(Topic ID: 249481)

1955 Shuffle Bowler Stopped Working - Can You Help?

By dszil

4 years ago


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  • 11 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Mopar
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    #1 4 years ago

    Hi all.

    I’m pretty new to all of this so I’ll do my best to explain using my limited EM Vocabulary...

    I picked up a 1955 Chicago Coin Shuffle Bowler in January. It’s my first EM machine (no experience with non-em either). I managed to get it working by cleaning a few stepper units, messing with the gap on a few switches etc and all was well until this weekend.

    I believe I’ve narrowed down the issue but am stuck on how to address...

    The ‘1st Shot’ switch on the reset bank (?) barely moves up and down. If I use my nail to push down on the disk with the catch below the rest (sorry, not sure what that’s called) they spring up smoothly and the game reacts. If I do so on the ‘1st Shot’ one, it doesn’t move at all.

    I can trigger a back row switch under the pins and see that the disk drops down and disengages the catch, but that’s it. No springing up movement at all. This makes me think it’s friction vs electric?

    I can manually slide it up and down but only with a fair amount of a grinding sound and a fair amount of resistance. Again, seems like friction?

    The grinding is coming from the spot where 1” or so on each side slides through two small channels in the lower support bar.

    With or without the spring, same behavior.

    I have no idea how this changed. It did happen after I opened everything up to change out the rubber in the back and replace a pin, but beyond the cabinet getting knocked around a bit opening/closing I can’t see how that’d be related?

    The disk with the catch does seem to have a bit more play than the others, but I don’t think that’s related since it sticks even when I manually unlatch it with my nail and it disengages when I trip the back row switch?

    Before I started just trying to bend it blindly or try lube or something to get it to move, I figured I’d come here!

    Is this something that happens commonly? Should I try bending? Some Teflon lube (or other) on the brass where it’s grinding? Some other adjustments (I couldn’t find anything that seemed ‘adjustable’).

    I’ve included a few pictures in case any of them are useful.

    Help?!?

    Thanks in advance all!

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    #2 4 years ago

    Mopar may be willing to help. He is very knowledgeable in this area.

    #3 4 years ago

    Are the blades in the right spots? I had a bowler that had 1 switch blade out of the plastic and caused the motor to spin continuously. It wasn't really related to the start up, I think it was a tilt or game over relay.

    Wish I could help more, but I'm a beginner like you.

    #4 4 years ago
    Quoted from dszil:

    The ‘1st Shot’ switch on the reset bank (?) barely moves up and down.

    I checked out your pics, and wondered if that stem seems okay, or might it have small chips..
    By feel, maybe you can tell where it's grabbing. You can try cleaning the front, back and the
    sides with lemon pledge, but first I'd try and figure exactly where it's grabbing, top, bottom,
    or both..

    #5 4 years ago

    Thanks for the quick replies!

    I do believe the blades are in the right spots.

    I’m pretty sure it’s grabbing on the bottom (if I understand what you mean). On the last picture, the black bar across the dead center of the picture is grinding against the two 1” long bright sections on the left/right sides of the stem?. The black bar at the top seems fine...no major grinding sound coming from there.

    I’ll give it a feel and a cleaning with some pledge tonight when I get home and will report back if it helped at all.

    Thanks!

    #6 4 years ago

    Yes, I'm sure the blades are fine. It seems the upper and lower black (we'll call them guides) wouldn't be worn,
    but maybe the bright (we'll call it stem) may have wear. If you inspect it and do see were there may be wear
    (splinters), perhaps when placed in a position when not in the guide, you can do a little filing (sanding) if small
    splinters are noticed..
    I believe it's metal on metal (no plastic), so once it's corrected, a little light weight oil or lube in the guides would
    help with the friction, but I'd first try to get it to slid freely without oil or lube..
    BTW, I have plenty of the plastic stems from the 60s, but I do have an early 50s C.C. parts machine that may
    have the same metal stems if needed..

    #7 4 years ago

    Mopar - you sir are my hero!

    Ok, so the problem was completely unrelated to the actual sliding, but your suggestion to clean and really inspect the stem with my fingers got me to see /feel it. I got a serious case of ‘which of these is not like the other’!

    Two of the ‘tabs’ from the switches that run through the slots in the stem and stick out maybe a quarter of an inch were jammed down underneath. You can see it in the two bottom-most slots in the second picture above. That was putting odd pressure on the stem and causing it to bind up. I just noticed the binding before.

    I worked them through and now the stem slides cleanly.

    The game now starts as expected and lets me play one shot on the first frame. It then just cycles through to the end but that stem resets at the end of the 10th frame correctly and everything starts back up correctly so I’m assuming the switch gaps got jacked when they got jammed up under the stem.

    That’s a problem I think I can tackle.

    Again, many thanks!!

    #8 4 years ago

    Seriously, Mopar is a wizard!

    Glad you're getting straightened out.

    #9 4 years ago

    Also RonSS - since I don’t have any plastic I don’t think I really understood your suggestion but after seeing Mopar talk about plastic stems in the 60s and re-reading your post, I think I basically ended up in a state similar to yours. So you’re less a beginner than me!! Thanks for chiming in!

    #10 4 years ago
    Quoted from dszil:

    Also RonSS - since I don’t have any plastic I don’t think I really understood your suggestion but after seeing Mopar talk about plastic stems in the 60s and re-reading your post, I think I basically ended up in a state similar to yours. So you’re less a beginner than me!! Thanks for chiming in!

    I knew Mopar would point you in the right direction, I was just trying to give you someplace to start until he had a chance to respond. Sometimes you just need to know someone is listening

    #11 4 years ago
    Quoted from dszil:

    I worked them through and now the stem slides cleanly.

    Glad you found where they were binding..
    If you keep the Step Up Units and Score Motor (especially Score Motor)
    wiper boards lubed, you should remain in good shape..

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