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Before each and every pinball machine is sold, it will go through a restoration process, also known as "shopping out" or refurbishing. Degree of attention given depends in most cases upon the initial condition of the game. However, at a BARE MINIMUM, each and every machine goes through the process outlined below and we will try to make all of them look as nice looking and playing as we possibly can.
INFORMATION:
A lot of "collector" types, people looking for highly popular pinballs that we can't refurbish fast enough, for the "right" price, lowballers, tire kickers, people looking to quickly flip pinball machines on Ebay or Mr. Pinball classifieds etc... email us daily or weekly and call about "cutting them a good deal"...
TXPinball does NOT sell "as is", "unshopped", "sorta working", "nice games, you know, something I can mess with and call you all the time if I get stuck with an issue", "fixer-upper at a GOOD price", "nice & fully working, but needs a little TLC" games, so please, do not ask for them. If you want a little TLC, go call your grandma collect. That's guaranteed to make you feel a whole lot better.
TXPinball only sells fully refurbished games needing nothing when they arrive at their final destination, just pressing the start button and playing and enjoying the game. Everything regarding electronics, mechanical parts, displays, circuit boards, cosmetics, cabinet, plastics, speakers, rubbers, flippers, light bulbs, flasher bulbs, slingshots, pop bumpers and everything else is done to the game prior to shipping right here in Houston.
Please remember these things are not new! They are between 10 and 15 years old and although they will clean up and be mechanically and electornically very sound (with many new parts), they are not new, just fully working and nicely refurbished.
A lot of people want to even further customize their machine, so they will request (and get! - it's their machine) translucent illuminated flipper cabinet buttons, or new toys installed on the playfield with LED lightning (like Uncle Fester in electric chair below), or a brand new and a customized set of automotive car speakers, customized shooter rod, customized messages on the display, different colored pop bumper caps, different colored flipper rubbers or star posts, this and that...
We will try to accomodate any request as long as we are able to do so. We even designed a customized lighted board inside a gumball machine in Twilight Zone so it will flash when it's time to load the pinball in, the list is endless. To see some of custom pinball solutions and customizations that TXPinball is world-famous for, please click here.
if you don't feel or don't care to read and look at the detailed process below, here's a short-attention span version of refurbishing for you:
Flippers completely rebuilt
Coin door repainted or replaced
New coin door lock, new set of keys
New slingshot plastics if needed (and available to purchase, most are)
Either new or like-new set of legs, leg levelers and leg bolts
Every switch works in the game
Display works, is bright
Game cleaned & vacuumed inside
Outside cabinet cleaned and polished
Translite (game artwork) cleaned and polished
Pop bumpers completely rebuilt
Slingshots rebuilt
Every light bulb works in the game
Playfield glass crystal-clear cleaned or replaced
Every playfield toy rebuilt and works
Every flasher bulb works
All electronics checked and working
Ball shooter assembly completely rebuilt or replaced with new parts
Every rubber on the game is new and white (we do not use black rubber at all)
Playfield buffed to a high gloss
Every ramp cleaned and flame polished to a crystal clear look
Every coil checked and operating correctly
Game software updated and most recent version installed
Everything else, as needed...
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| To see some of the refurbishing tips, how to fix problems, diagnostics, troubleshooting and what is involved in diagnosing, servicing and repairing pinball machines, please click here to go to our "Refurbishing tips" section!.
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Twilight Zone Refurbishing Process
This Twilight Zone has been claimed and its sold. To see a small part of what these things go through, you can follow this pictorial. Click here to follow through a small part of our refurbishing process.
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| Properly refurbishing a pinball machine most definitely requires a lot of labor, investment, sweat and tears, parts and time. Whoever says otherwise is either lazy, not telling the truth or clueless idiot (sometimes it could be a combo of above mentioned character traits).
After we acquire the machines, the restoration process starts for the machines we received a 10% deposit on first. Nothing comes before that and it is a #1 priority. Then, after that is taken care of, highly sought-after titles (think The Addams Family, Indiana Jones, Twilight Zone etc...) go next regardless if we already sold them or not.
The other titles are put through the restoration process afterwards, no priority and in no specific order. That means, the "dogs" (think lower end and not popular titles) really do go last. If you have any questions about the process, we'll be glad to give you a detailed answer. |
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| Adding a brand new lockdown bar to The Addams Family pinball machine. Not every machine refurbished receives a new lockdown bar. If the old one is in very good condition, it will be regrained, polished and reinstalled. This particular guy wanted absolutely everything new or else... we'll feel his wrath. |
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| Step 1 - If the machine is bought from abroad, it will be converted to U.S electric current of 110V. Main cabinet fuse will be replaced with the appropriate one for USA voltage, CPU board dipswitches reverted to English and other technical stuff done. |
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| Step 2 - Cabinet & Backbox will be opened, vacuumed and cleaned. Translite will be thoroughly cleaned. Coin door looks great? It will still be repainted and clearcoated to factory fresh look and brand new lock mechanism and a brand new set of keys will be added. Coin door looks like crap? Will be thrown away promptly and a brand new factory coin door will be installed. If the coin door looks like it came from Baghdad circa 2004, a new coin door will be installed.
