I'm picking up a TOM from a person that has owned it for the past 17 years. The cabinet and playfield look good in pictures. Just appears slings are broken in typical location and trunk is broken off at the bottom. I have another trunk and will try the double sided foam tape before I try some of the other suggestions here.

I will assume the batteries are dead or corroded based on the photos. Hopefully just need to clean or replace the battery holder.

I just bought Ingo's trunk board. Looking forward to this. Will buy the induino ramp light mod, auto sensing eddy boards, leds and for the first time try out the GI OCD board based on everything written here. I'm going to get the colordmd led (rather than the LCD) also based on recommendations here.

I'm thinking of trying the 3D blackglass.

This will complement the Houdini I put a deposit on. I owned a Pinball Magic in the past and hopefully I'll find another.

As some of you know, I repair Pinballs in the D.C. Area. After doing this for almost 20 years I'm building up my collection with my favorite games.

Can't wait to get the TOM. Hopefully I'll meet some of you at the York show. I have an indoor flea market space to sell some "treasures" I have accumulated over the years. The thing I am excited about most is being indoors. Every time I go, it rains. Not just rain but epic rains.

Thanks for all the info and mod /improvement suggestions on this thread.

Michael

I picked up my TOM Sunday. One minor scratch on right cabinet. Both sling plastics broke at bottom. Trunk cracked. I replaced battery holder. Adjusted one switch. Game works nicely. I will replace J120 and J121 burnt connectors to get GI string in back box working.

I'm going to buy all the cosmetic stuff tonight.

I was thinking of putting the magnet fuses that are sold for the Addams Family into TOM to protect the magnets. Is this overkill? Has anyone done this?

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These were easy to install and I think they look great. A few photos plus one after I added Tilt Graphics blades and arch magnet.

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Here is a similar replacement on a Fish Tales that I did in 2012.

http://purcellvillepinball.com/FishTales2012.html

The pictures are near the bottom about 75% down or search on "Here is my first attempt".

Basically I took off the decals on the inserts by scraping it off carefully and then sanding them down with a fine grit sandpaper. I cleaned up the area with 91% alcohol to ensure the inserts looked good. Then installed the overlay using the wet method with soapy water.

On my decal, and I assume on this one as well, only the inserts are transparent. The rest covers the existing play field. So if there are any other blemishes, you just want to ensure the entire area is flat and smooth. But you only need to concentrate on the inserts. Just be careful near the edges that you do not sand an area that will not be covered by your new overlay.

Hope this helps.

Michael

The edges were not noticeable. It did not affect game play. The overlay integrated well with the rest of the game including matching the shine on the rest the play field. You had to know it was there and look really closely to notice it.

I do not remember where I bought it but most likely a US based company. But I have also bought a lot of hard to find parts from ministryofpinball.com and other places in Australia and such. Here is a good price https://www.pinballshop.nl/playfield-parts/decals/overlay-for-theatre-of-magic/?sl=en. Figure out the best combination of price and postage if you have to go outside the US.

Whenever I get a new machine to restore I list out all the parts I need and start creating carts all over the place to figure out the best combination of price plus shipping. I never an able to get everything from one place or even a few.

I tested the new Cliffy protector for the trunk. It does not interfere with the eddy switch. I will post my pictures and directions for installing since the trunk needs to be loosened.

It looks great and has not affected game play.

Once I get the trap protector I will post pictures as well.

Here is the link to the topic I just added:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/theatre-of-magic-cliffy-trunk-protector-installation#post-4295400

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I just sent an email to Cliff to ask if he was posting this on his site. He also sent me the trap door protector but I did not have a chance this weekend to put on my game. It will stick out past the flap so I may try to carefully cut the edges. This is a carbon fiber protector.

Here are my photos of installing Cliff's trap door protector. The first few pictures show that when I did restore this game a while ago, I added small pieces of mylar that I took off carefully before installing the protector. Then I tried to see if I could do it without removing the clips for the trap door. I used a role of solder to place in the VUK under the play field to keep the trap door open and out of the way. I then cleaned the area with the alcohol actuator Cliff provided. I then placed the protector around the trap door kind of turning it to get on and over the trap door plate.

He labels which side is "front". I then carefully removed the tape cover paper and lightly placed the protector down and lined it up. I then pressed it down more firmly.

I played a few games to ensure that the ball did not fly up. The ball handled well in game play and when I threw the ball up the ramp by hand. A few times it did not hit squarely and came down behind the spinner (but that was most likely due to operator error). I am glad that the clear protector is on the front of the ramp. I did not see the ball pop up while testing. I felt comfortable playing the game and did not feel a difference. (And I am one to stop play the instant something is not right on my games.)

I also tested shooting into the trap door and the ball shooting out. Everything looks good and feels good. I am happy with the Trunk protector and the trap door protector.

Also, the protector is not really noticeable and does not take away from the look for the game.

Thanks Cliff!

Michael

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I assume you are having a problem with one of the flippers, not both?

Try putting the other flipper switch opto board on the problem side.

You should also test the flipper opto boards in switch test.

Try cleaning the opts on the board with a Qtip and alcohol (with game off).

Are the flipper coils hot or getting hot during game play?

I love Rottendog rods but had some strange things happen on a Star Trek Next Gen that were fixed by goin back to a repaired driver board.

I assume working on the boards means working on the flipper board in the back as well. Did you try replacing that with a new Rottendog?

Just in case someone is looking. Beautiful game nicely restored with many mods. Need space so seeing if there is any interest.

Machine - For Sale

Theatre of Magic Archived

Fully shopped/refurbished - “Nicely restored TOM. * Replaced battery holder * Adjusted outlane eddy switches * Replaced service switch (escape button not working) * Replaced the driver board. * Replaced ...”

2019-06-06

Newburgh, IN

mbelofsky

7,000 (Firm)

Archived after: 8 days

Viewed: 804 times

Status: Not sold: Decided to keep game

I am working on a TOM with version 1.2a. The sounds were working fine. So I installed a colordmd. Last time I installed a colordmd, I screwed up and grounded a speaker wire to the frame. Eventually fixed it. So this time, I carefully moved the wires out of the way and installed the colordmd.

went into test mode and there are only three sounds under Test 7 for sound & music. I guess I usually have 1.4H installed so never really worked with this version.

The sounds continue to work great. But just a sanity check to ensure that the test only had 3 sub-tests.

Thanks for any insights.