One at a time, you can do it just by hooking up to the different inputs on the sub. For both at the same time, I’d go with this to keep the machine’s amps separated: https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/collections/stern-headphone-kits/products/pinsmx-passive-subwoofer-mixer

If there is never a chance of having more than two pins, the Polk subs normally have a Black Friday deal someplace for $75 or less, so you could buy a second for the cost of the mixer.

Sorry, I should have clarified, it 100% works for the sub and will sound fine, but it does introduce a ground path between the two machines. If I was going to have both on at once, I’d want them separated by something like the unit I posted. I suppose there is a risk if you’re using one at a time, too, but it seems higher with both powered.

Sounds like Louie earned himself a burger… Good boy, Louie!

Starbursts get my vote.

This is where Spooky gets it right: same gameplay across all models, just adding more bling to the higher level machines.

Yes, here is the neat history: http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/ukposts.html

Wow… this one is mine, and while I guessed that Ripley’s would look nice cleared, this final product blows me away! Great work, Ron!

Not just a Subaru issue, manufacturers switched to soy based harnesses that are better for the environment, but extra tasty for rodents:

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/subarus-switch-to-eco-friendly-wiring-caused-a-major-problem/

Honda even offers an official rodent wrap made with chili peppers: https://www.collegehillshonda.com/product/4019-2317.html

Likely works on MI mice, but not the LA Cajun mice…

My wife saw this STTNG playfield in progress when we went to Ron’s to pick up my RBION. She normally tells me I don’t need more games, but seeing this playfield was the first time I’ve heard: “I think you need one of those!” Then she saw the TZ Proto in progress and added: “Why don’t you have one of those?”

No better testimonial to the quality of Ron’s work than my wife encouraging me to buy more games!

I really have to get started on that RBION….. Soon (I’ll post pics for y’all, of course)

It’d only be cheaper to replace than rebuild if you are hiring it done. If you’re cleaning the carbs yourself, a rebuild kit is only $15-$30 plus another $10 for a bucket of carb cleaner. Those small engine carbs are pretty simple.

OMG those WK playfields are pure pin art porn!

Can’t wait to see Strange World. Awesome work, Ron!

Ron… Is that Strange World mine, per chance? Looks freaking beautiful!

Cool, can’t wait to see mine with the perfect clear!

80/20 and Swivellink don’t make much for complete carts and workstations, instead they make modular parts that a designer can order in and assemble like legos. 80/20 makes the precision aluminum extrusions used on the cart and Swivellink makes the mounts. No idea what your cart would cost to build, but it’s damn nice!

As much as I’d like to think that ‘Ship’s Whore’ is a business, I think you’re looking for ‘Pirate Ship’ https://www.pirateship.com/.

Sent you a PM, I’ll take it.

For anyone on the fence, Webb is scheduled to have a run of Strange World backglass next month.

Pretty tough to beat Ron’s clear on Wade’s PF w/Webb’s backglass!

The difficulty slider in “The Fractured But Whole” adjusting the player’s race is great social commentary:

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Here is a great “behind the scenes” about how a South Park joke forms and how they select the perfect celebrity to be the butt of the joke (for anyone who doesn’t follow Kayne, he still doesn’t ‘get’ the joke.).

Thanks for the detailed photos. I knew insets could sink on new playfields, but I had no idea it could be that drastic. I know you’ve done a bunch of Spooky playfields, do you see the same thing with those, or is Hammer doing something different?

They never stop to ask : “Should they?”

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+1, but I’m biased

Beautiful work Ron! So excited to get this one, and that I found a Strange World to put it in.

For anyone thinking about picking one of the remaining two up, don’t wait until you have the game. I missed out on Atlantis when Ron had them, even though I knew I’d have an Atlantis someday. If you have the $s, the time to buy is when the PF is available.

This is my dream pinhauler…. If only I had the $/time/space

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/316582934230191/

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Looks like nipple leaf galls to me… that’s the larval stage of a bug, likely one of the little hopping tree lice type.

Something like this:
https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hackberry-psyllids-hackberry-nipple-gall-makers

Started on my Strange World playfield swap today. Here are some old/new shots while I have the whole topside stripped:
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Rotisserie is awesome, thanks again!

