SOLD Pinbot #2 For Sale $1100

This Pinbot is for sale. It is complete. Has some peeling on the right side of the cabinet. I fixed the topper and flipped it around. Also repaired the visor door. The playfield is in excellent shape with full mylar so it is not worn. Spiral ramp is black and not broken. The blue plastic piece on the left is not broken. The backglass is actually a glass and not a translite. It is working fine and complete. I don't know when I will be able to take this one on, I have to pick my battles and I decided that this one will go.

Status Update

I have been very busy with side work over the last few months and have received nuerous inquiries for help....I enjoy this but it is difficult for me to come to your location to fix your pinball, I would prefer the machine here. I ordered a wiring diagram for the Pro-Football. I am still selling the Alien Poker and Pro-Football. These are reduced because I need the room and want to move on. Email me if you are interested, the Pro-Football needs some adjusting and can go as is....if you want to tinker!
See the post below for the Kiss Overlay installation.

Side work: Bally Old Chicago

I was asked to get this one going for its owner. This is a pretty nice 1975 Old Chicago. There is some minor wear on the playfield, the cabinet and backglass are in pretty good shape. This is a Bally 4 player EM, which looks pretty scary because there is alot going on in this thing!! I haven't worked on one of these before but I was able to figure out the problems fairly quickly. It has a few locked on coils, no lights at all and a few other problems.....

2008-10-26: Had a stuck switch which caused a multitude of problems. 2 stepper wheels would not reset to home position, fixed and cleaned. Has a bad connector, I think I can fix it. Replaced about 20 bad bulbs. 4 players work now. Still has a few bad sockets that I can fix.

2008-10-31:

1. Fuse connection was poor and intermittent which would prevent the game from starting. Repaired.

2. Gen Illumination/switched illymination connection on connector was poor, mostly open. Getting hot. Took it apart and resoldered it that pin, hardwired it to fuse holder directly to share current load anyway...

3. Cleaned player up unit and ball advance unit, sometimes would not reset back to #1 position.

4. Cleaned score drum units, player 1 was very dirty.

5. Player one would reset to 80000 or like 06000 on occassion on game start depending on last score. Worked once it warmed up. It is cold in the garage. I cleaned the switches on the wheels on the main motor in the cabinet anyway.

6. Cleaned the playfield and playfield glass.

7. Fixed light sockets on "game over", "d","c"

8. Set game to 3 ball

9. Switches on playfield are good

10. Replaced one diode, resoldered another on the bumpers.

10. Game plays well and starts up everytime.

Pinball Repairs and Refurbishment-you supply the machine!

We can also repair and refurbish your machine for you. If you have one that needs work done send me an email and we can work something out.

Kiss Pinball Project Overlay Installation!!

Well, this winter I decided to try to tackle the Kiss playfield. It was alot of work and requires patience waiting for each stage to dry....

2008-11-15: New Playfield Overlay Installation:
Before removing the hardware, top and bottom, take alot of pictures. This will help later. I use a digital camera and keep the laptop handy so I can easily refer to it later.

I built 2 rotating stands so I could work on the playfield on the table. These stands are great for this. I then built a frame out of 2x6" boards and mounted the playfield to it, using the existing holes in the playfield. This way I could leave the majority of hardware attached to the back of the playfield.

Prepping the Playfield
I stripped it down. I used a palm sander with 400 grit and sanded the playfield almost to bare wood in most spots. I had to glue a couple of insert back in place. I then sanded it down with 600 and subsequenty 2000 grit over the lenses. I washed it all with alcohol. I put a coat of sprayed on varathane and scuffed it off. For the white, I initially used acrylic with a brush. This turned out terrible. I sanded it all off because the brush strokes were evident. I suspected this would happen. Using 1/4" wide masking tape, I masked off the areas requiring paint. Another thing to note with this is you don't want paint lines after you put down 2 coats so I had to sand the edges a bit to ensure that they wouldn't show through the mylar. A good tip is to use old bulbs in the sockets when spraying so that they don't get paint in them. I took a bunch of pieces of tracing paper and marked the holes where the metal rails were installed. This is important because they will disappear as you go forward....take more pics.

