I still have the traffic jam up top to contend with. The three bits are pretty close to fitting and I am sure if I wanted to slot the post hole I could get it all to work.

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Before I do that I wanted to give these a try. This post has a slightly smaller base and others who have run into this issue recommended them. Tracking from Marco states they should be here tomorrow.

Link:http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-4195

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I was wondering the same thing about the grinder and have also been thinking ahead to that flipper/guide situation too. I know that will definitely need to be addressed. After doing this swap I understand why so many rubbers break on this machine. There were so many guides that were off the mark. It's like when they did the math, they did it w/o taking the rubbers into consideration.

I bought the set of nine from pinbits. I wanted to place an order for some of the discs, but am having trouble with their checkout system.

Definitely and keep in mind that the top section of the post, the flat part that is riveted measures .21 inches whereas the post itself is only .15. You don't have to enlarge all the way down, just enough to accommodate the flat part. Even then, be extremely cautious when installing and removing.

There is some clear that you can buy from the auto parts store or Kruzman that comes in a little tube. This may be worth grabbing to seal the areas that you have enlarged.

My Marco order arrived and the smaller does make the fit a little easier. Even with it there will need to be some finagling. That being said the base measures .23 inches and the current hole is .18. It doesn't leave a lot of room, and I am not sure if over time it wouldn't dig into the PF. I put a washer down, but it stuck out and got in the way of ball movement. I am going to have to sleep on this.

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And once again while removing the guides paint chipped. I've had dozens of machines cleared and non I and have never seen anything like this. Is this normal? Is this just because the paint was not allowed to cure properly? I don't know how anyone would be able to get through a swap without massive amounts of chips.

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They are fairly enlarged. In this case the guide has three posts so you have to get them all aligned so no one is resisting. I am going incredibly slow and gently with these. I am not whipping them out. I am treating them exactly like a game of operation. The tiniest bump and boom. Instead of a buzzer I get paint chips.

Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations. When I got my last PF back from Neo once I drilled I could test fit all I wanted and never saw anything like this. I've helped other friends with their PF swaps and never had this happen. Maybe we were just the outliers and got really lucky. This is all just very new and frustrating.

I am going to hit the auto store tomorrow to get a tube of clear and fit this chip back in place. I'm starting to wonder if I should break it down and send the PF out to be re-cleared/beefed up. I still have so much farther to go and the way this stuff reacting it doesn't make me too hopeful that I will get through without more casualties.

Thanks. It's definitely a source of frustration and concern. I understand that structurally these are areas of weakness, but the fact that my fingernail can chip it makes me wonder.

I think that may be the best route for the traffic jam and where the ball guide and top flipper meet as well. I think Williams messed up and didn't account for the rubbers being installed when they laid this out. Far too many areas where the guides dig right into the rubbers.

Thanks. Now that I have the dimpling done and know how to improve upon it I feel pretty ok. I'm going to tweak and revise my dimpling thread a bit. I think by the time you guys start on yours it should be pretty bullet proof ad should make the process a lot easier for y'all.

I got some more swag in yesterday. Major thanks to Freeplay40 for making these kick arse repro ramp flaps.

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I stopped working on it to kind of take some space and decide if I should send it out to be re-cleared. This pushed the budget for me and I don't really have another $600 to put into the PF, but may have to. I'm going to head out to a friend's place next week that has couple of their PF's to try and get a sense of if this is normal or not.

Hopefully I will be updating again soon.

Thanks for the added input Swampfire. I was thinking about getting back on the horse this weekend. We shall see. Every time I look at it I think that it should go back out to be cleared.

Let's pickup where we left off, with those dang ball guides...I decided the best way to address that traffic jam at the top was to take a little off (each end) of the inner guide. It ran into the post at the top and the rubber and post at the bottom. A little time on the bench grinder and some love with finer grain dremel bits and all was well.

I decided to just bend the guide around the top right pop. It too runs into rubbers down below, and perhaps should have been shaved a bit as well, but I decided to leave it. Only time will tell.

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Next up I decide to tackle the pops. First step is to install the *nails, there are a variety of methods, some just whap them in with a hammer and some pull them in from the underside by tightening. Both have their drawbacks.

I decide to give them a few taps with a hammer and that dang tool whose name I am blanking on. After I had them in a bit I applied the washer and nut and tightened until the nail was just under the PF surface. The one downside in this method is that it does tork the nails quite a bit and breaks can occur.

With the nails installed (hopefully my knuckles will be healed by spring) we can go ahead and install the base, spring, skirt and bodies.

*Remember we have already prepped the PF for these. If you haven't prepped the PF you are going to need to to that first.

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Thanks, I needed to walk away for a while. The PF was super frustrating to work with.

While assessing some of the parts I realized that I have a busted 5647-12133-13 mircoswitch. The switch doesn't consistently pop back out. It looks like this part is pretty unobtanium. Does anyone know of a good substitute that I can use in its place?

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I did run some tests and can get it to go around every few shots. It's not smooth.

While some of these ran into rubbers the placement of the posts and guides pretty much line up with my old one. There is not much you can do with this PF in relation to them. It's pretty obvious when Williams laid out this game they did not take into actual size of things with rubbers installed. Almost every post-guide combo are off the exact side of post or flipper rubbers. This game was littered with broken rubbers as a result.

Exactly, this was supposed to be a fun reward for the crappy fall I had. At this point I just want to finish and be done with it.

Restorations bring me more joy than playing. I love doing this stuff. This has just been a salty one. I host an annual Easter BBQ every year and I am hoping to have this squared away by then. Fingers crossed those micros from Australia can get here in time.

I ran into another little hiccup, I am going to try and grind a little off the guide and slide the post back a bit. This is another small area that has a lot going on so not too may options.

My goal for today was to get the rest of the guides and GI harness back on, but I think I need to dial that expectation back a bit. I'll probably be able to get the rest of the guides sorted, but may have to hold off on the harness until tomorrow.

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Some pretty great info on to DIY that microswitch

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacement-for-williams-5647-12133-13-mircoswitch-whirlwind#post-4268133

I did not like the forstner bits on this clear. It was super temperamental and chipped like crazy. I used standard bits. I did a tutorial on how to dimple, it is linked above. I would make a template and then mark your dimples with a marker, then test fit your guides, etc before doing any drilling. There was a ton of variation between my old PF and this one so my dimples weren't 100%.

Yeah, not much you can do about international shipping. AU is up there too. I decided to grab four micros to make it "worth" the cost. I figured they may come in handy down the road for myself or another member.

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate what CPR does and I get there are different variations between PF's and other hiccups that come up along the way. That being said EVERYTHING that you just stated is basic quality control. I work for a vinyl toy designer. Every step of the design and production process we check and verify.

I don't know how you send out 50+ PF's that lack dimpling or have a screwed up shooter lane. Maybe on your first run, you make a mistake, like a shooter lane and it doesn't become apparent until folks start installing, but address that on round two. Each step in the process should be checked and verified. Do random pulls to make sure everything checks out.

I decided to tweak that top junction a bit more. I created a couple of slots and slid the post towards the top a bit more and the ball guide towards the bottom of the PF. There is now a much smoother transition.

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Thanks for the heads up above. I double checked my photo and realized that the post was centered a bit more. I had to dremel out the PF a bit, there was no other way around it.