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Complete Williams Diner

Dave Playman

Site Supporter
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
449
Location
Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Alias
Retro Dave
So, I picked this Diner up from @Markjduk back in June. Mark said this came as part of an operator raid.
It was pretty tired and generally grubby, however it played well on collection with the exception of the clock that wasn’t turning properly.
My brother and I packed it down and took it home. 9D9429F3-0397-49F9-AA0F-8EC86D902C47.jpegOnce home, the first thing we did was clean the cabinet as it was grubby. The legs that came with it were pretty poor, luckily I had a decent spare set of legs at home ready to put straight on.
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The game was fully incandescent, and I’m one for changing these to sunlight (warm white) Comet LEDs. This was the next job I completed.
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The next job was the faulty Dine Time clock in the back box. I wasn’t sure if it was the PCB or stepper motor (or both) that was at fault. I decided to replace the pair.
The initial replacement I purchased from Pinballshop.nl turned out to be faulty and @Homepin supplied a replacement directly.
Mike provided regular updates, shipped directly from Taiwan and without delay. Customer service at its finest. Thanks again Mike 👍🏼
D37E8413-5FC1-40C8-8806-F86FE03A47B8.jpegNext up was to swap out the cracked and rusty / scruffy coin door, with a nice raised coin door. Thanks again to @Alpha1 for selling me his spare👍🏼
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EB730F71-F136-4F1A-B4CD-A1719456EB0A.jpegMy next bright idea 💡 😁 quite literally, was to make more of a feature of the cup on the playfield.
Pinball Heaven sell a 15cm LED strip light mod. Turns out this fits perfectly to the underside of the recess in the backboard of the playfield above the cup! It’s a cool white instead of the warmer white GI, but I think it looks great.
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I then made a list of parts needed to complete a topside tear down, comprising of clear star posts, Perfect Play silicone rubbers, jet bumper caps, and some miscellaneous nuts / screws.
The playfield was dirty including every corner and in all the hard to reach places at the back of the playfield; under the cup, etc.
Rubbers were shot, I think some were original, especially the 3-1/2” one under right ramp. Star posts were filthy. It’s been long overdue a clean. I’m pretty sure most of the hard to reach area’s haven’t been cleaned in 30yrs. This is definitely the dirtiest game I’ve owned so far.

Once all the parts arrived, I started taking parts off the playfield ready to clean. As you can see it was filthy.

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81397016-389F-492D-8F21-9BC3E3634CDC.jpeg
8C53C9FA-BFB0-4ECF-992D-A62574EE513B.jpegI’m sure you will agree this game was pretty dirty.
I placed all the parts on the floor in some sort of logical order and began to clean the playfield with foam cleaner, then Novus 2 and waxed. The heavily worn ball trails and swirls along the back edge of the playfield (under the cup) I improved with a few passes using a magic eraser. Not something I would normally do, but felt needs must in this instance. I think the end result is totally acceptable.

EA5246C9-D807-4C5C-B566-E90B08A9DB10.jpegThere was heavy wear down to the wood to the centre rollover (where the ball drops out of the hole in the cup) as pictured. I made good this area and covered the repair with a cut to shape piece of Mylar to prevent further wear.
40EAA4AD-CF50-45E0-BCA5-5FE71A5CAF21.jpegHere are a selection of photos showing areas of dirt on the playfield after tear down.
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Again, after cleaning the playfield, I then cleaned all the parts I had taken off. Here are some before and after pictures.
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After spending a full day cleaning plastics / ramps, I started to fit the new star posts and white silicone rubbers on the playfield.
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Starting to get the feel for how slick this is going to look when finished 😁

I continued fitting the star posts and rubbers to the freshly waxed playfield. I had to wait a few extra days as the parts list in the manual was wrong and I was short on star posts and 3-1/2” rubber.

With the arrival of the last few parts needed, I continued to fit the remaining parts to the playfield and put it all back together. I decided to fit a pair of Cliffy’s to cover the damage to the inlane where the ball drops from the wire form.
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You may notice I changed the colour of the flasher domes from purple to yellow as I felt they matched the colour scheme better.
All in all, I’m very happy with how the game has turned out. I wasn’t going for a restoration, just good strip and maintenance clean of this classic game. I think the end result is more than satisfactory 😁
Im looking forward to playing it again now it’s all finished!
Cheers, Dave
 
What a great game Diner is. I also have one waiting in the wings awaiting a refurb (with new pf and plastics). When given a bit of a polish it really is one of the best looking games ever made. And to top it off - one of the most satisfying jackpot shots in all of pinball. Enjoy.
 
What a great game Diner is. I also have one waiting in the wings awaiting a refurb (with new pf and plastics). When given a bit of a polish it really is one of the best looking games ever made. And to top it off - one of the most satisfying jackpot shots in all of pinball. Enjoy.
Ahh wow! You are going all out then?! Sounds awesome. Yeah, I love trying to build the Dine-Time jackpot to 12 and then claiming it! Very satisfying when it comes together like that. Will you be posting a shop log thread on here too? I would certainly be interested to see it😃
 
You’ve done a cracking job there Dave. Looks lovely. I agree, it’s one of the best looking games ever made.
Cheers Gaz! Really appreciate the feedback. Considering this is my 3rd time doing this, I’m pleased with how it’s come out given my limited experience. I really enjoy the tinkering! Hopefully you will be back for a game on it soon too ⚪💨🤟🏼
 
I also had my Diner refurbished recently. Link below:-

 
I also had my Diner refurbished recently. Link below:-

Wow! Yours is restored to the next level with new playfield etc. Looks brand new! You must be dead chuffed with that!😃
 
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