https://chat.openai.com/

It’s clear now that nobody’s here for the built but only enjoying the slow crash of John.
Pretty sure Im not the only one having this thread on speed dial as soon as I log in.
Might be the only thing that makes us laugh after these prices.
Good luck

I as well but was really hoping that he would have kicked in the ass a month ago. Now, he seems totally directionless and the thread is depressing.

Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome, but I think this thread rules and the build is thrilling.

It's about the ride, not the destination.

Don't get down about progress or lack thereof. If John isn't feeling bad about things, then why should you?

Just getting on a roll with wiring & had 3 Corona. Still got the cold, & my friends have had the same. Mr BMW is supposed to show up Wednesday. Operator has some stuff for me later this week. Motordome needs to be finished by Friday.

That about sums it up

For new people to the thread
D24906F4-0AAA-42AB-B56C-CB348C9F0C8D (resized).jpeg

My biggest question lately is how a person solders one wire! The time to get the soldering iron out and hot is like 5x the time to actually attach one wire. Why wouldn’t you at least do one more? Or like 10?

Ha! True! And the truth about soldering coil and switch wires is that a soldering gun is a kickass tool for this vs an iron, which in my opinion is much better gotten out for board and finer work. I’m lost why you don’t see more people using them

New to the thread? This whole project is an unmitigated disaster.

Just my opinion, but when you take and spend someone’s money and promise them a machine, you have a moral obligation to damn well do your best to deliver.

I would say the changes he made to the original playfield design is/will be a disaster. The speed bump drop targets where the figure 8 was is laughable to look at. Maybe I’ll be wrong and it will shoot better than it looks, or not.

At first that is what I thought, but now I'm not so sure.

Yes - we all come in and read the latest updates, beer count, discounted discolored food purchased, etc - but then we leave the computer go back to our luxurious lives/houses/cars/jobs, etc. Out of sight/out of mind.

And what is our entertainment? It's watching an elderly alcoholic couple with barley enough money to meet the next monthly pension check, with the main pleasure is numbing themselves daily and apart from each other as often as possible. Are they the only ones like this? Absolutely not - but it makes me feel guilty. John wasn't like this early on....is this all an act? IDK anymore.

Jesus Christ, y’all are the depressing ones. John seems content in life.

For some reason I was expecting a mention of "genoa salami" after hearing the word roll.

If I handed someone $10K yeah I wouldn’t be happy right now, but I suspect for Coach he didn’t have high expectations, a much better sense of actual timeline than John did, and $10K wasn’t as big a deal. GWJ should be thankful who his mini-whale is because in my experience people get unreasonably bent out of shape even if you ship their $10 eBay purchase a few days late. This is a whole other level of late. But carry on. Doesn’t matter what the hell any of us think only what the guy holding the purse strings thinks.

I have found that most people are where they are for a reason and choices made along the way.
I may feel bad for them, and even try and help, but I definitely do not feel guilty for what I have earned for myself.

Sorry for the multiple responses if that bothers anyone. I've been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

I suggest we shorten his name to just, Mr. BM

Are you still re-using that wire from an old machine?
I would suggest you call it Vintage wire and its purpose is to give the playfield underside a Patina look.

I think we all agree with that and you are developing a unique reputation all of your own.

And the destination is a relative's driveway in suburbia, Frisco Texas.

It's my impression this is how they heat the entire shop.

Well. I have to cook my bread somehow? How else am I suppose to get a perfect toast amongst the edges?

It’s also good for heating up Tim hortons hot chocolate. plug it in throw it in the paper cup and forget about it.

Not part of the plan.

Perhaps the soldering iron is kept on at the ready leaning against a can of propane?

3 months ago:

36 days ago:

26 days ago:

14 days ago:

12 days ago:

8 days ago:

2 days ago:

19 hours ago:

Nice work assembling all of these parts of the plan.

Avi in the house, along with Mr BMW, the operator, & myself. Programmer was in for a visit, but he is not needed yet. Not blameing anyone but myself. Old soldering irons are fine, & Avi likes the same orange handle one with the light. The local big operators son use to use the trigger style iron. He did a good job of melting all the wires nearby, & I use to refer to the son as The Hack. The old service tech from NFLD use to say nothing to The Hack. Let him figure out his own stuff. Just like the Centaur that they had in the shop for over a year. They sold it to another friend for $300, & the owner called him a sucker when were loading it. Laugh on the operator when I told the owner to look in the pin for any pinballs, powered right up.

John, I wish you the best and admire your tenacity, but you're digging your own hole here. Not sure if I should keep 'adding fuel to the fire', but I found a bunch more when searching 'whitewood' vs 'flipping whitewood'.

3 months ago:

86 days ago:

78 days ago:

69 days ago:

68 days ago:

46 days ago:

Sensitivity be damned, I hopsome feel better with this comedic relief.

