The subject of POTC, and how to make $$$ to get one came up on RGP and this was the following conversation quoted from icetre

I’m going to be pretty in the hole when POTC comes in, and some have
inquired about my restore services. Rather than reply individually, I
figured I’d post my rates and descriptions directly.
Obviously since I’m in the hole, I prefer CASH, but I will consider
trades, and much like I’m doing for Marcus, I’m willing to talk about
working on multiple machines, for a trade worth more than a single
service being rendered. IE, I’ll decent restore 3 machines for your
demo man.

Prices are estimates: But this isn’t a real business for me, so you can
be pretty sure it’s going to be whatever I tell you. IE decent restore
of a Cirqus, I’ll estimate at $500, and that’s the price you’ll pay. If
it is going to change for some reason, I will call and inform you of
the problem, the reason for the change in price, and change in price. But
within reason, I’m pretty fair, and if I said 500, and it takes an
extra hour, oh well.

If you’ve been to Marcus’s house, you’ve seen some examples of my work.

His getaway (no cab work was done) is a fairly decent shop, and the
Whodunnit, was a spot clean.

Obviously, the better the starting platform, the better (and cheaper)
the results will be. I in no way claim, I can take that auction
junkyard dog, you’ve purchased, and turn it in to HUO. I’m a hard worker, and a
talented engineer. But I’m no miracle worker. ;)

I usually charge 500 for a decent restore. If you want the CH
treatment, without clearcoating, I charge 1k, and with clear tack
another 500 (hey it’s a *LOT* of work to get all those parts off the
board so you can spray.)

For a Spot clean, and shop, I’d have to see what the deal with the
table was, but I’d go 150~200 for something average. Figure 35-50 for parts
depending on what all you want done.

The decent restore is a fairly decent deal for you, it’s a terrible
deal for me, considering in my main line of business I make $50/hour, and in
this sideline I make like $2/hour. ;)

Usually included in a decent restore:

Ball shooter and kickout lanes sanded clean, and repaired, refinished
to a nice butter soft shine using a 30 coat process (usually 40-50 before
I’m satisfied.)
average repair on upkicker holes (spider hole, slot machine, etc) is
included, but as this requires art repair, and the art repair is best
effort
All mechanics repaired (parts extra)
All topside hardware tumbled
Flame polish ramps
Full teardown, of the playfield, and cleaning of every topside part, 3
step polish of the playfield to a mirror like shine, rebuild.
Small cabinet problems, (ie chips, delamination at the corners, etc)
repaired, but major carpentry is extra.
Ball trough, cleaned and burrs filed

Also much like CH, I take pictures, and usually for my convience, it’s
just easier to put them up on my website, which you can access from
home, giving you the benefit of seeing the progress on your pin as it
is restored. These pictures remain on the website, but are also burned to
cd-rom, and you recieve with your finished pin. This is a great asset,
as if you ever need to know what color a wire leading to the 3rd
flipper coil lug is red or orange, you have a reference.

*Also I have some general policies*

Any part that ends up in my hand, ends up disassembled and cleaned
any part that remains on the board untouched does not. (pop bumpers are
a usual example, they almost never get totally rebuilt, cause they
don’t usually need it.)

EVERY part on the topside is disassembled and cleaned in a restore,
always.

This is a best effort service, and I as such can not be held
responsible, if say a part that’s irreplaceable falls apart in my
hands. (never happened before on big stuff though I have lost for instance, a
pop bumper spoon, and I’ve cracked a plastic once. Just making sure I
limit my liability. I mean, this is 10 year old PET plastic we’re
talking about here, it can be very brittle in many cases.)

I don’t transport the tables, you bring them to me, in my shop in
I’m willing to transport but that’s extra and best effort
(never hurt a table, yet…) .

I don’t regrain metal ramps. If it fits in the polisher great if not it
gets cleaned and that’s it

I don’t do EM’s

I don’t take any responsibility for mylar removal. I’ll do it, but you
sign a contract that I’m not responsible no matter what happens mylar
removal and cleanup is extra. It can be a lot of work also (TZ full
mylar takes about 5 nerve wracking hours to 1 to pull and about 4
scraping every surface with a pool of goo gone and a plastic razor
blade)

Decent restore is can be applied to most pins, except TZ. TZ is the
biggest nightmare of a shop job I’ve ever done. Seriously. It was like
3 in one. I’ll only do it as a Full restore, but then you get sanding,
interior cab repainting, and pretty much every surface cleaned, wire
loom cleaning, all parts, top and bottom clean and repaired, boards
cleaned, etc etc etc.

Insert Leveling is extra Again, no liability, best effort.

