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In Progress Adventures in Budget Restoration: 1978 Bally PARAGON

Had a little experiment today. I popped the drop targets in to my ultrasonic cleaner. I used some pine floor cleaner 50/50 with hot water for the solution. Seems to have done a great job (you can see how dirty they were a few posts above). The coil sleeve actually looks new!

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Wondering how I can fix the hot stamping other than using an decal? Paint and protective lacquer maybe?
 
I'd have thought something like a fine tipped CD marker pen would be easier to work with than paint?

Maybe spray some Krylon over the top when done?
 
RudeDogg1 said:
you should replace coil sleeves not clean em cheapskate they only cost pence :p
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I did buy enough coil sleeves at UKPP2013 to do all the coils, but I was such a newbie I didn't know the drop-target coils are extra big and so are the sleeves!

Indeed they are cheap. 75p from Pinball Mania, or thereabouts. But for the 3 minutes it took to clean it ultrasonically and then 30 seconds with a bit of Novus #1 on a rag, I think it's worth it considering the thing looks better than the new ones I bought!

And this is a "budget" restoration. I'm only buying parts that have to be replaced due to excessive wear or damage.
 
Lol still a cheap skate ;). Loving your work so far are you still gonna make a new pf or sanding the old artwork off? Where did you get your polishing wheels and polishing sticks from? I wanna get a bench polisher I'm sick of hand polishing
 
RudeDogg1 said:
Lol still a cheap skate ;). Loving your work so far are you still gonna make a new pf or sanding the old artwork off? Where did you get your polishing wheels and polishing sticks from? I wanna get a bench polisher I'm sick of hand polishing
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Yeah, I admit it. I'm a cheapskate. That'll be the Lancashire northerner in me ;) But there's nought point to replacing something that's still as good as new.

As for the polishing stuff I've sung the praises of http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/ before on here. I even posted a thread when they had a 10% off flash sale! They do bench grinders, but if you've got a standard electric drill then they do a kit for that too. I use their 4" x 1/2" steel polishing kit:

http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/pro-max-steel-stainless-steel-9pc-metal-polishing-kit/

Depends how much polishing you're going to and whether you've got room to set up a bench grinder. For me, popping the drill in the bench vice or Black&Decker Workmate is just fine. The 4" wheel is a good size for most pinball parts. I can just about do things as small as coil stops, but wouldn't want to get that close on a 6" wheel.


As for the PF... I've decided to sand and re-decal what I've got.
 
July 2014
DROP-TARGET REBUILD

I've been busy cleaning and polishing all the parts for the standard bank of 3 drop-targets. Started with a pile of rusty and dirty bits'n'bobs:

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But after a few hours with my trusty mini multi-tool things are starting to look cleaner and shinier:

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Progress so far. Done all the fiddly bits and most of the larger items. Popped the nylon bearings, coil sleeve and drop-targets in the ultrasonic cleaner for 6 minutes, sanded the edges and buffed the fibre links. Also, started to put the chassis back together:

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Just three more metal plates to polish. Hopefully I'll get them done this evening!

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Dude, are you buying new drop targets? It would seem a shame to go to the trouble of getting the mech's all shined up and then put the old targets back in.
 
ronsplooter said:
Dude, are you buying new drop targets? It would seem a shame to go to the trouble of getting the mech's all shined up and then put the old targets back in.
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I have indeed already bought new drop-targets from Classic Arcades Inc. along with repro bumper caps and an apron decal. If you click on my Flickr link you'll find an album of the repro parts. I bought them just after I got Paragon and to be honest I was a little underwhelmed, especially as they rather expensive to have imported from the US. The drop-targets are okay, the caps passable but the apron decal was very disappointing. Very amateurish.

I was surprised how well the old drops cleaned up in the ultrasonic. I also have a recipe for a solution that restores yellowing plastics so I may try that too. I love experimenting!

