Complete Williams Hot Tip

[Pudsey pinball]

But that’s chris on left Gary !!! ……. Chris by day..Christina by night!!!!

 

[Gary Flower]

There's the Sting.

 

[ronsplooter]

I did one last pass on the playfield with the magic eraser and IPA today before deciding to call it done. I've not been able to get all of the ball swirls out but I'd got to the point where going any further would have given me more painting to do and that's never a good idea. It's loads better than before I started and once touch ups and clear coating is done I think it should look pretty decent

With that in mind I went digging through my boxes of pinball stuff and got all the painting gear out:



Along with the acrylic paints and brushes I've also got some paint pens for doing the black line work (also acrylic), a sheet of acetate to help when colour matching, a hair dryer to set the paint quickly so I can see colours when dry and a set of plastic stencils that help with straight lines, curves and circles so I don't have to freehand everything. I started by putting down some white as a primer onto the areas where it's worn to the wood and expect I'll have to do at least a couple of coats here before moving onto the colour matching.

I also started on some of the black line work this evening as it's relatively simple and gives some satisfying results. I'll decide tomorrow whether I need to do a couple of coats here but the clear should blend a lot of this in anyway. In this first pic I've repainted the black circles round the two inserts to the right while the other three still need doing:



And these next pics show a before and after of the three horseshoe inserts and the double bonus insert:

 

[Pudsey pinball]

Had to do similar with barracora

 

[Pudsey pinball]

Never be perfect but miles better than bare wood

 

[ronsplooter]

Never be perfect but miles better than bare wood

Definitely mate As long as it's not noticeable once the game is all back together then I'll be happy

 

[Pudsey pinball]

If you go close up it will always show but I’m no Van Gogh with my paint palette !!

 

[Dotteddown]

Great work enjoying watching it progress Chris
I spy a fathom there

 

[Jay Walker]

I've looked at the ipdb entry for the game manual, and seen the retrospectively hilarious statement 'A very simple means of altering ..Settings.. has been devised'. I'd heard it was an awkward routine, but I hadn't delved into it until now;

• Put the hardware into a 'command enter' mode using Diagnostic switch on Cpu board
• Using a chart, find a DIP switch pattern for the function to be adjusted, e.g. function 18 for balls per game
• Set this pattern on the lower switch unit on Cpu board
• Determine the switch pattern for the required value, possibly from a different chart of patterns
• Set this pattern on the upper switch unit on Cpu board
• Press Enter Switch on Cpu board to enact this change

Obviously, this has to be repeated for any other change to an adjustment function. No wonder Williams trumpeted the introduction of 'Front End Programming'. Though there was still a trace of this caper on Level 6 games like Gorgar and Firepower, to clear audits, restore factory settings or use an Auto-Cycle or 'Burn-In' test routine.

And Williams must have thought something of it, as even the Level 7 Cpu board has provision for it; some early boards actually had the two 8-way switches, two l.e.d.s, and two push switches fitted, even though L7 games would never need them.

 

[ronsplooter]

Clear as mud @Jay Walker

 

[Jay Walker]

And that's after trying to summarise it, the actual text is worse.

 

[ronsplooter]

Lots of tumbling still going on but I've also been progressing with the painting. First up was to make the drop targets a bit more presentable by touching up the white stars and then covering with mylar:





I've also been continuing with the playfield and got most of the black line work done along with masking stuff off in preparation for clear coating. I've still got the colour matching touch ups to do which I'll be looking at over the weekend and I also need to finish masking off the metal ball guides as well:



Had a parts order arrive as well and I'm hoping this is most of what I need in terms of new parts that I don't already have in stock. Along with the usual new rubbers and balls, I'm replacing the white plastic nuts with rubber ones as I prefer the look of them on older games (I did similar on my Lucky Strike EM). There's a flipper rebuild kit, some new spinner decals, a lamp holder for the pop bumper and a rebuild kit for the missing connector on the power supply board

 

[Dotteddown]

I wish I understood any of that Jay

 

