Hi Pinsiders

Bought my second COVID pin to rebuild a couple of weeks back. Had bought a CFTBL and planned to rebuild over the lockdown down but finished this in August so time to do it again and turn my home into chaos with pinball parts everywhere

Picked this nice example which definitely needed a nice restore to bring it back. Playfield had some issues as did some of the cabinet but most of mechanics look good

Planning a complete tear down and rebuild with as many new parts as possible to try and give this machine another 20-30years of life

Already ordered parts which cost more than the machine inc new playfield, Decals, plastics, boards, switches, low reflective glass, etc Plus upgrades such as speakers, colorDMD, Pinsound, shaker and much much more. Haven’t decided if I will get a new cabinet yet as will need to see how this one looks as I get on.

Also looking at making an interactive topper and will share the details

Will post as I go on but super excited

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New playfield ready

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I have been waiting a mountain of parts but as they are now here or at least coming in I started the tear down.

I have gone for a new Cab as the old did have some water damage in the bottom panel and MDF has bubbled. I had the same problem with my CFTBL and removed the old panel and replaced it with a new Marine ply panel but felt a new cab was a better option. Will likely restore the old cab in the Summer for sale.

The cab has been finished to a very good level with no real complaints on my part. The only thing is that I prefer the inside to look as good as the outside so I extended the interior paint to the bottom panel line before applying the Mirco Rad Cals which looks awesome, really awesome

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The bottom panel however just didnt look right, far too pale and also prone to dirt (it is made of ply and not MDF though) so I applied some Danish Oil to seal it which brought out the grain and looked much better IMO. You can see the difference between the panel with and without the oil applied.

Picture with the Pinsound sub is 24 hours after application which now has a nice satin finish and dry but feel good to the touch

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Back box was a little worse for wear so the new one really looks the part. Ive decided to go for new boards all round. Old boards will be given to new owner when\if I sell the machine. New mirror backplate looks the dogs

Still lots of work to do with many brackets that need polishing and sealing but on the way with the main Cab and back box

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The backbox tub was in a sorry state but after some cleaning and use of a plastic paint it came out much better, still some work to do as some parts need to be reinforced around the popper and I need to flatten back and final top coat added

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The playfield has been stripped and major playfield mechs are being tore down, starting with the Ringmaster. Lots of cleaning and polishing and replacement for parts as needed, such as plastic "shield" and componets like cams, clips, etc

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some hacks as can be seen with the ringmaster switch harness, old and new

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Thanks @whthrs166, it’s a huge amount work and time so far with loads more to be put in but I love the work and seeing progress to the end result.

HEP machines are in another league, I am doing this alongside a day job and from my front room but I will be doing the best I can.

More to share soon

Just put the high gloss drip plate down to see how it would look and another dogs dangles. Backplate, lockbar, door switch bracket and many more high gloss items really lift this machine up.

For info (especially for the guys in Europe) the cabinet, which can be done to different levels of finish (mine came finished with all silk screened warning labels ) and the high gloss stainless steel items came from Avo Pinball in Germany (https://www.avo-pinball.de/). Andreas is an outstanding guy and I cannot recommend the company more

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Most major play field mechs have been stripped, cleaned, polished and major components such as springs, bearings, plungers, clips, screws, coils, nuts, washers, ok so almost everything has been replaced as new bar the metal brackets. Boom balloon mech took ages, about 8 hours in total to strip, polish and rebuild, but looks awsm. Ring master is still work in progress as didn’t notice that the micro switches were missing the spacers so had to order those in. Getting there slowly

Next is to finish the cab and attach the backbox, then it’s time to start the playfield and it’s parts

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Lots and lots of elbow grease

First I dipped into a solution made up of calcium, rust and lime stain remover taking real care to do lots of very short dips as this will peel off the metal so care needed and a very well vented room. Do not use unless you have read how to use it. I used this with some of the screws that were hard to find.

Then started with a 2inch drill attachment and wet and dry up to 2500 grit to remove heavy scratches and oxidation. Then used Mother’s Mag and Aluminium polish and a felt pad on a high speed drill. Then used a ceramic sealant and buffed.

I wasn’t looking for a mirror finish on the play field mechs otherwise would have spent longer with the wet and dry. I’m sure there are other ways to get the same result but this worked for me

Hope that helps

Powebox internals and cable replaced with new and mounted into a high gloss box

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Slingshot mechs stripped polished and rebuilt with all new components such as spring, coil, switches, arm, washers, hair pins and lamp holders

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Lamp holders are close to original but needed the bracket rotated 180 degrees to raise the socket and clear the switch

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I initially bought a home plating kit for the car restoration I am working on and even tried a cold painting the ring master rear bracket but I couldn’t get the finish I wanted so went back to basics, wet and dry from low to high and then a high speed drill starting with felt again starting low speed to high and lots of time. Already burnt out one drill as don’t think they designed to be run non stop for 10s of hours at a time

Got loads of different wheels that use depending but always prefer a drill

Just a few
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Wiring harness almost done. Used car harness felt tape to wrap. Next is to replace every switch, micro switch, lamp socket and connector, harness clip and polish up the brackets

Lots of soldering, oh what fun

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The disappearing bumper came up awsm if you compare before and after

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Yep got big and small,

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but I use this as I can control more and get to areas the wheel can’t

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Was able to get this finish in about 40mins

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I hate when the loom is out the machine and every micro switch and lamp holder gets caught up in each other and you spend ages separating them. Once you felt tape the loom it is still movable but less likely to get caught up. I also have seen wires get pinched or frayed so the tape protects that and also protects against oil, water etc

Also, the tape compresses the looms so they all actually fit in the cable clamps and personally I feel they look neater

Well, let’s see once it back on the playfield

Quick work break so time to build the stand ups.