We primarily sell pinball machines to the home market to be played inside houses and gamerooms. That means they are set on FREE PLAY after they leave us (no coins required to play them). We do not automatically install quarter coin acceptors/mechs inside coin doors! |
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| Testing and fixing solenoid and lamp transistors on the pinball machine Power Driver board. |
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| Step 3 - All boards and DMD display will be tested, repaired if needed and covered with 30 days warranty. |
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| Step 4 - If playfield glass is in good condition, without big scratches or cracks, it will be cleaned with Windex® and put back into the game. If not, it will be trashed and brand new one installed. We only use tempered playfield glass per factory specifications. |
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| Adding Uncle Fester mod as requested by a customer and installing a custom Passion For Pinball Chair Hole protector. |
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| Step 5 - If backglass front is in good condition, without big scratches or artwork lifting, it will be cleaned with Windex®. If not, it will be trashed and new one installed and cleaned with Windex® |
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| Step 6 - Top of the playfield will be completely stripped down and playfield will be thoroughly cleaned with an orbital buffer with our own mix of cleaning solvents and with Novus® plastics polishers. All playfield plastic parts will be thoroughly cleaned, then washed in a dish washer, dried then polished again. Each and every machine receives brand new star posts, brand new pop bumper caps, brand new flipper buttons, brand new shooter rod or complete shooter assembly, brand new lane guides and brand new plastics if any are cracked or missing (subject to availability - some games have game specific plastics that are absolutely impossible to find). We tried and tried ot obtain them, but some of them are made of unobtanium, not plastic. |
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| Prepping brand new chrome siderails for installation. |
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| NOTE: Txpinball.com DOES NOT use Wildcat #125® any more. Wildcat products suck big time and we discontinued its use a few years back. It is definitely not recommended. Milwax does not suck as bad, but we avoid it too. We use our own mix of cleaners, polishers and solvents together with high speed drills, orbital buffers, foam pads and other professional detailing equipment.
Also, Novus® products will be used exclusively on all our machines. Ater the playfield is polished and looks like a smooth glass surface, a topcoat of Carnauba wax (such as automotive brand "Turtle Wax" for example) will be added and polished again. |
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| Reassembling and fixing a Twilight Zone® fully working clock. |
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| Step 7 - After that, playfield will be waxed with Carnauba wax & buffed again. All removable metal parts from the playfield will be run through a metal polishing vibrating tumbler for 48 hours. All brand new balls will be run through a vibrating tumbler to give them a mirror glazed finish then reinstalled. |
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| Step 8 - All parts (ramps, plastics, posts, toys...) removed from the top of playfield in step 6 will be put aside as thoroughly inspected and assesed for cracks, damage etc. If it's cracked, the machine gets a new part, again subject to availability, we can't produce it out of thin air.
Then, all plastic parts will be thoroughly cleaned, then washed in a dish washer, then polished again, then reinstalled. If plastic ramps are cracked or damaged, they will be thrown away and brand new ones installed, if available. If they are in great condition, but a little hazy (with "ball trails" in the middle), they will be "flame polished" to look crystal clear, almost like-new again.
Every ramp for every game receives this treatment. Metal ramps are polished with Nevr Dull® products, although this product sort of sucks if the part is really used extensively, so we will alternate it with a better solvent. |
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| Step 9 - All new rubbers will be installed throughout the game. We only use white rubbers for every game, no exception whatsoever and no black rubber at all. Black rubber simply sucks and please don't put it on your pinball machines. Not even on flipper bats! Black rubber posts are the only place we put them on our machines, although even then we use them sparingly and would rather put yellow rubber posts instead whenever possible (read: all of the time). |
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| Step 10 - All burnt lightbulbs will be replaced and new ones installed. |
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| Diagnosing, fixing and testing a CPU board for one of our pinball machines. |
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| Step 11 - Batteries will be taken out, regardless of age and brand new ones will be installed. You should replace your batteries (standard 3 AA batteries) every year. |
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| Removing old, hazy Mylar plastic patch around slingshots on Guns N' Roses pinball machine. |
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| Step 12 - Flippers working great, like new, working per factory specification and flipping strong, smooth and reliably? Good, they certainly should. All our games do before they leave us. Flippers sluggish, weak, binding, not working that great? They will be completely rebuilt. |
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| Step 13 - If the legs are rusty, they will be dipped in the solution, cleaned, polished, waxed and buffed to prevent future rust. Bent and heavily scratched legs or just deemed "not worth the time or effort" will be disposed of. Brand new set will be installed. |
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| Step 14 - The game ROMs (software) for the game will be freshly burnt and installed with the latest, most stable version. Game ROM, sound ROM and display ROM burning services included with each and every game. |
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| Step 14 - The game will be set up for free play, and will be put through series of tests, modifications and adjustments for 3 days. This is just a fancy way of saying we'll play the hell out of it for a series of games to make sure absolutely everything performs as it should, and everything works great per factory specs. |
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| Step 15 - Each game will have a set of brand new balls installed, set of keys and a few spare lightbulbs shipped with it (no charge for all items). The steps above are what each and every game receives. A lot of them get much more than that, like new siderails, new lockdown bar, but people requesting those things pay extra.
We will offer support via email or phone if something malfunctions whenever possible. |
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| After the game has been sold and payment received, we will start getting it ready for shippment. If you have any questions, feel free to email, call us, fax us or fill out a contact us form with your requests, questions and comments.
All correspondence will be handled in a professional and courteous manner and we will attempt to respond within 24 hours or less upon receiving.
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