Scrubbing bubbles. Spray the board down, scrub with a paintbrush, rinse, rinse with 91% or better isopropryl alcohol, then dry with the air compressor.

I always set them in front of a fan for a few days as well to make sure they are completely dry - but you really need to use a blow gun and make sure all the areas that could trap water are completely dry.

Socketed chips and fuses are a must. Gotta pull them.

On older boards, say Sys 7 or earlier, pull any relays, as they are not sealed. DIP switches also are not sealed on these boards.

I use the stuff in the aerosol can. It foams and you can just watch junk run off the boards.

As far as the ultrasonic, it definitely is loud. All 3 I've owned were loud. No louder than my tumblers or air compressor, though

Replacement drop target frame arrived today!

This is from a Shadow. Trimmed to clear some things I'd guess - but it's pretty dang close.

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The only missing thing is the hardware that goes in the bottom of the frame to limit how far the reset arm can drop. I can drill the frame and use a machine screw with 2 SEMS locknuts - one on each side of the frame - to replicate the purpose.

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Really getting crippled by the lack of quality warm weather - I need to do some sanding and painting to move forward very fast.

Little things going on - ordered a few more parts. Bought a full Cointaker LED kit, including flashers and did the non ghosting upgrade. Pinside discount saved me $41.20!

Still trying to find a nice used playfield and a drop target bracket. Found a NOS one at PPS, but it has drywall screw holes in it, and $600 is above what I feel it's worth, considering the fact that it'd need repair, clear, and isn't dimpled/drilled.

Debating over whether or not this is the game I want to 'test' the ezsbc LM323 and 7812 regulator replacements on. I have a couple of each, to try them out.

Been working on boards for customers most of the day. Hope to dive into some of the Flintstones assemblies tonight. And maybe finish up the boards, too.

Dove in tonight and got a fair amount done after finishing up some customer boards.

CPU had a ramtron added, don't want to leave batteries in the game - no different than any of my others

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Once rebuilt, I stuck it in the test rig to burn in a bit.

Did a little more to the driver than I initially planned. I got a couple of the EZ SBC LM323 regulator replacements, and thought I'd give them a try on this. Really want to vet them as a solution before I offer them to my customers. Also replaced C4, as C5 had been replaced by the previous tech to work on this board, but not C4. Upgraded from 100 ufd to 470 ufd. Doesn't quite fit on the board 'right', but it's doable.

Also replaced the LM7812 at Q1 with one of EZSBC's products and the 100ufd cap at C2. C2 is known on these boards at this point to start leaking and spew electrolyte on the boards, and eat up traces. So, I thought I'd nip that in the bud before it happens.

I also put fuses in the driver board, verifying the values match the manual. And I replaced the 2 secondary input headers, and the header taking power from the driver board to the CPU. These were all a bit tarnished, and the jumper wires originally connecting the TPs on the driver board to the CPU indicate that this may have been a weak point. I'll repin the harnesses that plug in to these plugs as well.

Hopefully, this brings the temp in the backbox down a bit, and makes it more stable. The 7812s don't often go bad - I change a few LM323s, but I figured I'd try the 7812 replacement at the same time. It doesn't require a heatsink!IMG_5748.JPG

Also hooked up the FS DMD driver, after verifying fuse values.

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Yes, people still operate games. I know a number of operators. None of them are driving a Benz or wearing lots of jewelry

Do I think it'll pay for itself? If my labor is free, at a 50% split, I don't see it paying for itself short term. I paid $550 for this game several years ago, but have put a LOT of parts into it - haven't set back and totaled it up - but I know I'm over 1k on the game and parts at this point.

But, I always wanted to try operating to share the love of pinball with people who don't know about it, or have never played a completely/properly working game. Let's face it, that's not gonna happen in my basement - if some weirdo I didn't know said 'hey, do you wanna come over to my basement and play some pinball??', I'd probably fear for my life and run.

What'll happen down the road, I don't know. It's possible I could hate it, and decide it's not for me and never try it again. I may enjoy it, and decide I need more games on route. Only time will tell!

I just use scrubbing bubbles and a paintbrush on lamp boards. Don't know that I'm ready to clean boards in my ultrasonic.

Some more parts rolling in today...

What do you do when your black targets are beat to death, but you can't buy them anywhere?

I did a little math, 13 targets in this game, about $7 per target (if I could get them all...) - all new targets would be $91 + shipping - or, $1.25 per face at Planetary Pinball, 25 cents or less per target for new foam, 15 cents or so per target for new rivets - under $2 per target to make them work and look good as new!

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And, the magical LED kit. Never been a LED fan, but I'm gonna give it a try so I can have an educated opinion. Went with a kit for the first time, versus rolling my own.

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It finally warmed up in Indiana!

I painted the interior of the cabinet and backbox. Looks a lot better!

Now I can start reassembling the game!

Bought 2 new ramps for the game today, one all the way from Australia! My originals are pretty horrid. Since it's going on route for now, I will see if I can salvage them enough to use them on route, until it comes home, but I'm not sure there is enough left to save.

Suddenly, I'm starting to realize why this game was $550. The 'steal' may have turned into a not such a steal.. keep in mind, that price was almost 10 year ago pricing - a fraction of what today's prices are.

I used spray paint. Rust Oleum Painters Touch Semi Gloss Black. I didn't prime the wood.

I masked the floor, other than the transformer board, as the transformer board was pretty hammered and stained up, and sanding won't clean it up as well as I'd like.

