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Part 4: 1985 Pinstar Gamatron Project! Drilling gone wrong!

Pinball Shenanigans·video·32m 45s·analyzed·Aug 28, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Gamatron playfield LED install and plastic assembly; drilling error corrected mid-project.

Summary

Mike Dus continues restoration of a 1985 Pinstar Gamatron, focusing on playfield work including LED installation, plastic assembly, and spinners. The episode documents both successes (cabinet refinishing, LED population) and a significant drilling mistake that chipped the playfield, which he remedied with touch-up markers and switched to filing methodology.

Key Claims

  • Only two original Gamatron parts salvaged from cabinet; rest rebuilt new

    high confidence · Kevin explicitly identifies salvaged vs. new pieces during walkthrough: 'These two were the salvage pieces. Okay. So you didn't have to do the notch on this one.'

  • This restoration will be 'one of the nicest Gamutrons in existence' due to rarity

    high confidence · Dutch states: 'This is literally going to be one of the nicest gamutrons in existence. I mean, there's not that many of them out there, but still.'

  • Drilling holes for LEDs successfully worked on previous Gottlieb System 80 playfields (Mars God of War or Black Hole)

    medium confidence · Mike notes: 'I did this for maybe like 10 or 15 lamps, socket holes on a Gotle System 80 playfield. I'm pretty sure it was Mars God or Black Hole. And it went perfectly.'

  • Silicone post rubbers ordered instead of rubber; Mike converted to preferring silicone

    high confidence · Mike discusses post rubbers: 'I used to just love the um rubber posts, but these are silicone. And you know what? They're nice and white. And um I haven't really used them much before, but I ordered a 100 and they came silicone. I was expecting rubber, but I'm converted. I like them now.'

  • Gamatron playfield has three layers of plastics, posts, and spacers to reassemble

    high confidence · Mike works through 'layer one,' 'layer two,' and 'layer three' of plastic assembly during speedup montage.

Notable Quotes

  • “This is literally going to be one of the nicest gamutrons in existence. I mean, there's not that many of them out there, but still.”

    Dutch @ ~2:30 — Validates rarity and quality of this specific restoration project.

  • “You were like a master of all trades. The woodworking, the painting, the speckling.”

    Dutch @ ~1:00 — Acknowledges Kevin's multi-disciplinary restoration skills across cabinet work.

  • “Well, that went bad. That went bad. Yep. Very, very bad.”

    Mike Dus @ ~19:00 — Marks the drilling error moment; learning point about tool methodology for playfield work.

  • “Lesson learned there. Uh, I did this for maybe like 10 or 15 lamps, socket holes on a Gotle System 80 playfield. I'm pretty sure it was Mars God or Black Hole. And it went perfectly.”

    Mike Dus @ ~21:00 — Shows prior success with same technique on other machines; implies confidence level was unjustified on this playfield.

  • “If that uh little chip of wood there traumatized you, then I recommend you don't look right there or right there or right there or right here or right here or right here.”

    Mike Dus @ ~26:00 — Humorous acknowledgment that minor playfield damage from general restoration work is commonplace.

  • “I used to just love the um rubber posts, but these are silicone. And you know what? They're nice and white. And um I haven't really used them much before, but I ordered a 100 and they came silicone. I was expecting rubber, but I'm converted. I like them now.”

    Mike Dus @ ~56:00 — Product preference signal; suggests silicone is becoming standard or preferred over traditional rubber in restoration community.

Entities

Mike DuspersonDutchpersonKevinpersonBigfoot BrucepersonPinstar GamatrongameGrazley GaragecompanyPinball ShenanigansorganizationFlight 2000gameGottlieb System 80 (Mars God of War / Black Hole)game

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Specialized aftermarket decal creators (Bigfoot Bruce) actively supporting restoration community with custom reproduction parts.

    high · Mike scans worn spinner decal, sends to Bigfoot Bruce for reproduction; treatment as normal workflow part of restoration.

  • ?

    product_strategy: LED retrofitting on 1980s playfields becoming standard restoration practice with established methodology (drilling/filing socket holes).

    high · Mike successfully performed similar work on multiple Gottlieb System 80 playfields; treats LED population as routine upgrade path.

