metal that is grimy and dirty.
11. Carnuba wax -- Used to wax your playfield
12. Novus 2 -- used to clean your playfield
13. Digital Camera -- used to take thousands of pictures so that you can put stuff back together

Once you have acquired these items, I recommend that you start with the playfield. Strip your playfield down to the wood. Then use blue painters tape to cover all the holes. Then use magic eraser/alcohol for a good deep clean. Then wax the playfield with a carnuba wax. Then put your playfield back together.

Once you have completed the playfield, then you can switch your focus to other cosmetic restorations.

It's a long journey, but I feel that you will be very proud once done.

Good luck!

Marcus

As a first-time pin owner, I researched quite a bit, checked all the appropriate sites, etc, etc. For me, cleaning, as Marcus stated, is a willingness to take your machine apart. Small projects, a little at a time not only build confidence, but give exceptional insight to how things work. For me its a learning process. Disassemble this part, see how it works, clean and reassemble, move on. I've learned quite a bit over the last few weeks ... lol. Definitely daunting at first, but once you get into it, becomes easier.

That said, these are the products I currently use:
Mean Green ... cabinet
Krudd Kutter ... rust removal
Formula 1 wax ... playfield and cabinet
Bar Keepers Friend ... brass and chrome
Turtle Wax Chrome Polish ... chrome
Magic Eraser ... mixed results
Citrus Cleaner ... teflon parts
Alcohol ... mixed results
Lots of pics and a clean towel ... layout parts for cleaning and reassembly.

That's just me, your milage may vary.

How do I clean my pins? I drop them off at Xerico's place and go "Thanks bro...see ya in a few weeks"

Firehose for sure just rinse the whole thing off and put in some new fuses

--Jeff

I usually just hose the entire thing down with a thick coat of contact cleaner spray.

I don't typically clean/polish games for hire. He's seen my cleaning results, and knows that I do a great job on EMs.

Plus he's a lazy SOB.

Marcus

Tempting even if its a beater just to film it and watch people freak out

--Jeff

Guess I'm in the minority here... but I love those 'minty' aged paint and nicotine yellowed cabinets.

Wouldn't dream of cleaning them with 'anything'.

As for the internal parts... yes, get that 'black sludge' off any way that works best for you.

I just chuck it into a washing machine.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/slick-chick-relay-board-progress-need-label-font

firehose.jpg

Super Clean Degreaser in lieu of of ZEP Citrus Degreaser.

http://www.amazon.ca/SuperClean-101786-Cleaner-Degreaser-Trigger/dp/B0039ZBLEC%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB0039ZBLEC

Tried both and Super Clean is way better.
In some instance, a gentle rub removed stuff ZEP Citrus would only partially remove with some scrubbing.
Both products dont have the same active ingredients and work differently.

Here is the Super Clean MSDS.
http://www.chem-wipe.com/msds2010/Super%20Clean%20MSDS.pdf
If there are any chemically inclined people out there, you can have a look and comment on the potency of the ingredients.

Used it on a very dirty cabinet and on a very dirty PF.
Spray it on a lint free cloth then wiped the surface.
No need to wipe very hard. No need to drench the cloth either.
Clears everything pretty easily.
Wipe off small area and immediately follow with a Naphtha wipe to insure no residue from the cleaner is left to dry on the surface.
Being the first time I used this on a pin, I was worried about this stuff being too strong so i was very careful and monitored every step.
Thus the immediate Naphtha wipe. Not sure if this is really necessary.
So far i did not have any issues with paint rubbing off anything else.

Safety wise, I strongly suggest wearing rubber gloves.
With time, this thing will dry and crack the skin on your fingers from holding the wet cloth.
Good ventilation is also a good idea, specially if you are doing some long cleaning sessions.

Fred does it work better than magic eraser and, say, Krud Kutter on a dirty cabinet?

Never tried Krud Kutter so can't comment.
My Cabinet has mostly bluish colors. But it looked literally greenish because of the coating of 40+ years of nicotine, beer, pop spills and what not.

Here is a pic of the before:

IMG_20150823_114931.jpg

And after, sorry not the best angle:

IMG_20150913_114606.jpg

Notice the color hiden under the side rail vs the exposed. Well for some reason, after cleaning, the exposed turned out cleaner than the hidden! Could do nothing about that. The area under the back box also did not clear up to well but I have the cabinet to a point were rubbing it with a clean rag turns up a rag clean. It's important to mention that at not point in the process did my rag come up with some blueish hues on it.

Super Clean removed all that easily with a gentle rub. Took me about an hour to clean the entire Cabinet and back box with less then 1/4 of the spray bottle. Prior to that I gave ME a go. Did not seem to have close to the same cleaning power and would have definetively taken me more than 1 hour, lots of ME and elbow grease. Zep Citrus could not remove all the gunk no matter how hard I scrubbed. If I were to put a number on it, I'd say 80% of it at best and with more scrubing.

Now having said that, ME and elbow grease may take it a step further. Haven't got to that point yet. May give it a try but it would be for science onyl cuz I'm happy with the look of the cabinet right now.

By the way, price on Amazon is high. Can get that cheaper at your hardware store.

Oh and here is the result on the playfield. Notice demarcation line between the upper and lower pop bumpers.
Took more time there because I was extremely carfull. Did very small spots and wiped with naphtha before moving on.

IMG_20150913_215227.jpg

But in the end, no aggressive rubing and a much cleaner job than ME and alcohol. But in this case, I will now be able to give it some more in depth cleaning with ME. Now that the dirty crust is off, ME will work better. Won't be slushing that grime, melamine and alcohol mud all over the PF.

The difference in color could be just be a fading issue.

I'm a big fan of the Super clean cleaner. I find it works way better on dirty cabinets than anything else I have tried.