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Getting a pinball down a straight flight of carpeted stairs

DRD

DRD

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Guys

What is the best way of doing this please ? Will be 2 reasonably healthy guys doing the job

Are you best to lighten it/ remove the head/ remove the glass please ?

Or just remove two of the legs with two of you carrying it down ?

Let it slide down on a rope ?

Or just let it slide, hope for the best

Thanks
 
If you have space to pick it up at the top then 2 fit bods should be able to carry it straight down. Did this recently with Will, and he is frickin pathetic at the best of times :-D

We also once did a Star Wars cockpit down steep stairs in a warehouse.... Using ropes! That was fun / trouser soiling scary :-D

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Moving a pinball machine is easy if you follow the golden rule. Keep at waist height. Any lower and its hernia territory. Don't worry about getting it higher - the chances are you wont.

I once got a machine down a staircase by putting it on an old primary school table top and sliding it down. When it got to the third or fourth step we simply lifted at the bottom (to waist height [emoji6]) and away we went.

I would recommend always putting the pin on a board/table top - you can slide it around into cars/vans without damaging the laminated sides


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If its ready for moving next Saturday I'll give you a hand, so long as its not Banzai Run ;)
 
It would be a 90s incomer mate!. Upstairs in the seller's house.

I am a scaredy cat so might take the head off and remove the glass and transformer to lighten it

I actually set banzai up in the garage yesterday. It had been hibernating for a couple of months. Managed to get king of the hill on my third game. But the damned thing needs some adjustment. I had desensitised all the pops as one had locked on and blown stuff on the board à few months back. Board is fixed, but fiddling with pops is one of my least favourite jobs in pinball
 
I have tried this twice, the first time I was not used to moving pins and decided with three of us two at the top of the stairs and myself lower down to stop it sliding too quick, WRONG PLACE TO BE. When the machine became the same angle as the stairs I had to take ALL the weight and had to dig in to stop it sliding my helpers at the top thought it was stuck and tried pushing but held the machine after some shouting and abuse from me. Could not move for fear of being run over be a pinball (strawberry jam), all help was at the top of the stairs and could not get past the machine to help me!!!!! The owner managed to get out of a top window onto his garage roof and down to fetch a rope and then back to get it tied to the machine to take the weight. We then let down one step at a time with a slow slide. Big relief when it touched bottom. I was bruised and bleeding but got the machine home undamaged.
Second time I took the machine apart the head removed playfield and a few other parts, took time but a lot safer.
DO NOT USE METHOD ONE this for muppets only.
Hope this helps on what not to do..
 
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I fit a 18mm mdf board to the bottom of the machine about 8 inches longer than the cabinet. a couple of holes drilled into the board to allow a rachet strap to go through , let the pin come down whilst holding the strap and let the pin slide down the stairs, I find it goes down 1 step at a time
 
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Thanks for the advice guys.

On arrival i was presented with a wheelchair lift that went through the floor !!! Result. But no, it was dead. Long dead.

Also there was a stair lift. This was also dead. The owner of this place had suffered health issues for years and passed away earlier this year. In the games room it led to was a full size snooker table, party zone, two fruities, a mountain of paintings, clocks, china ......

We had to remove the dead stairlift. This was surprisingly heavy ....

image.jpg

I went for a "risk managed solution". It was my first time down stairs so I was cautious.

I bought these 2 slings and a rope from toolstation. TOOLSTATION IS MILES CHEAPER THAN SCREWFIX, NEVER BUY FROM SCREWFIX.

image.jpg

I removed the head and transformer from the game to reduce its weight. Foam mat at the bottom. Me on the rope at the top with gloves. The owner steering the game by standing in the danger zone, he didn't have to bear any weight. It went down under complete control. Each step served as a gentle brake. No damage to either of us, the house or game. The only contact point for the rope with visible art work was under the coin door, so this was protected by some cardboard.

image.jpg

Home safely ...
image.jpg

Having done this once, next time I would do it with the head in place as the pin was very comfortable going down a carpeted staircase.

Thanks again to @JMP for the tip off last night
 
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