  • ?

    product_concern: Playfield damage (minor chipping from tool work) treated as cosmetically acceptable when under plastics; normalizes minor restoration imperfections.

    high · Mike applies touch-up marker to hide drilling chip, states 'you won't be able to see that' and jokes about other similar hidden damage areas.

  • ?

    technology_signal: Silicone post rubbers increasingly used in restoration work, preferred over traditional rubber by at least one major community content creator.

    medium · Mike ordered 100 silicone rubbers expecting rubber; explicitly converted to preferring silicone: 'I'm converted. I like them now.'

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:03
Time to check out Gamatron for the first time live. Can kind of see it in my peripheral, Can kind of see it in my peripheral, but here it is. Yeah, that turned out but here it is. Yeah, that turned out awesome. The white uh spatter The white uh spatter that really took it to the next level. It looks outer spacey now, but it makes it like uh more of a 3D look to it, right? It just look very 2D without that. Yeah. Sup, Dutch? Sup, Dutch? Yo, what do you think of this? Yo, what do you think of this? It reminds me of those8s Lego Spaceman. It reminds me of those8s Lego Spaceman. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Quick, editor, put a picture of 80s Quick, editor, put a picture of 80s spaceman Lego on the screen now. '8s Lego Spaceman. '8s Lego Spaceman. See what I mean? See what I mean? See? Yeah, I I see exactly what you mean See? Yeah, I I see exactly what you mean now. That looks awesome, dude. You um are a you know there's the saying you're a jack of all trades but a master of none. You were like a master of all trades. The woodworking, the painting, the the speckling. Turn out pretty cool. Turn out pretty cool. Yeah. This is I say this with almost all Yeah. This is I say this with almost all of your restorations, if not all of them. This is literally going to be one of the nicest gamutrons in existence. I mean, there's not that many of them out there, but still. Can't believe the head's in one piece. Can't believe the head's in one piece. Yeah, the head turned out like new. Yeah, the head turned out like new. Better than new. Better than new. This This is old and this is old. This This is old and this is old. That's all that was salvaged. This piece That's all that was salvaged. This piece and this piece. Actually, these two pieces I just Actually, these two pieces I just Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. So, but new back, new bottom, new front, So, but new back, new bottom, new front, new side, other side trim. new side, other side trim. Yeah. Yeah. This piece you said too, right? Uh this piece. this piece. These two were the salvage pieces. Okay. These two were the salvage pieces. Okay. So you didn't have to do the notch on this one. No, I've done that before. This side. No, I've done that before. This side. This side at the bottom. This This those that
2:05
uh you've been working at this I feel like full-time, maybe double time for a week straight. But this you've only had this for about a week. We got this last Sunday. We got this last Sunday. Yeah. Oh yeah. We brought this here on Yeah. Oh yeah. We brought this here on your birthday. You're now like 19 and 10 days old. How do you feel? 19 years and 10 days. 19 years and 10 days. And what he said. And what he said. Yeah. How does Dan Shhatik feel? How old Yeah. How does Dan Shhatik feel? How old are you? Older. Older. When's your birthday? When's your birthday? Uh, coming up very soon. A big one. Uh, coming up very soon. A big one. Oh, is it? Oh, is it? Yeah. Starts with a six. Yeah. Starts with a six. Oh, snap. Oh, snap. Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to have a pinball party at We'll have to have a pinball party at your place. Hey, there you go. Hey, there you go. He has a pinball party at his place. He has a pinball party at his place. We'll do something. Have you kind of put We'll do something. Have you kind of put the back glass in the head to sort of see? Yeah, it looks good. Yeah, it looks good. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want to see what this looks like cuz I want to see what this looks like cuz then we can match up the blues. Yeah. Yeah. Trim otherwise it just be stuck in Trim otherwise it just be stuck in there. Oh, that looks amazing. Oh, that looks amazing. The color scheme that we drew out worked perfectly. That is awesome. Okay, so now got to get back to the playfield. I'm Mike Dus and this is Pinball I'm Mike Dus and this is Pinball Shenanigans.
3:26
