Professional Restoration of a Rare Vintage Pinball Machine | Bally Bullfight Pinball Table

[@Norfolk250]

I'm impressed with the professionalism here ... the editor. They clipped-out the part where the restorer lost the battle of composure and tapped the bell during dismantling - for over half an hour! 🎶TingTINGTINGting ting-ting TING 🎶

[@e.j.thompson2633]

If you're going to continue to restore things like this, get rid of the screw gun. My soul cringed every time the bit skipped on the screw.

[@peperonikiller]

I had to turn it off or I would've punched the screen.

[@47spacecat]

meeee toooo... Like buy a crisp new #2 hand driver for every restoration project.

[@MarkGray1970]

I think he ruined every screw on the way back in.

[@forussed]

Stripped all of them. Also the retouching of colors look like they are done by a 5 year old. Other than that decent job

[@osgeld]

@@forussed to be fair its pretty damn hard to color match half century old paint with whats readily available

[@Driessens_Peter]

not to mention the metal work, normally its nickelplated or chromed, its pretty expensive but make of brake the build for me, rest are details,

[@timcorso6337]

Yeah, the loving restoration seemed a bit thin with the jumping screwdriver shots. Please use the correct screwdriver bits, with an appropriate torque setting on the power driver.

[@UH60-Arthur]

No one told him they made more philips bits

[@mattorendorff8858]

Loved this. But that Phillips bit - brutal

[@manfredsuttorp3659]

Totally agree, brutal abuse of these phillips screws and bit. It always hurts my ears and eyes when I see that.

[@neilbarnett3046]

@@manfredsuttorp3659 Difficult to see, maybe they were Posidriv heads, a crosshead screwdriver will do that. And the narration was nice, not too American, apart from the nonsense of "...new silicone rubber parts are replaced..." at 20:26. I think I'd have avoided the incandescent bulbs, very vintage, with vintage reliability.

[@manfredsuttorp3659]

@@neilbarnett3046 Yep, a tea break would probably do wonders. I'm sorry to say that I am less impressed by the restauration job than others here. The end result seems to looks nice from a safe distance, but I would love to see that puppy from upclose. The cabinet touchups will be visible forever because it didn't look like he sanded the edges well enough. He just filled them up and not very subtle at that. And I bet that these pop bumber caps never fully recovered from overshooting orange paint. Treating any electrical contacts by abrasion is never a good idea, let alone using a file (@12:00) which he did with the electronic equivalent of tearing down a wall with a sledge hammer. It gave me the shivers. These contacts will deteriorate ten times as fast now. And I have more comments like that. And I think I have some right to speak, because I did a full rebuild of my humble, trashed and neglegted, Street Fighter II. Not the most popular of pinball machines I know. I sanded the entire cabinet to the bare wood, repaired the wood to factory fresh sharp edges all around and re-applied the artwork in detail. Took the entire wiring harnass off and cleaned it. Took all the switches, bulbs and solenoids off, disassembled everything and gave all constituent parts an ultrasonic bath. Because the display was broken I reverse-engineered its workings from the video signal output and then redesigned and built a new display using a LED pixel display and an FPGA. Carefully photographed the playfield, sanded and flattened it, painstakingly created an exact vector drawing and had that printed that on a polycarbonate sheet. And I can go on and on. Took me over two years of spare time to complete and it looks amazing. I documented it all with photo's and a log. Next week I hope to get my second machine, a Bram Stoker's Dracula in a similar poor state. This video did actually inspire me to document its restoration on youtube too.

[@mikaelg79]

Philips screws are garbage and should be thrown into the trash where they belong. If I was this guy I would replace them all with torx head screws, period correctness be damned.

[@3rdaxis649]

Jesus Christ someone please buy this guy some new Philips driver bits!!!

[@manfredsuttorp3659]

And then destroy the new ones too 😏... The guy just needs a little more TLC and respect for his tools and the machine he's working on....

[@chrisdaldy-rowe4978]

Maybe he just has a limp wrist.

[@SDMF5000]

It looks more like a garage hobbyist restoration than a Professional restoration. Good luck getting any of the Phillips head screws out ever again.

[@lpn828]

Si vous pouvez mieux que critiquer, essayez vous-même 😊

[@7oxytron]

plus the ai voice makes it seem even cheaper

[@pcb1962]

Painful to watch him putting those screws in 😱

[@robertdestefano1409]

at least he not wearing flip flops and fixing on the floor

[@vettepicking]

Bro buy a new Phillips screwdriver BIT!!

