Becoming A Pinball Tech

 Minneapolis, MN

We went to The Dakota, a jazz club, for Zydeco music.

Keeping Very Busy

Since getting back from my pinball pickup road trip with Bob, we have been keeping very busy.  On Saturday night we went back to The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for their Firefly event.  We arrived just a bit before dusk and got to walk some of the grounds where there was good firefly habitat. They had experts there to answer questions, a group of performers to entertain people and tell stories, and interpretive signs.  It was really fun and we got to see fireflies.  

Experts answer questions about the event and fireflies in general.  We stumped them when we started asking about the bats we saw.  I guess you can't know everything about everything.

This is firefly habitat.  They were in there.

We also saw some cool fungus due to the recent rains.

I also started a flipper rebuild for the Tommy machine I am borrowing.  There were known issues that Chip told me about so I ordered a flipper rebuild kit, watched a few YouTube videos, bought a ton of tools, and made several trips to buy more tools.  It took me a few days to get them done due to getting blocked along the way for various reasons but they are done now and I know how to do it!  I even had to improvise a bit which was fun.  I did both main flippers and the upper flipper.  I took a lot of reference photos so I didn't end up taking them apart and forgetting how they go back together.

Flipper Stuck = Bad

Need more tools to get stubborn bold unstuck.  Vice grips for the win!

I freed the flipper!

The left one is done!  2 more to go!

I had to de-solder the wires going to the coil and the end of stroke switch so I made sure to note how they went back together.

That's a lot of wear!  And no I am not talking about the place on my thumb where I jabbed myself with pointy pointy solder.

This looks like a problem...

Cross it off the list!

You can see me in the reflection in the topper.

All That Jazz

Between going to Harbor Freight, Home Depot, and Menards, we found time to go to The Dakota Jazz club to see CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band.  We can walk to the venue and will probably be going to more shows over the winter.  The venue was great.  We also got dinner and the food was really good and reasonably priced.  As as added benefit, the show was really good.

Close up accordion action!

Still Mucking With Apartment Layout

We still aren't fully settled.  We have had to buy carpets and wall coverings to made the pinball area quieter.  The machines are very loud in a home environment, even with the volume turned down.  We are working to reduce the noise they make so we will feel confident playing them without disturbing neighbors.  We have noise dampening wall coverings coming and we bought a few carpets at IKEA.  We also need to move one of the machines out of the "Arcade" area because they are packed in there a bit tight.  

We had to cut the carpet a bit because it's impossible to find perfect sized carpets for a home arcade.

I will get some more photos when the arcade is all set up.  What do you think of Pin Hole for a home arcade name?

We have also been doing chores like getting our driver's license ordered among other things.  We are getting very close to having all of that "moving in" stuff done.  Soon we will have plenty of time for home pinball and tournament pinball, and league pinball, and pinball parties.

That's it for now.  If you missed the big road trip to Austin you can read about it here.