Fathom Project

I was lucky enough to find this on MR PINBALL. I purchased this on January 17th, 2002. This will be my project pin for 2002. I had not planned on picking up a project pin for 2002 until Spring, but heck you can't pass up one of the "most beautiful pins ever made".

I subscribe to MR PINBALL ads. I get them every morning. I got to work early one day and while drinking a cup of coffee I saw a FATHOM project pin for sale in nearby Dayton Ohio (3 hours away). It was priced at $275. Complete with everything but a backglass. I purchased the pin from Mike Lush.

A fellow pinhead was hooked on Fathom (Chris - you can't hide). I had been researching that pin on RGP and the web for about 3 weeks to try and determine what was so great about this elusive pin. The more research I did, the more I came to appreciate this pin. Well, I was in for a big surprise when the MR PINBALL ads arrived. I called at 8:00am EST and left a message. Mike told me that by 8:30am he had already received 4 calls to purchase the pin...timing IS everything.

I picked this up as a project, knowing it wasn't perfect and that alot of work would need to be done. I won't start on it until late March-02 (I have to finish up some other projects around the house first). I will continue to do some research here-n-there on it. Below is a picture of the Backglass & Playfield so you can get an idea of what mine will look like when I get done restoring it.

Here's a site that contains everything you wanted to know about the Fathom Pinball Machine --> Fathom Home Page by Sascha

I have created a DVD that shows the entire process on how to repaint a pinball cabinet, specifically FATHOM. Its approximately 2 Hours of video on how to create the Stencils, Match the Paint, and Paint the Cabinet. If you're interested then here is the link to the Cabinet Painting DVD.

UPDATE (3/31/02) - I scored a NOS Fathom Backglass. I won an eBay auction from Bill Ayers. Bill bought a bunch of Bally backglasses from the local distributor when they closed down in the late 1980s. He was selling them all off on eBay (except for his prized Star Trek BGs). It cost me $350 (including shipping) so I PAID for it! However, with the amount of restoration work I'm going to put into the game (new PF parts & Cabinet repaint) anything less would distract from the beauty of the game.

UPDATE (7/3/02) - I have finished redoing the Coin Door, repainting the Legs, cleaning the Plastics, cleaning the Playfield, installing a new Rubber Kit, rebuilding the Mechanicals (except Pop Bumpers) and PCBs. There are still some issues with the Squawk-n-Talk board. The Cabinet and Backbox are totally strips of all parts and I'm ready to make the Stencils and paint.

UPDATE (10/9/02) - The Stencils have been made and the Backbox has been successfully repainted. It looks good. I'm very happy with the results.

UPDATE (10/28/02) - The Cabinet has been repainted. The game has been put back together. The game looks fantastic and plays great. This IS an awesome game. Now I know why everyone who has one keeps it. It looks good with the game lights on in total darkness and it looks good with all of the lights on in the room. I love it!

The 3 pictures above are courtesy of The_Black_Knight

Here is what I did during the restoration of my Fathom. Everything I did is documented within this website.

	Score Displays - All of them were in really good shape except for 1 digit in one of them. This was repaired per Clay's repair guides.
	PCBs - These were fixed. Clay's repair suggestions were made to the MPU & Solenoid Driver Board.
	Legs - These were sanded and repaint with Chrysler Gray. I also installed new chrome leg bolts and new chrome leg levelers.
	Cabinet & Backbox - These were repainted with stencils and 3 colors of paint (Dark Blue, Teal, Yellow). The "neck" was painted black. The inside of the cabinet, the part exposed above the PF, was also repainted Blue.
	Coin Door - This was taken apart and cleaned. Every single part was removed and cleaned. The "skin" had a real bad dent in it. I was able to "pull" it out, but it wasn't perfect. I replaced the door skin with a perfect one from another game. I installed a new Bally sticker - it should have been a Susan B. Anthony (SBA) sticker, but I don't like the looks of them so I put normal Bally coin door sticker on it.
	Plastics - These were all cleaned with Novus #2. Several were warped - these were flattened with a heat gun. One plastic was broke in half - I found a replacement. I may pick up a set of Repro Plastics from PinballRescue. I may make repros of the little flipper plastics.
	Playfield Parts - Major cleaning with Novus #2. Removed all of the parts. All of the metal parts were cleaned in my parts tumbler. The blue posts were cleaned up really shiny with Mean Green. PF was waxed with 3 coats of Kit Carnuba Wax.
	Playfield Touchups - There are 2 major sections that need to be done: Above the "A-B-C" Lanes (aka Boat Lady area) and in the middle of the Bonus Ladder. As of 11/01/02, this has not been done.
	Playfield Sealing - Varathane sealing. As of 11/01/02, this has not been done.
	Flippers/Slings/Bumpers/etc - all mechs will be rebuilt. New coil sleeves, new coil stops, flipper pawls, linkages, etc. New Trim White Platters on the Pop Bumpers really look sharp.
	Rubber Kit - A new one was purchased from Steve Young and installed, including the Yellow Flipper Rubber.
	Bumper Caps - New ones were purchased from Steve Young. The ones that came with the game were OK, but cap & lip are glued together and you can tell.
	Rollover Lanes - 2 middle lanes were missing and Left lane is broken. Chris Munson sold me a set from a trashed Fathom PF he had salvaged.
	Backglass - Purchase a NOS one. I also had to purchase the Chrome Lift Channel and Black plastic edge guards.

This page was last updated on 12/19/03