Thanks for taking the time to make/post this super helpful tutorial.

Quick question: do you recommend drilling pilot holes before screwing the mounting screws into the cab' walls? It appears you did not on this IMDN. Are virtually all wood screws in pinball machines installed *without* pilot holes? And if that's true, are pilot holes contraindicated? Like, will a pilot hole actually compromise the hold of the screw? I've had screws that hold things like lamp sockets to the bottom of the PF pull their way free, as if the threads were forced to bite in sawdust rather than in true, dense wood. I figure I'm only gonna get one shot at this, so I want to do it right.

*** (Suggested) Addendum ***

It isn’t my intention to steal the OP’s thunder here, but my own experience installing these braces was different enough that I thought I would add to this tread. God knows I have benefited from countless tutorials made/posted by other Pinsiders, so why not take this chance to contribute something of my own? I don’t know how to post all the photos I have in proper tutorial form, interspersed with copy, so I will just break up my tutorial into discrete posts, each with a photo.

* Bally/Williams brackets from Pinball Life - https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-new-style-leg-bracket.html

* 2018 MET Pro

I discovered right away that these braces are NOT plug-n-play. When installed using the leg bolts alone, there are significant gaps between the braces and the cabinet walls.

Corner.Brace.gap (resized).jpg

Your braces will do you little good without direct contact with your cabinet on both sides, so it may be necessary to fashion shims. The braces are far too rigid to flex and meet the walls when you install your screws. You may have varying gaps from one side to the other, necessitating stacking of your shims or the use of two different gauges of shims. I cut mine from two gauges of aluminum sheet using either tin snips or a hacksaw. This, when combined with stacking, gave me the greatest variability of shim thickness – which I found necessary.

Corner.Brace.shim.thickness (resized).jpgCorner.Brace.tools.supplies (resized).jpg

Cut your shims to have dimensions that match the drilled “flaps” of the brace, then use duct tape to secure them along the long edge to the brace.

Corner.Brace.tape.for.drilling (resized).jpg

This will make it easier to keep them in position as you place the “sandwich” of your shim and the brace in your vice for drilling. Take care to load them in your vice so that the hole you intend to drill (in the shim) is as close to the vice as possible, as you will need the support when pressing hard during your drilling. Remember, you are using the hole that exists in the brace as the guide for your drill, so choose a cobalt bit that matches that diameter. Drill each of the three holes, one after the next, repositioning your sandwich in the vice each time. Then remove the brace/shim sandwich, flip it around, and do the other shim in the same manner. If you have a brace that requires two shims on a single side, you will have to repeat the process for the second shim, unless you can stack them and drill them together.

Corner.Brace.drilling (resized).jpg

Install the brace in position using the leg bolts (with leg) and torque down the bolts. Then tuck your shims into position.

Corner.Brace.shims.in.place (resized).jpg

Now use the brace holes as your drill guide to drill the pilot holes in your cabinet wall. Be sure to check depth of your drill bit (with tape stop installed) against the upper edge of cabinet wall. Remember to add the wall thickness of both the shim and brace to your depth calculation. The top edge of the coin door wall of your cabinet is a handy spot for this. Now drill three holes ON ONE SIDE ONLY and install your #10 x 3/4” screws. Then drill the opposite three holes and install the screws there. Repeat all the preceding steps on the remaining three brackets.

Corner.Brace.pilot.hole.measuring (resized).jpg

Corner.Brace.drilling.cab (resized).jpg

Rear/right brace requires one additional step: you must cut a notch in the power cord cup. You will have removed the cup before installing the brace to give yourself the room for the job. You will have discovered it tethered to your game by way of the power cord and not really removable to be worked on. Still, your cord is long enough that you can walk the cup to your bench (if your game is nearby, as mine was) and do your work there. I used a finish carpentry saw for this job, but a coping saw would do, or certainly a Dremel tool. Your aim here is to remove whatever portion of the cup is now displaced by the freshly installed brace. It doesn’t take much, but it has to be cut away for the cup to be remounted flush.

Corner.Brace.cord.cone.tethered (resized).jpg

Corner.Brace.notched.cord.cone (resized).jpg

Now return the cup to its position and – hopefully – you are finished installing your corner braces.

Corner.Brace.finished (resized).jpg

A good point, and you might well be right regarding braces from sources other than Pinball life. But the braces I got are made from such thick steel plate that they are effectively rigid. If you expect to overcome gaps simply be torqueing your screws, the only thing that will flex to make the connection is your cabinet. And how do I know this? Because I tried to install my first brace without the shims, hoping the bracket would flex to meet the cabinet walls. It did not. I was dismayed by this reality, but rather than complain to Stern/Pinball Life I spent a couple of more hours addressing the problem with shims to ensure a smart install. I try not to “mess up” and throw away my time on senseless additional work, believe it or not. And no, I’m not an engineer.