# Batman '89 Pinball Overhaul: Episode 5

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2023-10-15  
**Duration:** 16m 20s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deH7ZwYCTyk

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy documents extensive restoration work on a Batman '89 pinball machine in Episode 5, including LED conversions on both playfield sides, PinSound speaker installation, lockdown bar refinishing, critical board-level repairs (transistor replacement, solder reflow on lamp driver connections), and successful smoke testing after addressing a burnt-out transistor. The restoration involves both cosmetic upgrades (decals, polished hardware) and functional fixes (missing spring installation, switch repositioning, flasher bulb replacement).

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Flasher bulbs on the backbox board were melted and fused to plastic, requiring replacement — _Direct observation during board work: 'The flasher bulbs are literally melted, fused to the plastic'_
- [HIGH] A transistor (Q44) on the board had blown/burnt out and needed replacement to restore vupper coil functionality — _Visual inspection and successful replacement: 'Q44 No longer looks like it's been burnt to a crisp'_
- [HIGH] Several LED connections on the lamp driver board had poor solder joints causing dim or non-functional LEDs — _Identified during LED conversion: 'certain poles are very dim and one in particular is not even working... no kind of contact on here basically' — resolved via solder reflow_
- [HIGH] The buck mechanism was missing its spring, causing the transistor to fail from repeated activation — _Root cause analysis: 'I installed the spring on this buck that was missing it... that should resolve our issue with that transistor blowing up like that'_
- [HIGH] A switch on the buck was positioned approximately one inch outside the wood rails, requiring rotation to fit properly — _Measurement during assembly: 'that switch is hanging a good almost a solid inch outside of the wood rails that's not gonna go in'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Oh my god. Look at this crap. The flasher bulbs are literally melted, fused to the plastic."
> — **Cary Hardy**, 0:00-0:30 (opening)
> _Establishes severity of backbox board condition; flasher damage is severe enough to warrant complete replacement approach_

> "I'm like, I've got two plastic caps. Where do they go to? They go to right here in front of these."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~2:00
> _Demonstrates discovery of unknown components during reassembly; resolved by proper installation before LED conversion_

> "this is even thicker than the original stuff that's on there it's like double... should hold up and this is even thicker than the original stuff that's on there"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~5:00
> _Describes reinforcement solution using plexi office nameplates to fill ramp gaps; upgrade approach improves durability over original design_

> "this is one of my biggest pet peeves when people redo machines is if they spend no time and effort on making this look sexy... when you take that lockdown bar off and you see what this is going to look like it's just it's just a nice touch is all"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~8:00
> _Philosophy statement on restoration standards; emphasizes attention to hidden details (lockdown bar area) as mark of quality work_

> "This little decal right here makes a world of difference along with also getting the bar all nice and cleaned up... maybe 11 or 12 bucks from Titan Pinball."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~12:00
> _Endorsement of Titan Pinball lockdown bar decals; demonstrates how small cosmetic upgrades significantly improve appearance with minimal cost_

> "No locked on coil. And no smoke or anything like that coming from that section of the board."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~28:00 (smoke test #2)
> _Confirmation of successful transistor replacement; critical validation that board repair resolved the coil lockup issue_

> "I almost put this on here didn't realize how dirty it was... this is gonna work just gonna take some time the thing is so filthy my god"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~35:00 (backglass installation)
> _Expresses surprise at backglass condition; underscores extent of machine deterioration requiring cleanup before final assembly_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Content creator documenting Batman '89 pinball restoration; performs hands-on repair work including soldering, LED conversion, mechanical adjustments |
| Batman '89 | game | 1989 Batman-themed pinball machine undergoing multi-episode restoration; subject of this video series |
| Titan Pinball | company | Aftermarket parts vendor; supplies lockdown bar decals recommended by Hardy; customizable by machine manufacturer and ball count |
| PinSound | product | Aftermarket audio upgrade system being installed on Batman '89; includes new speakers (8-inch ix series subwoofer) and dedicated sound board |
| Stern Pinball | company | Original manufacturer of Batman '89 (implied); factory board and amplifier referenced during audio testing |

### Topics

- **Primary:** LED conversion and playfield lighting upgrades, Board-level repairs and electronics troubleshooting, PinSound audio system installation, Mechanical restoration (ramps, bumpers, switches, springs)
- **Secondary:** Cosmetic restoration (decals, hardware refinishing, lockdown bar detail work), Playfield assembly and reassembly methodology, Aftermarket parts and vendor recommendations

