Just finished two restorations, Eight Ball, and Xenon. In both cases I replaced the corroded bumper light sockets with new ones from Marco. They are driving me crazy. Brand new installed, they flickered, so I tweaked them with pliers to tighten them up. The problem is the tang underneath gives way no matter how carefully I insert the bulb.

On Eight Ball vibration from the bumpers blew #49s after 30 minutes of play, I gave up and put in LEDs, not sure if I did something wrong with respect to vibration.

On Xenon, the LEDs turn on an off with the vibrations. If you didn't know the machines you might think they were controlled lighting.

Any suggestions? I tried a 55 style socket in Eight Ball but there is no room under the caps. Xenon is really the problem, I just cannot keep the lights on stably.

This style of bumper body does not leave a lot of room above the bulb to do anything new. I could not fit a 555 socket into it. I have tried the 45 degree trick as well which does help. I guess I will try roughing the center contact on the LEDs.

Yes, I always squeeze the sockets, new or old. I also keep a small nail with a 90 degree bend in it to pull the tang upward if it gets pushed down.

I have considered such a thing, soldering the LEDs and almost suggested it as a last resort in my first post. I am not positive I understand the root cause of the issue. Despite squeezing the socket and making it tough to insert, I am not sure the socket is round enough that if it rotates that it won't cause the intermittent connection. Under the tang area I pull it up with my custom nail, then carefully insert the bulb pushing down only as much as I have to. I find it hard to believe that the tang is loose underneath. That leaves me with corrosion (although the socket is new) and the tip of the bulb not maintaining continuity. I would really prefer not to have a hardwired light if I can avoid it.

Thanks for all the ideas.

I have some of those grey ones as I thought I might use them. I guess I just did not consider bending them so much. How did things work when these machines were new?

I think you are right, these are so finicky there is no way they would work in real arcade service. I think next time I will scrape the old one clean and use some dielectric grease to keep them from oxidizing.