[Pudsey pinball]

Lots of tumbling still going on but I've also been progressing with the painting. First up was to make the drop targets a bit more presentable by touching up the white stars and then covering with mylar:

View attachment 171282

View attachment 171283

I've also been continuing with the playfield and got most of the black line work done along with masking stuff off in preparation for clear coating. I've still got the colour matching touch ups to do which I'll be looking at over the weekend and I also need to finish masking off the metal ball guides as well:

View attachment 171284

Had a parts order arrive as well and I'm hoping this is most of what I need in terms of new parts that I don't already have in stock. Along with the usual new rubbers and balls, I'm replacing the white plastic nuts with rubber ones as I prefer the look of them on older games (I did similar on my Lucky Strike EM). There's a flipper rebuild kit, some new spinner decals, a lamp holder for the pop bumper and a rebuild kit for the missing connector on the power supply board

View attachment 171287

I went opposite way on barracora ditched the rubber tits that held on theyplastics found the vibrated loose too easy so went pvc nut route,but it’s looking good mate,what you clear coating with?

 

[ronsplooter]

I went opposite way on barracora ditched the rubber tits that held on theyplastics found the vibrated loose too easy so went pvc nut route,but it’s looking good mate,what you clear coating with?

I've still got all the plastic nuts (plus a load from other games in the parts bin) so worst case I'll have to swap them back but hopefully they'll hold up For clear coat I'm going to give the below a try. It's 2 pack so I've had to buy a respirator and will be spraying outdoors so I don't poison myself

 

[AlanJ]

is it the type where it mixes in the can ie you pull a lever to mix the 2 parts?

 

[ronsplooter]

That's the one @AlanJ I think you stick the red bit in the cap into the bottom of the can and that makes it mix. You've then got a limited time to use it before it goes off in the can.

 

[ronsplooter]

Just when I thought the endless cleaning and tumbling was coming to an end, I decided to strip out the cabinet Started by removing the coin door and then worked my way from front to back taking stuff out. I won't be completing dismantling the coin door but will give the front a clean and polish as well as the door surrounds.





With the lock bar receiver removed you can see all the gunk and crap that's leaked down there and will need hitting with the magic eraser:



With all the metal parts removed all that was left was the cabinet harness so at this stage I may as well take that out too

 

[ronsplooter]

Whilst the cleaning continues I've also been spending way too much time trying to finish the touch ups on the playfield. Sometimes I can get the colour matching done quite quickly but other times it puts up a fight and becomes an annoying ball ache.......guess which one this was

The two key wear areas were in the green behind the pop bumper and in the light blue at the left kick out saucer. I'll start by saying that I've not managed to get a perfect match on either but they're close enough and I've already spent long enough messing with this and need to draw the line somewhere!

I thought the green would be a relatively simple one but it took me a few days of repeated attempts to get something close and involved a mix of 3 different greens and some white. The good news is that when the game is back together, this area is behind the pop bumper and surrounded by drop targets etc so shouldn't be too obvious.

The light blue has been my nemesis this weekend I don't know how many different paints I've mixed, applied and then wiped off again but it's been a lot! I really struggled to get anywhere near this blue but had a bit of a breakthrough this evening and whilst it's still too dark I'm calling it done as I don't think I'm going to get much closer. The final mix contained 3 different blues, green, burnt umber, white and black If the proper artists on the forum have any advice, tips or techniques when it comes to colour matching then I'm all ears as this has been one of the harder ones to date. There's still a few minor tweaks to make but the below pic is where it's currently at:



I've also been stripping down the various mechs I'd taken out of the cabinet and thought people might be interested to see a bit more of the EM score reel. I've not worked on Williams reels before but they're quite different from the Gottlieb ones I'm more used too. The pics below show it at various stages of disassembly:

 

[replicas]

Great work on the colour matching , I knew that would be a pita but looks like it came out pretty well.

