Ah, gotcha.

I have the reversed part already.
I was considering drilling a lower hole in the ball guide on my game (sacrilege!!!), but that would put the screw head at just the wrong height, so the ball would bump it on every left-to-right ringmaster orbit.
The bracket's cheap enough that I could drill a new hole in it, punch a hole in the rubber, & press a PEM nut into it. Not too tricky.

Thanks,
-Jason

There seems to be some demand for this part. Too bad PinBits or others are not making this part.

Too hard to drill the guide. Drill the bracket.

Tadaaa!

Align the bracket to the ball guide.
Sharpie mark the hole spot through the ball guide wall hole.
Center punch.
Drill to .166.
Press in a PEM SOS-440-8.
Punch a 2nd hole in the rubber.
Install!

(Also considered either pressing out the old threaded insert or cutting it down, so I wouldn't have to punch a 2nd hole in the rubber. But I didn't want an extra exposed hole or the chance of the remainder of the insert falling out onto the PF.)
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In under the wire! Just under 2 years!

Got my CV on August 16, 2017
I consider the restoration completion date to officially be July 7, 2019: the day that I put the modded blue bumper back onto the correct side of the ball guide.
Given that I wanted to give this machine the treatment & not get distracted, I didn't play it even once when I got it (yes, I played it several times before I bought it); I didn't play it for the first time until last week, when it was all together (&, as expected, needed a few straightforward things ironed out).

WOW. Worth the wait*. Amazing machine.

Did a rather thorough restoration:
- Replaced half the plastics, Novus polished the other half
- Pulled off all PF top parts (except those pressed-in rail guides that I was concerned would be loose if I pulled & replaced them)
- Pulled off most of the PF bottom parts to clean/refurbish
- Cleaned & polished & waxed the naked PF a few times
- Tumble polished all metal hardware that would fit in my tumbler, hand-polished the rest
- All LEDs--generally color-matched under inserts & white elsewhere
- All new clear rubbers
- All new clear plastic posts (the game is vibrant enough as-is; I wanted to highlight the existing art colors rather than mask or skew them w/ additional color)
- All new flipper assemblies
- Rebuilt pops & slings
- Pinbits blackout PCB (AWESOoooOoOoOoME!!!)
- All new standup targets
- Added green LEDs under the ringmaster
- Ringmaster hole metal ring to cover a little wear
- Light-up flipper buttons

Attached are a couple of pics of the stripped PF vs. the finished game.

I documented the heck out of it, knowing that I would have little time to work on it, working in fits & starts w/ months-long gaps. Also, I needed to know where all the polished hardware went after exiting the tumbler. Baggies & Sharpies FTW!

I'll share my photo gallery--perhaps it is of some use to the club.
282 pictures (after deleting 100ish dupes/blurries/redundants):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h0iqBkSwHVsIu8fV9JZipTpDvlhscg0v

Thanks,
-Jason
cv2 (resized).JPGcv1 (resized).JPG

*well, OK, it's great & all, but no game is worth a 2-year wait & way too much labor & extra cost on top of purchase--I am never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever doing this level of restoration again. Ever. Never ever.

The clear rubbers look way better thank I would have expected. Thanks for sharing.

Hahahahahaha! Never say never! Lol

Let us know how the leds stay in the slings... mine keep popping out on the right sling,I end up finding them later in the ball trough

I finally managed to get a custom purple neon, and installed it in my extra neon ramp. I am pretty pleased with the results.

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Looks Awesome! Nice Job!

Has anyone had issues where the ball flies off the Acrobats wire form and runs along the edge of the inner body, bouncing over the air ball plastics, to join the ramp right at the end?

If i hit a hard, well timed shot...this happens to me!!

Thoughts about a possible fix?

Yes, my solution is to slowly and methodically adjust the angle of the wireform and the angle and placement of both the metal ball-guide and the piece of plastic that mounts above it so that really fast shots hit that and are pushed back down onto the wireform. It's tricky to get it to where it only stops one that is destined to fly off but not one that is fast but not fast enough to fly off. The really fast ones will actually result in the ball almost stopping when hitting the plastic but still have enough energy to continue instead of rolling back down the ramp. It took a lot of trial and error to get it just right.

Hello all having an issue with my CV.
After a ball is shot out into shooter lane I get these less powerful coil hits. They are not hard enough to shoot another ball out into the shooter lane. Whenever the game needs to shoot a ball out for whatever reason that works fine and the coil hits hard. i usually get this after a ball it shot into the shooter lane usually 3 or 4 times then it stops until I drain. Any ideas on what to check?

