(Topic ID: 182993)

Royal Guard (Gottlieb) - Changing Playfield Lightbulbs

By BoGart

7 years ago



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  • 10 posts
  • 7 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by BoGart
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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#1 7 years ago

Hello,

I'm looking for a little advice from any other owners of this game who might know the best approach to replacing bulbs on the playfield that back onto coloured plastic. I want to replace all of them with LED lamps to avoid ever doing it again, but the problem I'm facing is how best to actually get the current lamp and socket out where I can work on them without breaking anything. Fat hands and a congested area make it too difficult to work with in place, but I'm worried I will break the solder or snap a wire if I attempt to unscrew them.

Any advice is much appreciated!

#2 7 years ago

Could you clarify?. Under the playfield inserts, A,B,C,D. Or under the playfield plastics?

#3 7 years ago

Not an answer to your question but excellent way to go. I recently LED'd my atlantis and I would never go back to incandescent. Too much heat. Too much dirt attracted by their heat. Game looks very original with all the benefits of LED's

G

#4 7 years ago
Quoted from Darcy:

Could you clarify?. Under the playfield inserts, A,B,C,D. Or under the playfield plastics?

It would be the lights under plastic, for instance those right in front of the marching targets. There is so much around that location and the lights are so tightly spaced I can't see how I could get them all changed.

Quoted from GPS:

Not an answer to your question but excellent way to go. I recently LED'd my atlantis and I would never go back to incandescent. Too much heat. Too much dirt attracted by their heat. Game looks very original with all the benefits of LED's
G

Absolutely, my machine is in pretty rough shape (the wedgehead glass paint has almost all peeled off for instance) and I'm doing my best to restore and improve as much as I can.

#5 7 years ago

I normally bend the metal arm that holds the socket.

#6 7 years ago
Quoted from BoGart:

It would be the lights under plastic, for instance those right in front of the marching targets. There is so much around that location and the lights are so tightly spaced I can't see how I could get them all changed.

It's been a while since I messed with mine, but I think I unscrewed the relay bracket from the playfield & it allowed me to drop it down enough to get to the bulbs.
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#7 7 years ago

I bent them back and was able to get new bulbs in. Also in bending back I used it as an opportunity to clean those inserts. Light transmission is severely affected by how much grime they have accumulated over decades. This is a great game BTW and very hard to beat. I'm not even close to rolling it. If you do use LEDs you can best preserve the look and feel by using warm white rather than the cool white most people use on later solid state games. Just a pet peeve that I particularly hate jarring cool white on any EM. Good luck.

#8 7 years ago
Quoted from pookycade:

Just a pet peeve that I particularly hate jarring cool white on any EM. Good luck.

I'm with you on that. Especially in pop bumpers .. looks too stark white, even with "warm" LED bulbs. But what really bothers me about LED's in EM pins is the instant on/off on controlled lights. Normal incandescent bulbs ramp up & down. LED lamps just don't look right IMHO - but to each their own.

#9 7 years ago

Youll need Twin 2835 or single LED to fit through holes if installing from below the playfield on Gottliebs.

#10 7 years ago

Thanks for the advice everyone! This will help a lot... I had hoped there was a way to get at this stuff to replace it without moving the relays, but knowing that I should give the plastic covers a scrub is a fair reason to go the entire way.

Quoted from dasvis:

It's been a while since I messed with mine, but I think I unscrewed the relay bracket from the playfield & it allowed me to drop it down enough to get to the bulbs.

I don't suppose I could ask a favour? I was wondering if you would be willing to provide a nice photo of the backglass painting. I'm going to need to do something about mine and having a good reference is the first step to figuring out how to fix it. Most photos on GIS have terrible glare or were taken from weird angles for some reason.

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