Great thread! Nice work it looks amazing.

Awesome job! Strongly considering doing this to my T2, and really digging this thread. I was under the impression when rebuilding flippers to always mount the coil lugs on the opposite Side of coil stops?

The reason for having the coil the other way is to get it as far away from where where the plunger hits the coil stop, this is to limit the shock and the potential cracking of the solder joints on the coil terminals. It'll work fine the other way but I guess it was done to reduce the chance of sited machines breaking down.

What are you using to repaint the gun?

Your apron looks pretty good structurally, why not sand it back & paint it (or get it powder coated) and apply new decals?

https://shop.mrpinball.com.au/product/terminator-2-apron-decal-set/
https://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/terminator-2-apron-decal.html
https://treasurecovepinball.com/Library/decals/terminator-2/terminator-2.htm

I really like how you added the molex connectors for your coils and stuff. I am about to rebuild flippers on a game I want to keep for awhile (and may long down the road do a playfield swap on). I was thinking molex connectors would be good for the future. Plus it lets you do all the "difficult" soldering out of the game and then just plug back after versus soldering at an angle.

Why don't more people do this? Is there a technical reason why molex is a bad idea?

Adding a connector adds a failure point in the future. For assemblies that need to be removed with some regularity (I'm racking my brain as to which ones that would be after they were rebuilt properly, though) it would make sense, or ones where there's a LOT of stuff to work on (memory drop target banks) it makes sense.

That is a fair point thank you. I guess it becomes a balancing act between how "good" or "bad" of a soldering job one can do when the playfield is vertical in the game versus an improved soldering job but an added failure point of a molex connector. I know my soldering on vertical playfields at weird angles leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe I need to see if anyone has offered tips/videos on how to improve my skills at this.

There's no reason you can't make good solder joints with the playfield up. What are you soldering there BTW? I take the coil out of the mech and let it stay in the machine.... rebuild assembly on the bench (haha, that means the glass of the next machine over) and reinstall.

If you're doing ALL of them, take some wood and creatively flip the playfield over onto it, now you've got the original orientation and easy soldering.

Soldering in situ requires you to always feed the solder from above the joint and iron so gravity works for you.

I'm thinking of examples where I'm doing a full flipper rebuild and I can already tell the coil has shrunk and the coil sleeve isn't going to come out and I'm doing a coil replacement. BTW - you and I have the same "bench".

I'm getting ready to do a swap with a Brunner play field as well and was wondering about opinions on using mylar around the pop bumpers if the machine is going to be HOU?

I don’t do it to my own swaps but some people want me to do theirs. I don’t think they’re necessary unless you play a lot. And if you do, it’s good to Mylar the whole area before populating them so you don't have a a dirt/wax line that builds up. But then to replace you’re pulling that all off.

Personal choice but I personally don’t find it necessary.