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Johnny Mnemonic Pinball Restoration: Episode 10

Cary Hardy·video·16m 24s·analyzed·Apr 5, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Johnny Mnemonic restoration progresses through assembly, decal upgrades, board repair, and smoke testing.

Summary

Cary Hardy continues restoration of his Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine, focusing on connector installation, decal replacement with superior matte UV ink-reactive vinyl, board inspection and capacitor upgrades, and initial smoke testing. The restoration demonstrates meticulous attention to detail, including proper decal installation techniques to prevent wrinkling and preservation of cabinet artwork.

Key Claims

  • The original decals on the Johnny Mnemonic had color and tone inconsistencies, particularly in reds and blacks, requiring replacement with matte UV ink-reactive vinyl decals

    high confidence · Hardy directly shows visual comparison between old and new decals, noting gloss vs matte finish differences and superior color accuracy of replacement decals

  • Classic Arcades (vendor for Johnny Mnemonic decals) will receive corrected art file but output will be limited by their material/ink capabilities; Hardy sourced superior decals from another vendor for comparison

    high confidence · Hardy states intent to send corrected file to Classic Arcades while acknowledging their finish limitations differ from his source

  • Installing decal protectors over existing OEM decals without removing the original causes wrinkling around edges; proper technique requires removing the underlying decal first

    high confidence · Hardy demonstrates installation method learned from experience, showing removal and reinstallation process with exacto blade trimming

  • The Johnny Mnemonic driver board capacitors C2 and C8 are problematic components requiring replacement, especially on boards over 25 years old due to potential leakage into traces

    high confidence · Hardy identifies and removes capacitors, notes no trace damage, and plans to upgrade voltage rating from 25V to 35V

  • Initial smoke testing showed no locked-on coils, proper general illumination function, and overall positive board functionality with minor bulb contact adjustments needed

    high confidence · Hardy performs sequential smoke tests (cabinet only, with logic, full playfield) and documents results with minimal issues

Notable Quotes

  • “Finally, good decals. Sizing is correct color is absolutely phenomenal these are actually better than any other ones that i've seen this finish does not do it justice on this camera guys this is a a matte uv ink reactive decal and it's a vinyl”

    Cary Hardy@ 1:48 — Demonstrates Hardy's satisfaction with superior decal quality and technical specifications of replacement materials

  • “Finally, I have been through hell to get these damn decals correct. So I'm going to send this file to Classic Arcades and tell him this is the one that he needs to use.”

    Cary Hardy@ 2:55 — Indicates extended sourcing effort and intention to provide corrected files to the vendor for future releases

  • “this is the hacko fr301 i'm telling you when it comes to desoldering things and not having to deal with a lot of damage in case you don't use one of these i cannot recommend it enough”

    Cary Hardy@ 9:22 — Tool recommendation for board restoration work; emphasizes damage-prevention value

  • “I install them first to make sure that these bolts are freely to be removed like so. get them screwed in both sides and then I use an exacto blade and cut all the way around it even just a little bit further out”

    Cary Hardy@ 5:38 — Technical instruction demonstrating professional decal installation methodology to prevent wrinkling

  • “No locked on coils. So far so good.”

    Cary Hardy@ 12:42 — Initial positive smoke test result indicating successful board and connector reassembly

Entities

Cary HardypersonJohnny MnemonicgameClassic ArcadescompanyHacko FR301product

Signals

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Decal protection methodology refined through experience: Hardy demonstrates systematic approach to installing protective decals over original artwork while preventing wrinkling—removing original decal, cutting protector with excess margin, and reinstalling protector to preserve cabinet integrity

    high · Detailed step-by-step demonstration with tools, techniques, and reasoning explained; references experience from multiple machines (Last Action Hero, The Getaway)

  • ?

    product_strategy: Johnny Mnemonic decal quality upgrade: Hardy sourced superior matte UV ink-reactive vinyl decals with improved color accuracy (particularly reds) and proper finish matching to replace inconsistent original decals from Classic Arcades vendor

    high · Direct visual comparison showing gloss vs matte finish differences, color consistency improvements, and vendor file correction protocol established

  • ?

