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The Pinball Diaries (what did you do today?)

mwong168

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
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Toronto
brewmanager said:
How did it take you 4 hours to get home Mike?

By the way, Menace absolutely has to do a post about the w?d I saw in his basement last night. That thing lived in my garage for a long time as a bit of a wreck - we all need to hear the tale of how it's been made so beautiful!

It only took me 20 mins to drive home but on my way out started chatting with Speedy and Slamma who was just too interesting and animated to walk away from. For those who did not stick around you missed out :)

I didn't get a chance to play W?D but i did see it in your garage a few times and did play it at Scott's warehouse and it has come a long way thats to Doug's midas touch.
 

brewmanager

Active Member
Nov 14, 2012
629
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Scarborough, ON
In an effort to improve the kickback mechanism in my High Speed, I ordered a new bell armature from MAD. So 3.5 weeks later, it arrived Friday along with a few other things, and I installed it along with a new coil sleeve.

So I play the first game, waiting for a much more impressive kickback...and I notice absolutely no difference.

Sigh...
 

DRANO

Super Member
Nov 15, 2012
2,827
519
113
Mississauga
Folded up Tron and XM LE in preparation for our open house this weekend :(

And I was finally starting to really enjoy XMEN too
 

brewmanager

Active Member
Nov 14, 2012
629
111
43
Scarborough, ON
Menace said:
Walt, have you checked to make sure the correct kickback coil is installed? :)

D

No, I haven't but I guess the one thing I've noticed since the change is I'm getting a much more consistent kickback, to the same place nearly every time, where before with the worn bell plunger it was a lot more random.

Next time I take the apron off I will definitely take a look at what is there and what should be there, however.
 

Chris Bardon

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,342
182
63
Mississauga, ON
Changed all the batteries in my games the other day, since it'd been a year or so. Didn't look like there were any issues, but you never know. Remembered AFTER I did TSPP that I usually change them out with the power on though, so I lost a couple years worth of audits/scores. It's too bad-I like keeping the audits on my games so I can tell how many plays they've had in my place. I also have to try to re-post (or beat) my high scores on TSPP again, and I haven't had a decent game on there in a long time...
 

Beafraid

Active Member
Dec 13, 2012
519
60
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Maple
Carried 1100sq.ft. of flooring into the basement. Gonna start doing the floor Thursday. Hopefully next week sometime I can move all my pins into the basement and keep working on it.
 

WARLOCK

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
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The Bluffs, Scarborough
I went and did a service call on a newer Stern tonight for a friend. Diagnosis seems accurate. I will order parts, install and report back.
Thanks to all the veterans here for guidance when I have questions to ask to make sure I am on the right track. Getting out there to fix
things on your own is the best way to learn. Thanks to the forum members for providing help and assistance. I love pinball. That is all.
 

superjackpot

Active Member
Nov 19, 2012
342
45
28
Mississauga, ON
It's not what I did today but what I did all of last week and this past weekend leading right up to Monday evening. I hosted my first TOPL league night on Monday and spents tons of time getting my games up to spec and my gameroom spaced out to make room for players.

Literally was up to sunrise each evening Fri to Mon, slept 5 hours and back to the basement in the push to finish. I spent days last week stripping my recently acquired IJ Williams PF down, completely, save for the IDOL assembly and pop bumpers... cleaning, waxing etc. I worked and reworked the raised inserts, ugh. Getting the POA to not stutter and align just right was a chore. Props to Drano for supplying me with his spare POA motor driver board and gearbox in case I needed them! Thanks man, I appreciated having that option. Turns out the stutter was just flipper optos. As luck would have it, the very centre drop target sheared right off late Monday just as TOPL guests were arriving :(.

Late Friday evening, for whatever reason (I was on a roll?), I felt compelled to install my new STTNG ramps even though they'd been sitting in a box for over a year. That was an adventure. Turns out the Cliffy protectors holding my old ramps together all had to be modded with my dremel to fit my new ramps. Oh, and the installed Alpha ramp sloped just a tad too high and would not allow the Delta ramp diverter to work. More MacGyvering. And when it was all done, I found I installed the switch on the Alpha ramp backwards (duh), and had to pull the Delta ramp apart again after finally getting the blue flap to sit just right. I felt bad because STTNG played fine with old ramps and with TOPL two days away this stole precious hours that I would have spent shopping the BSD I just picked up which was dirty, unshopped and needed opto work. I know BSD is a fave with TOPLites. Still, nice to be done with the STTNG :mrgreen:

I moved a couple games out of the gameroom in the tv/bar area as our TOPL attendance has gone ballistic lately. I just could not see 30+ guys fitting into my workshop come gameroom. Cleaning, waxing, shuffling games around. Moving, shifting, re-levelling each game. Hiding my TZ project in the furnace room, another in the freezer room. Sheesh. I was literally doing pinball stuff and nothing else in all my spare time the past two weeks. :geek: I rarely get the flu but it really got me bad the weekend before last. I was down for the count. Weekend time is valuable and not having those two whole days got me in deep.

Planning and cooking the food, getting drinks for TOPL night... major credit goes to my wife. She did an amazing job and made it all work out. I mean, does your wife go out and by you your beer?? Mine does. Next time hosting should be easier - and I plan to. It was fun seeing the guys enjoy themselves. I have to give kudos to all the members of TOPL that repeatedly host our league nights and playoffs. There's a lot of work to do to get your games and place ready for all the players. I certainly have a better appreciation now.
 

Chris Bardon

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,342
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Mississauga, ON
Thanks Barry-you have a great setup, and went way beyond the call of duty with food and drinks. Glad that it worked out well though-don't worry about it too much-hosting gets easier. At least nothing major broke while people were playing league games :)
 

DRANO

Super Member
Nov 15, 2012
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Mississauga
Nice work Barry!
Pins are like Guitars in a sense. Many people don't appreciate the work that goes into having them set up properly in order to play just right.

As for me, I spent the last couple of days removing all traces of pinball parts and paraphernalia from my house in preparation for our open house this weekend.
 

Beafraid

Active Member
Dec 13, 2012
519
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56
Maple
Moved my POTC and newly purchased IJ into the basement into the theatre. Also moved Tron in box and Hulk in box into the theatre to make room so i can start working on the floor. Now I have to sell my other IJ.
 

frolic

Member
Nov 19, 2012
686
0
16
50
Tdot
Picked up my ac/dc premium from Brock today... took the head off at starburst to fit in my car and down my stairs. Got it home, inside, into the basement, shuffled my other pins around to make room, but now I'm beat so tomorrow I'll reconnect it and get it running.
 

frolic

Member
Nov 19, 2012
686
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Tdot
thanks! I updated my website with some video of acdc in the lineup now. Pretty awesome down there in the dark and all the games blasting :). Hearing that cacophony of pins overlapping each other sends me back to being a teenager every time.