I noticed 3 of 4 of my Paragon flippers are sitting VERY low to the pf. One even rubbing a little. Could there be a wrong part installed on the flipper mechs?

There's a nylon flipper bushing that screws to the bottom of the playfield with 3 screws. When installed the top surface of this bushing should sit proud of the top side of the playfield. That surface basically sets the height of the flippers.

Check to make sure the screws that secure the bushing have not come loose first. If that's ok I would check to see if there's wear between the top of the bushing and the bottom of the flipper, which would also lower the flipper.

Also, there are many of these bushings available with slight variation on dimensions that look the same to the naked eye but are different when measured with a dial caliper. It's definitely worth making sure the right ones have been installed so you don't damage the artwork under the flippers.

OK thanks! I think it could be either your 2nd or 3rd issue. I should order some new rebuild kits.

My upper right flipper only has the single leaf switch so I should probably leave it as is right?

Just designed these custom apron cards for Paragon. They are $12 for the set or $14 if mailing outside of USA. Please PM if interested in purchasing.

Like all my cards, these are printed using a photo quality printer on ultra gloss photo paper using OEM inks and papers. I then coat with a protected clear gloss vinyl, hand cut to size, and color the white edges.

pasted_image (resized).png
Photo 2 (resized).jpg

Stripped my Paragon playfield. I noticed these clear plastics have the “cups” glued or sticked on them.
What’s the best way to detach these without damaging the clear and what’s the best to install them to the new clear plastics?
Thanks!

647B9A86-6BCF-4400-8AA7-1EF37422F044 (resized).jpegD9B447A6-8071-4394-80C2-48CE89DF8724 (resized).jpeg

8E954B1B-D098-4C3E-821F-06D327620E11 (resized).png

Also, I stripped the whole playfield, documented and took tons of photos and now, I’m really wondering what my next steps.

Ideally, I believe that I’d have to install the ground braid. But, I’m a bit confused about GI and the rest of the controlled lamps.

Also, I had to pull some ground from under the waterfall section, so I don’t have the reference anymore on the old playfield.

I am also looking to install some yoppsicles…

Any suggestions and help is welcomed!

Thanks!

2EB5A813-A562-4097-BE5A-71903F56DB4F (resized).jpeg

FC237687-DDC9-483B-BA25-4F8600E1E670 (resized).jpeg

I have removed them with a soldering iron. Put the tip in the metal hole for about 20 seconds, the plastic will soften and the post will separate from the plastic. In my case, I removed the flared end using a grinder and used the post without being permanently attached to the plastic. I suppose you could drill out the new plastic to accommodate the flare. Either way.

Ive never does this but I think the common way is to heat up the metal cups with a Soldering iron it will soften the plastic enough to remove them. Use the same method to install them into new plastics.

I’ve used this method and it works well. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/removing-amp-installing-bell-posts-on-new-plastics-vid-s-guide

Thanks guys!
Can I please ask for help with a photo of a braid wire installed on a new playfield?
The install on mine was not very good, especially over the waterfalls section.
If someone could share, that’s be super appreciated. Thanks!!

I just went through a playfield repopulation and have all the pics from that but I think you will have to sort through them yourself. PM me and I can get you hooked up.

Here is a pic of the one I recently did. Not sure if this helps you.

BA56A000-8644-4825-BF64-C639BF460C1E (resized).jpeg

Thanks jetmechinnc !

I use a heat gun and warmup the plastic and pop off the bell spacers.
1) once off the spacer stem could be reshaped.
1a) use a round diameter #6 post screw to keep the stem round.
1b) use fat needle nose pliers to reshape stem around screw post.

Hi Guys,

I need to verify if this wire sequence is correct for J2 on the solenoid driver board. Thanks in advance.

J2 (resized).jpg

The first two top wires and also the Yellow-Red wires are correct, but the other two wires are in the wrong positions. i.e.:
Your Black-White wire in pin 4 should be in pin 5.
Your Yellow-Brown wire in pin 6 should be in pin 8

See the schematic:

Paragon_J2.png

Thank you very much for your help.