[@fredflinta2011]

It really breaks my heart stripping all screws

[@shable1436]

And use the adjustable torque clutch 😂😂 that sound is cringe, guess he never wants anyone to remove the screws again

[@mrb.5610]

I'd add a bead blasting cabinet and a bench grinder/buff to the list too ....

[@lipardfilm]

Stopped the video after the first screw 😂

[@Chuzzel]

Don't forget it's professionally restored 😂

[@pompeymonkey3271]

That's a lovey restoration! I was getting triggered watching all those screws camming out though. lol

[@MonkeyUnit]

I had to stop watching.

[@bms9144]

Me too. Fail.

[@lacucaracha111111]

Old Philips head hardware. -Soft metal -Phillips design against overtorque

[@jeffberwick]

The drill should have a torque limiter/impact setting. I wonder why he didn't use it on those phillips screws. I would have expected more care for an otherwise excellent restoration. I set my drill strength on 5/10 and it never cams out.

[@jeffberwick]

All the Canadians are like: I told you so! Robertson's are so much better than Phillips!

[@Dr_Kenneth_Noisewater]

When I was in MS & HS in the 80s, my dad bought one of these old 1960s pinball machines. We loved it. To this day I still love pinball. I also appreciate the electromechanical works of art that they are!

[@PlaySA]

Looks great, don't listen to the haters. Amazing resto, I didn't think you'd be able to maintain that many original parts.

[@jamesk9375]

Hearing a bit cam out and ruining the screw is the worst. Use the correct size bit! And if by some chance you are then buy a new one because yours is clearly worn out

[@delboy1727]

I was wondering if I was the only one grimacing at that.

[@anandarochisha]

FYI.. philips are so widely used in manufacturing because they have the feature of backing out upon reaching the desired torque or bottoming limits. Yet somehow you cannot fathom how this is desirable. Try and wrap your head around it. This guy has forgotten more than you have ever known about fastening systems.

[@deanwaring6100]

Awesome work..... great to see these old machines being loved again 😊

[@vic.blaine]

Pinball machines were illegal from 1939 to 1974 in Los Angeles, so I didn't get a chance to play one for much of my childhood. But my dad had a friend with an illegal pinball game at his house, we visited and that was the very first time I saw and played one, probably when I was 10 or 11. Fun to watch the restoration, both from the labor and video perspective. You may have inspired me to open up a 1982 Sega Tac/Scan arcade game I've had in my garage for 30+ years. Haven't turned it on since the early 90s, there's likely a lot of dirt and dust inside. It worked the last time I used it, but seems like it would be a good idea to clean it out before trying to fire it up again. Thanks for the video.

[@KevJ1247]

I just restored my Sega OUTRUN floor standing arcade game. The steering gear broke, and the only person that I found who was selling the gear set, was a guy making them at home on a 3 D printer and selling them on eBay for $95 Like you, I bought the machine around 30 years ago, used it for a few years, then moved it to the garage. Now everyone wants to buy it. I will never sell OUTRUN 🛻💨

[@vic.blaine]

@@KevJ1247 Unfortunately Tac/Scan wasn't in demand the last time I looked into selling it. I bought it broken from a bankruptcy sale of Chuck E. Cheese assets for $25 bucks. Got it working by simply replacing a fuse on the monitor. Mechanically in good shape, the floor standing machine is modular, change the ROMs and it's a different game, I suspect. Very cool you were able to find a guy making the parts. I've got the video game and a 60's Coke machine in the garage. The coke machine is the kind with a door on the side and the bottles locked in place until you put in the quarter. Works great for soda or beer. I would like to send both to a better home where they can be appreciated and enjoyed. I've been collecting too much stuff.

[@twalrus1]

Back in 1970, my local convenience store (Minute Market) had a similar machine but baseball themed. 10 cents a game or 3 games for 25 cents. One day, my brother and I (I was 13 he was 11) started playing the machine (we played pinball every chance we got). after a couple of hours of free play from winning free games, we were to the limit of free games (99 because it was a two digit counter). A couple of kids were watching us play and when we had to go home, we rewarded them with the 99 games (telling them to pass it on to some new kids when they would have to go home). The best pinballing of our lives that day that we could never recreate again.

[@vic.blaine]

That's a great story. Thanks.

[@mikehammond7277]

One of my brothers found out that if he kicked this particular pinball machine in a particular area it would register a credit so that you could play without putting any coins in the slot. He would rack up a lot of credits on the pinball machine and sell them to the kids whom would had put their quarters into the slot to play the game. He took the money and bought candy with it.

[@mikehammond7277]

One of my brothers found out that if he kicked this particular pinball machine in a particular area it would register a credit so that you could play without putting any coins in the slot. He would rack up a lot of credits on the pinball machine and sell them to the kids whom would had put their quarters into the slot to play the game. He took the money and bought candy with it.

