What did you do today in the Business?

[Mike@PinballMedics]

After Rob posted about the new games he recently picked up in the "What did you do today in the hobby?" thread, and my subsequent reply, I realized it is fun to post details on some of the great games we find, rebuild, and customise to our specs and taste.

image000000 - Copy.jpg (84.28 KiB) Viewed 1073 times

But since we do it as a "business", it's not honest or accurate to describe what we do as being "hobby" related, despite the fact that we have a boundless passion for all things Pinball, and sharing our creations is Our ultimate reward, both Materially and Spiritually.

This thread is open to anyone who is in the Business of Pinball, whether Full or Part time, to share the details of their ongoing Experiences and Creations, and questions from everyone in the Hobby are welcome, as well as feedback on our Creations!



Mike

[Mike@PinballMedics]

The first Experience I will share is some of the processes games that come to the Ottawa Pinball Medics Custom Shop go through, using Our newly acquired D.E. Tales From The Crypt as our test subject;

image000000 - Copy.jpg (84.28 KiB) Viewed 1064 times

Rob was so excited when he picked up this load of games that he just attacked his part of the process, and did not stop to take pictures, so this game and Gilligan's Island showed up really fast at the Custom Shop.

Before games arrive here, they go through an extensive amount of Electronic and Mechanical systems inspection and repair.

All the boards are removed, bench tested, repaired as required, capacitors and bridge rectifiers replaced, all ground mods performed, all pins inspected and replaced as required and all solder joints reflowed, button cell battery replacements are installed on the MPU, all connectors are inspected and often replaced, the game gets a comprehensive testing of all interrelated systems and mechanisms, and more.

Once this process is complete, the game is fully functional and working 100% as per original specs, and only then does it come to the Custom Shop in Ottawa.

This is the current state of Tales From The Crypt (and Gilligan's Island, who will be up next) after having both undergone all the above mentioned steps;

IMG_1410.jpg (120.35 KiB) Viewed 1064 times

And a "before" shot of the Tales From The Crypt playfield;

These games have been in home use for a very long time, and while they are cosmetically in very good condition, they have not been serviced for decades. Fortunately, this means there are no "hacks", and anything that did not work was part of Rob's basic process before he even plugs it in, so these games were both very "easy". The third game, Cue Ball Wizard, was not so easy, but that's another story, coming soon!

Today I am in the beginning phases of the process. The first thing I do is remove all of the entire Pop Bumper and Slingshot Assemblies;

All the individual components are then disassembled, and placed in a Media Tumbler, using Walnut Shell Media, for a minimum of 24 hours, or 48 if they are really crusty.

In this case, everything is pretty clean other than the Ring & Rod Assembly, which I will replace with new, as well as the spoons, and both the Fiberglass and Metal Yokes. Coil sleeves will be replaced in all Slingshot and Pop Bumper Coils, and the plastic Base Assemblies will go through the Ultrasonic Cleaner along with all the parts currently being tumbled.

I will allow the parts to tumble until tomorrow, when the process will continue!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

It's too early to call it quits, so on to the flippers!

This is the only system that I do not replace with Fliptronic style mechanisms adapted to high voltage. Like Jimmy Page and Willie Dixon and his contemporaries, this is another classic example of the many ideas Sterns of all eras appropriated from their competitors, and some may even argue to better effect, as this system is very similar in design geometry and function to the WPC Fliptronic system, so there is no need to do anything other than a full rebuild with original parts!

Rob made sure they were working correctly, but as soon as I took a closer look, it became apparent there were two different value flipper coils in the game, an 090-5030-OT, and an 090-5032.

Beyond that, the -5032 coil presents signs of swelling combined with previous attempts at rewinding, which some people do instead of rebuilding the mechanism by shortening the length of the winding to increase power. This is a bad idea for a variety of reasons, and this coil is fried.

So it's off to the IPDB to check out page 36 of the manual;

Of course the correct coil is the damaged -5032, so it needs two new flipper coils...

Now for the reason I started a parts department.

It is impossible to run a Pinball "dealership" without a comprehensive inventory of all the correct common and lesser common parts, in quantity, on site, for all brands, to be able to efficiently complete repairs on Customer games, as well as our own Fleet in a timely manner. Viewer discretion is advised - photos of open drawers and all manner of Pinball Paraphernalia follow here;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/stern- ... 0-5032-0t/

And of course a new flipper rebuild kit is essential when taking in a new machine;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/data-e ... sega-1995/

It is important to change every part included in the kit, even if some of the parts are not present when taking the old mechanisms apart.

