So end of February, the van halen machine that Hugh from openpinballproject worked so hard on arrived. We had used Uship.com to get a quote which I thought was fairly reasonable, especially since it was a van used to transport. Nothing against large semi-trailers, but I've seen many games get destroyed by a forklift driver that just doesn't give a crap about merchandise getting damaged.
So right away, I had to pack my Back to the future game temporarily (there's only room for 3 games upstairs, and I'm at capacity). I may still stick Van Halen in the basement, but I want to do some tidying up first. So right away I took the horribly rusty feet off and replaced them with new ones. The legs themselves are a little rusty, in fact one has a stripped thread (so I used a nut on each side to keep the height adjusted correctly). I have about 16 used legs I'm trying to get powder coated black from a co-worker that will eventually replace these. I don't feel it needs to have the period correct Bally legs since this is a custom homebrew.
Now I have to preface before I talk about the following that none of this is a knock on Hugh. The fact that he was able to build up a custom game in such a short period of time (I think it was 6 months?) starting with what I imagine was a very beat up Dolly Parton is amazing. He stripped the playfield (twice I believe), scanned all the existing plastics and sanded the playfield and scanned it so I could get artwork done. I came up the rules and he implemented them by writing the code to get it done.
So I did make a couple improvements tonight. Nothing bugs me more than a dirty and rusty lockdown bar mech. Even though it's not seen while the game is in normal play, when you do take off the glass (get a stuck ball, fix something under the playfield), it's the first thing that sticks out like a sore thumb. So I went to the local harbor freight and bought a few wire wheels for the drill and went to town. I also hand sanded the lockbar with 500 grit sandpaper to get that a little smoother.
I also added the panama captive ball that I 3d printed. It doesn't get in the way of the ball path coming off the spinner, it doesn't get in the way of the shooter lane, and it's shootable from the left flipper. Sometimes the left sling will fire it up into it, or sometimes if you konk it just right from the side it'll make the ball travel up to hit the switch. I never liked that odd opening that Dolly Parton had where the ball goes back into the shooter lane. I felt like I was committing a sin driving that screw into the playfield, but sometimes you have to take a chance.
So the more glaring issue in general is the playfield overlay lineup. I don't think this was an installation issue, but rather it's very difficult to get accurate measurements of inserts. Not sure if I'll ever go through the trouble of trying to fix it or not.
The inline drop targets need decals, as does the spinner. Both have the original from the Dolly Parton. Speaking of which, the spinner never got code for a sound. Hugh has sent me the files and instructions to update it, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
The LED strips in the backbox have hotspots, and don't cover it all the way. This is an easy fix, just have to get to it. Also there is a screw to hold the light panel together, it would be preferred if there was some sort of knob to make it easier to turn. I'll probably get a hex version of this screw and 3d print a knob. I also want to replace all the rubber caps used to hold the plastics on. I NEVER liked these, my space shuttle even had them and right away I replaced them with locknuts because I can ensure the plastics are tight. I like the colored nuts that mezel mods has started to sell, might grab some red ones to go with the theme.
The last thing I'm considering is moving the boards and transformer to the lower cabinet. Right now there are velcro straps for strain relief for the heavy cables. In my mind, the boards being the backbox never made much sense to me even from pinball manufacturers. I'm sure initially boards ran hotter and needed venting. I also get that it's easier to troubleshoot board issues in a backbox (standing upright instead of crouching over a box), but with modern hardware I don't think there's nearly the unreliability there once was. Reason I bring this up is that if I ever decide to take it to a show, I worry about connectors being jostled around. If most everything was in the bottom cabinet (at least the connectors for the cabinet plus playfield), the only wires going up into the backbox would be:
* power cable for monitor
* VGA cable for monitor
*12VDC for the backbox lights
* 2 pairs of speaker wire for the boombox topper
So right away, I had to pack my Back to the future game temporarily (there's only room for 3 games upstairs, and I'm at capacity). I may still stick Van Halen in the basement, but I want to do some tidying up first. So right away I took the horribly rusty feet off and replaced them with new ones. The legs themselves are a little rusty, in fact one has a stripped thread (so I used a nut on each side to keep the height adjusted correctly). I have about 16 used legs I'm trying to get powder coated black from a co-worker that will eventually replace these. I don't feel it needs to have the period correct Bally legs since this is a custom homebrew.
Now I have to preface before I talk about the following that none of this is a knock on Hugh. The fact that he was able to build up a custom game in such a short period of time (I think it was 6 months?) starting with what I imagine was a very beat up Dolly Parton is amazing. He stripped the playfield (twice I believe), scanned all the existing plastics and sanded the playfield and scanned it so I could get artwork done. I came up the rules and he implemented them by writing the code to get it done.
So I did make a couple improvements tonight. Nothing bugs me more than a dirty and rusty lockdown bar mech. Even though it's not seen while the game is in normal play, when you do take off the glass (get a stuck ball, fix something under the playfield), it's the first thing that sticks out like a sore thumb. So I went to the local harbor freight and bought a few wire wheels for the drill and went to town. I also hand sanded the lockbar with 500 grit sandpaper to get that a little smoother.
I also added the panama captive ball that I 3d printed. It doesn't get in the way of the ball path coming off the spinner, it doesn't get in the way of the shooter lane, and it's shootable from the left flipper. Sometimes the left sling will fire it up into it, or sometimes if you konk it just right from the side it'll make the ball travel up to hit the switch. I never liked that odd opening that Dolly Parton had where the ball goes back into the shooter lane. I felt like I was committing a sin driving that screw into the playfield, but sometimes you have to take a chance.
So the more glaring issue in general is the playfield overlay lineup. I don't think this was an installation issue, but rather it's very difficult to get accurate measurements of inserts. Not sure if I'll ever go through the trouble of trying to fix it or not.
The inline drop targets need decals, as does the spinner. Both have the original from the Dolly Parton. Speaking of which, the spinner never got code for a sound. Hugh has sent me the files and instructions to update it, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
The LED strips in the backbox have hotspots, and don't cover it all the way. This is an easy fix, just have to get to it. Also there is a screw to hold the light panel together, it would be preferred if there was some sort of knob to make it easier to turn. I'll probably get a hex version of this screw and 3d print a knob. I also want to replace all the rubber caps used to hold the plastics on. I NEVER liked these, my space shuttle even had them and right away I replaced them with locknuts because I can ensure the plastics are tight. I like the colored nuts that mezel mods has started to sell, might grab some red ones to go with the theme.
The last thing I'm considering is moving the boards and transformer to the lower cabinet. Right now there are velcro straps for strain relief for the heavy cables. In my mind, the boards being the backbox never made much sense to me even from pinball manufacturers. I'm sure initially boards ran hotter and needed venting. I also get that it's easier to troubleshoot board issues in a backbox (standing upright instead of crouching over a box), but with modern hardware I don't think there's nearly the unreliability there once was. Reason I bring this up is that if I ever decide to take it to a show, I worry about connectors being jostled around. If most everything was in the bottom cabinet (at least the connectors for the cabinet plus playfield), the only wires going up into the backbox would be:
* power cable for monitor
* VGA cable for monitor
*12VDC for the backbox lights
* 2 pairs of speaker wire for the boombox topper