This is a budget restoration so the only major investment is my time! If I can salvage any thing I will! I've already been labelled a cheapskate for cleaning coils sleeves instead of buying new ;)
 
I was gonna say, if you need drop targets, I bought a spare set from Marcos just to bolster the order a bit and make the hideous P&P worth while.
 
Gaz Shiells said:
I was gonna say, if you need drop targets, I bought a spare set from Marcos just to bolster the order a bit and make the hideous P&P worth while.
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I'd be interested to see what the look like? I couldn't get an answer from Marco's as to who makes their targets. Can you rustle up a couple of hi-res photos, particularly the quality of the hot stamping?
 
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Gaz Shiells said:
I was gonna say, if you need drop targets, I bought a spare set from Marcos just to bolster the order a bit and make the hideous P&P worth while.
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FYI, I got the set of plastics from Ken Brooker and he also included the bumper caps and spinner, which surprised me! The plastics are in pretty good nick. Only the large upper apron arches are damaged (left has a crack and hole, right was snapped and glued together). One of the bumper caps is badly damaged and all are very yellowed, although I have a recipe for a solution that draws the bromine out of old plastics to restore their colour. Might be worth a go to get 3 good ones. The spinner is worn and would need a new decal or some very clever airbrush/stencil work. Not too bad for a tenner. Keep in touch if you need anything...
 
Great work Peter.

Must be something about that name - i'm a Peter too and i've got an obsession with taking things to bits and cleaning them.

In fact this thread has inspired me to give my R&B a more thorough going over. I stripped it down a few months back but only did the top side and it was filthy again within weeks. Really need to do a full strip down next time around, and whilst at it i'm sure I can get more of a shine on everything.
 
Fantastic pictures of the drop target rebuild! Nice to see the level of effort you are putting into this classic restoration :thumbs:
 
July 2014
DROP-TARGET REBUILD

So after my little tease earlier I managed to spend a couple of hours finishing up the polishing and putting the triple drop-target bank back together. @ronsplooter you'll be pleased to know I broke out the new reproduction drop-targets from Classics Arcades Inc. They don't look too bad out of the packet but I'm a little upset because the ones @Gaz Shiells has are much better!

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I do think the hot stamping could have been better (original left, repro right):

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So, starting with a big pile of shiny bits:

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I first assembled the main chassis:

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The attached the reset levers to the bottom of the drop-targets with the pins and E-clips:

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Drop-targets positioned into chassis in upright reset position with reset bar in place across the bottom of the chassis:

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The narrow slot in the reset bar lines up with the end-plate. Shaft in position with nylon bearing and E-clip retainers:

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Polished plunger with fibre links fitted with pin and E-clips:

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Plunger in place on the end of the reset bar with final retaining E-clip:

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Tension spring in place on the other end of the reset bar:

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Tension springs pull each drop-target forward to just keep it latched on the top-plate:

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Job done!!!

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Lovely stuff.

You're really tempting me now to invest in a polishing kit. My drill is getting on a bit and I see that metalpolishingsupplies on eBay do a fairly nice kit for around £50 which includes a polishing wheel and all the compounds to get you started.

Of course then throw in that i'm looking at grabbing a random orbital sander and a tumbler and it looks like i'm going to be skint pretty soon. ;-)
 
Gaz Shiells said:
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After careful observation I've also noticed that on both of our repro drop-targets the "BANG" images have been stamped with the wrong orientation. Assuming mine are originals then yours are rotated by about 90 degrees and mine by about 180 degrees! Yours definitely look much better, and the plastic looks like a lovely milky white. Tempting... how much would it take for you to part with them?
 
lukewells said:
More fantastic progress photos @Nedreud. That drop target unit looks better than new now :thumbs:

It's like drop-target porn :rofl:
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Yeah, we got some PROPER HARDCORE PINBALL SMUT going down on this thread! None of that rectal prolapse, back-boob, dildos-in-a-box nonsense here! I'm talking full-on, full-frontal, fully-stripped, waxed bare and buffed drop-target NAKEDNESS!!! :D;):p
 
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