EXCELLENT job with these postings / documentation. You seem to be a fan of my favorite radio station as well (W-OCD)! Just acquired a Bon Voyage 2 days ago, and am looking forward to working on it. My backglass is perfect as well; Bally must have done something right when they made these, because I have heard from numerous people that their Bon Voyage backglasses are in beautiful shape. Kudos on your restoration of this machine; it looks great!

Again, thanks to 'xsvtoys' for such a nice and detailed thread about Bon Voyage. If only we were so lucky to be able to have more machine-specific EM posts like this..... Anyways, I am in the process of "OCD'ing", I mean "Refurbishing" mine, and thought I would add some my experiences as well. However, I will try not to duplicate items that have been previously covered in earlier posts.

One thing I immediately noticed when looking at the score motor was that some of the switch stacks, one in particular, seemed to not be aligned correctly:

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Correcting this was pretty simple: Unscrewing each of the 2 screws at the top of the switch stack about 1/2 turn allowed me to freely align the switches to their proper positions, then just a re-tightening of the screws to set in place:

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Normally, I don't mind disassembling / reassembling switches on relays or score reels, but score motors and reset banks I tend to leave alone unless it is absolutely necessary to disassemble them to fix an issue.

I also wanted to clean the score reels, but for purposes of this post, I am using a used spare Bally Score Reel that I purchased on ebaY. If you can find them for a reasonable price, consider getting one or more spare score reels for the game(s) you own. They can be a nice supply of the following spare parts that you will have on hand in case anything goes wrong:

Score Reel, Coil, Coil Stop, Coil Sleeve, Springs, Hitch Clips (Bally refers to them as 'Hairpins' in their parts catalog) or C-Clips, switches, armatures, etc.

So here is a nice set of 4 Bally 3" score reels that I bought:

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After removing one of the reels, here is the side view. Note the 3 screws and the hitch clip that connect the score reel to the ratchet underneath:

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After removing the 3 screws and the center hitch clip; Note the 2 tiny hitch clips that secure the hold pawl (left) and the rocker arm (right), as well as the 2 springs that provide return tension for the hold pawl (left) and the drive pawl (bottom):

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You should also note the position of the rocker arm in relation to the switches in the switch stack:

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After removing the 2 small hitch clips and 2 springs, I removed the ratchet, hold pawl, rocker arm and drive pawl. They seemed a bit dirty, and my OCD kept saying, 'Clean me......':

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So, 5 minutes later after a dip in the ultrasonic cleaner and some shots of compressed air, they looked much better. I must say that I can be a 'clean freak', in that it may not be necessary to clean a part in order for it to work perfectly, but if I have the means to clean it, I will. This is the main reason why any pinball project I work on seems to take way longer than most people would expect. But hey, this is therapeutic for me, and if I have the tools, I may as well use them Harbor freight makes a nice ultrasonic cleaner that does a decent job for only $65 after their 20% off coupon (http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html). I will usually use this for non-printed plastics (Posts, Lane Guides, etc.), using Dollar Tree 'Amazing Orange' cleaner (At $1 for a 1/2 gallon, you can't go wrong), and will rinse under warm/hot water when finished and just let air dry. However, since the drive pawl has a metal component, I also made sure to blast that part with compressed air to remove all moisture.

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So now we have a clear view of the printed 'circuit' board, which can be cleaned / lightly sanded / lightly lubed. In addition, I will clean the 3 'posts' that hold the ratchet, hold pawl and rocker arm with isopropyl alcohol, in order to remove any 'gunk' that may have accumulated over the years. It should be noted that these 3 posts do NOT need any lubrication.

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Here are a couple of photos of the coil stop. Note that it is nice and flat and not 'mushroomed'. This happened to be the 10 point score reel in the set, which usually gets the most amount of use from all of the points via the pop bumpers and slingshots, so it would stand to reason that it's coil stop would be most likely to get 'mushroomed'. This is where getting a spare reel or tow or three can come in handy, especially if you can have the seller verify ahead of time that the coil stops are in good shape.

