How to Properly Store a Pinball Machine

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Pinball machines are classic arcade games, but due to their vintage nature, they also take up a great deal of space within your home. If you don't want to part with your pinball machine, but desperately want to free up space within your home, you may want to consider renting out a storage unit to keep your pinball machine in. However, before moving your classic arcade game into storage, you need to properly prepare it to ensure that it does not become damaged during the process.

Preparation

Before you begin packing, you should clean the unit as much as possible. You can do this by removing the glass panel and wiping down all the internal components of the machine with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt that may have gotten into the playing field.

The proper way to transport a pinball machine is vertically. Most pinball machines will have latches or levers that you can use to fold the machine in half, allowing you to transport the entire unit while keeping the playing field perfectly flat. You should also remove the legs using a crosshead screwdriver or drill to make it easier to fit the unit into your vehicle and storage unit.

It's a good idea to use bungee cords or tightened straps to keep everything locked in tight and to prevent damage that can occur while in transport. If you are transporting the pinball machine in a moving truck or with other items, you may want to cover it with bubble wrap or a moving blanket to protect it against damage from other items that may shift around.

Security

It's important to consider security options when moving into a storage facility. While they are specialized pieces of entertainment and quite large, pinball machines are also valuable and theft cannot be completely ruled out. Look for storage facilities that come with safety features, such as security guards, cameras, and durable locks, to help protect your pinball machine and any other items you may want to put into storage.

Climate Control

Though it represents an added expense, you may want to spring for a climate controlled storage unit. By regulating temperatures and humidity levels within your unit, climate control can help curtail any potential mold growth, water damage, and temperature related damage to the fragile electrical components within your machine, adding an extra layer of protection and ensuring that your unit will be good as new when you remove it from storage. 

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26 April 2017

Keeping Your Storage Unit Clean

After we moved into a smaller home, we realized that a lot of our stuff would need to be moved into a storage unit. Unfortunately, after we moved things into our storage space, we realized that it was going to be pretty tough to keep clean. To keep our stuff from getting damaged, we decided to go through our unit, organize our things into boxes, and try hard to keep it organized. However, after a series of trials and errors, we were able to figure out a system that worked for us, and our unit is still clean. Check out this blog to learn more about tidying up your storage unit.