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Tools for Pinball with TNT Amusements

Pintastic New England·video·52m 38s·analyzed·Mar 2, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

TNT Amusements workshop covers pinball repair tools, cleaning methods, and restoration techniques.

Summary

TNT Amusements' Todd Tucky and Frank present an extended workshop on essential tools and techniques for pinball machine repair, restoration, and collecting. The video covers diagnostic and repair tools (transformers, pigtails, testers), cleaning products (Simple Green, Gojo, contact cleaner), board maintenance supplies (capacitors, connectors, solder), and aesthetic restoration techniques (T-molding, playfield cleaning, post replacement). Emphasis placed on practical, cost-effective solutions and partnerships with suppliers like Steve Young for reproduction parts.

Key Claims

  • 12-volt transformer with center tap (12-0-12) can power Harry Williams sound boards for testing on the bench

    high confidence · Frank demonstrates transformer for testing older Harry Williams sound boards

  • System 11 pigtails can be made from salvaged twisted pair harness wires and standard 9-pin Molex plugs for powering driver boards

    high confidence · Frank shows custom System 11 pigtail made from salvage parts

  • Max Ekstrom contact cleaner is lead-free, safe for painted surfaces, and can be purchased by the case (12 bottles)

    high confidence · Todd recommends Max Ekstrom contact cleaner used for 20 years

  • Eraser brand BR2 brush ($60) is the best option for cleaning board connectors and pins without harsh damage; red eraser brand is worthless

    high confidence · Frank states he's used Eraser brushes for 40 years; warns against red eraser

  • $0.59 coiled alligator clip from Frye Electronics is an essential soldering aid tool

    high confidence · Todd shows and recommends the Frye Electronics clip

  • Frye Electronics ships orders same-day or next-day; now operates seven days per week including Sunday

    high confidence · Frank and Todd confirm Frye Electronics shipping speed and hours

  • Simple Green industrial cleaner can remove heavy nicotine and tar buildup from shuffle alley boards; requires approximately 20 hours labor at $30/hour for thorough cleaning

    medium confidence · Todd and Frank demonstrate Simple Green cleaning on heavily soiled board; Todd estimates 20 hours labor

  • Boards cleaned with Simple Green dry completely in about 2 hours using a box fan (Amazon's Choice model)

    medium confidence · Frank demonstrates drying process with box fan

  • T-molding should be cut at curves using a razor blade to make it flush and appear uniform

Notable Quotes

  • “Frank, did you enjoy doing everything that we prepared today? It was fabulous, Todd. You do know, Frank, you're the beginning of the show. No, Todd, I'm the best part of the show. You're the end of the show.”

    Todd Tucky and Frank@ 0:41 — Establishes comedic rapport between hosts and frames workshop format

  • “One roll will probably last you forever... And you're not breathing in the lead. And we do because you're sitting here, like, reheating all the pins.”

    Frank (on lead-free solder)@ 8:27 — Health and practical benefits of modern solder materials

  • “See all that sludge on there? ... Sometimes you need a little bit of water. Just... I don't want to get a shower now. Oh, my God. Right in my ears.”

    Todd and Frank (Simple Green demonstration)@ 19:56 — Demonstrates heavy contamination on old arcade boards from shuffle alleys

  • “We always keep drawers of them... When it's sold to a competitor. You're like a showman. I am.”

    Frank and Todd (on fuse clips)@ 22:26 — Humor around inventory management and competitive dynamics

  • “Steve Young says I don't know it's $3,500 to make them because he has to make the mold... So he has to sell an awful lot to make back $3,500.”

    Todd (on Nightmare on Elm Street rubber target faces)@ 32:52 — Economics of small-batch reproduction parts for pinball machines

  • “We stopped using colors. We let the LED choose the color so you put the LED behind the clear post and then the game will glow.”

    Todd (on post replacement philosophy) — Modern restoration approach using LED flexibility

Entities

TNT AmusementscompanyTodd TuckypersonFrankpersonMatt ScottpersonSteve YoungpersonJohn SheehanpersonChuckpersonJohnny Pinball

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Supply chain constraints on aftermarket parts; production economics requiring minimum volume thresholds that may limit diversity of available reproduction components

    medium · Todd on Steve Young: 'So he has to spend $3,500 to make the mold and he has to make so many... So he has to sell an awful lot to make back $3,500'

  • ?

    event_signal: Workshop filmed at Pintastic New England event with multiple community participants, indicating strong regional pinball community engagement and education focus

    high · Workshop setting at Pintastic New England with guest demonstrators and community members participating

  • ?

    community_signal: Multi-generational knowledge transfer occurring through workshop format; experienced technicians (Frank, Todd) mentoring newer community members (Johnny Pinball, Chuck) on restoration techniques

    high · Workshop structure with multiple guest participants demonstrating and learning techniques; specific techniques (T-molding, Gojo application) being formalized and taught

  • ?

    community_signal: TNT Amusements demonstrating commitment to education through detailed workshop on restoration techniques and tools; emphasis on sharing knowledge with broader pinball community

    high · Extended video workshop covering diagnostic tools, cleaning techniques, and aesthetic restoration; multiple community members invited as participants

  • ?

    industry_signal: Original formula Gojo (pre-pumice, formulated early 1960s) established as industry standard for playfield cleaning; pumice version explicitly warned against

