My fingers were completely shot after swapping out the playfield bulbs for LEDs. I wish I had known about yoppsicles before I did and would have just sucked it up and soldered those in as replacements for those horrid factory sockets.

Same experience. Those sockets suck. New LEDs didn’t fit.

Can anyone who had retrofitted FATHOM to LED recommend a supplier/bulb, that fit's the sockets in this game?

Comet frosted in Sunlight or cool white. 1 or 2 smd depending on how bright you like. They will flicker though, so you'll have to add resistors or get a board.

i can't recall, are these wedge type or bayonet type? I thought they were the bayonet type? Either way, comets should still work. For especially tight sockets (wedge), i've taken a flat head screwdriver and gently pried the socket open. Game off obviously!

Comets were the ones I bought and did not fit.

They are all wedge under the playfield. I used Comet sunlight because of the quality of those LEDs when I installed them in my other games, but they are a tough fit in the factory Bally sockets. Lots of wiggling, some light adjustment (prying) of the sockets was required to seat them all. Like FatPanda said, you also need something to stop the flickering you will get from LEDs. I used this board and it is excellent: https://nvram.weebly.com/bally-stern-ldb.html

To be fair the sockets do suck, but it takes maybe 20 seconds per new comet bulb to clip the corners, then smush the center with the pliers and another 20 seconds to wedge them into the sockets.

Alternatively, for the inserts the yoppcicles are awesome. I have not used them on this machine as my sockets are not flakey, but I have replaced a few flakey sockets in the Flash Gordon next to it with these. You are replacing the sockets themselves with these, but they work great and are under a $1 each, so its cheaper than replacing the sockets. Soldering skills required, 2 minutes per yoppcicle after your first few. https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1360-yoppsicle/05558-yoppsicle-omni-led-stick-panel-of-50-warm-white

I've only used Comets in EBDLE and Centaur II, and yes, they are tight, but use the screwdriver trick, but be gentle, and support the back of the socket when you're inserting the bulb and they should go in. Good thing is that once they're in, they're pretty snug.

Teach us o wise one... what is the screwdriver trick? This is coming from someone who literally just installed orange comets in the orange inserts this morning but still has to do blue, green, red, and yellow. I'll use this trick soon!

See a few posts above

Literally taking a flathead screwdriver and GENTLY prying the socket open. Use too much force and you'll crack the brittle sockets. Game must be off!

Second stencil complete on the cabinet. I have a few areas I need to fix, but nothing drastic. I’m pleased with how it turned out, and I’m going back and forth on a top clear layer vs. just letting it be.
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First stencil on the head. Again, a few problem areas but nothing terrible.
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Shoutout to GEETEOH.COM and his soundcard support. He helped me troubleshoot my sound card and sent me a free replacement chip DESPITE ME NOT BEING THE ORIGINAL BUYER. 10/10 for support and a great product highly recommended.

That looks great! Nice job.

Hey Fathom fam! Picked up a Fathom at the ‘21 White Rose show in York, PA. My family had a Fathom in our basement growing up. As a kid I never truly appreciated what we had. When I started buying pins I knew I’d have one in my collection one day. That day same sooner than expected (holy crap pins do accumulate fast). What a gem of a game. As far as I’m concerned it’s a perfect game of its era with art as good as it comes. I admittedly suck at pinball so when I do get 3 ball multiball it is always a thrill. I doubt I’ll ever consider selling it.
AHhh

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I just finished completely LED'ing my Fathom. To get the bulbs to fit I snipped each one down with a pair of pliers. They fit, but holy cow is this machine hard to LED. I also should have used non ghosting bulbs here. O well. All that is left is some new Apron instruction cards (any recommendations) and possibly to install some lit flipper buttons.

Not a long term keeper for me, but a fun game. Will probably trade down to a system 11 and cash when the opportunity arises. Gotta raise funds for Weird Al!