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After reassembly, minus the score reel itself:

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Forgot to add in my last post that a diagram of the score reel from Bally's 1976 Parts Catalog can be found here:

http://www.planetarypinball.com/reference/partsmanuals/BLY_Parts_1976/index.html#/114

Here's a screen-cap:

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Call me 'Dave' Just dawned on me that I should have added some info on the 3 switches in the switch stack attached to the coil stop/bracket. According to "An Introduction to Bally Flipper Games", the top 2 switches are the Zero (0) position break switches and the bottom switch is the Nine (9) position break switch.

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Also, to avoid confusion when reconnecting the score reel to the ratchet, all three switches should be open when the score reel is in the Zero (0) position.

So, it's been a while since my last post, but things have been pretty busy around here with work and nursing our dog who injured her knee somehow; looks like we'll taking a trip to Cornell University for what may very well be a torn doggy ACL injury But anyway, I noticed that the chime box assembly wasn't looking so hot, so it was time for a tear down / rebuild. At first glance, from the top-down view, it's looking a bit dirty:
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After removing the chime bars, it was time to remove the grommets, and it was no surprise that they basically fell apart; they were most likely the original grommets and just dried out from age:
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Being a 'clean-freak', I also have a buffing wheel, which can be dangerous. No one really ever sees the chime bars, but hey, they're metal, so why not shine them up! Here's a couple of the bars that have been 'half-buffed'; much better!
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Of the 3 chime coils, the middle one was a bit scorched and the left one was completely fried. I am guessing that a scoring switch had been 'stuck' in the closed position at one point and just had this coil energized for who knows how long; these 2 coils will be replaced:
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My OCD is kicking in again.....those plungers look a bit dirty, so a good wipe down with isopropyl alcohol, and they are looking much better:
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Ordered some parts from Pinball Resource, including the 2 chime coils (PBR Part #CC-31-2000) and a chime rebuild kit that includes 3 bell-length coil sleeves (PBR Part #SLEEVE-SBS), and 6 sets of grommets (PBR Part #BLY-R111-39) / eyelets (PBR Part #M122-24). I saved the old eyelets from the disintegrated grommets, as these will be nice spares to have for any future games I purchase. I actually will install these with the eyelet lip face down (Not sure if this matters, but I wanted the grommet to be resting on this eyelet lip):
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Installed the new coils, and we are looking good:
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Chime box was a bit dirty, so a polishing with some Novus #2 made it look much better:
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Looking good and ready to install:
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Installed back in the cabinet, and looking much better:
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Finally, even though our dog Tessa's injury may blow my pinball budget for a while, she is quite the trooper. Here, she is getting some laser therapy on her knee, proudly displaying her safety goggles that she is required to wear. Say what you will about the insane expense, but it's still cheaper than raising a child
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So, I have started removing items from the playfield in order to work on the pop bumper and kickout hole wear. The kickout hole wear wasn't that bad compared to some kickout hole wear marks I have seen on other machines:
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The pop bumper wear, however, well......this is significant:
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This will be my first attempt at fixing this kind of damage, and since everything has basically been removed from the playfield, it is "do-or-die" at this point......

So I intended to document the removal of the inserts that contained the B-O-N-V-O-Y-A-G-E lettering, but some of them simply fell out when the playfield was turned upside down, and the rest just came out with a slight push from my finger. No heat gun / hair dryer method to looses the glue was required; That glue must have really dried / shrank over the years. I'll get back to those in a future post, but for today, I wanted to share a method that I used for removing the metal lane guides for the in-lanes and out-lanes, as well as the special captive ball.

