Bally Fathom Restoration

[Strangeways]

thanks nino,i hope mildflame is following this one.still awaiting consignment.

What will come first ? Consignment or Christmas ?

I have a large update on the restore - some great progress 

[Strangeways]

Some Cabinet work on this update..

The front door is in good condition. The door skin is straight and will come up looking great.





The inside of the door is an absolute mess. The coin eject has a switch installed which is connected to the Coin Chute #1 switch. So this is how you credit up on this game. Ugly.  It is also missing many parts, like the coin acceptor housing, and coin switch brackets and switches. Luckily, I have HEAPS of spares, so I picked out the best quality replacements for the rebuild.





As with all my restores, all parts are washed, cleaned, polished, buffed or tumbled. If they are missing parts, I replace them. That's the basis of a restoration - to restore to as close to original as possible. Here's the inside of the door. I have not yet wired up the door, but almost everything is rebuilt and original.





The door skin was regrained (as per factory). A new lock and coin insert plastics (NOS USA) are installed. The door hinge and frame were regrained. The bolts are buffed, lock down bar assy rebuilt, lock down bar regrained and new beer seal installed. Finally, the ball shooter hardware was buffed and new springs, clip ans washers installed. The legs and legbolts are temporary for now. I'm really pleased with the cleaned and completed front on the game.





Inside the cabinet. Basically, I reassembled the sections after everything was cleaned, buffed etc etc ! I will re attach the door switch (disables power when open).





A new power cable and plug are installed. Everything is clean ! Even Ace approves 





The boring part is next. All the playfield components are stripped, cleaned, polished etc etc .. Tumbler has had a hard workout over the last week or so !

[mildflame]

WOW neno! looking good, I love polishing parts on doors yea, only problem is putting the door back together
It looks like a brilliant machine! It reminds me of my dads Goldball
I'll need to try and get my hands on one of these oneday...
are you doing a cab paint... If so i'll be watching carefully

[Strangeways]

WOW neno! looking good, I love polishing parts on doors yea, only problem is putting the door back together
It looks like a brilliant machine! It reminds me of my dads Goldball
I'll need to try and get my hands on one of these oneday...
are you doing a cab paint... If so i'll be watching carefully

Mitch - no cab repaint on this particular Fathom. I think one of the others needs a repaint, but I need to have another look to be sure. The machine I've earmarked for permanent residence in my gamesroom will have a repaint, repro playfield and repro plastics set.

Door rebuilds - I used to take 100s of pictures and I do refer to them from time to time, but I tend to remember where things go just from memory and experience.

[howzat]

Hi Nino
I have never seen one before but it looks to be a game that has a bit of everything.  I love the in line targets  3 flippers and the side lane reminds me of Trident .the b/g has nice co lours  what a fun looking game  Your resto is looking very good                        

                                      Howzat

  

[mildflame]

WOW neno! looking good, I love polishing parts on doors yea, only problem is putting the door back together
It looks like a brilliant machine! It reminds me of my dads Goldball
I'll need to try and get my hands on one of these oneday...
are you doing a cab paint... If so i'll be watching carefully

Mitch - no cab repaint on this particular Fathom. I think one of the others needs a repaint, but I need to have another look to be sure. The machine I've earmarked for permanent residence in my gamesroom will have a repaint, repro playfield and repro plastics set.

Door rebuilds - I used to take 100s of pictures and I do refer to them from time to time, but I tend to remember where things go just from memory and experience.

It can be a fun puzzle when your trying to work out where things go. ask my dad... I always end up with spare parts

[Steve2010]

Some Cabinet work on this update..

The front door is in good condition. The door skin is straight and will come up looking great.

Love the coin door inserts ..... just where exactly do you think this pin came from?  I don't recognise this currency.

The door skin was regrained (as per factory). A new lock and coin insert plastics (NOS USA) are installed. The door hinge and frame were regrained. The bolts are buffed, lock down bar assy rebuilt, lock down bar regrained and new beer seal installed. Finally, the ball shooter hardware was buffed and new springs, clip ans washers installed. The legs and legbolts are temporary for now. I'm really pleased with the cleaned and completed front on the game.

What a beautiful looking front end to the game!  Really nice.  Some will ignore the front, but I think it's where the game begins to draw attention.  If it's overlooked, probably not a big deal, but IF it's done right - then what a difference and what an eye opener.

Where do you usually source your coin door inserts?  I am looking to replace inserts on a few of my pins, and in the midst of searching for a good source.  PBR has a few, Marco has lots of variety (but silly shipping cost).

[Strangeways]

Steve - The inserts are "extra" original NOS inserts that arrived with the NIB Bally's from the 70's and early 80's. They are all USA inserts. I do have some AUS inserts that I'm keeping for future machines destined for my gamesroom.

Classicplayfields sell the inserts. For some reason I cannot find them on their store. They had a great selection.

PBR have NOS - http://www.pbresource.com/CoinDoor.html

[Steve2010]

Got a response back from CPR - they used to sell the inserts, but no more.  They pointed me in the direction of Marco, but shipping is of course silly with them.  PBR is probably the way to go, I guess.

[Tensikka]

Love the coin door inserts ..... just where exactly do you think this pin came from?  I don't recognise this currency.

Netherlands, Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_guilder

[deadlydave]

Great work Nino,
I also like seeing the front bling brought up to scratch,
It's a shame GTB used chrome instead of SS like Bally/Williams,
You can always resurrect SS.
Had a chuckle about the Dutch origin of this machine, the Fathom
theme is quite apt if those dykes ever gave way 

[faza]

Coin door came up brilliant where did you get all these great projects from Nino??????

[Boots]

Great work Nino,
I also like seeing the front bling brought up to scratch,
It's a shame GTB used chrome instead of SS like Bally/Williams,
You can always resurrect SS.
Had a chuckle about the Dutch origin of this machine, the Fathom
theme is quite apt if those dykes ever gave way 

System one games have stainless steel doors with aluminium frame, these doors were also used on some of their later EM'S.
Not quite sure about sys80's though with the waffle finish doors???

[deadlydave]

Was referring to earlier EM games re the stainless steel,
But have noted that my GTB 1977 C37 front door looks same as
Sys 1 and holds a magnet unlike my Williams doors.
Apologies for hijack Nino
Cheers
Dave

[Strangeways]

Coin door came up brilliant where did you get all these great projects from Nino??????

Some people collect coins and other expensive cars. I don't carry coins on me and my car is worth $2k tops. I collect pinballs, and I've sourced my machines from overseas. You will find most of the info on my first container here ;

http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=2832.msg43138#msg43138

Thats where this Fathom came from. I had two in this container and my first Fathom was imported earlier (around 2007). My private collection is continually growing, and I still enjoy the hunt for more machines.  More will be on their way soon.

Was referring to earlier EM games re the stainless steel,
But have noted that my GTB 1977 C37 front door looks same as
Sys 1 and holds a magnet unlike my Williams doors.
Apologies for hijack Nino
Cheers
Dave

No probs !

The doors that are found on System 1 were initially installed on the EM "Spirit of 76", which coincided with the change from 31 inch chrome legs to 27 inch (1976).

System 80 doors had the cross hatch design on polished stainless steel. I have polished these up using Brasso and a toothbrush.