Batman '89 Pinball Overhaul: Episode 3

Cary Hardy·video·13m 17s·analyzed·Oct 9, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Batman '89 restoration: trough cleaning, power supply recap analysis, ramp flame polishing prep, pop bumper service.

Summary

Cary Hardy documents Episode 3 of a Batman '89 pinball machine restoration, focusing on cleaning and refurbishing the trough, power supply evaluation, ramp restoration via flame polishing, and pop bumper removal. The video details technical restoration work including capacitor replacement recommendations, metal polishing techniques, and acrylic ramp preparation, demonstrating hands-on pinball repair methodology.

Key Claims

Data East power supply C2 and C7 capacitors are the most common failure points, with C2 nearly guaranteed to be leaking on all old Data East games
high confidence · Cary Hardy examining Batman '89 power supply, direct statement about C2/C7 being most common failure points and C2 'guaranteed' to be leaking
A full power supply replacement is more cost-effective and reliable than rebuilding a Data East power supply given modern component quality
high confidence · Cary Hardy assessment: 'with all the work that would need to be done to this to make it reliable, you're on par with just buying a whole new power supply. And the whole new power supply is going to be much more reliable'
The Batman '89 machine had likely never had its trough removed since original manufacturing
high confidence · Cary Hardy: 'It's probably the first time it's been removed since you know the game was built'
Novus II is effective as an abrasive cleaner for pinball machine components
medium confidence · Cary Hardy: 'I just happened to grab a bottle of Novus II right there. That does pretty good on getting a lot of that stuff up. It's a little bit of an abrasive.'
Data East sockets show evidence of previous reflowing and soldering work that is inadequately contacted to the board
high confidence · Cary Hardy examining power supply back: 'These aren't even on any kind of contact, So basically the socket is what's holding this thing on on the other side. There's nothing back here.'

Notable Quotes

“It's probably the first time it's been removed since you know the game was built.”
Cary Hardy @ 0:10 — Establishes the age and original condition of the machine being worked on
“C2, I'm guaranteeing you that thing on all your Data East games. If you have an old Data East power supply in your game right now, and you have never touched your power supply since that game was made, this thing is probably leaking.”
Cary Hardy @ 4:45 — Technical diagnostic insight about common Data East power supply failure patterns with high confidence
“with all the work that would need to be done to this to make it reliable, you're on par with just buying a whole new power supply.”
Cary Hardy @ 5:45 — Economic assessment of restoration vs replacement for aging power supplies
“All these traces are sus, at best.”
Cary Hardy @ 5:20 — Assessment of power supply board trace quality and condition
“flame polishing isn't going to get you a perfect looking ramp but it's definitely gonna make it look a lot better than what it did before”
Cary Hardy @ 9:30 — Explanation of realistic expectations for ramp restoration technique

Entities

Cary HardypersonBatman '89gameData EastcompanyNovus IIproductMeguiar's All Metal Polishproduct

Signals

?
product_concern: Data East power supply sockets show evidence of inadequate soldering and prior repair attempts with insufficient electrical contact
high · Cary Hardy examining power supply: 'These aren't even on any kind of contact, So basically the socket is what's holding this thing on on the other side. There's nothing back here.'
?
product_concern: Data East power supply capacitors (C2, C7) are systematically failing across aging machines; C2 capacitor failure is nearly universal in unserviced Data East games
high · Cary Hardy: 'C2, I'm guaranteeing you that thing on all your Data East games... this thing is probably leaking. Check it.' and 'It is very common for your four main ones right here to be leaking. But not as common as this son of a bitch right here.'
?
technology_signal: Data East power supply design and manufacturing quality problematic enough that full replacement is more economical and reliable than repair
high · Cary Hardy: 'with all the work that would need to be done to this to make it reliable, you're on par with just buying a whole new power supply. And the whole new power supply is going to be much more reliable than a rebuilt data ease power supply'

Topics

Power supply restoration and failure analysisprimaryData East electronics reliability and common failure pointsprimaryAcrylic ramp restoration and flame polishing techniqueprimaryTrough and ball contact surface cleaning methodologyprimaryPop bumper service and maintenancesecondaryPinball machine restoration tools and products (Novus, Meguiar's)secondary

Sentiment

neutral(0.5)— Cary Hardy maintains professional, matter-of-fact tone throughout restoration work; expresses concern about component quality but no emotional judgment; practical problem-solving focus with occasional humor ('nasty', 'damn sure')