I have read various methods for removing these, and frankly this operation made me a bit nervous, as I didn't want to add any additional damage to the playfield. Gottlieb ball guides have a slight "lip" near the bottom of their guides which is wider than the thickness of the rest of the guide. This would seem to cause the hole to "enlarge" when you removed the guide. Not knowing if this were also the case with Bally , I wanted to be as careful (OCD) as possible

I started by taking a small pry bar that I had laying around, as this should be able to provide some good leverage for removing these guides:
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Next, I needed something to rest the pry bar on that was flat and solid. I happened to have a few granite counter top sample squares that I got at Home Depot (Just ask and you should be able to get some):
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Not wanting the block to be able to slide across the playfield, I took a 1 1/2" flat rubber non-slip circle, cut into quarters, and placed each quarter at the corners of the block:
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Then, on the other side of the block, I just stuck some scrap pieces of adhesive-backed felt. This is where the pry bar will rest on the block, so I didn't want to run the risk of chipping the corner of the block:
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I then rested the pry bar on the block and positioned it at the edge of one of the guides, and GENTLY tapped the pry bar with a rubber mallet. You can also position the pry bar completely along the inside edge of the guide as well. You will get different amounts of leverage based on the position of the block and pry bar, so just experiment with what seems to work best for the guide you are removing.
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I altered between one side and the other, perhaps 3 or 4 times in order to keep the guide as parallel as possible with the playfield as it was removed. One thing I did not snap a pic of, is to keep a folded microfiber cloth or something similar under the end of the pry bar that is being struck by the rubber mallet. If I were to slip somehow, this would prevent my making a nice gouge in the playfield.

Good news! Bally lane guides are the same thickness throughout without that extra "lip" that the Gottlieb guides have. Here is a pic of the removal of the right side in-lane / out-lane guide after is has been removed. As you can see, the holes are the same size as the guides, and any paint loss around them can be easily touched up.
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So that's it for now; Hope this helps for anyone looking to remove lane guides. In the next post, I'll get back to those inserts.

It has been way too long since my last post, so I figured that I would chime in with something I did that started with a broken fuse clip. As many of you are aware (And thanks to Clay at pinrepair.com), Bally fuse clips tend to weaken and break over time. When looking at the bottom board inside the cabinet, I noticed one:

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Actually, when I removed the fuse in the clip to the right of the broken one, that one broke as well, so now I need to fix 2 broken fuse clips. When looking at the label beneath the fuses, I thought to myself, "This is kind of dirty.....maybe I should do something". My OCD alarms started going off as I removed the bottom board and took a good look (I had already started removing the screws for some of the relays and other components, so you probably know where this is going.....):

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Before I knew it, everything had been removed and I was looking at a dirty, faded bottom board:

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After a good sanding and a couple coats of stain, this is looking much 'cleaner'; What does this have to do with the machine's gameplay? Absolutely nothing I figured that this would give me an opportunity to get familiar with the components inside the cabinet, and clean them up as well.

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The labels for the fuses, relays and motors all needed to be replaced as well.

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I think the new ones came out pretty close to the originals. I used a HEAVY (128#) white cardstock, which I had to end up bringing into my office to print, as my home printer would not take something so heavy. I probably could have gotten away with a 96# or lighter, which I will remember for next time.

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I had to use a spare 4 fuse block that I had pulled from a Gottlieb game, and since I may end up looking for an original Bally 4 fuse block (Assuming that the clips are still in tact), I chose to go with wire nuts to make the connections. However, my OCD is still screaming at me for this

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I had disassembled all relays and polished the metal frames as best I could, which also allowed me to check all of the switch stacks when I put them back together. However, I did not disassemble the reset bank or score motor; I'm just not ready for that yet. I also replaced the plastic wire cable "p" brackets, and polished the round metal 'bases' for them. Did I mention that having a buffing wheel is dangerous? So once everything was back in place with new labels, the bottom board is looking much better than when I started:

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Before and after pics:
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I have already started on fixing issues with the playfield, including completely redoing all of the B-O-N-V-O-Y-A-G-E round inserts. That post should be following within the next week or so.