It is so nice having two rotisseries, especially with one on wheels. Here’s my little playfield swapping corner of the basement:

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It’s a one-of-one I bought off Ron. The parts are all industrial extruded aluminum (8020.net) and about 100x more quality than a rotisserie needs to be, but it’s an awesome tool.

For something more budget friendly, PinDoc here on Pinside made the green one I’m using, and also makes skate to fit a Costco plastic work table to make a mobile rotisserie platform.

Hey, maybe he’s on to something…. You could add $150 “core charge” to each playfield, just like alternators at the parts store. Unlikely anyone is going to spend $100 to ship back a playfield for the core charge, but if they do, you get your crate back and can put together some frames w/$20 LED backlight and sell ‘em as wall hangers at a show for $500 (there is already a guy doing these, and he charges $950 for an EM or $1,250 for a SS).

Same here…. I put the work into games I love, not games that necessarily have high resale.

Strange World is one of the highest priced EMs, but I’ll be at $5k or more for mine. But, that’s my highest resale Kruzman percentage wise.

My next two Kruzman playfields are: Rocky and Bullwinkle and Ripley’s. Not games that are much beloved, but they are games I love and I’m willing to put in the $s and hours to have the best examples anyone has seen.

Awesome, really cool work!

I was anticipating running into an issue with pop bumper fitment, based on what Playdium reported here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gottlieb-strange-world#post-7193589

I checked the ring rods, and found they would bind when the under playfield bracket was tightened. Lining up the mounting holes, you can see the ring rod holes do not align:
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To confirm the problem, I used two drills the exact size of the holes in the playfield and bracket:IMG_1808 (resized).jpeg

Just to double check myself, I did the same on the original playfield and confirmed all the mounting holes aligned:
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Playdium solved this by expanding the ring rod holes, but I wanted to avoid that, due to Ron’s clear. Instead I used 2 part epoxy to fill the mounting holes for the bracket, then used the drill bits to align the bracket and re-drilled the mounting holes.

Epoxy worked fine (I used the gray “sets in 6 min” JB Weld, but would have used the putty if I had it). Since it’s under the playfield and under the pop bumper base plate, nobody will ever know it happened. The epoxy kept my drill from wandering into the mis-drilled holes and gave me a good material to thread into for the three screws (no need to fill the holes where the coil tower attaches, as those are threaded and the hole is just in case the screws are too long).

Each pop bumper was misaligned exactly the same. I did check my plates and confirmed all three were identical. Everything else on the playfield has been drilled 100% perfect, so Wade must just have had an issue with the template for the pops. The ring rod holes are perfectly placed, and the other holes align with the base plate, it’s just that the base plate holes are ~1\32” out of alignment with the ring rod holes.

I don’t know of an epoxy glue that is actually clear, mine always seem to have a little cloudiness or a little amber tint. My wife has pourable epoxy resin (like they use for the trendy live edge tables), that stuff is totally transparent. I wonder if that would work in your scenario?

All the hard stuff is done on the harness, I just have a dozen or so bulbs left to solder to the neutral and I’ll be ready to move to the scary stuff on the top side of the playfield. I’ve got my Kruzman install kit and portable drill dress ready!
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BTW, if anyone wants a cool light for doing playfield swaps, the one I’m using is $15 and it works great. It has a clamp that opens to 3” and is threaded, so it holds firmly. I like that the lamp and arm are just lightweight plastic, so if I forget to move it when I rotate the playfield I don’t have to worry about it scratching anything. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8L13YQ2

For me the exception is Wade’s repro EM playfields. I’d take Wade’s over NOS or repaired original.

Finally had a chance to work on Strange World some more. Finished the bottom side and moved on to the topside.

Started with the highest pucker factor job, installing the wire guides. These are the riskiest part to install on this game, as they are out in the open and any mistake would show like crazy. You can hide a lot under a jeweled post, you can’t hide anything on the wire guides.

Here is the process I used:

Ground off the locking tabs to make insulation a little less risky (I don’t know why Gottlieb thought these were necessary. But I’m not worried about them falling out, once driven in with a hammer).
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I sized my drill one size down from the wire size, using the metal circle template in Ron’s kit. Then used the rotary tool with the football shaped bit from the kit to grind away the clear on each hole (just place it in the hole and gently move it up and down) to create a countersink.

