Quoted from Johnnny:Here is our new member post and introduction i guess. Just bought the family our first ever pinball machine. Looked at several before landing on the F-14 itself. This F-14 or seems to be the best of the 3 f-14's we looked at. Sorry for the bulb glare in the pictures.
The cabinet seems like it is pretty sweet overall.
Boards and components seem good so far.
No corrosion around batteries.
LEDS installed in everything except for the flashers. (future project ---will search previous posts on this forum for knowledge).
Beacons work (small squeak gonna get belts and clean).
Playfield seems pretty decent for wear and such, it has what seems to be typical insert pealing and finish cracking.
back glass is not original it is a piece of glass with a plastic like sheet attached to it. Looks okay.
Here is where I could use some experienced advise, pry a lot more but maybe we can start here.
Flippers are due to get freshened up. My plan is to rebuild all four. new sleeves bushings and everything in the kits. Thoughts on using the external spring rather than the one around the plunger? if so anyone have a part number for that external spring.
As part of the flipper rebuild (which began due to the top left flipper getting hung up once in a while not going back to the home position) my playfield does not have any positioning holes behind the flippers. Seen that before?
Behind the lower flippers is there supposed to be metal guide rails in the two small holes shown in the picture?
On occasion when I shoot a ball into the center targets it takes and jumps off the field and bounces all over. i have ordered a little foam blocks for behind the target along with a set of padded targets. Any other advise on how to correct to keep from damaging the playfield? are they weak targets.?
Opinion -thinking about using black legs with a red pen stripe or do you think chrome would look better?
And yes I have a little experience with electrical, but from what i have read in the previous forum pages i have lots and lots to learn. lol
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Johnnny
located in Nebraska[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Congratulations on your first game and welcome to the forum/club.
Yes, you are missing the "biff bars" that go in those holes. It won't really affect gameplay as they are primarily there to prevent bangbacks which no one should be doing on your game more than once anyway. Can probably find replacments somewhere though I will say I've never looked for them.
I think custom black / red legs or just standard stainless would look great since you have stainless trim and lockbar already. Since yours are already black I say have fun doing the custom look.
F14 came with a translite, not a true backglass so that's factory and okay unless it's badly faded, ripped, etc. in which case it's pretty simple to replace.
When you re-build the flippers just us a straight edge to align them with the ball guide and you'll be in good shape.
Stopping airballs from hard hits to those center targets is tough to do because they are so close to the flippers. Some softer target backing foam may help but since your playfield already has the typical wear in this game I don't think I'd be overly worried about that.