Centaur
Bally, 1981
Centaur II
Bally, 1983You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider pinster68.
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Member as of last August. This HUO beauty was my holy grail. Everything was original. Rubbers were dried out. Under the playfield didn't have a mark, or fingerprint. Boards look factory new. Battery thankfully didn't leak. Now replaced with NVRAM. New white rubbers all around and stainless acorn nuts on the playfield. Otherwise a gentle cleaning, 5 coats of carnauba wax and a new set of balls. Plays like a dream.
Quoted from Stu:I did a full restroation with New CPR PF, Mirror Plastics, Original Backglass, New Cabinet Paint (with Metallic Silver Paint) and I installed Real Metal Studs on every cabinet artwork Stud Including the Apron as shown in the pictures....Everyone that sees it has to touch it as it's just like a Studded Leather Jacket....
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Very cool with the studs Stu. Great idea!
Quoted from KevinCPR:A heads up to Centaur fans in the CENTAUR CLUB:
http://www.classicplayfields.com/store-playfields.html
Just back from clearcoat. While this small supply lasts !!!
You are the first to be told, and will likely be the only
KEVIN
Classic Playfield Reproductions
http://www.classicplayfields.com
And there you have it. Never say never.
Now go get your playfields guys. Worn out Centaurs anxiously await!
Quoted from mof:First time Centaur owner. A few questions:
1) should the green light stay on in the upper right?
2) are the flippers asymmetrically placed?
3) I have 15 lights not working. I already swapped the bulbs for better ones. I have no indication that any switch matrix issues are lurking. There's a chance there are some lamp matrix issues, but what I'm noticing is that there are many ground issues. I can't believe that the ground wire is soldered onto the wood screws.
4) I would like to do a flipper rebuild. Do I have any choices to get a little more strength from the flippers?
5) I have plastics and a rubber set coming. Any other recommendations on what safety mods to check for or do?
thanks,
mof
Not sure on all these, but I'll try:
1) yes, I think so
2) fairly certain they're symmetrical
3) yes, that's the ground
4) try the rebuild first. Friction and electrical conductivity is the key. You should have plenty of strength if completely rebuilt. Remember that flipper buttons are part of the circuit, so clean or replace those contacts.
5) Get the battery off of the MPU. Go with a remote battery, NVRAM (what I have) or memory capacitor to avoid MPU damage.
The battery is on the MPU, upper left board in the backbox. The battery is on the bottom center of that board.
Check out the excellent content on Pinwiki for this:
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Get_rid_of_that_battery_now.21
Quoted from vster23:Son of a gun!! I have been without internet as I have been traveling back from the expo and missed out on a new Centaur playfield again, UGH!!!!! Timing is everything in life and my timing sucks
Well at least I have still have a Centaur
They still have bronze grade available. I'd jump on it if I was in the need....
Quoted from BumperMcBaulhogh:For those of you shopping your Centaur... Consider these plungers. They were original Bally issue and they help keep lil kids from smacking the plungers!
Oh yeah, did I mention they look great with Centaur?BLYSpikePlunger.png 479 KB
Interesting. I have a bunch of them, but didn't know they were original issue. Were they an option?
Quoted from BumperMcBaulhogh:I really don't know. I just know that they were made by Bally and they were around that era. I thought it was just to make them look cool until someone at a show told me that they were designed to keep the kids pulling the plunger instead of smacking it. Ouch!
This I knew, but I a now wondering if this was an oem optional part. Must ping the old farts on RGP to get an answer.
Quoted from wiredoug:please post it when you get it. .. interested to find out.
Ok, the verdict per a few veterans at RGP was that spiked shooter rods were standard on Bally pins of the late 70's, early 80's. There was an exception (Fireball), but I think we have our answer more or less.
Quoted from mof:Who can give me the best block of settings for Centaur? (for switches 1-32)
I would like it 3-ball, and I prefer to have a few free-balls in there such as 2mil and 4mil.
I typically go free play + factory/medium settings, and change all "replays" to "Free balls" on my williams machines.
ALSO -- I notice it's doing a full bonus hold over each ball (I don't think we want that... it's supposed to only hold the largest "10" or "20" block, not the 2X and the 1-9 digit. Anyone know how to turn that off?