I pulled and cleaned the trough, reflowed both through boards, transervers optos are all working. I do have another rciever board I could pull from another game but it seems odd that I only get soft coil hits No diod on this coil (maybe I should check to see if that is the correct coil also) switch test doesn't show anything going in and out even when shaking and hitting the machine.

Thanks

I've read this at least 10 times and still can't tell what it is you're trying to say / describe. Are you saying that it can't kick another ball out into the shooter lane after the first one?

Your Trough Jam opto is bad, or the game is seeing it as blocked. The 'light kicks' are the coil eject trying to get the balls to settle back down into the trough properly.

I posted a video in the FB Pinball repair group it can't here.

All the trough opto's work fine in test including the eject opto 31, the shooter lane switch works fine. Everything seems to work fine balls are kicked out fine when they are supposed to be even during multiball or ball saves.
Just say after ball one is shot into the shooter lane I get soft hits from the through coil usually 3 to 5 hits then it goes away until I drain then again after say ball 2 gets kicked out. They are soft fantom like hits, they are not hard enough to shoot a ball into the shooter lane. But if i drain and the ball saver is on it kicks out just fine, coil hits hard.

I pulled the through mech out cleaned and waxed the trough, reflowed the opto boards, the transmitters are all working.

With the game in switch test I never see anything going in or out even with shaking of the machine. I'm going to swap in another trough receiver board from another game but with the coil hits being soft it's not like a standard trough board issue with a bad or dirty opto at least it doesn't seem that way because I'm not getting extra alls put in play just soft coil hits from the trough coil.

Don't know what else to say, 'cept something's no right. That's what that 'light kicking' is doing, and why it's doing it.

I would start a game with the coin door open (with high-power interlock closed, so coils work, of course), and start a game. When the ball is kicked out to the shooter lane and it does the light jam kick, go into Test Mode, T.3 Single Switch Test, and look at switch 31. The graphic shoudl show a LIT/filled square (not an empty one) and the description on screen should *NOT* have an "(A)" on it.

Yeah No (A)

It doesn't seem like the normal through issues with extra balls getting kicked out and funny stuff like that. I just get these phantom soft coil hits after each main ball is kicked out usually not after a ball save ball or after multiball started.

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Cameron wrote this code, and specifically adjusted the coil kickout to AVOID kicking out a second ball. Yeah - he did that on purpose, and AFAIK, it was written into the OS this way so games / firmwares released afterward (and that used the new OS) took advantage of this feature.

Interesting, that's games after CV? I just had a transmitter go out on my Totan and it did the normal kick out extra balls and other stuff like that but this is the first time I've seen the week coil hits. good stuff to know.

I'm running the Home ROM you think that's got anything to do with it?

I'm going to swap the MPU to Driver board ribbon cable later tonight then the trough receiver board, after that not sure what else to try.

The Home ROM would cause it to fire like that. I mean, it would, but if it thought there was a ball stuck or something. My guess is that since the switch shows closed in switch test, likely you have a failing transmitter or receiver on your trough opto board. I'd do that before touching the board in the backbox.

Have you tried new balls, yours may be magnetized and not rolling all the way down after the ball is ejected. Also make sure there are no divots formed in the trough that will keep the balls from rolling down. Easy test for this would be to start game, have it eject the ball then quickly visually inspect or use switch test to see which optos show closed in the trough.

Just got my first CV, anything I should change or look for right away? Ball jumps high around the ringmaster I’m just assuming that he needs to be adjusted a rick lower. Thanks in advance!!

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Looks Awesome! Yeah just take a close look at the Ringmaster and how the Mech's geometry works in conjunction with the playfield. That unit is subject to not closing properly. Fortunately, once it is set up to work properly, it usually is good for the long haul. I would recommend the Ringmaster protection kit (ring and top) It allows you to get rid of the metal top that can damage the playfield.

Sweet thanks any specific kit better than the others?

The only one of those that's still in production that I know of is from the Mod Couple and I do NOT recommend it. I put it in mine and will be taking it back out when I get some time. The problem is that due to the design of the RM mech, how the position switches are actuated and the fact that the RM moves in both directions (dual direction motor drive) it is basically impossible to get it to stop exactly where you want it to be in the down position every time. With the metal top you can just adjust it so that it's always really lower than it may need to be but the metal top is flat and flexible enough to bend and compensate for it. With the Plastic top you can't do that anymore. I spent hours trying to tweak it by bending the switch actuator tabs but it's still not ideal and it leads to lots of ball hops. The other problem, or benefit if you think the game should be harder, is that making shots into the RM when fully up is much, much harder than it is without that ring in there. Without it stringing MB Jackpots together is fairly simple as long as you can control the balls when they get ejected, with it a lot of those get rejected and the shot is much tighter. In my opinion the slight amount of wear that occurs on the bare wood around the RM is very minor (I have a re-import that was routed and has who knows how many games on it) it better than this particular kit, don't know about the original one that's no longer available.

