FINALLY joined the brotherhood! WoooHOOOOO!! Okay, so…..I’ve turned OFF dipswitch #30 so balls don’t deploy during attract mode, however the playfield inserts will still flash. That said, in attract mode, is playfield GI supposed to flash too?? I’ve seen a couple YouTube vids where GI stays on while inserts flash, but in attract mode my whole playfield flashes in unison. Am I missing something obvious here?? Thanks, and DESTROY CENTAUR!!

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Centaur inna HOUSE! WoooHOOOOO!!!

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Yes, a guy on Facebook posted that link! Now I don’t feel like I’m going to have a seizure every time I turn the game on! LOL

I’m a new member of this cool-kids Centaur club too, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep without a bingo ball in there. A regular ball works just fine! If your plastics were worn out to the point that they no longer held the ball in the chamber, then maaaybe a bingo ball would be a temporary fix. I have new plastics in my machine, and the regular size ball works perfectly!

Hope this helps.

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Okay, so I’ve got this entire playfield tricked out in Comet LED’s. 2SMD frosted for GI, and 2SMD clear (color-matched) for inserts. Looks like a million BUCKS, however…..the four green arrows at the 1-4 drop targets are not swapped due to the fact those li’l buggas are covered by the drop target assembly! UGH!! I’ve never had to remove one before, but it seems I have to, to get to those four lamps. Can anybody help me understand how I begin to remove it??? Am I gonna have to desolder and take it apart piece-by-piece??? Any advice or best practices MOST welcomed!! Thank you!!

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SunnRAT, you ROCK!! That looks like it’ll make it a lot less gruesome than I thought….THANKS!!

sunnRAT …….thanks man, all is now right with the world!!

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I too use 2-smd frosted “sunlight” whites in the GI, and 2-smd color-matched bulbs for the controlled lamps. It’s a VERY dramatic look, especially during attract mode, but a perfect look for this game. I put a 3 smd (red) strip behind the Bally logo to eliminate the ‘half-lit’ look it had with a single red bulb. And finally, I disabled the flashing GI during attract mode too, as it was just too much.

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Might be the camera work. It’s really not that dark in person. ‍
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Id be real interested to see how that might look. Please keep us updated with any results!

https://www.thepinballwizard.net/playfield-parts/pop-bumper-body-c-970-5/

Wow, I see they’re out of stock now. I just got some here recently! I also remember seeing a 3D printed version, but can’t remember where that was. Still trying to find out.

I've gotten slingshot kicker heads here, and even though it looks like they make just about everything ELSE, I don't see pop bodies.....yet anyway.

https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/tech/mechanical-parts?s=0&tag=swinksreproduction#more-products

Maybe message the seller to find out?

Are you using rubber or silicone? I've found since I replaced all the rubber rings with silicone, the ball bounces back into the inlane maybe 50% of the time. And during multiball, you really have to be on your toes if the balls go down that lane, since they're often fed back into play when you least expect it!

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I don’t see a reason you’d have to replace ALL of them if you choose not to, however replacing all wouldn’t necessarily cause any “constriction”. I chose to replace them all since I went from the basic white ones to all blood red. Really stands out well against the black and white.

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Hmmm....not sure what to tell ya. I've only had my game a short time, and yesterday, I stripped it down for a cleaning/wax. The bounce back to the inlane actually increased as a result of the carnauba wax. I'm thinking too, that the frequency of this could also determined by the exact placement of the posts. Mine has a CPR playfield, and I know that holes don't always line up exactly as they did from the factory. Also the pitch of the playfield could also determine the frequency of the carom too. Seems like there's a lot of variables here.

I would tend to agree. Four of my early SS Ballys have the linear flippers. I have never noticed a discernible difference between the strength of those, and the strength of the earlier style on my ‘78 Playboy. The rip on my Skateball spinner can be startling, the left orbit to the lagoon trap on Fathom can be a blur, a left flipper smack on EBD often (annoyingly) overshoots the saucer, and Centaur’s queen’s chamber target is never not a possibility, albeit with a bit of oomph on the stand-up. Keep the assemblies in good condition, and there’s really no compelling reason for that retrofit, in my opinion.

Mine does the exact same thing, also with the same infrequency!! I’ve also read a couple other testimonials describing this scenario, and I have get to learn of anyone coming up with a reliable fix. Strange…

I have five classic Ballys (1978-1981), and standup targets on all of them each have a capacitor.

I’ve had my ‘81 Centaur not quite a year, but seriously, this is the first time I’ve noticed this brass-colored rod spanning the width of the ORBS drop target bank, that attaches to nothing! It moves freely, and is looped on one end, so as not to come out. Anybody know what the heck this is, and what it’s for??? Thanks…

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I know, right?? One end is bent at a perfect 45° angle, and the other end is looped. I guess I can assume it doesn’t appear in anyone else’s Centaur then?? LOL

It’s a real head scratcher, for sure!

