(Topic ID: 327313)

six million dollar man restoration , (Better, Stronger, Faster.)

By Matthew2015

1 year ago


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There are 57 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 2.
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#1 1 year ago

here's my progress on my six millions dollar man that have worked on for the last few weeks.
this is my first and most major restoration i have had to do so .
i would have posted about it earlier but was not sure how it would turn out , but i think it turned out pretty good.
the main issue with it was the playfield wear.
after cleaning the playfields wear like ball swirl marks and other stuff like the color and were was improved .
first part was using white primer then adding the lines and color on it.
filled in parts white that would be under the playfield plastics to diffuse the light better.
also repainted backbox , backbox light panel and inside cabinet and other parts.
filled in missing chunks in backbox support and backbox light panel with wood epoxy then painted over it.
took part coin door and sanded front and then polished with a orbital buffer with novus 3 and 2 .
put in new labels inside cabinet and backbox.
new custom apron cards.
still have other things to do on it so i will post progress as i go along.

i have posted in order of what it looked like before i started and the results after restoration.
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#2 1 year ago

Pretty good I'd say. I enjoy older games getting some degree of restoration work, and it doesn't have to be a high end super expensive job, either. Please make sure to replace C23 on the solenoid driver board. That looks original. If you are keeping those boards, I would advise you to make all the reliability upgrades on the pin repair site.

#3 1 year ago

looks great. I have SMDM from my father-in-law. I replaced some of the boards with Altek. The middle of the play field is worn. Not sure if I have the ability to fix it.

#5 1 year ago

Nice work! I really wish Outside Edge would make a hardtop for 6mdm. I'd order one immediately. It's a not a top tier game, but it's a good game. A hardtop makes a lot of sense on titles like this.

#6 1 year ago

Nice work! I dont know whats wrong in my head, but I just love the look of that transparent sticker on the polished coindoor!

#7 1 year ago

Wow, I'm impressed. My first playfield swap was my Six Million Dollar Man as well, this was back in 1998 I think . I had it clear coated but a local guy that did motorcycle tanks after they were painted, so it was really unheard of at the time to do a pinball playfield. The playfield was NOS and only cost me $100 and $50 for the clear job so it was a no brainer. It still looks awesome to this day. Again, nice job and keep up the great work.

John

#8 1 year ago

Very nice!

#9 1 year ago

i repainted the insides of the cabinet and the white parts of the backbox with foam brushes using a couple of layers white gloss paint.
cleaned and sanded before painting for a smooth finish.
though i don't know if will do the rest of the inside of the cabinet , i mainly wanted to paint areas around important components in the front such as the ball tilt and the power switch and knocker , mainly just do the front areas that could be seen when you open the coin door .
using spray paint would usually be the preferred method due to being faster but i think foam brushes did just as good for a smooth finish.

i did use fine grade sandpaper on the door first then use the orbital buffer with novus 3 then 2 to get a further shine on it .
it picked up quite a lot of black stuff on it.
but the door had shine or no reflection on it at all before i started cleaning it.

#10 1 year ago

i also put new coil labels on the coils .
looks much better than the original labels that have faded.
especially the out-hole coil was very faded.

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#11 1 year ago

about done with repainting front of cabinet.
what kind of clear would work for cabinet touch ups?

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#12 1 year ago

Good job on the cab paint from what I can see. When I painted the inside of my Lost World I had no intention of painting the whole inside, but I was spraying and had plenty of paint left over so I just went ahead with painting the whole thing. If I had it like yours I would just have finished it off, there's not much left inside that isn't painted. I was never much into caring about painting inside the cabinet, because rarely is it something a guest would see. The best thing in my mind is if you drop a tiny part it is much easier to find if the bottom is painted.

#13 1 year ago

yes , i think i might as well paint the rest of the inside of the cabinet since i already painted so much of it white already.

does anybody know of a good type of clear coat i could use on the cabinet? would spray or brush on work better?

#14 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

yes , i think i might as well paint the rest of the inside of the cabinet since i already painted so much of it white already.
does anybody know of a good type of clear coat i could use on the cabinet? would spray or brush on work better?

I think a lot of folks here will be recommending auto clears and other finishes that require a lot of safety gear etc... Personally, for what little I've done I have had good results with Krylon crystal clear rattle can spray. You can spray in a garage with good ventilation, a fan and light safety gear. Lots of light coats until it builds up. Just a less expensive option that is fairly easy to implement.

#15 1 year ago

made more progress on the inside of the cabinet .
white does make it much easier to see everything in the cabinet , especially the small parts when compared to unpainted or black paint.
now the bottom is whiter than the sides so i will paint the sides to match.
i was thinking that for the outside cabinet that a satin finish clear coat would look best .

