That's a negative for Pinballer. Sadly that project never worked out. I feel bad that it never came to fruition because it really wouldn't have been that difficult a project to manage and I think it would have worked well for what it did. Times were getting very tough back then, plus back then and even today, things seem to come up every other day to interrupt, which I'm sure everyone here who isn't sitting around for days puffing on a water bong can relate to.
I could create some dimensioned drawings if one of you more ambitious pinheads would like to give it a go. I tried to design it to be simple - it changed a lot from the pictures Clay showed and what it was actually going to be. Basically it needed a design which encouraged just pushing while spinning the thing instead of bashing it with a mallet like Clay did, despite several advisings against it. He can be incredibly helpful and also a thick brickhead at times. Oh well.
Anyway, the end design where I left off was one knurled handle, a set of stubby cutters of the needed sizes to fit the handle, and throw in a self-healing cutting mat and maybe some good masking tape (the green stuff). I was going to make it from some 4140 or something that could be heat-treated/hardened. The production would require some jigs: 1 - to hold the stubby cutters in a lathe to be sharpened & honed. 2- to hold the stubby cutters for either slotting or drilling a couple holes in them. And that's about it. It's 90% lathe stuff.
We had some uncharacteristically beautiful weather in Kansas City the past couple days, so I tore into the overgrown yard at the cabin. It was much worse than it looked. there were multitudes of underbrush just about everywhere and a layer about 8" thick (200mm) of matted up leaves.I munched up the leaves and said "damn the torpedoes" at the rocks and debris likely to be scattered over several parts of the yard. My blade needs a good sharpening, but the mower munched leaves, grass and twigs up pretty darned good. It's a ton better than it was, and now I have a decent little firewood pile to burn in the fireplace and outdoor fire pit thing. And the main thing is now I know where the rocks and other obstacles are so the yard will be easier to keep maintained. By early to mid Summer here (June-July) it should be a beautiful thing.
Found out some other very interesting things about the cabin too regarding its history. The guy who built it was an artist with a sign company somewhere in town. There is some dark history in the mix as well, but I'm going to gather as much of it as I can to add to the intrigue of the house. I had a couple friends over today and we checked it out, and just the little surface things I was able to dig up to show them almost brought the girl to tears - she was just so overwhelmed with the charm and character of the place. Her reaction surprised me. They told me it was like touring a museum and enjoyed themselves a lot.
So anyway, my plan is to make it my man cave, but it will also have historical things displayed here and there.
Today after everybody left and I was putting tools away, I even found a painting by the artist hidden in a stack of junky fake decor frames and such. Pretty cool to find an original painting by the guy who built the cabin. It's amazing to me stuff like that just hasn't been lost to the ether over the past 80 years.
