Hello,

I am quite new to the pinball scene. I used to play a lot of pinball machines when I was young (can still remember my whole pocket money going in those things) and just got myself a pinball machine in good & working condition. Its an Williams "Big Guns" from 1987 (my birthyear) and is looking great (not much wear & tear, and looks like its properly used).

The original owner told me that the machine was revised last year (showed me a receipt from a pinball revision company) and the machine was in working order, but only needed a bit of a checkup since some stuff didnt function properly and he wasnt able to fix it himself and didnt like to spend another 200 USD to repair it.

I checked the machine myself when I came back home, and found out that the guys who did the revision did actually a bit of a lousy job... I would have expected better results, not just a "clean the balls and replace the belts".

I fixed a small soldering problem with a loose cable (prohibited the machine from getting a "rescue the princess") but still got problems with the following things:

1. How can I get the right coin chute working again? Apparently they did something with the connector, but I dont have the technical manual and I dont know where to look. They disconnected the switch and connected it back to the left chute. The light on the right chute is also not functioning.

2. Sometimes the ball gets stuck on the drop-down targets, or the drop-down targets go down but dont make a connection. How can I best fix these problems?

3. The "tower" connector got disconnected somehow during transport. Wondering if it is also a loose connection or something else. Where to look without taking the whole machine apart? The tower connection itself is a switch beneath some plastic shielding, so cant really get to there unless I screw everything apart.

4. One of the flippers is getting stuck in the upright position frequently. I think it has to do with the connector, I am pretty sure its not the coil itself. When I try to put it back by hand, it feels very rough, until i wiggle around a bit and then it is functioning properly until a ball lands in the wrong place again. What do I need to replace?

5. Bit of a more general question: What is best to use to keep the machine in tip-top condition? Should I repaint the decals (my sister can draw really well) or do you guys prefer to keep the "wear and tear" on your machines? And what wax should I use? Is there anything I should use?

Pretty sure. I turned the machine off, and it was still stuck. Pretty sure its not electronical, because the flipper stays halfway up and I see it falling down a little bit down when its not energized. When trying to turn it myself it feels heavy until I wiggle it around, so I think it has something to do with the connection between the flipper and the board, or the coil itself. I think I will open up that piece and replace any problematic connections.

I heard about the rubbing alcolhol in other places. Will see if I can find it around here.

EDIT: I did a lot more disassembly before. Also got a nice "one-armed" bandit here, and do electronic repair of old electronic objects as a hobby. First time that I got my hands on a pinball machine.

Finally got time to clean everything. I feel bad for the treatment that this poor machine had (dirt everywhere, it looked clean but when I applied some Novus 2 for cleaning, my cleaning towel was BLACK as it could get). Also need to replace the rubber belts since they were cracking and dirty. I really begin to wonder when the last "treatment" was.

I got another problem... After applying some carnuba wax, the kickers (that kick the ball up) seem to be really powerful... They kick the ball up, the ball spins around and when the time comes that the ball is in the slingshot it gets kicked out because the machine thinks that the ball is stuck somewhere.

How can I delay that timer, or at least make sure that the machine doesnt kick out the ball too hard? It really had an effect on the balls & the table...