How To Take Apart Your Pinball Playfield (Topside) 

I didn't know you shared an office space with Buddy at Stern. Tell him we look forward to his next appearance.

Doing it all by hand is magic. I use the miluakee m12 screwdrivers to take everything apart.

I did take a ton of pictures refurbishing my Fish Tales, I still needed to refer to other pictures online. DON'T Forget to label the wiring! (Both connection sides) Take good pictures of pop bumper wiring if you replace them. Check your pictures to make sure you have CLEAR shots before removing things. GODD VIDEO

I used to do full shop outs on 3 games a week as a side gig and you are spot on Cary with your comment about each job being game specific! The surprises every game provided were endless! I saw some very interesting and creative fixes from would be techs! LOL, great video👍💯

Looking forward to the next video when the game is cleaned… 👍👍👍

Great video and the bags are critical. One extra step I take to keep everything in order is to number (along with labeling) the bags as you take the playfield apart. If I know I’ll be dumping a lot of metal parts in the polisher, I’ll split up the parts between metal and plastic. Thanks for emphasizing photos…you can’t take enough…ever!!!

Love this episode!

Excellent. Taking your time and documenting well can save a ton of frustration when tearing down even the simplest of games. Great video. And the lighting was indeed sufficient.😄

This video is just so spot on accurate. The first game I ever took apart was a Scared Stiff. I documented everything to a T the bags, the photos, everything. People should really watch this when they get into collecting before tearing down a Playfield it’s like the perfect how-to video.

When I tear down a topside I have a small table next to the game. I lay each piece as close to possible in the position that it lives on the playfield, each nut, screw, etc. I’ve found that doing this along with taking pictures makes it much easier to reassemble. Especially since there are so many pieces of hardware that tend to look similar but may be just slightly different in size (stand-offs, screws,etc). Good video.

Hey Cary. Thanks for your video, some great content that is helping me with repairs and maintenance of my pinballs. Wondering if you are going to continue to upload content on the RAB work as im keen to see you cleaning / repairing and putting it back together. Thanks

Thanks, Cary, for another timely, informative video. I just began my first tear-down, a LOTR. I’m obviously not as experienced as you, so I 1. Put a label on each molex connector to ensure that I don’t confuse any, especially the small ones. So, “A” connects to “A,” “B” to “B” etc when I reassemble. I took your advice about dozens of “before” pictures. Also, OCD again, I am using a sharpie to label each zip lock bag as LLP, CMP, RUP, etc for Left Lower Playfield, Center Middle Playfield, Right Upper Playfield, etc. This is, indeed, a Dummy Approach. I restored British & German autos for 40 yrs before switching to pinball - can’t lift engine head’s & transmissions anymore- & I found that it might be 9 months before I found a proper taillight assembly, so more pics & labels proved invaluable. Back in those days it was Polaroid pics, lol. I suspect my approach might be overkill for a pin, especially as I gain experience, but for my first…..gonna be cautious. Take care!

Nice job and great explaind....😎👍

Cool stuff.

The Home Depot also Carrie’s the whole set of Klein nut drivers and screwdrivers etc. so if you need it now and have a Home Depot there ya go! Hey Cary one video I’ve not seen much about is installing a stern tournament button on spike 2 systems. I know it’s hit and miss on who uses them but I think it’s important. Great video!

I am about to start the teardown for my STTNG. Probably more of a winter project, right now looking at which parts I know I need to buy and making decisions on what I want to change. I am both looking forward to it and not looking forward to it.

How far are you going on this machine? A LAH level restore or just a shop job and refresh?.. EDIT: Nevermind you answered it at the end!

You need lighting Cary

what kind of video camera do you use? I'm thinking about starting a RU-vid channel to document my game restorations.