[@twalrus1]

​@@mikehammond7277 I too was a salesman as a kid. In third grade,I had to pass by the convenience store on my way to school. They had gum machines in the front of the store. They had toys mixed in with the gumballs by they cheated. The guy would put a piece of cardboard so that he could put all the toys against the front glass of the machines so you wouldn't really get to the toys, only gumballs. One day, I noticed that the gumballs had finished and the toys were laying horizontal. I went in my piggy bank and took out 200 pennies for the next day. I brought a paper bag. I emptied the machine of toys. At school I started selling rings and other toys for 5 cents. At the end of the week, I had about8 bucks and some "returns" on toys that broke Not a bad haul for the early 60s when 15 cents would get you a McDonald's burger and a BB gun was $6.50. A month later I bought a Batman and Robin coloring book. I took sheets of paper and traced the pages. 5 cents per sheet.The coloring book had only cost me 25 cents...but it was a hard issue to get so, that's why I sold them for 5 cents instead of 3. Fourth grade, I bought a couple of boxes of pens that were made to look like 1700s quill pens. A chicken feather that had a BIC type replacement core so that it looked like you were writing with a feather. 15 cent each and suddenly everybody in school was writing with quill pens.

[@alexlefevre3555]

15:54 is one of those moments I felt deep within... These electromechanical marvels take a lifetime of experience to truly become an expert. There are so many parts, and each machine is basically its own universe within. I helped a family friend work on a mid-70s model in my childhood, and it's one of the things that got me into electronics.

[@michaeldonohue9760]

What a cool video. I did a 1967 Williams Touchdown machine not really knowing exactly what I was doing. Did some of what this Master of Craft did, but not nearly as much. I think you really have to learn this from someone with this kind of experience! What a great job!

[@robertdestefano1409]

I'm a service tech myself and when i saw the guy clean the contacts on the wheel i said "now they will corrode twice as fast because no substance in the contacts. than the guy put grease on them. yes, this is MASTER CRAFT LEVEL WORK well done

[@rickvaiBBB]

What a great thing to see it come alive again. Your knowledge with this machine and the way you fixed even the tiniest detail shows to me, your dedication to your work.

[@Painless61]

When you're able to fix an iconic Thing like this one you're a real craftsman. Very, very nice restoration. Thx for sharing

[@eclexian]

Great fun watching this! I have a 1964 Gottlieb North Star that I got in the mid 70’s for doing some work for an amusement company. Later, when I left engineering college, I became a pinball mechanic for that company. When I retired at the end of ‘22, one of my projects was getting that old machine running again. At that point, it had been in storage (not always the best) for 40+ years. Ultimately, I did get it working 97%, and most days now, I play it at least a little bit. The couple of things in that missing 3% are the match function, which doesn’t always work because the ones unit is in pretty sad shape (sloppy tolerances from tons of use in its day), and the tilt light, which for some reason they removed entirely 🤷‍♂️. Oh, and the cabinet is in pretty rough shape because it did duty in a frat house in Newark, NJ! But I love my old machine. Great memories and fun!

[@dalmiroubina2162]

Superb restoration! Congrats

[@DavidChow-n4x]

Thank you. You bought back fond memory of my childhood going to the pin ball machine arcade store and playing for hours on just one quarter back in the 70’s. Forget about doing your homework. 😂

[@spencer19811]

You stripped the head off nearly every screw you touched.

[@theimperfectgod7140]

Gotta love some of these screws being stripped a little... 😬

[@shable1436]

Gagagaggagaga said the screw😂

[@FixNewsPlease]

I think you stripped the drive on 70% of the screws when driving them. I don't get it. After all that work.

[@philipdeanavery2052]

Very nice, takes me back to being a kid spending my pocket money on these just to get the high score only to find out the following day I was beaten 😳. That's what kept us coming back

[@alexbellino9639]

So touching seeing this lovely piece of my childhood retourning at its best life! Tears from my eyes! 🤩🤩🤩

[@edwardsimmons3721]

Great craftsmanship in this rebuild.

[@seanhart9706]

Every screw has been carefully stripped

[@8MWm3e4b]

Very nice! When retouching numbers and letters, use very small brushes and wear magnifying glasses

[@Adriansmith805]

Amazing restoration looks fantastic well done 👍.

[@PamelaVidler]

What a wonderful restoration!!! I'm so impressed. Having grown up playing with pinball machines, this brings back a boatload of fond memories. How many hours did it take from start to finish?

[@th.burggraf7814]

I love seeing old things given new life.

[@Sandy.J.Lloyd.Sr.]

