So, a little more progress has been made. Had some life things pop up that slowed me down a little - but I've been sneaking out to the workshop, even if I have to steal 10 minutes of sleep a day - to keep moving :)
Flippers installed, switch harness starting to be strung
Trough wired up, diode lugs and tubing replaced - if you look closely, you can see the old yellowed ones laying next to the new clear ones.
Little stuff, like replacing these, costs next to nothing - but can make a humongous difference in appearance.
These leaf switches can be tidied up and made look much nicer relatively inexpensively. You'll need a rivet press, though, which isn't cheap. So, for the guy who might restore 2-3 pins ever, it makes no sense to tidy these up, just buy new!
Starting the cleanup
Switch stack starting disassembly
More to come, hopefully tomorrow :) Sorry to leave everyone hanging.
I *did* get the new LEDs for the pop bumpers and like the choice I ended up with. I tested them in my T2, because it had easily accessed pop bumper lamps and red caps - the same color as the CFTBL will have. The T2 has had Ablaze 3 LED #555s in there, white in color, since I restored it ~2 years ago. My previous T2 restoration would burn bulbs out in about 10-20 games, and seemed to constantly be melting caps. So, I bought LEDs for it.
Lotsa pics here
http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/t2_ledsLeft pop has an Ablaze 3 LED #555 LED in white
Center pop has a Cointaker 4+1 #555 LED in red
Right pop has an original incandescent bulb in it
And now, with caps installed
I left the cointakers in. Nice lamps. The Ablaze 3 LED red bulbs are about 40% of the cost of the cointakers, though, so I may order some red ablaze ones to try.
The final picture, with Cointaker LEDs gives a warmer glow, looks very close to original. Close enough that I can live with it. The only 2 things I don't like:
1) Had to screw with the LEDs, getting them turned the right way, bending the contacts out, etc to get a good fit
2) Like all LEDs, in the GI dimming test, they flicker at low numbers, and don't change brightness at the high numbers.