The spring steel compression washer is often absent, like on the Classic Bally ones, but it is what keeps the coil "tight" but loose (does the Arcade need a Zep Premium?). The bushing is often overlooked, but is also worth changing after 40 years. And never avoid changing the End of Stroke Switch for fear of soldering, it is one of the most important components when it comes to flipper power and responsiveness, the players only connection to the machine.

Many games come with the lugs of the coils near the Coil Stop, which is hard on the connections and the diodes. Sometimes we see horribly hacked flipper assemblies where the wires have been sliced open in multiple areas and bridged by diodes. Not only is it unsightly and difficult to understand for someone doing a subsequent repair, it features multiple areas where short circuits are not only possible, but in fact likely to occur.

The most elegant solution is to simply reverse the coil sleeve and install the coil with the lugs away from the coils stop, towards the plunger & link. This may require extending either or both the flipper power and return wires, but it's still far less work, and soldered properly with heat shrink tubing it is as good as or better than factory.

In the case of this game, the coil was already installed "correctly", so the wires were not extended.

I have not attached the flipper bats and springs yet, as that comes after the "shop" job and upper playfield Customization, which will be coming up next!

And this is all that was left behind...

[Mike@PinballMedics]

The parts have been in the Tumbler for at least 24 hours, so they are ready to go in the Ultrasonic Cleaner.

First, after the unit is up to temperature, the plastic parts being used are cleaned, in this case the Flipper assemblies and Pop Bumper Caps, using Simple Green Extreme Aircraft and Precision Cleaner; https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B001VX ... UTF8&psc=1

Once that is complete, the metal parts are run through. The Ring and Rods came out of the Tumbler looking like new, so they will be re-used, as well as all the yokes, which are normally replaced, but the low mileage on this game allowed for the original equipment to still be 100% salvable. The springs are also perfect. We do not put them in the Ultrasonic as it tends to make them look and feel rough, while the Tumbler alone makes them silky smooth and shiny.

While waiting, it leaves time to address the Drop Target Assembly. We can see that one of the original targets is broken, and all 3 springs are bent out of shape. No Matter. We will be changing all of them in any event.

Fortunately, this era of Data East used a connector which allows the removal of the entire Assembly with a 1/4" nut driver for the 4 screws, to be worked on my desktop. Now it's off to the manual to confirm the correct parts, and we enter Inventory Depletion mode;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/data-e ... et-spring/

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/sterns ... op-target/

The Assembly is disassembled, the components are removed and polished with a fine steel wool (if they were in bad shape they would have been Tumbled), and the new Drop Targets are installed with new Springs. In this case, two of the screws holding the housing together were stripped, so a Ny-lok nut was added to prevent them from coming loose.

While handling the Assembly, one of the Coil wires broke loose. This is very common, so both wires were cut back, and re-soldered. We pay special attention to ensure all unshielded section of all wires are fully encapsulated in solder, so no oxygen can get to it, preventing future arcing and degradation leading to breaks years down the road.

It is also important to clean the switches and ensure they are adjusted and functioning as they should on the bench.

While the Drop Target and the Pop Bumper Assemblies are out, we take advantage of the temporary easy access to the bulbs exposed by the process, and jump ahead and change them to colour matched LED bulbs and Flashers, with a little extra colour on the white or clear lenses to taste.

For regular bulbs, We use the best in the business, Comet 2 SMD Frosted bulbs, and generally We use Comet 8 SMD Flashers for most applications that call for Flashers, this being no exception.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet-2-smd/

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet- ... -906-base/

The Drop Target Assembly is now re-installed and the connector re-connected;

Waiting to hear the "ding" of the Ultra-Sonic any minute now, and the Pop Bumper and Slingshot rebuild begins!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

The Upper Right Flipper Coil was also incorrect, so a 5025 was required;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/stern- ... 0-5025-ot/

A Right Side Only Flipper Rebuild Kit was then installed, an optional selection with all our kits;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/data-e ... sega-1995/

The Slingshot assemblies came out like new, so all that was required was a quick cleaning of all the switch contacts like this one;

and new coils sleeves;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/1-3-4-coil-sleeve/

The Right Side VUK looked like Hell, and the coil was wrapped in duct tape. Based on the Flipper Coils, I unwrapped the duct tape and it was in fact the correct Coil, someone just couldn't live with the paper wrapping coming loose, but otherwise, the Coil is fine, the sleeve is nice and loose, with no signs of coil winding hacks.