I used to install, repair, and rebuild wiring harnesses and dashes on 1953 to 1982 Corvettes. I really enjoyed doing that work, but I’m glad I never had to repair a vintage pinball machine. I can feel my hair turning grey just thinking about it.

[@Caitlinsculpts]

This was painful to watch, screws being stripped, paint sloppily applied then scraped off, painting with brushes that are worn out. Some parts painted but loaded of scratches left and that wiring, that should have had the wiring harness completely replaced if it had a fire. I thought this was ‘masters of craft’ not ‘that’ll do of craft’

[@Nightenstaff]

No way that cab had a fire as they claimed. They burned up a solenoid (probably got stuck), that was it. Amazingly common for this era of machine. Back when the Owner/Operator defined a proper fix as one that got the machine making money again.

[@pereajavier]

Amazing restoration, I love it

[@allenharris2549]

Our next door neighbors had this exact machine in their basement, in 1970. Played it for hours and hours.

[@zyxw2000]

What a talented polymath. He paints, he does electrical work, he does carpentry, he cleans.

[@GaitaPonto]

not the most skilled restorer I saw working... "Masters of Craft" is perhaps a goal in life for this guy?

[@sylvainrichard1577]

that is very clever you just earned a new subscriber man

[@texasrattlesnake31637]

Great restoration there brother!

[@muchasgracias6976]

Not sure which I find more impressive- the restoration of the pinball machine, or the fact he's wearing a Rolex submariner whilst doing the work.

[@nigelbeaumont1109]

I tried in Vane to focus on that watch… I thought it was a Submariner plus I didn’t see the Cyclops over the date.

[@Chris349]

Dang I didnt even realize he was wearing a watch.

[@cratecruncher4974]

I've reconditioned several of the newer Bally/Williams games from the '90s. It has always been a problem of economics for these older games because they aren't worth much but are way way way harder to restore. One bad solder connection or broken wire can have you trouble shooting for days and there are literally thousands of them. Most of these old Bally's were scrapped 40 years ago.

[@iteerrex8166]

He is probably an electrical engineer from the 70s, not an art restorer. Tightening these 21:46 screws like that, was a bit amateurish, but I don’t want to diminish the amount of work that was put into restoring the electronics of it. It looks and functions as it once was 👍

[@craigrobbins9498]

It hurts my teeth like scratching a chalkboard when he "cams out" of those screws.

[@saftfan]

Mr Negative.

[@iteerrex8166]

@@saftfan No bro. From time to time it happens that a bolt or screw hits a rough spot and that happens, but to continuously keep on doing that, on a restoration, as a 70 years old engineer, is very bad.

[@saftfan]

@@iteerrex8166 like I said, negative.

[@iteerrex8166]

@@saftfan So calling bad behavior bad is negative?

[@randy7894]

Good lord, a jaw dropping restoration. Very well done!

[@MASI_forging]

You did a wonderful work 👏👏

[@lynx50187]

Guess I'm not the only one wincing at him stripping screws back in

[@Paso_Dan]

This video is a twofer: The restoration is fun and the comments are even more fun. I was gonna comment on the screwdriver skills (or lack thereof) but *everyone* below beat me to the punch.

[@mikecarroll3058]

WOW!!!! Fantastic job

[@laurentlachand8102]

Beautiful job 👍

[@craigrobbins9498]

UGH!! If the screw heads are stripped, replace them or at the very least don't use a power tool to install them. This is NOT a restoration. Conservation, repaired or preserved would be more accurate.

[@mjphoto45]

Washers had rust on them

[@blastingweevil2968]

nice job but PLEASE use Screwdriver bits that actually fit and not chew the screw heads up by slipping.....

[@josemanuelmartin942]

Fantastic job. Great memories.

[@Finny_finn_finn]

I was really impressed with how complete your preservation was...I am disappointed in the white paint...not a current mat to the aged paint...easily fixed with color matching programs

[@RichardSanchez137]

I feel this is more of a repair than a restoration.

[@stevepayne750]

Pausing to hold the cleaning product to show us would be nice, same for the paint, wire brushes etc.

[@stevenjones2371]

when i saw this pin ball machine just young threw how its made the pictures hit a spark in my memories i actually played this style pin ball machine when i was around 5 years old dude been around he totally knows what hes doing awesome restore and for the ones talking about hes work have you done this and do you think you could do better

[@juanbanzai]

CHRIST!!! Does every video have to be narrated by AI?!?! As soon as I hear the AI voice, I immediately think the video was stolen from another channel and the AI was used to cover up the original VO made by the clip’s owner. So whoever did this restoration, very nice. Bravo!

