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Williams Lucky Inning - repair project, questions

By memcdowell1s

3 years ago

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12 posts
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Latest reply 9 months ago by pinballnut
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Lucky Inning Williams, 1950

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#1 3 years ago

MEM

Hello all,
New to the pinball world, though I used to have a handful of classic video arcades. I just inherited two ancient EM machines from my grandmother's basement; a Willams Lucky Inning and a Chicago Coin Kilroy. These have been dormant for a LOOONG time, possibly late 1960s. Kilroy's a flipperless early postwar game, so kinda lame, but I'd love to get them both working as they're practically family heirlooms at this point.

IMG_2921 (resized).jpeg

Lucky Inning appears to be clean and unmolested, so I'm starting with it. I'm working through some online guides and checking over everything before first power on, since I have no idea if it was all working when last used over a half century ago. First oddity I noticed; a loose poorly-soldiered wire dangling from one leg of the flipper solenoid with the other end disconnected, and another one on the right flipper switch. Any ideas what this might be about? Would anybody know of a schematic?

IMG_2919 (resized).jpeg

IMG_2920 (resized).jpeg

Also, maybe half a dozen wires have holes in insulation, likely from a hungry mouse. What's the best approach to patching the old cloth-insulated wiring? Just electrical tape, or de-solder and run shrink tubing over it? I don't want to disturb the old wiring harness any more than I have to.

Thanks, all!

#2 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

OP
Quoted from memcdowell1s:
Hello all,
New to the pinball world, though I used to have a handful of classic video arcades. I just inherited two ancient EM machines from my grandmother's basement; a Willams Lucky Inning and a Chicago Coin Kilroy. These have been dormant for a LOOONG time, possibly late 1960s. Kilroy's a flipperless early postwar game, so kinda lame, but I'd love to get them both working as they're practically family heirlooms at this point.
[quoted image]
Lucky Inning appears to be clean and unmolested, so I'm starting with it. I'm working through some online guides and checking over everything before first power on, since I have no idea if it was all working when last used over a half century ago. First oddity I noticed; a loose poorly-soldiered wire dangling from one leg of the flipper solenoid with the other end disconnected, and another one on the right flipper switch. Any ideas what this might be about? Would anybody know of a schematic?
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
Also, maybe half a dozen wires have holes in insulation, likely from a hungry mouse. What's the best approach to patching the old cloth-insulated wiring? Just electrical tape, or de-solder and run shrink tubing over it? I don't want to disturb the old wiring harness any more than I have to.
Thanks, all!

Heat shrink tubing would be best if possible. I have also used liquid electrical tape. Easy to brush on, comes in colors to not make everything all black if there is a lot of chew damage to wires in the same area. I have found with electrical tape, it loses tack after awhile and rolls or falls off.
Mike

PS...I have a Lucky Inning, I was planning on restoring this winter. If you don't get any answers to your stray wires, let me know. When I open mine, I will take a look.

#3 3 years ago

MEM

memcdowell1s

Inactive member

Unknown

3y 9,400 3 1

Quoted from packie1:
Heat shrink tubing would be best if possible. I have also used liquid electrical tape. Easy to brush on, comes in colors to not make everything all black if there is a lot of chew damage to wires in the same area. I have found with electrical tape, it loses tack after awhile and rolls or falls off.
Mike
PS...I have a Lucky Inning, I was planning on restoring this winter. If you don't get any answers to your stray wires, let me know. When I open mine, I will take a look.

Thanks! I went ahead and used liquid tape, seemed less disruptive for the small amount of damage that was there. Clipped the stray wires, since they were clearly not original.

Over the last week I:
- cleaned/vacuumed the inside
- patched insulation on damaged wires
- cleaned and greased three stepper units that were all frozen solid
- replaced the rotted power cord and grounded the transformer
- put in proper fuses (all were 20A!)
- clipped the stray flipper wires
- bent the switch on the replay stepper for free play

and...

Plugged it in for the first time today! Good news: the game fired up and reset, no fuses blew, and most playfield lights worked. The "batter" motor that makes it weave side to side is working, but the batter solenoid does not fire. The flippers give one "flip" when initially pressed and then stay stationary until the game is reset, so something is up there. Otherwise, every switch on the playfield works, and the score advances correctly from what I can tell.

I'm pretty happy with these results. Some switches on the relays look sketchy, so time to start combing through them. Not bad at all for a game that's been dormant longer than Jimmy Hoffa.