So only a rebuild kit was required, as well as a 1 7/8" flanged coil sleeve, and a general purpose 10-135 spring, paying attention to ensure when re-soldering the Coil lugs that they stay clear of the wires on the switch and are well insulated, as a short would send 48V through the Switch Matrix and take out more than a transistor or two...;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/vertic ... build-kit/

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/1-7-8- ... il-sleeve/

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/genera ... ng-10-135/

The Left VUK was not as badly worn, but was sporting an incorrect 090-5023/22-600 coil, instead of the standard 090-5001/23-800, so as well as a VUK rebuild kit, a replacement Coil was required;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/stern- ... ot-23-800/

The one other assembly was removed and disassembled and is now in the Tumbler, to be re-installed tomorrow;

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Now to complete the Pop Bumpers.

DE Pop Assemblies are also quite easy to remove so they can be inspected and rebuilt on the bench. We de-solder the coils and move to the light.

First we choose the colours we will be working with.

DE/Stern Pop Bumper Caps are the standard for all Pinball Medics Black Label Machines, so as we planned, we will keep the original Red Pop Bumper Caps that came with the game;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/bally- ... ucent-red/

We went with Translucent Orange bodies;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/wms-ba ... mper-body/

And Black Skirts;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/pop-bu ... l-colours/



Next we need the Comet Pop Bumper discs, with Red Upwards Shining LEDs & Natural White Downwards Shining LEDs;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet- ... per-discs/

The base, whether bayonet or wedge, is unimportant, as we de-solder them and throw them away.

We then take 2 reasonably long pieces of wire, strip them back a few millimeters, bend the ends into the shape of a hockey stick, and apply solder to them;

We then add a tiny bit of solder to the bottom pads on the disc where the wires were previously removed from, and then solder the wires to the pad with the wires pointing down;

We then drill a small hole on the Assembly as shown, and route the wires through it to prevent them impeding the movement of any of the components related to the Pop Bumper System.

Once the wires are routed, we proceed to complete their re-assembly, and prepare to install the Pop Bumpers, after cleaning all the switches, and replacing the Pop Bumper Spoons;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/plasti ... per-spoon/

After installing the Pop Bumpers, we re-solder all the Coils, and the wires for the Pop Bumper Discs.

Tomorrow, the lower side of the playfield will be completed, and we will begin the teardown of the upper level!

[Sparky]

Love these posts!

It actually gives a great perspective from the business side of the hobby. It is not a side many see.

And I must admit that the games run flawlessly. I own a "black label" pin and it plays as good as it looks... like new.

Very interesting stuff. Keep it coming!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Love these posts!

It actually gives a great perspective from the business side of the hobby. It is not a side many see.

And I must admit that the games run flawlessly. I own a "black label" pin and it plays as good as it looks... like new.

Very interesting stuff. Keep it coming!

Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot coming from someone who knows as much as you about what is involved in creating a "fully working and reliable" game.

Especially when I know the condition of some of the projects you take on!

And the Gypsy told me there may be some Alouette Storage Container Massacre 80B's in your future...

Gottlieb Rob's Rat Rods; Coming Soon to a Reality near You!





Mike

[Mike@PinballMedics]

No Sun Comin' through my Windows.

Feel like I'm Livin' at the Bottom of a Grave.

R-2828879-1302896493.jpg (43.23 KiB) Viewed 847 times

But I ain't wasting my time away like this;

The Crypt Keeper is ready for the Killing Floor!


What a Fantastic long weekend.

Listening to an Arcade full of people of all ages laughing and shouting amidst the sweet refrain of a few dozen Pinball Machines and Classic Video Games, combined with Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow, Queen, and Jimi Hendrix on the Jukebox, all conspiring to conjure the 70's with their Sonic Spell.

It may be dark with Ice Cold AC in my Shop, but the Sun is shining bright just beyond my walls, and this Siren Call lifts my Spirit higher while I bring the Crypt Keeper to Light for the first time in many, many years.

The final Assemblies have been re-installed below the playfield, the Colour Matched Controlled Illumination and Flashers have all been done, the nuts on the posts below the playfield are all tight.

