The Pinball Diaries (what did you do today?)
- Thread starter brewmanager
- Start date
Chris Bardon
Well-Known Member
Thanks for hosting the other night Chris-you've got a great lineup there, and a hellish basement for moving games in and out of. There's probably room for one or two more though...just sayin' 
DRANO
Super Member
Sweet Mike!
I just got the keys to our new house and I spent the day today ripping out a kicthen.
My reward for finsihing that will be spending Friday tearing into my new game-room.
You must be thrilled
Congrats!
I just got the keys to our new house and I spent the day today ripping out a kicthen.
My reward for finsihing that will be spending Friday tearing into my new game-room.
You must be thrilled
Congrats!
meegis
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys it is coming along. Waiting for carpet for gym and theatre. Just finished the second level for seating today in the theatre. Once carpet goes in I can finish trim and paint and start watching some flicks. Just need to finish washroom and paint doors. Then I have to plan out what I want to do for the bar.
Adriano, it is exciting doing renos on a new place for sure. I am just tired of working on my house. I had my last house all finished and then we moved. This is the last thing I need to do with the exception of a small tiling job. I will be glad when I can just relax on my free time instead of working on the house all the time.
Mike it was hard not cracking open the Tron and Hulk but with all the dust down there from the work I didn't want to take a chance and having to clean both pins after. When can we talk about the MAME?
Adriano, it is exciting doing renos on a new place for sure. I am just tired of working on my house. I had my last house all finished and then we moved. This is the last thing I need to do with the exception of a small tiling job. I will be glad when I can just relax on my free time instead of working on the house all the time.
Mike it was hard not cracking open the Tron and Hulk but with all the dust down there from the work I didn't want to take a chance and having to clean both pins after. When can we talk about the MAME?
Thanks to Barry (SuperJackpot) for doing all the legwork of bringing DM and picking up TSPP last night. Thanks to Adriano too who has been doing his own demolition all week at his new house for coming by and helping with the move up my stairs. So Barry some of the worst stairs you ever encountered?
So ever since I played Brock's Tron attached to an external sub, I've dreamed of doing the same to my collection. I almost ordered two new subs shipped to my friend just over the border, but decided instead to spend some time trolling kijiji. I found a couple of possibilities, sent out offers and had one accepted, which Menace was kind enough to pick up for me as it was located in Aurora.
Found another possibility last night, a real bargain and best of all right near my squash club, where I was going anyways this morning. Such a deal that I didn't even bother offering less than asking, and that was how I came to meet Marty. Quite a character.
When I mentioned that the speaker was going to be hooked up to my pins, he got quite interested. Turns out back in the day he worked for the family that ran Wizard's Castle. I asked if he had any memorabilia, but alas, no.
Then we got to discussing his business. He sells on eBay, mostly speaker parts, used to do tube equipment repair, but today he makes his living selling....manuals. There was a major tube repair shop in Toronto, and when they packed it in he bought their entire inventory. He did the same thing when Kromer packed it in a few years back. A very interesting guy to talk to, and someone I never would have met if I'd gone the new route. Best of all, I got what I wanted for less than half the cost of new.
And I win my squash game - day is off to a great start!
Found another possibility last night, a real bargain and best of all right near my squash club, where I was going anyways this morning. Such a deal that I didn't even bother offering less than asking, and that was how I came to meet Marty. Quite a character.
When I mentioned that the speaker was going to be hooked up to my pins, he got quite interested. Turns out back in the day he worked for the family that ran Wizard's Castle. I asked if he had any memorabilia, but alas, no.
Then we got to discussing his business. He sells on eBay, mostly speaker parts, used to do tube equipment repair, but today he makes his living selling....manuals. There was a major tube repair shop in Toronto, and when they packed it in he bought their entire inventory. He did the same thing when Kromer packed it in a few years back. A very interesting guy to talk to, and someone I never would have met if I'd gone the new route. Best of all, I got what I wanted for less than half the cost of new.
And I win my squash game - day is off to a great start!
slacker
Member
-Shrink Warp…check
-Tools……….. check
-Straps………..check
-Cash…………check
-Directions……check
-Guy to help….check
-Room to put in when I get home ……..while we can figure that out later LOL
Whoo hoo!
Guess what I’m doing today
Cheers
J..
Update TFTC "Is in the House" Plays great just as I knew it would. Very happy the game came from a local and has been owned by a few members here.
