From: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu (Brian Casper)
Subject: Re: Protecting silkscreened playfield lightshields
Originator: bcasper@c00478-224wi.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 03:20:24 GMT


Well, a small piece of advice from me to you - avoid prolonged net.absense at
all costs.  It's been about three weeks since I've had any time at all to
spend reading news, and - horror of horrors - many messages have expired before
I got a chance to read them...

Did I miss any good discussion within the past 300 or so messages?

A few comments on some of the surviving messages:

o  I'd love to see somebody with a scanner grab some flyers or pictures of
   machines.  I, too, tire of solid colors or girlies for the background on
   these DECstations and would love to see some great pinball pictures.  JPEG
   seems to be the format of choice lately due to it's excellent storage
   facilities.  I'd be willing to take a collection of pictures and E-mail
   them to people in the late evenings until ftp site is found or something
   better is proposed (or my sysadmin has a caniption!)

o  Depending upon the type of lamp socket, you may be better off replacing
   it than trying to fix it.  If it's the type that holds a #44/47 lamp and
   uses a tin button for the center electrode, my experience has shown that
   the intermittant section is between the abase of the socket and the center
   pin.  There is no practical way to improve this connection - at least not
   on a permanent basis.  Sometimes you can crimp the outer part of the
   socket into a slightly oval shape so that it will grasp the bulb more
   firmly.  Besides, those half-dim bulbs give the machine character, right?!?

o  Pinball Dreams:  Hmmm...  Take two quarters and call me in the morning.
   (sorry - really I am ;-)  Jeez, if this is happening to you after reading
   rec.games.pinball, what do the readers of alt.sex.bondage find when they
   shut their eyes???


Then, there's this:

Daina writes:
|>Heat is also hard on plastics.  Transporting a machine in the daylight even
|>when cool outside can warp the plastics.  The sun beats on the plastics
|>through the glass like a little greenhouse and gets hot enough to do the
|>damage.  One technique to prevent this is to put newspaper *under* the
|>glass, or just throw a blanket over the whole thing.  The warping of
|>plastics is not serious and can be easily fixed.  An article about a year
|>or so ago in the Pinball Trader described how to do this.  It was called
|>"Plastics-a-la-Bill".  The idea is to place the plastics print side up on a
|>clean cookie sheet in a 200 or 250 degree F. (preheated!) oven until the
|>warping starts drooping.  I think this takes around 10 minutes.  Remove the

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PLASTIC!!!

|>plastics and place them in a large book or something similar to hold flat
|>until cool.  I've used this technique and have been very pleased.  However,
|>I am fearful about what might happen if I left the plastics to cook too
|>long.  

Lots of little tiny bubbles...  Please don't ask how I know ;-)


It feels good to be back on-line...
-- 
-- 
Brian Casper                |   "I like to study psychologists.  It gives
bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu        |    good insight into what rats are thinking."
  Pinball Consultant        |     -  Dr. Oscar Wesler
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball