Apparently, the ramps on "The Machine" take a lot of beating. Usually this can be attributed to balls that enter the ramp from a slight (or sometimes not-so-slight!) angle, striking the sidewalls of the ramp entrance. My game had both ramps pretty well broken up at their entrances. This is a picture of the left or "Shuttle" ramp from my game, before repairs were attempted. (Click on the pictures if you want to see a close-up).
The "Heart" ramp entrance at the center of the playfield didn't look much better. So much material was missing from the walls that someone had installed the "universal fix" in the playfield at the right wall, namely a drywall screw! Arrgh!
After looking the situation over, I decided to fabricate and install some metal protectors to cover the damaged areas. At "Pinball Fantasy '98" I bought a bag of steel lane protectors from Tim Arnold's booth for a dollar! They were originally installed in the shooter lanes of games, right where the ball is kicked out of the trough. You can see the large, late-style protectors I chose to use for the shuttle ramp.
The pieces for the "Heart" ramp had to be shorter, since they needed to curve pretty abruptly, so I chose a pair of the old-style lane protectors used in some EM's.
I needed to make some patterns that I could use to cut and drill the metal pieces, so I took some thin cardboard and made some exact templates of the metal pieces. You can see two of the templates behind the metal pieces in this picture:
I installed the ramps back in the game (since the protectors had to clear some of the other playfield items in the game) and held these in place while marking and trimming the cardboard to shape. The left ("Shuttle") ramp has two posts with rubber sleeves at its entrance, and the center "Heart" ramp has one. These metal posts are drilled and threaded at the top, so I thought they would be a good place to fasten the end of the top flange of the protector. I put a screw through the hole in the end of the cardboard templates into each post, and then sketched with a pen where I needed to remove material or drill holes. I trimmed the cardboard with scissors and X-Acto knife, continually taking them out, trimming, and putting them back until I was satisfied they would do the job and clear any other parts that needed clearance. I made sure to label these templates, as they now were each unique, and I made sure I indicated which way the bend of the flange went as well, so I didn't get one of the templates "inside-out" when trimming the metal. I traced the edges of the templates onto the metal pieces, and then went to my band saw and started cutting. In some places, the vertical "wall" of the protector had to have a curve that could not be accommodated by the upper flange, so I had to cut a slot along the bend in the metal. You can see this most clearly in the cardboard templates for the shorter pieces at the back of this shot.
Then, using my drill press, bench grinder and an assortment of files and emery cloth, I proceded to remove more metal, grinding edges smooth and putting holes for pop rivets where necessary. I bent the pieces where needed, mainly the little mounting flanges that would go on top of the playfield posts, as well as the curved walls of the center ramp pieces, and then used a piece of emery cloth to buff out the surfaces. They looked like factory "brushed" steel finish, just like the side rails of the game!
Another shot of the finished pieces, with an uncut protector piece (extra) in the background for comparison.
Before I installed them, however, I wanted to beef up the ramps and replace missing wall material so there was something substantial to which the protectors could be attached! I used fiberglass, a technique I had tried before with some success on my Blackwater 100 and Banzai Run games. You can see the outcome to the "Shuttle" ramp below.
When the protectors are installed, and the ramp is in the game, it is hard to see the fiberglass repair, you have to know it is there so you know where to look! I feel a lot better about the strength of the repair with this technique. In these shots you can see the upward bend I made for the screw flanges. The protectors are just sitting in place for this shot, I will describe the attachment procedure below.
Here is the center ramp after some fiberglass work...notice that I trimmed it back on the right side so it would not be seen behind the protector when it is installed. It has this odd shape because there is a playfield wire rail that comes just up to it. I only had to drill one extra hole for a pop rivet in any of the ramps, in the right one for the "Heart" ramp. All the others were riveted into existing holes, or used a screw that went into a playfield post.
Again, with the protectors installed and especially with the ramps in the machine, it is not too easy to see the fiberglass repairs.
I was a little worried about the extra thickness of the protectors reducing the width of the ramp entrance, but it is really not too bad. I have to say that, after installing them, I am making a lot more of the ramp shots than I used to!
To do the final installation, I first cleaned and polished the ramps really well with Novus #3 and #2, and then washed them clean of any residue. I installed the ramps in the game first, getting everything into the position it would be in before installing the protectors. In this hobby, a lot of times you have to go with a developed "feel" for certain techniques and materials. In the case of ramp protectors, I feel it is advisable to have a thin cushioning material between the metal and the plastic to keep shocks from being transmitted to the plastic. To this end I use RTV Silicone adhesive to glue the protectors in place, this thin film of rubber between the plastic and metal seems "right" to me. I carefully applied some to the protectors and the screwed and pop-riveted them in place. I used some spring clamps (look like big metal clothes-pins) to hold the walls of the protectors against the walls of the ramps until the adhesive dried.
It gets a little hard to see amidst all the flash and decoration when the parts are in the machine, but here they are, in place and doing their job! And as I said above, what a difference to the game play!
--Bob Ellingson