So a quick update on the application of the decals for the round B-O-N-V-O-Y-A-G-E inserts. I had scanned in all 21 screened inserts (2 sets of B-O-N-V-O-Y-A-G-E and 1 set of BON-VOY-AGE), and 'cleaned them up' via Microsoft Expression.

Upper 'B' Scan - Before:
Upper_B_-_100pct_-_Original_(resized).png

Upper 'B' Scan - After:
Upper_B_-_100pct_-_Revised_(resized).png

I have provided xsvtoys a .docx file containing the retouched scans of all 21 inserts, and he was kind enough to post on his "Bally Bon Voyage Pinball Machine DOCUMENTS" page at http://www.xsvtoys.net/bon_voyage_pinball_documents.htm. Please be aware that these are for my specific inserts; other machines may have the round black outer circle in different areas for the same insert. But that may not matter as you read on.....

I have had a tough time trying to get the decals positioned EXACTLY on a new round insert, so that not even a sliver of the decal is hanging over the edge of the new round insert. If that happens, even when using decal 'setting' solution, the decal will inevitable want to peel off after it has dried. I think i'm going to have to go the route of cutting out the decal just around the letters themselves, and having to paint the black out circle myself. Yes, that will be more work, but it seems to be my only option at this point.

I had a series of pics to show the process with the full round decal, but I will take a new set as I apply only the letters themselves to the inserts, and will post shortly.

Update: So I tried cutting around only the letters themselves and repeating the process. Even after 24 hours of 'drying' time, the decals still slid off the insert if I ran my finger across them. This was also after sanding the tops of the inserts with 400 then 500 grit sandpaper to add something to 'bite' onto when the decals were applied.

I'm considering trying the following product to see if this will work: https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-Rub-onz-11-Inch-Inkjet-laser-10-Pack/dp/B002542ZAC

If this product does end up working, I will take a set of pics and post when a few of the inserts have been completed. To be honest, I never thought that this would be such a problem, but hopefully I will find the correct solution soon.

Thank you for the suggestion Nico. I had actually tried 'misting' on some polycrylic with my first attempt. Unfortunately, that attempt failed as well. I'm not sure if the reason was that polycrylic is water-based, and somehow 'loosened' the decal, or perhaps my coating was too thick, in which case that was my bad. In any event, the adhesive rub on transfer film should arrive tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

I also have a Williams Space Lab in the project queue, which also has 'printed' inserts, so whatever method works here will end up being applied to those inserts as well.

Stay tuned.....

Well, the rub-ons, while pretty easy to apply, still left "bubbled / lifted" areas, even after smoothing them out after their application.
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However, I am trying a revised method for applying the decals, and since a full printed sheet will yield 5 complete sets of decals, I've got plenty to experiment with. I've gone back to cutting out the entire circular decal, applying it as normal, and immediately apply a couple of drops of setting solution to the top of the decal, gently spreading it across the whole decal with a brush. After waiting for this to dry, I repeat the same process, applying more setting solution to the top of the decal, and let it dry. This evening I will try misting some polycrylic on the insert and see how that works.

I agree with Nico that this is a LOT of work, but fortunately my inserts just either fell out or came out with just a slight press from my finger, so at least that step was pretty easy. This was also my first pin that I almost completely disassembled (Not including Score Motor or Reset Bank), as this will be my first attempt at cosmetic repairs on the playfield. I must say that Createx Airbrush paint works great, even if brushed on in places.

Anyway, hoping that this latest strategy for the decaled inserts works. I'll post pics of the process when I am finally successful.

Well, it's been a bit longer than I would have liked for an update, but between some really bad allergy days, a week in the Boston, MA area, and preparing for (and now have) our 2nd rescue puppy (What appears to be a 'full' Boxer), things had temporarily slowed down on my Bon Voyage decals.

