OK, this is intended to be my documentation for 3 machines that I'm planning on resurrecting. Although each are unique, I'm doing all three at the same time so the work on one sometimes affects the work on the other. This is (for me) a massive undertaking that is being done in my spare time during evenings and weekends. Is the restoration going to be HEP level? No... but I'll see how close I can get to the work Chris produces.

My background: I enjoy restoring games more than I do playing them. How do I know this? I'm currently sitting in front of a TOTAN, WH20, TNA, AFM, etc and I'm spending most of my time researching parts and compiling lists of assemblies that I need to re-create for my restoration projects rather than playing these great pins. As an example, if I had a choice of playing my Jurassic Park Premium or rebuilding a mini playfield, I'll take the later. Also of note, my brother and I had been volunteers at the Museum of Pinball up to the time it closed, and we used to keep track as to how many machines we were able to fix during our "tech days". I think 10 was our record. When the Museum was open to the public (and we had a chance to play along with the attendees) we spent more time troubleshooting than we did playing. Those were great days, and most of my time was spent in the 90's Williams / Bally area of the museum.

So, this forum site is intended to document the process for friends and family who want to know what this pinball restoration thing is that takes up so much of my time. The following is an accounting of my journey to resurrect these 3 machines.

First up (see pic): Let's call this TZ#1. Found in the back of a garage in Long Beach CA. See that small pile of parts on the Popeye machine? Those are the only remaining parts for the topside of the Twilight Zone's playfield sitting next to it.
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The bottom of the playfield was mostly complete, but the top was completely stripped. Here are the only remaining pieces

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... and the empty playfield when purchased

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For those of you that know this game, you can appreciate the lack of HUNDREDS of pieces. More on that later... but of course the notable missing pieces are:

The clock assembly
The gumball assembly
Lots of ball guides (not available on any website)
The plastics
The arch / apron (also not available)
Most of the misc hardware
Almost all of the topside wiring - including opto switches and wire harnesses, lamps and wire harnesses.
Etc, etc.

Here it is again, with everything on the playfield that came with the game except the wireforms. SO MUCH MISSING!

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The parts on the yellow towel aren't even for Twilight Zone. I have no idea which game they belong to though.

And below the playfield, it wasn't much better. Here's the lamp boards as I found them sitting at the bottom of the cabinet. At least some gumballs were included!

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Lots of work ahead...

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Good news though... the outside of the cabinet is in great shape!

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I gotta do something about those rusty bolt heads though...

Enter TZ playfield #2! This was acquired from a place in the mid-west that had been raiding it for parts (more on that later). At least now I had the topside pieces I nee deed to complete TZ#1. But now I started to think... Is there a way I could complete both and have TWO Twilight machines? For those with a real sharp eye you can see that there are over 50 cut wires and lots of missing switches, mechanisms, coils, etc as this playfield must have been somewhat "parted out" before I picked it up. There are at least 50 more cut wires on the bottom of the playfield where the missing parts were removed.

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More cut wires on the mini playfield, and obviously there is a lot of missing hardware. Man, this thing was really raided for parts!. It would have been so much easier if the switches and coils were desoldered and removed rather than just cut from the game. In most cases the remaining wires wont be long enough to reach the new switches, coils and lamps that I need to replace.

I doubt the person doing this ever figured that this machine was ever going to be anything other than a donor for parts, and never to be restored

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On the mini playfield alone, the missing parts include: Both plastics, 4 star posts, 4 switches, 5 switch covers, 2 switch brackets (unique to Twilight Zone), 2 pair of optos, the metal "bucket" at the exit of the playfeild, a magnet, most of the associated screws and hardware, all the rubbers and lamps, and of course the wires that will need to be added to breech the distance to the various switches and optos.

Ok, let's back up a little bit. This post is titled "Twilight Zone and Indian Jones (semi-scratch) builds, so I guess it's time to provide a little history here as to how I came across the Twilight Zone "donor" playfield.

