PF looks to be in great shape, nice find.

Nice find on a 69 joust
these Ballys can be interesting - good luck

The cabinet was originally painted using stencils. (This remained the case for most pinball machines up until the mid-1980s.) It appears to have a white base coat. They would have first sprayed the whole cabinet white, then overlaid the "gold" stencil and painted that, then overlaid the "blue" stencil and painted that. If you are going to repaint it, the usual method is to do the same thing - use some vinyl or acrylic with an X-Acto knife to make stencils. I haven't done this myself but I know many others have done so with good results.

I dont know if youve taken the glass off or not yet, BUT I've seen many people break the glass in these old ballys because they don't know what their doing. You unlock the lockdown bar like normal then lift the lockdown bar, playfield glass, and side rails straight up. Its one big piece. I just thought I'd give you a heads up.

Just like Bally "Hi Lo Ace"

Nice score, should clean up fairly well

Very cool! Zipper flippers and a bagatelle! Check out Bally's Spy Hunter from 1985 for a modern take on this playfield layout...

Yes that is why it will not reset. All score reels must be at 0, amongst other things. Take it slow and get one section cleaned and working at a time. The beauty of EM's is that unless some one really went nuts adjusting things before you got it, cleaning of the steppers (gunk removal) and maybe filing a few contacts here and there and you will be up and running. BUY THE SCHEMATICS this is step #1 before you restore any EM. You have to be able to logically follow the power through the game. Also replace the fuse clips (Bally's are crap) before trying to troubleshoot as well!

Good luck the Bally EM's other than the model's from the 70's don't seem to pop up too often.

love that game.
I think i have a playfield in the garage from that one

Great looking game! Nice find.

Some retro led's in this would look great.

ran into a guy who collects only Bally EMs this year
I mean the guy really knew what he was talking about could tell you anything A-Z

The PF looks good as far as I can tell , have you cleaned/waxed it yet?
the back box side art needs to be re-done and since your doing that you may as well do the rest of the cab art on the pin.
I thing PBR has those pop bumper caps - common to see the #s worn off over the years.

sometimes it takes more then a few attempts to get the score reels working perfectly,
you can change out the reels from player #2 to player #1 when you get the hang of adjustments.
Some EMs seam to wake up a bit when doing this trick since most of there life was composed of 1 player games, not knowing your experience level I would hold off a bit and focus on switch gap and cleaning when bringing the game back to 100%.

After seeing the vid I'm starting to digg this game -like the upper right area roll over section.
Bally sometimes will award the bonus points through the normal exit from the PF but also other bonus sections through the side lanes .

Good luck with it, and keep us updated looks like a fun project - HDC

I'm jealous! That project looks like fun!

I wouldn't bother swapping reels, could be a lot of soldering. just give the mechanisms a good cleaning with 91% alcohol and make sure all the switches in the reels are well adjusted and work as they should. Clean the traces on the bakelite panels and lightly lube with teflon lube. The reels on my Fireball were rock solid because someone greased them up good years ago. Cleaned them up and they work fine now.

Do a search for straightening warped playfield plastics. I use the oven and a giant atlas to flatten the heated pieces.

Stencils for the cabinet are easy to make from tracings on to large posterboard from an art store. Use fresh x-acto blades and a cutting mat to get a clean edge. You're fortunate enough to have legible artwork to trace. You'll have to sand, bondo (optional) primer, basecoat (I use Ivory paint for instant patina) followed by your colors. I like to semi gloss clear coat as well. Fun project will take a whole weekend (or two) and probably close to $80-$100 in materials.

Seriously jealous over here... I LOVE my old Ballys... I've got 3 from that lift glass era, Fireball, Little Joe and Time Zone.

Oh, and, yes, LEDs are blasphemous in an EM!

Good luck!

Just like Bally "Hi Lo Ace"

Not Exactly ,,, Hi Lo Ace was my 1st pin

Hi-lo_Ace-1.jpg 100_9341.jpg

Well what I meant was just the wheel with the #s not the whole unit itself,
-just to be clear

desertT1, if the artwork is visible, I use a roll of tracing paper (comes in all kinds of widths) to roughly trace the design and mark the cabinet shapes. Then I scan it in, redraw it in Illustrator and print out a clean copy. It usually takes many sheets of 11x17 to print so I overlay a grid to help me line it up and tape it together. I tape the clean copy onto the poster board and use it to guide my cutting below. I actually use more of a heavyweight manilla stock, like file folder thickness or stencil paper because it's easier to cut than posterboard and my art store has it cheap. The resulting stencil is sturdy enough to use several times yet cheap enough to throw it away after one cabinet.

