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Complete Zaccaria Robot

ronsplooter

ronsplooter

Site Supporter
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
6,483
Location
Nottingham
Alias
Chris
Because I just can't leave things alone, it's time to strip down my newly acquired Robot :D Because there's not a huge amount of video of this game on Youtube I thought I'd shoot a quick gameplay video before starting the tear down. As you'll see, this didn't quite go as smoothly as I'd hoped :rofl:

 
If your playing skills were only as good as your referb skills... ;)

Are those flickery LED's i see installed?!?! :eek:

Poor Mr Robot!!
 
They are LEDs but don't really flicker for real...I think the GoPro is picking it up, maybe due to shooting in 60FPS. I'll be sticking with LEDs for this one :) They suit the theme nicely but probably more importantly they'll protect the plastics and backglass due to the reduced heat. Some of the cool molded plastics feel like they'd melt really easily given half the chance!

Stripped most of the top of the playfield this evening....

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I've come across some cool/interesting things while stripping the game. First are the way they back light some of the targets....

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Then there's the playfield switches...these are awesome :D They're plastic fins that pop up through the playfield....

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Finally there's the cool moulded plastic that covers the top lanes.....

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is it an opto or a micro switch etc ?
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Not had a proper look yet but I'm 95% sure it's a leaf switch. The game is from 1985 so I don't think they'd starting using opto's and micro switches yet :) When I strip the underside of the playfield I'll take some pics of the switch setup :thumbs:
 
Colour on that playfield looks great considering it's 30 years old. I wish whatever Zaccaria used on them Bally had used on theirs... I don't think I've ever seen a bad Zac' playfield. The colours are always vibrant with hardly any wear at all.
 
Nedreud said:
Colour on that playfield looks great considering it's 30 years old. I wish whatever Zaccaria used on them Bally had used on theirs... I don't think I've ever seen a bad Zac' playfield. The colours are always vibrant with hardly any wear at all.
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Agreed my Ski Jump (EM) is pretty spotless, even the cab is in decent nick :thumbs: I just have to get it fully working now :hmm:
 
Well that escalated quickly :D Top side is all off and the playfield is out of the cab.....

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Already got a load of stuff to go in the tumbler and here's a jug full of all the small plastics parts (mainly posts) ready for the ultra sonic cleaner.....

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Finally, here's what those awesome plastic fin switches look like out of the game....

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This is fascinating! Keep at it @ronsplooter, lovely to see a shop log on something so different.

Question: what are the 5 rectangular mechs laid out in a semi-circle in the centre of the playfield? They obviously align with the 5 large red discs on the topside with the letters R-O-B-O-T:



 
Nedreud said:
This is fascinating! Keep at it @ronsplooter, lovely to see a shop log on something so different.

Question: what are the 5 rectangular mechs laid out in a semi-circle in the centre of the playfield? They obviously align with the 5 large red discs on the topside with the letters R-O-B-O-T:



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They are robot heads that pop up once you go over the bridge. You then knock them down again
 
Ahhh... I see! Watched your video all the way to the end, so now I know what they are and why one is missing its red cap. I guess the plastic is beginning to age and get a little brittle. Could be worth building up the thickness around the screws on the inside using Araldite.
 
Could be worth building up the thickness around the screws on the inside using Araldite.
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Yeah I'm going to have to look at all of them and see what I can do re: fixing and maybe reinforcing them as well.

Can you still buy replacements for those? If not, it might be worth making a 3D mould while they are out
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Nope, they are pretty much unobtanium along with all of the other Robot specific parts :( Going to need to repair and hope I don't find any more issues when I take the rest of the game apart. I wouldn't even know where to begin in terms of making a mould....any advice would be gratefully received :thumbs:
 
ronsplooter said:
I wouldn't even know where to begin in terms of making a mould....any advice would be gratefully received :thumbs:
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This video will give you an idea of the process:


You can get different resins with different physical characteristics, depending on the end application, but a specialisist modelling retailer could advise on that better than I could. You can also get clear resin, and pigments to colour it.