I did try a few 'mist' coats of polycrylic from a rattle can, but that unfortunately did not turn out so well:
20160826_185837 (resized).jpg

However, after some conversations with "NicoVolta" (Big "Thank You!" for the suggestion!), I decided to try brushing on a light layer of polycrylic after 'setting' the decal. I also decided to not worry about the black keylines on the decal itself, and will attempt to paint these on myself.

So I basically started cutting out only the letter I was working with:
20160910_155935 (resized).jpg

I then placed it in a very small amount of water (used a jar lid in this example). I prefer this small amount since it is much easier to get the decal off the paper and not have it possibly float away, such as if it were in a bowl of water:
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After maybe 20 - 30 seconds the decal was ready to come off the backing, and I placed it on the insert:
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At this point I like to press the decal into place, so I apply a few drops of water to a small piece of old t-shirt that I cut up. I don't want the t-shirt material to be sopping wet, just "moist":
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I then wrap this around my thumb and use this to press the decal into place. The t-shirt cotton material will not leave any "fuzz" on the decal, nor will the decal stick to it. This will also absorb any excess water that was on the decal.
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I then place a couple of drops of Micro Set solution on top of the decal, dab it GENTLY with my finger so that it covers the entire decal, wait a few seconds and repeat the same "press" with the t-shirt material (I'll explain why I do this step a bit farther down below):
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After letting the decal dry for ~24 hours I now, based on a great suggestion from "NicoVolta", brush on a THIN layer of Polycrylic (I used a semi-gloss finish for this first run) over the entire insert.
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After allowing that to dry for 24 hours, the inserts are looking good and are ready for their black keyhole lines to be applied:
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Remember when I said that I would explain why I use the Micro Set solution? Well, I unfortunately did not take a picture my first "failed" attempt of applying Polycrylic, but this was performed without applying the Micro Set solution. What resulted was an "accordion" effect around the perimeter of each of the decals, and now that flaw was preserved and sealed under a layer of Polycrylic. My second attempt in which I used the Micro Set solution eliminated this flaw and produced the results in the pictures above. Also, the good news with using Polycrylic is that if you screw up, just drop the insert into some isopropyl alcohol (I used 91%) for ~24 hours, and the polycrylic and decal will come right off. You may have to wipe off any Polycrylic residue with a paper towel, but the insert will be right back to its original condition.

My next posts will contain the results of my attempts to get the black keyline circles painted onto the inserts.

Sure, here are some photos of my stripped playfield. Unfortunately, I am working on the decals before I repair the wear by the pop bumpers and kickout hole, so those flaws will be in the pics. I can pretty much take any pics you need from any angle, so if these don't suffice, just let me know and I'll take some more.

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Wow, have I forgotten how crazy things can get when you bring a new puppy home! I'ts been 17 years since we had a 12 week old puppy in the house (Our current dog was rescued at 6 months old, and was fully crate / potty trained). Just keeping your eye on them at all times when they are not confined is tiring. However, she's been a really good pup so far (What appears to be a Pure Boxer). But I digress.....

I haven't had much time to do any significant Bon Voyage work lately, but I did decide to try and paint the black keylines on the inserts after they were installed; I do have a circle template, so I'll give it a try. In the meantime, I wanted to at least install a few of the inserts to see how snug they would be.

I just placed the inserts into their respective holes:
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Took out my sample granite countertop block. Placed some cutout t-shirt material on top of the insert, then the block on top of that, and used a rubber mallet to gently 'pound' them into place. Each insert took over a minute to get installed, which was a good sign for me (Nice snug fit).
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Not only did they get nice and flush with the playfield, but they were actually quite snug / tight, so no glue was required at this point. I am aware that they may shrink over time, but until they appear "loose", I am more than comfortable with how they are sitting in the playfield:
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At some point, hopefully in the near future, I'll be able to test getting the black keylines painted onto the inserts, and will post the results accordingly.