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1st pinball sttng

stumblor said:
Sorry - yeah :)

Getting Metal Spanky Clean

So with metal parts there's basically three ways to do it. I'll keep it summarised but let me know if you want more detail on any item...

1. Hand polished - This means either sanding by hand using paper, or using a rotary wheel (either a bench one, or a 'flap disk' attached to a hand drill). I tend to use the flap disk method for the flat metal panels, like ball guides. For all the small parts I find this way too labour intensive to be worthwhile.

2. Tumbled - metal parts are adding to a 'tumbler' unit (the kind used for cleaning rifle shells), along with some tumbling medium (walnut shell, corn husk, or something else) which vibrates. After a day or two, the metal comes out nice and shiny. How shiny depends on the medium you use, however it's a tradeoff between how much gunk and rust you also need to cut. I use walnut shell, some brasso, and two days tumbling for all small metal parts, screws, posts, that sort of thing. Others have their own recipes.

This is the tumbler I use, you can pick them up cheaper second hand on ebay (like most things!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lyman-1200...ocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-527517443409&psc=1

3. Ultrasonic cleaner - (disclaimer, I've never done this) parts are added to an ultrasonic cleaner unit, like the kind used for cleaning jewellery. From what I understand, this is good for removing muck, but not so good for removing rust.

--

I use a combination of 1 and 2, and then hand polish some things afterwards using mothers mag & brio pads. Everyone will have their own brands I'm sure.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00068GEJM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Cliffys

Cliff is a dude in the states who I believe was a metal fabricator in a previous life, or is currently, or never was, maybe I'm making it up. Anyway he now fabricates all kinds of flat metal parts for pinball machines - the ones he's most famous for are protectors that cover the gobble holes that always get munched by the ball over time. Cliffys are basically the defacto standard way over protecting those holes, which is why everyone calls them Cliffys, even if they were made by him or not. Like how we call plasters 'band aids' in Australia :)

I believe @James is now stocking a lot of Cliffys parts over at The Pinball Bazaar. Cliff also makes ramp flaps (like you guessed, the metal bit at the bottom of ramps) so hopefully you might be able to pick some of these up at the same time. I think yours are well and truly salvageable, however they are cheap as chips and look great new so if you can get em, get em.
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Brilliant, thanks a lot. This is exactly the kind of info I need.
Your help is much appreciated 👍
 
CHRIS B PINBALLS said:
Pinball heaven have the cpu in stock
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Is it the PINLED one? They also have that at pinballdisplay.co.uk.
I think I may go for the other type that pinballdisplay.co.uk stock (not the rotten dog). I’ve heard good things about it.
Unless someone knows different.
Thanks for letting me know, much appreciated 👍
 
stumblor said:
I bought a nice clean second hand one from @pinballaction57 a while back, if you want to go down that route, and if he still has stock.
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Thanks, might look into that if pinballdisplay have problems re stocking.
Just thought newer components would mean more reliability.
Out of interest how much are the second hand ones?
 
I tried to check my messages but it wasn't there. From memory it was around the £100 mark so not a massive saving tbh. Certainly if you were buying one like that you'd want it with no hacks or repairs.

As far as rottendog goes, it's the driver boards that tend to be a bit flaky. The MPUs are great in my experience.
 
stumblor said:
I tried to check my messages but it wasn't there. From memory it was around the £100 mark so not a massive saving tbh. Certainly if you were buying one like that you'd want it with no hacks or repairs.

As far as rottendog goes, it's the driver boards that tend to be a bit flaky. The MPUs are great in my experience.
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I’ve got no experience with different manufacturers so have an open mind.
The one that I’m after has the option for a NVRAM and is all through hole components and not surface.
The PINLED has a lithium battery, not sure about the rotten dog one but will investigate 👍
 
Bobbdobalina said:
Hi all, I’ve just joined and a total noobie. Just purchased my 1st pin after wanting one for a long time. Figured they’d be out of my reach after looking on eBay. However, as luck would have it I got directed to one local to me and snapped it up. As in the title it’s a sttng that has lived in a garage for 10 years. Condition.... hmmm looks good actually but has got a grimy play field and toys but looks in good nick to the untrained eye apart from damage around the neutral zone and a missing klingon BOP. Cobwebs galore and spider corpses. The bolt heads are rusted but artwork looks really good apart from the art on the back box that has some small loss. Back glass is fine, legs and trigger handle could do with some attention. So that’s my 1st pinball and I’m over the moon.
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Great username mistadobalina
 
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