Question for the group about making the circuit-breaker-adapters like what's pictured below. I have a 15A fuse on the 25V side of Atlantis blowing (I stumbled across it while testing something) and, although I'm not at the point where I'm ready to trouble shoot it yet (still need to rebuild the pops, flippers and drop-target bank, but THEN I'll be ready), I thought I'd go ahead and make one/some of these for this and future issues.

So my question is for the 15A issue, I'll use a 15A breaker and a 15A blown fuse, correct? Just making sure I shouldn't go with something different for some reason.

Thanks!

Mark

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Ok thanks!

Thanks, Patrick! I still have work to do but am making good progress. After some touch-ups, polish and waxing the PF has turned out quite nice. I'll post some pics. Got a huge parts order from PBR last night (including new drop targets, new plastics, new rubbers, new bumpers and rebuild kits, new flippers and rebuild kits, and more. It's going to look quite nice, in my opinion.

Fingers crossed I'll be able to track down the pesky 15A blown fuse that was happening last week when I was testing some things out... Stay tuned!

Hi everyone, I’ve made a ton of good progress, and I’ve posted a few more photos below. I thought it might be interesting (or phenomenally boring, ha ha) to list out every major step (lots of minor steps in between that I didn’t list) in this Atlantis pinball restoration odyssey so far.

So here’s the list of completed tasks, as well as a few things still to be done.

First, the completed list:

September 2015:
• Acquired game from Florida; determined cab and head were unusable due to termite damage; playfield and mechanicals complete and able to be restored
• Acquired back-glass from same seller (shipped separately), in good condition
• Removed bottom board, head insert board, and cabinet hardware
• (Playfield acquired with cabinet was from another Atlantis and is being used for this restoration)
• Located and acquired donor cabinet, pedestal and head from local collector, due to termite damage on original cabinet and head
• Removed existing hardware from donor cabinet/head and began process of ultra-sonic cleaning/tumbling as needed
• Stripped all paint from cabinet / head
• Sanded cabinet and head
• Applied bondo as needed, re-sanded.

October 2015:
• Painted 2 primer coats (white) to cabinet and head
• Painted base coat (antique white) to cabinet and head
• Applied speckle-paint to cabinet and head using black acrylic and flicking a tooth-brush

November 2015:
• Purchased Atlantis stencils from Pinball Pimp (Boise, Idaho)
• Painted stencils using sea-green and maroon red
• Dismantled, cleaned, serviced and reinstalled chime unit
• Dismantled, cleaned, serviced and reinstalled tilt unit

December 2015:
• Cleaned all head hardware, including Jones plugs, and reinstalled.
• Installed back-glass
• Installed new bulbs in head
• Placed large order with PBR for cabinet hardware including new legs, coin door, coin entry plate, flipper buttons, etc.
January-February 2016:
• Completely cleaned and adjusted bottom-board and mechanicals
• Installed all new cabinet hardware, including door, door receiver, coin entry plate, coin slots and legs (everything but the side-rails, for which I reinstalled the originals) and coin entry lights
• Installed bottom board and re-attached wiring for flippers, chime unit, tilt unit and coin door
• Completely cleaned and adjusted head-insert, including score reels and reinstalled in game (purchased good condition reels from ebay for inclusion on Atlantis earlier in the fall)
• Removed and completely serviced credit unit and ensured middle switch closed for free-play, reinstalled
• Completely serviced player unit and ensured proper functioning through all 5 balls and Game Over
• Temporarily put playfield back in game and started the game to ensure correct start-up sequence, balls advance 1-5 to game-over, and score reels reset to zero on startup. (100% operation confirmed)
• Removed playfield again
• Removed all playfield hardware
• Commenced work on underside of playfield: Cleaned and adjusted all playfield switches, rollovers and relays. Removed and reinstalled relay bracket, slingshot brackets, flipper brackets for cleaning
• Bent bracket that was mis-shapen on drop-target bank back into correct shape (eventually replaced with a new one; the bent one still wasn’t quite right)
• Continued ongoing process of ultra-sonic-cleaning, tumbling and hand polishing (Mother’s Metal Polish) metal parts
• Completely serviced “bonus” (sequence completed) unit and ensured 100% operation. Reapplied original “Sequence Completed Switch” decal that had come loose from game.
• Placed second large order with PBR for various playfield parts
• Tumbled all remaining metal parts, including wire guides, screws visible on playfield, etc. (liquid polish and walnut shell media in tumbler)
• Did spot touch-ups using Sharpie Markers and auto polishing compound, using process that Tim Meighan in Seattle taught me.
• After all touch-ups were complete, taped off all lights / drop targets and waxed playfield (2 coats carnauba)
• Installed new door plug and coin reject rods and retaining rings in brand new front door
• Purchased playfield protector (Bay Area Amusements) – even though I’ve sunk this cost ($119), I’m not 100% convinced I’ll go with this. Still debating.
• Put rollover switches back in place and double-checked adjustment of all switches.
• Installed new bulbs, plugged in playfield and tested sockets for needed soldering
• Removed PF again and soldered as needed, including 2 broken wires on drop-target bank
• Placed back in game and re-test lighting
• Cleaned wooden playfield guides with Murphy’s Oil Soap (wood cleaner) and reinstalled to playfield.
• Installed new PF posts
• Re-installed stand-up targets
• Removed and replaced white insert in 2 star rollovers with new ones (kept the red surrounding targets in place)
• Completely cleaned and serviced drop-target bank, replaced bent bracket and all 10 drop targets with new ones. Adjusted switches.
• Removed, cleaned and re-attached slingshot brackets and switches
• Re-Installed tumbled wireframes (re-bent two that were slightly mi-sshapen)
• Installed new rubbers
• Installed playfield protector to try it out – still unsure if I’ll go with this or not.
• Install brand-new plastics, and plastic ball guides
• Reinstall cleaned, polished and painted (white top arch) top arches
• Reinstall cleaned hardware for underneath the bottom-apron, including a new return lane to replace broken one, as well as deflector shield and other metal hardware.
• Completely rebuilt flippers and installed with new flippers and rubbers