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.158

0:00
Music See, I kept it short and sweet. And Jillian has swept all... Oh, no, she put them in here. I have to remember what we have coming next. I can tell you what we have coming next. Well, Frank... Frank, did you enjoy doing everything that we've prepared today? It was fabulous, Todd. You do know, Frank, you're the beginning of the show. No, Todd, I'm the best part of the show. You're the end of the show. we were asked to prepare a show about things you should have in your toolbox but we expanded on that we decided things you need to have if you want to collect sell repair which you have to do or even open an arcade essential things and a lot of the things we have are cheap it will cost you almost nothing and you may probably have it laying around the house now you will have to make some purchases as a matter of fact I have something in my pocket that's very large it's just too easy this is an amazing product and I'll talk to you about that soon anyway Frank, do we have any film to run? Uh, Todd, I think that was my line. It says right here. Frank says, do we have any film to run? And then the video starts. So let's start the video. Okay.
2:04
Yes. Yes, we do have film, Frank. And you're part of the film. Can you show us the first thing you think is a really good... transformer with a plug for testing the older Williams sound boards right on the bench you can power it right up it has its own power supply on it so all you need is a transformer now this one here what voltage is that it's just 12 so this is 12 volts and this plugs into the sound the sound board of any Williams game yeah so stuff like three I guess yeah there are four and it but would that also plug into like whirlwind or is that too new? No, no, no. So this is really a 3-7 games, yeah, even some of the video games too. I guess like, was it like Defender uses that similar soundboard? And what's really nice is you can get the transformers out of an old pac-man and he's wired it off the 12 volts. It's a center tap, so you have 12-0-12. So then the only other thing you'd have to do to work on the soundboard is... If you're going to use the ROMs that are in it. You want to use a speaker. Okay. And a volume control, which is an old volume control that I salvaged out of a game. So I use these. If you're using Leon's test ROM, you don't want to use a volume control. There's actually a little jumper that just jumps. Oh, okay. The two wires there. Good. So we're doing a lot of System 11 board repairs. I have this. But now I don't have any displays. I keep hooked up on the bench, but what I use it for going in the sound test if I want to test sounds. You need your speaker, your volume control. And then my System 11 pigtail that I made that just plugs into one of these old 9-pin power supplies. And these are just extra wires left over from the twisted quarter jam harnesses that I use in the multi-kit. They're the best harnesses in the world. And this plug is the 9-pin standard Molex plug you can buy and commit yourself and forget. Yeah, and I salvage them off the harness because I don't always use all the plugs. But I mark it for system 11. This is a system 6. Now I did have a separate harness that I think somebody might have chopped up for powering the driver board too on its own power supply. This is one where I was fixing the display problem in one 6-feet-03 game. I forget. Remember the game? Oh, a MotoZone. The display was bad. So that's a plug I made for that. This is for Data East. The 6803, you mean the... It was the game that had the sound. The board was locking up, but it was actually the display that was working. I tested everything on the bench, and it was fine. I couldn't figure out what it was. Then when I started unplugging the displays, it started working. Frank, I also noticed, since we're on the same subject, you have everything carefully laid out. Well, I did. Capacitors are laid out, the common ones. See, you all recognize these pins. These are the big pins. There's only two sizes. There's three now. We have the 093. Then you have the 084, which are like your Pac-Man style connectors. Okay. These are the solder tail ones, the 093s that you use to replace the 9. The 6-pin and then the 12-pin power input connectors on the Williams power supplies, the ones that always burn up. the 12 pin connector. I don't have a power supply here to show you. Well what I really like Frank is right on the front you've ordered the reorder information, Malzer for instance. Right, who has it, then Jamco. We've also been discovering now that end of life parts are now hitting us. These are the normal guys, you have 62s, they're the pins that are used in the white and black connectors in the Williams games that people tend to get mixed up. Now, these capacitors just came in. You can see we're one of the few people, I think, that actually changed them all. Everybody kind of skips it or changes the one that's blown up. But it always seems to be best to change every one. Now, this one's handy. This is for testing your computer-controlled lights. It's got a diode in line, and the red wire and the yellow wire are the same as what the game uses. And I actually use this several times when I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem like on a shuffle out that uses an interconnect board You have one plug that's the light data coming from the logic board Then you have two outputs one goes to the pin section the other goes to the play So you you can just probe and see what the problem is You can probe it right on the board or use it the trace down or you can actually test the socket Well, is it the diode that's bad? Is it the socket that's bad or is it the bulb that's bad? Wow, that's a that's a so that you could use that for pin balls Yeah. Shuffle bowl. And you can do the same thing just with a switch. You could use it for testing switches too. Just put alligator clips on. So if you're trying to figure out a switch problem,

high confidence · Matt Scott demonstrates T-molding technique at curves

  • Original formula Gojo (pre-pumice version, formulated in early 1960s) is recommended for playfield cleaning; should never use pumice version as it scratches

    high confidence · Todd and Matt Scott emphasize original Gojo formula and warn against pumice version

    • @ 30:20

  • “For $3, put a brand new base and a brand new star in there. And you buy a clear one, and then the bulb underneath it can dictate what color it is.”

    Todd (on star roller replacement)@ 30:58 — Cost-effective restoration technique recommendation

  • “He loves pinball so much. He really does. And without him we'd really be in trouble because he puts stuff back in production.”

    Todd (on Steve Young)@ 32:32 — Recognition of critical role of parts suppliers in pinball ecosystem

  • “My one desire is to be called sire... that is what I'm shooting for good luck.”

