Airballs smacking against the glass are 100% part of the gameplay. Don't try to correct.

I thought I heard an older designer saying with early games like Comet and early introduction of ramps on pins they designed some some of the ramps to make the ball hit the glass for the added sound effects. Idk if that's true but I enjoy it, on Comet the ball doesn't fly off my center ramp or cycle jump after glass hits so I like it the way it is.

Do any of you know what colour the original flipper buttons were? Mine has orange with a black outer on the left side, and red with a transparent red outer on the right.

Also, are they the short or long product?

Thanks

Red.

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Thanks. I could not find a clear image of an original either. Was the outer transparent/translucent or solid red?

The orange/black actually suits the theme, which is why I thought it might be original.

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Up to you but the incorrect button shape would grate my nerves.

As far as I know this is the correct button…
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-9284

I’ve seen many games with opaque red buttons though so I could be wrong, but luckily Pinside exists to correct us and shame us when we are wrong. You always get the fastest and best response here when you are wrong!

Mine has opaque black

This is one. https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-16883-4

Mine were translucent red, I don't know if they were original, but they looked well used.

Thank you for the links to the parts. Much appreciated.

no worries, mate!! G'day

Anyone know if there's anywhere that sells the slingshot arms? Marco and Action are out of stock. Mine are worn pretty bad. I'm doing a rebuild of them and cleaning and replacing all the components; plunger and link, mounting bracket, spring, coil sleeve, etc. I think the arm at the pivot joint is worn so looking to replace it but can't find them anywhere. Thanks.

I don’t have the blue parts catalog handy right now, but I believe it is A-7986.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-7986

That sure does look the same though.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-hardtop-restoration-comet/page/2#post-4484021

Awesome, thanks Vid. So the arm mentioned above should work?

https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-slingshot-bumper-crank-assembly.html

Also, I already bought these links plunger and links from Marco:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-5103

And this base/mounting bracket:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-17810

Should work eh? Both based off of original part number.

No, that arm is the wrong one.

If you use it, it will physically work... but not score.

You need to find one with the longer "Scoring Lever", or reuse your old arm until they are available again.

Ok, thanks for your help! I'll keep looking and I'll see if I can reuse mine .

Should be a A-7986 kicker arm

Yep, that is it, thanks. Can't find it anywhere right now though.

Lane change has not worked on my machine as long as I have had it. I finally decided to look at it today. I do not want to admit how long it took me to figure out what the very obvious problem with it is.

My question is; how is it supposed to be wired? Is there anything else missing, like a resistor? I can not work it out from the manual.

Hopefully the attached photos are clear enough to explain for themselves. Does anyone have photos of the original setup?

Thank you

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You need a lane change switch, and a diode.

https://www.pinballlife.com/williams-lane-change-switch.html
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The white/blue stripe wires and the non-banded side of the diode (1n4004), go to the tab that does not connect to the blades.

The banded side of the diode goes to the outside blade

The green/yellow stripe wires go to the inside blade

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TheHouseHack I had the same issue a while back (sorry no pics on how to fix it - I don't own the pin anymore):
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-confessional/page/27#post-4436899

Wrapping up my restoration and have been doing some play testing. I have a question for you guys... are you able to get up the corkscrew ramp from a cradled ball on the right flipper? Just rebuilt/replaced my flipper mechs and they seem very strong. Was just wondering if that's supposed to be possible or what. I've been having a heck of time getting up that thing.

Making it around the corkscrew from a cradled ball on the right flipper should be doable. It has to be a clean shot as too much bouncing will eat the momentum and lead to it dribbling back out.

Same here, clean shot and it's no problem.

Same. You need a clean shot. Make sure it has the proper coil installed. Mine has been swapped out for a weaker coil at some point. Took me a while to figure that one out

Yeah I don’t think I’ve ever been able to make it, even a clean shot. I will definitely double check the coil. All the rest of the mechs, links, plunger, sleeve, etc. are new and seems very powerful. If the ball is in motion already and it bounces off the right flipper and I get a good shot on it, I can make it. Just can’t make it up that ramp from a cradle.

Thanks for the info; I appreciate it. Will report back and will post some pics when 100% done.

Correct coils installed. FL-23-600. I guess it is possible; was messing with it. You're right; has to be literally perfect and dead nuts straight up the ramp to make it. Even the slightest bit off and it won't make it all the way around.

