OK...playfield stays

Hit with Treasure Cove power cut #2 for a bit. Then some meguiars swirl remover. Then a quick touch of wax...

Now since this is the way I'm going to go I just need to drop the rest of the switches below the playfield and get ready to "mow the lawn"

2014-03-01 10.37.11.jpg

2014-03-01 11.07.12.jpg

Shiny

2014-03-01 11.05.32.jpg

Goodies came today too

2014-03-01 11.42.19.jpg

2014-03-01 11.42.29.jpg

Always welcome here Ted!

OK...lots of playfield love today...
Treasure Cove powercut #2....

Then I tried something new for the next round. Automotive swirl remover...put it on nice and lightly...

2014-03-02 14.51.18.jpg

2014-03-02 14.51.21.jpg

Got a little nervous because it left things a bit dull at first....

2014-03-02 15.00.37.jpg

But in the end, after the swirl removed and three coats of good wax, here's what I got...very very happy with it!

2014-03-02 16.23.02.jpg

2014-03-02 16.24.27.jpg

2014-03-02 16.24.59.jpg

2014-03-02 16.25.07.jpg

Flash back to what we started with...I think it's an improvement!

2014-02-06 19.27.36.jpg

2014-02-05 16.28.56.jpg

Making some progress. Weekdays are slow, and I'm busy waiting on parts as well, but pulled some stuff out of the tumbler...

But I think I'm pretty much ready to start reassembly now!

2014-03-04 19.47.58.jpg

2014-03-01 10.16.31.jpg

2014-03-07 19.08.36.jpg

Lots of high hopes for this weekend...
Started on some more cleanup. Kicker....taken apart, cleaned, new sleeve, and back it goes.

Note that it's not my goal to go nuts on this machine. Its going to be my player, so I'm just trying to clean it up.

2014-03-07 19.31.18.jpg

2014-03-07 19.38.11.jpg

This game has a LOT of coils!
My new favorite thing...Marco sells coil sleeve kits for games. Either they are a new offering or I never saw them before, but I love it....I could never keep the right size sleeves on hand.

2014-03-07 19.33.55.jpg

2014-03-07 20.23.31.jpgSee, just clean. Not crazy polishing everything.

2014-03-07 20.19.38.jpg

My other favorite thing...scrubbing bubbles!
As you can see, this part of the playfield was pretty nasty. I know I could have stripped the bottom of the playfield bare and given it a light sanding, but, again, not where I wanted to go with this.

But little bit of scrubbing bubbles, waiting a few minutes, and a good wipe down makes a world of difference!

Tomorrow, unless I wind up picking up a new machine on a whim, I'm going to get the bottom squared away....

2014-03-07 20.19.52.jpg

2014-03-07 20.22.01.jpg

Oh, scrubbing bubbles work wonders on targets too!

2014-03-07 19.10.47.jpg

2014-03-07 19.12.06.jpg

Yep...having a good time with this and seeing it start to come back together is exciting...
Just got word that my cabinet should be back from the "cabinet hospital" next week good as new!

Getting there

This morning is "washing the boards"

2014-03-08 10.39.14-292.jpg

2014-03-08 10.15.42-976.jpg

2014-03-08 10.26.22.jpg

Hey all. So this is a very common thing with boards. Warm (just cause I like warm) soapy water. Scrub with a toothbrush (preferably an old one). When done, rinse with isopropyl alcohol and let sit. The alcohol displaces the water and dries quickly.
Some people even run boards through the dishwasher.

The big thing with this is not to get boards with socketed chips or any ICs wet since they don't tolerate the water. Also anywhere water can get trapped is bad. People have their own different ways of doing this, but this is what's worked for me for a while.

Heck, I even do the lamp sockets!

2014-03-08 10.39.30.jpg

Goodies Cliffy hooked me up with products for TZ, Met, and ST!

2014-03-10 19.39.16.jpg

Nothing too exciting, but lamp boards back in place....

2014-03-10 19.50.17.jpg

2014-03-10 19.50.31.jpg

Rocket switch slot before and after....

It really wasn't in bad shape before, but can't hurt to keep it from getting worse!

2014-03-10 19.52.28.jpg

2014-03-10 19.55.04.jpg

2014-03-10 19.51.23.jpgLeft inlane. Worst spot on the entire playfield. Guess it's common since Cliff makes a protector specifically for here.

2014-03-10 19.58.30.jpg

2014-03-10 19.51.14.jpgSlot scoop...also really not bad, but I'd just as soon keep it from getting worse.

2014-03-10 19.57.03.jpg

And last but not least the trough eject. This also is not really bad, but for a few bucks with the entire playfield apart, now is the time to do it!

\end of cliffy promotional material\

2014-03-10 19.51.31.jpg

2014-03-10 19.59.44.jpg

My cabinet is currently "under restoration"

20140311_125957_Android.jpeg

It's coming back to life slowly Was a little distracted last night bringing in something else...

2014-03-11 20.42.17.jpg

I guess it all depends on how the machine lived its life!

Started some more reassembly last night. Not much, but it's still progress

2014-03-12 20.09.20.jpg

2014-03-12 19.53.32.jpg

More time reassembling. Since I will never get a better chance, figured I might as well give the optos a nice cleaning since everything else was nice and filthy.

This is from ONE opto.

Very curious to see what actually works or doesn't work when I plug this back in. Bear in mind I took it apart before really seeing what worked and didn't...so I dunno!

2014-03-13 20.38.14.jpg

More ball guides going back in, some of the scoops too. I did as much as I could by memory, so now I need to break the pictures back out.

I can't get over how nasty these were. They may just have looked a little dull, but after hitting them with the scrubbing bubbles, the bubbles ran black!

Still half wishing I would have swapped the playfield, but so be it. I can always do it down the road. I guess I will also see how nice the cabinet is when it comes back to me next week. If it's fantastic, maybe I will reconsider. At this point I'm not too far gone to do a swap....I just really would not want to move over all of the wiring...

2014-03-13 20.58.15.jpg

2014-03-13 20.58.28.jpg

So...cabinet should hopefully be home tomorrow, but now is when a ton of progress happens quickly....

New parts still coming...playfield supports...stainless, from Mantis. You can see the originals were just a little nasty and a lot bent...so a few bucks well spent!

2014-03-15 10.46.37.jpg

2014-03-15 10.46.43.jpg

Shiny...nice to see tumbled parts back in their homes!

2014-03-16 09.25.43.jpg

2014-03-16 09.25.52.jpg

And in go some LEDs and new star posts!

At this rate in a few more hours I'm going to be onto having to clean my plastics and get them ready to go back in!

2014-03-16 08.42.14.jpg

2014-03-16 09.40.56.jpg

2014-03-16 09.41.14.jpg

It may...but it doesn't need much honestly...it's a really clean machine.

I did manage to pick up a set of cabinet decals yesterday for it though, so that's on the radar....

Couple pretty more pictures....

Hopefully my cabinet comes home soon.

Playfield is coming together very quickly now. Not too many posts and parts left. I need to swap the ramp hardware over which may be a bit of a project though. But for now, I'm getting closer.

Brought the clock over to a friend's house last night to test it and, amazingly, it worked very well which also made me happy!

2014-03-16 19.25.52.jpg

2014-03-16 20.14.13.jpg

2014-03-16 20.14.32.jpg

Flipper time...almost not worth replacing the EOS switches...these were so nice, but figured I might as well since I'm at it!

2014-03-19 18.54.30.jpg