A person in the midwest that I had been conversing with told me of an (unfortunate) situation. He apparently sent an Indiana Jones machine to a company for restoration and also purchased the remains of a Twilight Zone playfield from the same company. Both were to be restored and sent to him, and I don't believe he ever saw the Twilight Zone playfield in person. Long story short, he never received his games, the company doing the restoration was avoiding him and he had to threaten legal action to recover his property. Then... the owner of the restoration company passed away. As a last resort he pulled what was left of his games from the restoration company and evaluated what he had left. Not much. In fact, I would bet less than what he started with.

He contacted me and asked if I'd like to purchase the remaining pieces and see if I could do something with them. I was certainly up for the challenge, so both games were sent to me. Here's a photo of the two pallets as I received them. Indiana Jones is on the left. The Twilight Zone playfield in on the right. Each pallet is really just a stack of boxes full of random parts, however both games also included an empty unpainted cabinet, plated armor and RadCals. TZ included a mirrored backglass as well.

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Unboxing the remains of Indiana Jones.
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It appears like most of it is there.

For those with sharp eyes you might have picked up:
Half of a Lior mod
It has a transformer! (hard to come by)
No circuit boards
An apron (also hard to come by)

But also hard to spot:
A LOT of the ball guides are missing - including the long one that wraps around the whole back of the playfeild. Also the main metal ramp, the bridge ramp, the bypass ramp and lock exit ramp coming from the idol. Those all present a BIG problem since they cannot be purchased.

Note all the missing ball guides, the main ramp, the bypass and bridge ramps, the panel at the rear of the playfield, etc.
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So a friend and fellow Pinsider heard of my projects and mentioned that he had some Twilight Zone parts that he acquired in the past, and that I was welcome to them! Thanks @JackG!

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It's nice when the stars align. Now it REALLY looks like I can build two complete TZ machines instead of combining two machines to make one. I still have the problem with this one as I do with Indiana Jones... all the missing ball guides.

OK, so I can't be working on all three games at once, and I'm still not sure about how I'm going to solve the ball guide problem (more on that later). So I need to come up with a strategy that gives me my best options. I elected to ditch the playfield on the first Twilight Zone because it had some bad planking and the previous owner had put a nice hole in it in an obvious spot.

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Apparently, as the playfield started to weaken over time and parts started to loosen he just added bigger and longer screws! Problem solved I guess. The nice thing with this machine though was that all the mechanisms below the playfield were in pretty good shape - they just needed a good cleaning. I decided to use the underside parts from this machine, put it on a new playfield, and use the upper playfeild parts from the second "used as a donor" playfield. That would be the quickest way to have one completed.

This next image is not for the faint of heart.

If you're like me you know you should NEVER put water-based products, oils, lubricants or silicone on a playfield. I can't tell you how many times I've removed oily "sludge" from mechanisms that should never have been lubricated in the first place. And the only thing worse than oil, WD40, silicones, etc is water. Water induces planking, swelling and irreparable damage. Put a game in a humid environment and you'll kill it.

So what did I do? I hosed this thing off!

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I know that running wire harnesses in the washing machine is often done. But why not do the same if the playfield is going to be thrown out anyway? Lots of soap and water had the wiring looking as good as new after hitting it with a large soft brush - and a second rinse. And because I had a compressor with an air hose nearby (and the California sunshine) the whole thing was clean and dry and looking good in less than an hour.

... and the playfield swap begins - including the mini-playfield. At this point I'm heading out for the weekend, and I'm taking my mini-project with me (riding shotgun in the passenger seat of my truck).

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Now to take on the box of cabinet wires. Here they are as I received them and then after a good cleaning

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... and now the cabinets. They were not perfect, but I had to decide how much work I wanted to put into them. Since both were getting RadCals, the only surface that would be seen at the end was the back and the inside - if anyone was to open one up and take a look.

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A little Bondo and prep work prior to clear coat.