[Music] All right, back to the playfield. So, when I paid Kevin a visit there, I borrowed a couple tools off him. We got some big ass drill bits and some files because for me to really progress, I need to install LEDs. And if you watch the previous video, then you know these particular LEDs don't fit. six of them here and then two of them over here. So, like I did with the previous machine in the past, just going to drill out the holes just a little bit. Look, that is just a tiny bit bigger than what is there. And that should do the trick. The only problem is that these holes here are so close to the saucer that um that's why I have the files. I think what I'm going to do is try and just file the leftmost side of the hole here and the rightmost side of the hole here cuz I don't want to get into uh that saucer there and mess with that at all. So, that'll be a little trickier. These should go pretty smoothly.
5:03
It's a little scary doing it. I don't want to tear up any chunks of wood. Oh, hold on. Hold on. We got the inspector coming down. Hi, Ellie. How are you today? Are you being a good kitty? Oh, that's nice. Well, the tracker that we got for you was just a color and there was no tracker on it. So, we had to return it and order an actual tracker. We got a little bamboozled there. So, even though the tracker is not going to solve the problem of you going on an adventure, we'll at least know where you are going on your adventures and where to find you. But anyway, I'll get back to work. Okay, you go do your thing. Hey fellow shenaniganders, if you are enjoying what you are seeing, why don't you click on these three dots at the bottom of any video and then find this heart. Click on that and hey, look at this. You can buy me a beer. You can use the slider to buy me 500 beers if you really like. But this is a way you can uh send thanks and I very much appreciate your support. If you do so, your comment will be highlighted and also I will give you a shout out. So, thank you for all your support. So, I may like put tape over the holes and then drill. Probably I'm going to have to remove the sockets or else I may mangle those. So, we're going to kind of just wing it and see what happens here. So, uh wish me luck. I'll set up the tripod and you can watch me uh succeed or fail. Okay, this is a little terrifying to bust out the big drill cuz the bit barely fits in it. Got a little tape here. I didn't even um move the socket yet. I just want to like give it a try and see what happens. Kind of want to try on another playfield though first, but I don't know. Let's uh set this to two, right? Drill faster. Okay, here goes nothing.
7:30
Well, that went bad. That went bad. Yep. Very, very bad. So
7:40
damage was done and um probably should have tried on another playfield first. So learn from my mistakes. It worked so well in the last playfield I did. All right, I'm going to need to uh figure out what I did wrong there and how I can fix that. So, I will be back. Okay, so I removed the socket and maybe I should just try the old
8:27
Okay. Yeah, I think that might work. Although the drilling did kind of work. Let's see. Yeah, except it chipped up the playfield, which I don't love obviously.
8:48
But fortunately, that area is under a plastic. And with a little bit of black touch-up marker, you won't be able to see that, but lesson learned there. Uh, I did this for maybe like 10 or 15 lamps, socket holes on a Gotle System 80 playfield. I'm pretty sure it was Mars God or Black Hole. And it went perfectly. So, I had some confidence going into this. But, uh, I guess I won't be using the drill on this. But, look at that. All right. I think I'll just like remove sockets and file and uh, not destroy the playfield moving forward. All right. Let's see if I can uh, kind of fix my mistake here a little bit. The good old deco marker by
10:20
this will just be our little secret. Only me and you will know about this. And um looks brand new again, don't you think? All right, look at that. Socket installed, bulb installed, and I'd say uh I am happy with the result, minus the little chip. So, I'm gonna just fight with the rest of these sockets. I'm just going to use the file treatment. I'm not going to be chipping up any more playfield. Don't you worry. So, I'll uh report back when I am done. All right. So, I'm having success here with the file. Just remove the socket and gently file away. You can see I've got three bulbs done and we got five more to go. It's going to take a little bit of time, but that's just fine. And if that uh little chip of wood there traumatized you, then I recommend you don't look right there or right there or right there or right here or right here or right here. Oh my god. And you know, so what about that? Is that traumatizing, too? Just the act of removing the screws from the star posts can cause similar damage, but uh it's under the star post, so you can sleep at night tonight, boys and girls. All right, check it out. The machine, the playfield. is fully LED now. Well, except for this pop bumper. These guys are good. And um that is exciting because that means I can finish populating the playfield with these clear plastics and the colored plastics. They really used a lot of these bell posts on this game.
12:44