I filled all the drill holes in the front of the cab with hardwood dowels. I'll touch them up with black paint. The front of the cabinet is almost all black anyways. That is as much to keep things from getting inserted in holes as it is to make it look better.

There's a fair amount of wood damage on the exterior of this cabinet. I'm in a position where I'm trying to decide the direction to go long-term. I'm not an artist. Giving me a paintbrush is generally a mistake. I can take a black paint marker when I'm done, and do some touch ups, but I can't make it look CQ.

My plans long term for this game, if I decide to make it a collection 'keeper', would be to restore it again, with some custom cabinet artwork using the Hanna Barbara characters, assuming this title never gets remade (I'd say there's a good chance it won't - but long term, we have Rollergames and a few other non-A titles, so I don't want to say NEVER), and a restored / CC'd playfield with the original characters airbrushed in, similar to the one HSA did.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors in this picture that are yet unknown. Maybe I'll love it, and I'll decide I want a minty fresh one that doesn't need restored. Maybe I'll like the way it earns and leave it on route. Maybe I'll decide I don't like it after all, and sell it the way it ends up.

I use the same painters touch paint on the speaker panel, as well as all the carriage bolts going through the cabinet - the carriage bolt heads will be primed, they will be painted, and I may clearcoat them. I also use it on backbox hinges if they need it.

My goal is to have a decent cosmetic game that plays the way it was intended, and is reliable. This one will not be a high end restoration, I'd start with a better quality base game if that were the intention.

I got the game in several boxes, never got to see it work, it was one of the filthiest games I've ever seen, and I've spent at least as much in parts as I paid for the game.

In retrospect, not even considering the fact that it's been sitting in my storage unit for more than 5 years, I would've been money ahead to buy a nice one.

But, it is what it is, and I'm going to get a good player out of it, minimally.

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Old ratty stained up lamp insert. No amount of cleaning would remove all the bulb burn marks.

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Some white krylon does the trick. It took about 6 faint coats to cover everything up.

Excuse the mud on the back porch, my 7 year old digs beside it sometimes, and I need to get the garden hose out and spray the patio down - but it has been raining on and off all week, so I don't want to soak the back yard anymore right now.

First new ramp arrived! 2nd one is coming from Oz, so I'm sure it'll take a couple weeks

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No clue on the decals, I'll transfer mine as they are ok.

How long did the shipment take from overseas? Did you choose air mail or ?

Use freeze spray or an upside down can of canned air to freeze the decal. Clean the adhesive off the old decal with goo gone. Clean the decal good with dawn soap and warm water and let it dry. Use 3m 467MP tape (double faced with clear adhesive) to put the adhesive back on the artwork, and then re-apply to the new ramp

Done it many times, it's really not bad.

So, I needed to get the speaker panel configured for the 5-1/4 speakers.

One side is already done - easy peasy.

So, how to get the 5-1/4 on the other side?

Well, Tony's Guide is a good start..

http://dziedzic.us/wpc_speaker_replacement.html

I have done probably 10 games using his guide and have always been happy. I believe it's best on DCS or later games - the earlier pre DCS games just don't have the power to drive better speakers, unless you want to add an amp, and I have never found one I wanted to go that far with.

So, I started with this..

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My Dad is a woodworker, so I asked him to make me a jig after looking at Tony's site. Figured it would be the easiest way to get the hole in the right place.

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A router is probably an even better choice, but I don't have a router, and I do have a drill press. I'm kinda thinking I might like to have a router for a number of reasons, but that's another discussion

So, stick the speaker panel in the jig, put the circle cutter in the drill press.. couple clamps for good measure

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Drill a little

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Drill a little more..

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Now, the speaker hole is perfectly sized, in the right spot!

I forgot to take pictures of the process of using a speed square to mark out the new holes, and then drilling new holes, but Tony's site covers that pretty well.

Then, I use a forstner bit to cut the t-nut recess with the drill press

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Don't drill all the way through the panel. Just drill enough so the flange of the t-nut will fit below the speaker grill

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Ready to re-attach t-nuts!

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Now, I've had a few of these made by a buddy on a CNC mill.. unfortunately, he no longer has access to the CNC. His work looked nicer than mine. His machine was a million bucks. My drill press is a hand-me-down from my Dad, with a jig made out of scrap lumber, a $20 circle cutter, and a $10 forstner drill bit set from Harbor Freight.

Once the t-nuts are installed, and the panel is resprayed.. my modified speaker panel looks pretty much as good to his from the players perspective, and once the speaker is installed on the back side, you'll never notice if a screw is off by a centimeter or something

Ramp is heavily blown out. When I strip it down, I'll clean it up and reasses. Wanted to order the ramps while I could find them, because if I wait until I need them, they may not be there

Started refinishing the cabinet carriage bolts today. This game had been in a very humid or moist environment, so a lot of fasteners had surface rust on them. The rust cleaned off very easily, but the finish left was pretty sub par.

This really is a fairly straightforward process.

I cleaned them in the ultrasonic and tumbled them. Once I tumbled them, I chucked them in a drill, and pushed them into a scotch brite sanding pad to rough the surface up real well, and make sure there was nothing left on the heads of the bolts after they'd sat for awhile, sorted in the parts trays.

Then, I wiped the heads of the bolts down with alcohol, and stuck them in a cardboard box. I made Xs in the cardboard box spaced apart, and shoved each bolt into one of the Xs

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Let them dry for a bit, and shot them with black primer.

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After the first coat dried, I gave them a 2nd coat, as I found a few spots the first coat didn't cover.

The primer is rather satin-y, I'll spray them with the semigloss tomorrow, then depending on the results, I may clearcoat them.