Renovation of your Pinball Machine
© Copyright 2000 Koos Vlamings, ArkAdiA Amusementgames.
(English translation by John Gilbody and Theo van Vroenhoven)
Nothing from this document may be reproduced or published in any format without the permision of the author.
Remarks, tips and changes
I know that there will be readers who disagree with the way I renovate a pinball machine. If you have any suggestions please let me know - I am always open to comments!
You can send an e-mail to me at arkadia@arkadia.nl.
On the following pages you will find a complete explanation of how I renovate my pinball machines. Simply speaking, I take all the parts of the playfield, and then clean, repair and/or replace them. Please realise that this can't be done in a few hours - the average time is between 20 and 30 hours for a standard pin, plus another 10 hours for more complex machines such as Twilight Zone, Star Trek The Next Generation and Indiana Jones. In this document, I describe mostly renovation - repair tips can be found in a different chapter.
This document is for pins dating from 1987 onwards.
Before you start !!!!
Before you start to renovate your pin, play if for a while. In this way, you will see where the failures and problems are in the machine. You should then make a note of the malfunctions, so that you can pay extra attention to them during the renovation.
Don't start the renovation unless you are totally confident you can do so. It would be a great pity if you took the pin apart but then couldn’t put it together again.
Before you start to use any cleaning products, first test them on non-visible parts of the pintable or an old plastic. This will prevent you ruining your playfield or plastics.
Use tools that fit. All sizes of screws and bolts referred to are given in Imperial units (UK/US-type), so please use the correct tools for this. Metric (European-type) tools will sometimes fit but often not well enough. The result could be that you ruin the bolts or screws.
I live in the Netherlands, so the brands I use may not be available in your country. If you know the name of a brand that is equivalent to mine please let me know, and I will add it to this page.
Before you start working, please read this manual completely. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail!
The Tools
Which tools do you need to renovate a pinball machine? It depends on the brand and model of your pin. There is always the possibility that you will find parts (plastics etc.) for which you need special tools, and these are not described in this document.
The tools you need can be found in any good hardware shop. For countries where they use metric sizes, go to a good garage and ask for the tools there (UK or US brands). Garages are a good source of tools for reasonable prices. Increasingly, online vendors such as Amazon are selling DIY products and tools, and they are worth checking out too.
- Standard Tools
Screwdrivers of several sizes (regular and philips head-type)
Small hammer
Wire cutter
Wire stripper
Pointed pliers
Soldering iron
Flexible magnet
Sandpaper - extra fine
Steel wool - i.e. like a Brillo pad, but without the soap!
Cloths
Big flat paintbrush (2" or 3")
Round paintbrush (1")
Electric screwdriver - one that stops or slips when the screw is tightened, ideally has batteries, and has several revolution speeds depending on how much you squeeze the trigger
Hair dryer - for removing old mylar
Good lighting above the playfield
Compressed air can - or better still an air compressor
Digital multimeter
- Special tools
Spanners - sizes 3/16 inch ("), 1/4", 5/16", 11/32", 3/8", 7/16" (Imperial units)
Small paint roller (approx 2 cm diameter)
Digital camera, camcorder and/or as much information as possible about your pinball machine - at least a manual
- Cleaning products
There is a large choice of cleaning products. I always use the following ones:Clean-It can be used to clean
almost all parts, including plastic, metal, chrome or paintwork (see my
commercial pages for more details)
- Other things you need
Lightbulbs
Teflon coilsleeves
Rubber rings - sizes can be found in your manual
Rubbers for posts
Wire splicers / crimp wire joints - for repairing broken wires
Spare bolts and screws - Imperial sizes
Cable clips - for clipping wire bundles together
How to work
It's not neccesary to clean every part you disassemble from your pin at once. You can clean them as well as possible before putting them back. Before and during part removal, it is advisable to order or mark the parts in some way, so that you can simply place them back in reverse order. You can do this in several ways - pictures, video or by labelling the parts. Personally, I prefer a digital camera and a computer so you can browse forwards and backwards through the pictures. A CDROM including pictures of all parts of selected pinball machines is available for purchase on my web site.
-1. Removing the parts.
-Top of the Playfield
Before you start, take the mains plug out of the wallsocket!
