Since my lovely wife informed me last night that I was making too much noise while the kids were sleeping, I had to get some stuff done on my lunch break today, as I rarely find time when the kids aren't sleeping to work on my projects - my windows of time are usually naptime on the weekend, or after the kids go to bed.
So, I decided to dedicate most of my lunch break today getting the pop bumper lamps setup.
On most games I work on, I just take a picture of the original routing diagram for the pop sockets with my digital camera, and use that to route the leads and then use the picture to staple the leads back in place.
In the case of CFTBL, the sockets just weren't there - not even in the protos! Some games, like Hurricane, had the pops illuminated in protos, but not on production games. Hurricane has the lamps on the lamp matrix, so that is a little more complicated to wire up than this.
After thinking a bit about the various options for illuminating pops on CFTBL, I decided to just make these GI. There are a few popular methods that make them flash, etc, but they require a lot of wiring etc that would be difficult to keep neat and tidy, along with adding in some resistors etc.
So, I have to pick a GI string. Sometimes, these are pretty heavily taxed in games, so you have to give it a bit of thought. I believe my WPC Theory of Operations manual from WMS says the theoretic maximum is 18 lamps per string. That is calculated using #44 bulbs. Some folks like to put 47s in their games, but not me! If I were operating them, perhaps, but for my collection use, I like to be able to *see* things. So, the load needs to be minimal, too.
Another issue with CFTBL - changing the lamps in the pops is a PITA with the ramps above head. So, I decided LEDs are a good option here. I am not yet sold on LEDs across the board - but in an area that is prone to high vibration, and is difficult to get to, it makes sense to put in LEDs. Plus, they will minimize the load on the GI circuits. Adding 3 LEDs should be negligible.
Here's how I ended up routing the leads of the pop bumper lamps, should anyone feel like adding them later
One thing that's super, super important - you have to insulate the leads where they might come in contact with the bracket for the pop bumper. I put red boxes around the insulation - this is new, so it's not super easy to see. The original stuff is always yellowed. I get this from pinrestore.com, or a local hardware store sometimes has it.
A link to a super high res version you can see it better in:
http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/albums/proto_cftbl_progress/DSC_3161_edit.jpgYou will need to route the leads, then slide the bumper bracket over the studs to verify that the insulation is in the right place. Not difficult, but important and worth mentioning.
I've identified a lamp socket that is nearby on GI string #2, which is the white/orange and orange string. So, I found a junk playfield harness, and harvested some appropriate colored wiring, and cleaned it up.
And now, the super neato trick of the day for fellow restorers. A VERY expensive restoration tool that you didn't even know you had
You can use a business card, scrap of cardboard, whatever you have for this step. But, I used a box some lamps came in
Cut the box into strips, and slide them in wherever you'll be soldering
Why? Because getting flux on your playfield is kinda dirty.
Everything is soldered in place now
And the wires routed through the hole that the GI socket I'm going to attach them to comes from.
Once the lamp harness is strung, I'll come back and neaten this up a bit. A few wire ties will do wonders for making it look a lot neater.
