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prewar pinball machine. Some of these methods may be more suitable
for your application than others, and it is up to you as the restorer
to use these methods properly and in a safe manner.
In other words, Prewarpinball.com or anyone connected to it in any way is not liable
for any damage to you, anything you own, or anything else if something goes wrong.
Also, any names of any purchaseable products mentioned here are not endorsements of these
products in any way... we only mention them because they exist.
Here is an index of the topics in this list...
A very difficult job for pinball machine restorers is removing rust from steel parts without damaging them. One of our members has these two methods to share... one is chemical, the other is an electrolytic process.
The information for the chemical rust removal process he mentions is at http://www.theruststore.com/Evapo-Rust-Gallon-P1C1.aspx,
and their Canadian distributor is at http://www.evapo-rust.ca.
Another method for rust removal to be considered is a very simple home
use of the electrolytic process which uses a plastic container, pieces
of scrap metal, Arm & Hammer washing soda highly diluted in water,
and a low voltage dc power supply such as a battery charger. It removes
absolutely none of the base metal, and can in fact convert some of the
rusted surface back to base metal. There is no danger to the base
metal, and only the rust will be removed no matter how long you leave
the process run. It does however cause some hydrogen embrittlement,
which will dissipate in time or can be reversed with a relatively low
temperature heat treatment in your oven (best done when your wife is
out <G>).It normally will not remove paint or chrome if there is no rust under it, but some paints will be softened or damaged by extended immersion in the electrolyte bath and most chrome plated cast tends to have some rust under it. The process can also leave the surface with a mottled discoloration caused by the reversal of some of the oxide back to base metal, and it might be interesting to see if the walnut tumbling would brighten it up. The process releases oxygen and hydrogen so care appropriate for charging a battery will be adequate for this operation. The most caution is required when hooking the up the power supply – reverse it and good bye part!
I noticed a reference to drying or letting parts dry after cleaning with water, and as rust begins to form as soon as metal is in the presence of water and oxygen, I prefer to spray the part immediately with a water dispersant such as LPS1 or WD40 to prevent this from happening. If you've ever hot water pressure washed a part with roller or ball bearings you'll know what I mean. I've posted a before and after picture of a very rusted pair of pliers to show an extreme example of the process in the groups photo section.
Info on the process can be found at the following url's.
http://tinyurl.com/3tbq4
http://tinyurl.com/9olcw
http://tinyurl.com/8nz6j
Pinball.com or anyone connected with it in any way is not liable for any damage to you, others, or anything else because something 'went wrong'.
Cleaning Painted Wooden Cabinets
One of the messiest but most important jobs in prewar pinball machine restoration is cleaning the cabinet and legs. It's amazing what fifty or so years of spilled beer and cigarette smoke can do to an originally brightly painted cabinet. For example, here's a photo of member Ken's 1936 Rockola Credit one-ball gambling pinball during its bath... the treated but uncleaned surface is on the left.
The problems are many... some cleaners will remove the paint as well as
the dirt, while others will soak into the wood and damage the wood
itself. Also, if you don't clean the cabinet, touching up damaged paint
will be almost impossible.To clean this cabinet, I used a spray bottle of a chemical cleaner called 'Mean Green', a bucket of warm water, rubber gloves, and lots of clean cloth rags. First, I wiped the entire cabinet and legs with a dampened (not soaking wet!) rag. Then I sprayed one small section of the cabinet at a time with the Mean Green, and gave the chemical a minute or two to work. After this, I wiped off the Mean Green with another damp rag, rinsed off the cabinet I just cleaned with another clean damp rag, and moved on to the next section. Once I went completely around the machine, I wiped the entire machine with more clean damp rags and let it dry.
There are a few things to remember when you're cleaning your pinball...
1) Don't rush - the more time you spend on this and the more thorough you are, the better your results will be. Pay special attention to details, like corners and carved areas, if your pinball has them.
2) Don't scrub the surface, because rubbing too hard may remove the paint and the machine will look worse than when you started. Also, if you scrub, dark paint colors may possibly mix with the lighter paint colors on the machine, muddying up the paint colors. For example, I almost lost the silver paint details on this cabinet (the stripes through the circles in the middle of the photo) by rubbing too hard.