    Todd@ 23:20 — Self-aware humor about host's ego and role in the show

  • “Less is more. Yes, that's true. And I should point out, the Gojo is used when you have everything off the playfield. Absolutely.”

    Todd and Frank (on playfield cleaning order)@ 29:58 — Critical technique guidance for proper playfield maintenance

    • person
    Brother Robperson
    Jillianperson
    Frye Electronicscompany
    Max Ekstromcompany
    Eraser Companycompany
    Harry Williamscompany
    Segacompany
    Data Eastcompany
    Pintastic New Englandorganization
    Nightmare on Elm Streetgame
    Heavy Metal Meltdowngame
    Fred Marcoperson

    high · Todd and Frank emphasize original Gojo formula introduced by John Sheehan; strong warnings against pumice version causing scratches

  • $

    market_signal: Heavy contamination of arcade boards from shuffle alley environments (nicotine, tar from smoking); indicates market need for aggressive cleaning solutions

    medium · Frank: 'Most of us are doing restoration work... Boards and power supplies are usually nicotine covered... You just see the water turn this filthy, yucky brown as you're cleaning it'

  • $

    market_signal: Frye Electronics now operating seven days per week including Sunday with same-day/next-day shipping; indicates strong demand for rapid parts availability

    medium · Frank: 'They are shipping seven days now. They are, okay. So they're doing Sunday now.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Concerns about ultrasonic cleaning causing dry rot and cracking of posts and star rollers; recommendation to replace rather than refurbish

    high · Todd: 'I been seeing a lot of people post that they put their posts and their star rollers in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's great, but 90% of the time they're dry rotting, they're cracking and breaking'

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Critical dependence on specialist suppliers like Steve Young for reproduction parts; small-batch economics requiring high volumes to justify tooling costs

    high · Todd describes $3,500 mold cost for Nightmare on Elm Street rubber target faces; recognition that Steve Young's continued production is essential to community

  • ?

    technology_signal: Shift from colored posts to clear posts with LED-based color selection; modern LED lighting adoption allowing dynamic color changes

    high · Todd: 'We stopped using colors. We let the LED choose the color so you put the LED behind the clear post and then the game will glow'

