So, my wife and I picked up a Williams "Doodle Bug" machine last year for a wonderful $200. After bringing it back from the dead, we decided to make this machine a "restoration" project. She's re-painting the playfield and cabinet and I'm fixing the wiring.

Well, she has been out of town and, while she has been gone, I came to the "Let's go all the way," conclusion which somehow got to the point of de-soldering all of the Jones connector wiring, cleaning the connectors, and re-soldering the wires.

I even cleaned the plywood that holds the assembly for crying out loud!

Someone, please stop me. This is too much fun. The front room is a mess -- wire cutters, solder, way too many screws, screwdrivers, pliers, random EM parts purchased off eBay...

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Thanks for the encouragement folks.

When we originally purchased it, it was only in about 20% working condition.

Before this project began, we were still having trouble with the chime box hitting on a regular basis, the "Advance Target" cycling, and overall buzzy noises, so we just decided to go all the way.

Yeah, it's going to take a hell of a long time. Luckily we have two other machines that we can play while this one's out. I think that's the main reason we decided to do this. That and we're both tinkerers.

I shall post photos as it all progresses -- which will be in very very random moments.

Too many damn hobbies.

Thanks for reminding me, Warlock. I need to get a new backglass from BGResto for mine as well.

I completely forgot to write back to them after I initiated a conversation with them last month. Whoops.

The score motor's pretty intimidating. Too many switch stacks that I could easily screw up. This will be the VERY last thing that will be refurbished. It's scary.

The solenoid/relay/whatever thing responsible for pulsing that motor's pretty gnarly looking though.

I'm convinced this machine was left somewhere terrible for many years. It's in overall much worse shape that other EM internals that I've seen on any of the PinballNinja videos.

Just came back from a week-long vacation and decided to check this thread and...

Newmantjn, holy hell! That's something very beautiful. Thanks for all of those pics. Now I definitely have some more motivation.

I think that's the thing about fully restoring a machine. If it's a work of love/art, then it's okay. And I slightly enjoy the fact that I know every single thing has been touched/cleaned.

You guys are awesome.

And this is what happens when I happen over to the local hardware store and pick up a wire-wheel attachment to my fancy-fun drill.

Shiny shiny!

Let's not forget, a glorious waste of an hour or so... and some bloody knuckles. Wear gloves dammit!

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