It's not common at all IME. Mine doesn't do it, and it didn't do it "back in the day" either (when we used to shoot for the saucer a lot because of the specials)

Paragon is a different story, a lot of those do it. But probably also fixable.

The key is the clear plastics in the upper corner. They have to slow the ball enough to dump it into the saucer. I spent about 4 hours tweaking it on mine 10+ years ago and it's remained ok ever since.

You can also dial back the strength of the upper left flipper by having the end of stroke open slightly earlier, and even have a -600 flipper coil instead of the more common -500 in there.

I don't know if the differing shapes of clear plastics available make a difference, I have the proper jughandle one on mine I think most of that is for the ball getting stuck behind the drop though.

Any specific tips for the tweaks that need to be made to the clear plastic guides? I'll see if i can loosen the screws a little and try slightly repositioning the plastic guides.

Good to know about the weaker flipper coil. If the EOS adjustment doesn't seem to cut it, I'll probably give that a try.

Thanks!

Can anyone please send me a close up picture of connector J3 on the solenoid board? I think that the 3 loose wires that I have belong in places 10,11 and 12 , and I just want to verify. Also, where is the best place to get that 25 pin .100 connector? I would like to get it from Digikey if possible, but I have no idea how to look it up, as I don't exactly know what to call it. Thanks!

I think it's with the clear plastics by the saucer. Worn plastics and the jumps passed the saucer. One game I swapped, the ball was ejecting and bouncing back into the saucer. Had to adjust trajectory or the saucer. It actually shows the angle in the manual.

Funny, i'm on my 2nd EBD, and have owned the 2 for a total of probably 8 or 9 years and have had this happen maybe a half a dozen times

Yep, I've owned my EBD since 1984 and while this does happen occasionally, it's a very rare occurrence.

I've also had the ball get INTO the saucer from the A/B lanes by happening to bounce just right to pop the gate up for a moment and sneak in. And have also had the ball go around the eight ball target and into the saucer. But all these things are quite unusual.

Me too! The joys of pinball kinetics.

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=22-01-2257

You need a Molex brand connector. You will also need to buy the pins(connectors) and the crimping tool. The connectors curr in your game are, as far as I know,.obsolete. not only that there's a special tool needed to insert the wires into those tiny blades in the housing.

Either way this job is tedious and will be a learning experience for you.

That one is out of stock so you need to get the value line, this one is in stock and has the locking ramp but still able to be used

Scroll down this page:

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/products.asp?cat=164

Mine was hopping past the saucer more and more, turned out in the repro plastics I'd put in many many years ago, that clear plastic was chipping at the edge near the saucer. They were not very sturdy and compared to the totally undamaged old one I still had, it didn't look very accurately cut either, so I just put my old one back in and it reduced the skipping to where it's only occasional now. And adjusting the positioning as much as you can as you tighten the screws for the plastics there. So if you get repros, get high quality ones.
The reducing power on the side flipper sounds like a good idea too especially if you've rebuilt the flippers, I suppose a slightly weaker coil or gapping the EOS switch more. That flipper can really slam the ball in there hard.

Big Daddy also has them. Scroll down.

http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/repairkits/bally_kits.htm#b-lampconn

What is a fair price to pay for a working nice original EBD?

$63million

Imo anywhere in the 2-3.5k range would be about right these days. EBD is pulling a nice premium.

Appreciate that.. my wife has relatives near Topeka. Interesting town. We were there about 4 years ago for a family reunion & was woken up by a earthquake. Do they happen there often?

We also picked up a Firepower & a F-14 from wife's uncle near Creighton Mo.

Topeka is certainly....interesting... for sure.

I don't think I've ever felt an earthquake here though. Lots of tornadoes!

F14 is one I had and sold.. kinda miss it, but can't keep em all!

"F14 is one I had and sold.. kinda miss it, but can't keep em all"

Isn't that the truth... I am going to sell Fireball ll so there's room for Who Dunnit which is at my friend Don (Grumpy here)

I do have a EBD but the cabinet needs a full restore. Playfield is nice, boards all bullet proofed & new backglass but if the 1 I am looking at isn't to pricey I may consider selling the 1 I have.

I can put 8 machines in a row in the basement but that's pretty tight.

Just dragged Getaway out tonight. My row is looking kind of sad at the moment (Cactus Jack's and EBD are on the other side, next to my neo geo). Once shuttle is paid for I can go grab my high speed and buy the metallica premium at the same time. That leaves me at 7 which is really where I need to be. 8 is doable but a bit too far into my wife's area, really. I'm going to try staying at 7 for a bit. I moved Taxi over for now. Think I'll put high speed on the right and Metallica where Shuttle is.. modern, sys11, sys11, wpc, modern--decent feng shui I think.

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The LED flashes 2 times, pauses, and flashes 5 additional times. It's an Alltek replacement board.

Marco finally had this in stock so I grabbed one. Of course, I didn't also grab a 1-1/8 lock so I still need to hit the hardware store...

I can't figure out what I'm missing for securing it on the left side. Can someone share a pic?

Also, my top trim piece ALWAYS catches on the left corner when I remove the backglass... why? It's driving me insane!

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I believe it has a thick round washer along with a truss head screw.
Check your black trim width... you might have to trim or move it over a bit.

Yeah, I guess I should have figured the left side was nothing terribly special. I'll dig around and see what I can find. And I'll play around with the trim a bit. The old glass doesn't do it

Also got some more crap to get this going again. Need to swap my blue inserts and the weather is ALMOST getting nice enough to clear...