Painting the White
Once the white was down, I scuffed it with 600. I then sprayed on another 2 coats of varathane. I used spray on because I don't need it thick, it dries quick and I had it available.

Overlay Drop Down
After that I was ready for the overlay. I had the overlay that is considered the "good" one which is the partial one, with the exposed ball lane and white areas. It is 175.00 US and purchased at Arcade Shop. It is very, very nice quality. I put it down using the methods I found on line, http://www.pinballmagic.com/oldsite/overlay.htm using the spray bottle with water and soap. This was tricky and took numerous tries. I had no air bubbles at all. It worked out great.

Final Coats of Varathane, no turning back
After 2 days, I scuffed off the playfield with 800 grit, just enough to remove the shine. I used a tack rack after ALL sanding on every step above. Using the appropriate foam brush, I brushed on 4 coats of Diamond Finish Gloss Varathane. Wait 1 day at least between coats. If it goes on too thick, it will have a brown tinge to it. After the 4 coats, I gave it 3 coats of wax. It is super smooth. It looks really good.

Summary
2008-12-13: The overlay was a good experience and a learning process. This is not an easy thing to do for the average person. It is alot of work and you need to have a high level of patience. I redid the white stage 3 times...I have alot of experience with paints so that helped. It is not perfect, but very nice. I will definitely be able to do it on the next Kiss.

Some points to consider:

1. Plan your moves!!!

2. Don't use a brush to put down the white. Spray it on.

3. Mask off the area where the ball shooter lane is and around the top. Also, tape over the inserts lenses, the rollover trough slots and the bumpers as well so that the wood shows through when you put down the overlay. Lay the overlay down to get an idea of where the wood is going to show.

4. Remember to mask off the inside edges in the drop target/target slots when spraying your white as well. I also put masking tape along the outside edge of the playfield so when it is lifted later, it looks clean.

5. Don't get hung up over a spec in the clear here and there. Remember to scuff between coats and USE A TACK RAG. When complete, you can wet sand and scuff off the spots with 600 grit or even 2000 grit and polish them out.

6. Remember that it will look like crap if you don't spend time cleaning the hardware so expect alot more work later.....

7. Did I mention to take alot of pics???

8. Also, if you screw up you can just buy another overlay and start over lol :).

Pinbot project #1 For Sale $1100 *SOLD!*

I decided to sell Pinbot #1.
Obviously these are desired and collectible....
This one works pretty good but could use still use some work.
I have too much to do....!
See the other post on this machine in "Pinballs for Sale" for more info.
October 16, 2008: Sold the Pinbot #1...

More machines!

We have acquired a few more pinball machines. Stay tuned..they will be up for sale shortly....

Pinballs wanted

Interested in anything, or even trades
but I am looking specifically for the following machines:
Kiss
Black Hole
Gottlieb EM's single player preferably with a good backglass and playfield.
Or a Track and Field arcade game
Does not have to be working obviously.
Click on the links to the right to see the different sections.

Update

It has been a busy summer, but its time to get back to finishing up some of these projects. Pinball season.

These are for sale:
Alien Poker
Force 2
Pro Football will be for sale
Spin a Card will be for sale
Monte Carlo
Pinbots (one for sure)
I will be looking at the Supersonic this fall/winter

Bally Supersonic

I got this one from a fellow collector/hobbyist and a head/backglass from another hobbyist/collector. Needs alot of work! Pretty good, traditional early Solid State machine. I always liked this machine. Hope to work on this one this fall, winter.
Pics to come!

2009-01-01:

Swapped around guts from the original head to the other one I had which is in better shape. Rebuilt a power supply with new bridges, J1 connector and CR1-4 diodes. See the pics of the original, there is cigarette paper on most of the fuses, which is generally not a good thing! I will rebuld this board at a later date.

2009-02-28: Ordered playfield decals, star and SST. Plan to restore second playfield w/clearcoat application since second playfield is excellent condition everywhere else.