The home stretch: Here’s what’s still to do (I can see the end!):

1. Re-service 1000s score reel (sticks between 9 and 0 occasionally) will do this weekend
2. Install drink holder! (Pin Gulp is awaiting installation!) will do this weekend (will try it out with a cold beer)
3. Rebuild bumpers on Monday evening, once bumper-skirts arrive (I forgot to order these in that last huge parts order!). I’ve already got the new switches installed, so I just need to assemble the bumper bodies, mount them to the PF, re-mount the coils/brackets, and do the soldering.
4. Install new shooter gauge and apron (I’ve acquired good ones through a collector in NY and will install once they arrive)
5. Install back-door (I’ve acquired this from the same collector I got the shooter gauge and apron from, and will install upon arrival.)
6. Replace coil on 1000s chime unit
7. Get and install new score and instruction cards (still looking for a nice set of these!)
8. “Tacks” for back? (the white plastic “tacks” that are in the back of the game for when it’s stood on end. Not sure where to get these).
9. TBD: Clear-coat backglass?

Hopefully by this time next week: Play and enjoy!

A few shots of the PF as I began de-populating it for restoration:

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Re-attached labels like this that had come off of the bottom-board and underside of the PF:
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Cleaned and serviced all of the bottom board and mechanicals:
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Another dirty playfield shot (sorry these are out of order a bit)
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Dirt-flipper helped me here. I had a wire going to the ground lug that should have gone to a different transformer lug (no wonder the game wouldn't start! That's now fixed).
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More pics. You'll notice the full PF pics I took don't have the bumpers (rebuilding those Monday), and no flippers (took the top-side photos before I rebuilt, but you can see the new flipper mechs on the under-side pic). You'll also notice in the full-pf shots if you zoom in, I'm trying out the clear playfield protector. Can't decide if I want to keep it on or not. It has pros and cons.

I'll post a bunch of really good, close up "glamour shots" once it's all done next week...

Again some of these are out of order, but hopefully they're interesting. In this one, I had rebuilt the drops, completely cleaned, polished, partially touched-up (I say partially because there was a spot or two I decided to leave alone) the PF art, waxed it, reinstalled new drop targets, new posts, new rubbers, new plastics, polished wire guides, new wood guides, new top-arch and the hardware under where the apron will go. I also put the playfield protector on to test it out:
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Back glass is in good shape. Very minor flaking in the "Atlantis" name and in 1-2 other spots. The reason only the "A" area is illuminated is that I'm experimenting with some old flashers (or blinkers? I can never keep straight which is which) behind the name, just to bring it to life. Might just stick with the regular 47s for that part, but I like to play around with it a bit. Only really noticeable spot is near the swordfish's face above the reels. Might put a frosted/colored LED under there to make it less noticeable. We'll see. Sometimes I still can't believe that I (one of the least artistic people on the planet) pulled off that cabinet repaint. I think it looks great.
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Completely rebuild bumper coils/mechanisms (will rebuild bodies and install on Monday). After I took this photo, I applied a tiny bit of super glue to the plastic tabs on the one on the left where they'd cracked (thanks Dirt for the tip):
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Completely rebuild flippers. Paper wrapper came off of the one on the left, but the coil is fine so I added a protective layer of electrical tape.
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Drop target bank was in the process of being completely disassembled and cleaned, and targets replaced. You can see the new targets in a close-up in another pic below.
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Another full-on shot without bumpers, flippers (now installed) or Apron. Getting close.
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Ok so question for the group: Apparently, the Sample Game versions of Atlantis had the white bumper bodies with green stripes and green caps, and white skirts. Then, later, the production versions had red/red bumpers.