After touching so many areas, I always like to test the game before I begin tearing down the playing surface in case any issues have developed. After a quick smoke test, all appears to be fine, so I proceeded to tear down the top section;

First we installed a new Black Rubber Ring Kit, including all the crusty old Data East 1/2" Post Sleeves that were original to the game, which has never been completely torn down until now! We keep kits in stock for all manufacturers from the early 70's to current, in both Black or White Rubber, and if you can't find it on our site, let me know and I can order kits for any game made.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product-catego ... ring-kits/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/12-ste ... st-sleeve/

With the exception of a few Green bulbs under the Crypt Plastic, all the GI has been replaced with Comet Cool (Natural) White Frosted 2SMD bulbs;

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet-2-smd/

I went with No Logo New Stern type Red Flipper Bats, and Yellow Superbands for the Flippers, Posts, and Mini-Posts

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/flippe ... s-no-logo/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product-catego ... uperbands/

I always use coloured Acorn Nuts to match my games, which adds a lot of tasteful punch for a very low cost, using Yellow Acorn Nuts to match the Superbands and overall theme this time.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/acorn- ... -coloured/

There were two clear Flasher Domes, which I replaced with a Purple one, and a Green one. With colour matched Flashers of course.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/plasti ... -screw-on/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet- ... -906-base/

The clear return lane guides came out of the Ultrasonic bath looking like new, and as a result, after considering changing to new Purple Stern/Data East/Sega Return Lane Guides, I kept the original minty Clear set. I did however wind up changing the Pop Bumper Caps for new ones, the old ones I had hoped to re-use looked ever so slightly scratchy and hazy. And they're not even Purple! They just didn't do justice to the game, especially with 8 red SMDs right under them.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/stern- ... ane-guide/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/bally- ... ucent-red/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/comet- ... per-discs/

I generally use Pin2DMD whenever possible, but I had an old Data East ColorDMD in stock from my last bulk order, which I have been using to summon a cool DE title, and it appears this bit of Talismanic Magic has done the trick, it has conjured something truly spectacular!

https://www.colordmd.com/

The advances Pinball Medics has made in Occult Science while confined to our Lairs over the last few years really are incredible, so at least we got some good Lemonade out of the Pandemic...

Tomorrow, this bird will have flown.

All the way to the Killing Floor, AKA The Ottawa Pinball Arcade.

Where one unlucky game will be chosen to leave the lineup and move one step closer to it's new forever Home and make room for our newest creation!

Next on the menu; Gilligan!

Much more to come.

Starting...

Tomorrow!

Mike

[Mike@PinballMedics]

TFTC has taken it's place on the Killing Floor!

Test players are welcome all day while I'm here, it's Free to Play until 4:00pm for anyone reading this post!

As our lineup continues to improve, it is becoming more difficult to choose which games leave when a new one arrives. After careful deliberation, and despite the fact it is very family friendly and reasonably popular at the Arcade, it has been here for a while, and it is time for our Black Labelled Escape From The Lost World to move on.

The good news for it is, it will be taking up residence at the soon to open Montreal Pinball Arcade, which will be focused on the Golden Era, in the next couple of weeks!

I will leave the formal announcement to Rob who has been working like an animal to get it up and running before the Month is over on a separate thread.

After packing out a few orders, Gilligan will be going under the knife, and we will Create our new Black Label Gilligan's Island, Mad Professor Edition.

Before;

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Upon first inspection, it is apparent I will not be able to perform my standard Pop Bumper upgrade.

This Pop Bumper system, which WMS/Bally were using in the late Alpha-Numeric and early DMD games is one of the worst engineering fails related to Pop Bumpers I am aware of.

The idea was that the whole cap would "pop" up and down with the ring and rod assembly, but it made for a top heavy, wobbly, and weak response when activated. Normally, I would modify the system to the later WMS/Bally system I install in all our games, with the translucent body and disc. The obvious problem here is, this Pop Bumper system features Caps with a significantly smaller diameter than standard, and the plastics and one metal bracket are almost touching the existing Pop Caps, so I will have to make do with rebuilt original equipment in this case.

I always number the power and return lines on the Coil, as well as the Switch Stack so it's easy to rewire without thinking about it or making a mistake. As with TFTC, this era of WMS/Bally featured removable Pop Bumper Assemblies, so they will be disassembled on the bench, and then spend a day in the Media Tumbler, along with the slingshot assemblies, and all the plastic parts will go through an Ultrasonic bath.

The Flipper Assemblies are quite crusty, so I will replace the entire units with new Fliptronic style units converted to High Voltage, one of my fave Pinball Medics Upgrades for all brands, including Chicago Coin and Atari, for which parts have not been available for decades.

s8384cnd.jpg (66.92 KiB) Viewed 790 times

This game is in fantastic condition overall , other than the Flipper Assemblies, with very little wear on the playfield, and barely any fading on the cabinet.

