Quoted from Dono:Looks great! I did notice your flipper angle is just a bit too steep... I can see the lighter wood color hinting where the flipper alignment should be.
Reason I bring this up is that a steeper flip angle limits center shots and makes the game harder than it was designed to be IMO. I grew up playing Gulfstream, and its the game that got me hooked, so I've played a bevy of them, and have one in my collection today. I remember playing an example years and years ago with a steep angle, and even with timed passes and bounce-overs, the center target was much more brutal than designed, limiting the fun factor. Don't get me wrong, I love a game set on conservative settings, and my example is set brutally hard, with a steep playfield angle, and I actually moved the posts next to the center target even closer than the most conservative setting.
I like your treatment of the SPECIAL insert lights... what type of lamp did u use for the green?
I believe you 100% when you say you played this pin a lot because your description of how hard it is to hit the center target is dead on. Great observation and thank you for pointing it out. I will be changing them.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about with the inserts but all of the bulbs used on the machine were #47 bayonet incandescent.
You may have some good insight into this as well. Flipper bounce back. I’m assuming you know exactly what I’m taking about owning this era of Williams EM.
Flipper in upright cradle position. Ball strikes end of bat and engages the power winding of the coil sending the ball flying up the playfield.
On my Gulfstream it pushes the ball pretty far (ave. 6-10”). I have read many places where this is the behavior of the this era’s mechs. What are your thoughts and how is your machine in regards to this behavior?
I have done the following:
- new coil stop, spring, link, pawl, sleeve, EOS, bats/shafts, flipper button switches
- EOS gapped at 1/8” at very end of stroke
- Flipper button switches gapped 1/8”
- One coil is brand new. Resoldered all connections on each coil.
- installed spring washers behind coils
- played around with tension of spring on plunger. No change
- spent some time aligning plunger/coil stop for good seating. (Need to spend more time on this)
I still get buzzing. Which again sounds like is a result of A/C powered flippers. 60 cycles/second of back and forth results in vibration and hence the buzzing noise.
It sounds like this can be minimized by alignments and EOS positioning.
So am I crazy for looking into this further? Does your Gulfstream perform the same way?
My flippers are very powerful too note.
Thanks
Blake
Vergennes, VT
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