The manual says. I’m on the road right now otherwise would confirm. I believe they are 0.5 uf caps, and 0.46 will work as well just fine. But double check the manual just to make sure.

Replacement value for the switch capacitors are 0.047uF (50V or higher).

Thanks again.

Thanks. Missed a zero.

I was looking at my newly repainted Paragon today and I was thinking that the bezel/frame of the head should be either red or blue but not just yellow. I know that was not the way it was originally but it looks kind of blank and I think it would look good as on offset color. Anyone done that before? Thoughts?

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I believe someone in this thread somwhere did the frame in the blue color. Maybe pull up the image gallery and page through.

The dark blue color on the head frame would look good I think. Paragon also originally had gold "splatter" on the cabinet. Were you planning on doing that affect on yours?

Same here. I use them on most of my older games. Great alternative.

I am just getting to rebuilding the flippers and am using a rebuild kit from Marco and on three of my flippers they are very stiff and they are sticking in the down position. It feels like the square fiber board piece and the small shaft with the e-clip is binding. Or it may be that the new nylon bushings are slightly too high? I have not worked on this type of flipper before and wondered if anyone else has had this issue.

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Did you leave about 1/16" thrust clearance on the flipper shaft? If you can't lift the flipper off the playfield 1/16" you need to reposition it with the proper clearance.

Yes there is vertical play on the flippers. It seems like the pivot (set by the nylon bushing) is not well aligned with the centerline of the solenoid.

Here's my bottom right flipper. It looks like your range of motion is shorter. The fiber board on mine rests against the end stop (all of my flippers are like this).

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It can reach the end stop but only if I push it. It jams up midstroke. I feel like the kit is not quite sized right but that seems kind of crazy so I just want to see if anyone else had a similar issue.

Just to add that I also had to drill out the holes in the nylon bushing to fit the screws and the switches didn't touch the pivot arm and I had to bend them to fit so it felt like something wasn't right about the kit.

Weird, I've never had issues like that with these style of flippers. I've never bought the kit from marco's. I've gotten kits from pinballlife and thepinballwizard. (the kits were identicical)
https://www.pinballlife.com/bally-flipper-rebuild-kit-051975-041980.html
https://www.thepinballwizard.net/flipper-parts/bally-flipper-rebuild-kit-machines-from-hi-deal-5/75-to-space-invaders-4/80/

Can you post a link to the kit you bought?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=BFKIT80

The kit should be right according to the site, but the fact that you had to drill out holes so the bushing could fit is very odd. Did you try to loosen the screws on the flipper crank and adjust the flipper plunger so the fiber board rests on the end stop? That should help your range of movement so the flipper crank hits the switch stack correctly. Another thought is the coil stop could be the wrong size, that would also shorten the range of movement of the flipper crank. It still is weird that it jams midstroke though. One other thought; is the nylon spacer under the E clip on the fiber board too big making the movement lock up?

I think the only way to trouble shoot this effectively would be to remove the whole unite (base plate/coil/switches) from the machine and do sort of a dry run to trouble shoot it better.

I just did a complete flipper rebuild ( Pinball Life) with no problems.

I am going to take it off and measure it against the old parts and see if it the same.

.047 or .5uf 25 volt or higher ceramic caps. Fairly common.

Thanks, my local electronics supplier only had .047uf 100v, he said they were metal film (I think) but I asked if it would matter and he didn't seem to think so. I guess they are just voltage filters. I would note the ones I removed were 12v so they probably blew out and were clipped after.

Switch matrix is five volts. The purpose of these caps is to lengthen a short pulse so the mpu can pick it up.

Higher voltage will make no difference. 100v parts will work fine. The larger the voltage the larger the cap gets. But as long as they don't get too big and clumsy the .047s you picked up will be fine.

Figured out the issue on this Marco rebuild kit. The nylon bushing was .050" too tall and forcing the plunger out of line. It should be .625" but was .675". I sanded it down and it works fine now. This is either the wrong bushing for this game or mis-manufactured. Just a heads up.

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The part could be for the linear flipper design.

I measured another one and it was .700" so they just don't seem to be consistent. Also the pivots are different. The little shaft that goes in the fiberboard are shorter and don't allow for a nylon washer (the kit didn't come with them). Also the fiber board is .130" thick and the e-clip groove is only .120 high so it is really tight on some of them. I let Marco know so maybe they will do something. I ended up getting everything to work with some sanding but I wouldn't recommend this one until Marco fixes it.

Old vs New Pivot Post:

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Bally had two flipper lever assemblies.
1) 1st generation A-3711, A-3711-1 [short pivot stud]
--- 1975, Slap Stick, Air Aces, Knockout, Wizard.
2) 2nd generation A-3711-2, A-3711-3 [long pivot stud/with nylon washer]
--- commencing with Hi-Deal and future games.

I put a new glass into my cabinet today and I thought they had cut the glass not square because it was sitting weird over the lock-down bar but after further checking I realized that the actual cabinet is out of square. The cabinet is sound so I am struggling to see how it would get pulled out of square. I am guessing it was actually built this way. Has anyone seen this before? I don't think it should cause any problems but it is a fair bit out.