The tumbling process has begun, and we'll see if I have time to do a Flipper conversion today.

I'm not really familiar with this game, but it looks like it will be fun to play, and hearing it sing the theme to the show in attract mode is hilarious!





Mike

[Fifty]

Curious as to what brand/size sonic cleaner you use.

Agree with you on Comet 2SMD.

I don't buy a lot of pins, but every single one that has come into my house has improper coils.

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Curious as to what brand/size sonic cleaner you use.

Agree with you on Comet 2SMD.

I don't buy a lot of pins, but every single one that has come into my house has improper coils.

I have a couple of different size Ultrasonic machines. The one I use the most is a relatively small 4.5 litre unit, and the bigger one is 30 litres. I only use the big one on stuff like wiring harnesses and ramps, it eats up a lot of product, and takes too long to heat up if I try to re-use my liquid.

Speaking of replacing incorrect coils, the Crypt started blowing fuses as soon as I tried to play an actual game, despite my having powered it up before doing the playfield, though I never played a game which would have clued me in. Lesson learned.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when repairing a game, especially if extensive work has been performed, is that if it worked before you "fixed" it, and it now does not work, there is a good chance, (99.9% to be precise), that the failure is related to an error in your work.

It matters not how much experience you have, how good of a tech you are, how well equipped you are, and how neat your work is.

Pride has no bearing on the Science of Pinball.

Accept you have in all likelihood made a mistake, and start retracing your steps.

I first noticed the issue after trying a game, and the auto-launch would not fire.

Checked to see if it had power? No

Did I forget to attach a connector? No.

Any obvious shorts on any of the Coils? No.

Fuse blown? Yes. F8 and F5.

Replace fuses and remove J7 and test to see if it blows? No.

Of course at this point it's in the main room and people are playing around me wanting to try the new toy. No pressure.

Check the diodes for shorts? No.

See what all is on the same line? Both VUK's, which I rebuilt, and replaced a Coil on.

Of course, it's the bottom one behind the Tombstone target motor. I managed to crawl under, and despite the fact I couldn't see the stripe, I compared it to other similar coils and determined it was in fact wired backwards.

By yours truly.

Finally. Progress.

Not wanting remove the Assembly on the floor, I loosened the retainer and was able to gain access, and reversed the wires to the correct positions, and prepared to try again.

I replaced the fuses and powered it up.

Pow! Another 5A fuse off to Valhalla.

So apparently wiring a Coil backwards can also fry a new diode. Who knew? OK I was being lazy and hoping it would have survived...

So I replaced the in4004 diode on the Coil , changed the fuse, and powered it up again.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/diode-1n4004/

Thunk! The unmistakable sound of a Coil pulling, and not releasing...

Can you guess which one? Left VUK...

So now I'm on Rob's turf, it's board repair time, and I don't have time to wait for him, so off to the bench with the beast;

A quick swap of the old TIP36C, and it's back to the Crypt.

https://pinballmedics.ca/product/tip36c/

And now, the Crypt Keeper is 100% back in action.

Even after all these years, we make mistakes. The important thing is to always realize we are not perfect, and learn from the mistakes.

And to this day, after all these years, I still make the most basic Pinball Tech mistake of all time. Who hasn't set up a game, bolted on the head, plugged in all the connectors, and went to plug the game in to power it up and realized; The power cord is still inside the cabinet...

images.jpg (12.39 KiB) Viewed 773 times

[Rob@PinballMedics]

You will have to try to blow up the Gilligan bad enough I need to come for wings and beer. Wire all the coils backwards and put an alligator clip from the 48 volts to the switch matrix and the controlled illumination bus and we can start our new video series right away. I can fit this is my car if I need to now that it has one transformer.

[Dave W.]

Nice to see another Gilligan's going out on location. Played one at Targ around 5 years ago and haven't seen one since. Very underrated title

[Mike@PinballMedics]

This is probably my fave Trademark mod for any system that does not already use the Fliptronic system, except for DE.

