Yeah I went to weebly and ordered him an SB-300 and the cable since he preferred the new mpu over the original'. Thanks John I have to take a look at my SB-300 and find which little suckers are responsible.

Dumb question, but do you have 5x multiplier when you drain?

It wasn't a dumb question. It was a new pinball low for me. I didn't have the 5x multiplier. I edited the other thread.

Would like add QS to my lineup. Anybody have one to unload, I’m ready to buy.

I just received my Mirco Nine Ball play field and a replacement for my 1st Mirco repro play field.

short story: I bought one of the 1st QS play fields Mirco produced; It was missing the black keylines on the two rollover inserts. As I was preparing to ship another play field to Mirco for him to reproduce, I told him about my missing keylines. He told me to return my 1st QS play field and that that he would correct it for me.

When I bought the Nine Ball play field a couple of weeks ago, Mirco included my QS play field in the box with the Nine Ball.

Today's project will be to make some rails and get both play fields some structural support to reduce any chance of warping or bowing.

Does anybody want me to take pics on how to make rails for your play field when you have none to copy from?

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Here's the length of each:

Left side: 38"
Center: 17 1/4"
Right side: 28 1/2"
Back: 20 1/8" (full width of pf)

Those measurements are nice to have.

Here is how I was working it out today.

Start with your shooter gauge.

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You need enough wood under the shooter gauge and rebound metal so you can screw the rail to the shooter gauge. You don't need to be exact; You have wiggle room. The correct height of the shooter rails is 1.10"

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Quicksilver is like Star Gazer in that the ball guide decides how long your shooter outside rail needs to be.

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For the left rail, I just start it all the way to the edge of the play field and run it all the way down. These are 36" long oak strips from Home Depot. If I could get longer strips I would and run the left hand rail all the way the length of the play field as it gives good support for the arch plastic.

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I am having trouble locating my Quicksilver plastics for setting up the inside shooter rail, but the one-way ball gate on Star Gazer pretty much determines where the inside shooter rail needs to stop. Quicksilver will be something similar with out the ball guide. Your plastics located on the inside rail will pretty much tell you how long it needs to be.

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I'll try to get some Quicksilver pics of the inside shooter rail when ever I find my plastics.

I like the Home Depot oak wood strips. I get a nice grained looking finish with them. If you don't like the grained finish you could use sugar maple that have a very tight grain.

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I have been lost for days without pinside during my build.

Can someone post some detailed photos of their QS eject saucer mech? The arm, the coil, the switch... everything.

I’m not sure I have mine assembled correctly. I bought this mech second hand & I just want to be sure I’m doing it right. I cannot work out in my head how this arm & the spring works when the coil is activated.

Is this basically how it goes? That arm spring is always locked in that position?

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You have it set up correctly. Key point is to make sure you install the coil bracket in a neutral position. You do not want to place the coil plunger on a bind.

I gotcha. Make sure the coil bracket placed so that the plunger moves freely.

Any tips on placing the arm? My arm is straight & not bent. I’m assuming place it dead center within the saucer slit, making sure it doesn’t touch the playfield. The mech I bought was pretty loose, so after cleaning, I added some thin nylon washers just to keep the arm from wobbling within.

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important to make sure the spring is very stiff, i had trouble finding the right one when i rebuilt mine from scratch...

Got it installed. Plunger moving freely, tested with a ball in the saucer so it sits correctly. I think I’m good to go.

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So another question...

I’ve gone and mixed up my switches. I was installing the 10 pt switches & then I got them mixed up with the sling switches.

I’ve got 5 correctly oriented switches with 3 contacts.

I’ve got 2 correctly oriented switches with 2 contacts

And 1 Frankenstein backwards switch with 3 contacts that I think was riveted incorrectly.

Can someone explain the 2 prong switches & this Frankenstein switch? It’s hard enough putting this puzzle together, and even harder when the parts I ordered are have errors.

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Hello fellow QS fans. First off, I am not a collector, nor do I have the knowledge or technical ability that the vast majority of members here have. I am just a lover of all things pinball and Quicksilver is my favorite game. I had one 10 years ago, but sadly sold it to raise some money to help my parents after their house burned down. I never thought I would ever own another, but recently took the plunge and purchased this Quicksilver from a fellow pinsider. I love everything about this game but have a question about the kick out saucer and hope someone could help me out. The saucer diameter on this new playfield seems to be larger than the one on my original QS. When the ball lands in the saucer and stays towards the rear, it kicks out fine and drops perfectly in front of the left slingshot feeding onto the left flipper. However if the ball stays towards the front (which happens 95% of the time) the ball kicks out directly on top of the left slingshot. It's kind of janky and disrupts the flow. I would love the ball to kick out and drop cleanly to the left flipper every time if possible. It looks like the mech under the playfield is drilled in a fixed position and I don't see any way to adjust the kick out angle. I removed the playfield plastic and filmed a video illustrating the issue. Hoping someone here might have a solution that I am able to tackle on my own with my limited knowledge and skill set. Thanks in advance.

