I did hook them up to a battery to see what it looked like but forgot to take a photo. It did look Petey good though. Definitely a lot brighter.Eagerly awaits a pic of it lit![]()
Thanks Phil.@Ant-H - I wish you would just do the job properly instead of cutting corners
Great job - said it before and no doubt I will say it again.
Do you have any idea of man hours these two TAF's owe you?
Cheers mate. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now with these projectsSimply awesome Ant!!!
You've nailed it really shows the lights up this restoration is excellent.Two more jobs have now been crossed off the list
The first was to do a conversion to the flipper switches. As standard, TAF has leaf switches for the flippers, similar to T2 and I think HS2.
View attachment 198516
I believe on an TAFG, the updated Rom that was used aloud them to use the newer opto boards to activate the flippers.
Personally I like the instant activation that the opto switches give and as I’m running the gold roms in my game, I thought I’d try the conversion out.
First thing I did was to purchase the parts that I’d needed for the conversion.
View attachment 198487
Frustratingly the metal parts arrived quite rusty, so I gave them a light sand and had them powder coated gloss black
View attachment 198501
View attachment 198485View attachment 198488Next, I needed to get power and ground to them. So I pulled the 12v & ground from the coin door interface board by adding a small connector.
View attachment 198481View attachment 198482View attachment 198484
I also needed to make a new harness so that the right opto board could also get power and ground from the one on the left.
View attachment 198517
The switch signals use the same connectors as the leaf switches, so I just plugged everything back in.
View attachment 198490View attachment 198491View attachment 198496
I’ll test them out once I get the playfield hooked up, but I’m pretty confident they should work. Plus I won’t have to mess about about trying to synchronise both flippers to activate at the same time.
Second job crossed off was to install both toppers along with a lighting mod. I really should have done this before I fitted the back boxes as in the end, I removed them again to make it easier.
There seems to be 3 different toppers available, clear, smoked and solid black. I went with clear on both games to help with the lighting mods.
View attachment 198502
Once I applied the decals I compared one to a smoked topper
View attachment 198503
For the actual lighting, ive gone with lights that have different setting but in order to fit it the way I wanted, I had to cut it up and re-solder it back together.
View attachment 198495View attachment 198497View attachment 198499
I didn’t want the wires to be seen so I made a small hole in the top of the back box.
View attachment 198494
I did a quick test to make sure it still worked
View attachment 198500
I then fitted them in place along with a new caution decal. They will be powered from a separate power supply board which I fitted inside the back box.
View attachment 198507View attachment 198493
When I fitted the toppers back and tested the lighting, I was a little disappointed as too much of the light was being lost through the plastic of the topper. Plus I’ve never really been keen on the way the cloud is basically see through.
View attachment 198504
I remember my wife showing me some videos on YouTube last year, of people who create a thunder storm lighting effect in a room or above a dinning table by basically sticking leds strips on the ceiling and then covering them with white stuffing to create the storm cloud effect, which did look pretty good.
So I thought I could use the same concept with the toppers and used some stuffing inside then to make it look more like an actual cloud as well as hopefully hold the light in. I made a plastic box/cover that I placed inside to cover the lights and to create a void. The stuffing then went on top.
View attachment 198506
View attachment 198505
The difference was huge. The whole of the topper now glow up with blue light and pulsate slowly to mimic a storm. I’m hoping the 9smd flashers will also add to the effect when they get activated during multiball.
View attachment 198519
Next couple of jobs I want to tackle is to re-build the plastic ramps and wire forms, install some lighting boards and then start to plug everything back in and run some tests![]()
Top notch pal better than newTwo more jobs have now been crossed off the list
The first was to do a conversion to the flipper switches. As standard, TAF has leaf switches for the flippers, similar to T2 and I think HS2.
View attachment 198516
I believe on an TAFG, the updated Rom that was used aloud them to use the newer opto boards to activate the flippers.
Personally I like the instant activation that the opto switches give and as I’m running the gold roms in my game, I thought I’d try the conversion out.
First thing I did was to purchase the parts that I’d needed for the conversion.
View attachment 198487
Frustratingly the metal parts arrived quite rusty, so I gave them a light sand and had them powder coated gloss black
View attachment 198501
View attachment 198485View attachment 198488Next, I needed to get power and ground to them. So I pulled the 12v & ground from the coin door interface board by adding a small connector.
View attachment 198481View attachment 198482View attachment 198484
I also needed to make a new harness so that the right opto board could also get power and ground from the one on the left.
View attachment 198517
The switch signals use the same connectors as the leaf switches, so I just plugged everything back in.
View attachment 198490View attachment 198491View attachment 198496
I’ll test them out once I get the playfield hooked up, but I’m pretty confident they should work. Plus I won’t have to mess about about trying to synchronise both flippers to activate at the same time.