200--03-04: Received shooter rod assembly.

2009-03-07: Boots up reliably now. No displays. MPU has board issue still (no display driver). Repaired HV path to displays. Need to still replace some pins at display connectors. Repaired one wire that was chewed up to player 4. Repaired/replaced bad pins on J3 Solenoid driver board. Need to repair J1, J4 pins at connectors on driver board, no flipper relay enable, can jumper control and flippers are strong.

2009-03-08: Looks like I will need 2 six digit displays but I'll get the MPU done first to make sure. Played around with sound board. I suspect that the PROM is bad.

2009-03-15: 1 solenoid energizes at solenoid test. Replaced all pins at J4 solenoid driver harness. Test passes now. Repaired faulty coin door test button.

1973 Gottlieb Pro-Football EM $600 obo

I got this one on the weekend from a fellow collector/hobbyist...I like the sports themed machines, has 3 chimes (my favorite) and a bell. This one has some reset issues. Needs some fairly minor cosmetic work. Right flipper button kicks the ball out. Will go well in the rec room of some Rider fan this fall when they win the Grey Cup again! (or maybe an Esky fan, just because they like football... :)
Pics to come.

August 29, 2008: Fixed issues with relays and switches, game works good. Need to check switches on playfield and usual cosmetic work. Touched up white on cabinet and head. Waxed cabinet. Should be done this weekend.

August 30, 2008: Stripped playfield, minor touchups. Ordered new rubber kit. Replaced all head bulbs. Have new stickers for the flippers as well.
September 20, 2008: Parts are on their way.

October 5, 2008: Replaced al rubbers. Installed new flpper stickers. Installed new flipper buttons. Adjusted switches. For sale! If I don't sell it, I'm putting it downstairs.

Big Buck Hunter-Sold

I don't like to stray from pinballs much anymore, but there are only a few that I think are worthwhile. This is a kit in a Sega cabinet. It works, but the monitor needs work. It is dark and has no blue. It has the coin mechs as well.

Wierd sound problem with the Alien Poker

Noticed awhile ago that I had an issue where an audio piece/voice would play when the lower right flipper (power) switch was actuated. Today I decided to take a quick peek at it....I suspected that it was creating havoc with the power to the sound board. I looked at the flipper coil and saw that I forgot to solder one side of the diode when I was working on the flippers.....oops. Works now....!

1976 Gottlieb Abra Ca Dabra $900-SOLD

Sold in April, 2008 to an antique collector. This was a very nice pin in excellent condition and it worked great. I really liked this machine. It was verry clean. I had to adjust the ball advance, fix up some plastics, replace the bulbs and rubbers. It was waxed as well. It has 3 chime bars. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to keep moving them otherwise this would be considered an addiction rather than a hobby......I really like the Gottlieb single player 3 chime bar EM's.

1980 Bally Frontier $650-SOLD

This was the second pinball I bought. I got it at an auction sale. It was well used and needed a ton of work. The backglass was perfect, the cabinet had a few bruises and the playfield had the usual wear for a Bally of this vintage. This machine was made in low numbers.

Bally Fireball Home Edition $650 SOLD

This was the first pinball I bought. It was in very good shape.

Mr and Mrs. Pac Man $1200-SOLD

Sold to another collector last year, this is old news. I still wanted to add it to the machines I have had and passed on.
I bought this one in Edmonton not working as usual. It had alot of small electronic issues. The cabinet was "perfect", the backglass was perfect and there was a bit of wear up top, common for this game. Pretty good game, I liked the targets on it

Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man-side work

Got a call from someone who picked up this pin at an auction....The cabinet is repainted.....I hate that the worst! It's been dropped off in my garage...
He is getting the keys for it, I'll have a look at it to evaluate it and see the damage. Usually if stuff is at an auction, its bad....we'll see.

Bally Harlem Globetrotters-SOLD

Going to a good home.
I fixed a cold solder joint on the bulb socket for one of the bumpers tonight and cleaned it up.
This game is challenging. The whole time I had it, I never did knock down all of those targets on the upper right. The double flipper on the left is a challenge as well. A sign of a good pinball is one that keeps you from getting bored too soon! I wanted to add a double switch for the credit, game start but I didn't have all the parts. I set the credit max to 40.