I just measured the saucer diameter on both my old and new play fields. The holes match for size. Strange problem you have.

Quick fix that requires no technical knowledge: It may work or it may not. But it requires no modification and is easily reversible.

Go to the toy store and get some Play-Doh ( get a color you can live with ). Roll up a couple of small balls of Play-Doh and try to make them into little ramps on both sides of the ball launcher. The objective would be for the ramps to push the ball to the back of the hole into its better firing position. Play_Doh dries hard. If the little ramps work then you are done. If they don't work then peel them off and keep looking for a solution.

It sounds hoaky, but is about as non-technical as you can get.

Something better may come up.

I'd like to hear how this resolves.

Another thing you could try is undo the bolts underneath and add a washer so it drops down a bit one side, that might make it fire at the angle you want.
Regretting not buying one of these that was for sale recently here in the UK, went a bit higher than I wanted to pay £2.4K. They are so expensive in the states!

I take offense to my name being dragged through the mud! I believe the correct spelling you are looking for is HOKEY. Haha

This is how I would handle it, if you're sure it's not an issue with the eject arm.

I'm curious if this is an original QS with a new playfield, or if it was a scratch build with donated parts. I know there were two different versions of the Stern kicker arms, so perhaps it's the wrong arm? Or the arm is worn & the action is sloppy? Or the arm was not placed in the correct position for the ball to sit correctly in the saucer?

His game is a scratch build that was sold here on Pinside 2-3 weeks ago. I don't think he's got the wrong arm as the other style won't work with that saucer style, iirc.

I'd also try what's previously suggested and put a couple thin washers on one side of the mech underneath the playfield. Just make sure the arm doesn't scrape the plastic when you reinstall it.

I used to sing the Hoaky Poaky but I never learned how to spell it

You're never too old to learn Craig...

I tried the washer method to no avail. I might try to fashion a curved "lip" out of femo or some type of clay that can be baked and hardened to rest in the front portion of the saucer that recedes down enough as not to impede the ball from falling in the hole and slants backward to ensure the ball rests in the back half of the saucer every time it enters. Once done, i'll either post my amazing triumph or bitter failure. I also have one other question regarding a small issue I hope I can fix. Every light on the playfield lights properly except the special light in the left outlane. I tested the bulb in another socket and the bulb is fine. The wire is soldered onto the socket securely. I ordered a couple of extra sockets in case this one is bad. I did notice the right side special outlane has an orange wire soldered to the bottom of the socket with 2 blue wires soldered under the screw between the playfield and the socket mount, as well as a bare wire tacked to the playfield that is in the same solder nest, whereas the left side special outlane only has 1 white wire soldered to the bottom of the socket and no other wires attached between the socket and the playfield like the right side. Is this proper? It's not the end of the world, but if I can get this light to work with my very limited technical knowledge and ability, then I would definitely like to do so.right outlane (resized).JPGleft outlane (resized).JPG

That does not look correct. The white wire is the return wire for your GI lights. You should see white wires on all of your GIs.

Feature lights, like your outlane light are powered by the blue wire at the base. Now we have to find what color of wire is supposed to be powering your Special outlane light. I'll have to look on the print tomorrow.

Short answer: You have only one wire connected to your Special light. There should be 2. And the one you do have hooked up is incorrect.

Hold up @cottonm4. I’m not 100% about original but since I built mine with the same new wiring harness, the wiring is correct but missing the common wire. The blue wiring on the right side is the power for the common. You should see that same blue line likely connecting to the lamp above the inlane. What you’re missing is the common connection to the rest of your insert lights. Just need to connect between these two.

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Yes. I see what you are saying. But a white wire on a feature light threw me.

I looked at Hoaky Poaky's photos of his scratch build which I have attached, and his right outlane has the orange wire like mine and his left has the white like mine. My left is however missing the 2 blues his has as well as the silver one stapled to the playfield.hp1 (resized).JPG

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There should be some more feature lights in the nearby area. You need to splice into those blue wires. Or look for a feature light being powered by a bare wire that gets it power from a blue wire.

There is a Harbor Freight in Daytona Beach. Go get some test leads and clip them on to do some wire jumping and see if that gets you going. Don't hook them up incorrectly or you risk blowing out a string of light bulbs.

https://www.harborfreight.com/36-inch-low-voltage-test-leads-66712.html

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Actually, you can get a package that has several different colors of test leads once you get to the store. Paint a copy of this pic and take it with you.

