Johnny Mnemonic Pinball Restoration: Episode 1

Cary Hardy·video·13m 52s·analyzed·Oct 4, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.012

TL;DR

Johnny Mnemonic restoration: battery cleanup, flipper repairs, switch fixes, game testing.

Summary

Cary Hardy documents the restoration of a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine, beginning with battery replacement and corrosion cleanup. The episode covers initial diagnosis of factory reset errors, flipper rod replacement, switch adjustments and repairs, and testing of basic game functions. The machine is generally in good condition but requires thorough cleaning and component replacement.

Key Claims

Factory settings restore error on startup is caused by battery leakage
high confidence · Speaker identifies battery issue as root cause of factory reset error message; cleaned corroded battery with vinegar bath and confirmed continuity
Battery corrosion is alkaline base damage, not acidic, requiring weak acid (vinegar) to neutralize
high confidence · Speaker explicitly explains chemical process: 'battery alkali is actually a base so this is actually a base damage. So to neutralize this we need to introduce an acid'
Machine had a broken spring on one coil assembly preventing proper function
high confidence · Speaker identified broken spring under playfield that prevented coil from working correctly
Left flipper was non-functional due to missing rod
high confidence · Speaker found left flipper rod missing, replaced with spare part; right flipper was functioning
Rubber rings on slingshots are deteriorated and need replacement
high confidence · 'These rubbers are like really loose and blown out on both the slingshots'

Notable Quotes

“battery alkali is actually a base so this is actually a base damage. So to neutralize this we need to introduce an acid”
Cary Hardy@ 1:14 — Technical explanation of battery corrosion chemistry and appropriate cleaning method
“and this is why I hoard parts. To be able to fix stuff like that”
Cary Hardy@ 8:47 — Commentary on parts hoarding as practical restoration strategy
“I was like, of course. Wouldn't have it any other way”
Cary Hardy@ 5:09 — Reaction to switch breaking during adjustment; resigned acceptance of additional repair work
“after playing one game on here everything feels like it needs to be tightened up it just things just feel loose”
Cary Hardy@ 11:37 — Assessment of overall machine condition revealing loose components and structural issues

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Johnny MnemonicgameJohnny Mnemonic Pinball Machine (restoration subject)product

Signals

?
product_concern: Machine exhibits multiple mechanical component failures including broken flipper rod, broken coil spring, and deteriorated rubber rings
high · Multiple failures identified during initial diagnostic: missing flipper rod, broken coil spring, loose/blown out slingshot rubbers, loose overall structure
?
technology_signal: Johnny Mnemonic machine exhibits factory reset behavior on startup due to battery leakage, requiring diagnosis and correction
high · Battery corrosion confirmed; vinegar bath cleaning performed; system tested and verified after battery replacement

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.042

0:00

All right, Johnny is in place. Still got to work on this one. But one of the first things upon the purchase of this was whenever you would turn it on, you would get factory settings restored. And what is the number one culprit for that? batteries. So we're going to take these batteries out, see if this can be cleaned up and still use. Hopefully we don't have a lot of alcohol damage to where we can no longer use this. All right, let's get this going. All right, we've got the batteries out and it looks like we've only got damage on this middle one right here. All the other ones look nice and clean. Now how we're going to clean this up is by using a very what's the word looking for a weak acid so we're going to be using some vinegar and I'm even gonna have this a little bit diluted as well now people think and want to call this battery acid damage no the thing is battery alkali is actually a base so this is actually a base damage. So to neutralize this we need to introduce an acid. So I'm gonna give this a vinegar bath and let it soak for a little bit and then I'll be using this brush right here to see if we can get it all cleaned up. Alright so let's get over look on the current condition of this machine now this is a pretty dirty machine upon going over it while I was playing it there was a couple of things that I know are gonna need to be fixed like I was wondering why this wasn't working all the way and there's a spring broken down there for that coil the glove 100% works took everything over here this dumped out gave me a multi ball the way it needed to so that was a plus there's not a lot of major wear around the holes right here the out hole. The plastics look to be in pretty good shape. I'm not seeing any major breakage or damage or anything like that. It's just really dirty right now. So overall I'd say this machine was kept in pretty good conditions for a long time. It's just pretty dirty. We're going to see if we can rectify that. I'm not seeing any wear on the play field as of right now I seeing a lot of ball trails but I thinking this should clean up pretty nice let take a look underneath all right we got her up now the first thing was the left flipper wasn working and that why that not working i want to say i may have that piece that we need right there because this all is intact it's all good it's just it's missing the rod right there so I think I may have spares to get this thing to where I can actually fully play it but right flipper work just fine the slingshots I believe these all functioned well they're gonna need a cleaning obviously I think a lot of this is just gonna need to be going through and cleaning when it comes to this game like up underneath that it looks pretty bear when it comes to what's going on because a lot of this game is above the playfield rather than underneath it now you've got the buck and everything down here and I want to say right here yeah that one's got the broken spring on so that one's not gonna work the way it should that one's working and has all the components in it but I want to say that's looking pretty good got all the stuff over here looking pretty good now Yep, there was no keys for this machine. This was already gone out. I didn't have to drill anything. And they didn't have any keys for the back box. And then you turn the machine on and you get notified that the factory settings have been restored and those of us know that that's a battery issue. Then you start to worry, do we have battery leakage? the leakage made a lot of damage to the MPU or anything else that's wrong back there but you can't get into the back box whenever you're buying a machine that is a scary thing but luckily these were only like finger tight and I was able to loosen them up and get in there about having to damage the lock or any other part of the machine which gave me the ability to see that there wasn't a lot of damage back there Alright, as of right now that's about as far as I can get on showing this game. I mean, I can, yeah, it will be turned on. There's no batteries or anything, which that's no big issue, but yeah, let me get that battery board all cleaned up and then we can turn it on. And there you have it. Just using a nylon brush with the vinegar bath. up pretty good there you could see like any other kind of damage like rust or any kind of corrosion damage you're still going to have like some pitting and stuff like that where the damage was at but we are definitely getting continuity so this should work just fine so let's get some batteries in there and get her all hooked up and then that'll be one less issue that i've got to deal with Alright batteries are installed let boot her up Now we gonna get the factory settings restored error because this is the first time it been booted up with the new batteries all right so let's set the time and date and then we'll reset it all right so now the date and time have been set set on free play let's boot it up now See if we still get that error.