I have an old Flip a Card that I have restored and she is a beauty. Everything is working as it should, but I have noticed that after playing another Flip a Card that "all" of my coils seem weak. This includes the pop bumpers, sling shots, and flippers. I have gone through and cleaned all of the switches, checked EOS switches, cleaned and resleeved the coils... What to do next? Is there a fix for this? Looking forward to expert advice.
Clean and adjust the switches on the tilt relay and game over relays which carry solenoid power to the playfield components. These are often overlooked.
Use a digital voltmeter to check your line voltage. It's likely OK; at least 110V, and if it is, you don't need to high-tap the game or install hot coils.
I'm poor and cheap, but when I get a new game I will normally rebuild the flippers with at least new plungers/links and coil sleeves then carefully adjust the eos. Also, I'll replace the pop bumper coil sleeves, plungers, yolks and polish the pop bumper ring. It may also help to clean the pop bumper switches and adjust them so that the are as close as possible without resulting in machine gunning.. If the game still seems a bit week, I'll move to high tap...this usually isn't needed though.
A cleaned and waxed playfield with a fresh ball also makes a huge difference.
Update: Cleaned the switch contacts on the tilt and game over relays. BIG DIFFERENCE. Pop bumpers are better and the sling shots as well. Flippers are still weak. May need to rebuild... I have already resleeved them and the plungers are clean. Also cleaned the switch contacts on the flipper buttons. Gonna call tomorrow to order rebuild kit. Stay tuned... Thanks for the expert advice so far.
Quoted from donnPin:cleaned the switch contacts on the flipper buttons
Did you clean the flipper end-of-stroke switches?
What Howard said. Make sure the EOS switch blades are tensioned firmly closed too.
Is it also possible the return springs on the flippers might be wound too tightly? The return springs can also rob power and resist the flipper action. On your FAC, there should be 3 screws at 120-degree spacing that secure the plastic flipper bushing to the underside of the PF. One of the screws will serve as the anchor for the bottom end of the clock-type spring. You can lower the return spring tension by moving the anchor point by one or two screw positions to effectively "unwind" the spring. If that results in the flipper return action being too lazy, then the return springs were likely not the issue and they are easy to put back to the original position.
Lee
Agree on replacing the pop plungers and yokes (just flipping the bakelite yokes over takes out some of the excess play, same with the metal ones if they are the flat type). All three get worn out where they connect together. I had a Flip a Card for a long time and a guy played it and could not believe it wasn't on high tap because the pops were so peppy. Nope I just changed all those parts to take out all the slop.
Quoted from donnPin:Update: Cleaned the switch contacts on the tilt and game over relays. BIG DIFFERENCE. Pop bumpers are better and the sling shots as well. Flippers are still weak. May need to rebuild... I have already resleeved them and the plungers are clean. Also cleaned the switch contacts on the flipper buttons. Gonna call tomorrow to order rebuild kit. Stay tuned... Thanks for the expert advice so far.
Thanks for the upvote. 
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-gottlieb-flip-a-card and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Owensboro, KY