SDTM Cary Hardy: Saving Swords Of Fury Part 8

Straight Down the Middle·video·18m 58s·analyzed·Feb 6, 2021

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Swords of Fury restoration progresses through playfield reassembly with custom ramp solutions

Summary

Cary Hardy continues the restoration of a Swords of Fury pinball machine (Part 8), focusing on playfield reassembly after hardtop installation. Work includes reinstalling switches, slingshots, ramps, plastics, and wire forms while addressing damage and missing components. Custom ramp reproduction by community member freeplay40 is highlighted as a solution for unobtainable original parts.

Key Claims

Original Swords of Fury ramps are not being reproduced by any company
high confidence · Cary notes that original ramps 'have seen better days' and 'these are not being reproduced well not by a company at least' but mentions community member freeplay40 can reproduce them
freeplay40 can reproduce ramps in different colors and will install rivets for a reasonable fee
high confidence · Cary provides direct endorsement and thanks to freeplay40 for ramp reproduction work with quick turnaround
Hardtop installation requires drilling holes at original playfield locations rather than following hardtop guidance
high confidence · Cary explicitly states: 'you want to bolt and screw everything down to the original holes of the playfield so even if they are off centered you're not going to want to do it where the hardtop says to'
Wire forms require polishing using high-grit sandpaper (1200 grit) and metal polish
high confidence · Cary demonstrates the process: 'fill a kitchen sink with some warm water with high grit sandpaper 1200 grit is what i used for these and then i used some of this to polish up the metal'

Notable Quotes

“you're not going to want to do it where the hardtop says to you're going to want to put holes and screws where they originally were”
Cary Hardy@ 6:09 — Critical technical guidance for hardtop installation that contradicts manufacturer instructions
“i don't like this part this is what we call progress people”
Cary Hardy@ 5:42 — Reflective commentary on the tedious nature of restoration work
“thank you for the great work and quick turnaround freeplay40”
Cary Hardy@ 9:33 — Community endorsement of aftermarket ramp reproduction service
“it is so damn smooth right now i'm loving it”
Cary Hardy@ 12:51 — Satisfaction with playfield smoothness after restoration work

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Straight Down the Middleorganization Swords of Furygamefreeplay40personHarry Williamscompany Fred Marcoperson Pinsideorganization

Signals

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community_signal: Community-driven aftermarket solution filling gap in official parts availability; freeplay40 providing professional ramp reproduction service
high · Cary endorses freeplay40's work: 'luckily we have skilled people in this hobby that can help' and provides direct contact recommendation
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product_concern: Original Swords of Fury ramps have degraded beyond serviceable condition; manufacturer reproduction unavailable
high · Cary shows original ramps and states 'these babies have seen better days' and 'these are not being reproduced well not by a company at least'
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restoration_signal: High-grit sandpaper (1200 grit) and metal polish effective for wire form cleaning and polishing
high · Cary demonstrates process and shows visual results: 'nice and reflective shiny wire forms'
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technology_signal: Hardtop installation requires deviation from manufacturer instructions to match original playfield hole locations
high · Explicit instruction to use original holes rather than hardtop-specified locations; multiple examples of required drilling adjustments

Topics

Playfield restoration and reassemblyprimaryHardtop installation challenges and workaroundsprimaryAftermarket parts sourcing and reproductionprimaryMetal polishing and wire form restorationsecondaryVintage game preservation techniquessecondaryCustom ramp reproduction servicessecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.75)— Cary expresses satisfaction with restoration progress and quality of aftermarket solutions. Occasional frustration with tedious work ('i don't like this part') offset by enthusiasm for smoothness and appearance improvements. Overall tone is constructive and educational.

