Fun With Pinball

The Restoration and Photographic Study of a 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series Pinball Machine (continued)

The Cabinet

World's Series bare cabinet World's Series bare cabinet World's Series bare cabinet

The cabinet on this example is painted with a blue-green-grey paint with white-silver highlights.  In some light the paint is almost pearlescent. Earlier production games were made with black cabinets instead.  The paint is thought to be lead based so a light clear seal of some kind may be in order.

Leg Mounting Hardware Leg Mounting Hardware Leg mounting plate

Each leg mounts to a corner of the cabinet with a single 5/16"-18 x 4" bolt which passes through the ornamental leg plate, the leg and cabinet to reach the internal threaded mounting plate.  Although not shown here the mounting plates should be fixed into place with small tacks or screws. Earlier production games apparently used two leg bolts per leg. Shown here are leg bolt and exterior leg plate reproductions from Buckwerx.com.

Leg mounting hardware Original mounting plate New T-nut

In some cases the threads of the original mounting plate may be worn or damaged so that they can no longer firmly hold the mounting bolt.  One solution is to swap in a new 5/16-18 T-nut.  The T-nut fits into the bolt hole with no drilling necessary.

Leg Leveler Leg Leveler

Steel leg levelers mount into the bottoms of the legs.

Coin Slide Coin slide installed Coin slide installed

The Coin Slide mounts onto the front of the cabinet to the left of the coin door with three 10-32 x 7/8" round head slotted machine screws with washers.

World's Series games were made with both penny and nickel Coin Slides.

Installing the Marquee Marquee installed Marquee installed

The marquee at the back of the cabinet is installed with three #6 x 3/4" flat head wood screws.  Due to variability in the original games new marquees from Buckwerx.com do not come with predrilled holes.  A little careful measuring and drilling is all that is needed to use the existing holes in the back of the cabinet.  Note how closely the paint from the new marquee matches the paint from the original cabinet.

Lock down bar bolts Lock down bar installed

The lock down bar is installed with a pair of 10-24 x 3" carriage bolts mounted through holes in the front of the cabinet and held in place with washers and nuts, although wing nuts might be a better choice here.

Coin door and lock Coin door installed

The coin door is held in place with a standard lock.  A lock with a 5/8" or 3/4" shaft might be ideal but shown here is a lock with 7/8" shaft.  You could bend the cam on the lock towards the cabinet to close the gap between the two but I chose instead to glue a felt spacer to the cam.  Note that the coin door shown is a reproduction from Buckwerx.com and the lock is new too.

Coin box Coin box Coin box

The coin box sits in the front left corner of the cabinet held in place by a couple of wood blocks glued to the cabinet bottom.  This one is a reproduction from Buckwerx.com.

Playfield glass and lock down bar Playfield glass and lock down bar Playfield glass, lock down bar and coin door

The playfield glass is a piece of tempered glass measuring 14 7/8" x 34 1/2” x 3/16”.  It slides into slots in the cabinet side rails and is held in place by the lock down bar.  If you order a new piece of tempered glass consider ordering it without the tempered glass logo which is often etched into a corner by default.

Before installing the playfield glass don't forget to add balls to the game.  The game uses fifteen 5/8" ball bearings.

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