By
Alan Lewis
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PLAYFIELD
INSERTS: The playfield inserts on this game are molded
with a marble swirl plastic. The colors are white for two inserts and yellow
for the other two. As usual with these inserts they were
shrunken, discolored and distorted.
The discoloration was due to the very
old lacquer finish on the playfield. Lacquer thinner would eventually start
to dissolve it but it would also dissolve the black lettering. I decided that the only way to eliminate
the distortion and get the original color and marble finish back was to sand
the top flat, removing the lettering. Before the lettering was removed I
scanned the insert faces into a computer so I could cut stencils. A printout
is made and the letters are cut out. Sanding really thins out the insert so be careful how much you remove. |
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Inserts after sanding |
Stencil is cut, then temporary adhesive is applied to hold it tight to insert for painting |
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Hold insert and stencil up to the light to see if centered |
All stencils on inserts ready for paint |
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Lacquer coat them |
I potted a layer of clear epoxy inside of the inserts to reinforce the thinner wall resulting from sanding flat |
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Cut off the flange so the insert
can be placed flush with the playfield. The inserts had shrunk to .04" below flush with the playfield. |
The playfield holes are 1.182" dia. The inserts are between 1.12-1.14" dia. Self stick plastic tape .020" thick was wrapped around the insert to take up most of the gap when placed into the hole. |
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LANE GUIDES: |
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Remove the lane guides by putting a thin flat protector on the playfield then prying it gently up first with a chisel knife and then a small screwdriver |
Pull the posts |
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BUMPERS: |
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Just for reference in case you haven't seen an old dead bumper assembly |
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The center post may be rusty. It needs to conduct electricity so it must be cleaned |
After cleaning |
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When installing bumper onto playfield align the teardrop on the skirt to point up towards the back of the machine. |
I converted the old ring type of bumper contact to a spoon type
switch used in modern pinball machines.
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I polished all the plastic parts using a fabric wheel in a drill press
and plastic polish grit. |
I ended up painting the inserts red and using red bulb covers to make
a nice looking illumination. |
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Copyright
2007 by Alan Lewis
No copying
without written permission from Alan Lewis