Hi guys, I won't be stopping back at my games in NJ until two weeks from now, but I figured I'd get a headstart on this.

On my Spin Pulse Relay Unit, the plunger will pull in by hand but not release. If I'm not mistaken the "purpose" of this unit happens when the coil releases the plunger (not pulls it in, like pretty much every other unit ever; very neat invention by Gottlieb), but that shouldn't make a difference if it can't get to that in the first place.

Normal operation, from what I understand from looking at it and online:
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Pulls in: "Winds up" bakelite disc with notch on top

Releases: Releases bakelite disc with notch to strike rectangular spinner (like you'd see on a playfield), which then pulses the spin relay like intended until the capacitor in the bottom of the cabinet cuts off the connection for randomness, and of course it would also eventually stop spinning on it's own too

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However, when mine should release again it looks like it's getting stuck by having the arm hit a plate. I did force it by bending the metal by hand (flexing it, so it didn't stay like that, on purpose) and it seemed to work however before I bend it permanently I want to make sure this is what's wrong. I would imagine that plate that it's getting stuck on has some purpose, so I figured I should check first.

This is NOT a spring issue as I can't even force it back by hand even when not being "careful", as in, I put a lot of umph onto the plunger and it won't go back without me pushing down/bending on that plate down by hand. Let me emphasize that I mean actually like pushing on it hard to flex it, the plate doesn't mechanically move or anything like that. Coil & sleeve seem fine as it does come out and push back in fine after that. It looks like it was close enough previously to scrape the dirt and grime off previously but not get stuck. Is it possible for that to come out of adjustment? I bought it like this.

Here are some photos:

Plunger out, all good (forced back to this "starting" position):

state1_(resized).png

Plunger pulled in, will not release again:

state2_(resized).png

Bottom picture with no editing, for even more clarity:

noediting_(resized).png

Bump.