Archive for July 15th, 2007

Sir Tiltsalot’s Playfield Rotisserie

During the week of the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown I was wandering around, trying to get as good a deal as I could from the different vendors at the show (buying pinballs is a prime example, no shipping). While perusing the floor I ran into John Detweiler (aka Sir Tiltsalot) and his new Playfield Rotisserie where I was expecting Pinrestore to be. I had already bought myself a Donnie Barnes Rotisserie so I wasn’t that excited about Johns. As he handed me the flyer and showed me the rotisserie I was a bit more interested. I then started to play, throughout the day I would come back to the John’s example, and I admit, I was impressed by the look of the rotisserie. At that point I decided to get one. I mean, with new playfields being created, I would need a second rotisserie, right?

As soon as I got back home, I sent John an email telling him I wanted one of his rotissiriies. After a wait I finally got mine.
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My first impressions of the packaging was that I was surprised that the entire rotisserie was inside of one box. The box was sturdy, and as I shook the box, you could not hear any rattling or loose parts. So, like a kid in a candy store, I eagerly went about opening up the box.
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Opening the box revealed that John had firmly packed the rotisserie in packing materials, as well as included all the miscellaneous parts and instructions in a separate envelope
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As I continued to open up the package I found that all the parts of the rotisserie had been tie wrapped together. Remember how I said this package didn’t make *any* noise when I shook it. Johns excellent packaging work can be credited with that.
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Inside the parts packaging were the instruction sheet, a parts sheet, clamps and tighten down screws.
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At this point, I just wanted to start ripping it apart to see how well it would hold the Playfield that I’ve had out of a machine, well, since forever, my TZ playfield (planning on repairing and clear coating it, but, well, life got in the way)
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Taking the wiring snips, I removed all the tie wraps and completely ignored the instructions that John had sent (not to bright on my part).
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I did find that I really like the way he built the sliding base with the tightening screws. The construction felt very sturdy.
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After a few issues, I was finally able to get the rotisierrie up and looking like it was ready for a playfield
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So now is the time of truth. I grabbed the TZ playfield, and started putting it into the rotisierrie. At this point I realized that this really isn’t a one man job, with either my Donnie Barnes or Tiltsalot rotisierrie. Eventually I had the Playfield in place.
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My initial impressions were:
The lack of paint made it look very industrial (and shiny, and I am attracted to shiny things, or I wouldn’t be in this hobby)
Very utilitarian
Well thought out

If you are in the market for a Rotisserie, you can’t go wrong with this one.

And if you wonder about the build quality of the rotisserie, take a look at this.