Transcript

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reassembly of the plate field has begun so after the hardtop was done i went around the perimeter and made sure all the holes lined up and was able to get all the wood rails back on including the back piece right here all the way around the play field now what i'm doing also is getting all of the switches screwed back in that i had to remove in order to make sure everything was away from the surface so that includes all the slingshot areas i've gone through and made sure all of my slingshots are quick reacting let me get over here to show you so both slingshots have been cleaned all the rods on there they're smooth flowing and all the targets are back up in place i'm just gonna be working my way up to play field now just making sure everything is uh good to go before i start reassembling the top side now let's see if i can do this with one hand oh maybe not not from that angle at least that's what i've got going on top side so i've got all my targets and my switches are up and slingshots and everything that's where we are at on that yeah look at this floor back there yep this is to be the long tedious process here we have the kickback that goes on the right side or left side of the apron that kicks the ball out of the outlane thing is we're missing a good chunk of what's supposed to be there on the tip just to give you an idea what is missing that is what is on mine this whole like good inch and a half of plastic that is completely missing on the other machine currently on marco looking at parts i just need to make sure that this is the appropriate size so some of the modifications that you're going to have to do on your hard top is stuff probably like this i had to get out my dremel and just chew away the plastic so that way this portion of the kickback was able to get completely in place but i get a good enough shot so you can see right there none of this is going to be visible with the apron in place but some things are going to be in place invisible as you can see we're missing a hole right about there for these pieces that go on place so i've got to actually look at my pictures and drill as close as i possibly can by the naked eye of where these should go something that's why you always document your tear downs boys and girls especially for a hard top because it's not going to be a 100 perfect matchup yep and this is as far as i have gotten with one of the ziploc bags yeah i'm loving this it's like a mirror love it anyways so i've got all these portions all reconnected back up with the wireform ramp to get this thing polished up and real quick to where it's definitely doable just some high grit sandpaper i say high grit like 1200 and a little bit about elbow grease and patience and uh polished out pretty good and i've got a lot of light post up there is a switch that goes right here but i cannot see where the holes originally are so i'm going to hold off until i get more objects around the area to really gauge where that thing needs to be screwed in because these holes are not where they need to be and that's uh i don't want to be off on that so i'm going to wait till i get the uh the railing right here that goes around here the u-shape as well as some of the star posts to really gauge according to the pictures where that switch needs to be screwed down so that's going to be on hold other than that we've got all these in place i do not have them soldered in on yet just in case for whatever reason i have to remove them again uh yeah and i got parked on order we're going to get all new plastics for this one as well guys we got a brand new looking cabinet brand new looking play field so we're going to match it up with some brand new plastics oh man on to the next bag and getting things put together on here got some posts in place been having to drill some more holes to get some of these wire forms in place now i'm about to start doing a lot of polishing for all these rails yeah i don't like this part this is what we call progress people we have gotten the metal rails on here now so important thing to remember when you're doing this is that you want to bolt and screw everything down to the original holes of the plate field so even if they are off centered you're not going to want to do it where the hard top says to you're going to want to put holes and screws where they originally were do not go by the hard top case in point right here i'm going to have to drill holes right here where the ramp is going here that's nowhere near where it says it is been having to do a lot of drilling where the holes are not visible but that's where i'm at now i got all the railings all cleaned and polished up and uh yep i think i'm just waiting on parts now well while i'm waiting for parts to come in to continue working on that i guess i can start working on the upper play field getting all this taken off getting it sanded and prepped for getting the hard top on this one all right we've got parts in guys we can continue doing what we were doing i've got brand new williams black flippers i've got them on mine i like the way they look so i'm going with them more t-nuts screws posts uh more screws this replacement right here i need to make sure this is going to be the right length i haven't even checked this yet um yes yes that should be good that should be good sweet alright including a brand new set of plastics for this machine oh all right i'm gonna have to get the plate filled up right again because i know i've got some t-nuts that uh i had to break off because they were just way too messed up and i still have to dremel out some areas for where things go work now another day has gone by and i've essentially got this portion right here put together when it comes to plastics uh these spinners are working very well i've got a lot of the rubbers put in place when it comes to this portion now i'm going to start on this side over here i've got this replaced too so that now works or should work better than the previous one did here are the original ramps for swords of fury these babies have seen better days what really sucks is that these are not being reproduced well not by a company at least luckily we have skilled people in this hobby that can help i got in touch with a guy on pinside he goes by the name free freeplay40 he can reproduce these ramps and in different colors too if you are interested in seeing if he can help you send him a pm he did great work for me all you have to do is mail him your originals and for a small fee he will even apply the rivets for you he has a growing list of games that he is currently able to replicate thank you for the great work and quick turnaround free play 40. all right we've got our new ramp in for ramps plural form free play this must be all the old hardware stuff that was on there and we are about to see [Music] what this stuff looks like so there's one and this must be the other one all wrapped up um this will be difficult to do with one hand so let's get everything in position and see what these things look like all right so this was the old plastic that was on there and a flash of bulb and gi bulbs that were on there so let's see let's go about getting this sweet that looks a lot better than what i had to deal with before guys oh yes and there we have that one right there nice and clean sweet so here's a comparison between the two right here this is your original and then this is your new hotness to each their own but that's the replacement for that one [Music] all right we have the ramp plural ramps installed ready to go so we're just messing around with the rolling the ball around for some reason i can't seem to there we go so that all works that direction that direction and uh then you have the tunnel the zipper play field so that is all nice and smooth i am so loving well if i want to hit that right on it would have been smooth anyways but like i've been messing around with it it is so damn smooth right now i'm loving it the upper plate build i mean the top side is almost complete guys the only thing i'm missing is the upper flipper and my wire forms and then the top side of this will be done now i've got my wire forms right here and i'm not about to settle for this one goes up top but uh yeah these are not sexy ugh yeah both of these i have definitely seen better days so this one goes right about there just like that something like that so i'm gonna have me a beer watch me some netflix or something and get these things cleaned up gonna take some time got one of the wire forms done that's where it will go but as you can see it looks a lot better it's nice and silky and smooth and how i go about doing these at least for just the amount of basically dirt and grunge that was on this all it required for me was to fill a kitchen sink with some warm uh ditch soap water with high grit sandpaper 1200 grit is what i used for these and then i used some of this to polish up the metal and then voila nice and reflective shiny wire forms now the other one all right now that we've got the wire forms installed as you can see this is not acceptable i mean if i was to lower that down in there which evidently i can't for whatever reason i'll have to look at that in a little bit but yeah this is not acceptable so we're going to be cleaning this up repainting and coating it to match the filters that are down here and these aren't even tightened up yet so let's get started on this um basically it's gonna be high grit sandpaper water to get all this hard stuff up and we'll give it a nice rough coat before we start applying some paint to it all right that looks a lot better than what it did look like still not up to where i want it to be obviously but we're going to be covering it up anyways so it's nice and clean and wrapped up for paint so now i'm going to mask up this bar the rod whatever you want to call it and then get this thing in place and start airbrushing so got my opaque white going and that that i'm using on here is uh interesting but uh got my first coat on here so that already looks a lot better than what it used to i'm going to get the heat gun on that and get it all dried and we can move on and now we'll be applying the opaque black it's looking pretty good all right let's get this thing dried up i think i'm gonna apply another coat after i get it dry to double up on the black while i'm waiting for the upper flipper to dry and i'm now going over the bottom side of the playfield to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be everything's got a good connection screwed in tightly i'm going to adjust these flippers to make sure that they are where they're supposed to be and get those tightened down i need to install the light board that's missing right here with leds and i think i've already replaced all these with leds ah no i haven't got so now i've got to do that and uh yep work continues [Music]