Bally Supersonic repair job June 8, 2008

I also do this occasionally for those who need it. I installed new rubbers, bulbs, targets and fixed the solenoid driver board. The display voltage was 230v also and I could tell it wasn't working by the burnt displays..he gave me a dead power supply/transformer that I will refurbish as part payment. He bought a used one on Ebay...that was before he knew I could help! Oh well.
Got to go back, I stopped in and that driver board still doesn't work so I'll have to have another look. I think that the resistor is bad (changed the FET, then changed the diode).

Heel and Wheel June 14 please help!

Our family is active with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada. My 8 year old has Crohn's disease. Thousands of people in Canada are affected by this progressive, sometimes devasting disease. Many of them are young children.
Please visit her site and read her story by clicking the title above and consider supporting us! Thanks!

MONTE CARLO CABINET DETAILS

Thanks to Glenn for asking about this, I forgot about it and would like to add it to the details!

This cabinet had issues like something had spashed onto it and caused the wood to swell in places. What I did was shaved the "swell" down with a razor blade and touch it up with Tremclad Black. Someone also tried to spray black paint over the sides, then tried to wipe the overspay off and swiped the blue a bit on one side. This is probably the worst part of the cabinet.

The left side has the swiped paint issue. The right side has some black touched up spots as well.

Once I cleaned and waxed the entire cabinet, it made the issues less noticeable. I also touched up the wear around the flipper buttons and the start button to make it blend in better.

Also, I repainted the head by recreating the stencils and matching the blue paint to the cabinet. It is covered with satin clear varathane to reduce the gloss slightly and protect it. It turned out pretty good.

The flash on the camera is not very flattering. The machine looks good in person.

Gottlieb Monte Carlo Sold

See previous posts on this machine for details on work performed.

This one has 2 ramps, 3 ball multi-ball, targets, 3 bumpers, cool sounds, scrolling high scores with initials and a roulette wheel in the playfield!

This game pretty fast and shiny....

Stern Stars $700 SOLD

This one is in excellent condition. Cabinet is awesome. Backglass has a couple of tiny flakes but very minor. Playfield has ball swirls but very minor. Sorry about the pics, I can send better ones if required. revised: 2008-05-27: Made new target stickers, had a shorting coil (there was a bunch of blown fuses inside, usually means something).

Repair Log:
New rubbers and bulbs , cleaned playfield and waxed.
Repaired MPU board, replaced some sockets, cleaned up minor corrosion.
Repaired one dead display, repaired power supply board and display regulator circuit

Repaired bridge power supply, installed new gen illumination rectifier and installed power supply filter cap
Repaired some faulty lamp sockets

Pinbot #2

Here's some pics of the second Pinbot. It is in great condition but needs the cabinet redone. Stencils are available for this one. It has a couple of minor issues but works great. The ramp and blue plastic piece are intact.

Repair Log:

September 19, 2008: Removed topper, fixed and flipped it around. Fixed player 1 display, wasn't assembled correctly. Had to remove it from the board, drill a hole into the board and remount it.

September 20,2008: Fixed issue with target back.

Decided to sell this one as is. Works great. Needs cosmetics.

Pinbot project #1 $1100 SOLD

This is not on the table. This one was alot of work but the playfield is nice. Has the usual broken blue piece and chipped spiral ramp but who cares, its a Pinbot!

Left side is peeling. I will get a stencil kit this year and fix it. Still plays great. I pulled everything off and cleaned it but I got this one a few years ago..

September 23, 2008: I decided to sell this one. It will be a good project, needs a few things done to it still.

On-going Project: 1986 Bally Motordome-SOLD!

Awesome shape. Needs to be cleaned up. Works great.....

2008-05-30: GAME SOLD. will do a service visit in a couple of months to do a couple of things.