Once I’d done the countersink, I used the drill running backwards to burnish each hole, then reversed the drill and drilled the full depth.

The result is a hole one size smaller than the wire guide, with a countersink to prevent lifting the clear (you can see that my drill and shavings are full of clear, not wood, which is what I want to see):IMG_1887 (resized).jpeg

Then I used football again to clean each countersink, then the glue in a syringe to lock down each hole. After 30sec of drying time, I could hammer the ball guides in with a soft faced hammer.

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A Black Friday splurge for me… I had a Bosch 12v driver, but broke a shank off in the chuck and couldn’t get it out. The Bosch was good, but a little too “snappy” for my taste in small drivers. I also wanted to move to one of the new multi-head tools, as using a right angle adapter is a pain, but I don’t do enough work to have a dedicated right angle drill.

I tested a few (Bosch, Festool, etc..) and liked the Milwaukee best. The trigger is great, the light is awesome, and the clutch slips really smoothly when you reach your torque setting. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to grip it like they show in the ads, but I find it way more comfortable to use my middle finger for the trigger and leave my trigger finger along the body.

I picked up the combo kit, and it’s perfect for playfield swaps. I like the grip on the rotary tool better than my corded Dremel, and the multi-head setup on the driver is handy for this type of work (drill chuck setup for my drill, driver chuck setup for posts, then use the bare face to drive screws, as the bare face accepts a 1/4” bit). If I was building a shed or something, I’d want a separate drill and driver (drill, screw, drill, screw, etc…), but working on a playfield I do a bunch of the same operation in a row, so the multi-head thing works well (drill, drill, drill, screw, screw, screw, etc…).

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$280 for the kit at Home Depot with the sale. There are some cheaper via Amazon and other online retailers, but the warranty coverage looked sketchy to me, so figured it was worth paying more to make sure the warranty was valid.

Not sure how good your backglass is (looks good from what I can see), but you could add Ron Webb to the list of artists, as he has repro backglasses available. Mine arrives today

So, I knew my original backglass was already 99% perfect, but I opted to grab a repro glass from Ron while he had them. My glass has a tiny loss on the bottom edge from being installed/removed (can’t be seen when in the game), a tiny strip along the left edge where the factory didn’t extend the backing paint to the edge of the glass, and I wasn’t sure if the colors had faded.

Here is a view without backlighting…. Looks like there was zero fading of my glass. The only differences I can spot are: backing paint doesn’t reach the left edge on the factory glass, on Webb’s glass there is a thin white line of backing paint at the bottom of the credit window:
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Here is a view with backlighting. Here the difference shows a lot more, where the white shows some yellowing on the OG and reduces the light getting through the translucent areas:
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Overall, I don’t think anyone would be able to spot the difference between these when installed in a game. For me, it was worth $300 to have a spare glass for a rare machine. I’ll decide which goes in my game (likely the OG, but I’ll test them in the game first) and the other will go in a wall display for my office.

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IMO, this is the best play/art combo of the low production Gottlieb EMs. Normally, I want lots of drop targets to snipe in a 70’s EM, but the layout of Strange World is so good that I don’t even miss having drops.

Mary Roach is one of my favorite authors. She writes on scientific topics with a humorous style. Check out: “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers”, it’s a great read.

Introduction

The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.

Judoratt has the drill/impact/rotary combo, which doesn’t have the multiple chucks. For the multiple chucks, you want what they call the “installation drill/driver”. You can buy it with or without the rotary tool. It comes with: 1/4” driver chuck (really nice, you can push bits in without having to pull up on the locking ring), drill chuck, right angle drill chuck, offset drill chuck (for working in close to where two surfaces meet). You can leave each chuck setup for something and quick change between them, and you can use it for 1/4” bits without a chuck (the bit just isn’t held in).

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/2505-20

I agree, I just have those in 18v Bosch… The 12v is for smaller install jobs, like playfields and kitchen cabinet doors. I wouldn’t use the 12v tools to build a shed, but they are really nice for the detail work.

