Topic: Replacing a playfield? Year make and model??? Tornado. . .

[greymatter]

I have been trying to figure out the model and year of a table I bought used because I have never seen one like it.  The cabnet is the grey marble like the Storm II.  It has counter balanced men, the thicker competition grade rods, split bearnings, and the 1 1/2" side walls.  However it does not have the adjustable leg levelers or ball returns of any kind.  In fact I have to reach in to the goal to retrieve the ball, that is if it doesn't bounce out.

I am curious about the table, mostly because it has such an odd mix of high end and low end features.  I have noticed that the surface has a very slight sag toward the center which leads me to believe it has been around for a couple of years. I was wondering if there is a fix for the sag that would prevent me from having to buy a new surface.  If I do end up buying a new surface how do I prevent this from happening to the new surface.

 >edit<  This is a Tornado Table

[marty]

is it a tornado, what color are the men

[greymatter]

Oh, I am sorry.  Yes this is a tornado table I am asking about

[grandmaster]

Is there a serial # anywhere?

[Speedway]

There is no ball return at all?

[greymatter]

There is absolutely no ball return, I have to reach in the goals.

I can't find a serial number anywhere on the cabinet.

I've had a difficult itme getting any info on the table, I will try and post a pick in the next day.  It's a good heavy cabinet

[greymatter]

It turns out this table is a first generation Storm model. 

I would like to thank Charles over at Tornadofoosball.com for helping me discover the tables history.  He also told me that having a playfield that is warped has no solution other than buying a new surface.  Anybody want to argue he's wrong?  Still looking for a way to flatten out the playfield.  It is barely warped, but it is warped a little.

[marty]

so whats the history

[greymatter]

Duh, sorry its a first generation storm table.  Charles opinion was that this was the best model ever produced and that the playfield shouldn't have warped.

[JimWaterman]

The "Home Model" or HM2000 table was the 1st "non-coin op" table that Tornado made....

Here's a link to our "OLD" sales page which shows a picture of the HM2000, but WITH the newly added end-drops!
It's from Mid-June 1996.... so your table predates that modification to the HM.

http://web.archive.org/web/19970210064630/www.foosball.com/jimbo.html

[marty]

i wonder if a guy took it out and put it on a flat surfice and put like a
part of a sheet of pliewood our any think flat and added a bunch of
weight like from a weight set maybe in time poss steam it first but
would not try unless you was sold on geting a new one in case it did not work out , your best bet would to talk to a cabanet carpenter
our the like

[greymatter]

Thanks Jim! Thats a great piece of foosball history. 
Very cool,
.

It totally looks like the HM2000 with out the ball end drops.  The description says it has the thinner rods, but got out some calipers and the rods are .156" thick like the competition rods of today.  I was thinking of flipping the table upside down and placing 20 lbs on the middle of the surface for a day or two.  I don't want to mess with moisture.  I imagine I will buy a new playfield sooner or later anyway.

When I first got into foosball some pals of mine and I all rented a house and one of the fellows purchased that "Time Play" Model in 1996.  It is wierd I have A table from that same year and one of the very first Home versions.  It seems far sturdier than the home models from the local pools shops these days.

Thats totally a great

Thanks

[grandmaster]

One radical solution proposed by a nonfooser that I heard was to put a fifth leg on the table. Put it right in the middle of the playfield and start screwing the adjuster up gradually so as to reverse the sag. I recall at the '90 worlds in Dallas I was looking in a coin op with top up and seeing screws in the top rails of the ball run and realized that this was an attempt to prop up sagging playfields over the course of time. It was kind of a jerry rig affair and looded like it might push the bottom of the cabinet eventually. The fifth leg was a consequence of a conversation with an open minded cabinet maker who listened to my story about sagging playfields on tornado. I discounted this solution at first because it wouldn't help on a coin op. I bet it might work on a table with an open bottom like an older storm model.

[JimWaterman]

...The description says it has the thinner rods, but got out some calipers and the rods are .156" thick like the competition rods of today...

The "thinner rod" was referring to a LARGER hole in the middle of the rod... or a "Thinner-Walled" hollow rod.... same .156" outer diameter!!! but a thinner walled rod... with a bigger hole in the center.

[grandmaster]

Jim- Do you really mean .156" "outer diameter" ?Or is it a measurement of wall thickness of the tube the rod is made from? We used to call the new, current coin op bars "heavy hollow bars" because they are heavier than the old hollow bars made from thinner tubing. The nominal dimension for foosball rods on the outside has been 5/8" or around .625" for as long as I've been around. The first time I saw a set of "heavy hollow" bars was in 1984 at Doug Furry's place in Lexington, Minnestota. If I remember correctly, Doug said that they were a compromise between solid steel bars that were on Tounament Soccer tables and the hollow bars then  in use on American tables. He said Johnny Lott sent them to him to try out and see if he liked them. Even if Doug didn't like them, everyone else does. I credit Johnny Lott for this inovation until someone else can explain where "heavy hollow" bars as Doug called them originated.