I’m in! I love my United Rio, I’d like to get more of the line up from 1947.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1947-flipperless-united-rio-clean-up

I have a 1948 United Paradise that I am working on. Cant get the thing to start though. Small club but I think United had some really nice looking games.

9751E605-862F-4B09-874E-1993A6DEE877 (resized).jpeg

The stepper under the playfield is the bonus unit. There is also the score motor. Despite some fade on the playfield and having to replace the bumpers, its in pretty good condition. I just need to get it started.

United also produced games in 1942 and 1943. Sadly only the backglass remains from this Arizona.

B7ED6A04-A42F-4D5D-9892-3491DEF5C463 (resized).jpeg

D3C3A0DC-9B41-426A-B2DF-2B55FA649F60 (resized).jpeg

Only thing i have from united is my ball bowler.

BallyCrazy That would be great! I do not understand the startup sequence and that is where my problems are.

Thank you for this! My problems seem to start at the reset button. Nothing happens when I hit that. And all the coils lock on if I activate the start relay. Hopefully I can get that figured out and go from there.

Just out of curiosity, have you been able to find a schematic for your game?

I just picked up a United Summer Time, and it appears to be the same game with a different art package.

Thanks.

It's still a work in progress but here are some pics. I still have a lot of the bumper caps off from cleaning the playfield.
20220214_174316 (resized).jpg20220214_174326 (resized).jpg20220214_174334 (resized).jpg

That is a beautiful game! It does look identical to my Paradise on layout. I do have schematics for it. Will happily trade you for some pics of your game as I cant get mine to start. PM me if you want the schematics

I want to add my recently acquired '47 Mexico(#2582) to the thread. It has not been converted.
1947 United Mexico
I purchased a copy of stevefury's reverse engineered Singapore paperwork which has given me some clues.
For example, the two switches under the cabinet; the one closest to the player clears credits, the other cuts power by opening a normally closed switch.

I have a few questions that someone might be able to address.

1. Conservative vs Liberal Post Settings
There are several places on the playfield with liberal or conservative post placement. Without a manual, what is the logic to place the posts?
Mexico playfield post placement options
A
B
C
D
E

2. Bumper Caps have Celophane Tape residue
Somewhere in the past 75 years, some genius decided to tape down all the bumper caps. The residue produces a strip of yellow brown across every cap. I tried Goo Gone and that did nothing. A small test of Goof Off took the white paint on the bumper cap off easily. Any ideas to clean these up?
bumper tape

3. Apron Cards
My machine came with an original scorecard but there was definitely another card tacked to the left side. Noticeable fade. I see that United switched to two vertical cards on the '48 Manhattan. Maybe it was just a router's card?

4. Coin Slide
I tore the coin slide apart and gave it a sonic bath. It is quite bent along the left edge due to a hidden nickel and someone attempting to force it to slide. If the coil under the coin slide is engaged, the coin slide works fine. I'm not clear how I get that coil to engage. Is there a plug(Replay/Regular?) I am missing that engages the coil when the machine has power and credits? So when it has power and credits that coil is always on? At this point, I am still troubleshooting so I generally leave the coin door off and manually reset the machine.
Coin Slide coil

5. Bumpers
I pulled all 12 bumpers off the playfield to clean her up and to clean those bumpers. Pretty crude how they stick the light sockets thru the playfield and bend the ends to solder the power on. While pulling them apart I realized that one had a screw base. Is this just running out of single twist sockets on the line while building this machine or should one of these bumpers have a screw in lamp? Can anyone else confirm a single bumper that requires a screw in bulb?

That's a lot but there isn't much consolidated info on United pins anywhere that I have discovered in the webs.
I have a hndful of other woodrails, Genco Puddin' Head, Bally Triumph, and three Bally bingos, but this "new" United is very intrguing to me.
Thanks in advance for any info or opinions.

Trying to bring this one back from the dead but need some diamond bumpers. Anyone have spares?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/looking-for-red-diamond-bumpers-and-caps

IMG_8438 (resized).jpeg

Any United owners know where to get owners manuals? Did they even exist?

i have a .pdf of a 1950 united manual, please dm me your email address

Screenshot_20230918_093908_Drive (resized).jpg

Hey TinkerV2 could you post the score motor switch we discussed in this thread?

Hello mrm_4 ,

I hope these pictures help with your problem. On my research for United Pinball schematics, I only found one for sale at Pinball Resource. When talking to Steve at PBR he said they don't exist though he had one. i don't remember what machine it was for. Probably Oklahoma since that was the only one I could find on the web in pdf format. He might have those diamond bumpers you're looking for. There's a member here steve fury that claims he created a schematic and has it for sale. I find him unreliable when trying to purchase it. I created a net list of the back box wiring, but not a schematic. It helped me troubleshoot the BB and test the steppers and lights, etc... I have that working. I'm going to tackle the PF this winter. I hope I don't need to wire list the whole PF. I'll probably try using the Oklahoma schematic if necessary.

Jack

Monterrey score motor switch 1 (resized).jpg

Monterrey score motor switch 2 (resized).jpg

Yes this is exactly what I needed. Thanks!!!

Hey United pin owners, Im having a tough time with this Monterrey.

This game is almost done except one last piece that’s giving me heck. When I start a game the start up sequence does the following:
-Pulls the ball trough coil up and holds it
-Pulses the game counter
-Pulses the credit wheel down one credit
-Pulls the small coil that clears the big “millions stepper” in the back
-pulls the coils to clear the 2 bonus steppers under the playfield

BUT WILL NOT ENGAGE THE SCORE MOTOR

so all the coils just hold on and buzz like crazy until I manually engage the score motor relay and then the game resets. Then plays perfectly. Score motor pulses when switches score and etc.
I have gone through every switch on the score motor and under the playfield 10 times, all clean and gapped perfectly.

But for the life of me I cannot trace what switch on the start up relay fires the score motor.

Anyone with a wisconsin or even a monterrey have a suggestion?

I just went through the entire wire harness by hand and followed every single wire that comes off of the score motor relay and score motor switches and verified that there are no breaks and that every wire is attached to a switch and every switch contact is clean and gapped appropriately and I still can’t get this piece of shit to start. Wtf man

Gotta bump the club again. Hoping someone will get nerdy and talk United Pin start up sequences with me

I had this same problem and spent more than a year trying to figure it out. I never found the exact problem, but after dicking with it for more than a year, it is now working. I have a schematic for Paradise that I can send to you if you want. Looks the same. I will try to remember some of the things I did to stop the coils from locking on.

Thanks for replying! So an update on that, I tracked it down to the contact pads not lining up properly after a rebuild. Game plays solid now!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1948-united-monterrey-triage-thread-#post-7800534

Wow. I would have never found that issue. Good for you! Glad you got yours working. I still need to make wood rails and lockdown bar for mine. Would love to check yours out and your tmnt as well. My girlfriend’s parents live in Kent and we will be visiting for thanksgiving. Hope you find a tilt bob. I dont think I have an extra one

Send me a PM when you’re in Kent!