3) Don't soak the machine with water, because the wooden surfaces may absorb the excess water and swell and warp the machine. Or, even worse, the water may get between the paint and the wood, and chips of paint may lift up and fall off the machine as the wood absorbs moisture and swells up.
Once the machine is completely dry, you can then continue your work on the cabinet.
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This job is one of the most timeconsuming and dirty parts of restoring
your pinball machine, but if done right will really enhance the 'fun
value' of your machine and add years of life to your vintage machine
too. I am going to approach this as if the reader has never done this
job before.
These are the steps I followed to clean the playfield of my Bally 'Airway of 1937' pinball machine...
1) Take a camera and take lots of good photos of the entire front and back sides of the playfield. Closeup photos of any bumpers or any other playfield features from both sides of the playfield are vitally important, since there is no instruction sheet for reassembling your playfield and these photos will be all the help you may ever get to put everything back together again.
2) Vacuum off both sides of the playfield carefully with a vacuum cleaner and a soft
bristle paintbrush, being very careful not to suck up any loose parts.
3) Remove the metal parts of the playfield, like the
perimeter springs and posts, the bumper assemblies, the game balls, and
any other
parts. You can put these in small trays or boxes as you remove them
from the playfield to keep them separated from each other and keep them
from getting lost. *Do Not*
remove any of the wiring or switches that you will have under the
playfield, only remove any metal that shows up on the playing surface
itself! If the metal part you want to remove is only on the underside
of the playfield, leave it alone. You will probably need to clean and
derust any parts you remove
before you replace them on the playfield. I wrapped my Airway's
painted bumper tops with paper to keep them from getting scratched up.
4) I used the same Mean Green cleaner and cleaning method I used on the
Credit's cabinet above to clean the Airway's playfield, only I diluted
the cleaner so it wasn't full strength. I used one cup of Mean Green
with four cups warm water, applied the cleaner with a clean cotton rag,
and carefully worked on one small section at a time so I didn't remove any of the
artwork paint. Once I had done the entire playfield, I wiped the
playfield all over with a damp cloth and set it aside to dry for a few
days.
5) While the playfield was drying, I cleaned and derusted the nickel
plated
metal parts. I used a rock tumbler and ground walnut shells myself to
clean my Airway's parts, but if you don't have a rock tumbler you can
use a chrome cleaner and polish like the kind used on auto bumpers.
Just apply it following the directions on the bottle, and don't apply
the cleaner on any painted metal parts, because the stuff may remove
the paint. If you wish, you can spray the nickeled parts with clear
lacquer after cleaning to keep them from rusting again later. As for
the playfield's painted parts, like the Airway's painted bumper tops,
you can just wash these painted parts with more of the Mean Green
you diluted to clean the playfield with, rinse them with water, and let them dry.
6) When the playfield was finally dry, I waxed my playfield to keep it
from wearing out. I used Johnson's paste wax and a chamois to apply the
wax, and when it
was dry, I rubbed the wax until it was shiny. I let it set for an hour,
and added another coat. I added six coats in all.
7) Once the waxing was done, I replaced all the metal parts on the
playfield, using the photos I took of the Airway before I started to
make sure I got everything OK. Then I reattached all the underplayfield
wiring, and I was done.
Disclaimer
- Please test this or any other chemical mentioned on this website on a
small unnoticeable spot on whatever object you're working on BEFORE you
commit your parts! Prewar Pinball.com or anyone connected
with it in any way is not liable for any damage to
you, others, or anything else because something 'went wrong'.
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Unfortunately, this won't clean the center contact of the socket, only the base screw threads. For center connections, I use a very small steel wire brush in my Dremel.
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I have a bunch of original 'deco style' plastic bumper caps that I wanted to use on my pinballs, but many of these were badly painted on their tops. I wanted to restore these, but I was afraid that the plastic would disintegrate if I tried to clean them.
