Back in 2006 while I was with my dad, picking up a Whirlwind, the gentleman that we were buying it from also had a Breakshot. I played a few games on it and fell in love with the machine. I found the gameplay to be simple, yet fun. The colors and artwork were very vibrant and it has been on my shortlist ever since, but I never stumbled across one until this summer.

A fellow pinsider was selling a Breakshot project machine, with all of the parts, including a bunch of new ones that he had purchased. He was willing to ship if I set it all up. I read some good reviews about Bob Cunningham's services and I managed to set everything up via text. I didn't know how Bob's process worked, but the entire process was about 6 and a half weeks from first contact to delivery. That worked fine for me and the seller.
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So, turns out this machine was in storage for a while, changed hands a few times, was routed and just needed some love. It was dirty, really dirty and the rings on there were decaying off. A mouse had made a nest in there, and from the looks of it, he spent his whole life in there and died. I did find a skull and various mouse debris.
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It was also in a very moist environment at some point during its life. Some areas were quite rusted.IMG_20190828_165035 (resized).jpg

But all of that cleaned right up. There was a beautiful, resilient playfield underneath all of that crud.
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Unfortunately I did something stupid and removed the mylar over the middle inserts. The clear lifted along with the outlines. I'm annoyed, but I'll deal with it later.
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Bought a paint marker from Walmart that looked like it might match the cabinet since there were a bunch of little chips in the paint.
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This filled them right in.
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It's not a perfect match, but from more than a foot away it blends right in. There were plenty of spots of missing paint all over this side. The sheen is a bit off, but I can fix that later if i feel like it.
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Decided to plug the machine in for the first time.

And nothing happened.

Tested the outlet, good.
Tested the cord, good.
Tested the main fuse, good.
Tested the switch, good.

Hrm.....

Hooked it all back back up.

End of cord, 120V
EMI filter, 120V
Fuse, 120V
Power Switch, 0V

Turns out the Fuse Body was very touchy. Resistance would go from 0 to infinity with a slight touch.

Yanked it out, mechanically adjusted the teeth that bite in and just like that, i have 120V to the switch.

Machine goes on
4 dead switches. Two that I have not hooked up, but the other two will have to be hunted down. Funny thing is that one of them is the right out lane. Looking at the audits, there has never been a ball that went down the right out lane, so this has been dead for at least the last few thousand plays.

Getting close.
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Thanks!

No, but after seeing how nice the Color DMD looked in this game, I just had to get one.

DIY flipper link bushing

Since the flipper link bushing is not available, but necessary, I decided to make my own. This is what happens to the flipper link when you don't have a bushing in it. Nasty.
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So, I don't want that to happen to my nice new links. Using the handy dandy lathe in my garage, I turned a new bushing. The hole in the link is 5/16" so I added 3 thousandths for a good interference fit, which makes it 0.3155" OD. A clearance hole for a 10-32 screw is 0.203", or a #7 drill bit.

I used brass since I had a brass bar sitting around. Unfortunately I didn't have a smaller diameter one, so I had a decent amount of waste.
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Perfect Fit
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Drilling out the hole
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Testing the fit
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Finished product
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Old and new
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Thanks!
Yet it will never be seen, hidden within the shaft clamp.

There are a few things left:
I'm still waiting on my center post. It's getting chromed by @sc93cobra at pinballplating.com
There are what appears to be at least one broken wire in the 3 bank drop target. It's doing some weird things when the playfield is down.
I'm waiting on an order from australia with a couple replacement switches in it.
I have to rebuild one flipper. The plunger is cracked and I have a new one that supposedly fits, but I just have to test it.

I've been focused on rebuilding whirlwind while waiting for parts to show up, but i really can't wait to finish and play it

Just fixed the 3 bank drop target. Turned out that I had one bad switch and another that had a weak spring in it. I didn't have another switch for the drop target available, and they're crazy expensive. I ended up using a spare outhole switch. The outhole switch has a much stronger spring in it.

Trim the two circles on the switch that were melted to hold it together.
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I simply took the lever arm from one switch and moved it to the other and my issue was fixed.

Standard drop target switch
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Outhole switch
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You can see the difference in the springs.

Put in a new shooter rod while I'm waiting for parts. It needed a new one anyways.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1057-super-skill-shot-shop/00635-pool-ball-custom-pinball-shooter-rod

Switch Issue Debugging:

I had one bit of weirdness going on. I'm still a rookie when it comes to electrical debugging, so this is all pretty new to me. I love the switch diagnostics in this machine.

How great is this?
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So, every time the outhole switch was pressed, another switch would close. Turned out, the out hole switch had a wire soldered to the common, which then was causing a signal to another switch. Simple resolder and everything is back to how it should be.

I needed to buy a few parts from australia, so to make it worth my while for shipping, i tried to find everything that i could possibly need by scanning all of their capcom parts.

I came across the "CAPCOM ASSEMBLY SCOOP BALL EJECTOR TRIPLE", which is the welded center metal assembly. It was $33AUD which is only about $20. How could I not buy a new one?

Here's mine. You can see the wear in the scoops. It's going to cost me more than $20 to get that re-chromed.
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And here's the new one.
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I still have to install it, but it'll look a hell of a lot better.

Chromed center post in the house! Isn't it pretty?
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But just one problem. It no longer fit into the mechanism that houses it. By adding a layer of chrome to the post, the diameter of the shaft increased by 0.010". The gasket in the mechanism is 0.500" in diameter so there's no room. I had to turn the lower portion of the post down. I wanted to be careful not to scratch it, so i put two turns of electrical tape on it.
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The jaws of the lathe didn't dig though the tape. I turned the shaft down to 0.495", giving it a little extra clearance so there would be no rubbing.
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With the post in, the machine is essentially finished.

Titan rings of pool ball colors were installed around the playfield.
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The plunger has a light blue, freshly chalked cue tip.
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I installed the Retro SMD bulbs in all locations that were permanently on. I like them a lot.
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There are a few straggling things to take care of, but the machine works perfectly. I have a new set of roms on order, v1.3, so the color DMD will work better. There are still a few chips in the paint to take care of and a some wire handling inside the cabinet. None of that is really worth going through though.

I'm going to call this done.
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Quality Assurance is going through the machine now, accusing each other of copying playing strategies.
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