I need the help of the Paragon Club.

At the top of the playfield, I have two sets of WHITE+GREEN and ORANGE+ RED. Do they both connect to the before last and before before last socket on that row?

I am working of one of my image and the connection was under the rotisserie!

And I am working from a second photo from killerrobots where the socket doesn't seem to connect to the wire?

All the help is accepted!

Thanks!

Screen Shot 2022-12-07 at 21.07.21 (resized).png

Screen Shot 2022-12-07 at 21.07.39 (resized).png

New to the club. Added a couple of mods, shooter rod and homemade topper. Love this game.

3500A466-BA24-4FE4-AC34-00E733FDC0A3 (resized).jpeg

FA58B2AB-E72D-450B-B2B1-8E6C098EFE6C (resized).jpeg

Love that gold powdercoat!

The image on the spinner was pretty thrashed so I made some new decals for it. They turned out pretty decent using my basic inject printer.

I also "juiced" the spinner while I was at it:
cleaning and polishing all the metal parts, cleaned and made sure the switch was properly gapped. And added a small amount of lubricant on the small metal rods that support the spinner. I now easily get 30-40 spins per shot to the spinner.

20221215_171717.jpg

20221215_174039.jpg

Does anyone happen to have the coil/assembly for the right 3 drop targets bank?

The drop bank assembly schematics in the 1979-1 Bally parts catalog doesn't match what's installed on my paragon for the 3 bank.
The drawings show a single link phenolic plate but mine has a double link like the inline drop bank as well as there is no reset spacer block in my assembly at all.
Does anyone know where I can an explosion drawing for mine with part numbers. I want to replace the coil stop, plunger, links and those little plastic inserts in the holes for the rest bar shaft.
(Picture is from a different machine, but it have the same type of drop target assembly, the linkage looks similar to the inline drop target actually).
It's a 4 bank with only 3 used. As said the other machine has exactly the same do that seems to be intended.

Also in general there don't seem to be any of those phenolic links available to purchase. I only saw PBR having strips you can use to fabricate your own. Any insight?

16724980793026773468586620802805 (resized).jpg

Actually found the schematic in the Bally 1982 parts catalog. I guess they must have switched around the time Paragon was built and had the old style drawing still in the 1979 parts catalog.

As far as needing to fabricate something this one is pretty easy to accomplish (assuming you have a good one as a template).

One thing to update is the coil sleeves were originally aluminum, these suck. Replace with the nylon equivalent; I forgot where I got mine (probably PBR though)

Thank you for the response!
I'm not familiar with that material at all (phenolic), so a few questions:
If I drop that in an unltrasonic cleaner or dish washer -> OK or not OK?
Is that cuttable with scissors, or would you suggest something different - The original link has rounded corners, so I was thinking cutting it with scissors, but the material may be too brittle for that for example or too hard.
To get the holes, I do have access to a drill press, wood drills ok?

That will be too hard to cut with scissors. A hacksaw would work. This material can be worked similar to wood. I've drilled holes with a very sharp drill and by hand. No need to put it in the dishwasher as they wipe clean very easily. I would bevel the edges by sanding with 100 grit.

yeah, what Electronmagic says. Pretty easy to work with. I wouldn't get it wet though, it swells IIRC similar to particle board.

Hack saw will work it, any drill is fine, I would drill it slightly under and handwork it larger to fit. You don't want slop in it at all, that's what causes problems in it. They get egg shaped over time.

Stern used a plastic version of this that is way better, never seen one of those egged out so bad it didn't work.

Is PBR the only place that stocks those? I'm always afraid if only one place has something it's sold out by the time I have my list together.

That picture of your drop target mechanism looks pretty clean. Are the links so badly worn that the drop targets aren't resetting properly?

