I’ve managed to build up a backlog of crap boxes to get through. I’ve been focusing on various projects and the spare parts boxes are a low priority. That means they have been sitting around collecting dust. I’ve stopped buying them now as I’ve got more spare parts than I know what to do with. The boxes have come in handy on recent projects, so purchasing them has been worth it. But with my shelves full, there is no need add to it. This post will cover crap box #4 which will be followed by #5 and #6 when I get to them. At a grand total of $21 for the content in this post, it makes the box the most expensive crap box to date, but there was one part here I really wanted. This box looks to have a nice mix of things in it too, so time to dig in 🙂
I like to get the fragile parts out first. Given they have been throw into the box, it’s likely they are already damaged. But if I can get them out first, it will minimise any further damage from me rummaging through looking for things. First up are a few plastic pieces from a Black Knight machine. #30C-500-8, #30C-500-12, #30C-500-14, #30C-500-15 were all in reasonable condition. Better than I was expecting actually, given they were in this crap box. A few minor marks on the reverse side and a small split on #8. I don’t own a Black Knight (and doubt I ever will since I find it a boring game to play), but surely someone can use these. I’ve cleaned them up and set them aside. If anyone is interested in them, please contact me as i’ll let them go very cheaply.
Another couple of plastic pieces were located in the pile. Both of these are from Popeye I believe. Parts #31-1878-24 and #31-1878-28 and an unnumbered piece. parts #24 and #28 were both in reasonable condition. No breaks but some scratches. The unnumbered piece has a section broken at one end and some serious warping. The domes are still in good condition. The warping can be sorted out easily enough. If anyone is interested in these, please contact me as I have no need for them.
Next up are an assortment of flasher domes and star posts. There are a few old style posts here I’ve not seen before and a number of them are in decent condition after a clean. I like having a range of post colours on hand and this certainly helps add to the collection.
A few pop bumper caps were found. I like having a few of the older style caps as spares for when I get into some 70’s machines. A few extra star posts came up and another flasher dome. The posts were again in really good condition. A few of them I’d almost say are brand new as there isn’t a mark on them. The pop bumper caps are all worn and the playboy one in particular has the faded white. I’ve got enough spare pop bumper caps now though so I can start getting picking on which ones I keep.
In the last crap box, there were so many flipper bats. More spares than I’d ever need. Thankfully there were much less this time around. I’ve found each box tends to have ample of certain things. Most of these flippers will head to the bin, although there are a couple with unique markings that I don’t have spares of, so these will be kept.
A shooter lane cover. I don’t have any spares of these. This is worth keeping.
A range of drop targets from various machines. The simpsons target is broken and will be thrown out. The others are fine though. The decals on some are no good, but the plastic target can certainly be used again if needed. The two with hot stamped images are in good condition though.
A few buttons turned up and thankfully less than were in the last box. The only button of note here is the small red one on the lower right. This is not one I’ve come across before and is in great condition. That will be kept and the others tossed.
There were four shooter rods in the pile. The green ball rod was not in good shape and one of the black handles has several burn marks. The very long rod is incredibly long and the other black handle rod are in reasonable condition though, so these two will be kept.
Now this is more like it – and the main reason I picked up this lot of parts. A long wire loom that looks to be from an early Bally or Stern SS. I don’t have any spare playfield wiring looms and this is something I really wanted to get into my spare parts box. A nice range or wire colours and connectors. This will come in handy.
Some more random wires. Again, glad to add these to my parts collection as matching up wire colours & markings is important when repairing. A few too many ribbon cables, but not something I have a lot of, so will store them away.
Some more cable clips to add to the collection. This is another part that always comes in handy and i’ll certainly be keeping these.
Now for something not worth keeping, a series of euro coin mechs. These are headed straight to the bin as they are of no use to me. If they were mechanical I’d keep them and try my hand at converting them, but these are no good.
In each crap box so far, I’ve always found leg bolts. This one is no exception. Not many this time thankfully. All are rusty and I’ve got plenty from the past 3 boxes, so these will all be tossed.
Five balls turned up. All rusty. Straight into the bin for these. New balls are so cheap anyway.
A lovely pile of blade switches. There are a mixture of switches for roll overs, slingshots, pop bumpers, spinner and even flippers. There is also a brand new EOS switch and pop bumper spoon that made their way into the crap box. I won’t complain about finding new parts, especially these two which will come in handy 🙂
A selection of microswitches with different actuating wires / blades. Happy to add to my growing collection of these. Also a random service panel switch turned up. I’m having an issue with the highscore reset switch on my Pinbot, so this may well be exactly what I need.
