Thruster? I just met her!!!: Xenon Restoration

Quoted from vid1900:
Because they made 11,000 Xenons, every playfield restorer has a pile of old ones.
If you worry about spraying clear or applying a hardtop, you can have have it done by a restorer, and then have a ready-to-go unit on your doorstep in a week or so.
All the popular games, like Xenon, SBM and Playboy are like that........

Not going to lie, I feel a bit queasy about clearing my EBD..and part of me really wants to just polish the inserts (like I did on High Speed) and roll with it....but I'm going to give it a go. But the best I can do is with my rattle cans, so I by no means expect it to be perfect. I just hope it's not a complete disaster. I'm way out of my element there.

#202 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Back at it....
Block sanded the playfield level and polished the inserts back up
Laid down Hardtop 2.

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#203 3 years ago

MOF

mof

Mof Pinball

San Francisco, CA

11y 149K 13,298 25 94

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Laid down Hardtop 2

#204 3 years ago

KAD

Kderrick

Pinside member

Quoted from vid1900:
Because they made 11,000 Xenons, every playfield restorer has a pile of old ones.
If you worry about spraying clear or applying a hardtop, you can have have it done by a restorer, and then have a ready-to-go unit on your doorstep in a week or so.
All the popular games, like Xenon, SBM and Playboy are like that........

I may actually go this route. Any recommendations about finding a qualified person?

#205 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Back at it....
Block sanded the playfield level and polished the inserts back up
Laid down Hardtop 2.
[quoted image]

WOW you work fast!

It's too cold for me to shoot clear. I'm stalled for the foreseeable future until it warms up.

#206 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Kderrick:
As a newb doing my first machine and know absolutely nothing about any of this, I’m terrified now.

Ehhhh don’t worry about it, I’m an attention-whore crybaby and make mountains out of mole holes lol. Restoration is fun. Some things suck like sanding stuff or trying to do things that are dependent on warm temps while in the dead of winter.

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
Now, this Xenon is also getting some hella pimped out touches that the majority of people just aren't going to do. Be impressed by those..because some of that *does* take skill. And is also why a lot of people don't go to that level of detail.

Thanks man!!!

#207 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
WOW you work fast!
It's too cold for me to shoot clear. I'm stalled for the foreseeable future until it warms up.

I feel like I’m dragging! Would’ve done this yesterday but a freaking squirrel made a nest under the hood of my suv. I spent yesterday rewiring my headlights, replacing the tubing for my windshield washer fluid, and pulling the cover off my engine and cleaning out a ton of grass, leaves, and sticks. Byproduct of not having to drive during a pandemic.

#208 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

I didn’t show this last time and didn’t show it during this time because I didn’t want to slip and mess up the hardtop.
I needed to dremel out all the top side holes.
The hardtop lined up perfectly with all the holes but all the inserts were off and exposed a lot of wood. So I lined up the insert windows and had to make adjustments.
Plastic saw dust everywhere!
I vacuumed it off but had to be extremely careful to hover the vacuum attachment slightly above to avoid scratching the hardtop.
Rails are back on. I’ll have to get back to it on saturday since my wife made plans for us tomorrow.

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#209 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
I didn’t show this last time and didn’t show it during this time because I didn’t want to slip and mess up the hardtop.
I needed to dremel out all the top side holes.
The hardtop lined up perfectly with all the holes but all the inserts were off and exposed a lot of wood. So I lined up the insert windows and had to make adjustments.
Plastic saw dust everywhere!
I vacuumed it off but had to be extremely careful to hover the vacuum attachment slightly above to avoid scratching the hardtop.
Rails are back on. I’ll have to get back to it on saturday since my wife made plans for us tomorrow.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Line up the inserts, not the holes, bingo. The key with the dremel, as anyone who has been dumb with one knows, is to not crank up the speed in order to get done faster. I BUTCHERED an insert hole on EBD doing that. I think I recovered okay but..yeesh.

Your xenon is going to be pimp AF! I'm just gonna bask in this incomplete glow for a bit. Lol

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#210 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
Line up the inserts, not the holes, bingo. The key with the dremel, as anyone who has been dumb with one knows, is to not crank up the speed in order to get done faster. I BUTCHERED an insert hole on EBD doing that. I think I recovered okay but..yeesh.
Your xenon is going to be pimp AF! I'm just gonna bask in this incomplete glow for a bit. Lol
[quoted image]

Warm weathers coming man! You got a thread for that baby?

#211 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Warm weathers coming man! You got a thread for that baby?

Nah, I just pic dump everywhere I can

Generally I'm posting my woes in the main EBD thread. I'm hoping this isn't a glorious disaster when I'm done. Still need to re-stencil the cab at some point, too.

