Joined the cirqus this week. Hooray. One of my top 5 games ever. Yay.

It's got a few issues, & I have little time, so I'm combing through the game & this thread to see what sort of mods/work/upgrades/repairs/prevention I want to implement.

A couple quick questions:

1 - Where do I stick these? I did reglue the long sticker on the hold-up-the-playfield-lock-bar thingie at back left. But I'm not sure where this related sticker goes. And the zappy sticker goes somewhere inside the coin door?
1 (resized).JPG

2 - Is this a hold-the-weak-back-left-playfield-together custom bracket, or is this a standard factory bracket to interface with the lock thingy?
2 (resized).JPG

3 - The backbox has the real metal bell mod. The ball doesn't seem to be very effective. It often falls short, & it was actually wedged & stuck up against the bell (at about 10:00). It was like that when I brought the game home & put the head up. The ball might be too thick (and heavy?).
What's the recommended ball to use to ding the real bell?

More questions shall trickle in along the way! =D

Thanks,
-Jason

Thanks for the replies. I'm continuing to chip away at open items on my CV.

1 - Glued the big decal under the Ringmaster. Haven't yet found out where the zappy electrical shocked guy sticker goes. I'm looking for a telltale rectangular "shadow" somewhere in the cabinet.

2 - On my to-do list is to inspect the back left corner of the PF for damage, then fab something accordingly. This PF is too goshdarn heavy for me to pop out to see the back left corner. I used to be able to handily swap my P2K PFs, as they were pretty light & had full-length rails. What's the technique for 1 muscularly challenged person to pull out a PF?

3 - The backbox tub had been repaired. Although it looks really uglypants (pipe strap!), it seems solid, so it's not a priority for me now.
What seems to be more significant is that the previous guy switched to foosball balls to better *ding* the metal bell. I've got 4 yellow balls & 1 orange ball. Stats below. One of the heavier ones was installed. Looks as if the larger diameter & mass of a foosball is a likely culprit for the ball sticking & not dinging the bell. Perhaps a swap to a beefier coil is supposed to accompany this mod? Does #5 below look like a stock ball?
1-4: diameter: 1.455-1.457", mass: 26g
5: diameter 1.397", mass: 10g

4 - I seem to have 2 menagerie balls. The blue one looks nicer, so I polished it a bit & put it back in the machine. It seems to work, so no immediate issues here.
6&7: diameter: 1.93-1.94", mass: 6g (7 says "EURO-MATIC, MADE IN DENMARK")

Thanks,
-Jason

20170822_225226 (resized).jpg

20170822_225228 (resized).jpg

20170822_225713 (resized).jpg

Thanks.

Electrified zappy guy: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/welcome-to-the-circus-cv-club-for-owners-fans/page/11#post-3925515

-Jason

Thanks for the replies!

1 - Stuck the zapped guy sticker in the correct location. Found some pics online showing where it goes. I was thrown off because the sticker spans a step between 2 parts in the coin door. Anyway, glued!

3 - Cleaned up the orange cannonball (alcohol, Novus 1, 3, 2, 1, alcohol). It was quite dingy at first. Now rather shiny. Installed. Popped the cannon 5-6 times or so. It's got pep & hits the bell every time, with a tiny *ding*. Maybe I'll look into *slightly* heavier balls later, but it seems good.

4 - My neon is red, my menagerie ball is blue. No idea if either is factory. Neon wouldn't turn on in self-test menu mode, but it does come off & on a bit during attract mode. What is the normal neon behavior, so I know if it's acting normally vs. being intermittent?

5 - Did service bulletin 5 last night. The funky sheet metal that protects the spinner switch under the neon required a little bending so it wouldn't pinch wires on the next lower switch. I left off the bracket that protects the DMD cover, as it won't go on unless you trim the cover. Installed a new DMD cover. See pics for hilarious cover that was on the game when I got it--despite it looking terrible, it actually looked A-OK when installed & w/ the playfield in place...but once I saw how fubar it was, it irked me. Then I practiced how to get the PF in & out w/out busting it--not hard--requires just a bit of care.

