Bally Fathom Restoration - Number Two

[Strangeways]

Time for a major Update !

Power Supply was fully functional, but looked like it need a bit of a refresh with the rest of the internals of the cabinet. As part of the restoration, I clean all the wiring and even the cable guides, so it makes sense to do the boards and mounting hardware. This will be stripped and cleaned before re installation.





The old door needs work. The owner decided on a new door skin, which I purchased from RTBB. In order to match the condition of the new doorskin, I opted to replate the internals. As I've mentioned before, I do my own Zinc plating "in house", and I really enjoy doing it ! It is time consuming, but I have not lost a part yet !





Along with other parts that I've organized, these are the parts I will replate in one session








New doorskin !





replated parts !





re assembled door internals ;








Completed front door is installed





Power Supply mounting assembly is refitted after restoration.




Lots more to come as I play "catch up" !

[Slash]

I like those little inserts in the coin door and the finish on that zinc replating looks great.

What do you do to clean the boards?

[Crashramp]

Huge difference between the old and the new there Nino. It looks to be coming up great. It's always nice when you open the cabinet up and everything is nice, clean and shiny. Lots of rust on the lock down bar asssembly would have made it feel gritty and rough to use, I bet its nice and smooth now.
I've been enjoying the updates on this machine, I'd love a Fathom at some stage.

[Strangeways]

I like those little inserts in the coin door and the finish on that zinc replating looks great.

What do you do to clean the boards?

The inserts look great and they are part of the CPR Plastics Set.

Cleaning the boards is very simple. Spray with nifti (directly on the board) and then use an old paint brush to clean the dust and dirt. Rinse with water. Finally spray with isoprophyl alcohol and then compressed air. You can also leave the board out in the sun for a couple of hours !

[Slash]

Ok, that sounds really simple, but the result appears very effective.  I'm starting to see Isoprophyl alcohol having universal applications for pinball restoration.  It was great at helping ,me get rid of residue mylar glue.

Fathom is a game I never knew about until I started visiting this site, but would love to own one now simply based on the playfield artwork alone.  I'm guessing it's fun to play too?

[ktm450]

That looks great, nice work 

[Strangeways]

Ok, that sounds really simple, but the result appears very effective.  I'm starting to see Isoprophyl alcohol having universal applications for pinball restoration.  It was great at helping ,me get rid of residue mylar glue.

Fathom is a game I never knew about until I started visiting this site, but would love to own one now simply based on the playfield artwork alone.  I'm guessing it's fun to play too?

Fathom is one of the best playing machines from any era. it is in my "Top 5 of all time". It was subject to being a "cookie cutter" SS for many years, as they are rare and have a stunning artwork package. I think Bally released a few great games between 1979-82 - Centaur, Fathom, Medusa, Eight Ball Deluxe and Viking.

[big dog]

watched a lot of your work over the years,bumped into you in Geelong@ Dan's. You have always done a great job + shown  others your tips on how to do.Your old man must be proud of your work. Hope one day to buy one of your machines. Keep on showing us these restores. cheers

[Jim Jam]

I am really surprised that a white under coat is not used in-between colors to stop colors bleeding into each other.
Do you add a flattering base to correct the finish?
What type of paint do you use?
I am really impressed how nice the restoration has turned out.
I will be checking out more of your threads here for sure. 

[Mr Pinbologist]

I am really surprised that a white under coat is not used in-between colors to stop colors bleeding into each other.

A mate of mine did this to a Gtb Card Whiz and a Stern Wildfyre he painted, except he used GREY undercoat  

When he told me he was going to do this i said DONT DO IT!! but he did it anyway..   well.. because he used grey, it dulled the red he used.. it looks maroon rather than red, he put the paint on so thick it still bled in places, and just as i thought would happen when i looked at his wildfyre closeup it had patches of grey around the stencilled paint   Card Whiz turned much better in this regard but the paint is still very thick on the cab, it bled in a few places but i ended up polishing most of it out and touching it up for him. It was about the dumbest thing i'd seen anyone do to a pin!!

Now this guy was a house painter by trade and thought he knew everything about painting, he's really good with a paintbrush but put a can of spraypaint in his hand.. it was like giving a can of paint to a chimpanzee   he had bought Gav's stencils for Wildfyre and totally ruined the job because he tried spraying enamel over acrylic (something else i told him NOT to do) the paint bled under   Of course the stencils were ruined and couldn't be reused, he ended up making cardboard ones.

Nino sorry for the hijack, but i just HAD to share this story after reading Jim Jam's post. Thought the story might give you all a laugh!!

Fathom is looking STUNNING btw
Top notch as usual  

[Strangeways]

watched a lot of your work over the years,bumped into you in Geelong@ Dan's. You have always done a great job + shown  others your tips on how to do.Your old man must be proud of your work. Hope one day to buy one of your machines. Keep on showing us these restores. cheers

Dad passed on a lot of his knowledge. Most of my techniques were originally his in terms of a machine's operation. The cabinet repainting was his knowledge, as I had to learn from experience. It was not easy, but I'm confident I've learnt as much as I can. I've been very busy over the last 6 months, but I'll be finding more time to document restoration work.

I am really surprised that a white under coat is not used in-between colors to stop colors bleeding into each other.
Do you add a flattering base to correct the finish?
What type of paint do you use?
I am really impressed how nice the restoration has turned out.
I will be checking out more of your threads here for sure.  

I've never used a white undercoat. I use Protech automotive acrylics which I've found give the best results. Not cheap paint, but if used correctly the results are almost "factory".

Regarding the finish - I take the cabinet I'm repainting to a professional paint shop to have not only the color matched, but the finish. The "tinting" and the "finish" is done at the same time and is checked before I buy the paint. I guess in this case, the paint guy started with a flat base - I'm not sure - but all three colors are a perfect match and finish to the factory finish. It is not cheap, but I'm a purist.

[Jimmie Dimmick]

Fathom is one of the best playing machines from any era. it is in my "Top 5 of all time". It was subject to being a "cookie cutter" SS for many years, as they are rare and have a stunning artwork package. I think Bally released a few great games between 1979-82 - Centaur, Fathom, Medusa, Eight Ball Deluxe and Viking.

Getting slightly off topic but what are the other 4 in your All Time list...  

[Strangeways]

Fathom is one of the best playing machines from any era. it is in my "Top 5 of all time". It was subject to being a "cookie cutter" SS for many years, as they are rare and have a stunning artwork package. I think Bally released a few great games between 1979-82 - Centaur, Fathom, Medusa, Eight Ball Deluxe and Viking.

Getting slightly off topic but what are the other 4 in your All Time list...  

1. Paragon
2. Fathom
3. Spirit of 76
4. Medusa
5. Cirqus Voltaire

[Steve2010]

Really top work Nino.  It's always worth putting in effort on the front end of the cab - it really adds (and conversely if overlooked, takes away) to the overall presentation of the machine.

[Strangeways]

A lot of work has been done on this game that i need to update. I've stepped away from the cabinet and started the underside of the playfield. It was decided to not only rebuild all the assemblies, but also to replate them as necessary. I do this "in house" as platers have a nasty habit of losing small parts. First thing to do is document everything in photos. here's what I need to address ;













I start to strip the mechs and begin dissassembly, degreasing, cleaning and removing the old zinc plating.





Interesting spring !





Here's the results of my "backyarder" or "in house" plating !





Here's the center DT assy replated and re assembled. One of the "in-line" DT assy is next to it for reference.











It is a lot of work, but the underside of the playfield was not at the standard of the CPR installed playfield. It was really sloppy !