#212 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Experimenting with a mod that technically works but won’t fit under the glass. Bums me out, really wish I could pull this off.

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#213 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

Bummer, that would be neat to have somehow worked in.

Q: did you remove your drop target mech at all? I got sick of banging the hell out of mine (EBD has three and one of them is a complete monster) so I finally bit the bullet and molexed them all. Now I'm thinking about doing the same with the pops. Probably pretty unnecessary but it would be neat to be able to set them up completely outside of the machine.... I dunno, I'm bored.

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#214 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

I pulled mine off the first go at doing everything. Took it completely apart and cleaned it and all that fun stuff and put back together. The 2nd go I just unscrewed it from the bottom to get the targets out of the way and just let it hang by all it’s wires.

#215 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
I pulled mine off the first go at doing everything. Took it completely apart and cleaned it and all that fun stuff and put back together. The 2nd go I just unscrewed it from the bottom to get the targets out of the way and just let it hang by all it’s wires.

My switches got absolutely HAMMERED when I just had the mechs hanging (i tried to secure with zipties and I think that actually made it worse). Seems things work with the molex, although I have *some* rework to do... oh well, better than 0% success.

#216 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

This game is my new muse for sure. Best shirt ever

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#217 3 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside+ Member

Sana'a

12y 164K 40,185 18

Vovex?

#218 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from vid1900:
Vovex?

!yltcaxE

#219 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

One thing that I realized after I had the playfield in the cab last time was the back is so chewed up that it’s almost impossible to slide the playfield back and forth when working on it.

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I found these metal brackets at Ace

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So I bent them at 90 degrees and then dremeled out what was needed so the metal would be flush.
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#220 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Hardtop number 2 done.
Here’s a bunch more unnecessary pictures.
Tomorrow I’ll wax it and start making switch adjustments. Then hopefully get a game or 2 in.

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#221 3 years ago

JJB

jbovenzi

Pinside+ Addict

Sparks, NV

8y 112K 1,381 34

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Experimenting with a mod that technically works but won’t fit under the glass. Bums me out, really wish I could pull this off.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Maybe those plasma pop bumper caps? Or the stand up plasma disk?

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#222 3 years ago

???

Jason43

Pinside member

Inwood, WV

6y 59,550 1,366 4

Looks great. I'd say if there was any game that was meant to have plasma bumper caps, it's Xenon

#223 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

That looks outstanding! Love the playfield repair idea. My EBD is similarly chewed up, so I might just follow your lead. Thanks for the idea!

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#224 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

So got everything adjusted and played about a dozen games. Everything is fine hardtop is holding strong.
Got a bit of a head scratcher tho....

So when I hit the front pop bumper the center would fire.

Thought it was a switch adjustment being too close. Spaced it out and still no change.

Decided to change the caps and diodes on the front and center to see if that helps. No change.

Then while making adjustments I noticed if I touch the frame of the spinner the front pop fires???

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Now the center pop bumper is just dead. The coil fires in test but the switch is totally unresponsive. No points or sounds.

So I cut the caps and now the front and center pop work properly. Here’s the kicker. I’m in my basement and man my feet are freaking cold so I put my shoes on and guess what.....
Touching the frame stopped causing the front pop to fire.

Moral of the story. Don’t buy cheap caps when doing a resto and wear shoes when working with electronics

#225 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
So got everything adjusted and played about a dozen games. Everything is fine hardtop is holding strong.
Got a bit of a head scratcher tho....
So when I hit the front pop bumper the center would fire.
Thought it was a switch adjustment being too close. Spaced it out and still no change.
Decided to change the caps and diodes on the front and center to see if that helps. No change.
Then while making adjustments I noticed if I touch the frame of the spinner the front pop fires???
[quoted image]
Now the center pop bumper is just dead. The coil fires in test but the switch is totally unresponsive. No points or sounds.
So I cut the caps and now the front and center pop work properly. Here’s the kicker. I’m in my basement and man my feet are freaking cold so I put my shoes on and guess what.....
Touching the frame stopped causing the front pop to fire.
Moral of the story. Don’t buy cheap caps when doing a resto and wear shoes when working with electronics

Sounds electrifying! Ahahahaha! Nice diagnosis and fix.

I'm working on repinning my lamp board connectors (have I mentioned that I absolutely detest 0.100 connectors?!) because there are some pins with deterioriating jacket slime in them and I'm waiting to order new blue (flat) inserts when they come available because mine suck and are caked in glue or are cracked. So, still no hardtop progress but I guess at least I can work on *something*. I'm super jealous of how quickly you took yours from assembled but disastrous to redone and perfect again. I get angry eyes from the wife when I slip away to crimp 4 pins...

