Have you got a yearning desire to see pinballs shopped out?
Do you crave those laborious forum posts of crappy junk getting the grime wiped away?
In this new series of "I've Got Time to Kill" shop logs we'll see what it takes to bring a Revenge From Mars back to life and how you can easily get ripped off paying far too much money for neglected junk which should have been put in a skip.
That's right, we're doing a SHOP LOG... I've restored quite a few pins over the last few years but never documented my process (and progress) so I thought it might be fun to try it.
First things first, due to being anally retentive or having some kind of OCD, I have a certain order of doing things. When a new project arrives, I like to examine the machine and then get it working to a reasonable level of playability. If these steps prove too difficult then the pin probably isn't worth saving and spending 100+ hours on the restore. This gives me a good chance to make a list of things which need replacing and how much it's going to cost. Once that's done I start with the full top to bottom restoration, in the order of:
1. Electronics - getting all circuit boards cleaned, serviced, modified, replaced, etc. This includes tackling wiring issues, switch problems, coil issues and diodes. It's important to do ROM updates at this point too because I don't want to be chasing down problems after putting the machine back together which could have been due to software bugs. Make sure the game works as it should.
2. Cabinet - The most boring part. Repaints, touch ups, new decals are the order of things here but also includes repairs, deep cleaning, refurbishing side rails, legs, coin door, lock bar and new feet/levellers, key locks etc. You get the idea. I used to do this last (to avoid scuffing), but now I always work on the playfield out of the machine. It's also nice to get the boring stuff out of the way first so the project gets progressively more exciting.
3. Playfield - topside stripdown, clean, polish, repair, replace, install the LED conversion. I take everything off and go through each individual item. I have a certain way of doing LED's too. I'm a big fan of LED's, but hate the "rainbow" pins you quite often see these days where every area is coloured.
4. Mechanics - It's really the underside of the playfield but also any topside toys and even the coin mech. Pops, slings, VUK's, flippers, magnets and drop targets are all standard items on the job list.
Incoming...
So, here's what I bought, as photographed by the seller:
Oh it's a beauty. Seller couldn't even be bothered to wipe the glass for a better photo:
Rusty junk:
At least it lights up:
This was sold to me as fully working except the monitor doesn't come on. The seller told me "the game seems to be playing better each day". Looks like he was batting the balls around with no rubbers.
So, the game finally arrives in my little pin workshop and we can take a good look now to see what we're up against:
Doesn't look like there's any burn. That's a good sign at least.
That there, gentlemen, is 69,189 coin credits on the clock. This is a heavily routed game:
Gonna have to break this post up in to more parts. To be continued...
Do you crave those laborious forum posts of crappy junk getting the grime wiped away?
In this new series of "I've Got Time to Kill" shop logs we'll see what it takes to bring a Revenge From Mars back to life and how you can easily get ripped off paying far too much money for neglected junk which should have been put in a skip.
That's right, we're doing a SHOP LOG... I've restored quite a few pins over the last few years but never documented my process (and progress) so I thought it might be fun to try it.
First things first, due to being anally retentive or having some kind of OCD, I have a certain order of doing things. When a new project arrives, I like to examine the machine and then get it working to a reasonable level of playability. If these steps prove too difficult then the pin probably isn't worth saving and spending 100+ hours on the restore. This gives me a good chance to make a list of things which need replacing and how much it's going to cost. Once that's done I start with the full top to bottom restoration, in the order of:
1. Electronics - getting all circuit boards cleaned, serviced, modified, replaced, etc. This includes tackling wiring issues, switch problems, coil issues and diodes. It's important to do ROM updates at this point too because I don't want to be chasing down problems after putting the machine back together which could have been due to software bugs. Make sure the game works as it should.
2. Cabinet - The most boring part. Repaints, touch ups, new decals are the order of things here but also includes repairs, deep cleaning, refurbishing side rails, legs, coin door, lock bar and new feet/levellers, key locks etc. You get the idea. I used to do this last (to avoid scuffing), but now I always work on the playfield out of the machine. It's also nice to get the boring stuff out of the way first so the project gets progressively more exciting.
3. Playfield - topside stripdown, clean, polish, repair, replace, install the LED conversion. I take everything off and go through each individual item. I have a certain way of doing LED's too. I'm a big fan of LED's, but hate the "rainbow" pins you quite often see these days where every area is coloured.
4. Mechanics - It's really the underside of the playfield but also any topside toys and even the coin mech. Pops, slings, VUK's, flippers, magnets and drop targets are all standard items on the job list.
Incoming...
So, here's what I bought, as photographed by the seller:
Oh it's a beauty. Seller couldn't even be bothered to wipe the glass for a better photo:
Rusty junk:
At least it lights up:
This was sold to me as fully working except the monitor doesn't come on. The seller told me "the game seems to be playing better each day". Looks like he was batting the balls around with no rubbers.
So, the game finally arrives in my little pin workshop and we can take a good look now to see what we're up against:
Doesn't look like there's any burn. That's a good sign at least.
That there, gentlemen, is 69,189 coin credits on the clock. This is a heavily routed game:
Gonna have to break this post up in to more parts. To be continued...
Last edited:
Only difference for me is that I've easily exceeded 100+ hours on a pin but I'm in no rush and have little money to buy working pins. And I'm leaving the cabinet till last (Electronics > Playfield > Mechanics > Cabinet) due to lack of space as if I fixed the cabinet first I'd probably ding it fixing the playfield (I also need to do it outdoors so need the nice weather).
Oh and when it's warmed up a bit!! 