[@garbo8962]

Pinball machines are like model trains. Very few young people are not interested in them.

[@na57y]

almost every phillips screw was damaged due to wrong use of accu driver. Sad story.

[@b-r0llblog510]

Guys I'm Canadian and yes I hate Mr Philips screws but the are designed to cam out... Henry Ford popularized them by using them on the assembly line.. It sped up production.. I'm a huge fan of Peter Lymburner Robertson.. I would have built it with Robertson's but yes ya gotta hand tension them down in that application.

[@fatroberto3012]

My Dad's neighbor used to restore electromechanical Bally tables back in the 70s. I thought they were magical things. Later in the 80s I worked in arcades for a while and was so disappointed to open one of our arcade machines up and see microchips! (Although it did make them a lot easier to fix!)

[@johnwalker194]

My uncle bought my auntie a Travel Time pinball machine in the mid Eighties and everyone we knew played that machine untill it stopped working. Me and a schoolfriend dismantled it and transported it to my mums house and cleaned up all the switches and contacts and got it working in a fashion enough to play ! Worth a small fortune now ?

[@johnsilver7466]

wonderful work,love it.

[@royrice8021]

I don’t remember the “Bullfight” pin ball machine but it looks like a classic.👍

[@TXFDA]

Seems like something good to watch while I play some Pinball on my Switch.

[@ajsantiago78]

Thanks. I had no idea what that brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner was for.

[@juliedouglas2888]

Fantastic job, well done, amazing.............love it.

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

It is OK to use the driver to.put the screws in, but the last few turns should be done by hand to assure non marring and proper tightness. Otherwise, great machine and talented work.

[@cheaplaughkennedy2318]

Amazing 👍

[@JulienMR]

Nice Rolex Submariner by the way :)

[@philipbrailey]

My time of playing that type of machine.

[@chickenfist1554]

Well those screws aren't coming out again! 😬

[@crazyivan030983]

Great work.

[@zzzworld7794]

Okay restoration, but this vid is a guy doing some work, not a video about the restoration of a pinball machine. And almost every phillips head screw was stripped in the process of re-assembly, paint was globbed on, letters were uncarefully written. I'm sorry, this just seemed like someone getting a machine working again for resale, not a restoration at all.

[@JuvenalDiez]

Bonito trabajo de recuperación, felicitaciones al artista reparador

[@Figurina220963]

Wrong white colour....wrong brush.

[@MrSchnauzbart65]

Oh well... just saw it!

[@hectorcamarena5570]

Just enjoy and hush

[@davewhiteman8353]

Nice work 👍

[@Falconurbex]

Awesome job well done.

[@bond7459]

What an Awesome restoration,great work bro. Congrats.

[@thefuzzgroove]

un travail admirable et le résultat est magnifique , bravo !

[@vxxt....]

Grało się w takie flippery , oj grało dawno , dawno temu , i jeszcze dziś chętnie bym zagrał ....👍😁

[@alonzovillarreal4666]

Outstanding

[@48esimo]

Wow fantastic👍

[@Frank-ni4bz]

Bravo! An insane amount of craftsmanship.

[@markjackson1444]

Good job. …I’ve been doing pinnies for 30 years…I won’t use a powered screwdriver, as they strip the threads, plus you have no ‘feel’ for the correct tension. … Overall, great work.

[@CherifAmmiali-f7w]

Good work.

[@kamsel79]

Fantastic!

[@tfatcher]

Very meticulous work. Bravo!

[@ibgeorgeb]

Excellent restoration video. Fantastic work. Best wishes.

[@lkmayhew9390]

Job well done👌

[@Ulysses37]

I'm a carpenter and antiques restorer. I cringed at every step of the, so call, restoration.

[@stephensomersify]

Bloody good effort -- old git, UK

[@dev-debug]

Spent many hours at the YMCA playing pinball in my youth for 10 cents a game. Those older machines had a totally different feel to them. Please tell him to throw that driver bit away, all that detailed work then uses a worn out driver bit lol

[@andrewhussey2002]

I have a very similar machine, the "300", which I fully restored the playing field on maybe 15 years ago. I never got the wiring faults resolved. Might need to finish it now.

[@Gma7788]

The Phillips bit is designed to lift out of the slot when the screw is at the suggested tightness. Your screws are way over-tightened. You're going to break all the plastics. You're a FOOL.

[@markusm6575]

Ich habe bei einer Restaurierung noch nie einen Akkuschrauber benutzt.

[@henrycatt5844]

Ah, I love the sound of a Philips head being stripped in the morning.

[@eshawn97]

Great skill to restore. Thanks for sharing your work on video.