    technology_signal: Board restoration using precision desoldering tool (Hacko FR301) enables damage-free capacitor replacement on 25+ year old pinball boards without trace lifting

    high · Hardy demonstrates successful capacitor removal (C2, C8) with zero trace damage and enthusiastically recommends tool for community adoption

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.049

0:00
Hit me! Alright now that the top side is essentially pretty much all assembled except for the back panel portion, I'm going to be going through and connecting all of these connectors right here that have been fed through the top side so that way the game will actually function. A bunch of this is all right here all throughout just gonna make sure that everything is connected and going good then I'm gonna install the LEDs and then I think the playfield underneath should be done. Alright guys we are about to install decals on my Johnny Mnemonic. I know what you're thinking you've already got decals on here. Carrie, what are you talking about? That don't make any sense. Well, you see a difference between this and this. So it's like different tones of blacks and there's reasoning behind that. And honestly, guys, that's a long story. I'm tripping over stuff.
1:19
Basically, these are bad. All of this. It's not good enough for me. I've got all new hot and sexy. Oh, look at this. Colors are so much better. So we're going to be taking all this off and I'm not looking forward to it. And then we're going to be putting on the new hotness. Finally, good decals. Sizing is correct color is absolutely phenomenal these are actually better than any other ones that i've seen this finish does not do it justice on this camera guys this is a a matte uv ink reactive decal and it's a it's a vinyl what goes on horribly you're talking like i have never had to put on decals so damn slow to make sure I didn't mess them up with air bubbles or anything like that. But yeah, so now that I've got this one on here, that's good. I'm going to have to put them on this because let me look at the difference in the reds. Look at that red.
2:32
Look at that red. That red. That red. They don't match. It's not the same kind of finish. This has got more of a gloss, shiny look. It still is good, but it doesn't match what I've got on my cabinet now, which has much more of a matte finish, and it looks really good. Finally, I have been through hell to get these damn decals correct. So I'm going to send this file to Classic Arcades and tell him this is the one that he needs to use.
3:09
whenever he's sending out Johnny the Monty decals. Now, he's going to have the correct art, but it's going to look like that, because that's the type of material and ink color that he uses. But at least the sizing is going to be correct.
3:22
This, I can't tell you where I got it done. Sorry, I was forward secrecy. I'm about to install the new decals. new style at least, onto the back box panel. But I wanted to show you the obvious difference between just the reds in comparison to what you would normally get from classic arcades. The color is so much better on this.
3:57
With a matte finish this is a little dusty but it clean off But yeah look at the different difference on that blues not as poppy but definitely a lot better on the red and that's definitely why I had to change these because this red is just so much better and the obviously the the tone of it being a matte needs to match the cabinet. Look at the color differences. I've gone over this in a previous video probably about a year or two ago. If there's anything that you can do to preserve your cabinet as well as the artwork on it, it is to use these. Not these these are okay if like you've already got the OEM decals so there's no concern there well you notice that these are decals that I put on my last action hero but I'm not using those because if you use these on decals you're gonna get wrinkling so it's the same thing of my getaway I no longer use those because I use these. The thing is, if you install these without removing the decal behind it, you're still going to get the wrinkling around the edges. And it's not going to be pretty, guys. I know for a fact. So, ever since I learned that, I install them first to make sure that these bolts are freely to be removed like so. get them screwed in both sides and then I use an exacto blade and cut all the way around it
6:00
even just a little bit further out just to make sure there's a little bit of wiggle room for whatever reason when it comes to nudging and then I remove that portion of the decal reinstall it and then voila you will no longer have to worry about wrinkling decals and it will also preserve your cabinet with these nice and sturdy protectors when it comes to nudging and moving things around all right so I've got the decal all removed on the sides kind of gives you an idea of how much extra I cut off around that portion right there I know some of you were like oh no it's cut off too much thing is when you put a leg on there you're not gonna see it and that's what really matters and leg goes like right there none the wiser and your decals will last longer than you all right we are ready to start putting boards back into the cabinet for Johnny the Monic and what I do during the whole cosmetics restoration portion like that is I keep all my boards in a box so that way I don't have to worry about them being damaged by any outside stuff dust and everything