In the mail are: rubbers, blackout mod, Ringmaster hole protector/cover, coin box, standup targets, pop bumper skirts, green shooter rod spring, clear flipper buttons (which I'll backlight), 3x roller switch for locks, leg protectors. When the rings come in, I'll do a halfway torn-down top-side clean & wax. That's all... :]

Thanks,
-Jason

20170823_204706 (resized).jpg
20170823_204713 (resized).jpg
20170823_204728 (resized).jpg

http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=387

Worked on the backbox last night: cleaning, putting in LEDs, cable management, lubricating 5-point wheel thing, checking/cleaning solenoid, etc.

My attempts at using subdued frosted colored LEDs & color-matching tastefully looks pretty blecchhh. Just way too many odd colors in this art package.

I'm going clear all the way on this game (except maybe a few flashers like the domed one).

Going through the parts list, I came up with the following bulb totals. Has anybody counted or verified if this is accurate?

48x 44/47 bayonet
2x 89 bayonet flasher
77x 555 wedge
17x 906 wedge flasher

---

Also, regarding an accurate rubber ring count, don't forget the 3 little ones in the backbox! My black ones were old & dry, probably the source of some of those black mark trails from the cannonball. New clear ones on there look fab & should keep the backbox cleaner.

Thanks,
-Jason

Who me? Oh, nothing special to document. It's just another CV...I'm being slow & meticulous in getting it squared away before playing (& I have precious little time on my hands in general...), & I don't expect to have any visually interesting mods to share.

Here are 2 pics after I got the head up & the scrolls on. Enjoy.

Thanks,
-Jason

20170816_230408 (resized).jpg

20170816_230417 (resized).jpg

Howdy-

I'm rebuilding my Boom! balloon assembly, & there are 2 things that don't seem right.

1: The manual shows 1X item 57, 23-6626 Grommet, between the bumper body & cap ("Boom" plastic). My game had no grommets, just 1 small shim (Velcro?) between the bumper body & cap at the hole closer to the point of the teardrop (the screw closer to the flippers).
Are there supposed to be 2 of these grommets? For shock absorption?

2: For the little lamp PCB assembly, item 16, is there anything holding it in place, apart from its 2 wires? It was rather cockeyed when I opened up the pop bumper, but I have it sitting a bit better now. Just seeing if it should have some further retention.

Thanks,
-Jason

Boom (resized).JPG

Ah, I see. The sot-tipped set screw at the bottom of the assembly controls the height of the pop bumper (essentially where the rear screw attaches the cap plastic to the body), then the front screw w/ grommet (or substitute) can be adjusted to bring the front edge of the plastic up or down to align it.

Clever!

Thanks,
-Jason

Stripped the top side, cleaned a few times over, waxed 4 times, tumble polishing or hand-polishing all steel. That took almost 5 months on the calendar (not much time to work on this...kids...).

Finally ready for re-assembly, with all new flipper mechs, new coils, new sleeves, new rubbers, new bumper parts, etc! Good thing I took oodles of photos--my memory isn't nearly good enough to remember how to put it all back together! =O

-Jason

20180117_221843 (resized).jpg

Could somebody please take a couple of side view photos of the spoon switch + lamp terminals stack on the boom balloon assembly?

I'm replacing the spoon + leaf switch, but the other spacers & lugs/diode for the pop bumper lamp are also stacked with the spoon/leaf assembly.

Tricky (for me, at least) to replace just part of this stack & keep everything else intact & in order & such, including keeping the spoon at the correct height relative to the bumper wafer shaft.

For reference, p. 2-27 from the manual (p. 133 of the PDF).

Thank you,
-Jason

Boom Switch (resized).JPG

Thanks, Rozeks.
I got it back together. A little trial & error & leaf switch tweaking & all's well.
So, no need for pics.
Thanks,
-Jason

Anybody have a spare 04-10253-1? The bracket that holds the blue rubber block to the right of the ringmaster.
They seem to be unavailable anywhere.