Always start with the top of the playfield, and with the parts that can be easily removed. Place the removed items in the same order, for example on a big table - this will prevent you from having to spend hours searching for the right part. It should be easy to remove any part. If you find a part that is not easily removed, first take a good look - it might be that there's something else to remove first or that there’s a bold or something on the underside of the playfield. Never use brute force to remove a part - this could damage the part or even worse ruin your playfield. The further you progress, the easier it will be to remove the parts. ATTENTION - the screws you remove are often of diffferent lengths, so take notice of this when you assemble the parts again.
The use of an electric screwdriver is recomended, but only when disassembling. When you are assembling the parts, it's wise to do this by hand, to prevent the screws going too far into the playfield or becoming loose.
If you come to any lamps which are removable, remove them. Sometimes they are very tight or you can't get a grip with your fingers. To remove these bulbs you can use a rubber plunger tip (see photo).
A plunger tip used as a tool.
Some parts have cables which pass through the playfield. Mostly, there are connectors on these cables. Disconect these connectors and use a marker pen to mark them, for example A-Z. If the cables are attached with cable clips, cut these, but be carefull you do not cut a wire. If this does happen only repair the cable by placing a crimp wire joint over the broken cable, solder it and place the crimp wire joint over the cable, and heat it. ATTENTION - do not use tape or any other kind of kitchen repair tool.
In almost every pinball machine you'll find metal rails - these are mounted by hammering into the playfield. And yes you do have to remove these too. You have to be very careful when removing these rails, though, and you can't just pull them out with a pliers, because you will ruin your playfield this way. To remove metal rails use a small round paint-roller and a screwdriver. Place the paint-roller as close as possible to the rail and place the screwdriver under the rail. ATTENTION - do not lift the rail out all at once; do a bit at the time, a little on the left and a little on the right etc. (see photo).
The proper way to remove a rail
When you remove big parts from the playfield, the plastic and metal posts will stay on the playfield. These are mounted on the upper as well as on the underside of the playfield. Most metal posts are mounted with a bolt on the underside of the playfield and many of these bolts are covered by boards, ramps or other items that are mounted under the playfield. If this is the case, start with the parts under the playfield. At this stage the only parts left are those placed through the playfield.
-Underside of the playfield
Before you start to disassemble the parts under the playfield it is wise to cover the bottom speaker, in case you drop something on it - which could tear the surface of the speaker. A good way of doing this is to place the coinbox upside down over the speaker.
Work the same way as you did on the top of the playfield - first removing larger parts, and then smaller parts. The difference compared with the top of the playfield is that more cables and switches are placed under the playfield, so you have to be extra careful. Again, go easy, otherwise you will forget to disassemble something, or get the order confused.
Remove the ramps and lightboards, and admire the enormous amount of pinball dust you find on the lightboards, lamps and ramps! You do not have to unsolder the parts that have no connectors (mostly target switches, coils and rollover switches) or which are mounted through the playfield - simply unscrew them from the playfield and leave them in situ. Use some bindings to temporarily attach these parts under the playfield, to avoid their full weight going onto the solderjoints.
A lightboard full of pinball dust.
The pop-bumpers are a different matter! Personally, I remove them completely from the playfield, and in the case of Sega / DataEast machines (or older Ballys) this is not so hard to do, but WMS and earlier Bally pins have those nasty lightcables passing through the playfield. You do not have to remvove them, as when everything else is removed from the playfield, you can easily clean them with a cloth. If you prefer to remove them, or have to because they are broken or damaged, this is the easiest way to do it:
Mark every bumper with a number, and also the way that it is mounted through the playfield, front-to-front and rear-to-rear. It is also very important to mark the flat metal strips which come from the lamps in the pop-bumper through the playfield and which are stapled on the underside of the playfield. You can mark them with coloured markers or with coloured tape. Make sure you use a different colour for each pop-bumper (you only have to mark one lead of each pop-bumper). Move the isolation switch placed over the flat strip away from the first staple and cut it with wire cutter, repeating this with all of the wires. Now remove the ring and rod from the pop-bumper, taking out the two bolts under the playfield to accomplish this. Then remove the two screws (top) that are used to keep the pop-bumper body in place. Now you can remove the complete part from the top side, by just pulling it out.