Two items to watch for:
One pop bumper has the holes drilled incorrect (both Playdium and I documented the same): https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/kruzman-monthly-playfield-thread/page/76#post-7840746

For mine, the right flipper was misaligned. It looked OK until I added the flippers, the shaft would fit, but it wasn’t centered and would rub the edge. I realigned the bracket to center the shaft in the hole and re-drilled (playdium didn’t document this, so it could just be my flipper assembly).

Not bitching about these, as I expect some fitting will always be needed, just a heads-up.

I use my ultrasonic for everything else, it’s heated and I use a 50/50 mix of Mean Green and water (the heat makes a huge difference).

For the harnesses, I bag up any coils, switches or connectors, then lay them out flat in the garage and spray them with this stuff, scrub with a soft tire brush, then rise clean and let dry:
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That Crazy Clean is the best on smoke residue! I buy it by the case for cleaning old games, the yellow grunge just slides off.

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kruzman if Doug needs any patch panels, these guys have most everything in stock and they have a good reputation. They are in Cleveland, so not close to you, but not too far for a day trip.

https://www.millsupply.com/auto-body-rust-repair-panels/ford/f350-pickup/1996/

I’ve never seen any of their Ford products, but others speak well of them. Not concourse ready, but good enough to keep an old truck rolling.

CaptainNeo here on Pinside

New kitty is not welcome to try stowing away in my car.

The other two are OK….

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Paint it as Beatles, but with Pete Best?

“He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas"

I don’t remember if it was this thread or somewhere else, but someone suggested this cool tool. I’ve only used it a few times, but it worked great!

https://www.wyomingsightdrifter.com/

There is nothing like having the right tool for a specific task, from the smallest hand tool to the largest power equipment.

I’ve never operated one, but I lust after timber harvesters whenever I see one. After doing every step manually 100’s of times, it is awesome to see a machine that can: fell, delimb, debark, measure for optimum $, then cut to length to that optimal sizing.
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pjflyer Not sure what your experience is, but STTNG is not a good choice for a first playfield swap. Completely agree w/Ron that swapping from one playfield to another is easier, but that’s relative to other STTNG options.

As far as complexity, I’d say: STTNG and TZ are about tied as the most complex (of that generation), with SC getting an honorable mention for fitting almost as much stuff into a playfield even smaller than a standard.

Compared to Wizard of Oz, or something?

Mansplain is when a man steps in unasked and explains something to a woman with the presumption that she doesn’t know about the topic.

Here is an example that went viral of a female pro-golfer having a random dipshit explain how to improve her swing:

Off topic, but kruzman will appreciate this one: I ordered a pair of wiper blades from O’Reilly, which came with free overnight delivery. Yup, two wipers.

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They resell CPR playfields, right? Just making sure I’m not missing out on something

Finally completed Strange World and have it back in the lineup. Ron’s clear makes this thing play f’n awesome! Great work, Ron!

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Thanks, but I’m no master…. This was my second repaint of wedge head. On my first (North Star) I was super happy with my webbing work and then was disappointed that the Pinball Pimp stencils were so well adhered that they pulled a bunch of the webbing off. On Strange World I tried a dusting of matte clear (against the instructions that the Pimp provides) to lock down the speckles before I put down the stencils, but that reduced the adhesion so much that I got bleed under them in a few spots.

I just had to accept that cabs weren’t perfect from the factory and that my repaint certainly looked better than the shitty latex house paint a prior owner had done on North Star.

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Yes, I bought your beautiful R&B playfield and Strange World before I had the games… R&B is a few down on my restoration list.

For the base coat, I used Rustoleum white mixed with 10% Rustoleum tan, then thinned it with acetone enough to spray. It got the color off-white enough to look right.

For the webbing on North Star, I used Krylon marbelizing spray, but sprayed it into a touch up gun and quickly dumped some lacquer thinner in and sprayed it. The webbing from the can is too thick, so this method gets it closer to the factory look (copied this from @pinhead52).

For the speckles on Strange World, I used Rustoleum black and thinned it way down, then used this brush, which flicks the paint onto the surface. https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Mark-Spatter-Wonder-Speckle/dp/B004WQHLO6

No idea, it’s just what the can said to use. It also said not to thin with gasoline, if anyone was planning to