It's a rescue machine and a lot of the mechs and assemblies are broken or worn. So I'm replacing everything that's broken and all wear parts while I'm doing a playfield swap

The picture above is from a different Paragon with the same mech BTW

Pinsider XPABLO had a box full of nos Bally drop target links. Ask him if he still has any left, and maybe do a group buy to cut down on shipping.

Wondering if that is the same stuff: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/63410724

Got there from here: https://www.mscdirect.com/industrialtools/phenolic-laminate-sheet.html

Possibly some of them are. It always reminded me of old circuit boards, or clip boards.

Was there some reason you don't want to just get some from PBR? I think he's already got the width sheared down so you don't have to worry about cutting it that way, just for length, and drilling the holes.

No I'm planning to get it from PBR, but its likely gonna be a month until I have my list together what all I need. It happened to me before that while I got my ducks in a row stuff got sold out, so I'm just looking for alternatives if that should be happening, plus just curiosity at this point.

The machine is a total rescue without boards,display, transformer, legs and so on. Essentially I paid for a wiring harness, the cabinet without coin door, backbox, lockdown bar, and 90% of mechs in various state of decay/breakage.

I bought already a CPR playfield, backglass, all boards, transformer, rusty old coin door, legs, flipper rebuild kits, wolfpac displays, display holders, plug housings, ground braid, bus wire, playfield plastics, Yopsicles, rubbers, fuses, plunger, apron decal, and pop bumpers.

I know already i need, some coils, diodes, new line filter MOV, power cord, saucer eject plate, coil stops, plungers, sling coil holder (seems the one with 3 screw pieces is not available anymore at all, the one installed the tabs are broken off and when i google the parts number it looks like there is only some sort of Z bracket available with a warning that it MAY be a substitute), various switch stacks, plum bob, GI light sockets, plastic spacer for drop banks, pinball pimp mask and other stuff that eludes me now.

Right now i'm stripping the playfield to see what else I all need and then getting lists together for PBR, ActionPinball, Pinball Life and Marco's

.

--- Rant - LOL:
Getting through my list of stuff that I need to replace, and the switch numbers are a nightmare. I think some of them are just flatout wrong in the parts catalog.
E.g. one of the rollovers is marked as having a ASW-A10-47, which is a general purpose switch per parts catalog that wouldn't have the little white standup thingy on the end of the blase to work for a rollover.
In general the switches seem to differ in amount of lugs, NO or NC, length of blade closest to playfield, presence of insulator paper, position of insulator paper, presence of the little white standoff tab for rollovers, if switchblade closest to playfield is rounded or square and so on.
The problem is the parts catalog doesn't even show all the supposed numbers used and you always only get one view, either side or top, so you can't even figure out how a given switch is made up. No measurements and so on. Sorry for the rant.
---Rant end

1. Essentially I'm trying to figure out what I can substitute, because the switch, if they are present on the machine to restore are clearly already substitutions compared to a known good example and only a few switch numbers seem to be available to buy when I look at the parts catalog.
Is there somewhere a library that decodes all of that or do I just order a bunch of different styles and see what works - as said the parts catalog is not helpful in all cases?

2. The switches on the inline drop down bank is marked in the parts catalog as ASW-A1-168, the same as the switches on the non-inline drop targets. However it looks like the ones on the inline drop target is a stack of two switches. The one closer to the plate seems to be indeed the switch in question but there seems to be one on top of that that looks like an EOS switch. Anyone knows what the part number for that one is - I assume I have to combine them.

3. The paragon saucer (right most saucer) mounting plate is broken which the whole assembly is ASE-428-41 (note the 1 in the last digit).
The 1979-1 parts catalog has a drawing of ASE-428-40 with Mounting Bracket A-643-7. There are drawings for both ASE-428-41 and ASE-428-40 in the 1979 parts catalog but they do not have a part number for the mounting plate.  As far as I can tell ASE-428-41 and ASE-428-40 seem to be the same with the exception how the lugs on the coil are oriented.
If I'm correct then I need Mounting Bracket A-643-7. Anybody can confirm or deny?

