Do you think I could get a pinball into my 'flat'?

[Martywolfman]

So, as the title suggests, I'm unsure about whether it would be physically possible to get a table into this shoebox in which i live.

It's a pretty tiny place, but I have a space for it inside, and I'd love to get one, but obviously it would be a bad idea to buy one, and then find I canl't actually get it in though the door!

So it's not actually a flat, it's 2 stories, but in a big old victorian house that's divided into flats. My entrance is on the ground floor, so stairs aren't a problem.

However the problem is this. As you enter my fornt door, you have a tiny hallway, and then have to turn immediately left to get to my living room, where the table would need to go.

The fron tdoor has a gap of 70cm between door and door frame when fully open, the door to the living room has 69cm - these two door frames are very close to each other, about 10cm apart, and perpendicular to each other.

The hallway has 100 cm of space bewteen the front door and the stairs, directly opposite the front door.

So would I be likely able to get a table in the front door, turn rleft, and get it into the living room, do you think?

 

[Spadge]

Have a play around with 3d home design software, there's plenty around. You just need to create a general shape for the table and then see where it would fit, how it could rotate and all that. Moving them, you can fold or remove the head/back-box and remove the legs if needbe. Most will be delivered or moved around on sack trolleys. Pins fit in surprising spaces, but they are large, heavy, inflexible and fairly easily damaged. It doesn't sound great from what you are suggesting, given it's likely to need 2 to move it around to get it in. I'd perhaps try and get someone to have a look at the space beforehand, someone who has owned and/or moves pins.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

With those measurements and setup you are almost certainly gonna have to remove the backbox.

The other thing to consider is noise. I had a friend who had a pin in his flat in a big Victorian house ...lasted about a week before the neighbours went mental. He had to get rid as he couldn't enjoy it being aware it was ****ing people off. Not so much the music/sound effects - but the solenoids and mechs clacking away. You would be amazed how loud a pin is in a house.

 

[HomerRamone]

A friend had a Centaur on his 3rd floor flat.
Folded the backbox down onto the playfield (with a blanket tween them to prevent damage)

 

[Martywolfman]

Yes, I was expecting to have to at least fold down, or possibly remove the backbox, and certainly remove the legs, if it was going to be possible at all.

How difficult is it to get the backbox off a modern table? I've seen it on EM's, and it just seems to generally be a couple of bolts and a few connector plugs. Is it similar on more modern solid state games?

I was toying with the idea of getting an EM to start out, but now you mention noise, I'm questioning this - the EM's seem to be quite a bit louder in terms of pop bumper and chimes etc. i wouldn't be so worried about music volume etc, if I had a more modern machine, that could be turned down of course. I hadn't really thought about the racket from from the bumpers etc. I would be on the ground floor, and the floor is concrete, not floorboards, do you think that would stop the noise from travelling so much?

 

[astyy]

I own an EM, the mechanical racket is blinking loud, the bells and chimes can typically be disabled but you have the score reels chattering away as well. It is a nice sound though, just very loud

 

[Wayne J]

Cut a piece of cardboard, the same size as the footprint of a machine stood on end.

From there you will be able to not only see IF it will get into the room, but also how best to manoeuvre it.

That's the way I did it moving the 3 machines into the front room of my new place.

It was almost like a logic puzzle it was so tight,
Come through patio doors into kitchen on ramps
wheel up to kitchen door on sack truck,
remove sack truck and pass into living room,
2nd person stands to right of machine in hallway
1st person pushes machine into hall way
2nd person pushes machine down hallway past the door to living room
1st person goes into living room
3rd person (!) pushes machine back down hallway in front of living room door
1st person then uses sack truck to move machine into position in living room.

Simples!

Could probably have been done with just 2 people, but would have needed 1 person to have gone out of back door and then in through front door . The hallway was just too tight to allow squeezing past the machine, or to twist the machine. It's always easier to push a heavy weight than pull it.

 

[Spadge]

Fill a large coffin up with bricks and try that before you get a pin

 

[Ben-P]

I assume a Victorian house would have sash windows (which you can remove the beading and move the glass out of the way)

Would it be possible to man handle it straight into the room, avoiding the hall and doorways?

