Here is my first real area of concern, the exposed T-nut near the trunk...in the old playfield there is a fairly deep depression where the T-nut was drawn in tight, with no clear coat this seems like it would be fairly easy to do with no worry...however the new field has no depression and I am afraid the T-nut will sit high and cause problems, if I really pull it in it will damage the clear. I suppose the solution is to use the Kruzman kit to remove the clear from the area but, to be honest, YIKES that doesnt sound like fun...
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The original T-nut had 3 prong, my replacement has 4...

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But on the top the new one has a much smaller divot in the center that the ball could "T-up" on...

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I think I am going to hold off on installing that T-nut until I get some practice with the Kruzman kit cleaning out holes and such in less noticable areas...then return to this when I get a sense of how the clear reacts to removal...

Well this turned out to be a wise move, the holes for the rails were drilled a little weird...the small hole that passed all the way through was not centered with the divot drilled for the screwhead...
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Luckily I was able to just clamp the rail into position, mark the correct hole locations, drill on drill press, and get all 3 rails installed without incident.
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All T-nuts are installed...except the one discussed earlier...

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Thanks George

This is the direction that I am leaning. Remove almost all the "teeth", leaving just a tiny nub to grab the clear and not spin. As long as I am careful it should work out OK...still debating carving out some of the clear so the nut sits close to flush with the field...

There's the million dollar question....
He is on vacation this week

Im going to start a seperate thread to address this issue...

Here is the answer to that question... https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anybody-install-a-mirco-tom-playfield-please-help#post-5005297

A little progress on the lower cab...harness will be tightned up with zipties once I get the rest of the wiring done...
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Polished to a nice shine...

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I made thread asking for help with the clearcoat removal for the T-nut on top of the playfield and got some responses...The manufacturer of the playfield said to whack it in with a hammer, the best restorer in the business said to use a forschner bit to drill the clear away (but cautioned that it was risky)

Both of those options makes my butt pucker....I got a very helpful message from another pinsider who had less than great results from attempting the forschner bit method and he sent me some tips on doing the job with a demel...thanks George!

So, before I do that I need to get a bit more familiar with how the clear comes off. I am going to practice on the holes for the pop screws. If I mess up here it wont be seen...

We can start here...
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First I drilled the hole through just slightly bigger than the bolt...
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Next I used the dremel with a rounded bit and carefully removed the clear around the outside edge...
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Checking to make sure the enough clear is removed...
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I will continue to drill/dremel the rest of them, the edges will be sealed up once I get the rest done.

Drilled and dremeled all 9 screw holes for the pops...
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Next is to seal up the raw wood...
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Really simple...build a drop on the tip of the needle and just touch it to the top edge of the area where the clear is removed...it will wick around and seal it up, on these holes I used 2 drops each...
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So now Im a pro right?
Lets give the main event a look over...
We need a T-nut right here, flush with the surface of the clearcoat...
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So, without the balls to whack it in with a hammer or to drill it all at once I am proceeding with the dremel. First I apply tape to the area,

then clipped the fins off the T-nut so I can get it down to the playfield
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Then outline with a hobby knife....
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So now we know where to remove the clear...what could possibly go wrong

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Here we go...
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So, yeah, im shittin my pants right now
Just taking out a little at a time...
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Test fit, not close yet, but feeling a bit more confident...
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Remove a little more...
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Cheeks clenched, sweat dripping off my brow, more and more is removed...

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Profile is just about right, now just gotta get it to the correct depth...

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They didnt have clear coat from factory

Nice and flush...

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Whew, glad thats done. Gonna go change my shorts and keep going...
Finished...
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And sealed...
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Live and learn, I assumed it was not after inspecting it
.. nothing like the clear coats of today

Doing flipper rebuild.... After taking these apart it looks like someone may have done a rebuild not to long before I got it. All the parts are tight, bushings look great, coil stops seem fresh...
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So, it really probably doesnt need to be rebuilt, but Im going to do it anyway. I will probably use the old parts on some other game...

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That makes sense then because my WH20 has the diamondcoat logo and the TOM did not, leading me to believe (along with looking at the damage to old field) that it was not diamondplate

Didnt get as far today as I wanted....but installing the T-nut took a full hour, plus another 30 minutes or so to recover afterwards...
Heres how the playfield sits today...

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the new ones have no play, the ones I removed had just a little slop at the link.

I gotta say, I am a little dissapointed with the locations of the dimples on the underside of the playfield. I knew going into this these would only be guidelines but some are way off (worst I found is 3/8" from correct location)

This pattern is supposed to be square...
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Other side is much closer but still a bit off....
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One pop is right on, one is close and one is way off...
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It will be a long process to get everything in the correct position, I hope the topside will be more accurate.
The popper mech bracket has been twisted and bent, it appears to be from some previous user trying to adjust the trajectory of the eject...
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I also found that they had tried relocating the mech as well...
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I was able to straighten the bracket for the popper mech

Harness has had time to dry, it came out very clean, although it is a bit tangled...
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I lost 2 coil wrappers in the wash cycle, but the rest of them look great...

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No worries here, just glue in a toothpick and redrill...
It was only the screw holes to hold the body to the playfield, not the holes for the pop ring.

Well, actually I have not checked the pop ring holes yet...

This game has HUGE mech assemblies...the trunk, the trap door/ball lock assembly and the ball trough are monsterous....
The mechanical engineering is the reason I love pinball and this machine delivers...
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Time to strip it down, clean it up, replace the switches and the coil sleeves.

Exploded view...
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Nothing too crazy in store for the mechanism just a simple cleaning of the main chassis...i found a rolled edge near the basement VUK and it had enough of a lip on it that I was able to catch it with my fingernail...
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I filed off the burr, the waxed that area and also the ball lock area...now it is super smooth and slick and should work great...
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Same thing on the ball lock post...
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I filed these burrs off as well, I did not want it to ding up the new balls

Is this screw factory?

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