I really need some help with the Caster's Club switch. I can't consistently set the switch gap to properly detect the ball is sitting in the Caster's club. Half the time it works, and the other half of the time, I have to wait for the ball search.

Is this switch supposed to be normally open or normally closed (without the ball in there)? Is the fork part of the switch supposed to be on the top or bottom of the plunger? Is the configuration in the photos correct?

The switch works perfectly well in the test menu.

I recently installed a new coil sleeve in the coil, installed a new fork switch, and installed a new dowel.

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Normally open. See how the pin on the side of mine is down and your is up. I think the fork holds that black cup up. Is yours stuck on the shaft?

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That’s perfect. I’ll try moving the dowel. Thank you.

One more pic...

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The cup on the end of the plunger on yours is messed up. It should easily move up and done along the roll pin. If that cup isn't loose, it's going to bind and cause trouble.

Yeah, the previous owner had a nail through it originally. Looked like there was a lot of fiddling with it before.

I'll try dremelling out those slots so it moves along the dowel smoothly.

Whenever Byan Kelly speaks . . . it is Gospel . . . a voice from on High. You believe whatever he tells you, for it will be the truth . . . the light . . . and the way!!!

Where can I get the sea shell stickers for the fish done? I can’t find them anywhere. Thanks in advance!!

These?
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=PP&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPA-31-1682-6-SP

Have you been drinking again, Mike?

Marco has them...

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It looks to me like the bottom piece of the switch also has to be bent back up more so the plunger does not have to travel so far to activate the switch.

I dremelled out the cup slots, sanded the actuator and inside the cup, and it works perfect now! Just put up a new Grand Champ score.

Thanks to those that helped!!!

No. I'm just a 'believer' . . . in the B.K.
Mike

Hi All,

I am just starting the journey of installing my CPR playfield (yes I'm way late to the game, bought it eons ago) into my Fish Tales. Playfield looks good, and I'm thankful they created a repro for FT as its a great game.

It's been ~15 years since I did my last playfield swap, but I'm slowly but surely making my way through it.

I wanted to know if anyone had any tips/gotchas on the swap for Fish Tales with the CPR playfields. So far everything I have seen looks good/lines up, but I know nothing is perfect.

Any advice/tips for the FT swap would be appreciated! I am nervous messing with 25 year old wiring but I'll get through it.

Chris

This is my second fishtails CPR swap in the last two months. This one is for my own personal collection. Although the artwork is beautiful clearcoat on this playfield is horrible. Everything needs to be pre-drilled. If you don't get down to the wood below the clear, it will spall.

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Thank you, that's a bummer to hear about the clearcoat. I know some complained about the inserts, mine seem OK fortunately.

I guess I will start with a very small drill bit and work my way up in size for the top side of the playfield pieces.

Did you find the dimples on the back OK/decent with regards to placement?

Skypilot totally agree with you. I am in the process of doing a swap myself, and the clear coat honestly is kinda a joke... super thin, uneven in many places, and yes... predrilling all day long. I have been using a combination of a drill, and a dremmell with small grinding bits, as they will not "fray" or splinter the clear... as its damn fragile from what i can tell.

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Get the kit from Ron Kruzman with the Dremel bits and the superglue. It is the best and most foolproof way to drill through clear. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Placement was fine for the ones that were there.

I have another minor issue....

The ball eject mech in the ball trough sometimes has trouble putting the ball in the shooter lane. The ball makes it up, but then just bounces back into the ball trough. This never is an issue at the beginning of a ball but happens often during multi ball during ball save for some reason.

Anyone else experience this issue? Possibly resolution?

Common problem. At the end of the ball trough is a metal lip that has a bend to it where the ball ejects. Bend it down towards the lockdown bar just a touch so it takes some of the energy off the ball launch. Tweak it until the ball stops ricocheting off the side rail.

My clear was not so good (at least not up to my standards). I sanded and re-cleared both playfields. It's been a few months now and it holding up pretty good. I'll sand flat, buff and polish before I swap I don't know when. Glad to hear the holes line up. Documented here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fish-tales-cpr-leveled-and-cleared

Fixed. Thanks!

Figured I'd show off my "shop" job. Really just a thorough cleaning with some new parts.

All the plastics are new with protectors other than the left fishing rod. New boat playfield and plastic boat ramp. Some decals were updated on the Caster's Club and reel mech. All new Titan rubbers. The LEDs are a mix of Pinball Life and Comet. I like the Comet OPTIX for the GI as they do a good job of spreading the light. The photos make it look a little over powering on the slings, but the art and detail are still there in person.