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#16 1 year ago

Would you mind throwing up a little more detail on your re-painting process for the playfield? I got one in similar condition to this a while ago and was thinking I'd get a CPR playfield for it. But your paint job looks great.

#17 1 year ago

i used the decoart paint for touch ups on the playfield . i used white primer before painting on colors .
for the fine lines i used uni posca paint markers such as the thin black ones around inserts and lines for arrows and other details.
i think i did not too bad for my first time repainting a playfield , if you were to look it close up you can tell where its been redone but from a distance it is not that noticeable. likely less noticeably after i clear coat it but still need to make new insert decals for it first and finish other touch ups.
a CPR playfield would be the perfect replacement but it is costly at $899.
i just did not think this pinball sells for enough yet to be worth spending that much for a reproduction playfield .
if it was eight ball deluxe or other more popular classic pinballs , then it would be worth the replacement playfield .
but if the playfield on this , was in any worse shape i might have just gotten the reproduction playfield anyway.

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#18 1 year ago

Thank you. That helps. I may try my hand at touch ups. I can always buy a new playfield later if I screw it up!

#19 1 year ago

Before you clearcoat the playfield with whatever product you use make sure you take a piece of scrap wood and apply some of the touch up paints and paint pens. Then apply whatever clear you are using. You should even take a toothpick and run it through the wet clear and paint on your scrap and see if you underlying paint/paint pen holds up. You would hate for all that hard work to start dissolving in front of you eyes.

Very nice job!! I am working on a SMDM myself right now. I used acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby/Michaels and Varathane crystal clear water based rattle can spray.
(Which did dissolve a test line of a paint pen but is fine on the acrylic paint)

#20 1 year ago

I have not been able to find a reproduction playfield for SMDM. Has CPR started running one recently?

#21 1 year ago

CPR said they made some in august/September but have run out since then .
but maybe they would get more soon.
https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-playfields/6mdm/

yes , i will practice and test out the stuff i used on a scrap wood before i do on the playfield .
would gloss or satin be best for the playfield ?
i think satin would work best for the cabinet.

here's the before and after of painting the cabinet , i painted it with the same kind of paint as the playfield.
i painted it by hand and used masking tape to paint arounds the shapes since the does not have complex artwork.

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#22 1 year ago

working on rebuilding the drop target mechanism now .
put all the small parts into a ultra sonic cleaner and used simple green in it .
it got a lot of black stuff off the parts . likely some old grease that was put on a long time ago .
also putting in new drop targets.

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#23 1 year ago

right now looking for a power rectifier board board and transformer .
i have someone that's sending me a transformer but i still need to get a
power rectifier board .

i was thinking this power board one would be good , anyone use one these before? it says that
you can attach the wires from the transformer without needing to solder.
https://xpinpinball.net/product/xp-bly2518-ebr/
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#24 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

i was thinking this power board one would be good , anyone use one these before? it says that
you can attach the wires from the transformer without needing to solder.
https://xpinpinball.net/product/xp-bly2518-ebr/

Yep, got one on my Playboy! It was my first (and only) game back then, and I don’t think I even owned a soldering station at the time.

It was a snap to install.

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#25 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

right now looking for a power rectifier board board and transformer .
i have someone that's sending me a transformer but i still need to get a
power rectifier board .
i was thinking this power board one would be good , anyone use one these before? it says that
you can attach the wires from the transformer without needing to solder.
https://xpinpinball.net/product/xp-bly2518-ebr/
[quoted image]

Yep. Have one in my Eightball. Good product.

#26 1 year ago

Your restoration looks great. The colors on that game are amazing. I have restored several Ballys and they are my favorite.

#28 1 year ago

Hey george, thanks for the shoutout on the podcast a while back. Did you kiss your wife for me yet?

#29 1 year ago

Jimmy. Lol. I forgot about your request. I’ll see her on Thursday and make sure I do and tell her it’s from you.

#30 1 year ago

does anyone has a bally transformer they can spare? i think its a 122-125.
at least one that already has the wires soldered to the transformer , i got a xpin power board so that way i wont have to solder any wires to it,

#31 1 year ago

finished painting bottom of the cabinet and replaced drop targets
cleaned up some under playfield.

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#32 1 year ago

Why are you switching out the power rectifier board board?

#33 1 year ago

because when i got the pinball , it was missing a power board and transformer.
i ordered a xpin power board but still looking for a transformer.

#34 1 year ago

right now i working on making decals for the inserts by scanning the original inserts to put new decals on the new inserts.
i think that clear sticker paper should work good. i used it for the drop targets and they look good.
luckily i was able to find what font the inserts use . its called " Forgotten World" font.

also , here's the link for the custom apron cards i made if you want to print those out.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/custom-apron-cards-printable-versions-only/page/31

six million dollar man 5-0 font.pngsix million dollar man 5-0 font.png
#35 1 year ago
Quoted from Mram:

Why are you switching out the power rectifier board board?

