Cleaning the Pinball Wiring

With all the postings about my Steampunk-inspired lamp, it is hard not to forget that I am still working on the renovation of my Harlem Globetrotters World Tour pinball.

One of the key pieces is getting the wiring cleaned. It sounds simple to clean a wire but in reality you've got a large bundle of wires in poor, oily, dirty condition and it can be a lot of work to clean them.

After reading of several different techniques, I opted for Vid1900's guide. He basically says to throw it in the dishwasher, it will be fine!

Wiring harness in the dishwasher

So it was with considerable trepidation that I put my precious wiring into the dishwasher, worried about the colors on the wires (what if they all come out white!) worried about the connectors (what if the old plastic softens and the connectors fall out) worried about the moisture (what if water gets under the insulation and rusts the wires)

Per the recommendation, I put it on "High Temp Pots and Pans" rather than "gentle," crossed my fingers and pushed "Start"


90 minutes later I had a perfectly clean wiring harness!

Cleaned wiring

it looks like everything worked perfectly. My blue tape with labels on it even survived. 

I fired up the air compressor and blew out the moisture still trapped in the connectors just in case. But it all looks good!

whew