Topic: Newb questions: Refurb of a TS Green Top

[Spoonchucker]

New to the forum,

Used to play quite a bit back in the late '70's early '80's, played almost exlusively on the old Tournament Soccer tables.

Wanted to get a table for my kids (and me) started looking, found that the best tables are the coin op Tornados @ $1500+ - more than I wanted to shell out until I find out how much the kids like to play (and to keep Wifey off my back about $$$) 

Anyway, been poking around on Ebay and Craigslist, found a TS Green top Quarter-Million dollar table on Craigslist for $40 - ran over an snatched that sucker up on Monday.

The playing surface is in excellent condition, the corners & side strips are great, goals are perfect.  The Cabinet is the lighter colored butcher block laminate, the corners are scuffed but the rest is in good shape, the legs are good but could be refinished.

The rods were rusty as hell, unusable, no amount of steel wool in the world is going to bring them back.  Ordered a new set of solid rods off of Ebay, as well as new set of men, bushings, bumpers, grips, soring units & even a couple of ashtrays (don't smoke, just thought it would be cool to bring the table back to original)

The replacement stuff with shipping ran about $160 so I am about $200 all in for the table. 

Questions:

Should I keep the old stuff?  The rods could be stripped and re-plated - only one of the 2 rods was bent and it isn't too bad.  The men are all there, they're faded and old looking but intact.  The old bushings seem ok, a little worn maybe - the rubber bumpers were shot and the scoring units trashed.

Which balls should I get for the table? - for now I ordered some cheapo plain white balls, am sure there are better ones these days.

The men are held on the rod with 8-32 x 1-1/4 slotted machine screws and 8-32 nuts - cheap zinc plated crap in poor condition.  I picked up some stainless 8-32 x 1-1/4 socket head cap screws to replace them and was thinking about using 8-32 stainless cap nuts - any problem with this?  the cap nuts protude a little bit further from the back of the men than a standard hex nut, but has a more finished look - can't imagine it will affect play at all.

Replacing all the hardware, every screw on the table with stainless (the bushings are held on with stainless screws already, probably re-use them)

How do you get the grips off of the old rods?  I ordered new grips, but would like to save the old ones if possible.

Any other suggestions? 

Going to take a bunch of pics this weekend, will post them if anyone is interested.

SC

[Tyler Foos]

SC,

First off, enjoy the old TS table. They are very cool especially if you have the original playing experience memories to bring with you.

To remove the handles - find an open end wrench a tad larger than the rod, place it at the base of the handle and tap it off. The same trick works for bicycle grips when you need to change them. Place a soft cloth where you will be striking so you don't scratch the finish. I would keep the old parts, especially the men, unless you simply don't have any room.

With the balls that came with the table - are any the stamped TS ball? They came with either a red or blue stamp and are hard to find in decent condition.

The laminate is easy to work with, just get a good contact cement and a small roller. Did any extra pieces come with the table?

Keep us posted.

Tyler