# SDTM Cary Hardy: Saving Swords Of Fury Part VI

**Source:** Straight Down the Middle  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2020-10-21  
**Duration:** 11m 47s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86m9Ln-TtiI

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy continues restoration of a Swords of Fury pinball machine, focusing on backbox reconstruction and cabinet assembly. The episode covers detailed repair work including decal preparation, hardware installation, water damage remediation of the light panel, display restoration, LED conversion, and final cabinet assembly with leg brackets.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Metal shielding that spans the entire width of the backbox prevents side connection portions from being installed — _Cary discovered during backbox assembly that metal shielding blocks previously-prepared connection portions_
- [HIGH] Drilling holes for backbox sides was off by approximately 1/16 inch, requiring patch and sand work — _Cary identified measurement error during hardware installation phase_
- [HIGH] Light panel suffered water damage evidenced by swollen bulb sockets — _Cary observed visible water damage and swelling on bulb sockets requiring repair/replacement assessment_
- [HIGH] Cary converted the light panel to full LED during restoration — _Cary states 'fully LED, repainted the other side' during reassembly phase_

### Notable Quotes

> "Decals are the finishing touch, last thing that you're going to do to a cabinet or back box to make it complete."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~0:15
> _Establishes the restoration sequence hierarchy and current project phase_

> "I completely forgot that there's a metal shielding that goes right here. That metal shielding is Papa Duke much the entire width of the back box."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~1:00
> _Documents a significant design constraint discovered during backbox reconstruction that invalidated prior work_

> "So I'm thinking that these bulb sockets are going to be okay... I'm just hoping that these aren't so rusted up to where they don't have a good connection."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~7:30
> _Shows assessment uncertainty for water-damaged components and conditional repair strategy_

> "Fully LED, repainted the other side. Looks did. Let's put her in the machine."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~15:00
> _Confirms LED conversion completion and transition to installation phase_

> "Swords of Fury is now on all four legs. He stands again."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~18:30
> _Marks major restoration milestone - machine structure now fully reassembled_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Pinball machine restorer, host of Straight Down the Middle series, actively restoring Swords of Fury |
| Swords of Fury | game | Classic pinball machine being restored; subject of multi-part video series documenting full restoration process |
| Straight Down the Middle | organization | Pinball-focused podcast/video series hosted by Cary Hardy and Greg Bone featuring restoration and gameplay content |
| We Are Pinball | organization | Referenced by Cary as part of content production/organization context during light panel work |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball machine restoration techniques, Backbox reconstruction and assembly, Water damage remediation
- **Secondary:** LED conversion and modernization, Cabinet hardware installation, Vintage pinball preservation

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Cary exhibits frustration at design oversights and measurement errors but maintains constructive problem-solving tone. Ends on celebratory note with major restoration milestones achieved. Overall enthusiasm for the project remains high despite technical challenges.

### Signals

- **[product_concern]** Backbox original design had poorly-thought-out connection portions that conflict with internal metal shielding, suggesting original manufacturing had design flaws (confidence: high) — Cary discovered connection portions he prepared are incompatible with metal shielding that must span full backbox width
- **[restoration_signal]** Water damage on vintage light panel components threatens functionality; bulb socket corrosion may require replacement (confidence: high) — Cary observed swollen bulb sockets from water damage and expressed uncertainty about connection integrity
- **[technology_signal]** Cary is implementing LED conversion on vintage pinball machines as part of restoration strategy (confidence: medium) — Converted light panel to full LED during Swords of Fury restoration; also mentioned using LED upgrades on other machines