I also did something a little different and installed a clear pop cover under the back right plastic that illuminates it with white light instead of red.

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Nice job. Game looks clean!

I swapped out my pops for blue, but I added an extra light up there to properly illuminate that plastic.

What do the blue caps look like in the game. Do you have a pic handy?

Got these in mail today!! Pumped! scared shitless!

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Decals are easy to install. You do have to be sure that whatever you are putting them on is as smooth as silk or smoother. The smallest piece of anything looks like a boulder under a new decal.

Here's green with blue skirts
Clear base

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I like those a lot

northerndude it’s not that bad. Use a heat gun and a chisel to clean off the old decals. If you don’t plan on filling any holes with wood filler, you will need to be more careful with the chisel.

Then use good off or a adhesive remover and a scraper. Then I would sand at least once, and paint the edges, no need to paint the whole sides
As th edges are all that matter.

Installing just be very careful with the razor, I change the blade after almost every side cut, and I cut in about 1/8 ... some do 1/16 some do more / less. This is so thfun edges won’t peel

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Looks great! Thx, I have cabinet repairs to do on the front and a little bit of head repairs. Crappy thing is my sides are mint condition but faded so bad, have to fill coin door lock bar holes and dings from a previous life. Fill, sand, repeat!

Where are they from? PPS?

This is a pretty terrible picture, but this gives you the basic idea. I will be upgrading the lighting in the pops soon, that's just what I had sitting around.

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This looks great. I might have to do this.

What lighting do you have in your pops?

Looks awesome! I wish I had the time to dedicate to a project like that. I barely have time to swap the playfield.

Chris

Great idea on the dremel and bits - I am not looking forward to tackling the top with the clearcoat being so fragile!

I'm pretty sure these are what I put in.

http://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-modding/noflix-bumper-light/6711/noflix-bumper-light?c=2975

Get the Ron Kruzman collection of bits. He has it really dialed in to cover everything.

Starting tear down. Doing a full clean, shop, fix what I can, replace a couple things, clean boards (filthy!). Cabinet repairs, dings, couple small bangs, new decals. Not going to be new, but will be a very nice players machine when done. Here we go!

Already found a problem that I’ve been posed about for a while, found a high res. open on my lower lights strand in head. They were flickering a bit and weak.

Edit: seeing this hack job on the power supply, could this thing have been in Europe? Or what’s the deal? I don’t know how it supposed to look

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Here is what mine looks like. The coin box had Italian Lira in it when I got it. I had to replace the parts my finger is pointing at. The next to the last picture shows the part that disintegrated and had to be replaced. Don't know if this will help you or not. But at least you can see what the inside looks like.

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Yes, Vortsicht 220Volts is German. That power connector was configured for 220v and then the wires were cut and reconnected with wire nuts to convert it to 120v. Normally the jumpers at the connector are swapped to convert it.

http://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC#Early_WPC_Transformers_.289_pin_connection.29

Normally a European coin door has 3 slots like my German reimport that still says 1DM, 2DM, 5DM. Not sure why yours has 2 coin slots.

Someone probably changed the coin door when it came back. Which countries use those coin door with the one large slot? I’ve had a bunch of those. I never cared enough to look and see where they came from though. Reimported games never bothered me. I know you can find some crazy hacks but some of the nicest machines I’ve ever had wer reimported

The coin door is new, I was replaced sometime before I bought the pin 2 years ago

Anyone tried the clear pop bodies and a blue or green cap with these insert lights? I think that would look great..or too cheezy?

Or Clear body, blue skirt, green cap and these noflix bumper light?

northerndude I’ll let u know cause that’s exactly what I have for my restore that’s in progress. Clear blue bodies, blue top, teal skirt blue no flix. Could Ben too much blue, but we shall see

Hi All,
I am very excited because I got my first FT. Wow! I love it so far. The only thing is doesn't have a topper. So I am in the process of making a topper. Any tips will be much appreciated. So far I got the Dome, fish, shell decals, reflector decal, and a knocker set-up. I bought two 44 light bulb sockets. I am thinking one should be a Flasher..right? The things I need now are I believe the light strip in front (don't know where to get this) and make the back board for it. Does anyone know the dimensions of the board. Also what is the background of the board? Any help would be fantastic or to point in any directions for more detailed steps of doing this. I know I am not the only one that has ever done this. THANKS in advance! Tom

Congrats PinballT another pinside is doing the same thing you are.

Here is the reflector for th top of the dome
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-20-9768

I owe DaKineGamer dimensions I’ll post here for u as well here are some:

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