Lastly for the switches, a few roll over wires. These will clean up nicely in the tumbler. A few springs still in good condition (no rust either) and a few batteries. The batteries will of course be going into the bin.
A nice range of screws turned up in the box. I’ve found it very handy having a large selection on hand, so the more the merrier. An eject shield that will clean up nicely in the tumbler. A brand new Williams flipper assembly piece (not sure how that made its way into the box). A random gate wire, apron clip and fuse holder. I’ll probably toss the fuse holder, but the rest is good to keep.
A couple of PCB’s. Assumed not working. I will probably stash these away for parts in case needed in the future, but otherwise don’t have much use for these.
A few wireforms. These are worth keeping and i’ll add them to the others I’ve collected. The large one looks like it’s from an apron. I’ll put the smaller ones in the tumbler to clean them up a bit.
A few ball trough parts. The ramp and shied are quite common. There is a bit of rust on the shield I’ll try and clean up.
Ball trough plates, two of the same and with their switches still in one piece. No immediate use, but certainly worth stashing away.
A couple of ball serve assemblies. I have a few of these now and they are mostly the same, just with different coils. I’ll keep there, although I’m more interested in the coils than the whole assemblies since I already have a few. Not sure about the coil on the top one though. Will test is and see if it’s dead.
A few loose coils. Always happy to add coils to the spare parts collection, especially after two dodgy ones on Pinbot. They aren’t often cheap to replace either, so spares are welcome.
A few lamp sockets. Most will be thrown out as they have some corrosion around the base where the globe makes contact. The good ones will be kept.
More globe sockets. All globes will be tossed, I’ve got far too many in the spares container already. The sockets will be inspected and kept if still good.
An interesting collection of ball guides and small metal posts. Also a shooter lane guard. They are all undamaged and just need a good clean. The smaller ones will fit into the tumbler. There are two that look like they are better than the ones on my Pinbot, so it might be possible to swap them over. I’ll be following that up for sure. Brand new ones cost around $8 each, so if they suit, that’s a nice saving.
Large ball guides. I have no real use for these, but they are in reasonable condition, so I can’t throw them out. I’ll have to find some storage space for them.
A couple of ball gates. One is really rusty so may be no good. The other is in better condition. Some taller metal posts and two gates. All the metal parts will be put into the tumbler and cleaned up. Anything that doesn’t clean up will be tossed. A few small black plastic stand offs still in good condition – i’ll keep those.
Ball chute parts. I have no use for these, but can’t bring myself to throw out reasonable parts (especially if I don’t already have spares). I’ll put them into storage with some of the other parts I have no real use for until one day needed or sold off.
A few flipper assemblies turned up in this lot. One came in handy on my Pinbot machine which required a replacement. I’ll dismantle them and put them all aside.
Some misc parts. Most of these will be tossed as I have no need for them.
Misc assemblies. A ball serve assembly and maybe a plastic saucer assembly? I’ll raid these for some of their smaller parts, with the rest being tossed.
Some more misc pieces. Keys with no lock and an old pop bumper ring. I’m interested to see how the ring cleans up in the tumbler, so i’ll keep that for the short term at least. The blue plastic saucer shield is unbroken and worth keeping. A clean flipper bushing also worth keeping. The remains of the pop bumper assembly will be tossed, except for the lamp socket inside it which is a #555 socket – these are much more sturdy than the #44/#47 sockets.
A couple of saucer eject arms and a coil stop bracket + coil. Nice. There are a few of these on Pinbot and the coil stop bracket looks in very good condition (as does the coil). Certainly worth keeping.
The pile of junk I’m not even bothering with. A mixture of old worn rubbers and broken globes, plastic, switches, lamp sockets, etc.
..and it looks like we’re done.
Turned out to be quite a lot of parts in this crap box. Is it worth $21? I think so. Having the wiring harness will come in handy and I’d certainly like to add another one or two of those. Plenty of junk to throw out, but also plenty of second hand parts worth keeping around for future projects. A number of the smaller metal parts will be put through the tumbler at some point as they should clean up nicely.
There is a large cardboard box with close to 40Kg’s of parts for me to still sort through. It’s actually two lots of parts combined, so I will have to split them up somehow. After doing this lot (and Box#3) in a short space of time, I’m happy to take a break from them for now. I’ll return with another crap box update soon enough though 🙂