Here is a pdf for a model S. From what I understand the model H was built from around 80-88 and the S from 89 on. Check the metal tag behind your back glass. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Misc/Skeeball%2520Model%2520S.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjfjOjT9ofSAhWGWSYKHdEwBFIQFggtMAM&usg=AFQjCNHsNISdbw-ARTzSAgujdiFXgViwcg&sig2=Ew2CXEu87ohjquXPV2XbJw

Also, check out this article. It will explain all of the differences between the S and H on page 3.

http://www.techdose.com/articles/The-History-of-SkeeBall-Machines/405/page3.html

If some of the segments aren't lighting up on the numbers it's probably just a few burnt out #73/74 bulbs. They are about 30 cents a piece.

Thanks Jaymach1! Exactly what I was looking for. With that info these two are Model S games with the 100 pt bonus scoring. They also have one more for parts that they will throw in if I buy both. They want $1200 for the pair. Based on what I've seen in previous threads this looks like a good deal. Agreed?

Seems pretty fair to me. Especially with a parts machine on top.

Not a bad deal, especially if the parts machine is thrown in. I would pick it up. Fix them both and sell one and have a free machine. The 4 player one was my first skee ball machine. I completely restored it in about 3 weeks. They are a pretty simple machine. I think I put a total of $200 into it to make it like new again. Mostly cleaning sanding Bondo and repainting. I also had to replace some of those 73/74 bulbs and added led strip lights under the bumpers.

Adjusted the switches - turns out the new switches had wires that were too long. I bent them back so they just brushed the ball as it went down the trough. I also cut off the extra length of wire and now it works perfect. Thanks for the help!

Joined the club again! Super stoked to get this thing cleaned up and playing right.

Already stripped down the pin deck, ordered a new set of pins and a schematic. It works for the most part but doesn't score correctly and the steppers definitely need to be degunked. This will be a great spring project.

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I might have a lower glass that will fit that thing. I cant remember but I have a Martigras that had the wrong lower glass and I replaced it. The colors from memory look like they would go with that one. Ill check when I get home.

And if not, I had one made for a Top Hat and Fleetwood, and my Graphic Designer still
has it on file, but it'll be like $50.00 (that's without me making a penny)
Your Top Hat must be a 16 footer. If you made a 4' center section, (if you have the space),
it would seem as though the alley is another 10' longer.. (T)

My lower glass is actually in pretty crap shape. I'll post a pic of what it came with when I get a chance. The frame was loose so that's why it's not installed. Also I'm going to paint the insert board so figured I'd wait to mount it back up. I am interested in getting a new one.

It's really nice seeing all of these machines acquired and the excitement they generate.
My skee ball and puck bowler are some of the most played games in my collection.

Id love to find a 4-8" extension for mine. I wouldn't care if the wires were missing or its the wrong color as long as it bolts up.

You'd be surprised what difference just a 4' section would make..
I still have 3 Chicago Coin Goose Head (like Top Hat) Ball Bowlers, and need the extension
that I have. It takes time, but I had built extensions. If you do built an extension, one thing
you want to keep in mind. Before contact cementing the formica, you'll want to contact cement
1/8" thick cork to the plywood first, and then the formica to the cork. Without the cork, the
ball will change from a smooth roll, to a roaring rumble once it reaches the extension.
16 foot's not bad, but once you go through the Bowler and get it working properly, I'm
pretty sure you'll want it longer.. (T)

I have many machines set up now, but years back when it was only the ping pong, pool table,
and old United Puck Bowler, I think we had at least as much fun..

Although mine's much newer, I'd like to join! I just picked up my first pin to add to the golden tee and the Ice Ball I already owned. Trying to round out the collection.

Since a lot of people are posting prices, I picked mine up for $400. It was an interior lane so it has very little side-art.

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My first pin is Space Shuttle. The whole family is loving it and the neighbor kids think I own an arcade. And then I see other collections out there...

I had the goofy ideal to make like 5 8' extensions to sell 4 of them, but before selling them put them all together to make one 61' bowler then post in the help section something about the ball lift being broken and the balls never make it all the way back to the front. Even do a video staring from the back of the machine never letting the viewer see how long the lane is then when the ball rolls out follow it back and show the "problem". It was funny in my head.

What's the best method to clean up the formica on the lane? This is most likely going on route for awhile before being retired to my gameroom so I'm not looking to resurface it yet.

I use automotive paste wax. Keeps any residue from building up, and fills in the minor scratches. Then I go over it with the spray auto detailer - wipe and shine.

If it's on a route, you should be using Sun-Glo No. 7 to preserve the surface.

On a ball bowler?

Ugh, not on a ball bowler...my bad. Puck bowlers only. I should pay attention....