Re-assembly is done in the reverse order, taking care to ensure that the pop-bumpers are placed on exactly the same location. The metal strip is long enough to place it a few millimetres over the other part so you can solder it.
Mark and remove the switches and all other things that are still placed through the playfield.
Now the playfield should be empty, and we can move on to the next phase.
A totally empty playfield.
-2. Cleaning of the plastics.
-Using a dishwasher
Before you start with the great cleanup, if you own a dishwasher you will be able to use this for all of the plastics. Place the parts free from each other in the machine, so they don’t touch each other. Set the temperature to 55° C (130° F), use your regular dishwasher powder, and start the program. Personally, I skip the drying part, remove the parts and then dry them with a towel. WARNING: Don’t dishwash any plastics with stickers on, as the stickers can get washed off, and it’s very hard to get those again. Also, do not put any switches attached to the plastics into the dishwasher. Small metal plates mounted to the ramp and plastics are no problem, however.
Small plastic parts like posts and reels can be placed in the dishwasher basket. It’s a good idea to open the dishwasher during the program and shake the basket a few times, to move the posts around and make sure they’re evenly cleaned. After the program has finished remove all of the parts, and CHECK THE BOTTOM OF THE DISHWASHER, as small parts can jump out of the basket and fall onto the bottom of the machine.
ATTENTION: I advise you NOT to use any dishwasher where you can see the heating element. Plastics can drop onto this and melt.
-Cleaning by hand
If you don’t own a dishwasher, you’ll have to clean all of the plastics by hand. It can make life easier to clean each part just before you need to mount it on the playfield. This way, you don’t have to clean all the plastics before you start to re-asemble, and you know exactly where everything goes. If you want to clean all parts in advance, however, be my guest!
All plastics can be cleaned by using hot water with some soap in it. If there’s too much dirt on the plastics to be able to clean with hot soapy water, you can use a plastic cleaner; personally, I use a regular cleaner as used for plastic garden furniture, which works very well.
For posts, you need to put them in hot water, let them stand for about 10 minutes, and then use a brush to clean them; a toothbrush is good for this.
-2. Cleaning the topside of the playfield.
If you removed all of the parts like I described earlier, you’ll see that your playfield is really dirty, especially the areas that were hidden by ramps and plastics.
I’ll describe the cleaning products, which are available anywhere in the world. Brand names vary, so you’ll have to find out yourself which product is best for your pin. Cleaning of the playfield follows five steps.
Dirty enough? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Removing debris
Use a vacuum cleaner to remove debris from the playfield. ATTENTION: If you have a metal tube on the vacuum cleaner, use some tape on the end so you don’t get scratches on the playfield. Then use an old cloth to remove the biggest debris first.
To prevent screws and bolts being sucked into the vacuum cleaner, you can use an old nylon stocking and place this over the cleaner’s end-tube.
Remove the mylar which has become loose and which is damaged. Although there are a lot of different opinions about and ways to remove the mylar, I will tell you my way of removing it. I always use a hairdryer to heat the mylar, with my nails try to get an edge of the mylar loose, and then gently during heating the mylar, I pull it from the playfield. ATTENTION: Never use any sharp tools to loosen the mylar, as it will be sure to damage the playfield. Warning !!! With older pins there’s a big chance you’ll pull off parts of the playfield. If this happens (or if you don’t want to take the risk) see a later part of this guide for an alternative way to solve bad looking mylar. When you remove the mylar, don’t throw it away; you need to make a similar piece to put back on the playfield, and can use the old mylar as a template. Replace the mylar after you’ve cleaned the playfield.
The alternative when you don’t like to take the risk of damaging your playfield, or when the mylar just won’t come off, is the following. You’ll need a very sharp knife. Remove (cut) the bad parts away from the playfield. WARNING: Don’t cut the whole way through the mylar as this will damage your playfeld. Just a scratch will do, then you can peel (tear) off the bad parts. Afterwards you can put new mylar over the whole mylar-covered area.
After removing the mylar, gluerests will stay on the playfield. Use some sticker remover to get rid of all gluerests. WARNING: Try the remover first on an invisible spot to check that it won’t harm your playfield.
Cleaning the playfield.
There are plenty of cleaners for sale, including ones made especially for pinball machines. Personally, I always use common cleaners that you can find in any shop. To clean the playfield I use a cleaner that’s used for removing wax from wooden floors.