Blaming yourself is not the get out of jail free-card you seem to think it is, John. Blaming is utterly meaningless unless followed by self-reflection and improvement.

Well, or not, of course.

I see a lot of deflection/minimizing in John's posts. I'm just along for the ride with no stake in the game along with everyone else in this thread, but the deflection is almost expected and on cue to a humorous level. You see it when talking about drinking (i.e. I may drink a lot, but everyone's an alcoholic here, and my doctor didn't say I'm gonna die yet!) or with being sick (i.e. I 'm sick, but so is everybody else so it's normal and ok).

This is getting redundant. Enough of the judgement and criticism. Pointing out all the missed self-imposed deadlines. It's getting to be way more depressing with each wave of this crap... Let's put some off-color meats on the griddle and chill out!

Everything is going according to plan!

Not in a panic mode yet, & beer count is still zero today. xmas is coming!

What's getting redundant ARE the missed, self-imposed deadlines. ...and the off-color meats IMHO.

So why do you stick around? Just wondering

Ever hear the phrase "it's like watching a train wreck"? You can't help but look. Also, it's a very slow day at work for me.

Still interested in the build, as I am with any homebrew. But it’s getting harder to stick around - still just wish the deadline would just be dropped but I think it’s helping fuel the drama that keeps many checking in on this daily and commenting and I think John enjoys (mostly) the attention, good or bad. At this point personally waiting for either admission that 2023 is out OR panic mode to finally set in and the beer drinking to slow to a crawl while we see some real building happen. Maybe somehow cathartic to many here if John at some point would say not that blame is on him, but that upon self reflection / retrospect— the timelines WERE crazy and everyone telling him to slow down and shoot for 2024 were right.

Panic is not one of your modes. If it was more would get done.

If people are sticking around to be told that they were right, I think they'll be pretty disappointed.

right on track for 2032

97-or-so% agree. More thread drama to come though if March rolls along and we get anything along the lines of "coulda done it, was a good plan/timeline - just ran into some snags" or "if I hadn't gotten sick and bmw man showed up for months at the shop" or anything of the similar vein.

The stories and beer counts and grey ham are all good fun, but honestly I check in everyday in hopes of seeing wires all done, psu's running, MPF is going, whitewood FLIPPING! news. I am interested to see how it plays with all the modifications. I don't know that we are on track for that to see anything till early next year tho.

Well a tough day so far. Avi & I had crap luck with a bunch of Motordome lights that do not work. Those sockets suck big time. Mr BMW was in to hack away at his IJ. No one had beer, & he was not restocking anything. Must be busy with his car payment, & other stuff. Nothing done to the whitewood, maybe Thursday. The IJ playfield is going home with Mr BMW, & hopefully Drag Race leaves. Avi's vid got moved, & his art for control panel is printed.

Hey John speaking of Xmas, are you taking time off from work? Maybe close the shop from Dec.23rd to Jan 2nd..?? What's on the gift list for the wife?
Or is all this not part of the plan?

I usually just give the wife a hundred. Xmas is for kids & women. Guys just get crap clothing usually around here. More like a better time for guys to drink more & do less. My retirement is at the workshop or a bar, so no need to take time off. As long as the suitcases of Bud are standing by for the wife, she is happy. Bus system runs all year, likely I will be at the shop on xmas. Turn on a pinball machine for some festive lights.
I bought Avi a 3 pack of safety glasses, & of course the person to use one was Mr BMW grinding away a Bally flipper linear bushing. A real bush fix that probably will not work along with a severely twisted metal bracket. He will likely ask the local Friday night social guy if he or a buddy can fabricate a metal bracket for the mini IJ playfield that he lost.

Bingo. Just some bad breaks/luck and a couple of slip-ups. Unfortunate but what can you do?

Canadian pesos. She buys here own stock of eggs & food.

I love that we now have fall guys here in the thread and that John waited 3 months to introduce these new characters. I mean getting sick and the inevitable contractor and parts delays are tired and stale excuses. But man that Mr BMW, I can’t wait to see how we wrecks the whitewood or sets the workshop on fire or prevents John from finishing by emptying the pop machine himself. So many angles to explore here, plot twists to unfold. You may know the outcome, but it’s that manner in which we get to that outcome that remains so very interesting. It’s a page turner for sure.

You mean like we know the end of the movie Titanic?

If it was, he would have finished the pfs instead of having someone else come in to finish the job.

Who hurt you?

The holidays are awesome.

Seriously if you followed his playfield thread, we are only on chapter 2 of 12. 5 years from now John is still going to be posting pictures of gray ham while coach pretends that he isn't bothered that he flushed 10K down the toilet. It's all in the plan, or not...until it dies!