First we take a full Fliptronic Flipper Assembly, with an 11630 Parallel Wound Coil.
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... o-10-1998/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... -fl-11630/

Williams-Bally-Full-Flipper-Assembly-92-98.jpg (30.5 KiB) Viewed 727 times

This system uses a low voltage normally open SW-10A-8 End Of Stroke Switch;
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... -sw-10a-8/

So we remove it, and replace it with a 03-7811 normally closed High Voltage Switch;
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... ly-closed/

We then replace the A-12390 Coil Stop with a A-12111.
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/wms-ba ... 1-flipper/

Then, we add the same 2.2uF-250V Capacitor that was used on the previous WPC High Voltage system to prevent arcing and preserve the End Of Stroke Switch for years to come. I always shrink wrap the connectors and the wire leads of the Capacitor to prevent short circuits. This is even more critical when a Lane Change Switch is present. The old 48v through the Switch Matrix will mess you up every time.
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/cpa-2- ... capacitor/

I then go ahead and attach one side of the End Of Stroke Switch to the center terminal on the Coil as it will be alone there, and leave the other loose to join the power return on the non-stripe side of the Coil. If you have a game with Series Wound Coils, the EOS will be on the stripe side, don't forget to swap it.

And this is what we get;

More to come later today when we install these in Gilligan!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Nice to see another Gilligan's going out on location. Played one at Targ around 5 years ago and haven't seen one since. Very underrated title

It looks really cool, I never paid it much attention ever really, but after getting into it, I have a feeling it might be here for a while!


It has been a busy day with orders with the new Canada Post Commercial Dashboard having been down all day yesterday.

After they "upgraded" it on the weekend.

I had a conversation with a Canada Post Rep today, who explained that when they unrolled the new improved yet somehow crazy glitchy software, which did not transfer the mailing details of all my past Customers, forcing me to enter them manually on their next order, they decided to troubleshoot it live, and correct issues as they arise.

Sort of like my VUK upgrade on Crypty.

Both Synchronicity and Karma can be fickle mistresses', but when it surrounds me, that's when I know I'm back where I come from; The Zone.

If I can't go to Heaven, will they let me go to Hell?

Crazy.

So after fate having conspired to delay my progress, the Flipper Assemblies are now installed on Gilligan!

Because this system has the side mounted Flipper Return Spring, the clearance required is greater.

I took the Flipper Power and Return wires out of the Cable Clamp, and moved the rest of the harness section closer to center, and relocated one Bayonet Light Socket, leaving more than enough clearance. These brackets can easily be adapted to the system that was in Gilligan, you need only add a Retainer Bracket and a WMS/Bally Flipper Extension Spring. At a buck each, it's only $4.00 CDN to do two Flippers, and makes a huge difference. One of the best bangs for your buck in Pinball Upgrading. Fast, Cheap, and Easy!
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... r-bracket/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/willia ... on-spring/

And while the old Flipper Mechs are tired, their full story is yet to be written. This is the part where the Black Label process is going to go even crazier over the top. More to come very soon, as the Exorcist is Summoning what I require from the Montreal Pinball Medics Laboratories.

Stone-cold crazy you know.

Buzz Buzzers, Ring Bells, and Play on Jukebox.

It feels like it's time to set up a practice amp at my Shop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Rfb1Jtmic

[Rob@PinballMedics]

Mike requested to do his mod on our new Captain Fantastic beacause EMs feel lazy even if you high tap it. That's why I never liked them but he really loves them and after playing around with this project I'm starting to like it too. It started with just the sounds and now I'm starting to enjoy playing it.

To practice I put our brand new black label flippers in our Night Rider. I took the existing AC power, I put it on a Bridge Rectifier to turn it to DC, then I added a 4700uf 50v cap for the extra source power, and then put a capacitor between the ground and the positive. Then I had to reroute the ground wire coming from the bridge to the flipper switches.

I shared the power from the bridge to the pop bumpers and put diodes on the coils, and it was so strong it melted the switch it was arcing so bad. Too powerful. I put a 2200uf cap on it like a Williams end of stroke to prevent it from arcing and voila job done everything is running smooth. No more issues.

I promised when I finished mastering all the solid state systems I would have time to learn EM machines. Now that I'm enjoying them I don't think I'm going to be able to stop.

Hey guys I have a lot of used Bally Gottlieb and Stern flipper assemblies if anyone wants they will be $25 each includes the coil some are in good shape but we change them all anyway.

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Guess what's coming to the Ottawa Pinball Arcade Free Play Wednesday tomorrow for a rip on the Killing Floor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVABSQ9C6xU

Night Rider will be guarding the entrance while The Captain returns to Montreal for it's ascension to DC power, after already receiving a new playfield, having had every component and wire Ultrasonic cleaned by a local friend, brought to Montreal for Rob to bring it to our old school EM guy who adjusted, inspected, and did what old EM guys do, came to Ottawa where we did the Upper Playfield, worked on by a few other EM friends, a mint original backglass, and a set of red powder coated WMS/Bally DMD era legs, and now back to the Exorcist in Montreal for the full Black Label Standard Fire Breathing EMs from Hell DC conversion.

tooltime-more-power.jpg (41.9 KiB) Viewed 659 times

Just what the Doctor ordered!