Another option, if you don't want to mess with printing, taping and x-actoing, try to find someone with a laser cutter. They can take your Illustrator file and turn it in to a stencil in no time. It could be the circle I run in but I have three friends that have built their own! Those are very good friends to have...

Re-reading your original post, question 2 regarding backglass, do a search for "Krylon Triple Thick" and read about how people use it to protect a glass from further peeling. You'll want to protect it first, then touch up the areas. That way you can easily wipe off any mistakes without causing further damage. The actual touching up really depends on if the area is backlit or not. If it's not, touching up is as easy as matching colors and brushing paint on the area. If it is back lit, it's an entirely different animal and painting it won't look good. I've redrawn the artwork in photoshop and used waterslide decal paper to fill it in but that is a pretty involved project. There are articles online about that type of touch up if you'd like to attempt it.

Oh, and did I mention how blasphemous LEDs would be in that game??

Hellodeadcity, ah, yes, number wheels would be much easier...

thats what you have to do,
un solder or de solder them to remove the pops
-not hard we all have to do it

you know that doesn't look bad at all - I've seen a lot worse over the years
Are you planing on clear coating it?

Nice work on this. I enjoyed reading your thread to date.

Best of luck with your project. Looks like it will be fun!

If you don't plan on touching up the paint, personally I wouldn't clear coat. If you or someone else decides to try touching up the paint at a later date then you have to remove the clear.

I would put a small clear coat over but maybe not a full one. Lots of people will clear one coat before touchups.

Hi desertT1, thanks for this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

About the worn ball track along the top apron arch- I had a*lightly* sanded the lower edge of the worn track using #340 paper before spraying the Varathane. My playboard looked pretty bad immediately following the first light coat of Varathane for the white paint splotches, as the photos below show. 24hrs later they almost cleared up and the splotches had completely disappeared by the last spraying.
I applied 4 coats of Varathane, each heavier than the previous spray. The last coat was really, really very thick.

I was initially concerned because some of my acrylic painting had a somewhat rough surface along with the worn arch. I really couldn't sand very much before spraying because the original paint was extremely fragile in many places, thin etc. The thick Varathane filled all the pits and valleys in the paint along with the worn arch making any indention inconsequential to play.

I used about 2/3 bottle of 91% rubbing alcohol and almost 2 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to get my playboard clean. I was being very observant to see if I was removing any paint as I rubbed, checking the eraser for flakes or stains but the playboard did well without issue. I ended up going over it twice over.
Before using the ME, I had first removed everything that stuck out of the playboard... even rollover wires, outhole bottoms and masked every slit and hole on the underside with masking tape to keep the alcohol and ME off the back side and out of the switches.
The light sockets under the plastic graphics would have been too difficult to remove, and I didn't want ME or Varathane getting in them so I rolled a small piece of paper towel into a ball and stuffed it into the empty sockets.
I had followed up the ME cleaning with Napthia, and it took some elbow grease to get all the dried ME off.

If you are unfamiliar with matching paint color (as unfamiliar as I am) I recommend taking lots of photos to use when you buy paints at the store. Before going to the store, verify the colors in the photo are a close match to your playboard, and retake them under different lighting if they don't match well. If you choose acrylic then get the "Heavy body", I found the lighter types don't cover very well. Also get a cheap color wheel while you're there so you'll know which colors to mix to get a closer match.

I am confident the original paint is permanently locked down under the Varathane. If you choose to spray your playboard before doing any touchup I would be certain the first coat is extremely thin. I had signed and dated my playboard in the covered area under the bottom steel apron using a sharpie pen before spraying the last application. It is easy to tell the lettering is not written onto the playboard, but rather elevated off the board to some degree, enough to cast a shadow on the playboard itself if placed under a strong light. If that was touch up paint in a seen area it would look rather odd.

Your playfield looks to be in better shape than mine was.

1st_Coat_Varathane_Closeup_3.jpg 1st_Coat_Varathane_Closeup_4.jpg

Hi desertT1:

You can scrub forward in this video to about 4:55 and see how my grooved arch definitely effected game play on my unrestored game. Maybe yours isn't as severe as mine was. If that is the case and your game was mine, I wouldn't mess with the worn track other than clean it out good as possible with Napthia using a fresh clean cloth before spraying.

Hi desertT1 and everybody;

My hubby & I acquired the Bally Joust several years ago and I'm just starting to clean it up. This is my first pinball machine and I've never done this before; so I just want to start by replacing the #44 light bulbs to #47s and replace all rubbers, and clean/wax the playfield.

The cleaning part I'm a little nervous about; I've seen all kinds of recommendations on cleaners but I'm concerned that some of them may remove the paint. Is Magic Eraser the best way to go? And everyone talks about Novus 2, is that meant for only plastics? And what can I use to clean/shine the metal parts, e.g. the lockdown bar?