    • 7:02
    just a couple of little things that make life easier, makes it go a little faster. But didn't Ringo Storr once say, it don't come easy, you know it don't come easy. That's when you have the right tools. Oh. And you know what to do with them. But you obviously do not. I don't. And that's because I'm a piece of trash, right? Trash gets picked up.
    7:31
    Listen, one last thing I want to show. This wonderful solder. This is lead-free solder. It's about $20, $30 more a roll when you purchase it. Well, that stuff's about $38. You used to pay $80 a roll. Yeah, well, we used to have to buy silver solder. There was no lead-free solder. Where's my volume pot? Your who? My volume pot. You curled it all up together. No, no, that's my volume pot. I don't know. I need that. Does anybody remember the volume pot? Where is it? What? You need to go back and watch in the video.
    8:09
    And you can buy the lead-free solder, this brand, from Jamco. And you know what? Here's the best thing about it. What can you decide? Is there a table still there at the part number? There's the part number. Unicode number. One roll will probably last you forever. Yeah, see, it's nice and thin. You're just working on your own stuff. But the other nice thing is you're not breathing in the lead. And we do because you're sitting here, like, reheating all the pins. And it takes forever. This thing's sitting up here. Oh, that's not doing a lot of good up there. These are all other crepacitors. Cash pins are perfect to store this garbage. So these are cap kits. Okay. 18,000. There's not many that use 10. But we have an eight. Actually, I think he put... These are the tens. These are the tens. So we really should get rid of them because I don't think you're using them anymore. Oh, what was that? Listen, the other thing is, too, you should have a shelf for flybacks, okay? That way you can keep track. A shelf of power supplies. If you have the room, these are the newer style computer style power supplies. Nobody's bought more power supplies than me. That is right. And now I'm going to show you the best contact cleaner in the world. This is critical to be on your shelf. Max Pro's contact cleaner. This is fantastic. We've been using it for 20 years. It's great for taking off adhesive and it won't hurt paint. That's right. I don't use goof off or goo going or any of that crap. Love that. It's amazing. It cleans contacts, it dissipates. This stuff is great. Companies in Florida,
    10:14
    Max Pro, and of course you have to buy it by the case. So there's 12 in a case. And we go through cases. Cases. It makes a great flavoring for your coffee too. We're going to go back to the show. Back to you, Ty. Back to you, Ty. God, he hates me.
    10:40
    And he does, don't you, Frank? That was so professional. I thought it was cute. I got that. I'll leave that up on the screen.
    10:50
    But, uh... No, it's not stopping. Oh, no. It's not stopping, Jillian. No, it's not stopping. We're getting too far ahead.
    11:03
    I don't think that the touchscreen thing doesn't work. Because it's not a touchscreen. Well, the pad doesn't work.
    11:18
    This should move the cursor around. I'm not stupid. Well, let's not get carried away. Too far. We just freeze it on... Well, no, go a little further.
    11:31
    It's a laptop, not a mega touchscreen. anyway how many tnt employees does it take to run a laptop none because they usually call me and have me correct answer that's true another essential is this uh we've already started using it this is a course the blue the company we buy these from is the eraser company in new york this is 60 bucks it'll last you your lifetime and your kids we go through a lot of them but when you use them you cut away the blue and you continue using them you must keep mr fingers away from the top because the fiberglass will get embedded in your fingertips like these gentlemen terry hasn't had the joy of that yet but uh but this eraser i just want to Play it and then stop it.
    12:28
    Let me see. It says play. Oh, it's the space bar. Okay, there it is. So if you want to jot that down, there's their phone number.
    12:42
    Now, of course, do not buy the red. That's fine. It's worthless. We tried one. I've been using these for 40 years. When I first started buying this, it was $12, and now it's $60. excuse me they make a smaller one but this is model br2 and the slashes c you will love it because you can not only clean the boards the edge connectors and the pins on your old Williams games If you not changing the pins you can brush them You can also use this to clean up acid that's on the board. Now they make smaller ones. This is the biggest one. I won't tell you what we call it, but this is the children present. Todd, will that also clean off any flux residue that may be entirely on the board? Yes. Some people say it's too harsh, but you can buy a smaller one. They come in as small as pens. Now, we found this product, next you're going to see, on Amazon.
    13:52
    And this seems to work well. They call it a scratch brush. Okay? And these are only $10. I would suggest if you buy one you buy refills immediately are they the ones made in Germany? yes, Center City, Germany those are brutal they flake real bad and they get in your fingers so you need a fine pair of tweezers and a lighted magnifier or else it will get in your finger and you'll never find it well there's no doubt we like the others better they were, but the Eraser ones are the best you never get fine always coarse never get fine They're completely worthless. Unless you're working on Swiss watches.
    14:35
    Tiny little things. But if you're really tight on your budget, it'll get you by. Just be careful. Which is true.
    14:44
    Now I'm going to show you the cheapest, neatest little thing you can buy. You're going to have to spend 59 cents from Marco. That is this thing. This is a coiled up alligator clip, but it's on a stiff piece of wire. So it'll hold something in air while you solder it. Now, in this case, the person who had this put a screw through it to hold it to his desk. So he actually mounted it on his desk. Or you can mount it in the game or wherever you're working so it doesn't flop over. and we do a lot of business with Marco. You can order something on Saturday from Marco and they'll have it packed and ready to go out Saturday if they have a pickup. Usually you have to wait until Monday, but they ship stuff out within the same day or the next at the latest. Yeah, they are shipping seven days now. They are, okay. So they're doing Sunday now. And to Todd's point, that is fabulous, especially for holding small things that you're trying to solder, or even if you're working on small parts, the base is not very heavy. It's nice, but it's not that the part that has the Marco logo isn't very heavy. But a couple of spring clamps, small ones, you literally can put that anywhere, and you'd be amazed at how often it comes in handy. Johnny, have you used one yet? I have not, but I would like to say about Marco's service, is Frank and I recently did a playfield swap. We had a small time window to do it, and we had probably about two, maybe three times we needed something I wasn't expecting, and we placed an order with Marco, and it showed up really quick, and we were able to get the project done. Yeah? Great, folks. And if you ask, they'll also ship next day if you're really in a rush. So we don't seem to – so it's always good. And there's a lot of great companies here that are displaying things you can add to your game, toys and other things, which is a good thing. I think it is, right, Frank?