Reason I ask is -- it seems my Centaur is not in freeplay mode, but somehow it keeps bloating the credits on it (not becuase I'm earning credits) so maybe Bally does free-play in a weird way, and I'm just unaware of how it works.
thanks!
-mof
The credit switch may be wired to the coin-up.
Quoted from wiredoug:wheeling out an oldie that needs to be here for reference
http://pinball.org/rules/centaur.txt
Excellent, thanks man!
Quoted from PinManV:Has anyone connected a sub to their Centaur? Worthwhile?
I haven't ... but I'd be interested to hear the effect. There's a lot of bass to be exploited in the Centaur soundtrack.
Quoted from stoptap:It certainly was. Wouldn't mind a Fathom to join them.
image.jpeg
A Paragon goes nicely with Centaur and Medusa.
Not sure if anyone noticed but CPR listed on 12/22 a new (albeit small "boutique") run of Centaur playfields. Get 'em while they're still available.
Brian
p.s., there's also a small run of Fathom pfs that was listed.
Quoted from calico1997:I have a quick question about Bally stand up targets. I'm fixing up a Centaur and noticed there's no foam cushions (weather stripping) behind any of the targets. I'm used to seeing foam on all my Williams stand up targets. Did Bally just not do that in 1981 or is my foam just missing from all the stand ups?
Thanks.
Pretty sure that's standard. None of my classic Bally pins have them.
Quoted from dtown:I've wanted a Centaur for a long time. I even have "bad move, human" as my text tone on my phone. Finally picked one up today at the York show. She needs a bit of work but the playfield was mylar'd so there's not too much wear and that's biggie for me.
Enjoy! To me Centaur is the quintessential 80's pin. It's the last pin I'll ever sell in my collection.
Quoted from calico1997:Well, you are right! I compared my original chamber plastic to a new one from CPR (with liners still on it). Pictured, the original one on the left has a 1" slot while the new laser cut one on the right is almost 1/8" wider at the slot. So a regular ball would stay within the chamber with the original plastics. I guess since the literature and manual do not really mention use of a special sized ball, this bingo ball thing might just be an urban legend. Oh well.
I honestly don't see what you see. The tape measure on the left is not perfectly aligned. I see "maybe" a 1/32 difference. Claiming a 1/8" difference doesn't see, remotely correct.
Quoted from calico1997:Correction - Pinball Resource appears out at well. But Classic Arcades shows them in stock for $36 a complete set of 8.
Thanks for the tip ... just purchased a set. I'm not happy that my previous set is wearing the letters off the front. Will definitely cover the new set with Mylar.
Quoted from porkbone:New member to pinside... just bought first ever pinball machine: Centaur!
No other pin remotely close to Centaur. Great choice!
Quoted from ripple:I went with all black drop targets and all black pop bumper parts.
Where are these sold?
Quoted from wiredoug:order centaur2 targets to get black
Got it, thanks.
Quoted from Joe-Ker:We tried running it at 6.5 degrees but had issues with the ball popping up hitting the glass a lot and jumping over the flippers.
We had to put a 3/4" board under the back legs to get it to 6.5 degrees, because without the board we could only get to 5.5-5.8 degrees.
we were wondering if it had the wrong legs or if were meant to be run at lower pitch
I don’t recall the manual ever stating a pitch. I’ve used 5.5 for all my classic Bally pins, with balanced results.
Quoted from Da-Shaker:Just picked up this Centaur. It's my first Bally. I've got power to the Gi and a single orange dot on each display. The game isn't booting. Before I drive in to deep, I wanted to ask a couple questions. There is some corrosion on the battery. What are the signs and symptoms that it's bad? What do you replace it with? I checked all my fuses. All appear good and I replaced most of them anyway. So, I'm wondering if the power board is bad.
Thank you
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Remove battery. No doubt.
Replace it with NVRAM. You’ll never look back, and will never have a sleepless night that your boards are getting trashed from acid damage.
Quoted from Tallon:I think FG is the meanest game I have played. Maybe BSD but Flash Gordon makes you get better at nudging the table you it eats you alive. In turn it helps with the ball return lanes on centaur
Funny, I’ve got Centaur, Flash Gordon, and BSD right next to each other. Lots of nudging in Flash Gordon and BSD, but FG wins out ... it’s brutal, and you get quite a workout. Centaur gets a fair bit of nudging for the outlanes, otherwise not much need to nudge.
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Asbury Park, NJ
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