Bally 1965 Aces High Restoration

[FirePower]

Do you use that teflon grease on the copper tracks of the bakerlite board that pinrepair talks about?

[Strangeways]

Do you use that teflon grease on the copper tracks of the bakerlite board that pinrepair talks about?

I use "3 in 1" machine oil (Bunnings). Only just a drop on your finger tip, and spread it around the bakerlite.

Thanks for picking that up - I totally forgot 

[ajlaird]

Great detail, Nino; this will definitely help anyone else embarking on a similar job.

[Strangeways]

Great detail, Nino; this will definitely help anyone else embarking on a similar job.

Correct Andrew - and hopefully it will give some confidence to "EM Newbies" to know that it is not that hard. It is a LOT more involved than a DMD in terms of time, but on the other hand, the playfields are very simple !

As promised, more "catch up" on this restoration. As I keep mentioning, I have 100's of NOS EM parts from "the old days". There are still boxes of stuff I need to go through, but I thought I'd digress on this for a moment. There was another example of a broken plunger and shaft. I'm not sure how "available" these are, but I'm lucky, I have a few spares !

Here's the broken plunger off one of the scorereel assemblies, and it's replacement - it might be a bit dusty, but it is genuine NOS ;




It came from this box of 20 - 30 !





I spoke to my Father last week, and he cannot recall the titles of 60's Bally EMs he operated, which was a bit of a letdown, but he was happy the part was going into a machine !


Here's some shots of the other stepper units I had to rebuild ;

Pop Bumper Unit





Credit Unit





Here's a picture of all units rebuilt - thats 16 scorereels and four steppers. The unit in the middle is the Match Unit. The repays in the lower corner were also cleaned and rebuilt. Basically, this is the head mechanicals taken care of.





Close up of the Mathc Unit with the bell etc - These are usually removed from European EMs ;





All of the cards from the game were carefully removed (where possible), and I've given them a quick clean, and laminated them. They might be pushing 46 years old, but I didn't want them to deteriorate any further. I've also sent scans of these to Peter to keep for his website.





Have a look at the condition of the backglass, and the masking used. Instead of silver, it is black. The backglass is not glass, it is similar to perspex. I have not seen this on an EM Pinball (Bingos - Yes). The condition is simply immaculate. The cards have been stapled to the headbox ;








I've logged over 100 hours on this game so far, but when I stood back and took these photos, I was completely satisfied !











.. and the front of the backglass ;





Next update will involve my INITIAL experimentation with the "Janes Zinc / Nickel plating kit" - I bought the full set with the power supply etc for some DIY plating.

[ajlaird]

Wow, looking really good. The next instalment should be very interesting.

I will have to drop in and check this out one day/evening.

[Mr Pinbologist]

WOW thats lookn sweet as!!  coming along real nice Nino

The backglass looks in nice nick too. Ive never seen one with the black mask on the back rather than silver, (heard of them but hadn't seen one til now)

[ktm450]

Amazing work Nino, looks great 

[FirePower]

Looks really good and thanks for the detailed picture.

Do you make any attempt to clean the cloth wrapped wiring harnesses?  The best I can do is to vacuum them with a brush attachment, but it's not that successful.  I'd be scared to wet them.  Anyone have any thoughts or methods?

[goodolddays]

Excellent attention to detail as usual Nino .
This game is going to look excellent when you have finished it.
Looking forward to the next instalment .

[Strangeways]

Wow, looking really good. The next instalment should be very interesting.

I will have to drop in and check this out one day/evening.

No problems Andrew, garage is open just about every day !

Looks really good and thanks for the detailed picture.

Do you make any attempt to clean the cloth wrapped wiring harnesses?  The best I can do is to vacuum them with a brush attachment, but it's not that successful.  I'd be scared to wet them.  Anyone have any thoughts or methods?

I use a damp cloth with a bit of nifti. Sometimes the results are OK, but I never aggressively clean the wiring as the insulation is cloth anyway. I find that compressed air works best.


Thanks for the kind words !

Next up will be the hardware I zinc plated with some amazing results !

[Strangeways]

I promise I will document the process I used with the "Jane's Zinc plating kit" - I've been learning the process most of this week, and I've made plenty of mistakes along the way but I've finally got some results.

But before I start, the back door panel needed the finishing touch - a quick repaint ;





The front door has been repaired and refinshed - here's the "before" and "after" - I used the same Silver Hammertone paint I use on Stern Doors





Bolts are also polished and I need to punch in the nails across the top bracket (same as siderail nails)





Back on page 1 or 2 - there was a picture of the lockdown Bar assembly. I've used Ranex and hard yakka to remove the corrosion. It is too big to plate, but I DID plate the coin entry plates - they really shine well, and there's a sneak peak into the inside of the door !





Here's the results on learning the Zinc plating process on the inside section of the door. I chose these parts as they were corroded and were zinc plated to begin with. If it didn't succeed, then it was not to be seen anyway. Here's what it looked like BEFORE I started ;


Rust, corrosion and ugly !





Here are the results as of tonight ;





All the metal parts are zinc plated, and then quickly polished.





That's just a "sneal peek" - some other parts turned out AMAZING, but I just had to post an update with the parts installed. I will elaborate the process in its own thread, as I'm still learning as I go !

[ddstoys]

Great work as usual Nino these old girls do take plenty of time but the results are well worth it and this game will most likely run without fault forever.

   I have a Chicago Coin backglass called fire cracker which isnt made from glass either and is in perfect condition aswell is a shame they didnt make more like this.

[JD]

Brilliant work Nino.

Looks a million bucks!

J.D.

[StuartT]

The zinc plating looks great.
Where can the plating kits be purchased ?

[Strangeways]

The zinc plating looks great.
Where can the plating kits be purchased ?

http://www.janekits.com.au/prices.php

Dual Kit Nickel/Zinc (4 Lt)         $ 310.00

Cleaning Kit (Parts Wash and Jane Clean)            $15.00

Courier delivery $15.00

I will be doing a full thread covering the process - It took me a while to get good results as the manual was a bit difficult to follow. I called John a few times just to clarify a few points and now it is plating very well.