My machine has the mirror image part, 04-10253. This is dorky, as ringmaster orbit shots that enter on the left bounce off it on their way out the right. Doy.
20170921_210807 (resized).jpg

I have a temporary "solution" in the meantime *blush*.
20190708_230832 (resized).jpg

Thanks,
-Jason

Oooh, please tell me a bit more!

If you've got the P/N or manual details handy, or can just at least point to where it goes on the machine, then I can do some digging to find the deets.

Thanks for the tip--In my recent search, Pinbits was one of the many places I'd found that was OoS/Discontinued on this P/N. I contacted Pinbits & got an instant response telling me that Marco has them. Nope, Marco has the mirror image part. I then pointed this out in a follow-up to Pinbits. No reply yet.

Thanks,
-Jason

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

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.)
20190712_175416 (resized).jpg20190712_175427 (resized).jpg20190712_175448 (resized).jpg20190712_175510 (resized).jpg20190712_175519 (resized).jpg

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.

If you've got some gumption & the right tool, you can use a Dremel w/ a cutoff disk & carefully widen one of those Phillips slots to be big enough to accommodate a flathead screwdriver.
I've done it plenty of times, but never inside the sensitive environment of a pinball machine.
You'd have to do some seriouspants shielding/masking to contain all the debris.
[Whoops, saw others recommending the same.]

Other options:
Try a small Phillips driver--tap it in gently w/ a hammer, tapping as hard as you're comfortable. Use as much downforce as you can while you back out the screw.
Or you get can some success w/ a stripped-out Phillips head (not really stripped in this case, so technique may not apply) by tapping w/ a small flathead screwdriver w/ hammer to try to bite into one of the remaining slots on the +.

There are also screw back-out tools that can bite & back out a screw, plus a sort of barbed mesh you can stuff in a stripped screw & then cram your Phillips into it to try to get purchase. But those 2 techniques are more for stripped-out heads, where the cavity is too large to grip w/ your driver. Your screw has the opposite problem...

Please report back after giving it a go--this is golden information to share!

Thanks,
-Jason

My kids have been playing more pinball lately, during quarantine.

I don't know how my 4-year-old girl did this to the CV in the 15 minutes or so that she was playing, but when I showed up:

1. Screen telling player to shoot, but no ball in shooter lane.
2. Ball search kicking in.
3. Ball missing.
4. Credit dot.
5. Where's the ball? It went back there, gesturing somewhere towards back right.
6. Power off. I'll fix this later.

Later

7. Confirm 3 balls.
8. Test report shows 3 switch problems.
9. Pull playfield. When pulling out, hear a CLUNK at the back of the cabinet. I don't know where the ball was, but it fell off the PF into the cabinet as soon as I pulled the PF out a little. That's a new one.
10. One flagged switch was in the backbox. Go into coil test to shoot the backbox ball a few times. Click. Click. Click.
11. WHERE'S THE CANNONBALL!??!?!
12. Oh, it's wedged in the very top right of the backbox, stuck between a flasher & the right frame. That's a new one.
13. Pull backbox assembly, tilt it over to tip the ball out.
14. Another flagged switch: upper jet bumper. Both skirt switches needed cleaning. I *had* noticed the lower one being a bit lethargic, so I can't pin that one on my daughter.
15. Another flagged switch: right loop upper. OK, this one actually does come up pretty regularly but then it clears. Switch works when pressed by my finger. Switch actuates when a ball rolls over it. Kooky.

Well, it's great when what looks like a handful of issues are actually non-issues.

Phew!

-Jason

Sooo, I think my balls are a little magnetized. Turned off the machine mid-game & came back about 6 hours later & did a double-take when I saw this.

