Pinball Update: Going Clear

I found "Tim Arnold's 'Things Not To Do to a Pinball'" list while researching pinball maintenance. It's an interesting read of 39 dos and don'ts. Mr. Arnold runs the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas (Daphne and I have been there), and I've seen him on TV in different episodes of American Restoration. I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about.

The first project I did came from rule #37:

"37 - BEER-SEAL YOUR GLASS
Apply weather strip to glass or front cap to prevent liquids from flowing into front of table. Replace when cracked or dry!"

See that metal strip that runs across the front, top edge of the cabinet? That's called the front cap or lockdown bar.

You can remove it by opening the coin door and pulling down a latch. The lockdown then slides right up and out. I used my fingernail to remove the gunky gasket that was under the lockdown bar, and I used Goo Gone to clean up the mess. Then I went to Home Depot and picked up some weather stripping for a couple of bucks. 

Here's a close up.

I'm not going to put any drinks on my pinball machine; I have a cup holder, but I can see Charlotte mistaking it as a place to put a glass of milk when she playing in the basement. Now I don't have to worry about that. Speaking of worry, here comes rule #16.

"16 - TEMPERED GLASS! LEARN IT! LOVE IT! LIVE IT!
Plate glass is not very strong and breaks very sharp! On any glass, remember the 10" Rule! Lift to your feet, then the floor!"

Tempered glass shatters into a thousand little fragments when it breaks, and plate glass breaks into great big glass shards. If you have a little girl, or cats that like to jump on stuff like I do, then you probably don't want the glass shards. I had these terrible visions of a cat jumping onto the machine, breaking the glass, and then being either being impaled or dismembered.  I don't even want to think about Charlotte reaching into that sharp glass trying retrieve her sippy cup of milk... Brrr.

That's one of my personality quirks. I tend to be a worst-case scenario kind of guy. And that made it time to find out if my glass was tempered or plate. But how? If there isn't a mark that reads "tempered", then there's no way to tell just by looking. I found the answer on websites dedicated to home aquariums. Some aquarium owners modify them by drilling holes in the glass so they can add a sump pump. If their tank is made of tempered glass and they try to drill it, then it will shatter. So, they developed a tempered glass test.

It's pretty simple. I took my laptop from work home, found a web page that was all blue, held the screen behind the glass, put on some polarized glasses (I used the 3D glasses they give you at the movie theater), and looked through the glass at the blue screen. If you see black lines or a darkened smudge in the glass, then it's tempered. Seeing no lines means plate glass.

Here's an example the test showing tempered glass. You can see the vertical lines/ smudge in the right lens of the glasses, but it's not there below or above the glasses.

I first tried the test on my car door's window, because that has to be tempered (safety glass), and I could easily see the lines. Then I tried the pinball machine glass. It was plate glass. Dang!

I requested an online estimate from several local glass businesses, but only Sassman Glass and Mirror  got back to me. They quoted $54 plus tax for a 21 x 43 x 3/16 inch sheet of tempered glass. Done.

I picked up the glass yesterday, and it slid right into place. I'd show you a picture of the glass, but there's nothing to see.

It's as clear as my conscience.

link: Tim Arnold's "Things Not to Do to a Pinball Machine"