In Progress Tron mini shop

[Beowulfz07]

Finally, at least for this weekend, stripped the drop bank target motor assembly, cleaned as best I could and reassembled.
The end of heavy cleaning is almost in sight, 2 more flipper rebuilds to do, both slings, trough and auto kicker, and finally the scoop which is actually very good !!

 

[Beowulfz07]

Was hoping to have a pin to play over Xmas but wasn’t to be !
Have used the time off so far to continue cleaning.
Both slings now done, coloured pop bumpers fitted and pop mechs removed, stripped and cleaned.
Both bottom flippers rebuilt and finished cleaning the flasher sockets and replaced one. All bulb sockets now done just new bulbs to fit in the inserts

 

[Beowulfz07]

Up post stripped and cleaned
Added a couple of matrix connections for a scoop light and trough light
Under playfield nearly finished.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Back of playfield starting to come together with protectors and new plastics starting to go on
Spinning disc with new pads fitted reinstalled and adjusted, 4 new flashers fitted and positions adjusted underneath.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Fitted protector and central plastic but the protector was rocking at the front and not enough thread for nuts.
Realised that the Opto brackets are sloped and it’s sitting on the first screw each side so I countersunk the protector, replaced the 2 large metal washers with acrylic ones but realised now that with protector they aren’t necessary so removed them.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Had to remove rear right corner as protector didn’t have the right hand hole for the screw that goes into the wooden rail.
Simple job of drilling protector and refitting.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Fitted the new illuminated recogniser and put new posts on left hand side.
Tried both orange and blue protectors using clear and frosted bulbs.
I quite like the orange, the blue seems a bit washed out.
Will try the blue with blue bulbs there and then compare again to the orange.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Project for today was to finish the 3 target drop bank which included adding a microswitch to register when the targets were lowered.
Thanks to Phil Palmer for microswitch and switch screws and plate.
Found a small bracket in my odds and sods drawer and drilled it so microswitch will fit.
Straightened out the bottom with a vice to make it L shaped.
Drilled the motor bracket, soldered a connector to the microswitch and fitted switch to bracket and bracket to motor bracket.
Bent the microswitch arm to suit and shortened.
Perfect
Stripped the target assembly and removed rust etc, cleaned and rebuilt.
Fitted premium target decals and the wicked top decal so that it matches the playfield when lowered.
Really enjoyed that after doing all the **** for the last 7 weeks, finally doing what I should have been in the first place !

 

[Beowulfz07]

Tron standup targets cleaned, new target pads and refitted.
Underside of playfield almost finsihed having removed all insert bulbs and holders, cleaned inserts, holders and wiring and fitted new comet leds throughout.
Just the scoop coil and trough to do then the bottom is finished.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Top of playfield not far off now, last of the Titan rubbers fitted, new plastics and protectors.
Drop bank adjusted.
4 zuse standup targets to do, finish the pops and then it’s the ramps and apron.
Light at the end of the tunnel

 

[Beowulfz07]

Cleaned the 4 Zuse targets and fitted support blocks to stop them going sideways when hit.
Fitted new zuse target decals.
Removed the scoop coil assembly, cleaned and refitted.
Have the trough and auto kicker left to do but need to take a break while I wait for a few other bits to arrive.

 

[Beowulfz07]

I gathered together all the parts that were either too badly corroded to clean or wouldn’t come up very well when I tried eg the flipper bats had faded etc.
As you can see, it’s a lot of parts I have changed bearing in mind I have spent weeks cleaning stuff that has gone back on the machine.
I hate saying anything bad about people, but I need to point this out so that people don’t make the same mistake I did with this machine.
Firstly, the seller is a really nice guy, and I don’t believe he intended to deceive me.
I also have to accept part of the blame as even though the description didn’t mention anything about corrosion, there weren’t any pics of the underside of the playfield.
I should have asked for one and then I would have seen the corrosion to the flipper mechs, disc motor and possibly some light sockets, although the posts would have been more difficult to see from a single picture.
When I started this thread the seller did say that he knew it had some oxidation but didn’t know it was that bad, which I wish he had mentioned in the sale description as I would have definitely asked for more pictures.
I’m not on a witch hunt here, it was probably a genuine mistake by omitting that.
When I received the machine I was happy with it, as the corrosion was not apparent from the top of the playfield and it did play well.
I was genuinely shocked just how bad it was and if I had known I would I definitely have offered £500 less for it to cover what it needed.
I was prepared to mod it, do armour, plastic protectors, bulbs, rubbers etc, that’s my choice but wasn’t prepared for all the extra stuff that for the price I paid I wouldn’t expect anyone to have to do unless they bought it knowing it needed it.
I needed to get that off my chest and at the same time, not P*** anyone off and to also warn others, including sellers to ask / provide all info about the machine, no matter how small, especially if it’s so far away that it isn’t practical to view it yourself.
The upside is that although I won’t be able to recover the money I’ve spent, especially with all the extras I’m fitting by my own choice, that the next recipient will get one of the nicest Tron’s around.
Pinball is an expensive hobby, in both time and money !
Peace