You can get the parts to make up the switches from pinball Center if you are in Europe. The come in a kit with some screws and nuts so you can place the bracket how you need it.

I wanted to rivet them on this rebuild so used the set up below. One lesson learnt is buy more rivets, screws, nuts etc than you need. I ran out of bloody rivets before I had done all the switches and now need to order some more and incur more shipping costs.

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5 mins later and three new targets

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7 mins later and 5 new switches and another wait on parts

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Found a supplier in Europe for the red 3D target. Grubby but all switches will be polished up before put on the play field

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Managed to find 3 new rollover switches but have to rebuild the fourth from scratch with new components

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Aircraft hand riveter, works great

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123048632564

A few people have asked about the suppliers that I have used for the parts. Hopefully I am allowed to do mention them as I have no connection to any of them. I am UK based so use UK, Europe and Australia more than US as US shipping kills me usually costing more than the parts and then I get hit with customs duty.

So who have helped, not a complete list and not in any order

Pinball Heaven Uk - Phil you are awsm
Pinball Mania Uk - Andy you are also awsm
Mirco Playfielde - playfield and rad cals
Avo Pinball - Complete WPC95 cab and high gloss metal parts (drip tray, power box, etc)
Ministry of pinball - loads of stuff
Pinball Center - Marco is a top man and never would have got my CFTBL or this pin done without them
PU Parts - top group
Best of Pinball - some hard to find parts
Pinball Parts. Shop - hard to find parts and top quality brackets, lamp sockets, etc ring master spring
Ecflipp.fr - hard to find parts and switches and translite bottom channel
Restorpinball- hard to find parts
Free Play - hard to find parts
Marco Specialties- really hard to find parts, decals (backbox), wiring harnesses, switches, etc
Pinsound - sound and AV boards and speakers, shaker motor. These guys are awsm. My son and I created a totally new sound set for our CFTBL
Aus.at - 3D drop targets
Pinballshop.nl - hard to find parts
Pinball displays.co.uk - boards and colorDMD
Pinball spare parts Australia- hard to find parts

And lots more. Didn’t actually realise how many have helped until I started this post, so defo thanks to all of them

Rebuilt roll over switch with new components

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Tilt switch is near impossible to find new and recommended replacement is much smaller. Still would work just as well but decided to rebuild mine.

It looked very sad

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So tripped down, acid dipped very briefly as weight is lead and would dissolve if left for too long, polished and rebuilt. Still needs some final cleaning with contact cleaner to remove polish traces but looks and would work much better

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Some progress today, so I’ve managed to get the backbox tub looking much better but noticed some cracks around the popper

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Don’t get me wrong, the whole thing was very brittle and the plastic white paint had definitely helped, but as no one is making these then to stop it falling apart, it needed to be reinforced. I have done this loads of time with the cars I’ve restored and some very fine glass fibre sheet and resin should give it the support it needs. I was going to plastic weld it but was worried that the heat would distort the area.

First I cut a piece that was larger than the area and went over the edge also

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One thing to note is this sheet is very thin which means it produces very fine glass fibre dust. Safety first.

Applied the resin and used a roller designed for this kind of work to push air out and flatten the sheet.

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I then used an alcohol swab to remove as much of the excess resin before it set

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Then I let the resin to start curing but before it set hard I removed as much as possible from the cut outs. Don’t do this too early otherwise you will lift the sheet and leave it too long and it won’t cut with a blade

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I’m going to leave it overnight to totally cure and then hand sand it and repaint it. Should be ready for rebuilding then

Finished the juggler ejectors thank god. All parts are new except for a brackets, including wiring

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The need a final buff but one more thing off the list

Man there is so much more to do

I’ve been putting off the playfield as there is just so much to do for it but started with the side batons which looked bad

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But once the vinyl was removed the wood was in really good shape.

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All needed now is to sand them and wrap them. Found a very close match vinyl which I used on my CFTBL

One last thing to share for today. Rebuilt the whole power box and power outlet. Again all parts are new including power cord, thermistor, switch, sockets, line filter and capacitor and as with all other things, all screws/nuts/washers are new.

The high gloss stainless steel chassis from Avo Pinball look amazing.

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I do need some help as I’ve lost the screws that hold the line filter IEC socket to the chassis. Can’t loose one of the common screws, oh no, it had to be the only two. Does any one know what these screws are? I remember that they are machine screws and Phillips but don’t know the size and can’t see them in the manual or on a google.

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Any help would be awesome so thanks I’m advance

You are a star sir, thank you

Thanks, been lots of hard but fun work but I have realised that having large hands does not help with tiny screws and washers so there has been some foul language and tantrums so far

Just about to finish the Ring Master mech which has been the most time intensive as it was badly corroded and needed many parts, some of which took a while to arrive, will post soon

russdx - do you mean the wiring connectors? if I so cant claim credit, as they came with new wiring

which hole?

I can’t see one on either the old

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Or new

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Am I looking in the right place? (Too left and heart pumping hard )