It's a must-address component of these machines at this point. Either you have to rework all the connector pins for reliability or replace it. I use the weebly rectifier kit and put it together myself as that's faster than working on the old rectifier boards.

At some point I went from reworking everything myself with scrounged parts to not wanting to waste hours of time farting around with stubborn originals.

#36 1 year ago

i do plan on replacing the connectors to everything too .
i finished with making the decals , i think they are a good match to the ones that i scanned.

six million dollar man font 3.pngsix million dollar man font 3.png

#37 1 year ago

working on putting the decals on the inserts but the inserts have these letter printed on the front that stick out.
what would be the best and fastest method of sanding these off.?
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#38 1 year ago

i got a transformer but i am going to need help with figuring out how to correctly wire this up.
i thought it would already have wires and connectors attached to it like other transformers. i got a solderless xpin power board so that saves me some trouble there.

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#39 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

what would be the best and fastest method of sanding these off.?

Start here, read through a few pages, Vid covers it.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration#post-549849

#40 1 year ago

i did find the wiring instructions but it shown only for the one side that has 12 lugs but not the 6 lugs on the other side , or they not used for this pinball?
if someone could take a picture of how theirs's is wired , that would help. should i use 120v or 115v?
please help.

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#41 1 year ago

That's the input side you can measure the output windings to id th other side.... It's likely also listed in either pinwiki or at least one of the repro rectifier board makers installation instructions.

#42 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

i got a transformer

That may have come out of a Bally Freedom. The cage which that transformer is in is different to how Six Million Dollar Man mounts the transformer. I had to re-fit one that someone previously did a poor job retrofitting into a later game. The one I worked on had the rectifier board mounted flat on top of the cage but your cage doesn't have the holes for the rectifier board mounts.

Quoted from Matthew2015:

should i use 120v or 115v?

Measure your line voltage at a wall socket and configure accordingly.

Quoted from Matthew2015:

i am going to need help with figuring out how to correctly wire this up.

See the power module schematic in the manual:
Note, the G.I. 7.3VAC circuit has double wires.

Transformer_Wiring1.pngTransformer_Wiring1.png

Transformer lug wire colors:
1 - Red [THICK]
2 - Red (thin)
3 -
6 - White-Red (thin)
8 - Green (thin)
10 - White-Green (thin)
?? - Yellow [THICK], lug depending on line voltage you select

13 - Orange [THICK]
14 - Green [THICK]
15 - White (thin)
16 - White-Black (thin)
17 - Blue [THICK], note double wires to carry higher current load
18 - Black [THICK], note double wires to carry higher current load

Here's pictures of a power module I pulled out today to service.
NOTE: the pictures below show a European wired transformer for 220V

IMG_0016m.jpgIMG_0016m.jpg
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IMG_0001m.jpgIMG_0001m.jpg

#43 1 year ago

right now i put a satin clear coat on the front of the cabinet . i am about to put the door on but i don't remember how the door hinge goes back on the pinball.

#44 1 year ago

okay i figured out how to put the door back on , i think it looks pretty good.

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#45 1 year ago

i will get the transformer wired up soon when i get the xpin board board. i found the proper mount for the transformer but
what would be the best way to install it to the mount , i see the other piece inside the backbox , but i don't have the proper machine threaded screws to fit it.
what size do i need ? could someone show me how they have theirs mounted.?

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#46 1 year ago

is a Varistor 130LA10A the correct one to put on this?
this one was already on it but i have 130LA20A Varistor if that would work better. what's the differnce between them?

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#47 1 year ago
Quoted from Matthew2015:

is a Varistor 130LA10A the correct one to put on this?
this one was already on it but i have 130LA20A Varistor if that would work better. what's the differnce between them?

130LA10A is probably factory. When I need to install new I use the xxxLA20A since they can take take larger hits.

Quoted from Matthew2015:

but i don't have the proper machine threaded screws to fit it.
what size do i need ? could someone show me how they have theirs mounted.?

The rear screws are #10-32 thread from memory, probably 3/8 to 1/2 inch length.

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#48 1 year ago

okay , thanks for the pics , going to sand off the casting letters on the inserts and put the decals on them , then i will put on the clear on the playfield.
will wire transformer later too . so maybe in the next few days i will have all of this done.

1 week later
#49 1 year ago

taking a break for now but will post update again when i make more progress.

3 weeks later
#50 1 year ago

still have not make any progress yet . i guess i have gotten tired on working on this.
i might my willing to sell this project if there is someone looking for a project or wanting this pinball.

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