I went to the local hobby shop and found a can of 'ELO' (Easy Lift Off) made by Polly S. I read on the can that it worked very slowly but was safe on most plastics, so I tried it. Here is my 'guinea pig' - an original bumper cap with the can of ELO, and I have just covered the '1' figure with the ELO. After 10 minutes or so, the paint had loosened nicely so I then reapplied more ELO. After 15 minutes, the '1' was removed by just washing the cap with some dishwashing soap and warm water. Notice the faint shadow of the cap's original heatstamped '1' next to the repainted '0', just visible enough to help repaint the cap's lettering.
Disclaimer
- Please test this or any other chemical mentioned on this website on a
small unnoticeable spot on whatever object you're working on
BEFORE you
commit your parts! Prewar Pinball.com or anyone connected
with it in any way is not liable for any damage to
you, others, or anything else because something 'went wrong'.
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Did
you know... Many early electromechanical pinball machines made in the
mid-1930's and earlier were not AC powered, instead they used banks of
large dry cell batteries for their own electrical power needs?.
In
fact, most payout pinballs used 'Number 6' 1 and 1/2 volt batteries in
banks like the 1935 O.D. Jennings 'Sportsman' shown here did - the
Sportsman's battery pack is shown at right.The batteries used in our pinball machines are long discontinued, but a 6 or 12 volt auto battery charger of at least 6 amps output (like the one shown in the photo at left) will work well as a temporary DC power supply for your machine. All you have to do is to find the wires that originally went to your pinball's battery electrical system and connect the charger's wires as follows... connect the battery charger's negative lead (marked - or usually colored black) to the pinball's fused wire for the batteries. The charger's positive wire (marked + or usually colored red) connects to the other wire. A good rule of thumb is... if your pinball only has light bulbs and switches in it, set the battery charger to 6 volts on the front panel switch if you're using a charger like the one in the photo. All other pinballs with relays and solenoids inside use the 12 volt setting.
If you have tried any of these power supply modifications above on your own vintage pinball machine, please email us and tell us which pinball machine that you powered, which power supply you used, any modifications that you needed to do to your machine or the power supply, and any problems or issues that you may have encountered while using these supplies.
Dremel Tool Uses In EM Pinball
The Dremel motor tool is probably one of the more useful tools the
prewar EM pinball machine restorer can have. Besides the 'usual' uses
like cleaning and polishing parts, it works great with a round carbon steel brush for
cleaning dirty or tarnished rotary score switch contacts (shown in the photo at left),
with a small steel wire brush to clean the center conductor terminals
in playfield and backglass light bulb sockets, and I have even used it
with a round bristle brush attachment and a Shop-Vac to clean the dirt
from cloth covered wires in wiring bundles. It also works well with a round carbon steel brush to clean
the multiterminal plug 'male' terminals that usually are found on cables going between
a pinball's main cabinet, playfield and backboard electrical systems. Please wear safety glasses while using this product, as the Dremel's brushes will shed their wire bristles when used at high RPM's.
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One of the most difficult jobs in pinball machine restoring is restoring the artwork.The backglass, cabinet, or playfield art on a machine will need retouching or even repainting, depending on how far gone the original artwork actually is. I had heard of others using scanners like the HP 4600 color scanner (used in the photo at left) and photo retouching software to repair damaged artwork, so when I found one of these scanners on sale at a local office supply house I bought one.
In the photo at right, I am using the scanner to scan the artwork on a Bally 'Airway of 1937' EM pinball machine into my computer so the artwork can be color corrected. I have also tried this technique with damaged or broken backglasses, and also scanned damaged cabinet sides to preserve the artwork and make full sized stencils for cabinet repainting.
The scanner can reproduce any artwork that it is placed on in very high resolution, which makes it ideal for 'problem art' like the scan of the Airway of 1937's "#5 plane" bumper target below. The original sky blue playfield background color has color shifted with age to a strange greenish gray color, and all the artwork on the playfield has also color changed to some extent. You can see the area immediately around the holes in the airplane is still the original color, so I am able to sample these original colors with a photograph retouching program and then restore the artwork.
The photo below is low resolution and small sized for website posting - the 'real' photo is HUGE and well over 600dpi, making every detail in the scan visible for restoration.