And that's pretty much it for top side of the playfield. I got to repair that. That's no biggie. I use a little myar and some crazy glue. But uh that's really it. Like few plastics and some spacers and posts. playfield is going to be done just like that. Well, top side. Then we got to go work on the bottom side and deal with some mechanical stuff. But you guys don't even know what color I picked for LEDs yet. Did I go warm white to emulate the old incandescent look or did I go natural kind of cool white to emulate outer spacey roboty look? We'll just have to wait and see and hopefully when I plug all this crap in it actually works. Okay, so just starting on the um clear plastics and cleaning up all the posts. These posts pretty much just pop out of here. They're just in there pretty loosely. So, that made for easy cleaning. And this is what one looks like installed.
14:01
So, I'm going to just keep plugging away at that. Here's a little bit of before of what the plastics look like
14:16
and a little bit of the after. They are cleaning up nicely. There might be a tiniest little chip there. I don't know for sure. I could check the other gamutron, but other than that,
14:32
and the one little corner piece that I've got to replace or repair, well, this is technically broken in half, but don't really see that as being an issue. Uh, the plastics are in 9.5 out of 10 shape. Let's see. Where's that other skinny plastic? Uh, right here. No, wait. Which one was I looking at now? Was it this piece? I got to go double check again. No, it wasn't that piece. It's this piece. Let's just bring that over and see cuz I'll steal it. I will steal it if I think I want to. Ah, well that side is good. And let's line this up.
15:36
It might have uh an eighth of an inch snapped off there. So, I don't think I'll steal it. I think it's just fine. So, got to deal with this um puzzle of spacers and posts now. Okay, layer one is done. Had to move my clamp over to work on layer two here. And then we'll work on layer three. Yes, that's right. Three layers of fun, but uh it's happening. Okay, I got my first little hiccup here. Oh, this is my placeholder for my screws to line up the plastic to the post to the plastic to the post, the playfield hole. So, that's a handy little trick I just uh employed. So, check this out. This plastic here goes like that. And this lines up perfectly. This nowhere close. So
16:56
I need to um just make a hole or two a little bigger. I mean some post is not aligned exactly the way it was before. So I could try and loosen posts and shuffle it around again. And then tighten posts. That may work. Oh, wait. You know what? Maybe uh it was just the bottom wasn't aligned the whole time. See, look at that. Boom. Look at that. Shenanigans, I tell you. So, now I need to uh
17:34
I need to insert all of my posts and screws. And I got to remember where all the screws go because not every hole gets a screw. Well, clearly these do not. So, that makes it a little easier. But, you know, it's a little tricky, but it's a fun little puzzle. Uh, but I got to clean these first. They're dirty. All right. I know you want to come along for this fun. So, uh, let's, uh, speed up the video and add in some audio and, uh, let's have some fun. Installing screws and bell posts. [Music]
18:20
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
18:55
Okay, I feel like making some good headway here, but somehow I'm missing uh bell post or I'm using one where it shouldn't be wrong place. So, fortunately, I took lots of photos and I have a second gamutron playfield to reference. So, before I start screwing all this down, I got to figure out what's going on. Okay, so using the other playfield as a reference, the only thing that actually makes sense, which doesn't really make any sense at all, is that I am missing two bell posts. One here and one here. Everywhere there is a bell post without a screw on top gets stacked. So not here, not here, not here, and not here. Everyone else should be doubled. So, somehow, I don't know how I am missing two. But fortunately, I've got a little bin full of spacers and whatnot. Look, here's another one. But this is pretty damn rusty. But I just added I think this recently into my bin. So, these guys are in a little more snug. I don't know that they're going to want to just pop out. So, I'm going to have to do the trick. All right. Here is the trick. Take your soldering iron. Pliers. Stick it in the hole. We're warming up the plastic around it. And you pry. And voila, out it comes. Don't grab the post right away cuz uh it won't feel good. Just need a little extra help on this one. There we go. And try not to uh get too much plastic on your soldering tip. But good thing I bought this. So, there we go. Two nice looking posts. Give them a clean and uh install those. Uh hopefully I don't have to freaking like to reinstall them. Sometimes you have to heat up the plastic. I don't really want to uninstall everything to do that. So, hopefully they fit without too much trouble. If they pose a problem, then I'll just, I don't know, Dremel out the hole in the existing plastic or even try and squeeze this tab just a little bit. All right, sure enough, the plastic does not want to fit over this bell post. So, I'm going to do this right on the playfield. See if this works. Just want to apply some downward pressure
21:52