Do you know if any images that exist of this part, and what it looked like when originally installed? I can't imagine what the end of the 45 degree angled rod was attached to. It is almost as long as it is wide!

I had the EXACT SAME issue when I brought this game into the lineup almost a year ago! Only difference is.....mine lodged there not on plunge, but when an extra ball was launched from the orb channel. If multiple balls were launched, the first would lodge, and each subsequent ball would hit the stuck ball, and fall back and stack up in the shooter lane. It was baffling, and irritating as all hell!! I posted this issue on a Facebook repair page and got tons of responses and solutions, none of which worked. Most of them suspecting the wrong coil on the orb release channel, or a bad adjustment of the metal ball channel itself. I was stymied for awhile, but in the meantime, I removed all the plastics to replace all the white rubbers with fire engine red Titan silicone, and when I replaced the plastics, I never had the issue again, not even one time!!! The orbs have launched smooth as silk ever since. To this day, I can't figure out what that was all about.

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The two callouts for lane change fails are “Slow, aren’t you!”, and “Bad move, human!”.

I've had my minty Centaur for a little less than a year. I only recently noticed something interesting during gameplay. When hitting a release target with four orbs "saved", and all the balls have been deployed, the ORBS drop targets do not reset if all five balls are still in play. There's so much going on during a five-ball multiball, that I haven't yet noticed if it's only when the targets are hit in sequence. If that's the case, is the game designed this way?? I'm thinking that the targets might not reset, due to the fact that there are no more balls in the trough to deploy? I could manually force this scenario I suppose, but haven't done it yet.

Wondering if someone might have some insight to this.... Thanks!

Yep, it’s odd for sure. I had a similar situation on my fathom when the 123 targets didn’t always reset. That was a simple switch gap adjustment when I noticed the number three target didn’t score before the targets failed to reset. It’s interesting tho that on my Centaur, it only happens during multiball, though I’m still not sure if it happens all the time, since I’m concentrating on just keeping the balls in play. I’ll do a little research to see if it’s a dip switch or coin door setting. Thanks!

Also, I am running an Alltek MPU.

I rebuilt my flipper assemblies (just the essentials), and with the right momentum and aim, I can get a good smack on that back target. It's not easy....but then again, it's not supposed to be.

I bypassed the triac shortly after I bought my Centaur. I couldn't handle the strobing effect in attract mode, especially after I converted the game to sunlight LED's. The only side effect of this is the GI will not go completely dark when an orb is released. Only the controlled lamps go dark.

I had this issue on my EBD, Fathom, and Centaur, each with CPR playfields. Turns out the 1,2,3,4 targets on Centaur were ADJUSTABLE, but oddly, not on EBD or Fathom. So, while Centaur was the easy one, after buying a small roll of magnet tape, I cut a strip to length and added it to the floor of the drop target assembly in the area where the dropped targets rest on EBD and Fathom. It was the perfect thickness to prevent a ball from hanging up against another drop target. Never had an issue since.

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I’m still having the OCCASIONAL orb misfire on my Centaur. I know that switch mis-adjustments in the saved ball channel can cause the game to lose track of the balls. There’s three or four microswitches in the saved orb channel, and I’m still not entirely sure which switch(es) to adjust to get them all synced consistently. Several months ago, when adjusting the switch midway up the channel, I accidentally snapped off part of the actuator. It didn’t really seem to affect gameplay, but occasionally when a lot of balls drain simultaneously during 4-5 ball multiball, the game comes to a standstill due to two balls stacked up in the outhole (against the ball sitting on the trough switch)! When I remove the three balls sitting in the outhole and raise the playfield to release the remaining two balls, they both roll out from under the flap. It’s my understanding that there should only be one ball (not two) in the deployment lane at a time, no?

That said, could the broken actuator be part of the problem here, since if a ball not deploying for some reason rolls backwards, it’ll get hung up at the broken actuator?? I can’t imagine a ball not deploying fully though, since the kicker is strong and balls deploy well every time.

Anyway, I would like to replace the actuator so that a ball rolling backward will fall back to the kicker if not deployed. Can I fashion one of my own, or replace the whole switch?? If so, what type of wire is used?

Hope all this makes sense, since it’s a complicated issue that I’m doing my best to articulate. I can’t seem to manually duplicate it either, as it’s only an occasional problem. Many thanks for any feedback.