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It is easier and more economical to just get the drop in lamp driver board that de-ghosts the LEDs.
https://nvram.weebly.com/

Its already got the Alltek LED driver board in it... would this be any different?

I think the alltek is also supposed to stop flicker/ghosting. I know with the nvram.weebly board you have to hook an additional line up for power that makes the de-flicker/de-ghost work and at least for me that wasn't obvious initially. Maybe the same thing with your alltek and it just isn't fully powered?

That's a good point... I'll double check that wire tonight. I have no flicker though. Just ghosting which usually means stray voltage. Thanks!

RESOLVED. Thank you for all the input. I ended up squeezing the LED's with duck bill pliers making the end thinner. In that process, it made the edges wider, so I touched each edge on the belt sander. After a while I got pretty fast at this. They pressed snugly into the sockets. It is all finished and looks 100% better than the old incandescents. Interestingly, the white bulbs I received from COMET did not flicker, but some of the color ones did....some didn't. I added maybe a dozen 470 ohm resistors in total to the flickering bulb sockets to fix them.

Good progress. Painting is finished, and cabinet reassembly is about done. The hardest part will be disassembling and cleaning the coin door… ugh.

I rebuilt the power cord and installed a new filter, and no explosions when I turned it on. This one should be wrapped up in the next week or two.

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Looking good

She lives!

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I have seen a bally fathom for sale nearby my home, now I wonder, if this should be my next game, BUT... the game needs restoration, and I am a complete newbie to such things. Although I do already own a pinball, it came NIB only half a year ago, since then I did some tweaking on the machine, but mainly cosmetics and easy fixes. After having read a lot of threads about restoring pins, I would really love to learn how to do such magic on my own, I have some understanding in mechanics and electronics, but I am totally not an engineer (I mostly repair bicylces). So question is: should I consider the adventure, or am I doomed from the beginning?

Pin in principle is playable, but has issues with targets not coming up, some lights are dark, inserts have cracks, playfield has some wear, cabinet and box have scratches, plastics and headscreen seem to be ok, vendor is still asking 5,650 USD.

What is your opinion? Thanks!

If the price was affordable, 5.6K too steep for me, I would definitely love to get a Fathom project going. Sounds like the cabinet needs sanding and a repaint. Inserts are replicable.

Price sounds about right for a decent FATHOM needing minor work. If you are handy you can probably fix the targets not coming up. Replace lights (repair sockets, etc.). Inserts can be replaced (if they are available....look at The Pinball Resource for availability). Cabinet scratches are no big deal...touch up or leave alone. The backglass is good, that's really important. Not sure how bad the playfield wear is. Not so bad it needs replacing, right? Sounds like decent condition needing minor work. FATHOM is a fun game.

You can buy a Fathom new atm. Just saying that you should compare the price versus having to do what sounds like a major resto. Once you get into playfield wear and stuff it can get exe.

If you consider a new one a viable option I'd buy this used one, work on the mechanical issues to getting working, play the heck out of it, and when the new Fathom you buy is actually shipping you could make the move then, sell your used one for a fair price, likely around what you are looking now one would hope. At the pace the Mermaid editions of Fathom are shipping I'd think you'd be many months away from seeing new non-Mermaid Fathom's shipping so the best of both worlds.

Once I dropped the playfield in the game, I ran through the tests. Everything was working, no problems. Started a game, coils fired normally… and then the game ended. No ball launched. Shit.

The coin door wasn’t installed, so I thought it may be a grounding issue. Installed the coin door, same thing.

I ran through the switch test thinking it may be a stuck switch, and that’s exactly what it was. Switch 15, tilt. I had jacked up the wiring on the tilt board. A few rearranged screws later, and we’re back in business. It’s great to play a ‘new’ Fathom!

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Beautiful work and beautiful game! i'm hoping mine turns out like this...

Hey there, I have a few questions and I hope someone can awnser them.

What is the recommended pitch?

From factory, are the droptarget set to "memory" after draining? I would like to set it up like a tournament machine.

