Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Earthshaker Pinball Restoration: Episode 5

Cary Hardy·video·12m 24s·analyzed·Mar 14, 2024
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Earthshaker backbox restoration: veneer stabilization, primer/paint prep, speaker panel refresh, LED display install.

Summary

Cary Hardy documents Episode 5 of his Earthshaker pinball backbox restoration, focusing on structural repair using fiberglass resin to stabilize veneer, paint preparation with primer and sanding, speaker panel restoration, LED display installation, and backbox painting with gloss black. He emphasizes careful methodology for preserving original components while modernizing key elements like the display.

Key Claims

  • Fiberglass resin is used to lock in loose veneer fibers before sanding to prevent further damage during restoration

    high confidence · Direct demonstration of technique being applied to backbox veneer; Cary explains the methodology explicitly

  • Speaker panel was treated like a clear-coated playfield using high-grit sandpaper (1500-2000 grit) followed by clear coat to restore scratched acrylic

    high confidence · Cary describes the speaker panel restoration process in detail, noting he had to apply playfield restoration techniques to the acrylic component

  • Original speaker component is being retained rather than replaced; keeping the same speaker from the original machine

    high confidence · Cary states: 'I don't think putting a badass sound system on there is quite necessary or anything. So I'm probably going to keep the same speaker'

  • Decals do not require full black coverage on backbox because quality decals will stick to clean surfaces without bleeding through

    high confidence · Cary explains painting strategy: 'I don't do an entire black coverage over this because I don't need to... the decal is gonna stick and ain't going nowhere'

  • MDF (medium-density fiberboard) used in backbox construction is highly absorbent and requires extended drying time after painting

    high confidence · Direct observation: 'this MDF is a hell of an absorber' when discussing paint drying and naphtha evaporation

Notable Quotes

  • “When you have stuff like this, mainly stuff like this where the veneer is about to come off you kind of want to not knock off the veneer so I'm only getting some fiberglass resin gonna be getting that to really lock in as much loose fibers as I possibly can”

    Cary Hardy@ 0:21 — Explains the core restoration philosophy: preventive stabilization using resin rather than aggressive removal

  • “I don't think putting a badass sound system on there is quite necessary or anything. So I'm probably going to keep the same speaker and we're going to do new display”

    Cary Hardy@ 5:30 — Decision-making on component preservation vs. modernization for classic machines

  • “I don't do an entire black coverage over this because I don't need to there's no point in painting all this black because the decals that i get do not bleed through”

    Cary Hardy@ 10:16 — Explains efficient restoration methodology emphasizing quality materials and minimal unnecessary work

  • “this MDF is a hell of an absorber”

    Cary Hardy@ 10:55 — Technical observation about material properties affecting paint drying times and workflow

Entities

Cary HardypersonEarthshakergameMarco Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Speaker panel acrylic restoration using playfield-grade preservation techniques (high-grit sanding and clear coat) rather than replacement, demonstrating advanced restoration methodology

    high · Cary treats scratched speaker panel 'like a clear coated playfield' using 1500-2000 grit sandpaper and rattle-can clear coat, achieving successful restoration without replacement

  • ?

    technology_signal: LED display being installed as upgrade component in classic Earthshaker backbox, modernizing the original monochrome display technology

    high · Cary explicitly states: 'I've got the LED display. So then off with this and on with the new' and later 'LED display is in there ready to go'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.037

