It’s time to once again dive into a pile of trash pinball parts and see what sort of gems I can uncover. This lot of pinball spare parts (or crap box as it’s also termed) cost under $16AU. There wasn’t anything in the original photos that caught my eye, I just wanted more spare parts available at hand for my projects. So, let’s have a look.
plastics
All posts tagged plastics
It’s now been 12 months since I came into possession of my first pinball machine. The Nugent has received a lot of play time over the year. I rebuilt the machine back in January / February this year and at the time was learning a lot about how pinball machines worked in general and the ways to clean & service them. Since then I’ve gone onto restore a Fireball Classic and also well underway with a Pinbot machine. I’ve learnt a lot since working on this machine and I decided that I’d revisit my Nugent for a 12 month service. I don’t plan to rebuild the machine like I did last time. It’s running really well, but needs a bit of a surface level clean. There are a few small issues I’d like to sort out (very minor) and I’d also like to apply some of the skills I’ve learnt since working on it to improve it further. The first thing to look at will be the plastics. A number of the pieces are warped.
Now it’s time to look at the visor. I’ve successfully managed to put this off for awhile, but I’m fast running out of things to do before I get to the restenciling of the cabinet and playfield swap. So I guess now is the time to look at it. At first glance, the only obvious issue is the damage to the colour stripe decal. The motor is operational and will raise or lower the target bank. It seems to get slightly stuck along the way, but does correct itself – so that will be something to look at. There are also two eject holes I will need to rebuild. I’ve decided to split this update into two. The first will focus on the playfield and parts. The second (which I’ll post once complete) will cover the motor and target bank.
Continuing with my focus on the upper playfield area, it’s now time to look at the multiplier advance ramp on the left. This area has a few things which will need to be cleaned and rebuilt. There is an eject saucer, a single stationary target and an assembly to raise and lower the ramp. There are plenty of metal parts that will need a good polish too and no doubt a solid layer of crap to clean off.
Playing pinball is fun and it’s something people of all ages can partake in and enjoy. For me, learning how the machines work and getting your hands on the parts that make the games tick take it to a whole new level. In fact I spend more time with my hands on parts than I do on the flipper buttons.
When I was working on that first machine back in January and February, I often found the process very stop-start. In part, this was due to my inexperience with pinball machines and not really being able to plan what I was actually going to need (or being aware of what was available). I kept finding myself held up while trying to source random parts. Certain screw types, nuts, plates, frames, wires, housings, bulbs, etc. Some were easy to source while others more obscure and no real part number to reference. I experienced it again (although to a lesser degree) when working on my Fireball Classic. In most cases the part (or a suitable alternative) were sourced thanks to various sellers or through wanted posts on Aussie Arcade. I decided part way through the Fireball I was going to somehow source a pile of random spare parts from different machines which would help aid me with future repairs / rebuilds.
Enter the “crap box” (or boxes now that I’ve picked up a few). I found these boxes irresistible. Like a big box filled with lucky dip prizes. Some will be cool. Others will be.. well.. crap. Who knows what I’ll score – it brings excitement 🙂 In this first example, I have a 15kg box of random parts that cost $6.60.