    17:04
    Another thing we wanted to explore with Frank, Frank started doing this. At first, I actually thought he was out of his mind.
    17:19
    However, you can go and buy a gallon of Simple Green and do an awful lot of stuff with us. And we keep it always poured and ready to go by our slop sink, our service sink. Frank is very thorough. And, Frank, you want to take over and I'll start the video? Yes. Look at the script. Yes. But you can talk and ask. So you asked for an ugly board that we could demonstrate cleaning with Simple Green. Is that enough for you? Frank! These people, there's children out here. They shouldn't be at a pinball show. They should be in school. But it's not school then. It's Saturday. They're lucky they're not on my bus. Oh, Frank! This board is really dusty. But when you get boards out of shuffle alleys, because they're usually in bars, tar-covered, it's disgusting. They clean up real nice. Nicotine-covered. Nicotine, yeah. It's only on shuffle alleys. I mean, I never see a pinball machine like that.
    18:28
    Hmm. Well, let's see what you can do with this one, baby. How much money you got? I can do a lot. I'll tell you what.
    18:37
    Stop at 20 hours. No more than 20 hours. You're going to spend two grand on this thing? I'm going to pay you $30 an hour, 20 hours to clean that baby up. I'll pay you $100 an hour. Simple Green Industrial Cleaner.
    18:54
    Oh, Frank. And I take it. It's inside that little bottle with the paintbrush. Yep. Get your water coming up nice and hot. Straight on there.
    19:07
    Slather it on. I like things that are slathered. I bet you do. Yeah. Especially all over your face. Yeah.
    19:18
    Disgusting. So disgusting. It is? Look at all that. No, you. Oh. You're disgusting. Almost as disgusting as his power supply. His power supply is operating room clean compared to you. Now, can we plug it right in? Yeah. Yeah, you can do whatever you want.
    19:39
    See all that sludge on there? Would Data East be happy? I really don't care. Actually, this would be Sega.
    19:47
    The Sega Corporation. See all the sludge, and then start adding a little bit of water to your brush. That'll stop. That'll help break up the rest of it. Sometimes you need a little bit of water.
    20:01
    Just to... I don't want to get a shower now. Oh, my God. Right in my ears. How's it matter with you? Why do you have to be so disgusting? I'm trying to entertain you. I'm screaming in my ear. But that's part of the fun. When I break your neck, that's going to be the fun. I'm done with this. Why? Rinse the damn thing off.
    20:22
    Still sludging dirty. It's because you were holding it. It was brand new. This was actually a new old stock power supply that I handed it to you. And then it got all filthy. But Frank.
    20:39
    This was just dusty. Like I said, the winds and shuffle alleys, the boards and power supplies are usually nicotine covered. You just see the water turn this filthy, yucky brown as you're cleaning it. At least our slop sink is clean. No. Compared to the rest of the place, yeah. So, Frank, people are going to think we're nothing but trash here. They know the truth. Put it in front of a box fan for about two hours, it'll be dry and ready to go. And this is a special deluxe box fan, right? That's Amazon's choice. Take it, set it there, that's it. That's it? And then... Is it dry now? About two hours. Done. That's it? Is it dry now? It's about two hours. Done. Two hours later, she's dry as a bone. And it's as clean as a whistle. Now you can work on it. Change the caps? Change the caps, fix the connectors. The voice is over here. The voice has broken fuse clips. Check the fuse clips. Good. We always keep drawers of them. Now look, the boy over here is using another essential tool. A desolderer-solderer. A combo. So this is when we change the crap capacitors. Now, these wouldn't be considered a tool, but they certainly would be considered dried out.
    22:21
    They're safe there now in the trash can, aren't they, Frank? I'm surprised you're not pulling them out to save them. No, when it's sewn to a competitor.
    22:31
    You're like a showman. I am. Another good tool, actually, Frank, look. It's what we call a Luxolam. Nobody calls them that. So that's what they call them, I mean... Who's that? Everybody. Who's everybody? Of course, there are no more round fluorescent tubes now that they're LED. Good stuff, Frank. Oh yeah. You say so. ... so you can leave them on all the time. Can't you, Frank? Frank is nodding yes for those of you who are not watching the video. Frank is numb right now. why we're here. We filmed the whole thing. We should have just filmed it, put it on the play, and it could be playing games or something. Why are we doing a seminar? He tears me apart every chance he can. Frank, the videos are good, but the MC is better. We have to give Todd his spotlight. I crave that. My one desire is to be called sire. that is what I'm shooting for good luck well we've reached the part that we have with Chuck oh I was hoping we reached the end no? no you have an important part what am I talking about remember we went over this this morning I know but you wrote it and I can't read it because you write like a physician no it's clear I know I know. So when you're talking about, as Todd said in his introduction, we expanded the scope of this seminar to kind of be as encompassing as is possible when it comes to restoring or working on games. And let's face it, most of us are doing restoration work. That work's going to fall into two categories. First, you've got your mechanicals, the kind of stuff that Frank's been working on, the kind of stuff we've been talking about, doing your boards, doing your rebuilds on your mechanicals, all that kind of good stuff. and we could spend hours talking about that if todd had his way we'd have videos that were hours long of mechanical rebuild why do you mention that we have some we actually however to keep everybody on track and awake absolutely the other thing that we focus on a lot is aesthetics i mean we all want our games to look good whether we're reselling them whether we're keeping them, whether we're showing them, whatever the case happens to be. John, you're going to talk about a couple of things, right? You're going to talk about painting and you're going to talk about Bondo. That is correct. So we'll get a little deeper into those couple of things. But I thought today to keep the seminar kind of light, kind of airy, if you will, we talk about two smaller things that sometimes get overlooked, especially when we have edges that maybe aren't completely perfect. tea molding is your best friend we all know we've all probably used tea molding we've all certainly seen it but we thought it would be helpful to kind of put a few tips together kind of show you especially doing some corners and some rounding how to mount tea molding some of you know this some of you don't but in the immortal words of Todd Tuckey I think we have a video for this So, Scott, why don't you tell us about T-Molding? Well, you know, Scott is also going to go right into the second part. I know, but I'm going to interrupt you. Okay, okay. Then we will start right away. Yes, Scott, we've got tons of T-Molding. From T-Molding.com, we order hundreds and hundreds of rolls.