 

[Beowulfz07]

Trough removed, stripped, cleaned, rebuilt and refitted.
Came up very nice.
Underside of playfield done.
Just the top part of scoop, auto kicker and out hole guides to do

 

[Beowulfz07]

Out hole ball guide stripped and cleaned

 

[Beowulfz07]

Auto kicker dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt

 

[Beowulfz07]

Cliffys finally arrived.
Fitted 2 new switch protectors.
Outhole protector.
Shooter Lane protector and Flynn’s scoop protector.
Fitted trough ball guide.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Fitted trough led strip with dc converter to prevent flickering.
Fitted some more of colin’s modified protectors to provide a green area for quorra shot, may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s my pin and I love it.
Tron lends itself to area colours more than any other pin I’ve had and after a lot of changing from clears, frosted and different colours, including different combinations of coloured protectors I’m almost there, just 3 bulbs that I’m not happy with and will change tomorrow.
The playfield is much brighter and easier to see than when I got it, and that’s without the ramps which add more light.
The inserts absolutely pop now too.
What was supposed to be a mini shop turned into a full shop but I have to say that for me it’s been worth the effort.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Scoop cleaned and ready to go on tomorrow.
Hopefully just the ramps left to clean now

 

[Beowulfz07]

Finishing the pop bumpers off today and nothing straightforward -
The blue pop bumper cover floats above it, so to use new blue post sleeves means they won’t support it.
Found some nylon tube, cut it and threaded it with a screw.
Fitted new post sleeve rubber cut in half over the top and worked out well in the end.

 

[Beowulfz07]

All 3 pop bumpers now finished.
Arcade machine which has the lcd screen inside was stripped as the screen wasn’t straight and now fixed correctly.
Fitted to yellow custom protectors supplied by Col.
Fitted 8 way splitter board to tidy up the 12v / 5v supply for the mods.
Plugged arcade in and working fine.
Fitted the scoop and auto plunger so should be all the cleaning on the playfield finished leaving the ramps and some mods to do.
I’m really pleased with the transparent pop bumpers with the lighting controlled by the machines total light show, was worth the effort.

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

Looks fantastic! Must have taken so much time.

But can you make the GEM shot consistently….

 

[Beowulfz07]

Looks fantastic! Must have taken so much time.

But can you make the GEM shot consistently….

Thanks Paul
And I could before, both from the plunge and both left flippers, so should be as good if not better to play now, especially as the targets are straight

 

[Beowulfz07]

Today I removed the speaker panel.
In a bit of state and the usual awful rough paint job on it so removed colourdmd, speakers and brackets.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Sanded smooth and a few coats of paint.
Looks like new

 

[Beowulfz07]

Cleaned the brackets and screws.
Cleaned the plastic which thankfully is scratch free.
Refitted colourdmd, the back of it is a bit tatty but screen is perfect.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Fitted new speaker panel.
Really pleased and makes a huge difference.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Refitted speakers and added new acrylic inserts and speaker lights.
Speaker panel totally transformed and for not much effort.

 

[Beowulfz07]

During a switch test last week the spinning disc Opto was going nuts.
Removed both and reflowed solder and was better but still playing up so rather than muck about I fitted 2 new Opto and looms from Phil at Pinball Heaven.
Needless to say the problem has gone !
Fitted the speaker light controller board to speaker panel and tidied up as well as securing the IR Sensor to the top above the panel.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Next job was to tidy up the mess of cables I inherited in the backbox and cabinet, especially as I’m adding other cables etc.
Removed some redundant cables which I believe were for mods no longer fitted.
Installed the new knocker loom, power for speaker lights and a 7 core cable for the topper as it will have 3 separate feeds, one for main part staying on when machine on, then the 2 discs coming on during disc mode and finally the bike lighting during light cycle, so with that cable in I can wire the topper and inside the cabinet at my leisure without having to run any more cables through the backbox.
I also rerun the power for colourdmd and the Tron arcade and installed the new apron flasher loom.
All the cables now go through the 2 main flexible trunking sections so raising and lowering the backbox is a stress free affair.
Then tidied the cabinet wiring and it’s a massive improvement.
Fitted real knocker kit.
Run apron flasher loom under playfield and secured.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Fitted speaker panel and put translite back in, backbox done