Tryin to get my ducks in a row for PBR order. Thank you for all your help!

Just order medium light and heavy blades and gold contacts you can make your own. I don't fret one whit over switches since with these parts I can make anything I need.

I haven't seen the little insulation tubes that go in the screw holes for sale nor the blades that have those little white standoff cylinders at the end for roll over and eos switches.
And the little spring tabs on to of the switches seem to be sold out as well. Same thing for the spacers between blades. Does Steve have those and if yes what's the proper term for those things?

I can take a switch from a working paragon apart and measure the length of the blades and thickness of spacers. If i know the proper terms i can build them then, great idea!

You reuse the dead blades spacers and tubing. But yes pbr sells all that stuff.

Some of the stuff is missing unfortunately. And some had been replaced with wrong parts.
I finally found the blades and parts you were referring to on the PBR website. I must have scrolled by that at least a dozen times before...

Stupid noob question:
How do you afix the contacts to the blade? I saw there are holes already punched into the blade. I would assume some sort of riveting tool? Or solder it from the back?
Edit: Found a thread, some people seem to peen it and some solder them.

Same question for the nylon switch blade lifters?

And i still didn't see those little tubes inside the screw holes to insulate the blades from the screw.
Edit: Found them on Marcos, it's called leaf switch tubing. I had filtered by Bally, and they don't show up that way!

Thanks again, I do appreciate the help!

You can solder them it's quick, but the stem is made to be easily crushed. I use electrical tape with a paper towel on a pair of pliers to protect the gold face on the one side, the other side crushes the stem easily.

I've done it both ways and either works although with the solder method some people say you're changing the temper of the blade so its bendiness changes.

If you don't get the correct length of tubing it's a PITA to cut, it crushes in cutters. I have a bunch of switches from parted out playfields so I haven't had to buy switch spacers or anything like that for decades..... although apparently in the past I bought some anyway as I have about 100 brand new ones.

The only thing I don't care for when making new switches are ones that poke through the playfield and are very visible (sling switches) - I find the extra holes distracting, but in the long haul, it doesn't bother me that much. If only sling switches were super cheap again! They used to be $1.50 for the non-holy type.

From what I could find:
1) far right kickout = Ball-Ejector Assys.
1a) Mounting Bracket Assy A-643-7 right
2) far left kickout = Ball-Ejector Assys.
2a) Mounting Bracket Assy A-643-11 left

Just thought I’d share… love the game so much that we named our puppy Paragon too. He just turned 1 year old. Here are both Paragons

D5103E3E-3CA6-485C-967B-1D733C69741F (resized).jpeg

Awesome, appropriate name for both

Paragon lovers.

What would it take to sell your Paragon?

Simply curious, I'm not really looking to sell mine but have someone interested in it. So what's your twist my arm price?

Rough project - 800
Player's condition flips good with playfield wear, decent backglass and a few bad lamp sockets - 1800
Good condition with nice playfield and backglass - 3200
HEP restored - 10,000

I have a nice Paragon for sale and can wrap/pallet it for shipping:

SOLD!

Machine - For Sale

Nice Paragon w/ clearcoat & upgrades Archived

Partially restored (almost original) - “Fully working Bally Paragon in nice overall condition with beautiful playfield! Game is located in Seattle area, WA area. Has following upgrades: • Clear coated original pla...”

2023-02-17

Kitsap, WASHINGTON

Tuna_Delight

3,000

Archived after: 0 days

Viewed: 1194 times

Status: Sold for $ 3,000

Contributed to Pinside

That dog LOOKS like a "Paragon"!

cool picture!

Anybody know what those gray plastic spacers are size wise and where to get them? Few are missing. OD is 3/8 but all other measurements are funky and don't come out to any sensible fractions.
I'm not talking about the bell shaped metal things on the lowest level, i mean the ones a level above directly under the screened plastics.

16756190472201480944382377406548 (resized).jpg