The left flipper doesn't work; it is lagging and if I hold the flipper button down for several seconds it will buzz quietly, like there's a motor really trying, and then will move verrrry slowly, just a little. I need a little help as to what/how to fix that. I can post a video of it, if that would help.

The plastic on the right flipper is broken and I'm having a hard time finding a replacement part for a 2-inch plain red flipper; any ideas? Many sites list them but they're "out of stock".

DesertT: I can't reach the back of the game right now as it's against the wall, but just wanted to know if the key to unlock the backboard is the same key as the one for the coin slot door? As I can't seem to find a second key.
And can you tell me how roughly how many light bulbs are NOT #44 or #47 and what kind they are? I ordered a bunch of #47 but didn't know what other kind to get.

Thanks guys! Sorry I'm such a novice at this but I just want to make sure I don't mess anything up. I found many how-to websites but most of them are a little too technical for me.

Skybug

You will find that they are all #44, with the exception of the bulb on the delay relay, it is a flasher #445. A packet of flashers can make the back box look great if placed appropriately. I have 5 flashers in my Monty Carlo and 4 flashers in CE3K behind the space ship; I think it adds a lot to the back box.

If you buy from Marco, 100 bulbs is only $15.00, and that should be enough to replace every bulb.

Can I ask why you chose #47’s over #44?

_{Post edited by Chrisbee}

Hi Chrisbee!

Thanks for responding.

Well I got 47s because many sites recommend them as they're not as hot. Is it best just to put 47s in places where they're close to the plastic that's warped already? Will it be too dim if I do all 47s? I don't know, I'm just trying to figure out the best way here.

Also, can you help with my left flipper problem? That seems to be my biggest problem, for now. I don't know whether to get a new flipper assembly or whether it could be something else.

Thank you!

I put #47's in both my EM pins and I think they look great. Bright enough for me.

Im a fan of 47 also. they burn cooler than 44. Ill put 44 or LED retro in the backglass or under inserts but 47 are great for GI.

They save energy and dont tend to warp things as much. Take for instance pop bumpers. on a lot of EM you will see the burn mark on teh top of the plastic. 47 will do this much slower and LED even less

--Jeff

Bulbs Reference + description? (shape and voltage)>>>

http://www.pbresource.com/lamps.html

Looks good so far.

Far as the glass goes, I gave a few repair tips here at the bottom of the page:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-best-way-to-fix-this-backglass

Make sure you buy brand new balls, even if your old ones look "decent"
because they are probably pitted and that is like rolling balls of sandpaper over your newly refurbished playfield.
Fix the problem with the score reel resetting problem by fixing the problem,
I do not recommend swapping reels.
That would be like replacing a dripping faucet with a new fixture, when just a simple washer replacement (switch blade adjustment) would do the job.
I also noticed another comment about the pop bumper caps
with numbers wearing off;
this era Bally EM pin often had bumper caps without any markings
or numbers imprinted on them.
If you want to keep it original, buy new caps (if the old ones have bulb burn marks)
but without any labeling, see flyer for reference at ipdb.org .
Also suggest you visit www.pinrepair,com if you have not done so already.

Sounds like you're taking your time and doing your best. That along with your great attitude is the winning combination. I found there is -always- more to do on the playfield touchups. It's never quite "done".
I had to force myself to stop at one point and say "good enough!". In all cases I thought it wouldn't turn out very good but I was proved wrong. They looked very good after being sealed in the clear coat.

I found that people don't even notice minor touch-up errors when the game is played. In their eyes it's perfect, and they are too busy concentrating on the game play itself and nothing else matters. Since the errors aren't noticed by players, the only thing left is you. If you've done your best then you're covered. Be proud you've done a good job which others and yourself will truly enjoy, and multiplied the value.

I think the biggest matter this will effect is resale value. Playfield condition weighs a lot in negotiation considerations. If I ever sell my machines I expect a buyer to scrutinize my work. Considering all things, I can spend $150 on a machine, another $150 on parts and materials and 200 hours to transform rotted junk into something nice. If I am -really- cheap with myself and consider $30/hr labor, it's a $6,300 machine.

I think it would be very hard for me to sell a machine for over $1000 whether or not the playfield repair is super fabulous or just plain good. Given that, I'll be keeping it for a long time for friends and future grand kids to enjoy. So what if the playfield isn't the pinnacle of perfection?

I can't believe no one has told you to go here:
http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm
(did I miss that?) Clay has been doing this stuff for many years. The mechanical sections are the best. Opinions vary on some of the cosmetics but mostly good. Many, many of your questions will be answered there.