 

[Dotteddown]

Incredible are there any ends to your talents !
Awesome

 

[ronsplooter]

Had a little bit of time while stuck on a Conference call today so rebuilt the two chime units, came up pretty nicely The original foam pieces were disintegrating so I cut up some yellow post rubbers I had to replace them:

 

[astyy]

Great work (as ever) on the chimes they've come up ace. 4 different notes seems cool, I'm intrigued to know how many of the 15 combinations it plays in-game

 

[Biff]

Top one Mr S - looking good

 

[ronsplooter]

As the tumbling was coming to a close (or so I thought) I decided that seeing as I'd already gone this far I may as well strip out the head as well. I'd been looking at the light board thinking it could do with a coat of paint:



After removing all of the displays, wiring harnesses and clips I got the board out. I'm going to leave the lamp sockets in place and use the old bulbs to plug them while I paint and I'm also not going to mess with the lamp braid on the back. I'd like to try and keep the original labels so will unpick the staples and then re-staple them back in place:



That left me with the below so the next step was to remove all of the backbox wiring so it can be cleaned and I can get to everything else easier:





Last job for today was to remove the boards and a few other bits of metal. I've already got the new CPU/Driver board and even though the power supply board is ok (other than the hacked up connectors) I decided to treat the game again and have ordered a new power board There's still the light board brackets to remove along with all the gubbins for the backglass locking mechanism and them I need to sort out the transformer wiring and put it back how it should be so that it plugs in cleanly to the new board One day I might be able to start putting things back together rather than constantly removing stuff

 

[ronsplooter]

it was hot with very little breeze today so I decided it was a good time to clear coat the playfield. First off I set the playfield up outside in the sun and let it warm up for a while (along with the can of clear). It was probably out there for about an hour before I did anything else and felt warm to the touch.



Next was to give it a good wipe down to remove any dust and dirt and then also go over it with a tack cloth so the surface is as good as it can be before I start spraying. As I'm painting outdoors with rattle cans there's only so good I'm going to be able to get it but I wanted to give myself the best chance of a decent finish. I ended up doing three coats of clear, all in different directions and starting from different sides to try and make it as even as possible. The 2 pack clear I've used was really good and seemed to go down well giving good dispersion from the nozzle, I'll definitely use it again!

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out It was never going to be perfect but compared to where it started out it's a massive improvement, which is what I was aiming for. Now it just needs to sit and cure for a bit while I carry on with the cabinet.

 

[ronsplooter]

I've been a bit quiet with the updates but I finally managed to get most of the remaining jobs done before I can start re-assembly. The last few bits of metal work were cleaned up and polished where required including the manky lock bar receiver which took a bit of sanding with the dremel followed up by hand with the wet n dry to get the rust off! I also gave the legs a rub down with some tin foil and water to get the surface rust off those.

The last of the jobs were to paint the backbox light board, have a look at the wooden playfield rails and sort out the transformer wiring

The light board was really patchy from factory so I prepped it for paint and then dumped a full can of appliance white onto it. Here's the before and after shots:





I wasn't able to save the original labels unfortunately as they disintegrated in my hands as I tried to remove them

Next up were the playfield rails which I gave a light sanding and then used some oak varnish to give them a nice colour:



Lastly I removed the transformer, bridge rectifiers and filter cap from the head, cleaned everything up and now I just need to sort out the wiring with the new power connector I bought as well as fit the safety fuses going to the BR's:





With the new boards I've bought, getting this bit right is critical as I don't want to fry anything so I'll be taking it steady and doing lots of testing as I go

 

[ronsplooter]

I've parked working on the head for a bit and instead focussed on getting the lower cabinet back together. It looks pretty good now it's all cleaned up and a bit shiny

 

[ronsplooter]

Progress is a bit slow at the moment but I've given the playfield a polish now that the clear has had a bit of time to cure and re-fitted the rails. The three wiring harnesses have been put back on so I should be able to start putting the mechs and switches back this weekend

 

[ronsplooter]

Some decent progress this weekend as I've now fully rebuilt the underside of the playfield:







Also made a start on the top side of the playfield and it's looking good, the colours really pop