-Jason

mag (resized).JPG

Epilogue:

16. Went to play CV yesterday.
17. Kids say, "It doesn't work! Katherine was playing it & it stopped working!"
18. "But I just fixed up everything!"
19. Start game.
20. No balls.
21. Did I forget to put the balls back in a couple of days ago? That's unlikely. I always rest them on the lock bar receiver or on the next game. I don't think I've ever misplaced a set of balls before.
22. Look everywhere. Yup. No balls in there. I'll put 4 new balls in & the others will turn up sometime.
23. Playing along fine.
24. Shoot left orbit.
25. Ball disappears.
26. "That's what happened to me, Daddy! The ball disappeared & then the green guy went up & down!"
27. Lift PF.
28. There's a traffic jam of FIVE BALLS in the upper center/left subway entrance.
29. "I found the balls!"
30. No idea how they got stuck.
31. I raked the pitch up a little bit to discourage any jam here.

What kid-induced surprises will next week hold!!?!??

-Jason

IMG_20200609_101031 (resized).jpg

High Wire kickout.

I swear it used to kick out just 1 if I had a couple locked up there & it needed to get 1 back.

The last few times it's kicked out, the lock post goes down & stays down, allowing all 3 to dump.

All 3 switches seem to register nicely, I'm using the fancy roller-arm switches.
The post moves freely. The post kicks down & up very quickly during coil test. So, I don't think the post is binding.

Does this behavior indicate a switch issue?

Thanks!
-Jason

Thanks for the feedback.
The switches all behave in self-test.
I tried gameplay to get 3 balls in the high wire lock, then went into switch test. All 3 switches closed nicely.

Test 1: Player 1 lock 2 balls, then drain. Player 2 lock 1 ball. Game says "watch for ramp kickout", does long coil pulse, dropping all 3 balls.
Test 2: After doing multiball for a player, putting the ball on the ramp will advance towards strike an arc. Player 1 lock 2 balls. Player 2 put a 3rd ball on the ramp. Game says something about "X more for strike an arc" & does a short pulse, dropping just 1 ball nicely.

So, appears to be how it's coded, unless there's a switch registration nuance.

In other news, if the 2nd or 3rd balls come in hot, they can jam the 1st ball up off the wireform a little and sort of bind it between the lock post & the overhead guide. This can then hamper the ball release entirely.
Is a solution to bend that overhead guide down a little to prevent the 1st ball from shifting upward?

Thanks,
-Jason

cv balls (resized).JPG

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, ROM version 2.0H.
Wow, that "roof" of the wireform above the switches is beefy. I squeezed w/ channel locks pretty hard & didn't budge it. I'm not going to squeeze any harder.

Did encounter a Watch For Ramp Kickout scenario today.
It behaved this time. Kicked out 1 ball. I eyed the balls before the kickout. They were seated nicely.

I wager I get the misbehavior when ball 1 is wedged up a little off the 1st switch.
I'll keep an eye on it & report back if there's anything interesting to share.

Thanks,
-Jason

Go figure. Not magnetized balls.
The WOW decal had debonded a little & was shaped like a volcano around the screw head.

So, the ball was mechanically resting in a little mini depression. Enough to make the magnet have trouble kicking it off.

Solution: a little Liquid Control Loctite Super Glue under the decal & mush it back down.

Much better now!

-Jason

New ball stick location discovered! This is what my daughter did the other day. My son did it today. Ball "disappeared" when Ringmaster magnet shook it off, & ball falls into cabinet when pulling out PF partway.

This time, I figured out where it got stuck:
Sitting on a plastic at the back
Resting against a plastic hold-down nut & the switch on the underside of the ramp.
(not resting on that switch's wires, despite appearances)

I don't see an easy & elegant fix for this trap spot.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-Jason

IMG_20200707_151444 (resized).jpg

IMG_20200707_151532 (resized).jpg

Welcome. It's a wild ride.

Straight from the factory, this is visually one of the loudest, gaudiest machines ever.
Its color palette is freaky.

And it's great
Just.
Like.
That.
It's an insane circus fer cryin; out loud!

It doesn't need color "accents" or "highlights."
Ugh. Those just look forced or wacky or cast 1 color of light across an area of artwork that's jammed full of all sorts of manic colors.

Color-matched LEDs under colored inserts (or go white--doesn't really make a difference).
Cool white LEDs for GI & every other light (or warm white, per personal preference).
Keep the DMD monochrome.

