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:

The cabinet door is a mess

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 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.