My Black Hole Project

[Fridgy]

Nice project. I look forward to updates.

[goodolddays]

Gday all .

Just a short progress update .
1st problem I had was the headbox .
Wrong bolts came with the game (too narrow) , and the lightbox hinges (or whatever they were) were totally missing .
Found all the right bolts in Bunnings , and an old coil sleeve was the perfect size to use as a bushing for the lightbox hinge . 
I also pulled out the metal grill/mesh on either side of the backglass, gave it a ranex bath , then sprayed it gloss black with a can of  paint I found in the garage. It's a bit hard to see in the pics, but looks much better .

[goodolddays]

Speakers were toast . I found a pair of  ceiling/wallmount speakers online for about $30 .
Pulled them out of the enclosures and they screwed straight in 

[goodolddays]

I've been concentrating on the rusty area on the underside of the top playfield . Fortunately the lower playfield underside is fine .

First thing I pulled out was the 'hole' target bank which was in a bad way rust wise, including most of the target springs have rusted away . Will have to try and find some suitable replacements . I was tempted to add a new set of 'Black' 'Hole' targets to my parts list but have decided to jsut refurbish what I have , to try and keep costs down a bit.
I've repainted the white on the 'hole' targets with my $2 shop acrylic and covered them with sticky tape .

Have also replaced a number of lamp sockets that were beyond salvation due to rust , using some old ones I had in my spares .
Had to re purpose them to suit where required.

[goodolddays]

I fixed the bumper mounting plate that had the 3 screws snapped off, by drilling new mounting holes .
Also pulled off the worst mounting plate (rust) , gave it a ranex bath etc, then sprayed it gloss black (doesn't get seen on the underside anyway)

Next challenge is to remove these toasty rollover switches . Once they are removed and replaced, that should take care of the rusty underside area 

[goodolddays]

I'm debating whether or not to repaint the cab . The headbox could sure use it . 
IF I'm going to do it the time to do it is now, cause I know when this puppy is up and running it'll be too late . 

[goodolddays]

This arvo I've given the PF an initial clean with Nifty followed by a wipe over with Oomph.
Still have one stubborn flipper to remove .

[goodolddays]

Last week, pretty much 3 years to the day since I last did any work on this, I finally started back on this basket case of a project .
Not much to show yet as I have just been overhauling the mechs on the underside of the lower playfield and have given the top a clean .

On every game I overhaul , every pivot point on each mech gets a clean and then a smear of superlube.

I hit the rusty wireforms with the wire wheel on my dremel followed by some autosol and they have come up pretty well.

While cleaning up other bits and pieces with my polishing wheel I have also done all the post screws .. pretty anal eh but it doesn't take long

I figured better to do a bit on this now and then rather then leave it untouched otherwise it will never be finished LOL

[Crashramp]

Great to hear you're back into it. Such a great game, I'd love one of these but for the time being I'll have to be happy to live vicariously through your restoration photos.

[howzat]

Hi Dave
I just caught up with your post
I use to play B/H back in the day   what a great fun game
it really must of been in a damp place or on the coast       
Did you get some parts from  Nick to help keep the parts bill down
If you do repaint would you trace your own stencils
Im looking FWD to the end result             Howzat