There are prototyping companies that would do all this for you too, but I've no idea what they would charge. The advantage of that would be that they would likely have a vacuum chamber to eliminate any air-bubbles in the silicone before you pour it to make the mould, which reduces the chance of air-bubble shaped defects in the mould. Again, you can do that yourself, but imo it's not essential, and would cost a fair bit more unless you have a compressor kicking around. Here's a link about using the vacuum chamber:

 
never seen a robot since coral island blackpool around 1987/88. must have been one of the first pins i played, the other games they had were magic castle, farfalla and clown although never saw the clown working. love those old zac's and thers still a few iv never seen.
 
Been a bit quiet in this thread recently as work has been manic but there has been cleaning going on.....

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Most of the playfield metal has been cleaned or tumbled along with all of the small plastics parts. The drop target bank still needs looking at along with all of the main plastics. I've also cleaned coils, inserts and other bits and pieces on the underside of the playfield so that's ready for things to start going back on.

I've been on the hunt for parts for this game ever since I got it as the plan is to take it along to shows next year and I want to have spares wherever possible. First I want to say a big thanks to Jim @myPinballs for a box with Zacc coils and some very useful sling shot brackets. I'm also hoping to have secured a load more parts from Europe and will post some pics if/when they arrive and finally I've ordered some bits from David Gersic in the US who is a bit of an expert when it comes to Zacc games :)

Couple more pics of some other bits in the cleaning queue and more unusual stuff I've taken off the game....

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Glad to be of help :) Unlocking the families old spares hoard is great when you can assist with beautiful games such as this one. Really looking forward to seeing and playing this one day :)
 
A heavy box turned up from Belgium this morning! I'm quite keen to get home from work to open it up and see what's arrived :D
 
Looks like Santa turned up early this year :D Huge thanks to Aeneas in Belgium for hooking me up with a load of rare Robot spares :thumbs: The following stuff was in the box:
  • Complete drop target bank
  • Full set of 5 complete robot target mechs (the robot targets are in a lot better condition than mine) :eek: :D
  • Complete set of pop bumper bases and a couple of pop caps
  • Full set of flat plastics inc one which is smashed on my game
  • Other random bits inc shooter gauge cover, metal lane guides, ball trough base etc
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I'm at the point in this shop out/restoration where it's all cleaning and tumbling, cleaning and tumbling.....proper dull this bit of it :( Hoping to get all of the playfield parts done this weekend so I can start on the cabinet :thumbs:
 
Progress has been slow over Christmas but everything on the playfield (top and bottom) has been stripped down, cleaned and is bagged up ready for reassembly :) Here's a couple of pics of the plastics all cleaned and polished....

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I've also stripped most stuff out of the cab and am working my way through cleaning and polishing that lot :rolleyes: Just before Christmas a package turned up from David Gersic in the States (he's one of the main Zacc experts) with some repro parts....

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In the box were a shooter rod with the correct translucent red end, flipper bats and caps, flipper bat rods, ribbon cables to go between the MPU board and the sound/driver boards, coin slot inserts and a Gen 2 coin door sticker :D These should add some nice finishing touches to the game when it's all back together :thumbs:
 
As part of stripping out the cabinet I removed the original Zacc goodie bag that was attached to the cab side. Inside were a service card to make notes of dip switch settings etc, a long screw, a fuse, a locking washer and a 100 Lira coin :D The service card has Italian on one side and English on the other and there are notes made on the Italian side....

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Only just seen this, excellent stuff Chris. Look forward to seeing this one day hopefully, love a rare game with cool sound.
 
Coin door is now refurbished and back together with it's new sticker and coin slot inserts.....

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Cabinet has been cleaned and it's time to start putting things back together :D The paint on this Robot cab seems to be very fragile and I had to go really easy with the magic eraser cleaning :confused: The silver paint is on top of a blue primer and they don't seem to adhere to each other well which accounts for the wear around the flipper and start buttons. I'm happy enough that I've been able to get things clean as it was never going to be possible to restore this cab, it's more a refurbishment with all it's old battle scars still showing :thumbs:

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