    26:07
    That's 250 a roll because that's the price break. Yeah, 250 foot a roll. And that true but you can buy a lot less But you always go with a full roll Then right up here are pieces of T These are pieces of T That wasn quite used and we have more pieces here Do you still keep it on the big wheels, too? No. Okay. Sometimes we do, but we get so many games back here that we block them in, and we can't get them.
    26:36
    Okay. And what about Chuck's game? We're going to go with purple for Chuck's. Ah, let's go and look. All right, so we're going to put your purple in.
    26:45
    We hammer it in. It's like a purple-blue. Are you cutting? Yes, but when we get to a curve to make it flush, we take a razor blade and we cut into it, and that gives you more clay.
    26:58
    So it's flat. Yeah, so when you get into the curves, it looks more uniform. Now, Brother Rob, do you think this is a job you could do? I've done it many times. I really suck at it. Well, you know what? Sometimes you have to put hot glue to hold it in. Really? Some of the older games, the wood breaks down in the cracks, so you've got to put hot glue in there. Good. Now, what other thing does Chuck like to use?
    27:35
    Gojo. Aha! Gojo. Let's look and see. All right, so we go with the original formula, the old formula. Do not get the kind with the pumice in it, or you'll scratch your game up. That's right. The original formula was formulated in the early 60s. Who is the man that brought this to us?
    27:58
    John Sheehan. That's right. The man. John was here for years, wasn't he? He was a legend. Is a legend. And he used to sit here at this one here. and he retired at 89 that creep before my official retirement's 100 and he left early didn't he yes but he brought us gojo and you can clean your hands with it well that's the end result but never damage the play field with that so you use the gojo first right yeah and you get everything nice and clean, if everything's wiped off and dried, then that's when you use... Mill wax. That's right. You slash that on and baby, you buff it down and you've got a nice shiny play field. Like from the store. Like from the store. Now isn't Chuck full good ideas too. And he brings us lots of cake.
    28:59
    That's the plus. Right, Chuck? Absolutely, Todd. Just a little reminder about Gojo. You have a lot of products that are available, particularly for cleaning pinball play fields. But, as we all know, you need to be a little careful about that. The simple green stuff you can use for certain things, but when you're looking for something that's going to get a fair amount of embedded dirt or crud off of the play field. Some of you probably already know that stuff is fabulous. You don't want to be too aggressive with it. Too aggressive is going to get you scratches. Too aggressive is going to give you more grooves. It'll pick up dirt. But a little gojo, and then as Scott pointed out, waxing over the play field once you used it, they've been fabulous. We've gotten great results as far as that's concerned. So always start with something a little less than that. But if you need something a little stronger, a little Gojo, keep it moving. And again, less is more. Yes, that's true. And I should point out, the Gojo is used when you have everything off the play field. Absolutely. And then after you put everything back on, that's when you put the mill wax on. Absolutely. Also, we did mention that the posts, we put brand new posts on everything. But Steve Young has tons of posts. We also put clear posts. We stopped using colors. we let the LED choose the color so you put the LED behind the clear post and then the game will glow now that's what we do you can do anything you want I'm not changing that's what we're doing if people don't like it they don't have to oh I don't know they don't have to buy it well anyway don't go changing Todd don't go changing although I did see somebody had red on one of the games What about the rollover?
    30:51
    Okay, well the rollovers, we put new ones in. If you have a rollover, a star rollover, you'd be a fool not to pop it out. For $3, put a brand new base and a brand new star in it. And you buy a clear one, and then the bulb underneath it can dictate what color it is. So if it was red, you put a red bulb in. but then you put a color changer in or a fire or anything you want to dictate that light and they look beautiful when they're brand new shiny clear and you pop just pop them in it takes two seconds to change that but let's assume you don't want to pop out your rollovers should you be using gojo on your play field with your rollovers in i guess as long as you clean it up but But the problem with that is, you know, I've seen a lot of people post in that they put their posts and their star rollers in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's great, but 90% of the time they're dry rotting, they're cracking and breaking. Exactly. Why go through all that work? $3. Yeah. Why? It doesn't make any sense. Get them while Steve Young's still making them. By the way, Steve Young supplies most of these other places. so people you know marco buys a ton of stuff from steve young so he's the guy making this stuff he's still willing to do it but steve young's one of those guys that likes to work seven days a week 24 hours a day and he's a great resource his idea of a vacation is to do inventory my gosh so you know you could i have i have a code i can call him if he wants to pick up but he's always there. He loves pinball so much. He really does. He just loves it. And without him we'd really be in trouble because he puts stuff back in production. I mentioned it at a show long ago. Nightmare on Elm Street has the rubber faces that are in front of the four targets. They dry rot. You all know that. You've seen it. Well Steve Young says I don't know it's $3,500 to make them because he has to make the mold and he has to make so many. So he had to spend $3,500 to make the one part so he could offer to sell it for, I don't know, it's $25 or something. So he has to sell an awful lot to make back $3,500. But he decided there was enough demand. You don't need them in front there. You could just leave the targets. But gosh, with those little rubber molds, they look great. Yeah, they're very cool. And that was one decision, one part out of boatloads of parts he remakes. so it's really nice it worked out well you know what else is a good decision todd to repaint and bondo your game yes do you know a lot about that johnny how was that for a segue i do actually um my background when i was much younger i was big in the cars car restoration so um it's not much different uh you'd be surprised bondo can really be your friend touching up cabinets if you know if a square corner is kind of rounded or some of the plywood is chipped off it's much easier to use in wood filler more durable it's very simple the the easiest thing you want to do is just get your bondo to hardener just right for you if you don't use enough hardener your bondo is not going to be very durable. If you use too much it's going to cure way too fast sometimes before you're done working with it. But you'll find a happy medium really quick. Just add a little hardener. If it's not setting up, I like to set it to about 10 minutes to where it cures. But it's easy to work with, makes any cabinet work much, much easier. And it tends to tank paint really well, doesn't it? It does. If by some chance you don't have enough hardener or too much in it, you can heat up the bondo with the heat gun. Just keep it a little distance away. You don't want to start a fire or anything, but heat it up. You can take a putty knife. It'll soften up. Take a putty knife, remove it, and then clean up the residue, and you could try again if you make a mistake.