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While all this was going on JackG comes through for me again. He puts me in touch with JIMAKOST (aka Dimitri) in Canada that has made some custom parts for Twilight Zone. After some correspondence with Dimitri and some long phone calls he is eager to provide my missing ball guides for Twilight Zone. The only catch... they will arrive as flat pieces of steel that I will have to bend and shape into form. Sounds like fun. I mention to him that I'm also looking for a lot of missing pieces for my IJ build and he agrees to help with that as well! And just like that, a project that seems like it will take years to complete (if ever) should now be able to be completed before the end of the year.

Here's what the IJ main ramp looks like when made from its individual pieces.

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It's hard to tell which is the original and which was just remade, right?

Now taking a good look at both playfields, I'm having to make a long list of missing parts to acquire. Here's just a few photos of some obvious missing mechanisms.

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Along with my list of needed parts (hundreds of them), there is a list of ones that I can't seem to find anywhere. Some are relatively minor parts, like the clock faceplate with its 4 molded posts. This one I have, but I need a second one:

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Great news though on a "major" piece that I thought was going to be a problem - I found a Twilight Zone apron/arch in great shape! Cross that one off the list!

Another problem part that I can't find... the transformer. Twilight Zone's transformer (part number 5610-12835-00) seems to be made of pure unobtainium. However I found a Funhouse transformer that I can work with. Although Funhouse isn't a DMD game, it IS an early WPC game like TZ. The difference is the TZ transformer has the 100V tap required to power the DMD. However, I'm going to put a color DMD in my Twilight Zone, so I don't need the transformer's 100V wiring, only the 5 volts on the display board are required ... so the Funhouse transformer will work in my machine.

Acquired.

Check THAT one off the list.

The ball guides are done for both machines! Thanks Dimitri! I couldn't do it without you!

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I picked up the missing pieces for the Indiana Jones LIOR mod. So while I'm waiting for the ball guides to arrive I thought I'd do a little work on them. I know the parts are listed as "hand painted", but I'm not liking all the orange in the deep crevices and grooves in the parts. I have a bit of a background with model making, and I still have some of my colored washes that I used to use in order to "age" surfaces. The material comes in powdered form, but when mixed with a solution and "washed" over the parts the color settles in the deep areas. The excess is wiped off. The result is (in my opinion) a more authentic look.
BEFORE
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AFTER
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BEFOFE
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AFTER
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A look at the shop

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Lots of disassembly, cleaning and reassembly. And making good use of the tumbler.

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BEFORE (with all that carbon on the plunger linkage)
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Doing a little cabinet cleaning while the playfield is out. I elected to keep the original wood on the floor and continue the black paint to the bottom of the sides, back and front.

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The ball guide parts arrived from JIMAKOST . Now I just need to bend them into shape and rivet the spade bolts

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I bought a brake for my vice. Time to start bending!

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Here’s a little example of the process. The part on the left is complete, and I’m going to duplicate it starting with the part in the right

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Step 1 : Bend the metal parts. I actually didn’t use the brake for this part, just the vice

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Then the optos and the wire harness were added
" Bottom side, with the spade bolts added [att=7169113,3071987 caption="
It fits perfectly in the machine.
I made a slight error on this piece, but have since fixed it. See if you can spot it.

Cleaning the subway ramps.

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…And under the playfield while the subway ramps are out.

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And another area

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New metal panel that came with the ball guides (thanks again Dimitri!). Otherwise completely impossible to find. Looks sexy (if you’re into that sort of thing)!

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It's time to concentrate on finishing one game at a time. The best decision seemed to be the TZ with the new cabinet. This is the one with the new playfield, and the below-playfield parts and cabinet wiring from the original machine found in the Long Beach garage. The parts on the top of the payfield will be mostly new parts.

Next to run all the ground braid with the cabinet and backbox. I also decided to use the wood lamp board from the original "garage find" game since it's in really good shape. After installing all the cabinet hinges, latches and stops it fit nicely into its new home. I'll make two new lamp boards later for the other machines.

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Indiana Jones an Twilight Zone #2 in the background.

Nice clean parts going in...

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I actually get most of the shine with aluminum polish (by hand), then finish it up on the polishing wheel with a stainless steel polish.

Here's the before and after on the mini playfield. All the metal parts were removed and polished - even the screws. The switches and star posts are new. The old plastics are still on it. I didn't want to install the new ones until it's in the machine and won't be handled any more.

