Devil Riders almost done

Well, it’s been a long time, but finally here’s a new post. I’ve moved house and my pinball projects have been on hold for months now. Anyway, here’s an update pre-move.

I got a replacement coil for the popbumper that had the wrong type installed, so I installed that first.

Correct bumper coil installed.

The I went to work on the ramp that I finally got back from the blacksmith. He charged me a lot of money for the repair, I guess he doesn’t want my “little” repairs anymore. To be fair, it was probably not difficult work, but it may have taken a while.

Back from the blacksmith. Not pretty, but functional.

So I cleaned it, installed it and finished the shooter lane and apron install.

Playfield done.

I’m waiting for new flipper bats and then the playfield will be done.

As I was in a cleaning mood, I disassembled the door and cleaned that too. Installed a new lock, etc.

The Devil Riders door before cleaning.

The Devil Riders door much shinyer, but still with an ugly hole in it...

It still has the ugly hole, but for now, I can live with that.

So next up are the legs and there is also a new shooter knob that needs to be ordered. After that, back to the bad CPU board. If any one has a spare, let me know!

 


While I’m waiting…

I took apart the cabinet door. It was in a sorry state and needed a good clean.

I noticed a couple of things: first, the door is German. With that I mean that the coin price tags are for 1, 2 and 5 DM (Deutsch Mark). Unfortunately, inside there are only two coin acceptors, one for 5 Belgain francs and one for 1 DM, and only two microswitches to count the coins dropping, one of which did not test well and needs to be replaced. This explains why two of the coin slots had screws in them. All the wires to the microswitches have been cut and since I don’t have a wiring diagram for the door, I’m waiting until the electronics are fixed so I can start measuring out which lead goes where.

Once I took apart the door, I noticed that the door itself is deformed (bashed in) and that is the reason it doesn’t open and close smoothly anymore. I tried to straighten it out a bit, but as you know, once metal is bent, it’s almost impossible to get it straight again. Atleast it’s out of my skill set (if you have any tips, leave a comment). Anyway, I managed to get it to fit in the frame much better and although still bent, it looks better.

I cleaned off al the little parts and started putting them together again. I do still need to find a replacement coin eject button and preferably a new coin return lid as they are both very rusty. I’ve also removed the old lock and ordered a new one.

Here are some pictures before and after:

Cabinet door

The cabinet door is a mess

Clean cabinet door

The cleaned door looking much better

Once that was done, I started on the ball shooter assembly. The rubber at the end was completely dead, a new one is on the way together with all the other rubbers needed for the pinball machine. The rod is in OK condition, but I’ve ordered new springs too. The nice chromed ones. As with my motorcycle, you can never have too much chrome! 🙂

The ball shooter

The cleaned up ball shooter.

I cleaned the front plate and noticed that some of the chrome is gone. I might send this off to rechrome later on, together with the coin entry casing on the door which is in an even poorer state.