Monthly Archives: May 2015

Fabricating a new lane guide for a Flash Gordon, reinforcing with metal and touch-up painting and protecting

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In this installment, I’m working on a Flash Gordon pinball machine. There’s a common plastic part that breaks that is very difficult or expensive to replace. I go over how to replace this part by fabricating your own plastic lane guide using common parts from local hardware stores.

In Part 2, I take things a step further by adding a metal reinforcement plate to keep the guide from breaking in the future, and I show off some amazing playfield paint touch up work and use lacquer to seal the touch-ups:

How to break down an EM game for transport

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My friend Marcus Trevino recently posted a comprehensive outline of the process to break down an EM game for shipping. Much of this can also apply to solid state games, and it’s an excellent checklist of how to properly prepare a game to be shipped or transported to minimize any damage…

Now, if you do not have a lift, you can still use a bar stool, metal chair or saw horse to help you. I recommend going to home depot or Lowes and getting a plastic saw horse. They are not too expensive. Best advice would be to go to harbor freight and buy a lift. It will be used time and time again.

01. Unplug the pinball machine.
02. Remove the playfield glass and place it in a safe location.
03. Remove the balls from the game and place them in a ziplock bag.
04. Re-install the playfield glass.
05. Open up the head and disconnect the jones plugs.
06. Remove the head bolts and place them in a ziplock bag.
07. Close up the head and return keys to cabinet door or place them in ziplock bag with head bolts.
08. If you wish to protect the backglass and head, place a piece of cardboard in front of the backglass.
09. Using blue painters tape or frog tape, secure the cardboard in place so that it covers the backglass.
10. Apply shrinkwrap to the head. Wrap it 4-5 times for ideal snugness.
11. Remove the blue painters tape from the top of the head.
12. Place cardboard or moving blanket across the playfield glass. This will protect the side rails.
13. Fold the head so it is lying on the cabinet body. Make sure the bottom of the head is resting against the right angle created by the wood base and playfield glass.
14. Using a strap, secure the folded head to the body of the cabinet. Do not over tighten. You want some give in the strap so you can slide cardboard into position.
15. Cut cardboard to fit the side of the cabinet body and slide it between cabinet & straps. Tighen Strap.
16. Once cardboard is in place, apply shrinkwrap to secure cardboard to cabinet body. The ideal method is to wrap with the playfield glass as north. You then want to roll the shrinkwrap beneath the cabinet body and back up the side and then over the playfield glass. At least 4-5 layers are needed for ideal snugness.
17. BE CAREFUL NOT TO WRAP THE LEG BOLT AREA. You want to be able to remove the bolts.
18. Go behind the machine and start loosening the bolts. You are only trying to loosen. DO NOT REMOVE
19. Place the bar stool, metal chair or saw horse in a spot that you easily access it while holding the back end.
20. With your left hand, grip the underside of the cabinet on the outside edge of the leg.
21. With you right hand, grip the underside of the cabinet on the outside edge of the leg.
22. Lift with your legs. The back end of the machine should now be off the floor.
23. Shift your hip so you can rest the game on it. Reach with one hand and slide the bar stool, saw horse or metal chair beneath the bottom edge of the back side of the cabinet.
24. Before letting go completely, make sure that the machine is stable.
25. Remove the bolts of one backleg and place the leg to one side and the bolts in a ziplock bag.
26. Repeat for the other back leg.
27. Now comes the tricky part. You will need to lift the back end with both hands.
28. Once you have the weight of the machine in your hands, you need to either slide the bar stool (or whatever you used) from beneath the pinball machine.
29. Slowly lower the back end of the machine to the ground. You can put a sofa cushion or pillows or blankets to help cushion the drop. Be wary, this will take some strength.
30. Once the legless back end is on the ground, you simply tip the game onto its but.
31. Remove the front legs. Place the bolts in a ziplock bag.
32. Collect your legs and stack them. Using blue painters tape or an old playfield rubber, bind the four legs together.
33. Place your coin door keys in the zip lock bag.
34. Place a piece of paper with the name of your game in the zip lock bag.
35. Place your zip lock bags inside of the leg crease.
36. Wrap the four legs with shrinkwrap. Place the wrapped legs on the head portion of your folded game.
37. Using Stretchwrap, create a pinball mummy by wrapping the game 4-5 complete rotations.
38. Your game is ready to be hand carted to its transportation vehicle.