1934 Bally Signal video demonstration

I was asked to make a video demonstration on how the game works.  I have uploaded a fairly brief video of the machine to youtube.  It is not great quality but should give you an idea of how the game works.

How the Game is Played - Part 2

So I originally tried to make my own instructions off of a photo of the original instructions.  I was not very happy with out they came out.  Somebody sent me a scan of the original instruction card for their machine and I was able to clean it up.  The original was printed on silver paper which really does not work too well with an inkjet printer so I was not able to do that.  I did make the background a light grey to try to give a similar look which is hard to see in the photo but none the less I am happy with how it came out.  My original frame was rusted right through the plating and I tried to have a new one cut but the cost was too high so I wound up cutting it myself out of aluminum sheet with a straight edge and a utility knife.  I am very happy with the results. 

Cleaned up scan of original instructions in the new frame

99.44%

I am 99.44% done.  So pretty much done... :)

As previously mentioned, I stripped the legs and repainted.  I purchased new leg levelers and made leg bolts.  The originals were in bad shape, they were very hunked up and areas of the nickel plate was chipped off.  They do not make bolts like that anymore (or if they do, I could not find them) so I purchased nice shiny new nickel plated acorn nuts and some all-thread rods and cut them to length and glued the acorn nuts to the top of them to make my own. 

I also painted the red and green circles on the sides of the cabinet.  I spent like $35.00 on paint for about a few inches of color so now need to find something to paint red and green... :) 

It is all assembled and I played it last night for about an hour.  I had some issues with the metal openings under the runway areas opening and closing properly so took me a while to get the kinks worked out but all seems to be running smoothly.  It still has it's warts.  The legs are not great but until I can find new ones they will do.  The cabinet has a slight twist where the back left and front right corner are raised a little higher.  It does not seem to cause too many issues but on occasion a ball will not return down to the ball lifter and I need to give the machine a little jiggle which can knock the tilt ball off it's pedestal but not the end of the world.  One of the gates has stayed up after raising a few times but drops down after a little bit.  I am hoping with more use it won't be an issue.  

I cut the new coin door and am in the process of finishing it.  I should have it done in a day or two.  I am still working out the frame for the instruction card but should have it on the machine shortly.

Below are some updated pictures.

Paint job complete

With no glass.  You can see my 1934 Buffalo nickel :)

Assembled with glass installed. I had a bad score...

Lower playfield

Upper playfield

Shiny tilt cup

Shiny shooter

Coin slide installed

A few kinks to work out

So, I finished my coin door (twice as the first one was damaged when drilling the hole for the lock).  I painted the old legs and the machine is once again standing on it's own. I started putting it all back together but once the playfield was put on, I cannot fully push in the coin slide yet works before the playfield was out on. I need to figure that out tonight. So once that is resolved, all I have left is putting the finish on the door and installing the lock. Whoo hoo! :)

Finish line in sight...

The finish line is definitely in sight.  I think I will be done by the end of the weekend.  My glass came in today.  I also purchased new leg bolts (still need need to cut them to length) and new leg levelers.   I removed the paint from the existing legs and there was lots of staining from the water damage and I started to repair the rot.  Tomorrow I will sand the repaired areas and prime and paint as long as the weather is good.  I still need to do the 2 red and 2 green circles on the sides of the cabinets and will do the first coat tonight.  I need to still address the coin door.  I will work on that tomorrow (again if the weather is good).  I ordered a new lock for it and it should be in any day as well as the stain for it that I believe matches the cabinet closely.  I still need to address the rusty frame for the instruction card as well.  So hopefully all can be completed by the end of the weekend...

Discolored legs from water damage

Water damage before repair

Crack in top of one leg