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You can disable that flashing GI during attract mode. As a result, the game won’t momentarily go dark when balls are deployed from below, but for me, that is MUUUUCH less annoying than that strobing, pulsating GI! I felt like I needed a Xanax just to get anywhere near it!! LOL Plus, when all my other games around it are lit up, that blackout feature isn’t really that effective anyway.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-turn-off-attract-mode-on-centaur

Exactly what I did, and for me, that was just the solution I needed! The slingshots will still strobe in attract mode, rather than EVERY SINGLE GI LAMP, and now it’s a LOT less seizure-inducing! Subjective for sure, but unless this game is played in complete and total darkness, the one-second that the game occasionally goes dark isn’t really useful anymore.

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

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

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My ORBS targets have had double springs on each target since I picked up the game a year and a half ago. Haven’t had an issue with bricking, ever. They drop perfectly, fast or slow hit. The springs that are the more silver colored ones seem to be a higher tension than the darker ones.

I’m an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it kinda guy! LOL

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Have you tried the self-test button adjustment?

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Yeah, those trough switches are tricky. I was having coils firing and not deploying, or coils not firing at all. It seemed to occur mostly during a multiball scenario with some of the balls draining in quick succession. It was that last switch before the ball drops into the deployment channel. FINALLY figured out that when that when the ball rolled to the end and stops right before the launch channel, the actuator wire would slip up the side of the ball, causing the computer to think there was no ball there. The situation occurs only occasionally now since I tweaked that wire, but when trying to adjust it, even a miniscule amount, can sometimes cause that actuator wire to slip up the OTHER side of the resting ball. Opening the coin door and reaching under, I can use my finger to push the ball(s) upstream a bit, so the wire comes down and sits under the ball properly. The wire isn't loose at the switch at ALL, and I haven't yet figured out a way to adjust the wire to sit under the ball correctly, every time. Still hoping to find an answer, but other than that "occasional" glitch, the game plays flawlessly.

Mine had that too when I bought it. Luckily a slightly larger screw was able to get a good firm grip on the apron. And yeah….finding a clipnut that fits was definitely a challenge!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/164085

Ah sorry! Missed the "inline" part. D'OH!

Man, I sure could’ve used one! I’ve had my beautifully restored game for about two years now, and was occasionally having issues with multiball coils firing, but not releasing a ball. Took me forEVVVER to figure out that the actuator wire on that last microswitch before a ball drops into the launch channel occasionally slipped up the side of the ball as it sat there waiting to be deployed into the launcher, causing the computer to think there was no ball sitting there! Months and months of tweaking that actuator wire FINALLY resulted in getting my game dialed-in. I’ve been playing the game for weeks now with no phantom coils firing, and all balls being deployed as earned!! Whew!!

Yep, dat was me (see post #2269).

Oh man, I wish I could see a video on that! That last switch before a ball drops into the shooter channel can be a real tempermental PITA! My game is pretty dialed in now, but it took MONTHS of tweaks before I could play 10-20 games without a phantom coil fire! That actuator wire would periodically slip up one side of the ball. When adjusted accordingly (and sliiiiightly), it would periodically slip up the OTHER side. This was usually in four or five multiball scenario when the balls might drain quickly. That switch has a ton of angles and bends, and choosing exactly which segment(s) of the actuator wire to adjust can be
a REAL challenge! The fact that it's buried a bit deep inside the assembly doesn't make it any easier, and I even used my switch adjustment tools, which have a long reach.

I've disabled the GI strobing during attract mode, however the chamber lamps will strobe during attract mode (on the loop that highlights the different "features"), as do the lamps under the slingshot plastics. When a game starts, they turn on steady, as do the lamps under the slingshot plastics. Anything happening during a game has no effect on those lamps, as they remain on for the duration of the game.

There’s a triac down by the power supply. Locate the lines attached to it and disconnect the connectors. You can just set them aside, as you won’t use them. Then attach the connectors that remain. This allows the GI to bypass the triac that controls that strobing during attract mode.

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This switch that’s fixed midway up the orbs deployment channel on my game doesn’t have an actuator wire that allows a ball to roll back down if it doesn’t deploy properly. I’ve tried removing the wire, but it’s attached so tightly that I’m afraid I’ll damage the switch. I can’t seem to source a new switch and actuator wire. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

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1) Just about every other part I’ve had to source on all nine of my early ss Ballys is available at the various online pinball parts suppliers, so I guess I just didn’t think a “time machine” would be necessary.
1a) As I mentioned, I tried removing the actuator wire but have not been successful. And whaddya know, I was even prepared to use what I have. I Still am.
1b) I already know what I need. No photos will be necessary.

Appreciate the feedback.

Awesome, thank you!

It’s the same exact shape as an inlane or outlane wireform. It just needs to let a ball roll both ways. Not exactly sure yet what’s happening there, but for some reason my game seems to occasionally drop two balls into the channel when only one is supposed to enter it. It’s only happened a couple times, but it will somehow get a ball stuck in front of that switch. Once I fix the switch, I have to delve into the rest. Fun!