I *did* add the GI blackout PCB. Inexpensive, trivial to install, makes some of the lighting modes more dramatic.

The GI OCD looks attractive. The LEDs do flicker a fair amount, which is a nuisance. But I understand it requires hooking up to a PC for programming before installing in the game, which is a turn-off for me.

My $0.02. Let the opinions fly! =D

Thanks,
-Jason

PS: when I tore down the PF for restoration, I also removed forced colors by using clear posts, clear star posts, clear rubber (including flipper rubbers), & silver chrome flippers (OK, replacing white w/ chrome isn't really a color removal...ya got me...)

Oooh! Thanks for the correction!

Happy to learn!

1. So, how does the GI OCD perform out of the box when installed in a CV?
2. Does it dim all GI LEDs smoothly?
3. Does it also make the backbox GI LEDs follow the same behavior as the PF LEDs? (thereby obviating the need for the Blackout PCB)

Thanks!
-Jason

Wuzza wuzza whaaaah?

Tech question: an intermittent problem (my favorite!!!)

I have the Pinbits Auto Eddy Board.

Usually, it works fine.

Sometimes, it will stop registering Ringmaster hits.
This behavior continues in later balls & in later games. It doesn't "fix itself."

What will *always* fix it is: enter switch test, run a ball back & forth over it a few times, then it starts registering fine (sometimes for maybe half an hour, sometimes for weeks).
What sometimes fixes it, but usually(?) for a shorter period of time: power cycle the game.

At first, I thought it was losing connection, so I checked the wires & connectors, & I reflowed the solder on the pin headers.
Then, because I later found that the switch test or game power cycle revives it, I'm pretty confident that it's not a flaky connection.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
-Jason

Thank you.

I just played a couple of games. Ringmaster not registering.

I checked the Auto Eddy Boards setting. It is indeed set to "NO".

Just for fun, I switched it to "YES". The Ringmaster hits didn't register, and when I went into test mode, the Test Report popped up & said that Top Eddy wasn't working. So, having that set incorrectly leads to an immediate & obvious & 100% error, not the mostly-working condition that I have.

I set it back to "NO". No hits registered. I entered switch test & passed the ball over it a few times.
Revived, working for now.

I'm wondering if I should be looking at the switch module or the Eddy PCB...?

Thanks,
-Jason

[no longer available, thanks]

Figured I'd offer this to my fellow Qlowns before the rest of the world.

FS: 1 Pinbits Blackout mod. Bought 3 years ago, installed & started using about 1 year ago. It's FABULOUS.

Then why am I selling? I just put in a GI OCD, so this is now redundant.

New ones are $35 + shipping. http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=387

Howzabout $23 shipped USPS First Class to the US?

Thanks,
-Jason

IMG_20200827_154759 (resized).jpgIMG_20200827_154813 (resized).jpg

I went through this a while ago. I modified my bracket by drilling a new hole & pressing in a second PEM nut:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/welcome-to-the-circus-cv-club-for-owners-fans/page/19#post-5091471

Look for my posts starting around #895 for the scoop.

-Jason

None has fallen out yet!

Jason

Yup, yup, yup.

Yes, that's what I bought from Pinball Life in 2017.

Jason

I had a little similar weirdness on the ramp. New switches. Sometimes had premature releases.

The angle of my game was a little too shallow, & the 2nd or 3rd locked balls would sometimes clunk into the 1st ball & make the 1st ball ride up the cone tip of the ball blocker shaft just a little. Just enough to disengage the switch, even though the switch looked as if it were engaged.

I made my machine a tad steeper & haven't seen that happen since.

Look through my previous posts--it was maybe a few months ago.

-Jason

I bought mine from Rockland Pinball recently.
Some confusion and delay, but I got it and fixed my dead neon.

Jason

Neat. Can you please elaborate? Sometimes my VUK takes several tried to VUK the ball.

In your picture, which is the old unit, the one on the right?

Can you take a side picture to show the difference?

