I'd be interested to hear a response to this as well. I had the same issue with an old machine.

You have to tighten them until you think they are going to break has been what I've found. A few times I have broken them (and slammed my hand and Allen wrench into the coil bracket and swore A LOT).

It would be nice if the 'clamp' part of the assembly wear harder steel and actually clamped long before you ran out of bolt.

you can squeeze the prawl closed tighter with a pair of pliers before tightening the screw, ive also read someone mentioning to grind some of the inside flat section of the prawl allow more travel when tightening down

also when you tighten them down the shaft will get a groove in it, and the flipper will shift until it falls back in that groove.. in that case you can switch the left and right bats to move the grooves out of your way

Clean the shaft with isopropyl alcohol first..wipe it down...just the oil from your hand or messing around with the dirty assembly can cause it to slip. I have never had to tighten so far as to completely close around shaft on a new assembly. A used assembly..yes. But, I rarely reuse a assembly unless it is just a flipper adjustment. Good luck!

If you are to the point you are tightening the unit so tight the pawl breaks, and the flippers are still loose, you need to replace the flipper bats.

Looks to me some of you are overtightening the pawl.

You might as well work on the flipper bat shaft a bit. Take a file or dremel and lighly go over it to create a bit uneven surface for the clamp to bite in.

I don't understand why they don't make the shafts hex shaped, or with long grooves like on a knife sharpener.
Flipper slip is such a painus in the anus

Cost. It would cost more to make the shafts that shape, not to mention having to redesign the flipper pawls to accomodate (if they went hex style.) Also, Not all games have flippers at the same angle. It would be crazy expensive.

sega used to knurl the flipper bat shaft. So you get infinite adjustment and good grip! Hex shaped would suck. You would never get them to sit even.
But just swap flipper bats side to side and clean the shaft of the bat with iso and the clamp part too and you should be fine. Usually all you need.
Pinball life has all parts should you need anything ...and for a great deal. Flippers are your connection to the game and need to be perfect to have the most fun!
Good luck!

Hpw exactly do you go about adjusting your flippers. My SP flippers are off. I lifted the PF and I didn't see any kind of bolt or screw to loosen, adjust and then tighten. Thanks for the help and info.

I agree. When I rebuild flippers and put a new bat and crank assembly in I tighten enough to just start to bend the crank slit. If you overtighten you will end up bowing out the hole and causing your problem. Once I tighten to that I never have a problem

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers

Much info here.

Bushings are not supposed to be nice and tight in the plunger link, you need some play in there. Loosen those up, and your binding should go away.

Oops, mis read that. Yes those need to be tight, and those nuts go on the tops side of the flipper plate. The bushing between the pawl and the plunger needs to be semi loose and have some give in them, or it will cause binding.

VIDS pics: see the nuts..maybe these? use the tool. make one out of a credit card.

gap.jpg
gap2.jpg

Those nuts with a little loc tite is what keeps the flipper bushing in.

I would check the alignment of the plunger as it goes into the coil, and make sure the nut and Allen bolt that runs between the bushing that connects the pawl and plunger isn't too tight. Seen both of those cause issues with sticking. Your coil could also be so heat stressed it has bulged and causes the plunger to stick. Found this out in my dw I'm still working on

You are talking about the pawl, where it clamps on to the flipper shaft. I am talking about the opposite side, where the pawl is connected to the plunger shaft. (The part circled in red). This needs to be loose enough to give when the flipper is used. Lots of times people over-tighten this, and it causes binding.

flipper.jpg

I had this problem. It turned out that the plastic of the flipper was rotating relative to the metal axle of the flipper. I assumed that I wasn't getting the axle tightened enough in the linkage, so I kept tightening until it snapped.

So, check to make sure the problem isn't internal to the flipper bat. (It was on a brand new flipper too, one more reason why I didn't think to check this).

It's the PBL pawls, they are not great quality. I used to order bulk of them, but they bend and break so easy, and I have had problems with slippage (not a lot though).

PBR has quality ones, such as original b/w. I thought they were all the same, but when I started getting them from PBR, they tighten super tight, with a gap still between both sides, and you do not practically have to fold the bolt to get there.

Not a knock at PBL, or a plug for PBR, just what I have found. All rebuild kits come straight from PBR for me now.

Yes or No: Locktite on screws bolting down the actual flipper bushing to the flipper plate?

In Vid's tutorial he doesn't mention it, but just says to make sure to tighten the screws that hold down the bushing to the flipper plate with nuts.

I've never needed the loctite but it certainly won't do any harm.

That would surprise me, because there should be a bushing inside the plunger-link to prevent this from happening.
The bushing is slightly higher than the plunger-link assuring it's free movement....

You can still over tighten down on that bushing, causing issues, even without touching the plunger link

i spent a full day getting a new pawl to work.
and i ordered new ones thinking that is would sold the problem but they where too stiff also.
i had to go to a mechanic and have him saw down the middle gap.
then i had to use a clap to tighten it and then i had to use a flat head screwdriver to open it back up.