Hey what is the best way to open the gumball machines to put in your own gumballs? The ones I have won't fit and I am not sure how you go about cracking into it...

No other way to get into it?

Will give that a shot thanks!

Thanks this worked PERFECTLY! Here is a picture for anyone else attempting to do it...and "Scollins" is correct it is easy to bang/pinch finger...
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Finished Mod...I used clear glass marbles from "Michaels" and a 6.3 GI LED Strip from COMET Pinball to light the Machines...less than $10 mod...Also (that one GI Bulb that is hard to reach behind the gumball machine in the middle of the Red plastic stack) I put in a color changing Bulb from COMET and angled it to point directly behind the gumball machine... it constantly blinks through a serious of colors behind the gumball machine...Can't tell by the picture but it came out AWESOME.
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Hey TZ Club! I have shopped out a few TZ's now and most recently was doing one where I removed the mini play field. All of the underneath the playfield had been swapped out with LED's. When I was done servicing the mini play field, I put it back in only to discover that two of the LED lights did not have a good connection and now were not lighting up. I am sure some of you have run into this before. It is a real pain to take the playfield on and off and adjust the LEDS so they are just right in the socket to connect and especially using flexible LED's having them aligned correctly over the insert. I have done this multiple times where i would install the mini play field and at some point the led bulb gets bumped losing either connection or alignment. There just is no easy way to fix them without taking the mini play field out again and adjusting them HOPING that they won't get loose putting the playfield back in. Some of you that are smarter than me, might have already done this solution, but if you have run into the same thing I hope this can help you out.

I removed the mini play field and then raised the play field and plugged back in the mini play fields 4 or 5 connectors. I then turn on the machine and go into test mode and have all lamps and flashers going so that I can make sure they all have a solid connection and are aligned the way I like. Then I simply hot glue all around where the socket meets the bulb. This won't effect the electricity and can easily be removed but will hold everything firmly in place for when you put it back in. Here are a couple of pictures of the bulbs with the Hot Glue in. Keeps everything snug so it does not get loose when putting the mini playfield back in. You can even plug your glue gun into the service outlet like you do your sauntering iron. I hope this helps save people time and effort. Don't be DUMMY like me!
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Awesome where did you get that side art looks amazing! How did you put them in without taking the playfield out, is there a trick to it?

BTW EVERYONE COYOTE is the local expert on TZ. He has owned a sample game for many years and has dedicated his adult life to know everything about this machine. If you need any info such as secrets, bookkeeping wisdom, troubleshooting, history, easter eggs, etc this guy knows it all! Hit him up with any questions you will be amazed at the knowledge he has!!!!!

How dare you talk about my inserts that way

I think his decals look fantastic and I liked how they matched the colors of the machine especially the skill shot. I have installed other TZ side blades and these look better than the ones I found.

Thanks for sharing these I think they look amazing and I love how they match what is going on with the playfield. The slight difference in color I do not think takes anything away from the presentation. The decals I have only matched the theme not really the game and playfield so I like these alot!!!!!!!! Again great job I think a lot of people will be checking out these decals now!

If there are any TZ buyers out there I just posted one on the Market...

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/60121

I have done them in purple and blue. I think the purple comes out the best as it matches perfectly the purple color on the plastics. Here is a link to the machine I just did in blue with lots of pictures to take a look at how it comes out. If you get the right sizes then you don't deal with them turning white on the edges.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/60121