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I went away for the weekend and took a box of parts with me. I was able to rebuild the second playfield as well - remember all the cut wires and missing parts on this one?
I wanted to test both of them in the machine prior to installation in case I need to adjust any of the optos or lever switches. There are a lot of parts packed into these, and getting them into and out of the machine requires a bit of finesse.

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It's going quickly now that I've decided to concentrate on one machine. I went with the Red / Orange / Yellow pop bodies and skirts from Pinball Life to math the Red / Orange / Yellow pop caps

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Closer... I still need to install the metal ramp and wireform to the mini playfield.

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PinSound material arrived:
PinSound plus board
Speakers
Headphone station
Shaker
Rocket CPU with all chips already installed!

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RadCals in place.

If you have sharp eyes you'll notice that I countersunk the bolts for the playfield slides. I like the cleaner look of the cabinet sides this way - no bolt heads!

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Check out the reflection of the tumbler in the hinge. You might also make out the reflection in the side rail of the green IJ main lamp board that is sitting on the workbench across the room.

... and the reflection of the stool in the RadCals.

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Very shiny.

By the way the hinges were not chromed, although they certainly look like it compared to all the other chromed parts. Actually I ordered stainless steel hinges from Pinball Life and I handed them over to a metal polishing company. I've had this same company polish lockdown bars and side rails for me in the past, so I knew what they were capable of.

And of course the coin door and shooter. All chrome!

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The machine now looks like it just came out of the box like it did almost 30 years ago. Maybe better with all the chrome, RadCals, etc.

And it plays!

Well sort of... it didn't boot at first - checked the new ribbon cables and yep, I shifted the MPU / Driver board ribbon cable when I installed it. Not the first time I've done that - now fixed. One flasher isn't working. Fixed that. Right outlane switch was sticky. Fixed. Lane diverter coil was bad... I had a spare.

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Just played 20 games on it!!! Now to turn my attention to IJ and the TZ that was raided for parts. I think I'll concentrate on IJ first...

NOW ON TO INDY!

I brought the Indy playfleld home to take a good long look at it over the weekend... and to do a little polishing on the various bits and pieces. It's nice to have it off the shop floor and lay it out flat on the kitchen table and go over it while some NFL games are playing in the background..

I started seeing a lot of this... broken bolts and rusted parts! I thought this was coming from a company doing a restoration and I was just going to "finish it up". Well no worries - everything is "fixable".

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And this. How did someone plan on sending this machine to a customer with all these old rusty parts?

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And this can't be right... the wireform should be reversed so the ball AVOIDS the screw and is guided to the rollover switch.

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And is this a piece of metal strap holding the ball guide up? WTF?

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And what's this screw doing here penetrating the playfield?
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And these rusty outlane plates?
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And I don't even want to mention all the rusty screws and lamp sockets. More on that later.

I'm not saying the guy doing this interrupted "restoration" for his customer was evil when he put all these old rusty parts in it ... It's not like I'm saying he's Hitler ... maybe Stalin, but not Hitler.

Maybe not - but I guess it's time for another parts order and ... turn my attention back to the second Twilight Zone game while I'm putting in an order with Marco. I SWEAR this will be the last parts order!

So Marco's out of spade bolts, so I guess I'm really onto TZ for a bit. Although I've been slowly adding parts and soldering wire to this one I'm noticing more and more missing pieces. Here's a shot of a few missing switches, brackets and a lot of wire in the trough. I'm not sure how I missed that - maybe because the playfield was sitting frontside - down on the shop floor for so long. All the stuff on the bottom was real obvious, like the top lane diverter, but not the area under the apron. Anyway a little study of the manual and I think I've got a new list of parts that I'll need - and of course I now have TZ #1 to use as a reference as well

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... and see if you can count all the cut wires. *hint* : more than you have fingers and toes!

I finally got this piece made. I'm pretty happy with it. You can almost make out the reflection of the shop vac!

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In place. And again - shiny!

