Free advice for the week:

I will start by saying I am not an experienced pin tech or pf installer. I get a lot my experience working with pros and first timers who call on me when there is a problem.

So when you are installing a pf, its not like putting a water pump on a cars motor, where you use screws and a prefit gasket, and you tighten as hard as you can since the water pump, screws and engine block are for the most part the same material steel
On a pf you have wood which is soft, (very soft.black gumwood sandwiched by 2 paper thin sheets of maple which is not very hard either), with an eight of an inch of hard but brittle clear coat (or less depending if it is nos, repro, or my work). Hard things tend to shatter when they are stressed, and soft things deform. So you want to be careful when you attach a metal screw (especially if it is going in to a metal t nut) to a softer material. The important thing is to not over tighten it since you have 3 materials you are compressing that are different density.

I know it is a pain but when attaching things to wood (and you need to remember you are a finish carpenter, not a framer) I perfer to fit them enough to hold steady and then when I am done with that job I go back and lightly tighten the rest. then after you play 50 games or so, go thru and check everything. If you have the mentality of a mechanic of framer using air wrenches and nail guns, you may not have a good finish. Its a really hard balance, pinball.

The person who invented the nylon lock nut deserves a nobel peace prize. I swap every single nut that I can with nylon lock nuts. On top of the pf they are perfect. I have seen people over tighten them out of habit. Try to avoid doing that also. They will never loosen or come off. Pinball is the perfect application for them.

I hope I dont sound like I am trying to be a know it all, and I am not writing a how to, that's all ready been done. I just want to get across the part about balancing the framer and finisher in your pf swap. and dont over tighten!!!!!!

Good suggestions, especially about clearing away the clear coat. I sell a kit to do just that. it also removes all of the clear out of the t nut counter sunk holes so you dont have to break thru the clear, but pull them in nice and easy with a screw and washers from behind. The fins on a pop bumper lug (its what I call the nail screws) will crack the clear also if you dont remove it first.

This is one of John Greatwich's Stargazer repros that I put a clear on, that I am very happy with

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Here is a title I would love to have. I have owned about75-80% of the classic strerns at one point in my life. The days are done of the $400 games that usually get about 5 beeps when I would power them up. Easy fixes, even for me.
So this is another J greatwich repro pf (I love them. This one had some pixilation on the insert keylines. It was white, right next to the black on the inside of the circle, so I had to repaint all of the inserts. Its is not easy because each key-line has an inside and outside edge that is not easy to paint. I am not super happy with the bonus insert key lines. They are small and the slightest non-perfect round-edge shows, loudly. I got to the point where I was happy enough. This pf belongs to james arnd and I did and experiment and used a deep gloss on the back (polyurethane) and I like it. It takes 3 coats, and I cant afford to do it for free, but I just wanted to see if I liked it, and I do. plus it is all sealed from moisture now, (except the inside edges of the undersides of the insert holes.
Anyway, I will get to the pics and quit yappin

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I want to mention that I am sorry that I am about 3 weeks behind on every thing. Problems seem to come up in groups to test my will. Also in the fall I have a lot of work here at the compound. 10 acres, with 3 buildings and a guest house with a 92 year old woman living in it, oh, Plus a river running thru the middle is a lot of work for one person. I have 4 fireplaces that consume about 20-27 face cords of firewood, and 11,000 sq feet of drive to plow.
I have 2 IJ pfs to complete. One needs to be polished and the other, gets last coats, and block-sand, and polish and clean. Once those are shipped out (I built 12 crates this week) I am starting a new group that includes about 6 pfs that need paint work. So I will start out with about 8 work days of paint work, which I enjoy, and I will start rocking these out.
I am behind. Its not because I am slacking or sick. thank god. Just really swamped, but I am doing my best.
I just wanted to give a heads up to everyone who had one here.

Everything that needs paint work has been on hold till I got everything done. Its hard for me to wear both hats in the same day or week. I either have to think like an artist, or think like a sander.

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Thats a good point. I Also try to remember that the pf installed is a lot different in many ways than a pf standing on its own, uninstalled

Is that the ghoul (avatar) on your name thing? he was my childhood hero. Not a pro athlete but a guy who blew up toilets' with m-80's and loved horror films.

ABSOLUTLY AWESOME. I would love to play that game. well own it also.
I should put a little card on the back side of pfs for when people die, their family will find that says this pf wants to find its way back home. call me if it needs a new home. Although i am way older than most of my clients.
That looks so good thanks for sharing pics of it all done. You should be proud.

This is exactly what I want right here. I want a 3 inch sticker of this to put on the back or under the clear. I just have to figure out how to get it from the screen of my computer to a printer shop. busy busy busy

That looks great! it will all smooth together once cleared. Those older pfs are made for air brushing for sure, but the text has always been the problem for me. Thats pretty awesome. would it be hard to make decals of text that I could clear over if I needed them in the future. Like would a good pic of what it is suppose to look like be all you need?