I use Mean Green (or any other liquid cleaner) and rub with a small piece of Scotch Brite (the green pad).
I'm sure Magic Eraser would work, but the Scotch Brite's a bit more aggressive, and being formica, there's
no problem handling it. On the side, I still have Ball Bowlers in places, and without using Scotch Brite, I'd
be spending much more time cleaning with a much more tiring arm.. (T)

I just purchased new balls for my CCM Majestic..... wow, what a big difference it makes in game play from the originals that came with the bowler...... an entirely different / better experience.

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It looks like this thread is more for classic games, however, I am selling my newer 20' Venture shuffleboard to make room for some future pins. If this interests anyone just PM me. Thanks.

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Count me in on the club. Picked up a United Cherokee Shuffle Alley in February. Also Have 3 Skee Ball bowlers and 2 Basket Ball bowlers. Might be open to selling some of the bowlers if anyone is interested. Located near Baltimore.

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I'll trade you for my 12'. That would free up some space for you.

I have a 1951 United Cascade 6 player shuffle alley if anyone is interested for $100. I will donate to pinside if sold on here.

I just picked up a Model S Skee Ball. Would someone post a picture of the wiring under the coin chute? Previous owner wired in a free play button but there are some broken wires and going to the knockoff switch (I think) Looking at the schematic it looks like he wired that to his switch so I would like to fix it and put it back on coin.

Thanks
Larry

Anything one have ideas on who can move a shuffleboard besides the distributor? They might be the best option to break it down, move it, and set it back up, though.

Finally part of the club...model S built in 1991. A few burnt out bulbs but otherwise 100%. Seems a solid candidate for a proper restoration someday, but for now, just going to enjoy it.

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Looks very nice. I've been trying to convince the wife recently that we actually DO have the space for one of these.

Is that a 10 ft?

Yes, a 10' alley. Not near as big as it seems, totally fits the spouse measurement guidelines

That machine looks so nice with that bright red coloring on it.

FAB u Ball -need some help. I picked up Fab u Ball skee ball machine and it does not have the display board. Does any one have any information on these machines? Schematics would be great but I can't find any. I could build a board if I knew how the CPU was driving the lamps. Could someone take some close up pictures of their board so I can see what chips are used? Any help is appreciated.

Hi ALL, I just picked up a mechanical skee ball (rough shape but I'm up for the challenge) and started some work on it. The score cover was painted a yellow so I started to strip that coat off and too my surprise, the SKEE BALL logo is under there. So, Im gonna save as much of that as I can and touch it up at a later time. My question is, how does the mechanical scoring work, can someone explain it. This machine does not score the correct amount of points. How do I adjust. Also, the machine did not come with any balls and for now, to just trying to understand the scoring mechanism I am using a baseball (will the baseball cause scoring issues?)

thanks
Steve

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Check the switches for the holes. I think they may more or less work in a similar way to the solid state ones that when a ball goes in, it hits multiple switches as it heads down. So, one of the switches along that path may have an issue, causing to miss scoring for that one switch.

I started with a shuffle board table 12ft , separate room with it's own bar that i still have

And then built a separate room in the basement wirh a topaz bowler and a ice ball skeeball

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Hi forceflow, thanks for responding. No switches in this baby, truely mechanical. Im thinking im gonna need to adjust the metal rods sticking into the hole trough.

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Thanks Mopar for the assistance

Yeah Steve, like you know, replace the padding and then we can adjust
for the scoring. It's how far each pocket's rod travels when the ball travels
through it's shoot that determines the scoring. Pretty simple, yet unique..
Last year, Skee Ball (now known as Penn Skee Ball) has 3" composite balls
which work perfectly fine and well worth the $50.00 (maybe a bit more now)..
Some have reconditioned (or so called) wooden balls which come with nicks and
for crazy money. Not the best way to go.. Penn Skee Ball # is (920)822-3951
I haven't dealt with them since changing hands, but I'm sure all will go fine.. (T)

And of course that's for a set of 9 balls. The last I ordered was
a couple years ago before changing hands, but I'd have to think
prices haven't gone up a whole lot.. (T)

I wanted to add my story of skeeball acquisition. Last December, I saw a Skeeball 2010 with no price about 3 1/2 hours away. So, I call the number and he tells me he got it as part of a trade deal involving a car. He runs an auto repair shop and had no game equipment experience whatsoever. He said it originally wasn't working but he switched around a few cables and it turned on. Hmmm, was it worth renting a U-Haul and driving down there to check it out? Sure, why not! He was asking $1,000, I offered $900 and he accepted.

The game was filthy and the ball release didn't work at all, but the PCB was good and the display worked fine so I bought it. You can see the original condition in the first picture.