    35:21
    Now, we're going to point out, Johnny, the exact Bondo you have to buy. We've experimented with a lot of Bondo and the one we we use you can buy from any Napa it's now their stock item hopefully it'll you learn something we got you first you gotta have some good paintbrushes you got every size gotta have a lot of different paintbrushes and then this stuff you can buy on Amazon it is a lightsaber this is the tool right here so it's 60 pieces and there's colors on this yes you got every color you could think of that helps you to match and these are the little containers that you learn how to mix these are just greens forgive the dirt the dirt's a good thing that's place a little dusty just a little now I see you have a complete mix all kinds of different always mixing colors and you've had this for years how much a yellow no the whole thing oh yeah the trays the trays I've had for at least 10 years they last forever and these are paints that stay active as long as they're closed yep this one this is the red this is the red that I mixed oh well Steven. That was all painted. Oh wow. So that's the red, that's pin bot red. Pin bot red. We can't really tell people what they are, like we can't say use one part of this and three parts of that. Every game is a little different depending on the fade, so you have to just play around with it. You got to, it's trial and error. You got to try, you got to mix some stuff, see how it works out. And you learned it all by test. Hands on. That's the way to go. And this pin bot has turned out really nice. It's gorgeous. So the cabinet, like me. Oh, I wouldn't go that far. You wouldn't. Would anybody? No, no. It's hard to say, but it's a really nice assortment of stuff. And then you can tackle it and then work with the machine, too, if you can't bring it over in the work area. So having a workspace for painting is ideal. That's important. But this is all a latex base, correct?
    37:49
    Touch-up paints are not. They are acrylic. Okay. I start with a latex base with the primary color, and then I use the acrylics, mix them together, and that's how I get my color, my finished color. Now, when you're done, do you do any sealing? Sometimes we'll clear coat it if it needs it, sometimes it doesn't need it. It depends on the machine. Okay. And you usually let it sit at least 24 hours. Oh, definitely. You want to let it sit. You don't want somebody's fat fingerprints all over it.
    38:23
    Do you think he's talking about my fingerprints? Why would you think I was talking about you? Guilty conscience? Oh, boy, thanks for sharing your insight, Enkai. Of course. Shall we go back to the panel?
    38:40
    Johnny, what have you found with paint? Well, first of all, don't be scared of doing any touch-up work. When I was younger, I was never good at art class and painting and stuff. But if you think back a little bit, you've probably done something and not realized it that will help you along the way. Like maybe when we were young, we might have had coloring books where you're filling in the lines. Playfields and cabinets are the same way. unless it's totally neglected, you can basically see where the outlines were, where the paint missing just fill it in I thought about hey you know it wasn good in art but I used to build a lot of plastic model cars and trucks That no different I bought you know, several different touch-up paints for building the models when I was younger. It's the same principle.
    39:42
    And the tiny brushes, too. Absolutely. Just give it your best. Practice makes perfect. But no matter how your touch-up comes out, you should be happier than the bare wood that is exposed from when it wears down. Well, the other thing is you can't be afraid to start over. I mean, mistakes happen. Sometimes when the touch-up mistakes happen, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Don't be afraid to correct them.
    40:09
    Rarely do you get painting right the first time, I mean, depending on the touch-up, right? Absolutely.
    40:15
    And when I built the models, they didn't come out looking like the picture on the box, like perfect. but I know I did it and I got better with each car I did.
    40:27
    We've seen a number of people that have painted their play fields and the free play area and they've done a nice job with it. So it is possible for the average person to do it. You say that here but when a game comes in the shop and somebody touched it up you say, did they use a spatula? Did they use a spatula to paint it? You talk different in your shop but here, oh that looks so nice. So can I just take a minute Todd and give a shout out to Stephen, who you saw in the video, who was explaining the painting. Stephen is just, he's an amazing artist. He's self-taught, right? He literally started out basically figuring out how to paint. He was actually moving games. Right, correct. And we lost our painter, and he said, let me go at it. Yep. And he has, he does amazing, amazing work. I mean, he's taken play fields that I was sure were just absolutely trashed. And he just brings them back to life to the point where you almost wouldn't know that they had been trashed. And I truly believe that it's not only just talent, and he's just an incredibly hard worker as well. He's got an amazing work ethic. He's a fabulous person. But I think a little bit of it is genetic, too, because his daughter has started doing work for you as well, right? Yes. His daughter worked all summer before she started college in the fall. and she would she did some painting work um what did she did she do the shuffle alley that she laid out the side it was the the bowling shelf yeah yeah it was alley cats alley cats that's right she literally took a side cabinet that need to be created and laid the entire thing out by hand and it was perfect it's just unbelievable level of talent and again it goes back to something that john was saying which is you start out small you start out doing what you're good at, you determine you have an aptitude for it, and practice, practice, practice. But TNT is very lucky to have Stephen and his daughter. He's a master of his craft. Absolutely agree. But when you're doing it for yourself, just stay positive. It's going to turn out only as nice as the effort and patience that you put in it yourself. And if nothing else, it's always going to look better than Todd.
    42:40
    Wait a minute. That's not in the script. Oh, sorry, I wrote that in. Or if you totally ruin it, you can have TNT do a restoration for you. That's right. When we mentioned Alleycats, the shuffle alley, two years ago we did a trade with Arcade 1-Up, who happens to be near us, and they had bought a Star Wars from us, and then they designed the Star Wars video game from our unit. They walked around it and took their measurements, and then they traded it in and bought an Alleycats shuffle alley that has been in process for two years, but they're coming out with an eight-foot shuffle alley arcade one-up called Alley Cats, and it will have like ten other games to play. There'll be two television sets in it.