Use a clean cloth to put the remover on the playfield and start cleaning, even if your playfield "looks" brand new, you’ll see that a lot of dirt will come out of the playfield. Make sure you clean every part of the playfield thoroughly.
Waxing the playfield.
Most waxes that are used for cleaning cars can also be used to wax your playfield. Personally, I use a thin wax that you can spray onto the playfield. A thick wax is an option but don’t put this directly onto the playfield; instead, use a cloth to divide the wax on the playfield. Try to prevent wax running into the holes on the playfield. Divide the wax on the playfield. Once you’ve done this, let the wax dry, as it has to be completely dry before you go on with the next step.
The finishing
If the wax has dried you can start polishing the playfield. First use a soft and clean cloth to polish the playfield, then use a polish pad on a sander (see picture). You can get a bright shine on your playfield if you do well. The parts you can’t reach with the machine have to be done by hand. Don’t forget the holes in the playfield - you can use a brush or even better a pipebrush to clean these.
Once you’re satisfied with your polishing, you can put new mylar on the playfield. If you are not satisfied, go back to Step 4.
3. Cleaning the underside of the playfield
Use a large flat brush to remove as much dust as possible from the underside of the playfield. Any existing lamp circuit boards have to be removed, cleaned and put back immediately. BE CAREFUL! Never use compresed air to clean a circuit board, you might damage some parts on it.
To clean to lamp windows you can spray some cleaner on them. If the cleaner is sprayed on wood you can simply wipe it off with a cleaning cloth. Be careful not to spray on electronic parts! Of course you have to remove the lamps first before cleaning the windows. You probably will have to bend the sockets a litte back to remove the lamps. The sockets can be left in place.
To finish blow everything clean and dry with some compressed air. Remaining Glassex should be wiped off the playfield with a dry cleaning cloth.
All circuit boards can be easily
cleaned with a large brush. The lamps should be cleaned with a moist cloth.
Lamps with remain black after the cleaning should be replaced, they will get
broke in a short time anyway.
The playfield switches
Clean the playfield switches by
brushing them off with a small brush. All metal parts can be cleaned with a
small cloth with some remover. Be careful not to bend the switches. If this
might happen carefully bend them back in their original shape and check on the
playfield with a ball if they are still working correctly. Opto switches can be
cleaned with a Q-tip with some alcohol on it. You have to brush them off first.
Afterwards the switch can be re-assembled again.
The targetswitches
First remove the rubber dampers from the targetswitches (if present and in bad condition). Then clean the contacts of the switch by pressing a small wooden stick (from an icecream) between the contacts and move it up and down. NOTE !!! Never use sand paper or a file for this purpose!
The plastic parts of the
targetswitch can be cleaned with a plastic cleaner. If you want to replace the
dampers you can use some felt that is also used to put under the legs of chairs
and tables. Just cut it to the right size and glue it in the correct position.
Now you will have to adjust the switch by bending it in the correct position
with a pair of pliers. Then you can put the switch back.
The coils
If a coil is still looking good it is sufficient to clean it with a large brush. If it contains some grease or oil it is better to disassemble the coil and clean it thoroughly. If it is damaged you should replace it. This also counts for the Teflon coil sleeves that are contained inside the coil. If the coil or the metal frame that it is connected to it contains so much grease or oil you cannot clean it in a normal way it may be necessary the remove it completely from the machine by unsoldering it. Then you should a special cleaning product to remove the grease from the parts. It may even be necessary to dip the parts in the cleaning product (NOT the coil itself!). Afterwards everything should be assembled again and the wires soldered.
If a coil contains contact points these should be cleaned as well and tested afterwards. When the flippers have been re-assembled again the switches have to be adjusted correctly.
Never ever oil, grease, lubricate
or do ANYTHING to a flipper plunger or coil. The action of the plunger rubbing
against the nylon sleeve creates a natural graphite coating that acts as a
lubricant. External lubricants attract dust, metal shavings, pieces of solder or
wire or whatnot. These get down inside the flipper coil and cause all kinds of
problems.