Thank you,
-Jason

Public service announcement: if your slings go dead or sloppy, go here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cirqus-voltaire-slingshot-mystery#post-5973316

That thread got me back up & running.

-Jason

Pinbits Auto Eddy Board question:

Mine works fine, until it doesn't.
It randomly will stop working, either a short while into a game, or it might be fine for weeks & then stop registering hits. (has no correlation with speed of ball)

To "revive" it, I just go into test mode, then back, which seems to cut & restore the board's 12V power to reset it.

I was going to order another one to swap in, to see if the problem persists or goes away (which should tell me the culprit).
However, the Pinbits page for this product has no "ADD TO CART" button!
https://pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_4&products_id=202

I haven't been able to get in touch with them: phone (no answer, VM full), contact form on website, Pam's e-mail from previous exchanges.

Any suggestions on getting one in hand, or another option to pursue?

Thank you,
-Jason

Pinbits isn't taking orders (Possibly out of business? Look for the thread about this.)
I got GI OCD, which is *fantastic* and includes the blackout functionality.

Thanks,
Jason

Here's my top-side teardown photo gallery. It was about 2 years on the calendar between starting the project & finishing it, so I needed to document everything as I went.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cirqus-voltaire-cv-playfield-restoration

Thanks,
-Jason

I got my replacement neon transformer from Rockland Pinball last year.

Jason

Popper fixed. I was getting inconsistent results. Sometimes strong, sometimes weak, & as a game progressed, so weak that it often wouldn't pop at all.

New bracket + coil + sleeve + stopper from Little Shop of Games & it's working like a champ.

Hmmm, I can't imagine why the old bracket was problematic...???

If anybody wants the bent old one, I'll ship for free to the US. It could probably be straightened out.

Thanks,
-Jason

PXL_20211125_194715342 (resized).jpg

PXL_20211125_194735389 (resized).jpg

Bent bracket claimed.

Nigh impossible to find.
I made my own, posted, and somebody on this thread commissioned me to make a small run, which he put up for sale. Do some digging here or in the marketplace.

Thanks,
Jason

I bought that part, carefully located and drilled the correct-sized hole, and pressed in the correct PEM threaded standoff with a PEM press.

Back then, I had access to a machine shop with the right equipment.

But you've got the right idea, and it can be done with simpler hand and power tools.

Jason

Then, because your bracket will now have 2 threaded standoffs, punch 1 more hole in the blue rubber. Tool like a leather punch or hole punch works well enough.

Jason

[redo below--I had many an error]

It so happens that we get balls stuck in that back right corner every now & then. Not super often, but often enough to be a nuisance.

I decided to tackle it today. It appeared that the ball was stuck to the right of the yellow flasher dome, trapped by the ramp switch wires (the switch just before the magnet) that drape across towards the right before they sink through the plastic cover & through the PF.
So, I rerouted that pair of wires & tidied up the neon transformer wires & highwire magnet wires. I put tape over the large hole in the plastic cover for good measure.

That should cover it, right?

WRONG!

I placed a ball there & it immediately got stuck. The ball is being stopped by contacting the underside of the highwire mini PF, *not* by wires.

Then I remembered that I had both SB kits & had previously installed some of the features.

There was the bracket! Definitely going with Bally's fix.

The instructions indicate cutting out the bottom right corner of the DMD plastic frame, then slipping this bracket behind the plastic. That's why I never put this in before--I didn't want to cut that plastic at the time, & I thought (incorrectly) that cutting the plastic was a necessity for installing this bracket.

You can add the bracket behind the plastic if you first sandwich the bracket & plastic & then place them both over the threaded stud.

So, in summary, I do recommend putting on the bracket--easy & effective solution to a moderate nuisance.

Thanks for posting that picture at the right time, which jogged my memory & helped motivate me.
-Jason

PXL_20220222_010305367 (resized).jpg

PXL_20220222_010311223 (resized).jpg

Anybody looking to join the Cirqus? I'm looking to resign.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/137822

Thanks,
-Jason