    43:28
    They're going to use a puck, but it'll be TV set. So two of them. And I guess, I'm going to guess they're having some issues, logical issues, but it was two years ago, August is when we did the trade. We delivered the alley cats. That's Stephen and Payton. But they're using it as a mold, and I guess maybe they'll trade that back in, or one of the owners will take it home.
    43:53
    Now we're going to share the Bondo footage. Oops. Who got this out of order? No, no, no. It's in order. John, do we need a little more information on Bondo? Well, I think I covered it pretty well already. But? Painting and Bondo goes hand in hand. But? Don't do your touch-up work and then decide to put Bondo over top of it.
    44:20
    That's what I was trying to get to. It's running. Never, ever, no. This is what we like to use here.
    44:30
    It dries from Napa. It dries in a few minutes. You can sand it immediately after it's dry. and then you can paint it. Now you may have wonderful luck with others. We've had other brands over the years. Yes but I think this is my favorite. So this is the kind you get and of course you get the can then you get the the hardener. And how quickly does this harden? It depends on how much hardener you put in it. If I were to, if I was at a brush job which sometimes we are around here, you put a little bit of extra hardener in it and then it will harden even faster. Sand it down and you're good to go. And how quickly do you sand it? Right away. Right away. Right away. Don't let it sit baby or you won't be sanding it because it will be rock hard. If you ever do get into a situation where it gets rock hard, if you heat it up a little bit with the torch, it softens it a little bit to make it pliable. Good. Good stuff. Yes, of course if you heat it up too much the game will catch on fire. You can do that, though. I got faith in you.
    45:40
    Thanks, Stephen. Of course. Now we enter into keeping accountability of your supplies and things. And that's where Terry has come in. Very handy. And I also hired Michelle. So Terry and Michelle now work on categorizing all of our items. Go ahead, Terry.
    46:05
    I'm typically behind the computer at TNT, so I list different items on eBay as well as our new website for the best offer sale, thanks to Jillian, sale.tntmusements.com. but yeah always have a plug well Jillian's auction site is available to lease now it is we've been the test to guinea pigs but we've ironed out almost everything pretty much everything we've done it since March of 2020 we transitioned from Facebook back onto this new website Which goes on YouTube instead of Facebook. Facebook is the home of freezing and pausing and jumps. Right. I'm thinking about how much I'm going to have to charge you guys to put on this seminar in the future. Ah. It's always commercial. Say. It's self-promotion. I love it.
    47:06
    But, yeah, so we post Buy It Now items on there as well as eBay. So that's how we inventory all the different items in the back of the shop and then go from there. So, yeah.
    47:23
    And, Terry, see, I didn't get the camera swung up fast. Terry mentioned we're up to number 75. We're about to do 76 best offer sales. This is an opportunity for all of you to also sell your stuff to finance your hobby. See, remember, to buy the game you have, you should get rid of stuff you're never going to use again. You may have stuff on your shelf that you may think nobody really wants. And yes, parts play fields are really good to have, but there are certain parts people are looking for and that you may probably never use. And if you do need it in six years, just find it someplace else. Get it out of your place and get the money in the bank so you can put it toward other parts or games that you're trying to buy. Now, Terry started. I'm going to show you this. It's just a one-minute video, but Terry started with me at 14 years old. We wanted to come up with an idea to show people how easy it is to put together a pinball machine. So I chopped the six-minute video down to one minute, Shelley, and just for you. You're welcome. I told him to. And this was filmed with what we call a potato camera. This is video number 50. This is part of video 50. Go ahead.
    48:52
    That's not the right one. No, that's not the right one. That's not a good one. Wait a minute. Still looks like a potato.
    49:10
    It wouldn't be a TNT seminar without technical difficulties. Any of you who have watched the Best Offer Sales know this is the way it always goes. Well, guess what? The clip's not there. It's probably for the back. It's very cringy. Well, we decided a sales point of selling an arcade game or a pinball machine to somebody who's never assembled it. I said, how about if we have a 14-year-old put it together? And it was a great idea. Terry thought it was a great idea. So she opens the box only a couple times to one of our guys to assist her. But she took the bolts out of the stern. This was a Transformers limited edition. in 2014, so you can see how long ago. And Stern puts those... You're always trying it on the LE first. You're always trying on that. Hey, fine, I do. We had a lot of LEs, and we had the dump.
    50:07
    And guess what? It was $6,000. We had a closeout on LEs, $6,000. God, that was cheap. Well, to be fair, Postage stamps used to be 25 cents as well. Yeah, but my God. But anyway, tried to put the whole thing together. The only thing we had a couple guys help lift up the back end of the game to put the back legs on. But she cleaned the balls. She put them in the game. She trotted. She pulled everything out. And she followed the directions. Actually, we had a joke about where she picks it. You know Stern puts this big sheet of directions. She picked the thing off and says, directions, ha! And she throws it on the floor. and stops on them.
    50:55
    I learn from the best. Only the best. It's nice to have Terry assisting. So I get to see her a lot, too. So she comes in a lot. And I'm sure she loves that. And she does. She does love it. And what I'm going to do is try to advance this, because, oh, well, you know what?
    51:16
    We can open up for questions. Jillian, do we have to be out at 12, or can we go over? Can you go over I Know You're Capable? Do I want you to go over? But I'll leave it up to the audience. Well, what we'll do, the only other film I have prepared is the eight-minute skill shot baby. But I thought first we could do questions while we have our whole panel present.
    51:43
    Does anybody have anything they want to add or questions? Nobody, not one question. Ah! Derek has a question. You wouldn't even know that's what the award is? I better. Better? I want three. That's all. That's all I ask for, three. So I will just point out that if there are no more questions or comments, the Skill Shop Baby runs for eight minutes and it's 11.52, which would keep us perfectly on time. So I suggest, director, why don't you roll the film? Well, I'm going to run the end credits first, which are very short.
    52:18
    I'm trying. Good night.