On-going Project: 1986 Gottlieb Monte Carlo

I got this one last year from a fellow collector. It has been alot of work but I enjoyed working on a Gottlieb machine. It has a busy playfield and is retro 80's...Has a roulette wheel in the playfield. I bought a few things for it already.

REPAIR LOG:

• Fixed MPU board, half the switches not registering. Still randomly does not boot, cycle power works-still need to fix that.
• Fixed power supply. Has new filter cap and bridge was already replaced.
• Removed transformer plate and cleaned it. Reproduced internal cabinet labels.
• Pulled out circuit board backboard, repainted it white. Replaced all board standoffs.
• Need to fix sound board. Bought another one, will fix both and resell one.
• Cosmetics: cleaned off T molding on head. Touched up wierd spots on cabinet and waxed it. Coin door should only require a cleaning.
• Will probably repaint the head....in the garage. Simple designs so it should be easy.
• 4 plastics were broken, still need the left sling..
• Bought new bumper caps, bodies, flippers...
• Bought new rubber kit and three new balls.
• Replaced 12 volt bridge
• Redid all ground connections at Transformer block as well as boards.
• Replaced fuse block (8 fuses)

May 5, 2008:
For the last 2 evenings I pulled the playfield apart and cleaned it. Reinstalled all parts, installed new bumper bodies, caps and flipper bats. However, one of the bumpers doesn't work now, the left kicker doesn't work and the game resets when the right kickout hole switch is pressed. I must have shorted something when I fought with installing those bulbs under the playfield! My hands were cramping up like never before. Sure looks nice now, it made a big difference.Next entry:Monte Carlo sound worksI cut off the ground return connectors off and soldered eyelets to the wires. They are fastened to the transformer base to achieve a better connection. This was causing alot of problems and will make the game work more reliably. I still have to install a storage cap, fix the 5v (remove the potentiometer), adjust a couple of switches. The game plays well. The sound works now as well, see video. This one will be listed for $1200 because of the amount of work I put into it and it is a pretty elaborate game. IT ONLY MAKES THE SIREN SOUND WHEN THE WHEEL LANDS ON A NUMBER THAT YOU HAVE LIT UP. IT DOESN'T DO THAT ALL THE TIME.May 22, 2008:Last night I added the ground wires from the 5v board as well as the solenoid driver board. I noticed that since I fixed the ground connections last time, the game boots everytime. I also installed a fixed resistor on the 5v supply.Tonight I cleaned up the targets and adjusted the switches that were not working well. I also installed a storage cap on the MPU to hold the high scores.As I stated earlier, this has been a big project but it turned out very well.

September 20, 2008: Game would not boot on a couple of occasions this summer. There wasn't any 5 volts. Found that there was oxidation on the 12v fuse holder and connection to the fuse was open. I therefore replaced the entire 8 fuse holders.

Gottlieb Force 2 Backglass has arrived intact!!

After hearing from Dave (guy who bought my Williams Contact project) that the glass he found for it on ebay came with half the paint missing, I was nervous about finding out how my Force 2 backglass was going to arrive. It was packed very well but the UPS charge of $33.oo sucked. Luckily all was well. It has a few spots but it is many times better than the original. Will be a nice improvement on that game.

Got another Pinbot

I was fortunate to come across another Pinbot. It needs the usual, few broken plastics and the right side of the cabinet is peeling which is opposite from my other one. Excited to see this one.....

For Sale 1969 Gottlieb Spin-A-Card $900 SOLD!

Got this one on the weekend. It looks pretty cool, the glass has plastic on the back and is in great condition. There is 2 small wear spots by the kick out holes and the cabinet might be a candidate for a repaint. The coin door is perfect. Takes 5, 10, 25 cents. I will have to research the webbing paint technique. It works awesome and will be nice when its done.

September 21, 2008: I decided this summer that I didn't want to alter this one. It seems to have more appeal as is. This one is for sale.

October 5, 2008: Installed a new bumper cap, one had faded letters. BTW, While working on the Pro-Football, I found out that the paint on these old bumper caps can't handle Spray Nine.