Bank-A-Ball
Gottlieb, 1965Just picked up a 1965 Bank a Ball and had a few questions:
The bakelite board that has the female connectors for the Jones plugs in the head is just floating around in the head. The wires are all still connected it just isn't mounted to anything. Where is it supposed to mount?
The coin door is heavily rusted, can these be saved or is it best to pick up a new skin?
Thanks!
I had a 63 Williams the same way from the Factory. When connected the wires harness holds it all together. Primitive but works.
Rusty doors (2) are my post-Super Bowl, bleak midwinter project. I'm going to try the Evaporust route first...
I also aquired a Bank-A-Ball quite a few years ago in similar condition to yours.
My cabinet looks to be a bit better than yours, but not by much, but my coin door was way worse than yours. Surprisingly inside the machine mechanically everything was in great shape! Also the play field is pretty nice on mine.
The machine was stored in an old garage, while "protected" from the elements, it was not a great place for it to be.
I used EvapoRust on the coin door, and it came out decent, but not prefect because of how bad it was to start with.
What did amaze me is the coin chutes and the plate around them came out almost perfect, as well as the shooter rod bracket.
I have not yet done the legs, hopefully soon I will get them done, as they are horrible also.
Also for the connector in the head, I asked the same question, and got the same answer. I guess for a few years that is the way they made the connectors just hanging unsecured.
In the short term I cleaned mine up as best as possible, checked basics like fuses and connectors, waxed the play field, fixed burnt out bulbs, added new balls, and it has been a fun game.
Maybe someday it will be my first full restore, we will see.
Enjoy it!
Quoted from pinwiztom:On Bank A Ball and King of Diamonds there are so many connectors and other apparatus stuff in the backbox
there was not enough room to secure the jones plugs to the head or light baffle.
The jones plug board hung by wax cord suspended through the head hole on mine. Keeping tension off the wires.
Got the game up on legs over the weekend. Found a jammed coin switch that was causing the game to start immediately upon applying power. But now I am stuck and could use some advice. I have the schematic, but I am buying the full set of paperwork because I seem to be missing something.
The current problem is the game will start the reset cycle when a coin switch is pressed. A credit will be added, the reels reset to zero, both large banks reset and the ball release coil pulls in and stays locked in. It then buzzes quite loudly while the score motor is spinning constantly. I checked the switches on the ball release coil, and they seem ok. I checked the switches on the score reels and they also are making contact when they should. I could probably go back over them with the flexstone if people think that is a good area to focus on. I know most of what is occurring flows through the SS relay, but I don't know which relay that is on the large bank in the cabinet. Any thoughts on where to focus next would be appreciated, thanks!
The Ball Release coil may stay active until points are scored. Unless there's a switch in the shooter lane there's no other way for the game to know that you've launched the ball. So yours may be behaving correctly and unrelated to the Score Motor issue.
You'll need to refer to the schematic to pinpoint which relays and switches can make the Score Motor turn. Then block them one by one with bits of paper until you find the one that should be open.
/Mark
Yes, I agree from reading other older posts it seems the ball release coil should hold in until points are scored. I need to find out what is keeping the motor running and enabling the playfield for play. I can post snippets of the schematic if that helps anyone?
The Score Motor section of the schematic would help, but there are lots of other posts about a running score motor like this one:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aloha-by-gottlieb-score-motor-continues-to-run#post-5408709
Basically you need to identify all the parallel switches that can make the Score Motor run and check each one.
Is one of the switches stuck closed on the playfield? It has happened to me before. I’ve also had one of the two coin switches stuck closed. The motor ran continuously.
Thanks for the suggestions. I worked on the game for another hour last night and unfortunately, the score motor is still running after the reset completes... I checked every scoring switch in the game - from the rollovers, stand up targets, pop bumpers and any switches touching the rubber. Would I not see one of the score relays lock on if there was a stuck switch?
In any case they all were open, and I re-verified the coin door switches were also open. I will get a couple photos of the schematic and upload them. I believe my next step is to follow MarkG advise and verify each switch that can make the motor run.
Appreciate all the help and look forward to getting this game playable again.
