1967 Bally Wiggler

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Pindude152
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1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

Here is a free form log of my repairs on the Bally Wiggler I brought back from A-town.
A-Town bounty
A-Town bounty
This is not a formal restoration. I wouldnt even call it a refurbishing by my standards. I'm just making it work for myself. As I write these words, I'm a bit blasé about repairs. I'm repairing the game on auto-pilot. With a direct approach. Some games, I clean, burnish, polish every single switch. In this game, I'm just targeting what's faulty.

The game came with a replacement BG resto backglass that I have yet to install.
BG resto spare bg in bubblewrap
BG resto spare bg in bubblewrap
The game seems to be an abandoned project by the previous owner.
The cabinet was poorly repainted. That doesn't really bother me tho. I'm only interested in gameplay, I have a fixation with the Bally EM multiball games. I couldn't pass this rare title. The game, when it was for sale was listed as working... I guess if the flippers can flap that counts as working :FP: The game when first plugged in played like garbage.
Bad paint job
Bad paint job
The game was from Georgia and it seems the Operator used only contact cleaner and oil to "fix" the game. All the steppers were stiff. The pads on the wired discs were beyond oxidized. All the labels on the score motor panel have gone black from all the contact cleaner. There was some overspray (from the bad paint job) on all the steppers in the head.
The innards
The innards
Inside the backbox
Inside the backbox
Someone added a post on the left outlane to make the game a bit less brutal. I removed the post. I rather have a hole in the playfield than have a post that isn't supposed to be there. It's the friggin' Wiggler! It's supposed to be brutal.
Superfluous Gottlieb post
Superfluous Gottlieb post
I had a spare wireform gate for the wiggle alley exit, donated from a trashed bally Dixieland.
Wireform gate replacement
Wireform gate replacement
More to come...
Attachments
Playfield shot
Playfield shot
Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

WARLOCK
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Re: Bally Wiggler

Post by WARLOCK »

Well done.

Dibs... very serious.

Too soon ?

GREAT WORK.

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cait001
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by cait001 »

that's a lot of relays!
backglasses wanted: Star-Jet, Fairy, Star Trek (1971 Gottlieb)
marquees wanted: Roller Aces, Quiz Dragon, Strider, Varkon, Dark Planet, R-Type (w/ship), Quantum, Ninja (Sega)
blog -- collection -- want list -- Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- ratings

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Pindude152
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

cait001 wrote:that's a lot of relays!
Yup. And as you can see from this picture, you can barely make out which relay is which.
Dirty, Filthy
Dirty, Filthy
Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

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Pindude152
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

I had this crazy idea of getting the rust off the wiggler's lift channel.
Rusty channel
Rusty channel
So I went to princess auto and bought a gallon of evaporust. Then I went to Home depot and bought some ABS parts to make a tube to soak the part overnight...
Soaking chamber
Soaking chamber
The result was awful. I didnt even bother taking a picture. After soaking for 24 hours the trim was black grey. I guess the surface rust was too far gone. The piece was structurally sound but it looked like shit. I ended up cleaning the channel with cleaner and steel wool and painting it with Tremclad hammered grey. Looks decent now.

Now I'm waiting for some LED's to put behind the repro backglass...
the Wiggler in the lineup
the Wiggler in the lineup
I played a few games on it already and I think it's a fun game. Better than what I remembered from test playing the NS/Warlock Wiggler awhile ago. Wiggler is brutal, but fun once you get the hang of it. Then again, all the Bally Multiball EM's are brutal. That's what makes them so "special".
Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

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Pindude152
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

@Scott
Yes. Too soon
It's a permanent collection game anyway.
It would take a really good trade offer to make me part with it.
Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

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Pindude152
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

Pics
Lit BG
Lit BG
Rattle can lift channel
Rattle can lift channel
Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

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Pindude152
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Posts: 692
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Re: 1967 Bally Wiggler

Post by Pindude152 »

Here is a cool short old super8 home movie found on youtube of a Wiggler in it's natural element .
If the machine seems to be playing super fast, I think it's because the movie was originally shot at 16 or 18fps but replayed at 24fps


Wanted: Bally 20 hole Bingo machine: Orient, London, Safari, Super 7, Bonus 7 or Hawaii.
Bally: Mad World
Williams: Pot 'O' gold, Beat the clock
Rally Play Company of Nice France: Any Flip Tronic(s) era machine produced between 1966 and 1969


"It's heavy. What is it? ... The, uh, stuff dreams are made of"
-The Maltese Falcon

"Every ball for me's another game.For you this always looks the same [...]
I know for you this doesn't look a lot. For me this is the only thing I got"
-Yello - Pinball Cha Cha

"He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life"
-Homer Simpson


Check out my blog at http://pindude152.blogspot.ca/ for quality content about electromechanical amusement
http://www.pinballowners.com/pindude152

Too far gone... beyond time, space and pinball stages

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