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My Paragon is square but I have a Six Million Dollar Man that's definitely not square. I see no evidence it was ever damaged and badly repaired.

Good to know

Wow impressive! I'll check mine!

Has anyone here ordered the Paragon backglass from CPR playfield?
I’ve heard that CPR backglasses are not that great and that their colours changes too quickly compared to original screen prints.

I’d appreciate feedback from people who actually purchased a backglass from CPR or would have any recommandations on different providers.

Thanks.

https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-backglasses/paragon-2/

I bought a new paragon back glass for my current restoration from CPR, as well as a bad cats, twilight zone, high speed, and Addams family. All were very nice. They are 1/8” glass so you may need a new lift bar and plastic trim.

The colors are bright and very nice, my only complaint would be the mirror effect on some games is not as great as the original, but still nice. My CPR bad cats color was so much better than the old one, but the mirror was nice, but not crystal clear mirror since it is a different process compared to the original ones.

For other games I’ve used BGRESTO, great results as well, just takes about 3 months to get.

Thanks for that! Super appreciated.

Does the difference affect how the glass fit in the backbox? I’m ot quite sure of the thickness of the original one: is 1/8” thinner or thicker than the original backglass?

I really want to go ahead with the restoration project for my Paragon but my main issue is the lack of a workspace to complete the project. I know the owner of a pinball shop in my town that I will approach and see if he could help with work space availability but I wanted to check in here with this community if someone has any tip on finding a space to complete the work.
The messier stuff is the paint job and I believe my Paragon will need this to bs completed.
How would you go about finding space to work within your community if you had to look for that for such project?
Thanks!
✌

I recently ordered a CPR backglass for Bally PLAYBOY. The mirroring is more like grey ink, definitely not mirror. The colors are good, but some of the clarity and contrast isn't as good as the original. Overall I am happy with it, as this backglass is better than no backglass at all. I'd say if you didn't have an original to compare it to, you would be totally satisfied.

When I spoke with CPR they told me that their reproduction back glasses are 4mm thick, which is a bit over 1/8 in. Original back glasses were usually 3/16 in. thick so the stock trim won't fit. CPR just told me to call other pinball suppliers when I asked them to recommend trim pieces to use. You would think that they would at least recommend products to use since they are essentially creating a new product that never existed (no one ever used 4mm thick glass so there is not direct products made to fit). I then called pinballlife and they recommended this for the lift piece:
https://www.pinballlife.com/classic-bally-bottom-glass-retainer-p-6247-71.html

They also told me I would have to double layer friction tape to get the best fit. Tear off a few 1in. pieces, stack them on top of each other and place them in a few separate areas to get a tight fit on the lift trim.
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PBL-900-0006-00

For the side and top pieces, they recommended I order three of these pieces and cut them to fit:
https://www.pinballlife.com/backglass-top-trim-for-williams-system-11.html

I haven't received my back glass yet so I haven't had a chance to try this out myself, when my back glass comes in I'll report back with how well it worked out.

No wonder the lift trim piece and three edge trim pieces I bought for 1/8" glass were such a tight fit. Almost impossible to install on the glass. CPR advertises the glass is 1/8". You shouldn't have to call to find out it's really 4mm. I made the trim pieces fit, but they were really, really tight. They also advertise the glass is mirrored. NOT.

Dang, that would be heavy! Assume you mean 3/16".

Doh! Yes, I'll edit it. Thanks!

Can someone out there send me a pic

I just unpacked mine and it looks good to me. The glass is just over 3/16".

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I got everything assembled (aesthetically) on my Paragon and wanted to share. Still waiting on boards so I can't play yet but I love the way it looks.

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Beautiful work. Well done! Very inspiring! I am about to proceed with a restore and this is very encouraging!

Did it fit in a regular trim or did you purchase something else?

I’m going through the entire forum but I was wondering if someone ever posted a clever, well executed paint job that’s different than the original colours slightly but still “respect” the spirit of the original release?

killerrobots your machine looks gorgeous, you’ve worked very hard on it to make it look the way it does. I’d just like to point out that I believe something is amiss near the gate by the “Waterfall Lane”. Your playfield should have another gate going from the post that’s anchoring the existing gate straight up to the lower most post with the plastic that says “50” on it. That mini-post doesn’t belong there at all, I don’t think.

Wait can you take a picture on your machine of what you mean. To be honest my reference pics were all "Looney Tonned" so it was confusing sometimes. There was definitely a moment when I was questioning how the gates went.

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The metal bottom lifting piece fit fine. I had some left over black plastic edge pieces from a previous project that seems to fit fine but I don't have enough of them so I am going to order more. I suspect the "give" of the plastic between .125 and .187 is allowable.

Here's that area on mine. It also looks like your missing the metal piece that goes over the shooter rod.

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Just curious, but why is it called Paragon? Is there some backstory that someone out there may have?