Earthshaker Pinball Restoration: Episode 4

Cary Hardy·video·12m 19s·analyzed·Mar 13, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.013

TL;DR

Earthshaker restoration progresses through playfield assembly with ramp fitment challenges and successful smoke test.

Summary

Cary Hardy documents the restoration of an Earthshaker pinball machine, progressing from rubber and plastic installation through ramp assembly and initial functional testing. The episode covers challenges with reproduction ramp fitting, switch calibration issues, and a successful smoke test, with Hardy expressing uncertainty about completing the restoration in time for the Texas Pinball Festival.

Key Claims

Reproduction ramps have an extra lip that makes them stronger but interferes with original hardware mounting
high confidence · Hardy directly observes and documents the thickness difference between original and repro ramps, requiring modifications to fit properly
Pop bumper leaf switches required sensitivity adjustment and were either too sensitive or not reacting consistently
high confidence · Hardy explicitly states he had to adjust 'pretty much all of my leaf switches for my pop bumpers' during testing
The left slingshot wasn't working due to diode soldering error on incorrect lead
high confidence · Hardy identifies and corrects the soldering issue, confirming the fix resolves the problem
Hardy is uncertain about completing the restoration in time for Texas Pinball Festival and doesn't expect best-in-show, aiming for 80s category only
high confidence · Direct statement near end of video expressing doubt about show readiness and timeline

Notable Quotes

“This is why we test everything ladies and gentlemen because you want to make sure you don't have crap like that whenever you're fully assembled into the cabinet”
Cary Hardy@ 4:03 — Emphasizes importance of testing components before full assembly; reflects professional restoration approach
“I mean, these things are never going to break. but what sucks about this is how it changes the ability for me to mount the original hardware in comparison to this”
Cary Hardy@ 6:47 — Acknowledges durability trade-off of reproduction parts versus fitment compatibility challenges
“I honestly don't know, guys, if I'm going to have enough time to have this thing show worthy for Texas Pinball Festival”
Cary Hardy@ 11:32 — Indicates time pressure and realistic assessment of restoration completion timeline

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Earthshakergame Titancompany Texas Pinball FestivaleventTPF Swap Meetevent

Signals

?
event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival restoration deadline creating time pressure; restorer uncertain about completion timeline and show-readiness
high · Hardy explicitly states uncertainty about making Texas Pinball Festival deadline and expresses doubt about achieving even category placement rather than best-in-show
?
product_strategy: Reproduction ramps feature extra structural lip for durability but create fitment incompatibility with original hardware, requiring field modifications and heat-forming to achieve proper alignment
high · Hardy demonstrates thickness difference between original and repro ramps, documents need for shaving inner portions and heat treatment to make original brackets fit
?
product_concern: Reproduction plastic components require manual adjustment and fitment work; original mounting hardware geometry doesn't align with thicker reproduction parts
high · Multiple instances of trimming, shaving, and heat-forming required to fit reproduction parts with original hardware; ramp molding too long requiring trimming

Topics

Reproduction parts compatibility and fitment challengesprimaryPlayfield restoration and assembly processprimarySwitch calibration and electrical troubleshootingprimarySmoke testing and functional validationprimaryTournament/show preparation timelinesecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Hardy expresses satisfaction with progress and functionality ("so fresh so clean clean", positive about smoke test) but frustration with fitment issues (reproduction ramp problems, repeated component failures) and time pressure for festival deadline

