Playfield Teardown Begins! Data East Time Machine Part 6

Welcome back to the Data East Time Machine restoration series! 🔧🕹️ In Episode 5, I'm making some actual progress on this pinball machine for a change! The mysterious switch glitch seems to resolve itself… sort of. I'm not entirely sure what fixed it, but I'm not going to argue with it! Before diving into the big job, there's still a little work to take care of. I install a lock, rebuild the shooter assembly, tighten up the power switch, and give the inside of the cabinet a good vacuum. Of course, no pinball restoration episode would be complete without a playtest! I squeeze in a one-handed game, hoping to make it back to the 1950s. Unfortunately, the Time Machine has other plans, and my trip through time ends in failure. ⏳ But enough messing around. It's finally time to get serious about the playfield! I start stripping everything down, removing the ramps, plastics, and other playfield components so I can get to the real work: cleaning things up and preparing for the next stage of the restoration. 🔧 **In this episode:** - The mysterious switch glitch (kind of) gets resolved - Installing a new lock - Rebuilding the shooter assembly - Tightening up the power switch - Vacuuming out the cabinet - A one-handed playtest and a failed trip to the 1950s - Stripping down the playfield - Removing ramps, plastics, and other components - Starting the playfield cleanup It's not always about big repairs and dramatic breakthroughs. Sometimes, progress means getting the little things sorted out and finally clearing the way for the next big job. The Data East Time Machine is slowly coming apart so we can put it back together again. Stay tuned for more restoration progress!