#226 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
Sounds electrifying! Ahahahaha! Nice diagnosis and fix.
I'm working on repinning my lamp board connectors (have I mentioned that I absolutely detest 0.100 connectors?!) because there are some pins with deterioriating jacket slime in them and I'm waiting to order new blue (flat) inserts when they come available because mine suck and are caked in glue or are cracked. So, still no hardtop progress but I guess at least I can work on *something*. I'm super jealous of how quickly you took yours from assembled but disastrous to redone and perfect again. I get angry eyes from the wife when I slip away to crimp 4 pins...

Luckily my wife is a pinhead too and shares the enthusiasm. I keep trying to get her into the restoration part but that’s not happening. A guy can dream right?
I’ve only replaced the pins in the connectors that I have needed to so far by popping the bad ones out with a paper clip.
The next piece of this restoration is going to be the backbox. So when the weather starts to break and I get 50 degrees temps I’ll start tearing it down and I probably will repin everything.

#227 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Luckily my wife is a pinhead too and shares the enthusiasm. I keep trying to get her into the restoration part but that’s not happening. A guy can dream right?
I’ve only replaced the pins in the connectors that I have needed to so far by popping the bad ones out with a paper clip.
The next piece of this restoration is going to be the backbox. So when the weather starts to break and I get 50 degrees temps I’ll start tearing it down and I probably will repin everything.

Lucky, lucky. I think mine despises pinball at this point and this remote school nonsense (not saying it's needed or not needed, not trying to make any kind of political statement!) just makes everything a thousand times worse.

I'm having an issue getting *one* bulb to light and of course my LEDs aren't happy without my Siegecraft boards here, but I figured I'd just replace both connectors since both had a pin or two (or three) with goo in them. Now I'm regretting it because these .100 connectors are about as small as my crimper can handle and I keep messing up. At one point I had successfully crimped 1 (it ended up pulling loose, too...) to 8 failed. I finally said hell with it and started lightly tinning the wire first. The hole the wire needs threaded through is so small that it ends up tearing the wire apart and/or bunching it up if it's not tinned. Tinning it gives it enough strength to push through so I can crimp it. Ugh.

I need to stencil my cab at some point too. The head has a corner that needs repaired. Oh, and I need to replace the lock mechanism at some point. It's completely missing.

//edit realized why I was having so much issue with connectors.... ordered a new crimper and a bunch more crimp connectors. So I can redo this... again.

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#228 3 years ago

DBS

Skidave

Pinside member

6y 63,550 1,285 9

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Here’s the kicker. I’m in my basement and man my feet are freaking cold so I put my shoes on and guess what.....
Touching the frame stopped causing the front pop to fire.
Moral of the story. Don’t buy cheap caps when doing a resto and wear shoes when working with electronics

Check all your ground straps and make sure everything is grounded inside once you put it back together. Your body is providing a low impedance path for conductivity and that is why things are happening when you touch metal. Your shoes are insulating you. Make sure your power plug has been wired with the correct polarity too.

This issue comes up in the Early SS forum all the time. People are troubleshooting holding on to the lockbar with one hand and touching a pop frame or something and another device fires.

#229 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Skidave:
Check all your ground straps and make sure everything is grounded inside once you put it back together. Your body is providing a low impedance path for conductivity and that is why things are happening when you touch metal. Your shoes are insulating you. Make sure your power plug has been wired with the correct polarity too.
This issue comes up in the Early SS forum all the time. People are troubleshooting holding on to the lockbar with one hand and touching a pop frame or something and another device fires.

Oh im sure theres ground issues and wiring issues all over the places in the cab. The wiring is a nightmare. I'll be taking that all completely apart and putting in a new filter, varistor, plug, and running all new grounding in the cab and head. I'll keep everyone posted on what i find when that part begins for sure. Cant wait to unhack this thing.

#230 3 years ago

BOB

bobukcat

Pinside member

9y 99,550 5,459

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Oh im sure theres ground issues and wiring issues all over the places in the cab. The wiring is a nightmare. I'll be taking that all completely apart and putting in a new filter, varistor, plug, and running all new grounding in the cab and head. I'll keep everyone posted on what i find when that part begins for sure. Cant wait to unhack this thing.

I'm sure you know this but start by making sure the ground prong hasn't been cut off the power cord and that your outlet is in fact wired correctly.

#231 3 years ago

COL

Colsond3

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
That looks outstanding! Love the playfield repair idea. My EBD is similarly chewed up, so I might just follow your lead. Thanks for the idea!

You could also create a corner dam and use some fiberglass patch there. Stuff is pretty resilient and would probably hold up even with continuously sliding the playfield back and forth.

And it’s paintable. Throw some gray on top.