After a thorough cleaning using about 3/4 bottle of Wizard Skeeball Cleaner, the lane and rings looked great. At the time, Baytek had just acquired Skeeball and legacy parts were still available on their website, so I scooped up a whole bunch. New numbers, balls, and foil tape made the game look great but the ball release still wasn't working.

I replaced the solenoid, fixed the ball release arm, solid state relay to no avail. Granted, they all needed replacement anyway because they tested bad. On a whim, I asked a local arcade game dealer (Beck games) if there's anything else I should check and he told me to check the in line fuse holder from the relay. Lo and behold, it was a bad fuse that was the last missing piece of the puzzle. I didn't even know it was a fuse holder in the first place; I just thought it was some plug.

I replaced all sensors and got a sweet deal on Omrom 415 EE-SPY optos on eBay ($8 each), but the game never quite worked 100%. The ball count sensor would go haywire for no reason, but only when it seemed like other games were on in the game room. After months of swapping out sensors with no remedy, it turned out some dope put the power supply to 220V, meaning that it was outputting half the proper current to the PCB. After switching it to 110V, it works great now.

Hopefully this post will help somebody else with this kind of machine troubleshoot any problems.

-Doug

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Skeeball Model H question-game is/was set to $0.50. It was functional when I first got it, just had to replace a couple of scoring switches. No big deal. Was manually triggering the mech, until I rigged a credit button up that I was just hitting twice to replicate 2 quarters, before release arm activated-no problems for the last 2 years. Game is currently activating release arm after hitting the credit button once, not activating scoring. Thoughts on what to look into? Any input would be appreciated, just a fuse? This is where my comfort zone gets a bit dicey. My journey in this great hobby continues. TIA

Skee Ball project is complete, see before/after pic below. Just would like thank Mopar again for his support. Next challange is to get this into the basement....

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And a job well done Steve, and you made the netting from Hockey net, right?
Also the side rails needed to be formed..
Now you have a machine that will be played over and over from all ages..
I bet the walking by neighbors will be missing it once it leaves the garage..

Thanks,

The netting is actually baseball/hockey netting 1 7/8" square opening (Just for Nets). It's already taken a few good shots and held it's own (ahhh Grandkids)

The netting frame is 1" square aluminum tubing (Lowes), hand bent to desired angle. By googling, I found out how to bent the square tube without kinking..

I re-did the entire logo on the scoring tin/lid.. (Made stencils and spray painted)

The silver striping on the top of the side rail covers is sprayed aluminum paint.

The rolled cork is from Bangor Cork (I live 20 minutes from them and picked up the material to avoid shipping).

Well done on the restoration. Can you elaborate on the cork? Size, cost, technique, etc.? I've only seen replacement cork from Skee Ball. Is this an alternative?

I recently had to replace the leather scoring strap on mine. I found leather strap of the right size sold by the foot at a local shoe repair place. They even had grommets for it.

Thanks,

/Mark

Pictures and shopping list below....

When I started researching the cork, I stumble across a local company that offered rolled cork in many colors and cut to order (with excess for final trimming). On their website was a picture of a skee ball machine that was resurfaced by M&P Amusements. So I thought I'd give it a try.

The cork is 1/4" thick with a fibrous backing similar to what I removed.

I unrolled the alley cork and had it relax itself for almost 2 weeks. I still had other things to do so I was in no rush.

Removing old surface - some sections were more difficult than others, use of a heat gun made it easier. The ramp section was the hardest, that was held down with a clear type contact cement. I scraped off the old adhesive, sanded a little to make sure I got a good bonding surface.

Measured 3 times, cut (using new utility blades) and fitted the cork before gluing. I started with the head. I troweled on the adhesive that was recommended by the cork company. The next day, I did not have a hole saw (cleaner cut) large enough but I was able to cut the 5 holes with the utility knife. Took my time and they cut nicely.

When it came time to surface the alley, again, measured 3 times, cut and fitted, that is definitely a 2 person job. I troweled from the front to the start of the ramp. I used contact cement for the ramp applying with a brush and also to the back side of the cork in that area.

After I glued a section/piece I would then roll it for a few minutes to work out any air.

Shopping List...
Alley - 1 piece - 24" wide by 11 ft long --- $126.06
Ring Board - 1 piece - 36" by 48" ---------
Gutter/Drain Area - 2 pieces - 12" x 36" -- $ 98.64
Adhesive - L910W --------------------------- $ 30.95
Total with Pa. sales tax---------------------- $ 270.99

Pictures below shows you my leftover scrap, side-view and back-view.

Thanks
Steve

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Thanks for the info. Very helpful.

/Mark

I'm in! As much as I love pinball, I'm so surprised that the skeeball gets played more at parties by like a factor of 10

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