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And by the way: Note to self - if you're going to put gumballs in the gumball machine, BY ALL MEANS do it before you assemble and install the gumball machine. It was a royal B%@TCH to add them to TZ#1 after it was all put together. This time I learned my lesson and put them in prior to putting the gumball machine together and installing it in the playfield. 2 hours saved!

Now waiting for parts on both IJ and TZ.

Meanwhile I found this cool diecast car at Home Depot while I was buying 100 MORE #6 1/2" hex screws. Only $5 for the car!
I installed some LED's in the headlights and a blue LED in the interior. I'm going to wire it into TZ#1 over the "Town Square", as soon as I build a mount for it.

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Sometimes it's the little things. These little parts that hold most every Williams / Bally pinball apron in place are impossible to find. They're on my list of "someday I'll have a solution for this".

There's a few more things like that on the list.

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Parts are in!

3 hours to replace all the rusty GI sockets. In this photo I'm at the halfway point.

I think it's going to take just as long to rebuild this machine as it would as if I built it all from scratch. But again I have to wonder:
1. Where WAS this machine? Under water? It's like nothing I've ever seen, and I've been on the underside of a hundred games or so. Wow.
2. Who thought this would be OK for a $10K+ game that was going to a customer? At least it will be nice when I'm done with it (I hope). And parts are cheap so this is an easy fix.

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While installing a mod for the mode start saucer I was doing some disassembly and came across this.

Crap, I can’t put this dirty broken piece back into the game.

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And I found this when rebuilding the pops
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So now another parts order. This time with Pinball life. I might as well add the new IJ gun handle while I’m at it. I swear this will be THE LAST PARTS ORDER for these games!

Waiting for parts again. In the meantime I loaded 4 sound packages into the finished Twilight Zone #1. It’s like 4 different games!

I still haven’t installed the shaker though. I’m also going to install some mirror blades, a spiral back panel decal, some additional lighting…. Damn there’s a lot of options for this machine.

I replaced all the screws on the topside that hold down all the various ball guides. It's so odd that they are all rusty in the portions that were sunk into the playfield... and rusty where they were DEEP in to the playfield as well. And check out the long ones here. Those were the ones that were on the underside that held the wood side rails in place. Notice that they are rusty only where they were buried into the playfield, not the rails.

I know I called TZ#1 the "Garage find" pin, and the second one the "parts donor" playfield. I think I'll call this Indiana Jones the "underwater" pin. I just can't figure how everything that touched the playfield was so rusty.

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Besides the fact that my OCD won't allow me to leave rusty screws into a new game, the rusty ones have lost most of their holding power. The threads don't "bite" into the wood well, and some are so bad they just spin in place. Check out the one near the bottom of the photo that still has bits of the original playfield impregnated within it's threads. No holding power there. There's a certain satisfaction in pulling out a screw that you can tell isn't firmly in place and replacing it with one that really grabs the wood and has a firm stopping point.

Yeah, I know, one of my longer posts is about screws. Sorry about that.

Recessing the main bolts on the side of the cabinet. I also grind the heads down so that I minimize the amount I have to recess. The larger one hold the playfield, the smaller one is used to activate the hinge on the slide. You might think that the reduced amount of wood that is left to support the bolts (and therefore the playfield) reduces the strength of the bolted connection and ... you'd be right. However, these games were built like tanks and ment to be moved around a lot. Not the case these days. Also the large spacer plate that is on the inside of the cabinet that was used in W/B machines really helps to bind everything together without allowing for any movement.
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Time to start laying out the replacement lamp board in the backbox. The "underwater" IJ panel works, but of course its condition is unacceptable. After purchasing a nice 4x8 sheet of laminated board I'll start laying out for three panels (IJ, and TZ... and maybe one more for a future build? Hmmm.).

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And more before and after cleaning. Not really too exciting, but this is what takes up 90% of my time. I have a lot of these before and after shots for post studs, screws, metal posts, etc, but they get a little repetitive so this is the only one I'll post for the last few day's work.

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These are from TZ#2.