Just Nice dealing with those who tell ya how it is and you don't have any hassles. I know not everyone like DE but I do and the wife is already learning how to get into all the modes :FP:
Thanks
J..
HEY now I own 2 games that the founder here has once owned.
Buy with confidence
-Tools……….. check
-Straps………..check
-Cash…………check
-Directions……check
-Guy to help….check
-Room to put in when I get home ……..while we can figure that out later LOL
Whoo hoo!
Guess what I’m doing today
Cheers
J..
Update TFTC "Is in the House" Plays great just as I knew it would. Very happy the game came from a local and has been owned by a few members here.
Just Nice dealing with those who tell ya how it is and you don't have any hassles. I know not everyone like DE but I do and the wife is already learning how to get into all the modes :FP:
Thanks
J..
HEY now I own 2 games that the founder here has once owned.
Buy with confidence
Mike Wong - Congrats on a DM in the basement for the 2nd time. Mr. Enabler has waited a long time! Nice.
Congrats to Barry on the switch up. Nice to have TSPP in your lineup. Beautiful!
Walt, Congrats on the speakers. Your basement already rocks bro!
J. Great addition to your pin cont. Now you have space issues like the rest of us.
Enjoy everyone!
Congrats to Barry on the switch up. Nice to have TSPP in your lineup. Beautiful!
Walt, Congrats on the speakers. Your basement already rocks bro!
J. Great addition to your pin cont. Now you have space issues like the rest of us.
Enjoy everyone!
Question about my mame: IT is a TMNT custom job. Same shape of control panel, but my own artwork and button layout design.
What did I do today? Got my Doctor Who time expander fixed, the optos sucks, so PinParr (Geoff) replaced a number of faulty optos and a great job soldering and I leaned a lot ... mostly that my solding iron sucks and it is time to order a proper one!
I also got some spare parts that were missing on Stargate, so as for now, Both Doctor Who and Stargate are working! whoohooo! I bought doctor who with the understanding it was going to be a project, it came with a new playfield for the expander, so one weekend that was rebuilt, ordered the cliffy protectors, that took a week, and had the opto issues, then the playfield did not fit with the protectors, so had move some holes on the main playfield. All in all, it was an exciting and stressful build, but I am happy to say it all works great!
Derek
What did I do today? Got my Doctor Who time expander fixed, the optos sucks, so PinParr (Geoff) replaced a number of faulty optos and a great job soldering and I leaned a lot ... mostly that my solding iron sucks and it is time to order a proper one!
I also got some spare parts that were missing on Stargate, so as for now, Both Doctor Who and Stargate are working! whoohooo! I bought doctor who with the understanding it was going to be a project, it came with a new playfield for the expander, so one weekend that was rebuilt, ordered the cliffy protectors, that took a week, and had the opto issues, then the playfield did not fit with the protectors, so had move some holes on the main playfield. All in all, it was an exciting and stressful build, but I am happy to say it all works great!
Derek
So after corrupting Warlock completely, it looks like I'm on the verge of taking another guy down the dangerous pinball path. I know he's already lurking here, so we'll see when he's ready to post...
Had a few friends over to play last Tuesday, and at the end of the evening, coincidentally enough while I was playing it, my left flipper went on my WH20. Investigations revealed that the linkages on the plunger had pretty much shredded itself, so I checked my parts bin, and lo and behold, I had what I needed to fix it - everything, that is, except time. It was already late, and there were pinball purchases to discuss.
I'm actually really enjoying the enabling I'm doing - I think it's helping me understand the kick Mike seems to get out of it, helping hook others up with our disease. It's also probably helping me avoid buying machines myself, as I'm spending someone else's money - all the fun, none of the bottom line hassle - for me, at least.
So Saturday afternoon, after watching the Jays' painful extra innings loss, I tackled the flipper. Rather than just replacing the broken linkage, I decided to do a full rebuild. May as well, right?
Watching guys like Menace do this repair in 20 minutes, I figure double that is a comfortable estimate for me, right?
Of course, it didn't take into account the fact that the linkage was clamped on the flipper bat so tightly that the whole thing was completely warped around it - (30 minutes to get loose), and that of course my stupid stubby fingers would drop a screw somewhere into the wiring harnesses (10-15 minute hunt to locate). The actual repair work itself probably actually did take 20 minutes, but the extra crap definitely added to my time - plus the fact that my 5 yr old was desperate to "help" Daddy, and I kept having to find jobs for her. At any rate, I eventually managed to get things working to my complete satisfaction, a much better result than the first flipper I rebuilt.
