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(Topic ID: 263766)

First Pin, first shop-Gottlieb Rack a Ball

By Slickfam99

4 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 18 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by jrpinball
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Wiring11 (resized).jpg
Reassembled PF3 (resized).jpg
Reassembled PF2 (resized).jpg
Reassembled PF1 (resized).jpg
Gottlieb label (resized).jpg
Pop bumper3 (resized).jpg
Pop bumper 1 (resized).jpg
Close up PF (resized).jpg
Close up PF1 (resized).jpg
PF view2 (resized).jpg
bell knocker (resized).JPG
Bell2 (resized).jpg
Bell1 (resized).jpg

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#1 4 years ago
OP
 
???

Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

Well, I have officially caught the bug! I was a little hesitant to open up the pin but needed to look at how to rebuild the pop bumpers and the slingshots in order to make playing the game more fun. As I looked inside at all the wires, relays, coils and stuff I have no idea what it does, I started to feel a little more confident as I chased back wires to different levers and lights and realized that I could possibly do this and it still play someday. I am going to document as best I can and will have lots of questions for you all that have been doing this forever.

My first question is about the bell ringing set-up. The bell in the upper cabinet seems to work but was a little disappointing for the lack of sound. I then found this inside the cabinet. Reference the pics. A couple of cut wires and the plug not plugged in for the bell mechanism. What am I missing? The plug is still soldered to the coil that seems to hit a piece of metal and there seems to be something inside the sleeves of the coils but not sure how that all works. Any help would be great as I venture into the great unknown for me--Electrical!!

Tim in SC

Bell2 (resized).jpgBell2 (resized).jpgBell1 (resized).jpgBell1 (resized).jpg
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#7 4 years ago
OP
 
???

Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

Quoted from Peruman:

Tim, if you don’t already have one, get the schematic for the game. It will make the debug work much easier.
The first photo you posted is of the knocker. Next to it are the two bells which ding when you score points. What makes them ding is the metal plunger that is inside the coil. When a current is run through the coil, it becomes an electromagnet and it shoots the plunger into the knocker or the bell, making the sound.
This board is also a great source for debug help. Do get the schematic though.
Alberto

The machine came with the original schematic and the tune up cards. The coils do have the metal plungers inside so I should be good to go there. It does look like the larger bell doesn't have anything near it to ding with. Just looks like an empty bell.

Tim

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#8 4 years ago
OP
 
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Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

Quoted from edednedy:

Tim, that knocker in your first picture unplugs to make removal of the bottom board easier. Someone may have just forgot to plug it back in when they worked on it.
One word of advice: Get everything working. From start up, to reset, to game over before messing with trying to improve play of the pop bumpers etc. That way, you start from a fully working machine and if you mess something up, you'll know it was probably the last thing you did.
As far as your pop bumpers and slingshots, there's a good chance that it always played that way. Early 60's Gottlieb games didn't have to power of later DC bumpers or modern games. Cleaning the path and changing sleeves in the coils may help a little but you'l probably still be disappointed. You might want to try high tapping.

Everything seemed to work when I first got it. Lights up, resets to new game, scores, animation works and the flippers, bumpers and slingshots worked but very slow and no punch to them at all. One bumper didn't even have a coil attached and one had a non-Gottlieb coil in it. I will post more pics as I go along to show how clean the cabinet and upper are so far. Made my first order to PBR today so waiting to hear back from them.

Tim

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#13 4 years ago
OP
 
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Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

Quoted from JudeRussell:

If the other bells are working but not sounding well or reliably, check the plunger - my Gottlieb duotron, the plungers were all gummed up. Alcohol wipe of both the plungers and the sleeves brought them back to life.
And not sure of the conditions of the rings / rubbers - on another game, the slingshots felt all loosey-goosey / sloppy but a new set of rubbers set improved things immensely. About 1/2 the time I'm looking for bad contacts / wiring issues and it's usually just cleaning, maintenance sort of stuff.

The pin had all new rubbers and #47 lights put into it but am inspecting and cleaning everything step by step so it will be as clean as possible.

3 weeks later
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#15 4 years ago
OP
 
???

Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

I got the PF stripped and am working on cleaning everything up before reassembling the Pop Bumpers and putting all new rubber on. Have any of you just cleaned the PF without restoring the paint items? I am a little scared to start trying to repaint stuff if it won't affect the play afterwards. I get trying to make it look like new but am not ready for that kind of a restoration. Any comments would be helpful.

Close up PF (resized).jpgClose up PF (resized).jpgClose up PF1 (resized).jpgClose up PF1 (resized).jpgGottlieb label (resized).jpgGottlieb label (resized).jpgPF view2 (resized).jpgPF view2 (resized).jpgPop bumper 1 (resized).jpgPop bumper 1 (resized).jpgPop bumper3 (resized).jpgPop bumper3 (resized).jpg
2 weeks later
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#16 4 years ago
OP
 
???

Slickfam99

Inactive member

US Greenville, SC

4y 16,900 36 1

I have the PF cleaned and waxed. Also cleaned everything and put everything back minus the new rubbers that are on the way. Now I have the PF flipped upside down on the sawhorses ready for the bumper, flippers and slingshot rebuilds. I put all new #47 lights in while I was there and ordered a few of the missing parts. I could probably put new plastics on but will wait and see after everything is together. I might be able to touch those up easier than the paint on the PF.

Tim in SC

Reassembled PF1 (resized).jpgReassembled PF1 (resized).jpgReassembled PF2 (resized).jpgReassembled PF2 (resized).jpgReassembled PF3 (resized).jpgReassembled PF3 (resized).jpgWiring11 (resized).jpgWiring11 (resized).jpg
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