As mentioned earlier, it looks like the common braid is missing between the sockets. Mine is still on the rotisserie but it’s been tested. Here’s some better photos that should help you.

Get yourself a 6V battery pack (4 AA) with alligator clips. Cheap & great for testing bulbs & connections. Or just use a multimeter & test for basic continuity.

RT inlanes

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LT inlanes

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My common braids

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My 6V tester

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Just joined the club yesterday. She's in the shop getting a level-one rework for now and I have a new pf and plastics on the way for the full boat restore in the coming months. First order of business was getting the broken sling arm addressed. Used a early Williams for now and it works good enough for this level. I will swap the williams into my f2k upper slings and let gravity work it's magic there unless someone has a source for the stock sling arms. I just glanced through this thread. This is awesome. I am going to gravy train all your knowledge and present it as my own to impress my gf.

Nice to see my hard work in action folks. Thanks! And if you have any questions just ask. play_pinball has it right in this case.

Shawn

I just got off the phone with the builder of this Quicksilver, the socket is wired properly and was just missing a ground braid. Luckily a small paper clip and solder solved the issue until I can get a small piece of wire.20210415_171736 (resized).jpg

maybe a wire instead would work nicer?

First 20 hours of work in. Coin door and legs next while waiting on PF from Mirco. i have some peeling on back glass in two small areas on the bottom. How are you guy addressing this so no adhesive is seen through the front?

RB

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"a small paper clip and solder solved the issue until I can get a small piece of wire."

As per my original post/question in this thread, I promised an update. So after various failed attempts at fashioning something to put in the front lip of the saucer to ensure the ball rolled into the back half so I could get the ball to eject down onto the left flipper smoothly instead of on top of the left slingshot, I looked and analyzed the way the 2 piece kick mech actually worked. I know this might have been a no brainer for some, but as a new owner I am slowly learning things about my machine. Ultimately I realized the spring that connects the coil arm to the actual eject arm seemed to be really light and was not transferring enough power of the coil arm to the eject arm when the coil fired, resulting in a weak ball kick out. I went to the hardware store and bought 3 replacement springs of different tensions to test and installed one that results in a perfect kick to the left flipper every time. A small, almost insignificant change has resulted in a much better play experience and small victory for this new pin owner.

that makes sense now, though i admire the creativity

I finally started on my Quicksilver build.

I like the copper foil tape for the feature lights and am continuing with it. This time around I am going install all of the play field components before I start any wiring.

After doing Star Gazer, this one is going to be a breeze.

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You've done this before right? Does the copper oxidise over time? I'd put a thin layer of solder on the copper surface to tin it where you're mounting the lamp sockets for better long term connectivity.

I first saw this on one of Vid's videos.

I did this copper foil tape to my Big Game a couple of years ago. I am happy with the performance. However, I will need to redo this job. What I did not do was solder each joint where the foil tape changes directions. But this job can wait until I have more time.

The foil tape carries a backing adhesive that conducts electricity. But after I had all the wiring laid down, someone told me I need to solder every joint because sometimes the tape adhesive fails after use.

The advantage in using the copper tape is that it gets rid of all the wiring that has to travel to each group of light clusters. For the feature lights all I have to do is bring in the one blue wire from the rectifier board, place a terminal ring on and screw it to the copper foil. And it is done.

The other advantage is replacing a light bulb can be done by unscrewing the #44 light socket instead of having to bend the socket support back. Replacing a socket is easier, as well. There is only one solder point that needs to be desoldered.

I have not had any problems with oxidization with the copper tape.

If you look carefully you can see the solder at all of the joints.

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Agree. I wouldn't trust the adhesive for conductivity, solder the joints.

When you use the foil for the controlled lamps how do you do the GI? Seems like you’d have to use insulated wire to jump over where the foil is laid down.

Don’t forget a strip of foil for the lane guides. They are controlled lamps, not GI.

so thre top of the foil tape is non conductive I'm guessing? It seems like whether it is or isnt this method would provide lots of opportunity for shorts due to unwanted contact with other components, screws etc.

The way I do the GI is the red and white wire is daisy chained, in parallel, on all GI. This removes any possibility for shorting between bare wires for the GI and bare wires for the feature lights.

I have not had to do this yet, but if there is a possible intersection then the copper foil can be protected by screwing down a thin piece of poly or PETG over the top of the copper foil to protect it. Attention also needs to be paid to not running the copper foil under a pop bumper bracket or a drop target bracket.

The copper foil goes down first. Then the GI gets wired. After that, the rest of the wiring is mounted.

The copper foil tape is highly conductive. It is copper. You need to be aware of where every part sits on the play field.