while heating it up. And hopefully I don't burn myself. I just kind of hear a little click. Nope. Let's uh get both hands in the mix here.
22:15
Heat up this post a little bit more. This is Oh yeah, there it is. Boom. I felt the click. Okay, now the next layer. That's a before it looks like. And they're different like pan head screws, too. So, they want to go nice and flush. So, these are going to want to go like this. So that means all these other spots can get screws now. So I will do that and then um deal with this guy.
23:00
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] All right, one more layer to go. [Music] [Applause]
24:21
Okay, time to do a little surgery on my corner plastic. So, piece of myar and some crazy glue. Now, this is from the dollar store and it's advertised as thick gel superglue, but half the time it's liquid, so you never know. Let's find out. I just cracked this thing open. Let's give it a squeeze. Oh my god. Is it actually thick gel this time? Sweet. Okay, I like the thick gel. I don't get it all over myself as easily. So, now we just add that into the mix.
25:16
And then place this piece ever so perfectly. I kind of want to wipe that up, but Oh, I'm getting glue all over my desk. Hold on. Hold on.
25:49
I can almost never work with crazy glue without getting it on my fingers somewhere. Hold on. Hold on. My tube is leaking. I got to deal with my tube. Okay. Now, if I store that I think this way, then it should still be good. Try to get more than one use out of these things if I can. It's not always possible. So, how do we get rid of a little bit of glue on there without spreading it around?
26:34
kind of worked a little bit. You know what? I think I'm not going to mess with it anymore. So, it may dry like a little bit hazy. If it has a ridge there, I'm not going to be too sad about it. I don't know. Maybe I will wipe it down. But either way, that is a successful surgery. Okay, time to install the plastics and post rubbers. And then we're darn near done. I just adjusted all of the um slingshot switches, all three of them. And let's see where all this stuff goes. That looks like it should go there.
27:32
It's being a little stubborn just cuz spinner bracket might be in the way a little bit. And this guy goes Where does this guy go?
28:03
slingshot. Two more plastics to go. That guy. This long skinny guy. Which way did he go? I think like this.
28:17
I can't put the other corner plastic on because the clamp is in the way. But, uh, let me speed this up. [Music]
28:36
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] All right, that is pretty much done. Pretty happy with how it all turned out.
29:01
I used to just love the um rubber posts, but these are silicone. And you know what? They're nice and white. And um I haven't really used them much before, but I ordered a 100 and they came silicone. I was expecting rubber, but I'm converted. I like them now. So, the only thing I don't really love too much is a bit of a warp in this plastic, but because it's clear, don't really matter much. a little bit of a, you know, couple bows here, but I don't know that warrants sticking them in the oven. So, I'm just going to leave those. So, playfield is basically 90% done. Next thing I'm going to do is um take apart the spinner mechs, clean them up, send a scan over to Bigfoot Bruce, who's going to kindly make me a new decal or two, and then uh might be done the top side. I might be time to flip this playfield over. All right, got one spinner removed and cleaned up.
30:19
And um Oops. It's in real nice shape. Look at that. I didn't even put any super lube on it yet. And that washer is not in the right spot. But I'm looking forward to ripping this bad boy. Sits so pretty, too. Look at this. It's like perfect. So, I don't know if there's a way I can salvage the other spinner decal cuz it is just black. I could maybe touch up the bottom. Then I wouldn't have to get new. Here's part of the problem. To get this spinner out, I really need to pry on this very thick metal bracket to pop this out so I can scan this. And uh I gave it a bit of a try and I I don't know. I don't want to break anything. I don't want to break an arm off. I did that on my big game and uh still crying about that. So I don't know. We'll see uh what the other spinner looks like. All right. So I was able to get the spinner out. I did just pry because it is in pretty rough shape and I think it wouldn't hurt to install a new decal on this guy. So, I clean this up. I scan it, send it over to Brucey, and then um probably reinstall it. I think I can put a spinner decal on with everything installed. And uh try not to lose my little nylon washers. Okay, got all this cleaned up. Got most of the rust off.
32:13
And I scanned the decal. Send it over to Bigfoot Bruce and see what he says about it. And I'm wrapping up this video for now. But this guy's installed. And like I said, he's resting perfectly, spinning wonderfully. And I haven't even put any super lube on yet. But once the other guy's installed, then I'll do that. But, uh, that is a solid little dent in the project for tonight. So, that is a wrap.