Long post but might help someone who buys and works on a Cactus Jack's

Got this a few weeks ago and work completed so far
- Replaced the flipper bats/rubbers/bat frames
- Create a "from scratch" upper mini playfield (mine was badly cracked)
- Built the mini-PF from polycarbonate from Home Depot, my drill press, 1 1/8" hole saw and lots of patience (see pics)
- Got the GI working (F9 fuse at the transformer)
- LED the entire backbox and playfield
- Fixed the lock in the head
- Added a lock in coin box (was drilled)
- Added the missing rubber grommets at the flipper pawls
- Fixed the right playfield mount - it had completely fallen off the as the 8x32 screws had backed out!
It was literally jammed in there sideways and was still somehow (not smoothly) able to allow the PF to hinge up and down
- Stripped entire PF and replaced all rubber
- Polished the mylar with Treasure Cove kit and then waxed
- Epoxied and fiberglassed a minor crack in the right ramp
- Washed the inside and outside of the cabinet
- Added the appropriate height legs (was 2" too high!)

Yet to do:
Rebuild and replace the drop target assemblies as one is broken off and all decals are nasty (new set in hand from Marco)
Flashers at Cacti in the back not working (resistors on the way)
Wonky switch in the lock hole
Re-sleeve coils, new pawls and new flipper bat PF sleeves

Below is the tear down list I wrote that may help you if you do the same:
-Remove lane guides
-Remove slings
-Remove left ramp
-Remove left plastic
-Remove center habitrail
-Remove VUK habitrail
-Remove upper mini playfield cover
-Remove upper mini playfield
-Remove lane guides (remove rubbers)
-Unplug extra ball sign (thru playfield)
-Unscrew extra ball sign
-Unplug rear switch (thru playfield) at rear of right ramp
-Loosen all screws, remove ramp flap and remove right ramp
-Remove ramp flap for “U” ramp
-Unplug “U” ramp switch (thru playfield)
-Remove “U” ramp tall support bolt/sleeve
-Remove “U” ramp
-Remove upper right plastic
-Remove upper corner left plastic
-Remove pop covers and bulbs (if adding LED)

Here are AFTER pics:

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Here are some of the BEFORE pics

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Update on Cactus Jack's rebuild/shop out ...

- Finished rebuilding the drops
- Soldered in my new resistors to run flashers (all flashers now work again!)
- Polished the mylar and PF
- Handpainted and color matched some of the worn green paint at top of PF
- Handpainted missing insert keylines (just where the black had worn off)
- Protected that paint with custom cut mylar
- Sanded off and cleaned out VUK holes
- All new rubbers, many new clear star posts
- Replaced several steel posts that broke on removal (darn Loctite!)
- New left ramp from PBR (new "U" ramp too but not installed yet as original is fine for now)
- All new acorn nuts (yes, they suck)
- New cactus decals on Pops
- New decal on Extra ball (right ramp) sign
- New PF glass
- New color matched LEDs in center of PF (ordered for entire PF just not done yet)

First pic is with it all back together and running!!

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Don't own my CBW anymore, but I'll bet the rivets are standard Gottlieb plastic ones.... if so, (underneath) push the very center post of the rivet pin with your fingernail or tiny screwdtiver. It will pop up about a 16th inch or so, that unlocks the whole rivet (with sleeve) to be pulled out. It takes very little force to pop them up.

They are 2 pieces, a sleeve and the rivet pin

If you can't get underneath, grab just the head of the rivet pin from the top and pop it up (again, gently) with your fingernail. Then the entire rivet assembly will be able to be pulled out

Hope this helps

Thx. Very fun game too!

Congrats on the CJ! Love mine and if you have any questions as you clean it up or minor repairs, shoot me a PM. Might have to go from memory because my Cactus is folded in storage. Love that game and I did some extensive repairs to mine. Enjoy it

Yours are riveted in but my Cactus Jacks were friction fit, with a machined slot. I found mine on the below page and about the 10th item down

http://www.pbresource.com/signatur.html

I have the same question. Your Wipeout looks outstanding and nice and bright. Care to share your LED mix?

I’m about to tackle a deep shop out of my Wipe Out. Can anyone share with me the LED flashers they might have used in a System 3? Looks like WO has 7 -10 of them. I plan to buy from Comet and would like to know colors used as well. Color matched to domes or all white? Which white?

Need some help from fellow Wipe Out owners.

During plunge up the launch ramp the ball hits the wire form hard. Most times stops it dead and returns it to playfield for SDTM drain. I shot a slo-mo video of it. Also see images. Something just isn’t right. Can someone shoot a picture of the same area for me? Spot where plastic launch ramp meets the wire form.

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Thanks so much for the pics! Yes, I saw the broken weld before I shot the video. I really think the weld broke because the ball is hitting the circular support on any hard shot or hard plunge.

Wierd because your ramp-wireform junction looks just like mine ...

Thanks again @Parkshow30. Your pics confirmed for me that the junction was correct.

I took another look at my video and noticed the ball is completely airborne on the plunge, even as it transitions to the wire form
Took a couple of screenshots out of the video to show the height of the ball as the ball approaches and then as it gets rejected by hitting the wire form and then rolling backwards.
On the plunge the ball is clearly airborne and hugging the metal bracket above it
It's got no chance of merging into that wireform smoothly

I cut a piece of soft plastic and fitted it over the ramp as a test to see if that helped.

It did!

Only had one rejection on about a dozen hard plunges
Zero rejections of solid flips up the ramp

This was true before also, I had 10x the number of rejects on plunges vs gameplay flips up the ramp

Now onto the question as to why ...

Wondering what color/strength plunger spring you all have in your wipeout.
Mine is silver (and VERY stiff) and I'm betting that's not correct ...

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Still looking for someone with a Wipeout to take a peek at their plunger spring. What color is yours?
Thx