I’ll do minor PF touchups, but I’m no artist.. If your really picky,
you might be better off sending the board to a restorer/clearcoater, such
as Bill Davis. I feel I do a serviceable job in most cases, but I can’t
repair major problems, Only minor spots. I’ll tell you if I can do it
on a case by case basis. I have examples of what I can do. Once again,
best effort.

Cab Decals are extra $300 plus the label for the whole cab, quote for
single pieces

Cab stenciling is 500 plus the stencil

So what does your shop job entail?

John @ Flippers.com listed the Time Travel Warehouse where apparently an Op left several wanted/nice games stored up for 20 years.

Like a NIB Black Night.

Ohhhh My wish I was in Canada ;)

With this Gameroom Planner that allows you to spec out the gameroom/home theater you’ve dreamed of.

Oh my goodness.

Straight from a test location in the dark seedy underbelly of Chicago

Pirates of the Caribeean(sp) the Pinball Machine.

I may have to hawk some of my games..

Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball machine by Stern

Oh my goodness.

I may have to go sell a liver for this one, or reduce my Herd of pinball machines.

The ship sinks in the middle.

I think I’m in love.

After a rather horrific experience when I locked myself out of my T2, I’ve decided to get a little lock pick set  should be interesting to see how it works out..

Thanks to RGP, here’s the  possible POTC cabinet.

If I only had enough pennies.

Pinball Rebel has a nice little bumpersticker

Here is a Link to instructions on how to ship a pinball machine. Good info if you are sending other than Via NAVL

Here’s some more advice from John Wart via RGP:

Here’s a list of what you will need:

1) Sturdy pallet, big enough for the pin to fit on
2) Stretch Wrap - big roll, 20 or 24″ wide - typical length is 1k feet. Costshould be $15-25
3) Cardboard - get a refrigerator box from a store in town, most will give you one. If you have a distributor nearby, maybe they have a Stern box you can use.
4) Some sort of straps. I have a bander as I use mine regularly, some folks use ratcheting straps. They are cheap at the Harbor Freight store!
5) Insulation - this is optional as you can use cardboard layers for this step too. Either work fine.

These steps assume you have a machine with a folding backbox.

1) Remove glass from machine, remove balls from machine. Remove anything loose from the lower cabinet (manuals, spare bulbs, parts etc). Remove shooter or handle, depending on machine title. Wrap balls and loose parts up
and place in cashbox. No cashbox? Put them in a cardboard box. Replace glass and lockdown bar. Latch lockdown bar.
2) Remove power cord, or secure it if not removable. If removable, put cord in box/cashbox along with the cover that goes over the power cord, and any hardware. Open backbox and remove wing nuts/bolts if installed. Make sure
all boards are secure, if not, tighten screws. Replace backglass/translite, lock backglass. Put keys in cashbox or box.
3) Fold down the backbox, making sure to put some sort of cushioning between the backbox and the rails, either the insulation or some cardboard. Remove backbox latch (these seem to get torn off all the time) and place in cashbox. Shrink wrap head to lower cabinet.
4) Lock coin door, Place keys in cashbox/box. Remove back legs, put bolts in cashbox/box. Lift game up on the rear and remove the front legs, putting bolts in the cashbox/box. Shrink wrap the game again, making sure to get the
coin door area. Place machine on pallet. Stretch wrap cash box or box securely to machine where you can find a spot. My favorite spot is on top of the head, but if the machine has a topper, you may have to wrap it to the belly of the pin, along with the legs.
5) Skin the machine in cardboard. Stretch wrap again, to hold the cardboard to the machine. The first layer of stretch wrap will keep the cardboard from
rubbing the pin and scuffing the cabinet to death.
6) Strap the pin down to the pallet. Secure is important, but don’t let your straps cut into the pin either.
7) Label the game. Include such things as ‘fragile, handle with care, do not remove from pallet, and contact info for both the shipper _and_ the recipient in case the trucking companies tags come off the pallet.

The supplies you need will add up to $50 or less - considering the price of a decent machine, it’s cheap insurance. If you are likely to be shipping
more later, your cost goes down per machine since you can use the stretch wrap roll for more than 1 pin.

I probably forgot something, but I’m sure a few other folks will chime in :)

Good luck, and have fun!

–john

–
http://www.myhomegameroom.com

I was perusing Rec.Games.Pinball when this story was mentioned.

I wish someone would do  this for me

Mundy said he realized right away that he couldn’t pass up a pinball machine for $20. Since he was 10 years old, he was fascinated by the machines because they are “more real than a video game because you’re actually controlling the flippers.”
The only problem was, it didn’t work, and Mundy had never attempted any mechanical work in his life.

And he’s got people calling him offering to sell games…