After a blinding day of beers, wine and Kefta, Susana finished the artwork restoration. It looks very cool.





Now I still need to change a few things re-ploish the play-field as the first time around I did not use good cleaning products.

Well, this is quiet strange indeed. These are brand new balls and I’ve only been playing for a short time and look at the markings? Not sure where the hell they come from? I’ve checked most of the play field for sharp edges but can’t find anything? I’m sure I’ll suss it.

I also got nearly all of the lights working. In the end I had to remove circuit boards and re-solder pins. Reminds me of my first year in high school.
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Yep thats the darn opto that’s giving me grief. I got in touch with the guy that sold it to me and he sent me a “new” one. I connected it all and only two of the opto’s worked. I then stuck in my original one and now none of the optos work????? arrgggghh.

I have ordered from ebay a new set of optos. Fingers crossed it works.



I have also replaced the broken Daleks that cover the bumpers. Looking very sweet.

Well worth the wait. This piece arrived broken and I’ve been unable to play until now. Got pretty much all the parts working now. Just need to troubleshoot a few globe problems and replace some more rubbers.

Once again Dani comes through with the goods. I purchased the mega rare “Wobblehead” off ebay but to my horror fired it up and the drive shaft came undone. A quick stop at Dani’s house and he had it all back to normal. I’ve yet to adjust and stick the Dalek topper together but the tests come up perfect.
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Dani came over to help out. I had a few errors that I could not work out. After a little poking around he removes a fuse and sticks it back in again and all errors are solved. Got to love that. Also one of the optos was failing. Grabbing a digital camera we worked out which infrared led was bad, Replaced it with a led from my old clarion car stereo remote. :)



The Time Expander is now cleaned a fully working. I’ve even install the protection rail that came with my wobblehead kit. Multiball time.

My Bally switch arrived today. The old one was completely rusted and did not work correctly. I have not really soldered anything since 8th grade high school but I seemed to go ok. I even used the same wire. Now works great. I can navigate the test menus.

Just as the can says “Magic Cotton”. I don’t want to know what evil chemicals are in this little tin but it does wonders to clean 17 years of bar smoke and grime of the metal parts. As I’m waiting for the paint to dry I decided to start replacing one of the many 100’s of globes.
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My mates girlfriend offered to restore the artwork. She is a professional restorer and is normally accustomed to restoring 15th century master pieces so this retro 1992 computer printed artwork was no challenge.

Logo before:




Logo after:



In no time she mixed the right colours and started work. A few pizzas and beers later she had one side complete. Next weekend it should be finished.

That's one dirty Time Expander. Looks like it has not been cleaned in 17 years. Took me a while to dismantle all the plastic and mounts. I had to refer to the manual and marked all the connecting power cables with numbers so that I woudln’t forget how to hook it back together.



I have pretty much given it a good clean and managed to find and buy online the thin strip of metal that goes across the front. Mine seems to be stained? This is my playfield without the Time Expander connected.

The playfield has only a few marks on it. I have asked my mates girlfriend who is a professional art restorer to try and restore it. In the meantime I'm stripping down the major areas to start cleaning. I have a few switching errors but nothing too serious.




From what I can make out the Time Expander is working fine. Makes a load of noise though. Might need some grease?The wood around the Time Expander is a little battered but this can be restored with time and patience.

Well the long wait is finally over. My machine arrived today and from what I see I have quite a bit of learning and work ahead of me. This thing must weigh over 150kgs. No major damage from the transport service. I love the Dalek topper.