like that so what I'm gonna be doing is taking one board at a time and I'm gonna be going over it to make sure that all of my connectors are cable connectors everything is all nice and good to go before putting it into the machine so let's get started so I've gone over the NPU already and I reflown the connectors on this one I didn't see any kind of red flags except for the fact that I need to get the NVRAM for this board so that is on my shopping list to get that done but for the time being I'm good by continuing because the board will work and then via RAM is rather easy to put in on this what I'm gonna be doing on this board is replacing this capacitor right here c2 and c8 right here These are your two problematic capacitors for this particular driver board This is one of those recommended things that you do if you come across a board like this that's over 25 years old. Chances are this capacitor may already be starting to leak into the traces underneath it. This one's just a troublesome one that always seems to be finicky. So those two capacitors, C2, C8, replace those. I'm even going to up the voltage, I believe, from 25 to 35. So it'll even be stronger on that. And those are the first two things I've noted just by going over this. I haven't done anything else just by visual means. So we're going to go over it some more and see if we find anything else.
9:04
all right so both capacitors have been removed look guys no traces lifted or damage or anything like that on both capacitors that were removed i cannot swear by this thing anymore than i already have on one of my straight down the middle videos this is the hacko fr301 i'm telling you when it comes to desoldering things and not having to deal with a lot of damage in case you don't use one of these i cannot recommend it enough all right let's talk about replacing capacitors so you have the voltage rating which is first right there 100 volts and the next one is basically the output what it's putting out so the U stands for micro F stands for a Faraday so micro Faraday so 100 micro Faraday is what this thing is putting out what you can do when you're buying replacements and people question this all the time is that will this capacitor work so 100 means basically this is the rating of the capacitor before it will explode it's rated to at a hundred volts meaning it goes over 100 volts then essentially you are damaging this capacitor when you want to upgrade your capacitors upgrade the voltage rating so i'm going to upgrade this one to probably about maybe even a 200 i don't know i'm going to see what's even available at my local shop or if i even have any here but you can up the voltage rating the first number but do not up the output so as long as i go above my rating and stay the same on my output yes that capacitor will work so that's what i'm going to be doing i know for sure that this one's going to be at least a 35 volt whenever i upgrade it it's currently 25 volts at 100 microfarads so gonna be seeing if i have any of these in stock currently i don't think i do all right let's do a smoke test with just let's plug this in first with just the cabinet portion plugged in all right so with only cabinet no playfield attached we're gonna do a smoke test just to see what we get so there we go all right so no locked on coils no smoke that's good no locked on coils there's no damn coil only coil I got is the knocker it's not even plugged in all right we've added some more cables let's go ahead and try it with logic going now too so we've got cabinet connections and full logic so let's see what we get Alright! Looking good Let me check the voltage readings on it and be good to go hopefully got the playfield all hooked up we are about to do smoke test first time turning it on since everything was taken apart let's see what we get without display if I can find the power button here we go
12:42
No coils locked on. So far so good. walk this in place if I can. Okay, give it a little bit of a wiggle. Don't know if the GI supposed to do that or not. I don't recall, but it looks solidly lit, but whenever it goes into strobe mode, I guess every GI is doing it, yeah. Especially since it's different GI strands, it's got to be the way it's supposed to be. Oh!
13:49
There we go. Alright, so I'm going to need to adjust that. That bulb's out. And I think I've got... that one's going to need to be adjusted.
14:04
And... Yeah, I've got some bulbs that just probably just need a little bit of a wiggling around and moving around. But I want to say that all my GI is lit and going, so that's a big plus.
14:19
Alright, let's start adjusting some bulbs and testing some switches. Alright, I just needed to adjust the leads on that bulb for the pop bumper, so now all that's going. Moving on. alright guys so when I say I'm adjusting the leads all I'm doing and all you typically need to do for little stuff like this is take the loose lead if I can get no hands just kind of move it to the outer portion a little further out yeah just move it a little further out to the outside like that on both sides the one that's not going into the bulb obviously move them both to the outer edge like that and that pretty much guarantees that you're going to have a good contact inside these twists all right i believe we are ready to get this game off of the rotisserie and get the hand mechanism on the back of this play field and test that not looking forward to it
15:27
Thank you. Outro Music