For fast balls going down the outlane (the save path), I frequently get drains because the ball jumps too high, bouncing against the bottom of the slingshot rubber instead rolling through the one way gate. Is this normal and is there a fix?

Anyone could explain how the bonus points works. To be specific, how do I get up to 55?

What lights the ball release feature on the left drop target bank? Do i have to accidentally lock a ball during multiball for it?

Thanks and cheers!

For the ball bounce, use a needle-nosed pliers, add tiny pieces of duct tape to the insides to act as a cushion, and verrrry gently adjust the trailing edge of the ball guide slightly. It can change the trajectory of the ball juuuust enough to create a smooth transition down to the flipper. Good luck!
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Thanks, it's a great game. I love how well you can work on your nudging.

Try Vector if you want to practice nudging !

Try Flash Gordon if you wanna nudge.

Why would you not use a small piece of mylar?

Try Flash Gordon if you nudge.

I have !
Does not need near as much as Vector !

Use a small piece of mylar for what, exactly??

The duct tape goes on the inside of the pliers, so you don’t scratch the chrome ball guide as you’re bending it.

At the factory we set our games up by holding a level on the bottom of the cabinet. If the bottom of the cabinet is level then the game is pitched as designed. Some of us, myself included, like a faster playing game so I raise the rear leg levelers about halfway after leveling the cabinet.

Memory Drops were a cool new feature and you can bet the game came from the factory with the feature enabled.
55K is the maximum bonus thresholds. Once reached there is an option to retain it in memory to double it up to 110 on the next ball.

Check the manual for the conservative/Liberal settings.

Sorry, misunderstood. Thought you were padding the ball guide a little. Bending it up a bit would make more sense. Also, you could loosens the closest screw and move it a bit that way too

The ball guide bending did work, so thanks for that.

Are you able to save the ball when it drains on the outlane? On my game alot of times a hard slap on the side of the cabinet bounces the ball via the post through the inlane gate, love it.
I saw Bowen K shaking the machine from left to right in this case, but it doesn't seem to help on my game.

On my Fathom, I can sometimes save the ball from the drain with a perfectly timed nudge as the ball approaches that lone post bumper. Timing is everything though. I'd say a ball-save rate from that lane is about 20%. AAARRGH!!

On my Centaur though, I'm getting a LOT better at nudging a draining ball from the outlane back to the flipper! And, the faster the drain, the better the success rate!

Just did a playfield swap on my Fathom and started playing games and have some questions.

1)Starting a new game, launch ball 1, ball goes through A-B-C rollover it lights play again, ball drains, launch 2nd ball 1 game plays normal.

2) mermaid captured saucer for either blue or green, 3x-4x-5x drop targets get raised, drop those targets ball comes out, get ball back into mermaid saucer drop targets don’t get reset (up). Is this correct?

The inline targets are for only Bonus X.
If ball is trapped then rollover button [ next to trapped ball ]should say "help me"
Completing color drop targets on left side should release trapped ball.

Right that makes sense can only collect bonus once.

Any thought on play again?

You shouldn't be getting "Same Player Shoots Again" just from the first ball lighting A-B-C. Lighting ABC the first time lights the yellow arrow in the inlane, and alternates between inlanes when points are scored.

And yes, drop targets remain down if you capture a ball during multiball, and will reset if/when you drain remaining ball(s).

You possibly have your score threshold awards set to award extra balls and have the threshold set so low that the first score achieves it.

Set the game features to your desire via the self test/audit button inside the coin door.

That never occurred to me, but it makes total sense. As always, you're spot on @quench.

That exactly what it was.
Replay value set to 0,000,008, strange because replay value increments are 10,000

Getting hang of game play.

One issue remains, blue 5X drop target will occasionally over extent on a reset. See picture
This happens 1 out of 5 times.
Took assembly apart it looks just like 3X and 4X
2nd pic just showing off PF

Thoughts?

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The two reset phenolic links need to be a smidge longer, About 3/32" longer.