imo...

on the em's i have gotten, i have completely disassembled the score reels and cleaned them meticulously... i also replace the coil sleeves as part of this process... lube where required... once this is done, they will rarely ever have issues again... it is time consuming and a pita on decagon reels, but it is worth it in the long run...

shortening the springs without cleaning first is a band-aid approach... and, fwiw, if the springs are "tired", it is cheap enough to replace them with new ones as part of the reassembly...

as with everything else em-related... first step to "fixing" a problem is to clean the offending part...

Most likely you need to adjust the 'tension' (less) on the 9 position switch....might have too much when the switches 'throw' to zero. If you do adjust make sure you get the whole blade adjusted evenly...bit tricky w/ those on decagon....sorta' a 2 into 1 as you see.

I agree with both comments above. Getting everything clean with new sleeves makes a difference for sure. Shortening the springs may work for the sort term but it's not the best approach. As Cash_Riprock said by adjusting your 9 position switches you can limit the amount of drag allowing your reel to turn easier past the hump.
Alex

On almost every game I have owned/restored, I have found the score reel coils 'gunked up' with an operator's attempt at 'maintaining' them....... Good comments above, would certainly clean up the whole thing. I have also found burned spots at times on the circuit boards that control match/high score awards. Areas to lube include the contacts on the circuits, axles with moving parts, and I sometimes add a bit behind the advance arm where it slides against the metal frame.

yea true dat on the "trickiness"... those can be a bit of a pita... i struggle with those... i hope it becomes easier with time...

me too... wonder who taught me that?

@the op... there's a few videos linked in the thread below that are rather helpful...

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/good-youtube-vid-for-decagon-score-reels#post-1086002

^^^

LOL! "be the switch, glasshoppah"...

yea, it always seems like i don't quite get the adjuster on there square...

HEY! I recognize that guy in the video!

My 2 cents - I've never seen a "tired" spring on a score reel. Springs can be designed for infinite life. These are extremely low rate, low stress springs. I HAVE seen a lot of dirty parts that make the score reel sluggish, and a lot of maladjusted switch stacks that cause problems.

^^^

yea, he should look familiar to you...

thanks for doing those... they gave me the confidence and know-how to be able to r&r a reel...

Glad it helped you. Thanks for letting me know.

I do not fix what isn't broken, but many times there are issues with the score reels that require repair/cleaning/adjustment. Tearing them all down upfront seems like overkill.

i generally subscribe to the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" theory... however, in the case of score reels (and steppers, ftm), i consider r&r'ing them "preventative maintenance"... i'd rather just take care of stuff like that upfront, as it is likely going to have to be done sooner or later anyway...

i guess it's an individual choice... i have nowhere near the experience that many others have, and i don't do nearly as good a job refurb'ing a machine as someone like todd does, but i think that it's worth spending the time on a newly acquired machine to do certain preventative maintenance...