I also finished the rebuild of the pops and repaired all the cut wires for these today (no photos... kinda boring). Pops have got to be the most miserable mechanisms to rebuild. At least I didn't have to deal with re-wiring the pop lamps... no one likes having to deal with those.

I also played a few games on TZ#1 today! It's nice to take a break from all the "fun" restoration stuff and play a few games.

New plastics for TZ#2 arrived. Woo Hoo!

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Damn, there's a lot of these on Twilight Zone.

Recessed bolts have been Bondo'd, sanded and ready for final paint and RadCals

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"Note the original Twilight Zone in the background with these same bolts showing. That machine only had the bolts removed, polished (or painted) and re-installed. No RadCals on that one.”

Starting with the RadCals today. No bolt heads showing - and note the refection of the TZ machine below the whip.

And again... SHINIY!

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Getting all the new TZ plastics and Titan rubbers prompted me to jump back to the second Twilight Zone. This original playfield polished up quite nicely. I don't know who originally decided to raid this thing for parts, but I'm guessing they'd be surprised that it's coming back to life again.

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Some time ago I made up these polishing pads that I attach to a variable speed drill in order to do this type of playfield polishing. I simply cut a disc from a felt pad and glue it to the fixture you see here. Works great with some Novus 2 and automotive scratch remover. I've even had some luck using this to polish "foggy" mylar.

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More cleaning and polishing. I really can't live with a cruddy lockbar receiver... or a tarnished brass tilt mech.

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As a reminder, here's my original post with what I started with. The parts are the same, but this was before everything was cleaned and polished.
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OK, the flipper buttons are new.

Huge shout-out to @gorgar007. Will sent me all his left-over parts for free - he didn't even let me pay for shipping!
Included:
Two slot machine plastics with pre-wired lamp sockets (new)
Clock pcb boards
Clock motor
Diverter wire
Clock face
Trough prox sensor

Thanks Will!

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There's quite a long list - but mostly the "unique" parts that would just be for IJ and TZ. I'll send you a PM.

Well I'm getting close to putting the IJ playfield into the cabinet. The ONE thing that looked to be in decent shape is the metal subway. It looks pretty clean when mounted under the playfield. Surely this piece is something I finally don't have to deal with.

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WRONG!

Here's a look at the working side of the mechanism. Geez, I wonder how long this thing was under water - and who was holding it down while it was gasping for breath. This build never ceases to amaze and confuse me.
1. How did this machine get to be in such bad shape?
2. Who thought they could hide all this damage?
3. Can you imagine how much damage the balls would experience each time they traveled across this surface?

Oh well, time for some more disassembly, cleaning and reassembly. I swear this build would take half as long if I didn't have to do all the cleaning.

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Here's the "after" photo. Same parts. Not perfect and not "like new", but I'm OK with the results, especially for something that will never be seen again once installed. There's something oddly satisfying about restoring old parts to a workable condition vs just buying new parts. I certainly wouldn't be documenting the installation of new parts and pieces.

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This mechanism is too big for my tumbler so everything had to be done manually. This part required:
Wire wheel on the grinder to remove the bulk rust
Naval Jelly to remove more rust
Dremel to get the tight spots
Steel Wool
Metal polish (by hand)
Polishing wheel with felt pad
Removal of the wire harness and optos, scrubbed and cleaned in the sink
All screws removed and polished.
Mylar in the trough to smooth out the pitted surface.
Reassembly

Easy!

Finally able to drop the playfield into IJ after all that cleaning.

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This will be my final post until the end of the month. I'm heading to Italy... my daughter's getting married!

Back from Italy!

Just two shots to prove it actually happened.

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Back to work on the pins.

I took some time to re-organize this part of the shop. 6 pins take up a lot of room, so I like to put them all on castors so I can easily push them around. Most everything you see here is pinball related (and note the stack of ColorDMD boxes on the top shelf). The indy is temporarily up on the tool chest so I can put the side cabinet decals on.

And yes, I attach pool noodles on the top of the backboxes so the playfields (when upright) don't leave a mark.

