Vid, do you add soap to the dishwasher or does just the hot water alone do the job?

I have only changed a wire harness once but found that I did not need to label anything because the wires wanted to go back to the position it was in. Does washing it remove the memory it seems to have?

*If you know a local woodworker or cabinetmaker (clears throat), hit them up to run you some new rails. (There may even be people already offering them for sale?) The original stock in pinball machines were seriously crappy soft pine or poplar wrapped in contact paper with the image of hardwood grain printed on it. (How anybody figured out that this was cheaper than just using a decent hardwood in the first place is beyond me.) You can get many new rails out of a rough sawn board of the hardwood of your choice. I like ash for games with "wood color" contact paper (white oak would look good too); hard maple, soft maple (a misnomer), or red or white oak will all make for very nice rail stock if you are going to paint them black. A tooled up wood shop can run you a dozen strips in a half hour, sanded. Spray 'em black or don't, and topcoat with some rattle can lacquer and you're good to go. Using hardwood instead of those old cruddy rails will do a much better job of keeping the playfield flat than soft pine could ever manage.

(I have a lot to say about the obsession with playfield flatness, but that would be a conversation for another time...)

I'm doing a Monopoly restore/refresh and one the post holes (by the front ramp) is blown out in the back. Would it be helpful to add a Tee Nut on the bottom for some "tooth" or just add some washers and cinch it on down?

post hole (resized).jpg

Great Plains has been "out of stock" for weeks on the connector housings - is there another good source for these??

Great and very necessary thread! I always predrill every hole topside. I’ve seen what happens when you don’t, and it ain’t pretty.

Vid,

Would it be possible for you to show or explain how you put the playfield back inside the cabinet without scratching the sides? Is there a way to make this task a little easier? Thanks!

Two things I did to make it easier:
1. Protect the inside of the cabinet with a layer of masking tape. I use blue painters tape, and it is pretty easy to tell where the playfield scrapes on it when you raise and lower the playfield.

2. When you move the playfield to the cabinet, get some help. Last time I did it, it took three people: one on either side of the playfield, and one to help keep the wiring harness out of the way. We were doing a funhouse, so we put the playfield in vertically, and lowered onto the mounting pins. Edit: This method may only work with games that use a single pivot pins for the playfield mount (like system 11 and early WPC games).

Excellent idea! Is Funhouse mounted on the pivot pins like TAF or Does it have the slide mechanism?

I got an IJ I need to put back in the cab this weekend.....

It has just mounting pins, no slide mechanism. You may be able to do something similar with playfields mounted on slides.

Edit:
After looking at the pictures of the IJ playfield latch mechanism, putting the playfield in vertically may not make it any easier.

Not really needed to put a playfield back into a cab, but can be used for that purpose. Rather, if you have mirror blades or decals to help protect them when you are working on your machine(s):
https://www.pinballlife.com/interior-cabinet-protector-blade-set.html

Looks like a good option to protect the side art! Thanks!

vid- when you say remove any "enclosed switches" before dishwashing, are you referring to cherry micro-switches? or relay-type switches?

I’ve seen different ways to install t-nuts in a new pf, but can’t recall seeing a Vid method. Perhaps i’ve missed it in another thread so if its already been covered my bad.

Looks like the contacts at Great Plains are *also* sold out - any other good source??

Long term -- I like using a 6" strip of thin hobby black felt tape with a sticky backing -- sometimes the end peels up and I have to re-apply, but I feel for $.50 of felt tape, I'm keeping the scratches down.

-mof

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6ATAK8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Similar but better adhesion - get a fat yard of regular felt. Cut a strip with a straight edge and glue it to the side of the playfield with acrylic gel medium. It'll stick way better than the peel and stick stuff.

I have been working on replacing all the housings and crimp connections on a Xenon.I was going to be satisfied with this and replacing the header pins. During this process I acquired a reproduction playfield- never thought I was going to find one, but it is a beauty and now I want to follow this tutorial and clean everything including the harness. Since I went out of order in this tutorial , I am hoping the new housings and new crimp connections will be fine to run through the dishwashing process.Please say yes.

Vid— Do you recommend filing off the fins of wire guides if they are going back into an older playfield?

That is a relief and it your welcomed response made me laugh. Thanks again for a really informative tutorial.

How did they get those things in in the first place. The hole is round before you remove them.

What is the tiny diode looking thing on the switch for my SBM? Can I use the same foods diodes that I already have for my newer games? I think they are 1N4004.

IMG_20190108_173529 (resized).jpg

I'll second that, the original is an 1N4148, your newer ones are most likely 1N4004 as you mention, see pics for the current / voltage difference.

20190108_181555 (resized).jpg

20190108_181559 (resized).jpg

Lol... Minimum order is $5. The caps are less than a penny in quantities over 100. I don't need 500 of these. Probably have 80 diodes already as well.

Anything else I should order to "have around". Restoring a SBM now, maybe TZ in the future.

How are you for connectors and contacts?
Early Bally games often need repinning.

Set yourself up with some IC sockets...
Trust me, you can find $5 fast!

New board prior to my ownership.

Thanks for posting and maintaining this topic Vid. I have a new TAF playfield to install and I always find your guidance to be accurate and to the point.
I will definitely be using this when I start the project!

Pick up some SCRs and/or Transistors. Between 1N4004s and MCR106 & 2N5060 SCRs and some TIP102 you should be fill that cart in no time. I keep these by the dozens and I've only really worked on a handful of machines.

Lol... Pretty sure that I have all that except the MCR106... Added a few of everything just cause I don't know the quantities I have at home. Order up to $11 now. Thanks.

I admire your restraint, most of my orders are over $50!
One thing I've noticed with them, I just pay for first class mail, the orders still seem to get here just as fast (small packages) as if they were shipped priority or even UPS or FEDEx.

I wish Vid would have finished this guide before he dissapeared....
Come back Vid!

Love your guides, I've learned so much from them, thanks!

I hav a question about drill bits, as in, what kind to use. CPR install guide asks for Brad-Tipped bits, but you picture regular conical bits in this guide. Are brad-tipped bits overkill?

From CPR install guide:

It is highly recommended to use a small BRAD-TIPPED drill bit to “start” the dimples. This prevents screw-splitting the new wood.
Always use a bit size that is 20 to 40% smaller than the screw diameter itself. The screw needs something left to bite into

No:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration/page/46#post-2611562

Say, where *is* Vid anyway? Taking time off from Pinside having become a full time job?

Brad point bits are a necessity. You don't need a whole huge bit index of them, just get a small set, as you'll mostly use the 3/32 - 1/8, in that range. The difference is that the brad points slice through the clear coat somewhat surgically. My personal preference is to cut through only the clear holding the bit by hand; you'll often be able to pull off a little circle of clear. A 1/8" hole in in the clear is comfortably larger than the hole you will then drill for the screw or wire guide, which is good (the reasoning is covered in this guide). Once you have the clear sliced through and have established your smaller pilot hole, I then take a countersink - again, working by hand - and ease the edges of the clear. Now you can drive screws without disturbing the clear coat's bond to the surface around it.