Please post a pic after you clear your pf. I wish wade would tackle those. There are plenty of games that need them, but what stops people from making them and others is the games are cheap. when that is the case, sooo many people wont put more than "it is worth" at the time in to it. Just had it happen with the clearcoated medusa I have for sale.

If the rule was not spending more on the restoration than it is "worth" there wouldnt quality restorations of much of anything except hemi mopars, TAF, and thats about it

Thats a great example!
I have found that if you want to make a profit, you are better off spending the money and doing it to the 9's, then you can ask what you want because the high quality of the resto raises the demand.
Especially the pf clearcoat!!! ha

So now that it is fall, i turn the spray booth in to a heat booth for the pfs I shot in the last 2 days. The pics of the EBD show what I have to do to get them right. when it arrived it looked perfect, except it was not level and the wood grain was so deep that the lacquer was in valley's that are deeper than the height of the top color which is black. so when I sand, I get in to the inserts and getting rid of the wood grain and getting proper adhesion makes a lot more work for me. I will post some after pics of it when done, Now that I have this handy dandy camera. This happens on about 75% of nos pfs. I have to make them ugly to make them right.
I drilled and dimpled the dolly and this is the first coats to seal that up. Final coat on IJ. I think I did coats 6 and 7 on the R and M, and I think the quicksilver got its last coats

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The special script on the EBD was a factory touch. I think they screened the red after the blue

Again on the EBD, you can see my coat of clear has wood grain. That is on the top since its a thin coat. when I sand that flat< then I have a new flat surface to work with

when you have time, maybe some more pics. I have not seen the game and I am a big fan. I hope it plays super fast and tight. The rob zombie we had here needed to be tuned, out of the box. Just things needed slight adjustment, like targets. I think the flippers also, its been some years now.
Your game looks super cool!! I hope you are happy.

I will check when I get to work today, but I think that is one of the very last batches of EBD. I think it is dimpled on the back for light boards under the inserts. There are so many differences in the pfs for that title. it was made for close to 5 years, and lots of different parts. By the time they were using the cabs from the hyper ball. I am brain dead. I am referring to the game where you shoot a butt load of 1 cm balls (maybe pachinko balls). They harvested the unused cabs for ebd and centaur at the end. BY that time bally went from 80,000 games a year in 1980 if you count EBD and FG in jan of 81 to 18,000 in the rest of 81.
I think they made EBD from jan 81 till 85 in all of its different forms. I think they were bankrupt in 84 or 85, and restructured with midway. I have a great book on it that I haven't looked at in 15 years.

I really dig it when folks post pics of my pfs installed or getting there

It cant hurt to ask. tell them the process takes 13 weeks though. Not sure if they can deal w that, but they can start installing immediately. Maybe talk to mike fox. he knows my work and works at JJP

Here is my latest restoration. This is a 1961 Dynaco stereo 70 tube amp. They were originally a kit with the circuit board all ready built and tested. This is now complete and tested. I have not decided if I am going to get another to power my Von Schweikert VR4 speakers, and run them in mono to each side. I am not sure if that will be enough since the speakers are now hooked up to 2 amps that deliver 400 wpc each with 1400 wpc headroom each. Blah blah
Anyway this amp was designed by david hafler. Its older than me and almost as sweet and cool.

Not pinball, but the parts are so similar, and the expectations of the resto and end product are as high as in pinball. Also restored to function day to day. 4 of those tubes say in big letters "made in Russia" how cool is that. Not USSR, but mother russia. I believe they have a buttload of rare, heavy metals that they mine there. Notice all of the pan head screws are slotted and all slots run horizontal. New input/ output lugs, and cord, plus most components on the circuit board. all audio grade.

I have to believe with how similar the two hobbies there has to be some of you folks in to this. I am trying to find another group or community. Not hi fi buffs, but pinball and hi fi lovers? eh?

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Right now I shoot at 75-77. It depends on if I have Med or fast hardener in the house and if I am doing last coats or build ups. I dont spray when it is over 80 outside since I cant cool my room, and I dont spray when the humidity is over 65-70%. In michigan this can screw me for weeks, but its not worth it

Thank you for the lead. I have found several other Japanese tube amps but its hard to tell what kind of quality they are. They all look nice. Right now I dont have enough experience to buy a new product. I still have not got to listen to the dynakit

I want to put the word out that I am looking for a Marantz 4270 or a 2325. I have the 4240 and I am crazy for the sound and I wanted to use it for my preamp but it is the only model it seems that doesnt have pre amp outs. So I am going to put it up for sale.
I am really looking forward to having the high power, 4 dimension system(the Von Schweikert speakers are amazing but use so much power) down stairs and the tube system up. I have to earn some more $ to buy the rest of the equipment.

I just finished a FUNHOUSE pf that I will try to get pics of today.