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Hardy expresses satisfaction with restoration progress, successful smoke tests, and quality of upgrades (LED conversion, PinSound, Titan decal). Frustration appears technical (burnt components, difficult cleaning) rather than systemic. Enthusiasm evident in problem-solving approach and attention to detail. Overall tone is optimistic about machine's prospects.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Titan Pinball provides customizable lockdown bar decals as accessible, low-cost cosmetic upgrade for restorers; represents vendor ecosystem supporting machine restoration (confidence: medium) — 'you just specify what company made your machine and how many balls and they take care of the rest for you... maybe 11 or 12 bucks from Titan Pinball. Highly recommend'
- **[design_philosophy]** Hardy's restoration approach prioritizes hidden detail work (lockdown bar refinishing, plexi gap reinforcement) as mark of quality craftsmanship, even when not visible during gameplay (confidence: high) — 'this is one of my biggest pet peeves when people redo machines is if they spend no time and effort on making this look sexy... when you take that lockdown bar off... it's just a nice touch is all'
- **[product_strategy]** Extensive LED conversion on both playfield sides addressing original incandescent lighting; includes refreshed solder joints on lamp driver board to improve LED connection quality (confidence: high) — Top side LED conversion complete; bottom side flashers being converted from incandescent to LED; poor solder connections identified and reflowed on multiple lamp driver poles
- **[product_concern]** Original backglass appears heavily soiled/deteriorated; requires extensive cleaning before installation, suggesting poor storage/maintenance history (confidence: medium) — 'I almost put this on here didn't realize how dirty it was... the thing is so filthy my god... I messed up because now I've got to do all of this'
- **[product_concern]** Evidence of severe component deterioration in Batman '89: melted/fused flasher bulbs, burnt transistor (Q44), poor solder connections on lamp driver, missing mechanical spring, misaligned switches (confidence: high) — Melted flasher bulbs 'fused to the plastic', Q44 transistor 'burnt to a crisp', 'certain poles are very dim', switch 'hanging a good almost a solid inch outside of the wood rails', missing spring on buck
- **[technology_signal]** Aftermarket audio upgrade via PinSound system installation, replacing factory amplification with higher-capacity speakers (8-inch subwoofer) to maximize audio output on original board (confidence: high) — 'since we've got the new speakers and everything going I probably need to turn this up... audio definitely does work it just has on the current factory board... we don't have the amplifiers to really push the new speakers especially the subwoofer'

