A buddy picked up a SM that looked like it had been unboxed, left in the same location for 11 years, and played. A lot.

Since I like refurbishing games and he was in no rush to get it back, he dropped it off at my place for me to work on it. As with many people here, I find working on games to be fun and relaxing. However, since I do have a full time job, this is something that I can work on here and there without any rush.

The goal here is to get the game into great playing shape, not do a full restore. That means cleaning everything, replacing all the moving parts (flippers, pops, slings, etc), all the rubber parts, and all the broken parts. Also, this needs to be a visually good looking game, so good lighting and other additions are going in.
Which is perfect as I have a lot of fun developing advanced lighting systems with the Pinduino and know that the owner will be a great person with whom to develop some new ideas. So this thread will document what gets done, have some before and after shots, and have a place to show off new Pinduino lighting setups.

Here is the very happy owner dropping the game off at my house. Overall, the game is very dirty, as a handful of switch errors, missing a ball, but otherwise looks to be in great shape.
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First thing was the switch errors. The switch wire harness got caught in the slide rails in the cabinet at some point and two were torn apart. Easy fix and some zip ties will keep that bundle out of the way.
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I like to work on one side at a time and from one end to the other. This lets me go through slowly, take inventory of what I'll need to order and what I have on hand, and keep my eye out for anything that will require a lot more work. Also, I like to clean as I go and see how things will look as I progress.

First up will be taking off the bottom parts, and cleaning them and the playfield.

Yep -- definitely a dirty game.

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These bats are not worth saving. It isn't the back from the rubber, but the brown stains and patterning on the top. Since the owner wants the lower plastics replaced with the nice set from Back Alley: https://back-alley-creations.myshopify.com/collections/spiderman-pinball-mods/products/spider-man-plastic-sets, we thought it would be good to get matching colored bats. Black on the right, red on the left.

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Only one bulb working on the lower playfield. Good thing as that means less heat damage and dirt on the plastics. My hope is that playfield grime help preserve it!

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So with the bottom section disassembled, here is the first good set of before and after pics. This game is going to clean up real nice!

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The clear is definitely scratched up from all the dirt still have the original balls (as far as I can tell). But, at least I can see what it will look like with some wax to help smooth out the haze. While the wax was drying, I was sending the owner pictures with different color white bulbs. Warm was too warm, cool was too cool, so sunlight as the clear winner.

here are warm and cool
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Then cool (left) and sunlight (right)
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Time to take the wax off and see how it looks. Definitely much better, but when compared to a region under the sling plastic that never had ball travel, the fuzz in the clear is visible. But for what will be an amazing playing game, this will be perfect.

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The fun of cleaning parts, going slow, and making sure you get as much grime out as possible. Definitely time to break out the ultrasonic wash, q-tips, and red brillo bad for those metal parts.

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End of the first night. The lower section looks amazing compared to how it was (and the middle/top sections will get there.)

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Had some more time over the past couple of night to dig into this game. Next up was removing the ramps and taking note of other things that need fixing. The ramps on SM are particularly prone to breaking, but onf first look, these appeared to be in really good shape. However, as with the rest of the game, they were very dirty so it was hard to tell at first how bad the ball tracks were as well as how much grime had been ground into the ramps over time.

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One thing I have learned from my years of refurbing and shopping games is take photos of everything you take off the game. What I think I'll remember in a week, I tend to completely forget in 5 minutes. Also, the fit of parts is easy when everything is assembled, but is usually a WTF when trying to put back together without photos.

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Of course, on of my three helpers has to come by to make sure that I'm doing a good job. I think he mildly disapproves. The dogs, on the other hand, stay by my feet just in case one of the screws I drop is really a piece of food. So far, they have been greatly disappointed.

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You would think I'd remember where all these screws go. I mean, how hard can it be. I know I won't in a couple of days.

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Another thing I've learned is to take pictures of where the wires run for the lights, switches, etc. Like screws, once the game is apart, nothing is obvious.

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I often will point to a screw that is in an out of site spot to remember that I check it when reassembling.

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Also, I take pictures of parts that come off in order to access screws, etc. The order of them in my photos helps me recreated the assembly steps. Like with screws and wires, the order of putting together is something I tend to forget in a week (or 5 minutes).

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Same with any gymnastics that was required to get a part out. I can't count the number of times I could not figure out how to get a part back in that I knew I could get out and ended up taking a bunch of stuff back off.

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Another ramp is off (but this photo is for recalling where the opto wires are running)

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Look ma, no ramps!
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Time to check out the pop area for damage from the back web slinger. Cool effect, but slamming a metal ball into an area filled with plastics, wood, and metal did not work well for these games. Overall, the damage isn't too bad. One pop metal ring is broken clean off its posts and one of the web roll over lane guides is smashed to pieces. Those will all be replaced.

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Time to step back and assess what else needs repairs. Doc Ock magnet is mushroomed and has damaged the playfield. Some options for that:
1. Clean up and do nothing
2. Clean up and fill with wood filler
3. Do (2) and put a cliffy ring protector around the area to hide the damage
4. Do (2) and get a scan of the region to make a decal to put over that spod (and then put down (3))

Oh -- I guess the playfield could always be replaced. Anyone have a spare?

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Back panel sticker has heat damage. Looks bad when the playfield is pulled out, but can't be seen when the playfield is in place. Not sure if this is worth replacing (this is to be a good players game, not a 110% better than factory restore.) Also, I'm going to take all those bulbs out and put down strips of addressable LEDs over that region for awesome lighting effects with the Pinduino.

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It always amazing me as to the screws that work themselves loose. These are missing, but the plastics are in good shape.

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These ramps are cleaning up really well! No cracks or breaks!

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Doesn't look to be in business anymore: https://treasurecovepinball.com/polishing-kit.htm

That is awesome of you! PM sent about details. Happy to pay shipping; happy to send you a Pinduino DIY kit (if you like that kind of stuff!)

I've never seen that kind of damage before, either. I haven't put new bulbs in to see if there is a problem with the current to those, but as I recall, they are on the same GI circuit as other bulbs on the playfield and all the GI comes from the same set of circuits on the power driver board. Another fun thing to dig into, but they will all be replaced with addressable LEDs anyway.

Ha! They told me it was out of warranty by 10 years. However, considering the age of the game and the number of games played (~50k balls according to the audits), I'm very impressed with the quality of Stern (at least back when this was made.) Great to work on a game that has a metal apron, playfield rails, etc. all stock and out of the box without having to pay an extra $2500 for the lux edition.

More work on the ramps tonight. Shout out to zene10 for the Brillo pad on a drill. This is magic!

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The last ramp cleaned up really well!

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What a difference! Thanks again to zene10 for the polish and borrowing the orbital.

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Plastics are getting the sonic treatment. Green goblin’s first bath in 10 years, but he insisted on keeping his ass filthy. He likes it that way.
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The cleaning continues. Under the dirt, the playfield looks amazing. After more conversations with the owner, we decided to replace the GI with addressable LEDs. That will let me develop code that changes all the GI color based on game play. Which, for a game like SM, will be amazing.

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Removed the doc ock magnet core. Definitely and to back it out up and through the playfield. This is what mushrooming means to a magnet core.

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