Here is what the used and abused ramp flap looks like. Virtualy every machine that has ramps in its arsenal of toys (that means every single one) uses ramp flaps. Be it either metal ramps or plastic ramps, flaps are how the connect to the playfield and what the ball travels on. Here we see the metal reach to Battle The Power Mini Playfield ramp, and it's sad state. We are going to replace this with a nice, shiny, freshly cut new one.
In addition to ramp, many (if not all machines) use rivets extensively throughout the playfield primarily to connect plastics to metal assemblies and various mounting configurations.
Beginning of the surgical procedure is of course to take it off the playfield. Flaps are attached to ramps with rivets. So, we need to take old rivets off first, then we talk. And how do we do that? We drill them out.
Okay. The old flap and old rivets are drilled out and the ramp now needs to be sanded, cleaned and prepped for a new one. Now, let's switch onto the tools you need for this job. Again, if you DO NOT want to buy these tools and/or do the job this way to make new flaps there are 2 things you COULD do:
- Try to reblue your old, original flap (with mediocre result)
or
- Get 200 grit sand paper and sand&move (only verticaly!) and sand it to a smooth silver and use Novus 2 to protect it.
Okay. Again, it is only up to you to decide total replacement is worth doing or if you can do it. TXPinball has no choice, as we buy a lot of routed games that need this kind of work, but eventualy every machine will, if it gets played, it wears out, that's just the way things are. We will list the tools needed, provide their prices and where to get them.
The first tool we see here is this available at Harbor-Freight for 20$. What is it? I it a Hole Punch Tool and it makes nice, clean holes in your new metal flap.
The case the Punch Tool Kit comes in. Notice it has various punch hole attachments to make holes bigger or smaller to closely match the original.
Now these big-ass scissors are called "Tin Snips". They are available at Home Depot for 10 bucks.
Finaly, you need some new material to make ramp flaps. You need to buy a thing called "Shim Stock". It is available from McMaster-Carr, Part number "9503K16", or Pin Restore in Colorado. We are using 0.6 and a little thicker 0.7 Shim Stock Spring Steel. You have to be careful with handling this stuff. It is very springy with razor sharp edges and it could give you a nasty cut if you are not careful. So, safety first, please!
First try, with original on the left side and the first try on the right. It doesn't suck completely, but it ain't that great either, it's just "almost there". That's why we buy 6 feet rolls of this stuff, so some trial and error is inevitable.
Some more straightening and experimenting...
Finaly! We made a good one (3rd try, that's always been the average so far). Now we need to attach it back to the ramp. So, we need to use rivets, like the factory did. You can get them at Pin Restore in Colorado or from Hanson Rivets over in California. It's a big outfit and rivets are all they do. You don't use so-called pop rivets, you use nickel plated tube rivets, like factory did.
Now, to get this tool, it's little tricky. The only place to get this tool is Ebay, as it is hand made by a Ebay seller named "Hurky" (click on name link to go to his Ebay feedback/contact page). It's about 30 bucks, and he only makes them occassionaly, eliciting a bidding war among pinball "DIY Types".
Other, more expensive alternative is to pony up 130$ for one of Pin Restore Rivet presses.
Or, third alternative is to buy a "Brake Rivet Tool" available from Wick's Aircraft Supply for 30$. It's alright, not too bad, and will get the job done, not very deep though, but should work for most ramps or plastic assemblies on modern pinball machines. When I tried it I didn't think it was the best thing ever made since sliced bread, but it's decent, relatively cheap at 30 bucks and gets the job done.
Okay, with our "first try" flap that will not be used, let's start to try out punching some holes.
Almost there, not exactly the same size, but almost there.
The way we do it here is we put old and new flaps on top of each other, position the punch tool over them through the hole already cut at the factory, and we rip the freshly cut flap a new one.
We got a match.
Here is a flapless TZ enter the Battle The Power playfield metal ramp. While it's out and flap is off, a new one is about to be installed, might as well regrain it.
Here we see ball travelling marks on the side. How does this happen? Well, a pinball has traveled this path so many times in it's 13 years of existence that it carved itself a neat little path.
Gone and regrained now.
Ready to put the new flap in. Cutting the new flap is 1/2 the job and the rest is gravy.
Putting rivets in.
Bottom side. Washers are placed here.
Rivet tightening tool is being positioned. Tightening going on now. This is a somewhat of a tricky procedure as the spaces and rivets are tiny and it seems you need to have 3 hands to get the job done. Well, I got 3 legs, but I ain't got the hands, so this is the tricky part of the process. But, if you are just little patient, got your ducks all in a row and have a steady hand it's not that hard at all. I usualy do it in my lap, so elbows help, thighs help, whatever you need to do just to line it up perfectly and get the rivet squeezing tool in the right spot, and you're in business.
Done first out of 2, bottom side view.
Same with the other rivet.
Tightening other rivet top view.
The job is done, nap time.
An hour and 17 minutes later: Bottom view.
Top view all good.
Remember: Now, that you cut and installed a new flap, you need to protect it from rusting and becoming shitty just like the old one and all this work went for nothing. So, use your Carnauba Wax that is usualy used for waxing the playfield and rub it off on the flap with a rag and buff it out, and repeat from time to time (like when cleaning the rest of the playfield periodically). That will protect it fine.
Final words:
The biggest "deal" with making new flaps, and I have certainly fallen into
that trap - is trying to make your new flap look JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL or
else!
That's not really easy, as some flaps are just squares with rounded corners (easy enough), but some of them are just very intricate in shape, with lots of rounded corners,
weird inside rounded bits, slanted stuff (STTNG Delta ramp) etc...
The goal of replacing them shouldn't be to make them dead on/spot on, but rather
an "adequate" replacement. It's hard, most probably not impossible, but sort of hard to
make a full replica of the original flap when all you got is a pair of scissors and not some high tech laser cutting machine or however they do it in production environment.
Also, I was way too nice on the subject of rebluing the old, original ones. Rebluing sucks, gives less than shitty results, I mean REALLY mediocre looking shit flaps (PLEASE, don't talk to me about "prepping it right, or you have to prep it this way or that way, various gun store products are better than the others, this and that, just beat it with your stupid rebluing and move along, nothing to see here - it sucks and gives mediocre results and it's not used here, alright?).
In 9 out 10 cases you're better off leaving a flap in original shitty state than go the rebluing route and make it ever shittier than shit, so it's total shit, looks like shit, smells like shit and feels like shit. This is as diplomatic as I am going to get on subject of rebluing the old flap, so don't ask me how I REALLY feel on the subject.
So, if rebluing sucks then what, if we don't want to go through all the troubles, tools buying and other stuff shown above? Next best thing to a new flap replacement is sanding carefully the hell out of original (sand ONLY vertically, not by going round and round in circular motion!) and have silver flaps - kind of like Cirqus Voltaire flaps. It does looks sort of neat, and no tools are required, just sand paper and a bit of manual labor, 5 or 10 minutes tops, then buff it with Novus 2 and wax and be done with it. Also make sure to mask the area just above the flap where it meets the plastic ramp, so you don't accidentaly sand on the plastic ramp itself and make it scratched and cloudy looking.
The End, that's it, the show is over, (in Apu's voice) - "Thank you, come again".
If you have any questions, please email us and we'll try to help you. Remember to do all these steps safely and frequently check and recheck your work.
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