What Did You Buy Today?

BGHansen said:
+1 on your thoughts. We have a circa 1980 Williams Firepower pinball machine. I bought the game for around $1750 a year or two ago. It gets played a lot when we host family events. I was always apprehensive as with the 40+ years old boards, it'd flake out on occasion. The game would lock up which could be temporarily "fixed" by opening the back box, pulling the connections between the various boards, and hooking everything back up. It'd work for "a while", then flake out again.

I recently decided to stop "fumble d*cking" with it and replaced all of the boards (MPU, driver, speech and power supply) with re-engineered boards using modern components for around $800. The displays were gas plasma using around 100 V and would flicker and/or sporadically lose a segment. Again, pull the back glass, wiggle the connections and all would be good for "a while". I replaced the plasma displays with modern 5V LED displays for $125. On top of that, I replaced all of the 6.3 V incandescent bulbs with LED's for another $50. The problems with a lot of these machines is they stick illumination bulbs right under the plastics which melt/distort them.

I'm sure with other nickel and dime things I've done to it, I've spent $3000 total on the machine. Does that make it a $3000 pinball machine at this point? Probably not, as I see them for sale for around $2000, sometimes with some replacement boards. Those are being sold as "everything works as it should" machines. Some guys don't mind tinkering with them. In my case, I wanted to be confident that when it's fired up this Thanksgiving, it'll work all day. I'd have to find someone like me who would be willing to pay a little extra for a "hands-free" (other than the flippers!) machine.

Probably a number of surface grinders out there with decent spindles from lower use. Because he had to fix a worn-out machine doesn't necessarily mean he can pass the repair bill on to the new owner. However, you will be getting a "new" machine regarding the spindle. You should with some confidence not have to worry about ever servicing it in a hobby shop. There is some value in not worrying about it unless you don't mind tinkering.

Bruce
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The real value is the pride that you have in seeing family enjoy it from your efforts! That's value that can't be replaced
 
matthewsx said:
Happens all the time….

“Just trying to get my money back”

If the seller sees value that the buyer doesn’t it can take a long time to get a deal done. I’d just make an offer based on what you think it’s worth and let him decide.

John
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It’s not unlike home remodeling: never do anything expecting to get your investment back - odds are good what features you like will be just Ok to buyer.
 
IamNotImportant said:
that's what i was wondering, he claimed he spent 1900 on the spindle rebuild
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So he put too much money into and old piece of equipment and now wants out.

Too bad for him.

It's like rebuilding a classic muscle car and putting 100G into it when the car is only marketable for around 50G. No one is going to pay 100G for it so it's on you that you overspent on it.

If you're fixing it because you love it, fine. Your money, spnd it how you want. If you're fixing it to sell it and you put too much into it, that's all on you.

I have empathy for guys who get stuck in that pickle (been there myself more often than I want to admit), but not enough empathy to put myself in a hole to dig them out of theirs....
 
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Wife’s mini (like most cars these days) has a lot of plastic in the engine bay, including the valve cover.

Its common for this to warp and/or crack as it ages. The wife’s is still good, but at 13 years its getting towards the end of life cycle.

Not a lot of options other than another plastic one.

Then I ran across this:

939BF11A-F750-4057-B024-5BEA0BAC2AE1.jpegB0121310-F10D-46CC-A72E-C4A685EE9848.jpeg
cast aluminum. Only one I’ve ever seen. Grabbed one for 150 USD and I’ll see if its good or junk once it arrives. It looks pretty good though.

This isn’t about adding “bling”, its a out changing to a more durable part….there are some places plastic just doesn’t belong.
 
great white said:
Wife’s mini (like most cars these days) has a lot of plastic in the engine bay, including the valve cover.

Its common for this to warp and/or crack as it ages. The wife’s is still good, but at 13 years its getting towards the end of life cycle.

Not a lot of options other than another plastic one.

Then I ran across this:

View attachment 427613View attachment 427614
cast aluminum. Only one I’ve ever seen. Grabbed one for 150 USD and I’ll see if its good or junk once it arrives. It looks pretty good though.

This isn’t about adding “bling”, its a out changing to a more durable part….there are some places plastic just doesn’t belong.
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a friend of mine has a mini, i just pasted this along to him
 
IamNotImportant said:
a friend of mine has a mini, i just pasted this along to him
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If its a cooper S (ie:turbo) it won’t fit. This is only for the N12.

But you can also get ones for the N18 (turbo). They are far more common than the n12 covers.

If he does have an N12 and wants one, he better move on it as the ebay seller only has 2 left….
 
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