The Pinball Diaries (what did you do today?)

[DRANO]

Nice score! It cleaned up really nice

 

[mwong168]

Yes the very same one. I couldn't pass up a $500 pin mechanically it works perfect.

Glad it has gone to a good home instead of some kijiji ambulance chasing flipper

 

[spiroagnew]

Tore down my Fire! over the last few days right down to the wood. To say it was dirty would be an understatement. Did some deep cleaning on both the playfield and the playfield parts. Torn if I should put it back together or just wait to see if I get the email for a CPR playfield...they are coming within the month and I'm on the standby list, meaning I'll need a few folks to back out of their preorder to get one. If I got the game one week earlier the preorder list would have still been open guaranteeing me a spot. Pray for me.

In better news, there was only one broken building in the set...above the skill shot. Not sure how it got broke the way it did as the ball never goes in that area. Anyhow, I was lucky enough to find the broken piece lodged beneath a ramp during tear down. I glued the broken piece to a piece of Lexan, and glued the Lexan from the inside of the vacuum form house. Looks nearly new. Lucky, as the houses are nearly unobtainable.

I should be able to get away without buying the repro plastic set. It's a bit of a rip-off anyhow...it costs just as much as the other sets--despite the houses not being included, AND the majority of the set consisting of a 3D standup. Take away the 3D standup and it's a pretty tiny set. I have one broken "woman with baby" target, but there are two of those and one is nearly perfect. Maybe someone who is in the process of making some plastics (ahem, TIM) can do me a solid and print a couple...

 

[Luckydogg420]

That's a nice D&D. The topper is worth almost $500. I've seen them on pinside before, quite the topic. Their tough to find.

I really enjoyed D&D. I was sad to have it go, and feel that i never had enough time with it. If you ever sell it keep me in mind.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Yes the very same one. I couldn't pass up a $500 pin mechanically it works perfect.

Glad it has gone to a good home instead of some kijiji ambulance chasing flipper

Agreed! I was sure this one was headed to Brampton. :lol:

Anyway, just finished building an army last night.

 

[WARLOCK]

Brought a few pins home from A-town.
Now to find time and space to set them up.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Got a bunch of shirts and pens in yesterday for prize giveaways and what not.

 

[REVOLUTION]

also bought a 3D printer.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Nice! Which one did you end up getting? Anytime I've seen 3d printers in action, the first thought has always been how to print new pinball parts. Nothing is big enough to print a ramp (yet), but the plastic that comes out of these things seems surprisingly strong.

 

[REVOLUTION]

I got into this Kickstarter project before it ended

http://themicro3d.com/#intro

Pretty excited, mine should be delivered in December

Image area is only 2/3rd that of the MakerBot, but at nearly 1/10th the cost I can totally live with that.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Wow, at $350 that's definitely getting into mainstream territory.

 

[DRANO]

Wow, at $350 that's definitely getting into mainstream territory.

Yup!
I've wanted to play with one of these for years.
Brock mentioned it a couple of weeks ago and I'm thinking of jumping in on this deal too!

 

[brad808]

I went to Staples tonight to pick up some instruction cards I had them print me for some of my games. I'm happy with how they turned out. It was only $8 to cover 6 games so I say it's well worth it for the quality and thickness of them. That and the fact that I don't have a printer to begin with

 

[mwong168]

The original factory gold plating on my wire forms are looking very dull and tarnished. I just spent the past hour removing all the wire forms and other pieces from Shadow, Congo, Theatre of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights.

Told my boss I am going to be a bit late in the morning because I have to renew my Driver's License and Health card at Service Ontario. After I am done that I will swing by the local plating company to drop these off and hopefully will be done by the time I am back from my vacation in 2 weeks

 

[Fifty]

What do you figure it'll cost to replate everything?

 

[mwong168]

Menace had them plate a few wire forms a few months ago and they turned out pretty decent but he is not too sure about anything else. The amount they quoted for 16 pcs is pretty reasonable. The best part is it is local so I don't need to pay for any shipping or taxes coming back if I were to send to Mike Chestnut in Texas who does amazing work. They charged me an additional $15 for the TOTAN sword because they would need to buff and polish out the ingrained ball trail before they plated it.

I will see how my sword turns out and I might get the gun off my Shadow plated in this black nickel plating finish next time.

 

[DRANO]

What do you figure it'll cost to replate everything?

Probably under $200. I can't recall what Doug paid recently.
They're called sun plating and I originally found these guys about 6 years ago. Had them do my IJ wireforms and my gun. I did the gun in a 'gunmetal grey' and the wireforms in brass. I think I paid about $100 for that. They turned out pretty good and have worn well since then. The gun had a lot of brush marks on it. Not at all at the same level as Chestnut.

Then, about 3 years later when I did my WH2O, I sent them all of my ugly looking metal from under the playfield and inside the cabinet... plus I threw in a whack of old parts I had lying around. 3 sets of legs, several locdown bar receivers, a bunch of shooter rod housings and similar pieces. I think it was roughly $250 for all of it. There is a minimum charge and then it goes by weight (or sight ) after that.

I'd say wireforms are their strength. Not sure I would want them to do much more. I've had good and bad results with other parts.
The one key thing to remember is that this is a small mom & pop style setup and they do not have the equipment to plate stainless steel... so no siderails or lockbars. Anything else seems to be okay. Also, prep your parts before sending them off. If you send them dirty, rusty junk, don't expect to get something perfect in return.

Since I was travelling to expo last Fall I just opted to have all my other stuff done with Mike Chestnut and pick up at the show. For high end restoration work I prefer him. You pay a bit more, but I also think you get what you pay for.
If I was only doing wireforms or stuff for inside the cabinet, Sun is still a very good option. For things like my TOTAN apron, not so much.

Here's my last batch from Sun (all chrome).
Note that the lockbar pictured was simply re-grained. Not plated.

 

[pinball.customs]

A very productive evening of Phurbas and shooter rod mfg. Also made some headway on another sculpt.



Thank god the Mongols are done.. for now.

 

[spiroagnew]

It's alive! One of the coils that ejects locked balls is non-functional. It's not the coil itself, I switched it out already. I have some more testing to do but I think it has to do with one of those under-playfield switching relay boards. Besides that one issue, the plastics just need to be re-assembled and the game is ready for prime time.

 

[DRANO]

Awesome!
That was a good buy. Looking forward to trying it again. The game surprised me. I enjoyed it a lot.