So the chipboard parts of the headbox had swollen and had scratched the backglass :x I pulled and chipped them all away and cut some new ones from MDF:
All new ones screwed in place:
Then a quick coat of flat white undercoat:
OK - I got stuck into the reel units after that and removed each one (one at a time) and stripped it down to wash all parts. I used Shellite - seems to work well removing the years of gunge.
I downloaded and printed up new reel 'number' strips from Peters excellent site here
http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/I laser printed them and then laminated them using a very thin hot laminate pouch. After cutting to size with a sharp knife and steel ruler I applied 3M 'glue only' type tape - it is amazingly sticky and VERY thin (no foam or paper backing at all - just the glue).
I scrubbed up the reels with toothpaste and let them dry then applied the new number strips. Here is a reel before and after with a strip showing the tape on the back:
After pulling down the two reel units on the left I found that the printed circuit board 'switch' was badly pitted and the contact didn't make reliable contact. Partly due to wear and partly to mis-alignment from new as far as I could tell? Picture here shows the pitting in the copper tracks:
I decided to whip up some new boards because I didn't have anything better to do
I scanned one of the original PCBs and imported it into Corel Draw - I figured that this is never going to be a board I will produce to sell so I could just freehand draw it up for my own use:
Here the yellow arrows point to the pitting and the blue arrow shows where I modified the PCB tracks to make them wider:
Here is a piece of sensitised PCB material being exposed and the picture under it shows the original board and the five new ones I made:
I didn't have any rivets/eyelets like the original board uses for strength on the board edge so I decided to drill a couple of holes close together and join them - wrap some tinned copper wire around and solder it: (if anyone knows where these eyelets can be bought please let me know)
I put a very thin smear of silicone grease on the wiping contacts (yes, I know it will attract dirt but better than corroding)
Started the re-assemble:
Checked the contact wipers - PERFECT!
The coils looked REALLY daggy so I checked Peters site for new wrappers for them - no go, so I emailed Peter and he asked for scans of the wrappers I needed and the width of them - I sent him this scan:
Not more than two days later I received six files back to suit all the wrappers in the machine both in the correct background colour and also just the black outline - here is the reel coil wrapper:
I chose to print the black version onto blue paper. I have to say it is simply AMAZING the difference these make to the visual appearance of the machine.
OK - finished the new coil wrappers & reel numbers AND fitted the new PCB - here is a finished assembly:
and from the front how good does it all look (notice the left hand reel is original and the next to be done):
I'm just about up to the worst part of this rebuild - the playfield - here it is in its current state - - -
:unsure:headbuttwall: That is for another day..........
