Being a DE cheapskate

stangbat

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I have no problem spending money when warranted. I firmly believe you get what you pay for. But there are some times when I draw the line. If you've owned a few DE games, you've encountered cases where the playfield prop rods have been ripped out of the playfield or have come loose and are lost. People want $20 for these things, often with shipping added to that. I have a problem paying that for a bent piece of flat plated steel.

I bought a piece of galvanized 3/4" x 3' long flat steel and made a playfield bracket myself. It is the same thickness and strength as the DE part. Total cost was $3.44 + tax and I can probably make four more of them from the left over piece of steel. Yeah, it isn't a pretty gold color like the DE piece and I need to improve my skills on the circular bend. :D But I think it will pass muster and work just fine. You probably don't need to be told but the top piece is the factory DE part.

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I will be the first to say you are not a cheap skate. That is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for that piece.

I "had" 3 important cracked pieces of plastic on my Lord of the rings pin. Since Stern doesn't sell individual pieces I wasn't about to cough up >$200 for a whole new plastic set, I went to home depot, bought a small sheet of Lexan. Went home, traced out the broken plastics, broke out the jigsaw with a fine tooth blade and BAM!!! Now I have nice STRONG plastics that you can't even tell I cut out. Freaking $200 my ass.
 
as pins become older and some harder to find,making some of your own parts may become necessary. nice work.and a penny saved and all.
 
I own a Back to the Future and a Royal Rumble pin and I don't recognize that piece at all! My pins have the typical prop arm to rest the playfield on when you are working on the game in the up position...what does that piece do??? Maybe I need to buy a couple from you :)
 
Thanks, guys. I have a feeling I'll be making some more of these. I've already run across two DE pins that need them.

I own a Back to the Future and a Royal Rumble pin and I don't recognize that piece at all! My pins have the typical prop arm to rest the playfield on when you are working on the game in the up position...what does that piece do??? Maybe I need to buy a couple from you :)

WWF has traditional rails, probably because it is a widebody, and I imagine BTTF does too since it is older and probably before DE switched to the brackets I'm talking about. Be glad that you don't see them on your pins, they are pieces of junk and are only there to cut down on costs.
 
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