(Topic ID: 135786)

Need more flipper power?

By Hazoff

8 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 22 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by Whysnow
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

  • Rock Gottlieb, 1985

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#4 8 years ago
Quoted from CNKay:

Yes the 20095 are more powerful for sure.

I think that is the strongest stock gottlieb coil.

It is.
---
While a stronger coil will definitely add some amount of power, when was the last time your flippers were rebuilt? Especially on Gottlieb's that are 30+ years old, the hole on the plunger link will wear/widen over time and, as you may already know, this causes the flipper action to become more loose. Loose = less power. Dirty sleeves can cause drag; worn top and bottom bushing give to loose action; sometimes the coil stop or even the plunger can become magnetized which will also potentially decrease power.

I understand having the machine at a higher pitch than the design intended means you're asking the flipper coils to do more than they were intended for, but I would recommend taking a look at a rebuild kit, only $33.10 from PBResource..

7 months later
#8 8 years ago
Quoted from earflaps:

I'm worried about destroying the drop targets if I do that.

Unrelated to the topic, but I did this mod to my 30yr old Gottlieb drop targets: I cut out little 5mil rectangles from some hobby tin (or some kind of metal, I forget what) and hot-glued them to the inside back of the recessed area of the target where the ball strikes. I did this not because I was concerned about breakage (Spring Break comes stock with 20095's) but because I was getting airballs from the slight amount of give-and-recoil the targets produced before dropping. No more airballs since.

#10 8 years ago

When I got my game, it was clear no standard-wear maintenance had ever been done in its 30yrs. The flipper mechs were quite loose and could barely make the ramp shot (on spring break); only a dead-on right up the middle shot could make the ramp. This was with the stock 20095 coils.

I ordered two rebuild kits from pbresource.com and it was a GAME CHANGER. I don't think I could label one piece of the kit as being more important than another: the bushings, coil stop, plunger, EOS switch, all crucial. I had to correct the gap on the EOS switches after installing them. That also makes a huge difference. The normally closed switch should open just right at the end of the flipper's full stroke. If they open too soon, you won't get full power. If they don't open at all, you can blow your coil.

After the rebuild, not only are the flippers nice and tight and I can make the ramp shot almost every time with the right flipper, I can also backhand the ramp with the left if the ball is on the fly. It was after the rebuild that I started getting the air balls from the drops and made my modification to the drop bank.

#12 8 years ago
Quoted from mr2xbass:

If they open too soon, you won't get full power.

This might even be a cause of the weak power on the op's game.

I will say though, even after the rebuild, Gottlieb flippers do not play the same as late B/W or new Stern. I think this is partly from the way the mechanisms are built but also partly from how they operate: The flipper button on a Gottlieb (of the era in question) directly send power to the flipper's coil. This is why you will always see arcing from the flipper switch no matter how clean or properly gapped they are. The flipper button on newer machines send a signal to a driver board which in turn send the power to the flipper coil.

This is why you can or cannot tap-pass on different machines. In the directly powered Gottlieb case (and other early SS), there is the split second of the coil energizing in which you can let go of the flipper button as to say "stop energizing". In the other case of the flipper coil being energized by a driver board, once your flipper button tells the board to energize the coil, it does and it does it all the way. It is a very binary "yes or no" situation.

#13 8 years ago
Quoted from Whysnow:

where doing this really helped with w flipper power.

I too replaced the cabinet flipper switches which as Whysnow stated helps add to the flow of power.

2 weeks later
#20 7 years ago

When replacing the EOS, did you set the gap properly? When I did mine, I actually had to set the right EOS gap to open a little too soon because the flipper had too much power. Make sure they don't open until the flipper is fully extended (or just before full extension).

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