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Extra points if you can figure out 2 of the 3 pins under the plastic

Cabinet decals in place. Coin door, legs, side rails, hinges and gun installed.

I still need to cut the holes for the start buttons and right side flipper button. Once again, note the lack of bolt heads both for the lockdown receiver (normally above the coin door) and the main cabinet slide bolts.

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I wish the pattern on the right side and coin door matched up a little better on the RadCals, but I can live with it.

I ran all the playfield cables and cabinet cables up into the backbox. Since none of them were labeled the manual was very useful. Most WPC games are wired the same way, but there are always those game - specific differences.

I still don't have the 8- driver board, fliptonics board or display board installed (currently on order), but I do have the MPU and driver board in place. So why not fire it up and see what happens? I'm really just wanting to see if it will go into attract mode to make sure the GI lights and inserts all work.

Success!

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Yep, that the first pin I ever bought, and started me down this rabbit hole. I learned a lot from it, and modded the crap out of it as well.

By far, this is the most significant pinball "mod" I have come up with. I know, it looks deceptively simple but this piece has allowed me to move countless pins into and out of the bed of my truck by myself without ANY stress or wear to the cabinets. The idea is that I wanted to eliminate any potential damage to the front or back of the cabinet by sliding (scraping) it into place while it was being loaded. I built this simple pin-moving device that:
1. Creates a "nest" for the pin to rest in, so the bottom of the cabinet isn't subjected to the stress of sliding across a surface that could damage the front or back of the cabinet. The platform slides, not the pin cabinet.
2. It creates a means to lift the pin by the edges instead of the bottom. A much more sturdy way of lifting the cabinet.
3. Any under cabinet lights, subwoofer or headphone wiring are protected from damage.
4. The runners on the underside of the platform work like sled runners to slide the pin in and out of my truck bed like a drawer.
5. The runners also sit within the trucks bed's ridges which reduce any shifting side to side.
6. The boarders around the edge of the platform make a nice buffer to keep a 4-sided spacing around the pin.
7. Only minimal strapping is required to keep the pin from shifting, since the platform itself doesn't allow any movement.
8. I can install/remove the legs easily while the platform is in place do to the cutouts at the four corners.

I slide this under any pin I move prior to using my Harbor Freight jack to lift it off the floor and start the loading process. It stays under the pin until it reaches its destination and the legs installed once again.

I really should take a photo of it in use - maybe on a later post.

This one however, I made for standard width pins. To move the Twilight Zone and Indy I need to build a widebody version.

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Typical damage to the front or back of the cabinet due to being scraped across a surface while being loaded or unloaded

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Lifting the pin with a platform "nest" eliminates the chances of catching an edge and fracturing the plywood.

It's finally time to make the wooden lamp board. Step 1: Cut the notches.

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No, I didn't make it backwards. The piece I'm using is white melamine on both sides.

I transferred the hinges and latches to the new piece (after polishing). Then tested it for fit and installed the latch brackets so it will stay in place. Lining those up is a little bit of a pain...

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Looks odd without all the lamp holes.

Next: Remove all the old sockets and slide them onto a piece of cardboard while trying to maintain the layout.

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Ahhh, that looks better. My first time remaking a lamp board and I'm pretty happy with the results.

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A fair bit of trial and error here. I ended up using a Forstner bit to make the holes. 5/8" seemed to be the trick in case anyone wants to do the same. I also placed the panel against a piece of scrap board on the back when drilling so I wouldn't "blow out" the edges of the back of the hole as the bit passed through the back of the board.

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This is the same type of bit I use when I recess the cabinet bots... except on those I only drill part way. Just enough to hide the bolt heads.

Working. Check that one off my list.

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Super clean '72 Fireball - my only EM. You can see just a piece of its back box.
HS - kinda easy to tell
Congo - no way to tell on that one.

I've gotten some PM's about how I hold the Forstner bit in place when recessing the bolts. Answer: I place it within a hole saw bit and hold the hole saw bit up to the cabinet. The hole saw bit doesn't spin, just the Forstner bit within it. This way, the bit doesn't "walk" when drilling at a location with a pre-existing hole.

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