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.040

I have removed the trough and in case you're curious this is what it looks like. It's probably the first time it's been removed since you know the game was built. So we're gonna get all this cleaned up because you know anywhere the ball touches needs to be clean otherwise we're just gonna be getting it dirty all over again. This is merely just after a moderate cleaning. I just happened to grab a bottle of Novus II right there. That does pretty good on getting a lot of that stuff up. It's a little bit of an abrasive. We're going to get some steel wool and we're really going to get this all nice and cleaned up. It can look better than this, that's for damn sure. In case you're curious, I'm using my Meguiar's All Metal Polish. and uh yep it's doing pretty good on cleaning this stuff up so much smoother I mean it's not polished to like a chrome finish or anything but we're definitely not going to be picking up any dirt or debris and putting on the playfield anymore that's for damn sure this is the museum scoop right here so got this all taken off the bottom and And then we'll also get that plate up there all polished up. But we're definitely going to get this all cleaned up. What, like a little racing strap going on right here? No, sir. All right, so this is looking a lot cleaner. It's definitely a lot smoother, silky smooth for the ball. That buck support's all cleaned up. I guess we'll take this boy out and get this all cleaned up now. Alright, let's try to... I don't know, we'll see if we can do this in real time or not. But this is where we're at right now on this one. Just pulled it out. and that's just going over with the steel wool pad right there that already looks a hell of a lot better as it is getting all the rough stuff off and then we take the metal polish Shouldn take too much Look at all that nasty. Look at that. Almost a mirror finish. Almost. Alright, time to reinstall it. Alright guys, so this is where we're at. Pulled this power supply thinking like alright, well, let's figure out what all I'm gonna need and Start ordering some parts, you know when it comes to recapping it all abuse clips because you know data East views clips are Known to be crappy at this date and time but these surprisingly so far seem pretty tough, so that's different but But definitely wouldn't have to. Just go over what all work would be required for this. So definitely a recap. If not a full recap, you need to be replacing C2 and C7. These are your two most common capacitors that are leaking. Now it is very common for your four main ones right here to be leaking. But not as common as this son of a bitch right here. C2, I'm guaranteeing you that thing. on all your Data East games. If you have an old Data East power supply in your game right now, and you have never touched your power supply since that game was made, this thing is probably leaking. Check it. So along with all that, I've got whatever this is going on there. Not really sure. Along with what looks to be some stuff going on here. Then, looks like we've got this in a socket, so that's nice. But, this is just all topside. Now, by turning on the back, this is where all the fun's really at. All these traces are sus, at best. Then, you've got some reflowing and some soldering that's been done here in the past. These aren't even on any kind of contact, So basically the socket is what's holding this thing on on the other side. There's nothing back here. So I don't like that. And you got some reflowing that needs to be done on all this. This has been done. So with all the work that would need to be done to this to make it reliable, you're on par with just buying a whole new power supply. And the whole new power supply is going to be much more reliable than a rebuilt data ease power supply when it comes to the type of components that are created this day and age So I have recommended that the owner of Batman get a new power supply and he has agreed So this thing will not be going back in the machine. All right. The biggest piece of this whole puzzle is this ramp. we're going to try to make this ramp look pretty good overall so first things first we're going to need to strip it all down what i see is a perk is that there's no rivets the only rivets i'm seeing are on the actual flap down here itself and the flap that's over here which is good so every other component that's on here can just be unscrewed and removed off of the office so that's nice so let's get started let's get you some close-ups of what this thing looks like right now let me get it to where you can see through it how dirty it currently is so we're getting all new stickers for this ramp so that makes it to where I'm gonna be able to flame polish this thing and make it look a lot better and get all this down here we'll see if we can get rid of a lot of these ball trails and just make things look a lot better overall there are some cracks that are starting to show around this area right here so I definitely need to be careful in handling this got some curling up with decals right here not too uncommon for around the corners but uh yeah let's start stripping this thing down Thank you. Okay, so all the hardware has been removed from this ramp. Now comes the interesting part of removing all the stickers on the back. Looks like we got some stickers on the front as well. all right so pretty much everything been stripped off but that foam in the corner right there but just want to give you the current status of it before I do the thorough cleaning that gonna take a little bit of time here so this is the condition of that ramp on the entrance right here seeing some better days they've got lots of a decal residual as well as tape residual that was used right here to repair said ramp but uh i want to get some good before footage so that way you can see how good it looks afterwards with the flame polishing and all that all right so flame polishing isn't going to get you a perfect looking ramp but it's definitely gonna make it look a lot better than what it did before if you do it correctly you just need to be careful I typically like to set the ramp up like how it's gonna be on the playfield that way I know that everything is gonna be level and I'm not gonna get any droop or sag just by sitting it on a table or something like that so I've kind of got a little rigged right here for right now but as you can see it's better than what it was but it's definitely not you know new but once again John Youssi what I have to work with it's a old busted ramp and I'm gonna have to see what I can do to make this a little bit more rigid they had some cardboard or whatever I think I'm gonna get something a little bit stronger right there make that look a little bit better but uh doesn't look too bad All right, it's time to remove the pop bumpers and get them all cleaned up and rebuilt. Got three of them. So, this is the part that I don't really have fun with. So, I'm going to be putting something on the phone and watching while I do this task. you