 

[insx]

I would be on the ground floor, and the floor is concrete, not floorboards, do you think that would stop the noise from travelling so much?

It would certainly be a lot better than on a first floor where it sounds like someone is banging nails into the floorboards. Hammer a piece of wood on the floor a few thousand times and see if the neighbours mention anything

 

[Martywolfman]

Thanks for the advice and comments guys.

No sash windows I'm afraid, so that's not an option - not on my part of the building anyway.

Wayne J - as someone that sells puzzles for a living, I like that way of thinking, hehe.

A couple more quick questions - I like the suggestion of marking out the footprint on cardboard and seeing if it would work, could anyone give me the 'typical' dimensions that I'd be looking at? I'm sure they vary to some extent, but If I could see if it seems feasible from a typical size, I could get some exact dimensions about a particular table from the seller of any table I'm interested in buying, to try that out.

Also, what kind of weight are we looking at for a table? Again, obviously they will vary to some degree, but a ball park figure, just to give an idea, would be great. Thinking about it further, there's a walkway fdown the side of the building which it would need to come down to get to my entrance, and it's too narrow for a sack barrow with the table I'm pretty sure. there's a low wall along it, around 2 feet high, which myself and whoever I could rope into helping would have to lift it above.

I am starting to think I might be better off just getting it at my place of business instead, it would be easy to install it there for sure (and I could easily have more than one....) but it's very cold there in the winter, so I wouldn't want to be there just to play pinball, and of course I'd really like it so i can use it as part of my evening relaxation time.

decisions decisions....

 

[Spandangler]

Thanks for the advice and comments guys.

No sash windows I'm afraid, so that's not an option - not on my part of the building anyway.

Wayne J - as someone that sells puzzles for a living, I like that way of thinking, hehe.

A couple more quick questions - I like the suggestion of marking out the footprint on cardboard and seeing if it would work, could anyone give me the 'typical' dimensions that I'd be looking at? I'm sure they vary to some extent, but If I could see if it seems feasible from a typical size, I could get some exact dimensions about a particular table from the seller of any table I'm interested in buying, to try that out.

Also, what kind of weight are we looking at for a table? Again, obviously they will vary to some degree, but a ball park figure, just to give an idea, would be great. Thinking about it further, there's a walkway fdown the side of the building which it would need to come down to get to my entrance, and it's too narrow for a sack barrow with the table I'm pretty sure. there's a low wall along it, around 2 feet high, which myself and whoever I could rope into helping would have to lift it above.

I am starting to think I might be better off just getting it at my place of business instead, it would be easy to install it there for sure (and I could easily have more than one....) but it's very cold there in the winter, so I wouldn't want to be there just to play pinball, and of course I'd really like it so i can use it as part of my evening relaxation time.

decisions decisions....

Have you considered a virtual pin? No clunks and clicks and every machine under the sun.
Real machines are loud there’s no getting away from it, the sound will travel through the floor.

 

[Martywolfman]

I have, I've been using Visual Pinball and pinball fx2/3 for many years - on the PC though, not on a cab - I even have the current 2nd highest score on one fx table It was the top score until a few days ago though

But I wanted to go for the extra realism of a real table - I don't feel that splashing out on a virtual pinball machine would add that much to playing them on the PC - please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though!

 

[DRD]

Sounds like head off. 70s games are very simple, early 80s games are simple

By the mid 80s and beyond, it might be tricky for a first timer. Take copious amounts of digital photos, label each connector with a fine sharpie.

Or better still, get some other xünt to do it

 

[Wayne J]

Just change length to height for it stood on end

 

[Martywolfman]

That's great, thanks Wayne. Over 100kgs - heavy old lumps then

Those dimensions make it seem unlikely that I'd get one in, with the head on, since the smallest dimension with head folded down is 29 inches, which is roughly 74cm - and my doorways are 69 and 70cm. Oh well, good thing I checked before rushing out to buy one!

So I'd be looking at head removal if I'm going to get one