# The Getaway Restoration: Part 6 **Source:** Cary Hardy **Type:** video **Published:** 2020-03-01 **Duration:** 9m 56s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV0JPESPXRQ --- ## Analysis Cary Hardy continues restoration of The Getaway pinball machine, focusing on completing general illumination (GI) wiring on the playfield underside. After soldering all switches, flashers, and solenoids, he performs continuity checks with a multimeter to verify correct wiring, then begins reassembly of the topside including wood rails and back plate. He reflects on workflow optimization for future full teardown rebuilds. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] For future full teardown rebuilds with extensive soldering, GI wiring should be done first, followed by solenoids, switches, and flashers to avoid obstruction. — _Cary Hardy learned this lesson during current restoration and explicitly states this workflow preference for future projects._ - [HIGH] All playfield wiring (GI, switches, solenoids, flashers) has been completed and tested with multimeter continuity checks. — _Cary describes completing soldering work, performing organized continuity verification on both sides of playfield, and confirms tests passed._ - [HIGH] Enlarged pilot holes on wood side rails to accommodate larger screws and prevent wood splitting during installation. — _Cary describes drilling out holes that previously matched old side rails, enlarging them for girthier screws._ ### Notable Quotes > "I almost wish I would have done this one first actually... if I'm having to do soldering and everything like that, I'm going to make sure I do the GI line first. And then I'll do solenoid switches and flashers because now I've got my GI essentially in place, but I've got a lot of soldering to do and a lot of stuff is in the obstructing my view to get to it so this is gonna suck" > — **Cary Hardy**, ~4:30 > _Reflects on workflow optimization and articulates a lesson learned about project sequencing for complex restoration work._ > "I did it I have wired the entire back of this playfield It is done Here we have GI switch solenoids everything is soldered on" > — **Cary Hardy**, ~7:00 > _Marks completion of major underside wiring milestone on the restoration._ > "I don't want to short. So that's just verification purposes on my part." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~9:00 > _Explains the reasoning behind thorough continuity testing before reassembly._ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Cary Hardy | person | Content creator and pinball restoration specialist working on The Getaway restoration project. | | The Getaway | game | Pinball machine undergoing comprehensive restoration including playfield rewiring, cosmetic refinishing, and mechanical rebuild. | | Parks | person | Collaborator mentioned as coming in to work on playfield; specific role not detailed in this segment. | ### Topics - **Primary:** General Illumination (GI) Wiring, Playfield Restoration and Rewiring, Soldering and Component Installation, Electrical Testing and Continuity Verification - **Secondary:** Workflow Optimization for Restoration Projects, Cabinet and Mechanical Reassembly ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.75) — Cary expresses frustration with tedious soldering work and workflow challenges, but maintains enthusiasm for project completion. Satisfaction evident upon finishing major milestones (full wiring completion, successful testing). Professional and pragmatic tone throughout. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Detailed documentation of restoration workflow challenges and solutions suggests value for other restorers in community learning from methodology. (confidence: medium) — Cary explicitly identifies and articulates workflow optimization lesson (GI first, then solenoids/switches/flashers) for future projects, indicating knowledge sharing intent. - **[product_concern]** Soldering iron tips break frequently during restoration work, forcing improvisation with homemade tips from house wire gauge. (confidence: high) — Cary states tips 'essentially break' after heavy use and he's 'out of tips' so he's 'made my own' and will 'continue to do' this approach. --- ## Transcript This is my typical soldering gun for the work I'm doing here with the amount of soldering that I'm having to do. And I'm out of tips for it. I have made my own because after you use these a whole bunch they essentially break. Now I wish I had a thicker gauge but I'm just using your regular rigamarole gauge wire that you would have inside your house and forming my own soldering iron tips and that's what I'm going to continue to do moving on and this is where I'm at now the only thing left to do is the general illumination general illumination along with a couple of controlled lamps but this is essentially this strand right here for lighting but all the switches and flash bulbs and solenoids are wired up. Oh, man. A lot of work. A lot of tedious work. This is all kind of temporary right here. I've got some bigger rings coming in so I can actually have everything in the correct spot. So begins my general illumination journey. I almost wish I would have done this one first actually. I had decided to dig out all of the boards for the controlled lamps get them all cleaned up gave them a bath they're all back on to the machine it's playfield started to look pretty populated now. Alright, back to soldering. Here I am now with a nail gun, not nail gun, staple gun, and I'm stapling the leads from the pop bumper GI bolts onto the play field. Got them bent over right here so you can kind of see what I've got going on, maybe. so now they're all stapled down to the plate field now I'm just going to solder on the corresponding GI lines to these pop bumpers yay so just give you an idea of that's the size of staples and as far as how deep they are let's see if I can sheet one out. That is the size of the stables that I'm using. Those are probably about maybe a quarter inch deep. Just eyeballing it right there. Still working on the GI. So I've learned something and that is next time I'm I'm doing a full complete teardown rebuild backside of a playfield like this. And it's not necessarily the fact that it's a full teardown, but if I'm having to do soldering and everything like that, I'm going to make sure I do the GI line first. And then I'll do solenoid switches and flashers because now I've got my GI essentially in place, but I've got a lot of soldering to do and a lot of stuff is in the obstructing my view to get to it so this is gonna suck I did it I have wired the entire back of this playfield It is done Here we have GI switch solenoids everything is soldered on Now I still need to go through and do some organization when it comes to the wiring and stuff like that but at least everything is on the playfield and wired I think it's about time I get my hairs cut. Haircut accomplished. Now that I've got all of the wiring done, I want to confirm that all the wiring is going to be correct. I'm going to be doing a continuity check using my multimeter. I'll basically start from the top and work my way through. I'll attach this bad boy onto a particular lead. If I can do it with one hand it's going to be tricky, but basically I'll show you when I get it all hooked up. Now that I've got it on my lead, I should be able to go through every GI bulb. And a beep means it's got continuity from my initial GI line. So I can make sure that anything that has got brown has got continuity to where it needs to go. Got kind of worried on that one. but it looks like at least on this side of the play field i shouldn't have any continuity right here that's a different strand but this one i should yep so i've gone through almost all right the entire right side of the play field has continuity where it's supposed to And then I'll check the other side of the play field and I'll check the other strand accordingly as well to make sure that I don't have continuity where I'm not supposed to. I do not want to short. So that's just verification purposes on my part. And that's what I'm going to do now. Wiring has been completed Everything checks out tests out Wires are organized I still got to get some bigger uh wire clamps right here but i can do that down the road as of right now everything currently in place the way it's supposed to be underside should be completed so now i should be able to start working on top side again got some of the things already on here but now I can really start building it up all right now it's time to be mounting my wood rails and my back plate right here got these all painted polished ready to be mounted but I'm going to be enlarging my pilot holes now these holes match up identically to the previous old side rails all I need to do now is just drill them out to be a little bit girthier so that way there's less likely for an event of the wood to split whenever I'm actually putting the real size screws in there now if I was to put this in here it would go in but it's a pretty girthy screw for such a small little hole so I'm just going to go through my little bits here and find the appropriate size and then we'll get these things drilled out and mounted to the plate field and here we are now got the nice and shiny new side rails on i mean so shiny that you can actually see a reflection off of this and we are getting things put back together top side now While I'm waiting for Parks to come in for working on the play field, I figure, you know, it's been a couple years, I might want to pull out the cabinet just to see if there's anything else that needs to be done to this bad baby. That's what we're going to do now. _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d80d03b1-7c68-430b-989b-20251799e1b0*