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#232 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

Quoted from Colsond3:
You could also create a corner dam and use some fiberglass patch there. Stuff is pretty resilient and would probably hold up even with continuously sliding the playfield back and forth.
And it’s paintable. Throw some gray on top.
[quoted image]

Also a good solution, although I fear I may be far, far too dumb to properly do it.

Bending plates and screwing things in is about the level of my gorilla hands' capability!

#233 3 years ago

COL

Colsond3

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
Bending plates and screwing things in is about the level of my gorilla hands' capability!

You got this! I just patched the hell out of the cab on a Bally Safari I’m working on. I’ve been patching with this stuff ever since I read about it in Vid’s cab thread years ago.

Dam with sheet metal, scratch the area, mix hardener in, pour, wait, sand. Easy.

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#234 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

Quoted from Colsond3:
You got this! I just patched the hell out of the cab on a Bally Safari I’m working on. I’ve been patching with this stuff ever since I read about it in Vid’s cab thread years ago.
Dam with sheet metal, scratch the area, mix hardener in, pour, wait, sand. Easy.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Nice work!

#235 3 years ago

COL

Colsond3

Pinside+ Frequent

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Hardtop number 2 done.
Here’s a bunch more unnecessary pictures.

Game looks awesome Matt...again.

#236 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

This flipper mech design sucks so bad. I rebuilt these and it seems that a little knuckle has developed after about 25 games....
This flipper keeps hanging up because of it. I might try filing back some of the metal in the areas where it’s catching.

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#237 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

Linear flippers blow. Look into "downgrading" to the oder style bally, and call it good. Vid has a guide.

#238 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
Linear flippers blow. Look into "downgrading" to the oder style bally, and call it good. Vid has a guide.

I was just digging through my parts bin to see if I had another set of flipper assemblies from my second Mata Hari playfield

#239 3 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside+ Member

Sana'a

12y 164K 40,185 18

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
This flipper mech design sucks so bad. I rebuilt these and it seems that a little knuckle has developed after about 25 games....
This flipper keeps hanging up because of it.

Linear flippers suck ass and pass blame.

#240 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from vid1900:
Linear flippers suck ass and pass blame.

Yeah I’m gonna convert things to the traditional style. Should’ve followed the advice in your flipper thread from the start.

#241 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

Going to do the same if I ever get to that point on this stupid EBD before I light it on fire next to this ball-draining bitch tron. I ordered the parts, really should have done it to begin with.

Hell with linear bullshit.

#242 3 years ago

KAD

Kderrick

Pinside member

Why do these flippers bite the bag? Can someone point out the difference to me?

#243 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers/page/11#post-1855100

Quoted from Kderrick:
Why do these flippers bite the bag? Can someone point out the difference to me?

Here’s some good detail

#244 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:
light it on fire next to this ball-draining bitch tron

Dude Tron sucks so bad, you should let me take it off your hands.

#245 3 years ago

JOR

KSUWildcatFan

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
Dude Tron sucks so bad, you should let me take it off your hands.

The way it's treated me lately, I agree! But my friend stepped up, completely cold, and absolutely ran a clinic on my game...so I know it's just me. When she's nasty, I hate her. When she's not, I love her. Guess that goes with most of my pins, but Tron especially just isn't very forgiving--at all--sometimes.

#246 3 years ago

KAD

Kderrick

Pinside member

Re-reading the thread I spy a familiar image and did a double take. I have Alex peaking over my Star Trek currently.

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#247 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Kderrick:
Re-reading the thread I spy a familiar image and did a double take. I have Alex peaking over my Star Trek currently.
[quoted image]

After xenon I want to break from restos. I’ve been telling my wife I want to do a Clockwork Orange retheme for 3 years now. One day my droogs will take pleasure in a pin dedicated to the Ultra-violence if they have the yarbles.

#248 3 years ago

KAD

Kderrick

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from mrm_4:
After xenon I want to break from restos. I’ve been telling my wife I want to do a Clockwork Orange retheme for 3 years now. One day my droogs will take pleasure in a pin dedicated to the Ultra-violence if they have the yarbles.

That’ll be gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh!

4 weeks later

#249 3 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

Pinside+ Frequent

Tackled the side rails some more. I’m trying to work with what I have so sure I can easily just dump some money into new rails and lock down bar but I’m pushing myself to use these originals.
I preface by saying I have no process. I started sanding 120-150-220-320. Didn’t like the grain.

I using using some of these 3M balls on the drill to try and regrain them.

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Didn’t like it.

Tried using steel wool with White diamonds. Didn’t like the look. You can see the half I experimented on.

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Ended up just wet sanding from 600-1000-2000-3000 then white diamonds and mother mag.

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The rails still have some grain but the lockdown bar sanded a lot better than the side rails.3A3F2681-971A-464E-A854-BD93AC1AE6F4 (resized).jpeg

#250 3 years ago

COL

Colsond3

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