Droptargets
Another case of lubrication…
Don’t do it! If the droptargets contain oil, grease, lubricate or spray wipe
it off and clean the droptargets with grease remover. You may have noticed a
situation that the coil was not able to restore the droptargets, although those
were not broken. Almost always this caused by too much lubricants. Don’t use
them!
4. Re-assembling all the parts
Now let’s proceed with the nice work; re-assembling all the parts in their original places. You should have taken notes or picture while removing them. Use these in the opposite order while re-assembling them.
You can order a CD-ROM that contains pictures of all parts of your pinball machine in the correct order with me, see the commercial pages.
It is not advised to use a electric screwdriver while re-assembling all the parts, especially not on places where screws go through plastic parts like ramps. The problem with a machine is that you don’t have the feeling when the screw is tight enough. This could result in screws that won’t get tight at all. If this is already the case in your pinball machine you can try to solve this by putting a washer with a hole that is a little smaller than the size of the screw below the ramp. The screw will attach to that washer.
Before re-assembling every part
you should always clean it first. Below you’ll find the cleaning tips for each
particular part.
Problems during re-assembly
Some screw holes may have become wide. You will notice this when you try to put the screw back in the existing hole. In that case you should take som wood glue and some sateh-sticks. Dip the sticks in the glue, put them in the hole that has become too wide. Put the screw back right away and ready you are.
Be careful when you put backthe screws under the playfield. Since screws come in different sizes you should always check the length of a screw before replacing it in the playfield. (Don’t make your playfield a PINball field!) Data East and Sega machines use screws with different colors for different lengths. Always use the shortest screws to put back lamp sockets.
Broken screws
If screws that where screwed in a
metal part have broken it is most easy to replace the entire part. If this is an
expensive or irreplaceable part it might be suffient to drill the existing screw
out and replace it by a new screw. The hole you drill should be about 0.5 mm
smaller than the size of the screw. An even better solution is to tap a new
screw thread in the new hole. (use tap size m3 or m4).
The metal posts
Put the metals post in a electric
screwdriver, turn it on and put a piece of steelwool against the post. You will
be amazed by the result. The hexagonal posts have to be cleaned by hand.
Chrome
All chrome parts have to be
cleaned with chrome cleaner. Valva Chromecleaner is a good choice. Do not use
abrasives on chrome. An easy way to clean chrome wire ramps is the following;
put some Clean-It and spray it on the ramps, you can see the dirt flow off the
ramp. Afterwards rinse and dry.
The stainless steel ball guides
and ramps
If these are not too dirty it might be sufficient to polish them with steelwool. If they are really dirty you can use very fine sandpaper (200). Use the original direction when sanding them. After the sanding you can treat the guides with stainless steel polish (HG). This gives the product an extra protection layer. Be sure to polish it very well. Otherwise it will stay greasy and attract al sorts of dirt.
If a stainless steel part like a ramp has been broken you should NEVER use an electrical welder. You will damage more than you repair. The only correct way is to ask someone who knows how to weld with CO2. In this process less heat is created. See pictures below to understand what I mean.
 |
 |
| A TZ part repaired by a baker with an electrical welder. | A TZ part repaired by a professional CO2 welder. The part has been sanded with extra fine sandpaper afterwards. |
The rubbers
It is advised to replace all rubber rings by new ones; if they are still in a good shape you can clean them in the following way: take some rubbers in your hand, put some liquid abrasive (Jif) on it and wash them like you would wash your hands. After this rinse and dry.The plastics
The plastics that have not been cleaned in the dishwasher have to be cleaned with a plastic cleaner now. Persisent dirt should be treated with water and soap first. Be careful not to let the stickers go off. You can give slingshot plastics extra protection by putting a washer between the post and the screw bolt. This will prevent you from damaging the edges of the slingshot by shooting balls against it (see picture). Attention!!! Don’t put the washer directly against the slingshot plastic but between the post and the bolt. So BEFORE you screw the bolt through the post in the playfield. I always use those washers on all slingshots and other plastics, even if they do not need extra protection. In that case I use a smaller size.
Opto Switches
Opto switches can be cleaned with
a Q-tip and some alcohol. Be careful not to change places of two corresponding
switches. This can easily happen when two opto switches are attached to a
bracket. If you put them back in the wrong position or too near to another light
source like a lamp the receiver may not function correctly.