I just learned of this, but before I did, as I was prepping my most recent PBR order, I was reading my Gottlieb "Installation Procedures and Game Operation Instructions" manual for Atlantis, and on the Playboard Information Page (pageit says:

"Green Pop Bumper A-13905 and A-11426 in Green" where it lists the playfield parts. I'm guessing they never updated the manual for the color scheme of the production games?

Anyway, after reading that (and not knowing this was the "Sample Game" color configuration, I ordered the Green/Green from PBR. It wasn't until I called PBR back yesterday (after realizing I'd forgotten the bumper skirts and needed to order new ones before I could finish rebuilding the bumpers) that I was informed that white skirts are what goes with the green bumpers/caps, and that this combo was what was used on the sample games.

Since this is a restoration anyway, and I'm clearly not trying to pass this off as a sample game (I just want a beautiful, fun game to play), would going green/white be the way most folks would go?

I guess what I'm asking is: Is this one of those "it's your game, do what makes you happy" things, or, since it's not really a sample game, am I going to get grief from fellow collectors, etc. if I take it to a show or try to sell it with that configuration of colors and it's not really a sample game. Hope that makes sense.

Good call.

I'm thinking of making a set of scorecards using Inkotchnito's PDF files for Atlantis. Anyone ever done this and have a good recommendation for a card stock to print them on? I am wondering if there's a way to get a coated paper (almost laminated) that looks slightly yellowed like most Gottlieb scorecards do. And then, laser printer? Inkjet?

Question: On Gottlieb chime units, do the little nylon washers for the chime-bars go above, or below, the chime bars? Do they go between the bars and the nylock nut? Or between the bar and the body of the unit? Or both? And what's the proper number on each post?

Thanks!

Thanks, Mike!

Another question. Just doing some fine-tuning on Atlantis' scoring, and I notice that occasionally if I have 9, or sometimes even just 8, drop targets down, it resets the whole bank, rather than waiting for me to get all 10 down.

I assume this is an adjustment issue for the switch that sits by itself on the target-bank assembly, on the side facing the middle of the game?

Thanks, Dirt! I'm on it!

Hi guys, I'm proud to announce that after about 4 months of work (some of the delay was financial), I am now the proud owner of a fully functioning, beautiful 1975 Gottlieb Atlantis -- one of my 'holy grail' games.

What started as a termite-riddled, unusable cabinet and head and a bunch of playfield and mechanical parts in serious need to some TLC, has become -- through the acquisition of a donor head, pedestal and cabinet, a full repaint, a complete shop-out of every mechancial part, replacement of most of the external chrome parts, new drops, bumpers, flippers and lane-guides, and a total investment (game, parts, shipping, supplies) of about $1,400 (yes, alot, but I think I could come close to getting that back if I ever needed to), is now a beautifully restored game. Included in that is a playfield protector, which I debated long and hard about. It has pros and cons, but because it levels out the cupped inserts on the bagatelle right-side of the playfield, I decided to go with it. It's possible I'll buy one of the new PFs that Wade is doing and do a full swap at some point.

For now, while certainly not museum quality, I feel great that another of these wonderful games that had been left for dead (this one had been left for dead on someone's porch in Florida) is now in someone's collection getting lots of love, tons of play, and has already become a favorite in my humble collection.

My only remaining touches are to replace the score/instruction card in the apron (working on that), and create a replica manufacturer's certificate for the top arch (also working on that). Here are some photos of the final project (early pics in this thread show you what I started with):

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Yeah that's the primary "con" in the "pros and cons" of the protector. I can't for the life of me figure out why they thought they needed to make it that way. While it makes the ball roll perfectly across the inserts, it does occasionally affect the ball movement across the rollovers, depending on the ball's speed and direction. But overall, the game-play is great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks, yeah the green/white is what the sample Atlantises (Atlanti?) had. Thought is was a cool combo. Hmmm...Perhaps I should buy different coin slot stickers?

Thanks, Hoov! A year ago I bought my first EM (a 1977 Bronco). It's long-gone now, and 9 games later I feel I have learned so much. Thanks to everyone here on Pinside!

Thanks! Any recommendation for the LED?

Thank you! And that's my plan! Saving one game at a time. I'm already on the hunt -- wish I could find a Jacks Open or Lucky Hand!

Thanks, pocketscience!

Thanks, presqueisle!

Thanks, Electrocute! Small world!