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House move. How compact is a Tombstoned Pinball Machine. Size, Weight etc.

A

Antray84

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Hi all. Looking to move house next year and for a long time I have been coming to the realisation that I need to downsize my arcade/pinball collection. This could mean that I simply have to choose 1 thing to keep.
I know a pinball machine is bigger than an arcade, but you can't fold up an arcade. Some houses have good upstairs spaces but narrow stairs, doorways etc. Is there a good resource, or user experience on moving a tombstoned pinball around without a sack truck. Could 2 people get one up some stairs? I once dropped a Nintendo Popeye down a flight of stairs so I think good prep is key.

Thanks - The machine in question is a 1981 Bally SS
 
I once man-handled a BSD down 2 flights of stairs with the seller and it nearly killed me. If fact, if he had let go, it would have done.

Whatever you do don't take any risks, it's just not worth it. Plenty of people on here with long term back injuries that I'm sure will chime in too.

I've got a powered stair climber if you want to borrow it for the move?
 
Appreciated and understood. Turning down that perfect house because I have nowhere to put 7 arcades is something that I need to get my head around. I only recently got into Pinballs, but have been finding it hard to justify them in any move. So in need of some logical thinking.
 
I’ve moved pins up/down stairs before. It’s not fun and carries some risk to man, machine , fixtures/fittings 😁 @Will2.0 and I once got a TZ jammed trying to bring it down 2 flights with turns . It was farcical 😅
If you can be bothered taking the back box off makes it much easier .
Taking the playfield out makes it even easier.
 
Agree with @Sgt GrizZ that dismantling the .machine and moving it up or downstairs in parts is far easier and safer. Particularly if you have narrow stairs with tight corners or don't own a stairclimber sack truck or moving a widebody. Machines can weight up to 150kg. Would you contemplate carrying your 20 stone comatose drunk mate up a flight of stairs?

Done it 3 times when I was much younger and less sensible but now woild always dismantle.

Taking a 1980s bally ss apart isn't that difficult or time consuming.
 
I moved my Tommy on my own up and down stairs on a sack truck with pneumatic tyres after removing the head. A bit of masking tape to label the connectors helps you to remember where they go too... Probably wouldn't want to repeat the exercise though but I was a lot younger then.
 
There are variables to consider, such as which two people, and how awkward the stairs are. A colleague and I carried pins up a short straight flight of stairs at a recording studio simply with the back box folded, but had to knock down and lighten a fruit machine to tackle a u-shaped narrow staircase in a boozer, at the second attempt (the landlady had sent him and another colleague away the previous day, after a caper that sounded like Laurel and Hardy with that pianola). Would this be your Eight Ball Deluxe? The back box can be detached, and the cabinet lightened by removing the glass and playfield, or even the rectifier/power supply panel if needed.
 
I think I moved 40 pins on my tod in 2 days a while back. Just take your time.
 
So the thing is. The plan would be to move one pin up a flight of stairs once, and then it stays there for 20 years. The arcade dynamic is that you can't take them apart. You can make them lighter but if they are 180cm tall and 70cm wide, then that is what they are. As has been said you can reduce a pinball machine to the core parts. It would be a massive pain, but it is a on time deal. I am not going to be moving this around or trading it out etc.

This is all hypothetical, but I do need to sell some things so thinking ahead.

And yeah it is my Eight Ball, no crazy parts on the playfield
 
Delivered a Sttng , so wide body, to an eBay buyer in a stupidly designed 70s house, narrow steep staircase with180 turn at the top. We managed by taking the head and the glass off to reduce weight, wasn’t fun but managed it slowly by lifting and dropping on each stair.
 
Just be careful with putting pinball machines upstairs in houses with wooden floors (rather than concreate). The noise from them downstairs is loud. The floors will handle the weight no problem as long as you do not have dry rot in the floor boards!

Jamie from 5 play amusments used to own a house in Chesterfield he bought just to store pinball machines in.

Watch internal door sizes - a lot of smaller modern houses I have had to remove doors of hindges to get them into a room.

With newer stern machines (well all pinball machines) you can move them easier by taking out playfield, taking out glass, taking off backbox and doing it on your own with a sack truck. Of course it is easier with two.

Beware of any game made by spooky. I have known 2 or 3 people who have removed backbox and plugged stuff back in to the wrong places and blown PCBs up as nothing is keyed on the molex. I hope they have improved this.

Good luck.....

PS - other idea is put them in storage and build something down the garden!
 
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