Second job crossed off was to install both toppers along with a lighting mod. I really should have done this before I fitted the back boxes as in the end, I removed them again to make it easier.
There seems to be 3 different toppers available, clear, smoked and solid black. I went with clear on both games to help with the lighting mods.
View attachment 198502
Once I applied the decals I compared one to a smoked topper
View attachment 198503
For the actual lighting, ive gone with lights that have different setting but in order to fit it the way I wanted, I had to cut it up and re-solder it back together.
View attachment 198495View attachment 198497View attachment 198499
I didn’t want the wires to be seen so I made a small hole in the top of the back box.
View attachment 198494
I did a quick test to make sure it still worked
View attachment 198500
I then fitted them in place along with a new caution decal. They will be powered from a separate power supply board which I fitted inside the back box.
View attachment 198507View attachment 198493
When I fitted the toppers back and tested the lighting, I was a little disappointed as too much of the light was being lost through the plastic of the topper. Plus I’ve never really been keen on the way the cloud is basically see through.
View attachment 198504
I remember my wife showing me some videos on YouTube last year, of people who create a thunder storm lighting effect in a room or above a dinning table by basically sticking leds strips on the ceiling and then covering them with white stuffing to create the storm cloud effect, which did look pretty good.
So I thought I could use the same concept with the toppers and used some stuffing inside then to make it look more like an actual cloud as well as hopefully hold the light in. I made a plastic box/cover that I placed inside to cover the lights and to create a void. The stuffing then went on top.
View attachment 198506
View attachment 198505
The difference was huge. The whole of the topper now glow up with blue light and pulsate slowly to mimic a storm. I’m hoping the 9smd flashers will also add to the effect when they get activated during multiball.
View attachment 198519
Next couple of jobs I want to tackle is to re-build the plastic ramps and wire forms, install some lighting boards and then start to plug everything back in and run some tests![]()
much of the light was being lost through the plastic of the topper
That’s an interesting idea. Shame they never really went with the concept.When Addams was first launched, the rep from a competitor described the topper as "projecting spiders onto the ceiling"
Thanks mate. I’m hoping to have both restorations fully complete within the next couple of weeksYou've nailed it really shows the lights up this restoration is excellent.
Roll on the smoke test, good luckI went away over the bank holiday weekend, but got quite a bit more work done on both games.
Firstly I rebuilt the coin door after getting it powder coated in the same hammered finish.
View attachment 199343
View attachment 199344
View attachment 199351
View attachment 199345View attachment 199346View attachment 199347View attachment 199348
Next up I wired up the power and the light for the extra ball button.
Powering the button was pretty straight forward. The easiest way is to connect one wire from the white-brown side of the 'Slam Tilt' on the coin door to one side of the extra ball switch.
View attachment 199349
The other wire goes directly from the green-brown side of the 'Plumb Bob Tilt' to other side of the switch.
View attachment 199350
View attachment 199355
Lighting the button was a bit more involved as you have run 2 wires all the way upto the back box. One goes to J134-1 and the other to J138-4.
The last major job I needed to do on the playfields was to rebuild and install the new ramps.
The old ramps had clearly seen better days.
View attachment 199357View attachment 199358
Personally, I prefer the clear ramps to the original smoked versions as they help light up the back of the playfield which I think this game needs.
View attachment 199356
View attachment 199359
The decals were the first thing to go on. I also decided to paint all the screws that would go on my ramp.
View attachment 199361
This was followed by powder coated ramp flaps and brackets for mine and stainless steel ramp flaps and mirror polished brackets for the other TAF.
View attachment 199360
View attachment 199363View attachment 199368
View attachment 199367
I fitted new switches to the harness and tried to install it so it wouldn’t stand out to much. I also found black switch covers, which were slightly too big, so I had to trim them slightly in order to fit them.
View attachment 199362
Overall I’m really happy with how they both came out.
View attachment 199369View attachment 199371
View attachment 199364View attachment 199365View attachment 199366
The last job to do was to install them both along with the wire forms.
View attachment 199373
That’s basically the playfields complete. There a couple of mods I want to try, but I think the next stage will be to start plug it all back in and run some tests
View attachment 199372View attachment 199375View attachment 199374
Roll on the smoke test, good luck
Still totally insane Ant but f***king awesome!!!!
Will one of these make it to pinfest this year mate ??Thanks mate. I’m nearly there with both of them now. Most outstanding jobs are pretty straight forward.
But I was looking at the Pinstadium mod in my game and I think I’ll have to make some small adjustments to the cabinet in order to completely hide the wiring for the light bars.
The original idea I had in my head was to not have them stand out when looking down onto the playfield.