Hi guys. I finally setup my Gottlieb Airport project pin that I bought in a lot (was one in a three-pin lot that I didn't see before hand or really care about, now I love it, thought it was going to be trashed but it's actually in really good condition minus the terrible backglass) and... it works! (worked)

Some relays were sticking so I was looking/feeling around to see which ones they were and while moving my hands around and touching the wiring harness gently, the piece where the wires are soldered on broke off of my 30v hold relay (relay turned off, and the game went into pre-startup Gottlieb-half-dark-mode and got stuck there), upon closer inspection I found this out after trying to figure out why it stopped working. (Weird... it let me play if I manually activated the start relay, is that normal?) It wasn't just the wires, it was the wires and that piece and a big enough chunk of it to where the switch is probably toast now.

Can these relays be fixed on a switch by switch basis, or do I need to find another one? Can I substitute it with one that has at least as many contacts if not more as long as I match up the pins and make sure the switches are oriented the same way?

Probably isn't too hard to find one of these exact relays, though, and that is what I would rather do. If I'm going to source a switch I might as well source the whole relay and use the rest of the current one for parts down the road. I don't really want to just tie the wires together even if I can because I would like the machine to operate the exact same way, darkness when I turn it on and all.

Also the 25v fuse crushed/disintegrated (must be old) in my fingers after I went to put it back in after testing it, going to order one of those.

Thanks guys! Unfortunately the pinball machine is in New Jersey and I live in Pennsylvania (I live/go there weekends usually, just lots of family out there and a lot more space than home) so I'm away from it for now and won't be back for a while, at least until the weekend. Usually during the week is when I source my parts, haha.

I'll attach a drawing of what piece broke off, should be a fairly easy fix if I just get a switch of the right size. All of these relays are along the board in the bottom of the cabinet (not on the "stack" or whatever it is referred to as) and are fairly small in size compared to other games I've peeked in from different manufacturers.

It broke to where none of the tab would be left sticking out (break point would be where the brown part ends). This should only affect one of tab of the switch, and as far as I know it's just two tabs for that switch, nothing too complicated.

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I think this should suffice for stealing a switch or a blade from and some for down the road too? Seven years newer but the sizing looks the same. (Although very sad to see a parted out Sure Shot):

ebay.com link: Gottlieb Sure Shot Pinball Machine ASSORTED RELAY LOT Lot of 3 RELAYS LOT 6

That sounds good, maybe I can steal one fuse off of you too (I'll check the rating) so I don't have to pay the ridiculous price for shipping one fuse. I'll toss a couple bucks your way for those and maybe some more things if you feel like sparing anything else (junk-wise) that I might need. Looking to build up a solid assortment of junk parts, the more the merrier...

I actually managed to rewire it and the tab was actually still there. Huh. Must have just been a peculiarly shaped chunk of old solder, could of sworn it had broken off but there's no blades missing the tab part so it was definitely used and that's where it went. Anyway, it's wired back up. Still no start button action, though. If I start it using the start relay (which then triggers the hold relay), I'll be golden (even with the start button) until the game is powered off again, the next games start just fine.

Possibly a bad connection with my new connection (I didn't solder it on yet, ran out, but put it on there pretty snug) or would this problem be somewhere else? Would the game operate using the start relay if a connection on the hold relay wasn't present? Going to solder it on of course anyways once I get some more solder.

Thanks!

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Oh, and just rebuilt (if I can use that word for this) the non-working ball count unit and sticky match/0-9 unit just with some cleaning, sanding, and adjusting the springs (which were worn, but still in good shape, adjusted those) and now it's much closer to 100% operational, they run great now! Woo-hoo! I say rebuilt because I was very particular with it and made sure to hit all of the contacts complete with disassembly of the plate, I'm sure there's much deeper ways of a "rebuild" though where you take it all apart but I think the term is fitting even if mine didn't need that. I love Gottlieb's system of how they can "fold down" to a service position for the back by taking out the pin that holds it up vertically, that made things a breeze without having to remove the units from the game. Really great system. Feels really good, this is my first time of doing something to that scale - and it's fun. I feel like I'm saving it now for real. They both run like new now and are 100% accurate every time, and before they were both in a very very sorry state. (Took at least 20-30 balls to finish a game, it was very sluggish on the times it wanted to work at all) Feels so great! These aren't too plentiful and it just feels really good to save this game knowing it's been sitting for a long time and that these are pretty historic and old. Blah, I'm getting all sappy now huh? Anyways, that's the end of this post. Next up is replacing that coil that somebody hung the tag from, 2nd player control relay coil is all burnt up and absolutely destroyed. Will of course make sure it isn't locking on at the wrong times after I install it and disconnect one wire if it is while I investigate. The guy who wrote the tag got some of the digits wrong compared to the rest of the row so I'm just going to replace it with what's on the rest of them (including the 1st player control relay). I think it ended in like 37 or something and he put 40. I don't feel too confident in that, haha!

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