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Pinball Tools

abaxas said:
Naaa, we keep the tools in stock so when we get the builders in, they can steal them all.

F**KERS the lot of em.
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Bit of a sweeping statement but some builders can be a bit "light fingered". My brother-in-law is having his house totally rebuilt; it's taking about 6 months. They got some contract plasterers in for 1 day and lo-and-behold a pair of NERF HAIL-FIRE guns that I bought my nephews for their 10th birthday went missing. Even taking into account their house is complete mess at the moment it'd be pretty much impossible to misplace these babies. Not both of 'em, they're HUGE!

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My wife doesn't buy handbags or shoes, so in that respect I'm very lucky ;) And she buys most of her clothes on eBay including boots:

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She might tut a bit whenever I buy yet another new tool, but she doesn't complain at all when I use them to fix stuff saving hundreds or thousands on repairs and tradesmen (sorry, all you lovely tradesmen out there... nothing against your skills, I just can't afford them!). I've rebuilt the Dyson at least 3 times (never buying another one of those again), put new bearings in washing machines, new element in the oven, fixed the tumble drier at least 5 times, fitted entire bathrooms, built a summerhouse, etc. Biggest saving so far was doing my own loft conversion. I got a few estimates around £20-25k, but the total cost of the job in materials and a HUGE pile of new tools was around £3,500.

In fact, the only thing I've not done myself was fitting a new gas boiler. That was a mistake. Whilst they didn't do anything wrong in particular, I could have got the job done on my own in two days as well, and I would have used my common sense to have positioned the new boiler so that the door on my workshop opened fully. Instead of £1,800 I would have bought the boiler for £600 and then paid a gas engineer £50 to leak test the connection.

Next time...
 
I even did the gas boiler myself - Just got a pro in to certify it, since they cant really go THAT wrong checking pressures etc... ;)
 
Nedreud said:
How much (ballpark) was that?
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What to get it tested (£50 around 10 years ago), for the boiler (Wickes £600 for a halstead 10 years ago), or the entire thing (I think around £1k at the time, however used existing rad's but changed all pipework to them...
 
So, if you're bit more adventurous and go beyond general maintenance to try your hand at some restoration work, then one of the top tools a lot of folks use is a polishing tumbler. Most popular brand/model seems to be the Lyman Turbo 1200 PRO Tumbler (eBay search). If you're not familiar, these are basically a giant vibrating pot of little bits (media) that slowly wear away dirt, oxidation, rust and eventually bring up a shine to metal parts. There's different sorts of media depending on what you're cleaning and what end result you're trying to achieve, but commonly it's either crushed walnut shells or crushed corn cob. Walnut is harder so better for removing dirt, and corn is softer so should give a better shine. Both come either plain or pre-treated with some form of added polishing compound. Often folks add a splash of their own favourite polish, such as Autosol or Brasso.

But the main reason for my post was to "showcase" a home-made tool. I made this little sieve for my wife. She's a keen gardener and needed a small sieve for topping-off pots of seeds with a fine layer of compost after sowing. It's 9" square with 5mm galvanised wire mesh. Total cost: diddly-squat as it was made from bits lying around the workshop.

Well, I reckon it's just perfect for removing all the little washers, E-clips, springs, brackets, etc., from the tumbling media, particularly brass washers that a magnet wouldn't pick up.

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I picked up one of these the other day from a local branch of Tescos. I'd been meaning to grab one off eBay for a while as it's a right PITA when you drop screws under the playfield or near the ramps at the rear. As it was only £4 it seemed a bit of a no-brainer to grab one whilst I was there. The tray is magnetic too so you can put it on top of a metalic area and know you aren't going to easily knock it off.


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Just bought a 5-pack of these from the US (only $1.40 postage):

http://www.pkneuses.com/www.pkneuses.com/cont.htm

Contact Burnishers
Clean Contacts Without Chemicals

"Non-Residual" contact burnishers leave no filings, grit, dust or film on contacts to start a new carbonaceous build-up. They are economical and flexible, with enough stiffness to apply the right pressure to the contact face offering minimum wear on costly contacts. Insulated plastic handles eliminate possible shocks or shorts when working on live contacts. These burnishers have been proven successful by leading manufacturers as the only tool to use in cleaning contacts for longer life and fewer service complaints.

3-316 Overall length is 3" (7.62 cm) in balance with a 2" (5.00 cm) long blade. 3/16" (4.76 mm) width by .007" (178 mm) thickness lets you get into cramped places. For peak performance, each tool is in a vinyl case for protection from grease and moisture. Standard package contains 50 contact burnishing tools.


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Business cards work well... Or keep your eye on ebay for "strowger" contact cleaners - They appear every now and again.... BT used to use these for years and years - cheap and proven to clean the relay contacts etc...
 
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JT. said:
How did you find these @Nedreud ? And how long did they take to arrive - I see some on ebay, shipping from the USA, but it's saying they won't arrive until mid to late Feb :rolleyes:
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I've found them to be really good. Seem to work well on all contacts, low and high current. Very gentle action. If you need anything stronger you need new contacts ;)
 
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Resurrecting his one, as was very popular and looking for a pointer if anyone can help...

Looking for one of these for play field hexagon self tappers...

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Had several... however can’t find any of them now.... but as soon as the others are delivered they will all appear!!!

Looking at eBay auction
161626941925
However those are metric, and am conscious they are probably not quite the right size...
 
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