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## Transcript

 Oh my god. Look at this crap. The flasher bulbs are literally melted, fused to the plastic. Oh my god. I believe we are back to fully assembled on the top side, ladies and gentlemen. So let me just kind of go over this play field. Everything's been cleaned to the best that it can be cleaned. Ramp has been re-decaled, flame polished, cleaned up. Got even a Titan rebounder right here. Kind of curious what it'll look like all lit up. We've got LEDs throughout. Oh, that's where those two plastic caps go to. I was wondering. I was like, I've got two plastic caps. Where do they go to? They go to right here in front of these. I'll put those on here in a second. That was the only two pieces. I'm like, I don't know where these go. So now I'm going to be switching these out to LEDs that are back here. And top side LED conversion should be complete. And I want to say that the bottom side, a lot of it has LEDs, but I don't think all of them are, especially the flashers. Those are still incandescents going to be giving off the heat, so I will be changing those over. Alright, so I guess we can get it back into the cabinet now and start working on the back side. So when it comes to reinforcing the ramp sections down here, as well as on the other side over here, What I've done is taken some plexi right here. This is usually used for offices to put your name tag for your door or whatever. I basically broke and whittled down the pieces that I needed to fill in this gap on both sides over here. and then glued them there so now it's not like a eyesore of cardboard right there should be very negligible when it comes to looking and playing the game and everything that should just blend in and this is even thicker than the original stuff that's on there it's like double but uh so yeah it should hold up and for the record I installed the spring on this buck that was missing it so now you should be able to hear it click only whenever the ball goes down there that should launch up come back down wait for a ball to come and then that's the only time that switch is activated so that should resolve our issue with that transistor blowing up like that so that should be good to go so I haven't removed it off the rotisserie yet but I did happen to notice as I was going around and looking at everything that I'm like that switch is hanging a good almost a solid inch outside of the wood rails that's not gonna go in so I have got to rotate this switch around for that to actually go into the game my bad that's what you get for not taking pictures guys and since we are doing pin sound we're gonna be upgrading these speakers on this thing we have an 8 inch ix series subwoofer and it's nothing in there because it already in the machine before we go putting the play go back in here let make my lockdown receiver look a lot better than this this is one of my biggest pet peeves when people redo machines is if they spend no time and effort on making this look sexy and it makes a big difference in my opinion you're like yeah you're not going to see it when the lockdown bar is on there when you take that lockdown bar off and John Youssi what this is going to look like it's just it's just a nice touch is all and guys seriously this is like maybe five minutes of work started out with this bad boy right here to get off the heavy duty rust and everything went up to a 220 grit sandpaper and then i finished up with a 1000 grit sandpaper and as can see it still looks like all kinds of crap but this is gonna be going flush against the cabinet you're not gonna see it and like I said it's not a full restoration so I'm not really worried about that what I want is this to be nice and smooth so the decal that I'm putting on here will stick without issue and I can even go a step further and put in some of that metal polish on here just to kind of make it look a little bit better and I know I could make it look a little bit better but that's already a hell of a good improvement from what it was. There you have it guys. This little decal right here makes a world of difference along with also getting the bar all nice and cleaned up. But I think this is like, I don't know, maybe 11 or 12 bucks from Titan Pinball. Highly recommend for all your games. You just specify what company made your machine and how many balls and they take care of the rest for you. But there you go. That's how much better that looks. Nice little touch. Alright, I think we are ready for a smoke test guys. I believe everything is hooked back up correctly at that. So I've got three balls in the trough so we shouldn't get a ball surge or anything. Let's see what we get. It looks like everything is working. Display is working. We'll see what this thing looks like with the lights off. So currently with the GI and everything, this is what we got going on. Fire bowls are going over here. I definitely like my decision up here on the lane guides. Pop bumpers, those are probably only going to be really doing the fire really well during gameplay but during the track mode they kind of flicker off and on so yeah this is just the top side I haven't done the bottom side yet there's what that insert right there it looks like oh the only thing I need to check on I guess is this motor make sure that works let me see if I start the game there it goes okay motors working far as audio since I've got the new speakers and everything going I probably need to turn this up So the audio definitely does work it just that it on the current factory board so we don have the amplifiers to really push the new speakers especially the subwoofer this down here but it's looking pretty good I'm gonna check the voltages now to make sure that everything's well within spec and stuff like that let's see how pull up let's see I'm definitely curious to see how these pop bumpers react yeah get up in there really yeah they think yeah this thing is a this thing's a pop make sure this door is working now I know this buck is still not working yet because I have not replaced the bad transistor yet but I did fix the buck in general I just need to go get that a transistor here pretty soon all right so that's looking pretty good all right let's drain it oh it's looking good oh my god look at this crap the flasher bulbs are literally melted fused to the plastic oh my god I have never seen that you've got to be kidding me oh you know I will get these damn things off and then be able to put flashers in position of where these things were at oh my Atlanta I already broke one bulb right here trying to get the damn thing off I'm like why won't this board come off this is gonna be a disaster so I'm doing my LED conversion on this and certain poles are very dim and one in particular is not even working and that's due to the fact that there is no not any kind of like contact on here basically it's like that's just nothing on there at all so I'm about to add some solder to these and refresh them all up and then we should be good to go. Alright we did a reflow on all of these and they look a lot better. I think we're gonna have a much better connection on these damn things now. We've got replacement transistors for the one that's all nice and crispy. Let's get this board out and get it repaired. So here we have the crispified transistor right here. It's about to just come off right here if I wiggle it enough but I'm gonna clip off this portion right here get the fr 301 to remove all the old solder get the new one in use my FX triple eight D soldering iron and get the new one in its place and then hopefully we'll be good to go on this thing. There we go, all nice and cleaned up. Can't tell that something exploded right there. tell that that's what used to go in there so we're gonna be putting the new and hotness in here now Oh There we go Q44 No longer looks like it's been burnt to a crisp. Here we go, smoke test number two, seeing how, as I know that before I fixed this transistor we didn't have any smoke. Let's see if a coil locks on, particularly the Vuk in question. I'm Batman. Alright, so far so good. No locked on coil. And no smoke or anything like that coming from that section of the board. So I say we test it out now to see if that transistor actually will fire that VUC. We'll just test this out right now. We'll put three pinballs in there and we'll start a game. Okay, so I still haven't aligned this and got the apron on, so we're going to do what we can. All right, here we go. All right. all right it's so it's a working Sweet. Alright, I think we are good. Alright, time to get the apron on here, do a lot of testing, and of course the pin sound board has arrived so we will be installing that oh my goodness I almost put this on here didn't realize how dirty it was so we're gonna get this all clean up and then put it on here I changed out the purples and stuff that were back here I got sunlight bowls there's a couple of cool lights in here as well but I'm gonna get it on here and I'm gonna take a look at it to see if it better or not I don't know what these two orange ones are here for so once I get the art on there I'll see how it looks after that all right so I messed up I figured this was gonna be difficult to clean off one I don't want to damage it obviously so I'm being very careful and I was like all right you know what I'll try some notice too and it became really damn clean but you can see where I haven't touched yet and that still wasn't exactly the easiest thing to clean so now I say I messed up because now I've got to do all of this oh no this too is gonna work just gonna take some time the thing is so filthy my god Thank you.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 7db30245-c3fe-4f1c-913c-e0f7c752111b*