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## Transcript

[Music] all right so i've got my decals in and lo and behold i discover that i have forgotten to do quite a lot of things with this backbox before i can go applying the decals decals are the finishing touch last thing that you're going to do to a cabinet or backbox to make it complete and my self forgot that hey you know what uh i don't have any of my screw holes or anything for the hardware that's gonna have to be connected to this backbox in order for it to be able to be a backbox and uh i then found out that uh i made portions to connect sides of the backbox together that don't even need to be there i i completely forgot that there's a metal shielding that goes right here that metal shielding is pretty much the entire width of the backbox so with these being in here uh they were the metal plate was not able to actually slide in place so luckily i didn't uh nail and screw those in otherwise that'd be a pain in the ass i did that so and then uh whenever i was drilling the holes for the side here i was about a sixteenth of an inch off so i've got that patched and i gotta sand that flat now uh but the screw holes everything is where it needs to be now i've mounted all the hardware in here and connected the backbox all the stuff up to make sure that everything was going to be fitting in here and we should be good now so i've taken everything back out now i've got to go back to doing the portions of you know sanding and then you know painting and stuff like that just to get things just to look a little bit nicer and then we can hopefully then move on to getting everything back in there and getting the decals on we should be good to go got the patchwork and everything done got it all cleaned up and now we're going to be installing all of the items that were in here before all right got to the point where i've got everything back in there grounding strap is where it needs to be so now it's just a matter of using my staple gun to what is my psi set to all right cranked it up a little bit let's try it again there we go all right and then we'll just uh continue that trend yep get it all done down here and then we'll move on all right got one side on just need to take the exacto knife now and find the holes for the there's one right there i'll take the exacto to cut out a hole there and there should be one about three inches over here yep those two holes and there'll be two more up here cut those out put the bolts through and i'll be able to start working on these two things yay [Music] we are outside working with the light panel now i've already got all the metal and all the boards removed next process is for me to remove everything else now i'm gonna have to repair this right here i'm thinking that these bulb sockets are going to be okay i mean it's obviously we've got water damage due to this all being swelled up that's why i'm even removing all this because i'm going to repair this and i'm just hoping that these aren't so rusted up to where they don't have a good connection at all to where they don't work otherwise i'm gonna have to get some new bulb sockets put in place um but this one definitely needs to be repaired for it to even work have a chance to work so now i'm basically gonna take a lot of pictures and i'll be able to remove all these out and i'll probably just be able to just remove it where it stands and then just drag it over onto something else like a piece of cardboard or whatever and once i get it all nice and clean and repainted and everything and i should be able to just drag it back over and just staple down where it used to be i think i got on those tables for it got the wiring harness removed i've gone through and pulled up every staple at least by one end so this should all be pretty loose now i'm going to get the remaining staples out by pulling all of them out and then this should just slide right on off all right got this first strand of the gi completely removed all the staples so these should all come up with ease [Music] like so and then i can just pick this up move it over and then start working on the next strand in case anybody needs a visual on how i go about pulling these things out essentially you just grab right here and then just roll the pliers over and then it comes right out just like that and here we have it all clear ready for sanding see if we can make this thing look new again got the light panel drying while i'm working on that i'm now going to be working on the display portion and uh gotta get all this basically taken apart get everything all cleaned up and put back together again probably even i'll try cleaning this to see how well it cleans up i doubt it will so i'll end up having to uh paint it again shut up and we'll see how it goes from there all right beginning the reassembly process i've gotten all the metal back on here i didn't do like a a really badass polishing on this type of job but basically just kind of cleaned off all the the rough and rusted stuff and residual and everything like that and we no longer have any weak wooden it's been sealed sanded or sanded and sealed and then like painted you know um this is definitely a hell of a lot better than what it was and i got all the first lights set in place now all i gotta do is just staple this down and then do the other set and this baby is done led and ready to go into the machine blasphemy there we go man that's a close one all right so fully led repainted the other side looks a hell of a lot better than what it did let's put her in the machine and here we have box light panel is in the place and all i need to do now is get this cleaned up and set the sucker in there and we should have a complete backbox and there we go guys backbox is officially done all right now the backbox is done it's time to make this thing look sexy as well hopefully i don't know we'll see we gotta get her all cleaned out first yay let's get this thing up on its legs now uh first up i need to put the leg armor and the other stuff on here uh that's on other videos all right swords of fury is now on all four legs he stands again we have got the heavy duty leg brackets holders right there for your cabinet so those are right there i put them on all my machines now as well as the metal spacing in between the cabinet and the leg on all four now it's time to start putting the remainder hardware inside this cabinet [Music]

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e4159596-7b6c-46cb-9d53-0b5906179f91*