Then last night after bedtime, I decided it was time to start installing the external subs I'd been picking up. I started with WH20, because I'd played Menace's machine while picking up my sub from him earlier in the day, and noticed a real difference in the game (his has FF upgrades). I was extremely pleased with the result.
I basically attached speaker wire with alligator clips to the connectors of the existing subwoofer, loosened said subwoofer and passed the wire out the bottom of the cabinet, then tightened the subwoofer back in place. I ran the wire from both TSPP and WH20 into each side of the external subwoofer (A Polk PSW10, btw), and presto bingo, we have a serious sound upgrade in place!
Interesting note - I hooked up WH20 first, and tweaked the settings (volume and bass) until I was happy with the overall sound package. Adding TSPP next, and I have to say I was lucky I didn't wake up the kids during the test - which lasted all of twenty seconds before I realized that this was WAY TOO LOUD. So I have to compromise on where I want the settings between the two pins - otherwise TSPP will be unplayable during evening hours.
I'm settling in as very happy with my current lineup. Grand Lizard is an awesome addition, and the games I have in place are varied enough that I can "walk the line" and have fun and a completely different experience at each game. Loving my basement....
Now I just need a winning Jays team....
Had a few friends over to play last Tuesday, and at the end of the evening, coincidentally enough while I was playing it, my left flipper went on my WH20. Investigations revealed that the linkages on the plunger had pretty much shredded itself, so I checked my parts bin, and lo and behold, I had what I needed to fix it - everything, that is, except time. It was already late, and there were pinball purchases to discuss.
I'm actually really enjoying the enabling I'm doing - I think it's helping me understand the kick Mike seems to get out of it, helping hook others up with our disease. It's also probably helping me avoid buying machines myself, as I'm spending someone else's money - all the fun, none of the bottom line hassle - for me, at least.
So Saturday afternoon, after watching the Jays' painful extra innings loss, I tackled the flipper. Rather than just replacing the broken linkage, I decided to do a full rebuild. May as well, right?
Watching guys like Menace do this repair in 20 minutes, I figure double that is a comfortable estimate for me, right?
Of course, it didn't take into account the fact that the linkage was clamped on the flipper bat so tightly that the whole thing was completely warped around it - (30 minutes to get loose), and that of course my stupid stubby fingers would drop a screw somewhere into the wiring harnesses (10-15 minute hunt to locate). The actual repair work itself probably actually did take 20 minutes, but the extra crap definitely added to my time - plus the fact that my 5 yr old was desperate to "help" Daddy, and I kept having to find jobs for her. At any rate, I eventually managed to get things working to my complete satisfaction, a much better result than the first flipper I rebuilt.
Then last night after bedtime, I decided it was time to start installing the external subs I'd been picking up. I started with WH20, because I'd played Menace's machine while picking up my sub from him earlier in the day, and noticed a real difference in the game (his has FF upgrades). I was extremely pleased with the result.
I basically attached speaker wire with alligator clips to the connectors of the existing subwoofer, loosened said subwoofer and passed the wire out the bottom of the cabinet, then tightened the subwoofer back in place. I ran the wire from both TSPP and WH20 into each side of the external subwoofer (A Polk PSW10, btw), and presto bingo, we have a serious sound upgrade in place!
Interesting note - I hooked up WH20 first, and tweaked the settings (volume and bass) until I was happy with the overall sound package. Adding TSPP next, and I have to say I was lucky I didn't wake up the kids during the test - which lasted all of twenty seconds before I realized that this was WAY TOO LOUD. So I have to compromise on where I want the settings between the two pins - otherwise TSPP will be unplayable during evening hours.
I'm settling in as very happy with my current lineup. Grand Lizard is an awesome addition, and the games I have in place are varied enough that I can "walk the line" and have fun and a completely different experience at each game. Loving my basement....
Now I just need a winning Jays team....
Congrats on the TFTC, Slacker! Tough game.. I enjoyed it when I had it.
I've got a WWF Royal Rumble coming in soon that may eventually be for sale too.. lol. Knowing my track record, anyway.
I've got a WWF Royal Rumble coming in soon that may eventually be for sale too.. lol. Knowing my track record, anyway.
Monkeybug
Active Member
Today I was trying to determine the boundary between collecting, obsession and madness.
I am still undecided.
I am still undecided.