0:00
Alright so here we have the back box to Earthshaker completely stripped down of all the hardware. Now begins the restoration process. When you have stuff like this, mainly stuff like this where the veneer is about to come off you kind of want to not knock off the veneer so I'm only getting some fiberglass resin gonna be getting that to really lock in as much loose fibers as I possibly can before I go sanding and shaking things all up and I've got to take pictures of all the stickers that are in here to recreate them including these little ones down here for the fuse and for the ground strap and everything so I'll redo this one and redo a little one right there yeah and I'm pretty sure the fiberglass resin that I have in the garage is no longer viable. So I've got to go buy some more of that.
1:30
Goody. All right, so let's see if we can make this thing look a lot better. All the cabinet wire harnessing right here. it's about to be thrown into the dishwasher to get these things looking a lot better than what they do right now so this is where we're at after a low grit sanding and got it kind of brushed off at this point went over it to find any kind of like weak points like fractures or lifting veneer is it going around here I found some low points and some areas so I've got some resin in these particular spots some areas where the veneer was starting to lift so I've got some epoxy in there resin and stuff to get that back and looking solid again around the corners mainly it's where the veneer was wanting to come up so these areas right here came out really nice actually if I was to get the line and clean that off really good you'd probably be able to see like right through this corner where the the resin was at and stuff so all the corners they look pretty decent like right here I had to do a little touch up there's some fracture right there so I got some resin in there so once this gets all nice and dry then we gonna go over with a high grit sandpaper to get it things looking a lot smoother But that where we at now
4:01
I'm not looking forward to this there's gonna be blue all over the damn driveway I mean this from the back box right here. I think a lot of this is just going to peel right off on the front, so that's kind of nice. Man, that is nice. If only all of this did that, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. I mean, I'm not above trying, though. That Looks like it's on there pretty damn good though. Snap.
4:58
Maybe a heat gun? Maybe? I don't know. I'm worth it. I mean, we'll see. All right. I guess what we can do is make this look better. So that's just the matter of taking everything off. And then I'm going to do black, a gloss black on this. And then I've got the LED display. So then off with this and on with the new.
5:27
I don't know about getting a new speaker. I think for this type of old game, I don't think putting a badass sound system on there is quite necessary or anything. So I'm probably going to keep the same speaker and we're going to do new display. I think that would be preferred. So, all right, let's get everything all stripped off and make it look better. Alright, we got the primer filler on there, a couple of coats, and what that's going to do is kind of just even out all the imperfections that are in this type of material, and it's just going to make it look a lot smoother when it comes to putting down the gloss black that I plan on doing there. So I mean it pretty much dry to the touch about this time but I going to let it sit here longer obviously until it fully dry and then we start throwing down the paint so after the primer was dried gave it a nice good sanding and nice and smooth now when we are ready for paint so good old-fashioned rattle can so what I've had to do when it comes to the speaker panel I could buy new like 130 bucks on marco but there was some heavy scratches across here and there is no novus and that stuff out so i actually had to treat it like a clear coated playfield i did a high grit sandpaper like 1500 across it to where basically i leveled it down pretty well then finished it up with a 2000 grit and then got it all cleaned off and sprayed it down with clear coat not auto clear um although i think i would have had better results with it uh it was rattle can clear so um it is what it is but i mean overall it turned out pretty good the only scratches i've seen now on it are on the opposite side there so uh i'll see if i can probably buff that out it's not too bad but I don't think it's actually going to be really that noticeable and everything with the digits and everything with it behind it but this definitely looks a heck of a lot better and uh yeah this is about dry so this looks pretty decent for what it is everything's going to be mounted to it and stuff like that but I think it's definitely going to look a lot better than what it did all right so we're getting the speaker screens back on here so what I'm doing I don't have the appropriate nails that they had in here so I'm creating them taking these little bitty nails like this clipping them off to very like maybe like a quarter of an inch depth I mean because the board isn't very thick itself either right here so just making the nails very small then hammering them in like this that's all we got to do on this all right we are now ready to set this on here I've got double-sided tape on all of this except for the actual speaker grills itself I'm gonna need two hands for this so I'm gonna pick this up put this on here and make sure it's all nice and secure here we go it's just a matter of mounting everything on the backside now but looking pretty damn good I mean it's good enough I'd like it to look better but it is what it is. I got so much to do. And as per usual just checking all my LEDs before I go putting this board into the game. I have to wonder why certain bulbs aren working anymore And here we have it The speaker panel is done Static electricity is making everything stick to this damn thing But yep LED display is in there ready to go
9:26
One piece of the puzzle is done. Oh, man. Painting in the dark. But, you know, when you're on a time crunch like this, you just got to make do with what time and what light source you have. and take a gamble on how it's going to turn out. I mean, it looks the way it does right now. It's got to finish wiping everything down with naphtha. That'll eventually dry out, and it'll be good to go. That's essentially all I'm waiting for right now is for it to finish evaporating, and then we're going to bust out with black and see if we can make it look a little bit better than what it looks, obviously.
10:05
Mainly just going for coverage on the back box back here. as far as what goes around here um i'm going to be doing just the perimeters i'm not sure if any of you've seen my previous videos but i don't do an entire black coverage over this uh because i don't need to there's no point in painting all this black because the decals that i get do not bleed through so it's like uh i don't see the reason behind that especially whenever you have a nice clean surface like that the decal is gonna stick and ain't going nowhere same thing when it comes to this side right here so mainly just trying to cover here and here and then we'll let that dry and everything I gotta finish and get the heat gun out here and get finished evaporating this stuff out this MDF is a hell of an absorber all right here we go
11:05
Thank you. Okay, so I think I'm going to let this air out and dry for at least a couple of hours before I come bringing it into the garage and shutting the door and everything. It's getting kind of chilly outside, that's what sucks. So that's what I was kind of worried about. Luckily it's not too cold so the paint flow actually went on pretty damn good. So in the meantime, I guess I'll start getting the transformer looking all sexy.