Pleasant Hill, MO
This is a summary of my first (and maybe only) restoration. Before this, I really didn't know much at all about how pinball machines worked and I couldn't even solder. As far as time and money spent, this was a stupid idea, but I wanted to learn some things. I have tons of before pictures and some pictures of the reassembly, but I'm just attaching some of the final product for now. This was a routed players condition machine with a cabinet that was falling apart. There were tons of incorrect and broken parts I didn't know about until well after I started.
Things I did or replaced:
Nearly everything was replaced with new other than the ramp which was supposedly pretty new when I bought the base game, the sound board, the transformer, some of the wiring harness and a few brackets. Every metal part that wasn't replaced was tumbled.
The cabinet and all external hardware are brand new.
All new rottendogg boards (other than sound board). Old boards all had previous repairs and hacks.
HSA restored playfield
New topper
New translite
Every coil replaced
Every switch replaced
Every IDC connector replaced (I'm crazy, but they were all brittle/broken and dirty)
All light sockets in the backbox were replaced
Backbox light panel sanded, painted, and all new wire installed
New chair
New thing hand
New bookcase assembly
New thing motor
All bumper parts replaced (brackets, coils, bumper caps, bumper assemblies, every single part)
New decals everywhere
Chrome plated thing box, junction box, wireform, a couple ball guides, and some other topside parts.
New plastic set
Added connectors to every coil so the assemblies could be removed easily
New chair scoop
New swamp scoop
Full cliffy protector set and posts everywhere
New flippers
New rubbers
Flipper fidelity speakers with new speaker panel (old panel was pretty beat up)
New speaker plastic
Stainless ramp flaps
All new armatures and coil stops.
Painted transformer
Replaced power cord and all parts in junction box
New subway ramp
Replaced several posts that were either bent or incorrect
All new target set
Installed fuse block for magnet protection
New shooter cover (old was broken)
Painted apron, shooter cover, and installed decals.
New flipper buttons and shooter rod parts
Other stuff I'm forgetting
Things I learned or screwed up:
Just buy a HEP and save yourself the trouble!
Never trust the manual. I made a lot of mistakes by following the manual explicitly. There's a lot of incorrect part information and installation information in there.
Start with a better base game, examine the backs of the boards, look closely at the underside of the playfield for missing and broken parts.
Examine your new parts when you get them or install them immediately. I bought the plastics 20 months in advance. 5 of the plastics had incorrectly drilled holes and the speaker panel cover had a crack I didn't know about until installation. That was about $150 in parts that I had to reorder since the retailers couldn't do anything about them after nearly 2 years.
Don't buy decals from Classic Arcades. Got my first set of apron decals from them and they were more brown that black. Looked terrible. I took them off and threw them away.
New apron decal is already damaged from the metal apron guide rubbing on it. Oops...
Clearcoat is cracked in two places at the shooter lane. HSA repaired the shooter lane and the clear cracked before I even started reassembly. I can probably fill those with something right?
Buy your parts in fewer orders! Most things I didn't know until I needed them, but I ended up placing over 50 orders wasting probably $300-400 in extra shipping costs.
Time spent? Who knows? 500 hours or more probably, and that includes having someone else do the cabinet and playfield. Final reassembly only took about 4 months, but I had most of the smaller assemblies cleaned and ready to install before that.
Game Parts
Base Game 4675.00
New Plastic Set 217.36
New Cabinet 1523.08
Cabinet Decals 316.56
New Topper 150.19
TAF Decal Set 54.95
Rubber Set 20.95
New Translite 192.09
Parts (Thing hand, chair, bookcase, bumper caps, speaker panel, etc) 444.26
Parts (Thing box, flipper bats, plastic assembly) 79.54
Pop Bumper Assemblies, IDC Connectors, Nuts, Washers 256.15
Backbox sockets, PCB Standoffs 74.09
New speaker system and speaker panel 220.00
Cable Clamps & Screws 39.80
Cointaker LEDs 205.81
IDC Connectors 24.60
Pinballs, Cabinet Glides, IDC tools 42.85
Copper Staples, Wire, Etc 31.80
Colored Wire 14.24
IDC Connectors 70.00
IDC Connectors 29.58
IDC Connectors 50.00
Rottendog Boards 687.20
Screws 13.06
Ribbon Cables, Switches, Coil Sleeves, Buttons, Level, Etc 112.51
Coils, Springs, Diodes, Armatures, Etc 193.70
Connectors, Screws, Posts, Etc 129.94
Coil Wrappers 48.54
Plasti Dip 9.52
Pivot Nuts, Colored Wire, Armatures 49.03
Rivets and Rivet Dies 105.50
Bushings, Crimp Terminals, Flipper Bracket, Lamp Sockets, Etc 60.06
Switches 183.65
Bulk used wiring harnesses 87.52
IDC Connectors 28.50
Subway, Chair Scoop, Swamp Scoop 193.67
Molex Connectors 9.20
Switches 27.05
Connectors, Terminals, Coil Stop Brackets, Etc 79.99
Playfield Restoration 940.00
Apron Decals (garbage color, thrown away) 29.95
Thing motor, screws, power supply parts, etc 280.18
On/Off toggle switch 14.02
Chrome part plating 285.00
Cliffy stuff, protectors, posts, etc 195.25
T-nuts, etc 17.30
Posts, Superbands, etc 53.45
Pinbits Ramp Flaps 26.64
Missing wire gate, switch adjuster tools, etc 17.34
Kicker Pivot Brackets 13.98
Shooter cover, clear dome, springs 18.73
Plastics, interlock switch plate 30.12
Fuses, screws, interlock switch 42.99
Bookcase bumper pad and correct decals 69.91
Another speaker panel 94.99
Total 12881.39
Tools
Lift Cart 138.05
Tumbler 337.43
IDC Tool 21.30
Pinball Rotisserie 267.89
Ball guide brackets 36.24
Stainless steel strips 163.70
Stapler 69.93
Tumbler Media 58.96
Flitz 24.48
Solder 21.99
Misc Tools and supplies 150.00
Soldering Iron 69.99
Sold pinball rotisserie -150.00
Total 1209.96
Old Parts Sold
Sold partial plastic set from base game -160.00
Sold old topper -100.00
Sold old translite -80.00
Sold old MPU board -133.50
Sold old display board -43.00
Sold connectors -9.00
Sold old bumper brakets -17.00
Sold connectors -9.00
Sold old coils -46.50
Sold driver board -125.00
Sold old chair scoop -20.00
Sold old thing motor and hand -130.00
Sold old plastics -20.00
Total -893
Total Spent - After selling old parts 13198.35
Total Spent Excluding Tools - 11988.39
I have a lot of extra hardware, IDC connectors, etc. I bought in bulk in case I ever do this again. I also have some old parts I haven't tried to sell yet (old switches, old targets, old coin doors, old cabinet). Factoring in all this, my total cost for just what was used on the TAF was probably around $11000.
Vancouver, BC