Mike

[Mike@PinballMedics]

It's been busy, and my assistant has been away ill since Wednesday, so Gilligan took the back seat Thursday. I decided to leave the Pop Bumper & Slingshot parts in the Tumbler for the last 3 days because why not.

They came out as smooth as spent squirrel food leftovers can make them.

I'm not sure if they have a grading system for Rodent Refuse Tumbled Pinball Parts...

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I lined up all the parts to ensure none were left behind in the Tumbler before someone puts more goodies in it, and passed a quick wipe with fine steel wool to get all the dust off. It "Static Clings" to everything including parts just like Moon regolith to NASA gear, and the perceivably infinite number of small metal strands suck it away like magic.

I declined summoning the Exorcist to modify the entire upper playfield area despite my predilection for Pop Bumpers with Translucent WMS body, DE caps, all new parts etc. I washed the plastic parts with dish soap in warm water, and then through the Ultrasonic for a 1/2 hour, and re-assembled them with the original highly polished components.

Including the original springs, which are almost as shiny as having Comet 2SMDs mounted to your Cornea.

Natural White, No Lens.

We had begun the game Wednesday morning. It was already stripped down, and the posts have been replaced with these really cool one off Aqua Blue WMS/Bally Star Posts! These were on clearance at Pinball Life many years ago, and I bought the 150 or so they had because I figured I'd need them in my palette one day.

After years of never being inspired to use them, as soon as I saw the playfield devoid of plastics, the memory of them flooded back instantly, and it turned out that once again, the Gypsy was right; Their Time had come!

So here is Gilligan stripped down, with the new Star Posts, Black Rubbers, Blue Superband Mini-Post & Post Sleeves, Comet 2SMD Bulbs with Comet 8SMD Flashers, and the original Pop Bumpers back in place with Red Comet 2SMD Bulbs;

The Flippers were the only part of the game that I changed, more for convenience as I would have had to wait to Tumble all the parts.

This way we do it later to use in an EM.

Because apparently that's what we do now...

Aside from that, this is all original, the playfield has not even had the main areas Novused.

It had been played a handful of times in the first weeks of ownership since it was purchased 20 some years ago, when it had observably been recently shopped, with a minimal and unremarkable repair history, and low overall lifetime use.

Next week we will put the Minnow back together, and send Her out to Sea on the Killing Floor!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Gilligan has made some bonus progress this weekend! My apprentice came in yesterday to complete the re-assembly of the playfield he had begun on Wednesday.

After looking at the game, and weighing my choices of Flipper Bat colours, I decided based on the main playfield art that I would go with Orange Superbands over Blue No Logo Bats, and swapped the Blue Post rubbers for Orange as well, with Orange Acorn Nuts to match the Superbands.
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/1-12-s ... er-rubber/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/flippe ... s-no-logo/
https://pinballmedics.ca/product/acorn- ... -coloured/

This is how she looks in the dark(ish);

And here is shot with overhead lighting;

I just went ahead and finished modifying the coin door for OPA Tokens or Loonies, and then I redid a couple of connectors that were flakey on two of the controlled lamp boards. I then re-inserted one of the pins that had slipped out on J120, which was manifesting as a section of the playfield GI staying dark.

I am waiting for a shipment of Pin2DMD displays to arrive early this week so I can complete the process, but even if they're not here by Wednesday, Gilligan should be ready for Prime Time by then with the original Plasma DMD beside DE Star Trek, who is also waiting for the same shipment to go full Technicolor.

Meanwhile, the Exorcist has coaxed the last Demons out of the Cue Ball Wizard in the Montreal Pinball Medics Centre for Occult Sciences, and has completed his patented Gottlieb Rob process, so we will very soon have another Sys3 Gottlieb to join Shaq at the Arcade!

[Playr_Juan]

great thread and Gilligan is looking good!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

great thread and Gilligan is looking good!

Thanks Juan!


Gilligan was exhibiting one more Gremlin, which took a little bit to figure out.

Every time I would start a game, it would spit a ball into the shooter lane, and then another shortly after.