Make sure you have the Stern style metal cabinet leg protectors under those green plastic ones or they will cause wrinkling to the decals. Beautiful game, congrats!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/65611

I have this one. Works great. It’s also the original style that got re-run.

I hadn't seen that one before, looks like it's thinner than the Mod Couple one I have and may not cause so many rejects. Do you get any ball hop from it when the RM is down?

nope. no ball hop. Can shoot the ringmaster hole just fine.

Once I installed the plastic lid (needed to add a shim to get it leveled properly) I adjusted the downward travel just a hair so its flush. It was a little crooked in the opening so I applied some hand force to the base of the spring, giving it a little bend in the correct direction and its perfect now.

Hey guys, Where can I buy the bottom plastic piece that goes on the translite on the backbox to lift it out? Mine broke and I purchased a new one from pinball life but it's not thick enough for that plastic form back box to fit all the way in the track. I guess ours needs to be thicker for the plexi and plastic form. Anyone have a source? Thanks

Planetarypinball or bayareaamusements should have the thicker lift channel you need.

I have the old style kit and it works perfectly. That one in the market looks like the one I have. Well worth $$

Nothing on their sites but I sent them an e-mail to see. Thanks!

This should be it.
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=PP&Screen=PROD&Category_Code=GS-4059&Product_Code=PPS-03-9697

The game seems dark, any suggestions on GI led lighting colors/choices?

I also have this one and I find that there is zero ball hop. It did take me a while to get it dialed in though. Also I had to use a plastic razor blade to ensure the hole protector was laying the correct direction.

It is hard to tell but it looks like there is some color LEDs in the GI, I'd recommend you replace those with incandescent or the frosted Sunlight 2SMDs from Comet. That will help to brighten it up a lot. Blue and Purple are terrible at actually providing improved visibility when used in GI. I really like incandescent in this game but the same Sunlight LEDs are pretty good though you will probably get flickering unless you disable the dimming feature or add the GIOCD board.

I am putting LEDs in my Simpson's Pinball Party. Are the Comet sunlight better than cool white? I was going to put clear cool white under the inserts and most of the upper playfield. I would put a few frosted cool white at the slings and out lanes. Any thoughts? Thanks.

This is purely subjective as to which is better. I almost always prefer a warmer white unless the game is space themed or similar, if there were a hospital or doctor's office themed game (God forbid) I'd also choose cool white. Not sure how cool white would look in Simpsons but I think the Sunlights would be better. The warmer white is much closer to what you get from incandescent bulbs and to me is just generally more pleasing and doesn't provide "hot spots" as much. My other general rule of thumb (I'm sure someone else came up with it before me) is if I can see the bulb directly I use frosted, not clear LEDs, this applies to LEDs under sling plastics and some other ones as well.

Thanks. I always use frosted to not get blinded! I have some warm white frosted in pin now. I want to make sure the colors pop. The incandescent bulbs make the Simpson's look a little bit dull. I want to make the right choice before I spend a ton on 100+ bulbs.

I am going with sunlight frosted and clear from Comet. Thanks for the help!

Are the VOLTS in the middle of the playfield supposed to change the direction of the ball? Or do they have an adjustment to become more flush?

It will change the direction slightly. Check to make sure you have the cardboard spacer between the assembly and the bottom of the playfield.

Recently my ringmaster seems to be throwing the ball consistently in the same direction whereas it used to be fairly random. Is there something which could have changed?

My Ring Master needs a very gentle shake right before he releases the ball to launch it! If you shake it too hard he will just dump it off down the play field every time. When you shake the game gently it will move the ball (Magnetized) around the screw that is in the center. That will get it to launch when he releases it.

Do you have any more info about this? Perhaps even a link?

Going to instal my new ringmaster kit. How do I remove the top plate? Is my screw just mangled? If so will I have to drill it out?

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It's a phillips screw worn down from the ball. Yes, you have to drill it out.

Still looking for part number 04-10253-1. That's the elusive guard-ball guide with blue bumper pad kit. Anyone have one to sell, or willing to fabricate one?