Hi guys, I used to do lots of pin repairs for mine and friends pins back when you could get decent prices at local auctions. Around 2000 I got out of it and just have a small collection of 'toys'.
Ages ago I had a Chexx I got at auction cheap. The dome had lots of nasty deep scratches and the board did not work. A couple of the gear boxes were loose, but it ended up playable in th end. Sold it for a good profit.
Another Super Chexx followed me home. I have to admit I was loosely looking for one. Figured it is better then the video game stuff for my young boys. So poorly listed 'Bubble hockey' popped up on craigslist locally and I was the first to call. The guy had it outside for a week or two (so he says) covered (it rained some). He was claiming on the phone it would work if plugged in, I did not try, too much water and a uniquely patched power cord. Bubble was not so bad, computer was inside with wires, and the playfield was complete and very nice looking.
So I am on my evaluation and figured I would share some details as I am learning. You will see I might get a little too far into the details, but that only helps at times. Oh and may be I write too much 
So let me start off with the first one I bought.
The dome.
I play with antique cars and know about buffing out metal and paint. The process is simple but labor intensive. You have to look at the 'scratch' and figure out which paper will let you cut down the scratches there but be less scratch then the scratches you are trying to remove. If you choose too coarse then you will be making more work.
So you figure out your first sand paper. Mine was bad I started really coarse at 180, oh and you want wet with a bit of soap to keep the paper clear and cut faster. Only go one way like up and down. Cut till your are almost to the bottom of the scratch you are trying to remove.
Move on to the next paper like a 280, now sand 90 degrees to the first sanding. Go until you cant see the previous sand scratch (that is why you go 90 degrees).
Continue up 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000. I forget which I stopped at since what is sticking in my brain is what I have done for the stainless on my 31 Model A Ford I am restoring. I will add that buying real Norton or 3M paper is well worth the money as the harborfreight and other low cost stuff just does not hold up at all. The grit quickly goes away.
Then I moved on to a drill and pad with Novis. I stared with the coarse Novus (blue bottle?) then the red bottle. It is important that you have a different buff for each bottle and do not swap them. I may have hand polished some after that.
I would be leary of flame polishing as I would be afraid the dome shape changing with the heat.
Now let me move on to my current project.
Let me say dirt is the operative word. It was wet everywhere. I do not know what the guy used for a cover, but I do not think it worked very well. I decided the best course of action is a total tear down, cleaning and evaluation is what I needed to do. Out came the rods and the gear boxes. I noticed that the rods had the silver aluminum from the stop wore into some of them. I also noticed some of the boxes were pretty low in the channel.
The rods cleaned up decent with a combination of Mr Clean Magic Erasers (love em) and 1000 grit sand paper. The rods where they go through the bushings get a little rough and I feel they should be smooth. So I wet sanded with the soapy water some.
The gear box evaluations are interesting.
So you will see some pictures below of a 'new' box that I believe had little or no wear.
It is about 2 3/4" tall and just under 1 15/32" wide. (2.743" and 1.46"). Now these are plastic pieces and I believe there will be some variation.
You will see I have a very worn box next to the real good box. The worn box is 3/16" shorter in size and about 1/16" narrower in width.
So what does all this mean. Well being shorter the player will need to be moved higher up plus the player will have more up and down motion during play. The side to side wear means you will need to keep the player higher from the ice to prevent it from scraping and wearing the surface.
Next you will see a worn box apart. I took a bad on apart for starters.You can see how they do the clutching. The large gear rides over a disk with bumps. I would assume that bumps loose some height over time and will clutch easier.
I have found that the grease has accumulated dirt (the aluminum from rubbing on the stops because the box is worn) and makes the boxes turn with bumps. You really need to clean the gears.
Finally, one other observation. The two collars on the metal shaft have a tight fit on the plastic housing. I have already noticed one seems tighter on the shaft then others. So that may affect how well a shaft turns.
So now I have a question, does anyone know a good close red for the play field box? Mine needs stickers and a paint job (not sure I am going this route).
My brother works on cars and thinks sunroof grease might be the best lube for the plastic. I will find out.
Hope helps.
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Added over 6 years ago: Playing more with the boxes.
I found some will bind up when you turn them in one direction. The square post piece is poorly molded. It is not perfectly round and will fetch up in the hole even with lubrication. When I put one in that is round and well molded it just works fine. I had 2 with this problem and I happen to have 2 bad boxes with that part good. It happens that the 2 with the bad shaft were some of the new no wear cases so I really wanted to get them working.
In talking with ICE I found out they currently use some thing called Bolube. Some kind of Boeing Lube that is blue. I have not located it commercially. I work with aircraft so I will go talk to the maintenance guys and see what they know.
Added over 6 years ago: Oh I almost forgot.
I talked to Novus.
For acrylic (softer then the lexan for the bubble) Novus #3 takes out 600 grit scratch marks. Novus #2 does 1200 grit.
For Polyacrylic (Lexan) it is much harder. It takes a lot more work to get the scratch out.