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I appreciate your response, but which board is the power supply rectifier board? And where do I connect the voltmeter's probes to? The link shows the boards in the backbox, but I don't know if they correspond to my 1984 version, and none of the labels in the link's photo refer to a rectifier board.

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Rectifier is in the cabinet below the playfield, not in the head. And they're usually in rough shape.

IIRC the left side of the lock bar gets a spring washer plus 2 flat washers. The same washer that is used on the inside coin door trim bolts. Depending on the lock you get you may need to add or take away a washer. The washers go between the cab wood and the lock bar secured by a 1 inch pan/truss head screw.

This may be a stupid question but what exactly does this bar do? I don’t have a key for mine.

It prevents the backglass from being lifted out when in the locked position.

Also from falling out, which mine does, every time the head is folded down.

Aha, thank you. I should probably get a new lock.

Having the glass lock assembly present may be enough to keep the glass from falling out, I just know that with it not installed in my game at all I have to remove my glass before I lower the head. Not that it moves around a lot, but I just want to be done with that requirement.

Ok, you're going to swat me, but I discovered one of the fuses on the power board was blown. It's in position F4, which the manual states should house a 32V-5A fuse. The blown fuse is a 125V-5A fuse. Does that matter, or should I order what the manual states I should use (I'm running mostly LEDs, if that makes a difference).

The voltage as long as it's higher on the fuse doesn't matter - the amp rating is what's important.

And if it's fast or slow blow.

Nah, nbd for right now. I'm going to have to remove it all again to paint the head anyway so there's plenty of time for me to scrounge up some working parts. Working on replacing my blue inserts today and I finished replacing the second 28-pin lamp board connector. My $35 ratcheting crimper from PBL can f itself (didn't realize it didn't do .100!) but the one I bought from GPE worked like a charm. Made this easy as pie. The inserts, on the other hand....I hate these things.

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Yikes what are the files for?

Stuff. And things.

Sandpaper takes waaaaaay too long to file down the shoulders and without doing that, they don't fit.. at all...

Hate these damn things.

Ok, you scared me for a minute, I thought you might be cleaning out the holes in the PF to make them fit. Installing new inserts is a challenge, especially when they have a die letter stamped on the top of them. Do you have a Dremel with a drum sander attachment? I think this would less effort than using a hand file. If you don't have a Dremel yet, it's a "must have" for doing pin work like this. In my experience, it's impossible to get a new insert to sit flush with the PF surface and need to sand the tops down until flush. As I told you earlier, a variable speed sander at low speed works the best. Don't let the inserts get hot from sanding as this will cause the to bubble or raise in the center.

How is the blue color of these new inserts? I see from your earlier pics that you got the same part numbers that Marco just gave me for the new batch. Are the 3/4 and 1 inch insert colors consistent?

I did use the round file a bit to clean up some of the holes on the PF that were fighting me but I'm NOT cutting into the shoulder that should keep the inserts from falling through. I started off GENTLY filing the tops of the new inserts with the flat file but switched to 220 grit sandpaper because it just works..better. I'm still using the flat file to cut the bottom side of the inserts enough for them to not require a TON of additional sanding topside to be flush against the playfield.

I generally sand the sides a bit as well, if not to help them fit a bit less tightly, then to give them some tack for adhesive to grab on to.

I'm willing to admit that I may have no idea what the hell I'm doing I do have a dremel and it got away from me when I was cleaning up the insert that I broke out (and left the edges still glued in)... so I'm trying to avoid touching it again lol

The 3/4 and 1" inserts do match. Imo it's more of a "light blue" than the original dark blue but I think they'll look okay. Sure beats cracked and/or glue-covered crap like I had.

Temps are supposed to be in the 60s all week. I'm hoping to have this ready to clear in the next couple of days. Earplugs arrived today and I think those will work just fine crammed into the sockets. I'm ready to get moving on this damn thing.

I can explain everything!!!

Back on my dining room table to finish prep so I can spray some clear this week. What grit should I sand up to on inserts? I glued the new ones in this morning.

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Test fit for encouragement. Need to handle this awfulness in the corners before I move on to clearing.

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What's the best method for fixing these blown out sling holes? I bought some wood epoxy putty but I've heard people suggest bamboo skewers and retapping? Every time I try to cut the skewer it splinters..

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Maybe try cutting the skewers with a high speed dremel or something? Skewers work well if hole is not too blown out. Wonder if they make threaded posts that are exactly the same except they are threaded for a nut?

Speaking of slings...all of these switches (including those in the chase) are nasty. Is this the correct one to order? https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-slingshot-score-switch.html

I looked through my manual hoping for a switch listing with a part number but I'm either really blind or it's not there. Also what are the resistors I need to order? From the sling pair I assume the three-prong switch with the resistor is for the sling solenoid itself and the other switch could be just fine with just a two-prong switch and is for scoring... right? The switches in the chase appear to be three-prong so I assume I'd be buying at least 4 total 3-prong as linked above for those. I have 5 of the 2-prong already.

Check out the ground braid used to connect the two switches in pic two...

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The braid wire is factory. No resistor do you mean diode? If so it's a 1N4148 or 1N4004 will work. Pay attention to the band side of diode when replacing.

Oh hell, that IS a diode. It just looked so discolored and sh1tty that I assumed it was a resistor. Doesn't really even make sense for it to be anything other than a diode though.. doh! Good news, I have 37 million of those.