Found two broken blades in my N relay. I think one of them is the switch to the run out so that would explain why the score motor never stops. Hopefully that is it?
Got the machine to successfully reset and start a game. It will play mostly correct and end after 5 balls. I did notice that rolling over the center top lane will drop the 7 ball, but doing it again will not drop the 15 ball. It just gives a nice buzz from the relay controlling the 15 ball in the animation unit. Any thoughts on this one? I haven't looked at the schematic yet but I would imagine a relay on the playfield in the cabinet engages when 7 has been completed opening the path to drop 15 and something is not making good contact or needs cleaning?
Quoted from Xenon75:Got the machine to successfully reset and start a game. It will play mostly correct and end after 5 balls. I did notice that rolling over the center top lane will drop the 7 ball, but doing it again will not drop the 15 ball. It just gives a nice buzz from the relay controlling the 15 ball in the animation unit. Any thoughts on this one? I haven't looked at the schematic yet but I would imagine a relay on the playfield in the cabinet engages when 7 has been completed opening the path to drop 15 and something is not making good contact or needs cleaning?
On all the two ball rollovers both balls should score on the first hit (at least in 5 ball, I haven't tried 3). There is a double switch stack with one switch for each ball under the rollover, I suspect the 15 switch is dirty or out of adjustment.
Not sure if this is relevant, but my Bank A Ball always makes a louder than normal buzz on the center top roll over, however both of the balls are spotted, and scoring works as it should.
It was never a game playing issue, so I guess I never investigated if it was normal.
If the 7/15 switches are working, check to make sure the ball bank unit is firmly seated in its bracket and the wing nuts are tightened securely. The torque and/or clearances of the loosening ball bank has caused the sticky 15 ball problem on my machine in the past.
You can also check the 7 and 15 balls individually using the outlane switches.
Quoted from John_in_NC:You guys are getting me psyched to tear into my total restore bab project. I already restored one sold it a few years back and missed it so I bought a rough project to do it again!
[quoted image][quoted image]
yea but where's the webbing? here's a rough attempt at blue webbing
20161112_134759_resized (resized).jpg20161112_164803_resized (resized).jpg20161113_132722_resized (resized).jpgQuoted from pinhead52:yea but where's the webbing? here's a rough attempt at blue webbing[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Good eye on my webbing fail, it was way too thin and I wasn’t redoing it. I actually restored it after selling it and The buyer was thrilled as it was. That’s one of the main reasons I purchased another to get a redo. It really is one of my favorites to play.
Quoted from John_in_NC:Good eye on my webbing fail, it was way too thin and I wasn’t redoing it. I actually restored it after selling it and The buyer was thrilled as it was. That’s one of the main reasons I purchased another to get a redo. It really is one of my favorites to play.
This thread inspired me. Doing my 2nd restore on my keeper Bank A Ball. I believe I got the webbing right now... This was a water damaged machine requiring a ground up restore.
pasted_image (resized).pngbefore-after3 (resized).jpgJWZY7193 (resized).JPGIMG_1499 (resized).JPG
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IMG_1409 (resized).JPGIMG_1411 (resized).JPGIMG_1481 (resized).JPG
MQIQ4746 (resized).JPGIMG_1494 (resized).JPGQuoted from pinhead52:Very nice work! Mix your own colors?
I do (try) for playfield, some better than others. I used Montana cans for the cabinet.
IMG_1497 (resized).JPGIMG_1498 (resized).JPGThe B-a-B is looking beautiful. I’ve got its AAB sister game Flipper Pool with a nice playfield but needs cab work and a repaint. What you’re doing is getting me fired up to tackle that (never done it before).
Quoted from pinhead52:go for it!
Ah man, love that baby blue! Mine has a special nicotiney yellow-green tint that makes it look oh-so like an algal bloom.
Quoted from John_in_NC:done[quoted image][quoted image]
I can't get over how good that rattle-can webbing looks! I need to try that for mine!
Quoted from goldenboy232:I can't get over how good that rattle-can webbing looks! I need to try that for mine!
Better than their Spider Effect. That comes out super high pressure and is easy to overdo. This is much easier to control. Comes in black red blue and silver.
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Salem, OR