Topic: Just picked up my first 'Real' foosball table, needs a little TLC

[Vincent_Vega]

Hi all, new guy here.  Back in my high school/college days I liked to play a good bit.  Had an old Rene Pierre table at the local bowling alley during high school, and ended up getting a cheap-o table in my college apartment. Haven't really touched it since I graduated back in the early 2000's.  Fast forward to now, at a recent estate sale I was able to pick up an older Tornado table for a pretty good price.  It's definitely going to need some TLC, and I'm planning on doing a full restore on it, even though I'm not really sure what I'm getting in to.  Here's what I'm thinking of doing...

The table seems to have expanded in some place, hard to explain, but it looks like maybe the wood has swollen in some areas.  Not real sure how that happens, but am thinking it might have been kept in an unfavorable environment.  Due to this, I'm planning on stripping all the laminate off and sanding everything back down to be relatively square.  Once that's done, i'll buy a sheet of new laminate to recover it. 

It looks like there is a little mold/mildew on the inside of the table.  I have reason to believe this just happened, as it was wet when I  first opened it up, and now has appeared to have dried.  I'm planning on sanding down the insides and then putting a good coat of white paint on it. 

Planning on pulling all the rods to steel wool and polish, and tossing all the players into the dishwasher to clean them up a bit.  Will likely do the same with the bearings, as they seem to be pretty dirty too.

As noted, I'm not real sure what I'm getting in to here, so I do have a few questions. 

1) Are the roll pins reusable once removed from the players and rod handles?

2) Any ideas on what to do for the wooden handles?  Sand them down a bit?  Wrap them as is?

3) How many balls are there supposed to be in a standard coin-op game of foosball? 

4) Are bearings reusable once removed?

I'm planning on ordering a bearing/rod removal key and roll pin punch sometime tomorrow so I can get started. 

Thanks in advance!

[hackjob]

1) Are the roll pins reusable once removed from the players and rod handles?

Yes, but pins are dirt cheap to replace and occasionally break due to fatigue (typically on the 2 rod or forwad 3rod)... best to replace unless you are desperate or an infrequent player with a soft touch... at home I would reuse them unless you are a hard core ball smasher

2) Any ideas on what to do for the wooden handles?  Sand them down a bit?  Wrap them as is?

Well, many guys prefer the wood handles and they will wrap fine and feel the same as the plastic ones... they are cheap to replace at $40 but not a necessary upgrade at all if you are just practising.  FYI- The spredeman purple wraps stay tacky quite a while even when left on the handle...

3) How many balls are there supposed to be in a standard coin-op game of foosball?
I believe it is 9 as games tend to go to maximum 5  4... the carousel only holds 9 I believe... I think ball 10 will wait for the next plug....  You know, new roughed balls are super nice to use due to their higher control and edge grab... New balls soil and smooth out quite quickly especially if you don't clean your table play field and inner chases often.  I Recommend to put it on free play or stuff goals and introduce new balls over time as they smooth out giving you a feel for adjusting to bar and tournament type situations.   

4) Are bearings reusable once removed?
Bearings are totally reusable, and rotating them around the table and top to bottom is recommended once in awhile.   There is two flange thicknesses and older ones may affect wall passing, but not a huge difference... The bottom bearing takes the wear so rotating 180 keeps it even and rotating clockwise on different rods keeps all of them even as the table ages.  Bearings are cheap so note the rod slop and toe to playfield height with newer bearings... keep your forward 3 bearings near new so your control and feel develops with good bearings.  Buy a number of bumpers while your at it as the rubber tears up easy on old tables.

Note that there is a great deal of work and some risk of fatal failure redoing a wet table.  I suppose for a practice table who cares... just do a quick job  to get it playable and work on passing and shooting.  Sell it once you reach proficiency with basic skills or a better one is listed...  You see, the MDF decompresses like a sponge when water fluids hits it, in key areas it can change its bounce to an annoying spot even if you plane it flat.     If you are to totally rework a table I would consider replacing the perimeter with new mdf or hydrophobic unobtainium somehow.  Consider the costs to replace or rework things true, just beware of your time and money invested into a $400 junk table.... $400+tools and materials+ project time +upgrades can add up fast to a $1000 junk table.  Take it from a guy with a reworked table like yours... LOL.. it was a fun project to figure it out but not really worth it!

[Vincent_Vega]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm definitely not a proficient player at foosball anymore, it's been about 15 years since I've touched one.  Even then, I wasn't great, but good enough to whip all my buddies in college 

I doubt I'd be able to tell much of a difference 'play wise' whether I was playing on a find like the one I got, or if it was a top dollar brand new one.  Throw into the mix that I've also got 9 and 11 year old girls, so I'm down with just having something to goof around with. I'm really trying to keep the costs down, so I'm hoping to be able to reuse pretty much all of the stock hardware, with the biggest investments coming in sanding/painting labor as well as a 70$ or so for a sheet of laminate and one of those laminate router bits.  The table came with I think 6 balls or so, but they're pretty nasty looking.  Might see what I can do to bring them back to life.

Thanks for the tips 

[Vincent_Vega]

Oh, and forgot to ask... is there any way to determine which model number/year this table is?  I didn't see any identifying marks other than the serial number.

[kgstewar]

Oh, and forgot to ask... is there any way to determine which model number/year this table is?  I didn't see any identifying marks other than the serial number.

Tornado T-2000 "Brown Marble" early to mid 1990s, most likely.