In the upper left, to the right of the lamp socket, you can see a notch cut into the copper. This is for clearance for the drop target assembly. You can see all 4 dimples for the drop assembly frame and that upper left hole puts the drop assy. on collision with the copper.

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In the same vein, I don't know what is going to go into small hole right next to the copper. I may have to reroute this area if that hole turns out to be something. I'll deal with it when I get there during the buildup.

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One other thing for thought. When the play field is turned over in playing position, the copper foil says fixed to the play field. But with gravity, the other wiring will have a tendency to fall away from the play field.

Thanks for the explanation cottonm4. My new pf will be here in a few days so I am very interested in why you chose this over standard braid that would seem to be much easier to route around the components.

Shoot man, your play field looks so nice in the pics I am trying to figure out why you want a new one.

At the time, a roll of 1/2" copper tape 150 feet long was fairly cheap. The best I can find now on Ebay is 1/2" x 55 yds/165 ft. for $20.00. Still, that is only 12 cents per foot.

As I recall, the braid was about 50 cents per foot. This is my 3rd play field and I still have enough tape left to do 2 more, maybe 3 more play fields.

So, cost was one factor.

The 2nd reason was all of the wire I could eliminate from the wire bundle. All of the red, white wire for GI, and blue wire for feature lamps is gone.

And the 3rd is that can unscrew my bayonet sockets for any possible reason that could pop up. If I have a socket go bad, all I have to do is unsolder the feature wire from the tab, unscrew the socket, replace and screw it back down again. And then re-solder the wire to the tab.

For me, thru the powers of rationalization, I find value in going this route. Others, yourself included, may have completely opposing views and think it is a waste of time and money.

I am not knocking Hoaky Poaky's work. He has done a stellar job with his common wire. But every common wire is going to have to have two wires. One coming in and one wire leaving for the next cluster of lamps. So, I am going to pick on HP for just a little bit.

Take this area in the upper right hand corner. He has 2 sets of jumper wires for his GI. I will be wiring up the same exact way, but I am going to use red and white wire only; No braid. It is the same amount of wire; Just different wire. All my GI will be red and white and it will be on one long parallel string. It will be the same amount of soldering.

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HP has done a bang up job on his common wires for his feature lights. The only thing I would do different is to join each common feature wire with a blue runner wire and join all of the common feature wires together. And then instead of having gobs of blue wire clogging up the harness all that needs done is to attach one blue wire, with a ring terminal to one attach point on the blue feature wiring.

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Staple on some blue wire at each braid wire cluster and make them as one. The blue wire is insulated and you can run that in any and all directions. And then you tap in the blue wire from the rectifier to an attach point in the upper right side (it looks like the left side when upside down).

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If you do that, you can get away from have to double up on your blue wire in the harness. Like in this picture below.

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Of course, with this setup, all lamp socket bases have to be soldered to the braid wire.

This is like other things in pinball. There is rarely one right way. You pick your poison. I did not like the rigamarole associated with having to desolder a lamp socket just to remove it from the play field. I think it was one of Vid's posts, or it might have been something from HEP, but when I saw a KISS play field laid out with copper tape I knew the direction I was going.

Wow. Amazing explanation. Thanks for detailing it out and i agree, I hate having to desolder the lamp socket base from the braid when I need to change a socket out. Big mobilized globs of molten solder...it's just not good. The reduction in wiring clutter is also very appealing. so basically screwing the socket base down through the tape is what you are relying on for conductivity. You have done it before with no connection issues or adhesive problems.

The playfield in my qs isnt horrendous in appearance from that shot i posted but up close it has alot of touch up work and the inserts are hosed. You can tell that whoever touched it up didnt wait for the paint to dry to properly match it. oops. I probably could have fixed that stuff and cleared it but i figured if I'm shelling out that kind of money for QS I might as well throw an extra grand at it and have a brand new playfield.

Yes.

This is my Big Game. I restored the play field and when I put it back together, I went with the copper tape. I do have have intermittent problems with some lights going dull and then brightening up again. Either I have a loose screw holding a wire or I have a conductivity problem because I did not solder the joints. it is not a big problem, but it is a huge, heavy play field. After I finish with Star Gazer, and Quicksilver, and Catacomb, and Nine Ball, then I will pull the play field and figure it out.

I will have to remove all of the wiring to access the copper tape so I can solder the joints, make sure all my screws are tight and give it another go. And this is another benefit: I will be able to unscrew all of the feature lights and remove them en masse without having to resort to the desolder gun or the wire cutters. I'll have to label them but that is all.

The GI lights are close to the play field so I can leave them alone and still get the access I need.

It is playing fine so I don't worry about it right now.

Big Game: Copper tape used for all feature lights. It has been 2 years. Still going strong. I have no regrets.

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