It's the hardest shot on the table (I suppose the 200k cycle jump is harder?), but should be reasonably makable from a cradle on the right flipper. I make it about 50% of the time, as it leaves little room for error. I shoot for it a lot from a right cradle or the fun house kick-out to try to light the 1986 for the double/triple/5-times scoring multiple times on each ball.

Perfect! Thank you vey much.

I am looking for the "First ever 1 million pinball shot" sticker. If anybody has one for sale or can make me one please message me.

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Print on Avery permanent sticker paper, cover in Mylar

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Marco Specialties has 'em.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/31-540-GS-MIL

I wonder who screwed up the formatting on the text??

It's like all the text drifted up to the top of the frame...

Yeah, that's awful. I hope they aren't printing them like that.

Marcos decals have been really hit or miss for me. Some of them arrive looking like they came off grandmas 1990s inkjet too.

The text placement on the decals from Marcos isn't as bad as the website listing makes it look. It is close to the original, but not identical.

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Hey everyone! I'm restoring two Comet machines - one to keep (which is done) and one to sell (which is 90% there). What I am looking for is the metal ball defense bracket that mounts OVER the Shooting Gallery. I have one, but need a second one to make both machines complete. I cannot for the life of me determine this part's actual name or part number. And, I am sure I could make one if I had a line on that kind of piece of metal - would be easy to shape. Does anyone have an extra one of these parts, or know where I can get one, or know of anyone selling the kind of metal used so I can fabricate one? Thanks!

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 12.52.15 PM (resized).png

Don’t know what the part number is, but looks like stainless steel to me. If it isn’t, stainless would certainly work and would be very corrosion resistant.

It's a strip of stainless steel, and would be easy to bend a replica.

Maybe someone here can measure the gauge of it for you

Maybe this?

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Strips-Accessories-Decorative/dp/B0BRV7P1Q7/ref=sr_1_9

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Hi everyone, I finally finished my restoration of my Comet and thought I'd share the results. It's not perfect, but I think it came out well. Game was in someone's basement and hadn't been touched or serviced in decades; perfect for a full-on resto. For those that are interested, here's some of the major things I did to it...

Replaced burnt/destroyed power supply and sound board.
Serviced all boards (replaced all caps on all boards, re-flowed all connectors, replaced pin sockets and housings in several connectors, replaced some other components).
Replaced several burnt/damaged/missing connectors and hacks.
Installed Inkochnito bridge board and DumbAss special solenoid fuse board.
Complete tear down of playfield. Cleaned, waxed and polished Mylar and playfield. Touched up a few high traffic spots and installed Mylar over.
New Corkscrew and Cycle Jump ramps. Clean and polished original Comet ramp.
Rebuilt, cleaned and new sleeves on all mechs and replaced many parts throughout. Full flipper rebuild and new flipper switches. Rebuilt shooter rod and replaced shooter spring.
New posts throughout.
New Titan rubbers throughout.
New Comet sunlight LEDs throughout.
Installed trough light, LED strip under Corkscrew ramp, lighted flipper buttons
New CPR plastics throughout.
Fixed factory mistake where one of the controlled lights for one of the Comet eyes in light panel was in the wrong spot...?!?! Crazy.
New decals everywhere (targets, Comet ramp, etc.).
Touched up cabinet, repainted inner part of head and side walls around playfield, repainted coin door.
New legs and levelers.
Sandblasted speaker panel trim pieces, regrained lockdown bar, cleaned lockdown bar receiver.

And... I created a little mod for the game. A 1-9-8-6 lightbox to show the status of the 1-9-8-6 lights since they are blocked by the Comet ramp. Artwork was done by my brother, @outerorbit, who is an amazing graphic designer. Fireworks theme matches that of the game and is relative to the horizon. Lights are positioned to be directly above the ones in the playfield. I used the same "Matrix" wiring system as Comet does for their lighting products. Currently it is a prototype, however I am looking to get it professionally printed in nylon and the graphic digitally printed on PETG, same as your standard pinball plastics. This will take it to the next level and really make the image glossy and bright when lit up like the rest of the plastics. If anyone is interested in one of these for their game, just shoot me a PM.

Also, wanted to thank everyone who helped me along the way. A very sincere thank you; you guys are awesome.

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Looks Great, I like the 1986 light box. That's cool.

In the club and I couldn't be happier! My best score so far. 2.5+ million... hard to read. Tough game!

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Welcome to the club. Fun game for only one ball. I see you have a cyclone, do you have a hurricane? If you do you the trifecta.