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.037

And we've now got Titan pinball rubbers or silicone across the play field. Now it's time to start getting the plastics and then eventually the ramps back on this baby. plastic assembly has begun i've gotten the bottom portion right there and now i'm starting to work on removing the rivets and hardware like that to put onto the new plastics this is old and yellow old and busted, new hotness. So basically getting out the drill and drilling out all the rivets, removing the dome, putting it over here, and installing the new plastics for like right here and getting those all riveted. Alright, so a good chunk of the plastics are back on the playfield. I'd say about at least 90% of them. This is my next adventure right here so the plastic set incorporates new green portions right here so that's what we're gonna do is get rid of strip everything off of this stainless steel get the stainless steel all nice and cleaned and polished up get the new plastics on here LEDs obviously instead of the condom covered incandescent and that should look a hell of a lot better and here we have everything but the ramps I want to say and the apron obviously but this is with all new plastics everything's pretty much assembled this is merely a placeholder but just to give you an idea of what goes there that's the old and busted but that is what Earthshaker looks like with everything but the ramps Son of a bitch. This thing fell off again. I'm going to need something more tackier than whatever the stock is on this because this is bullshit. This is the second time this damn thing's fell off. So I'm going to get something a little stronger than... That's not even tacky. What the hell? So, yeah. I'll deal with that. Hell no. That's crazy. Brand damn new. so like uh yeah this looks damn good i'm pretty sure in order to get this ramp on that goes right here i'm gonna have to remove all this bullshit i just wanted to see what it looked like was it all assembled right there it always nice to see progress let go to the other side over here and see what we got going on just to see what everything looks like from this particular angle I need to re zip tie all this a little more snug to that I haven't done that yet but there we go on that oh so fresh so clean clean so here we have the fully assembled decal new hotness versus what it used to look like anything is this is still perfectly useful and I bet it could be cleaned up I'm not just gonna throw this out I plan on bringing all this stuff to like the TPF swap meet and everything so let someone else clean that up and use it sell it for a really cheap all the plastics and ramps and everything that I've got here so but all right I think we're ready to put this on the play field and this is why we test everything ladies and gentlemen because you want to make sure you don't have crap like that whenever you're fully assembled into the cabinet because I'm gonna have to remove this damn ramp I guess the molding is a little bit too long down there on the cusp of it Not to mention the plate filled flamp wraps are like a good, I don't know, quarter inch off. But it has been a pain to get this thing completely lined up and where the screw holes are at and mounted nice and solid. Now the only thing I need to do is basically just trim off a little portion of that ramp down there. And then we should be good to go. But that's definitely not going to work. Alright, let's try that again now. there we go so all right now we may continue so me being stupid I was working on this ramp first I had all this assembled up here and my dumb ass needs to work on this ramp first because this goes under everything and goes right here and that's going to determine a lot so I need to swap out this ramp and get that mounted and all set up and everything and then i can work on the other stuff so let's start over so i'm coming to find out that this ramp is also going to be fun as suggested with the moving building mod maker if you have repro ramps they have like an extra lip on them right here makes the ramp stronger and everything but it's interfering with this so in order for this to work effectively I'm going to have to make a little cut in this vicinity right here so that way this is able to freely roam and then the ramp can get down in position but I can in the current state so I gonna mark this that way I know where I need to make an incision and then we go from there So I haven got anything screwed down except for just the main points but now we have a slot ready for the moving building All right, so I think we're ready to actually assemble the flashers and everything on this ramp and then get it mounted. All right. Something you guys need to see is the difference in the thickness in the original ramps. Get you a good look at that. To this. I mean, these things are never going to break. but what sucks about this is how it changes the ability for me to mount the original hardware in comparison to this it just slides right into place all the room in the world no issues but when i want to put it on this it doesn't fit so my plan is i'm gonna have to basically shave down the inner portion right here for this to slide up into position for everything else to line up and get into oh it's aggravating but yeah all right so what I had to do in order to get this because it's not just a protector it's got to go be aligned with all of this so all I had to do is basically use a torch and heat up this end of the ramp and just kind of like push it in to where this is able to be right snug as it possibly can be I mean it looks pretty damn good I got the ramp essentially man I just need to actually screw it to the playfield right here I wanted to make sure there wasn't any other issues but it looks like now the ramp should be ready to assemble and mount to the playfield my god and the final ramp has been built assembled ready to install my goodness and here we have it an assembled earth shaker playfield supposedly ready to play a game to do a quick check on bulbs and switches and stuff like that make sure everything is fully functional before I begin going any further on this. I mean, if I can't get a game to play, then I'm not even gonna bother getting the cabinet and everything going, because it's one of the most important parts of this is the game being able to play So I know I need to tighten up the flippers but those still haven been tightened up yet So I gonna tighten those things up and get it hooked up to the machine again and we gonna see what it looks like all lit up Time for the smoke test and just to see if we've got any big issues that need to be figured out. all right looks like it's working guys so now we're going to be going through all of the built-in tests on this game to make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to right now we're doing all lamps unless i'm missing something i think we should be pretty good all the lamps look to be fully working and then we're just gonna mosey our way through all the switches all that stuff and junk so i had to adjust pretty much all of my leaf switches for my pop bumpers they weren't sensitive sensitive enough for me all the leaf switches for the vux they were either too sensitive or just not reacting at all sometimes because they weren't close enough so it was just in that in-between area and I want consistent so and then my left slingshot wasn't working and I'm like why and my dumb ass didn't uh solder the diode on to the correct lead so now that just that's working I mainly just got it right there sitting it's not soldered on yet I just wanted to bam okay so now i know that it does work i just need to solder that onto that lead and we should be good to go and then i think we'll move on to the next situation that i have to fix but we're still working our way through all of it all right just got finished playing a game a little bit of manual intervention on my end because i don't have an apron so i had to keep on having to play this and smack it up there to get it going, but otherwise the game is playing 100%. So I guess that means we can move on to the cabinet. Oh man. I honestly don't know, guys, if I'm going to have enough time to have this thing show worthy for Texas Pinball Festival. It's like, yeah, I can get it cleaned up and everything. as you can tell the knocker works make everything look pretty and stuff but i just don't think i'm gonna make it like uh i'm aiming for the 80s category it ain't gonna be a best of show machine i doubt that but uh maybe an 80s category i don't know we're just gonna have to wait and see but uh yeah this thing's already dirty it's been open to the uh the elements right now and everything so alright