The lamps
Clean all lamps with a moist
cloth. Check them before you put them back by using a multimeter or a 4.5-volt
battery. If you have bought new lamps to replace broken ones you should put the
new ones in places that are difficult to reach. Lamps with black or
silver-colored glass should not be used inside the machine since they are most
likely to break in a short time. You can use them behind the backglass. Those
lamps are easy to replace.
The cables
All cables that have been untied
should be tied together again with tie wraps. You can buy these in almost every
hardware store. Be careful not to catch the cables when putting the playfield
down again.
5. The finishing touch The Test
Please check all features of the
machine (check the manual). This is like playing pinball with your hands without
the playfield glass. Check if everyting works correctly, the switches, the
ramps, the optos, etc. Be careful not to hurt your fingers! If everything has
been cleaned and checked before you will not run into too many problems. In case
of technical problems I refer to the Internet site http://www.marvin3m.com/wpc/.
I am still working on a troubleshooting page. This page is not yet available at
the moment.
The cabinet
The cabinet should be cleaned and
vacuumed out with a vacuum cleaner. Do not forget to clean the flipper switches.
All other parts can be brushed with a large brush. Check if no screws or other
small parts have been left in the cabinet (look also inside the speaker). Don’t
forget to vacuum out the ventilators in the back of the cabinet as well. They
usually contain a lot of dust and dirt.
The coin mechanism
If the coin mechanism in the coin
door is still operational it can be cleaned easily with some compressed air or a
cloth or brush.
Inside cabinet
Often raising and lowering the
playfield has damaged the interior walls of the cabinet. This can easily be
repaired with a small paint roller and some black paint (or whatever color is
used on the inside of the cabinet). Raise the playfield a little to paint the
front part. Put is on the standard to paint the back part. Let everything dry
and lower the playfield with care.
The balls
Check the balls for chips, nicks,
pits and rust. If the balls are damaged it is better to replace them since a
damaged ball can damage the rubbers or even worse the playfield. If the balls
are still in a good condition you should polish them a little with some chrome
cleaner.
The playfield glass
Clean both sides of the playfield
glass with a cleaning product (Glassex) and put it back in place.
The backbox
Remove the backglass and all
lamps that are connected to the door. Then use Clean-It to remove the deposit
from the door. Afterwards put all lamps back again. The circuit boards and
cables in the backbox can be cleaned, provided you do this very carefully. If
necessary remove them and clean them thoroughly. Don’t forget the Knocker.
The backglass
Put the backglass on a flat
table. If it is a backglass with a translite that contains stains between the
glass and the translite you will have to remove the strips from the backglass
and take out the translite. If the translite is stuck on the backglass with tape
then cut the tape carefully, do not pull it off! Put the translite on a flat
table and clean both sides; the backside with some thinned Clean-It (1 to 2).
The frontside can be cleaned with a moist cloth. Clean the backglass with some
Glassex. Let everything dry well before putting it back together. This prevents
stains created from moisture.
The locks
In most cases cleaning the locks
with some compressed air suffices. If the lock does not turn easily you will
have to check it first. Putting SOME graphite powder in can make a big
difference.
The outside of the cabinet
Spray some Clean-It on it and
clean it. If you want a really nice result you should use wax and polish it.
The legs
Chrome legs can be polished with
chrome cleaner or with Clean-It. It may be necessary to put some black paint on
them if they have been damaged.
6. Epilogue
I know that at this moment there will be a lot of people that want to start restoring their pinball machine right away. Don’t forget that it is a lot of work. You should really take the time for it.
I like restoring pinball machines as much as playing them. If a machine is well-restored it is like playing a new one, everything is really smooth and fast and will stay that way. The only thing you have to do is wax the playfield every 250 games and clean the cabinet with the vacuum cleaner every now and then. Your machine will be ready for a lot of games again!
All restored pinball machines that I offer for sale have been restored as described above and not only cleaned like you see a lot. I often meet people that own a pinball machine but do not really enjoy it. Most of the time because switches do not work or balls that do not run smoothly. The cause of all this is dirt. If you happen to be in the neighborhood and would like to play a game on a fully restored machine please call me. The coffee will be ready and you are always welcome! It is also possible to let me restore your machine. Please send me an E-mail for more information.
Lots of succes and enjoy your pinball machine!
© Koos Vlamings