I checked all the trough, shooter, & outhole switches, and they checked out fine in switch test, and Rob assured me he had played it with no issues back at the shop.

So again, I suspect I have caused an issue somewhere, perhaps a bent diode shorting and confusing the switch matrix?

The Exorcist recommended I inspect the ejector that places the ball in the shooter lane. I realize I never changed the sleeve on that coil, and it is a little sticky, someone has lubed it at some point...

So I disassemble it, Tumble it over night, and re-install it the next day with a new coil sleeve. It now works flawlessly, smooth as can be.

Start a game and... two balls come out still...

I already consulted the manual to see the switch matrix, so I went back to the beginning, the setup instructions. Where it says to install two (2) balls. As opposed to the "3 balls" written in Sharpie when it left the Montreal Pinball Medics Home for Neglected Machines on the lockdown receiver that we always do so there can be no confusion. Who knew a DMD game featured only 2 ball multi? Apparently neither Rob or I, this game really is rare.

The game is working great now, and will be on the Killing Floor tomorrow!

[Mike@PinballMedics]

Gilligan has not only survived the Killing Floor, but it kept me at the Arcade late last night playing "one last game" of it for almost as long as The WHO have been completing their final tour...

It is even more fun than I thought it would be, and is one of the strongest and smoothest WPC games I've ever played. It's like a 7 series BMW when you don't realize how fast you're going until all of a sudden there was something coming at you at 200mph...

Fortunately with Gilligan it's usually just a ball (and certainly no more than two as it turns out), and it's safely under the glass!

After catching up on orders now that Canada Post has returned to the 2020's and is online, and fixing a few small issues from Free Play night, the re-organized Arcade is 100% functional once again, and I find myself with a moment to start the process of Black Labelling the final chapter of Rob's latest Trilogy of DMD's. Here it is the way it arrived;

I don't often get the opportunity to do Gottlieb Sys3 stuff, and this is one of the ones I really liked when it was new. It had me at 14 Drop Targets, but beyond that it's a shameless rip-off of Eight Ball Deluxe, the Bally Classic, and one of my all time faves, prominently featured in permanent residency at the Ottawa Pinball Arcade.

This Beast has been fully refurbished, bulletproofed, and upgraded electronically by the one and only Gottlieb Rob himself.

For today, I have removed and disassembled the two Pop Bumpers, and all four slingshots.

I like to keep the screws, washers, etc. in magnetic trays specific to each system, Pop Bumper, Slingshot, Kicker, or whatever.

The parts are not rusty, but there is some corrosion, and they are covered in a thick hard "dust", as well as some previous lubricant residue, combined with magnetized metal "dust". I passed over all the parts before Tumbling with a fine steel wool, which takes off a lot very quickly, and saves a lot of time Tumbling, as well as keeping the Walnut Shell Media viable for longer.

If this were a cooking show, we would now put it in the Oven at 475F and come back later;

More soon!





Mike

[Mike@PinballMedics]

This morning I swapped the Flipper Assemblies over to WPC Fliptronics style, combined with 11630 Coils.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice, AKA Ben, has now begun the topside teardown.

He is currently replacing the original Gottlieb style Yellow Facetted Posts as he cleans, going with Classic Bally or Williams style Red Translucent Finned 1 3/16" Posts. This style of Post, in Red or Blue, is our go to on most games. The finned posts are the only ones that are not hollow, they are solid throughout. Other than the screw hole.

Aside from the fact that I find them to be the most cosmetically appealing, the Finned Posts don't tend to break down and crack as easily as all the others, especially with the crazy high power Flipper mods we are so fond of. The only brand that is tough to swap them out to is WMS/Bally, as the screws are thicker and don't fit. The upside is they come in a wide variety of colours, so I focus on the wider palette, and embrace the manner in which it works to my artistic advantage on our WPC collection.
Original Gottlieb style: https://pinballmedics.ca/product/facetted-1-3-16-posts/
Old Bally or Williams style: https://pinballmedics.ca/product/transl ... lue-clear/
WMS/Bally style; https://pinballmedics.ca/product/transl ... -116-high/


Our Pin2DMDs are scheduled for delivery today, so we are moving along very quickly and hope to have a new addition to the Killing Floor for next Wednesdays Free Play night and Tournament.

The Pop Bumper and Slingshot parts will continue to Tumble until possibly Monday, unless I decide to come in over the weekend and continue. And if I had a Crystal Ball handy, and was working as it should, it would probably show me coming in this weekend, so likely more of the sooner than the later on this one!