#4 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

OP
Quoted from memcdowell1s:
Thanks! I went ahead and used liquid tape, seemed less disruptive for the small amount of damage that was there. Clipped the stray wires, since they were clearly not original.
Over the last week I:
- cleaned/vacuumed the inside
- patched insulation on damaged wires
- cleaned and greased three stepper units that were all frozen solid
- replaced the rotted power cord and grounded the transformer
- put in proper fuses (all were 20A!)
- clipped the stray flipper wires
- bent the switch on the replay stepper for free play
and...
Plugged it in for the first time today! Good news: the game fired up and reset, no fuses blew, and most playfield lights worked. The "batter" motor that makes it weave side to side is working, but the batter solenoid does not fire. The flippers give one "flip" when initially pressed and then stay stationary until the game is reset, so something is up there. Otherwise, every switch on the playfield works, and the score advances correctly from what I can tell.
I'm pretty happy with these results. Some switches on the relays look sketchy, so time to start combing through them. Not bad at all for a game that's been dormant longer than Jimmy Hoffa.

Glad to hear it went well for being idle for so long. I hope mine will be the same. I am planning on pulling her out this weekend. Will hope for the best.
Mike

#5 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

Well I opened up my Lucky and it's a mess. Dirty Filthy but it's all complete. I do have a switch near the flipper that I see is on an "L" bracket in your pic. Could you take a close up of the switch so I can see how to mount mine? I also should be able to take a pic of the flipper wires for you to see if what you clipped needs to be re attached. Hope to check out the backbox tomorrow evening.
Mike

#6 3 years ago

MEM

memcdowell1s

Inactive member

Unknown

3y 9,400 3 1

Quoted from packie1:
Well I opened up my Lucky and it's a mess. Dirty Filthy but it's all complete. I do have a switch near the flipper that I see is on an "L" bracket in your pic. Could you take a close up of the switch so I can see how to mount mine? I also should be able to take a pic of the flipper wires for you to see if what you clipped needs to be re attached. Hope to check out the backbox tomorrow evening.
Mike

Hope yours goes well. For mine, I went back through cleaning switches and I found a couple that were obviously having trouble making contact on the relays. Cleaned and tweaked, popped it back together, and bam, shot solenoid works, flippers work consistently, everything on the playfield works, SWEET! Since I don't have new rubber or pinballs yet, I manually hit targets to bump the score to see how the game would progress. It worked GREAT until it got to around 40 runs, then poof, went dead. Fuses were good, so I cleaned and checked things again. Power cycled and tried again, still stuck. Cleaned/worked switches some more and again, it just worked great for a while until it stopped after a handful of runs (I think a couple lights may have been on, otherwise the game was stuck). When it's in that state, powering off/on doesn't reset it, the score and run motors seem to still respond when advanced to kick on manually, but otherwise it's out cold. Clearly, fiddling with one of the relays when I'm cleaning it seems to make it happy, but I'm not sure which it is yet. How do the start and hold relays normaly function in these elderly woodrails?

I figured that I should speed up my progress on cosmetics, since even if I get it 100% working, I can't play until the playfield is ready. Some cleaning, polishing, and waxing spruced things up nicely!

IMG_3034 (resized).JPG

Mike, here's the switches in the flipper solenoid area.

IMG_3035 (resized).JPG

IMG_3037 (resized).JPG

Post last edited 3 years ago: “typo”

#7 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

Great.
I will return to mine and post some pics. I have not fired it up, want to make sure all is cleaned and adjusted. I have the innings unit disassembled and soaking to loosen old grease and dirt. I also soaked the batter motor as it was frozen. Will work on both this weekend. I wish my playfield looked as nice as yours. Mine is missing a ton of art and will take me awhile to replace it. I may ask you to scan your pitcher area as mine is completely gone.
Mike

1 month later

#8 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

Sorry to get back so late to you. Really into the teardown at this point. I noticed that you said you replaced the fuses with the correct ones. Could you tell me what amps they are? The paper with the amps is all but about gone. I have the credit unit and the run relays cleaned and lubed. I had to correct mouse damage to the transformer. The running man unit has a missing coil stop on the bottom and I am replacing that. I had to disassemble the running man assembly and cleaned/relubed it. Once I get the correct fuses, re-assemble the running man unit and shooter area,I will fire it up.

Since this has been a long time, did you still need me to send you pics of the flipper wiring?
Mike

PXL_20201224_190315334 (resized).jpg

2 weeks later

#9 3 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

Hello
I have a favor to ask. Cn you take some pics of the backbox where the transformer wires are? Also I could use some of the start button where thee wires attach. I cant seem to get my game to start at all. It will light up the backbox but that is about it. Hate to really put you out, but if I could see how your starts that would help as well. Whatever you can provide would be much appreciated. If you have schematics too, I would love to see those.
Mike

4 months later

#10 2 years ago

MCP

packie1

Pinside+ Addict

Kewanee, IL

12y 62,800 638 26

OP
Quoted from memcdowell1s:
Hope yours goes well. For mine, I went back through cleaning switches and I found a couple that were obviously having trouble making contact on the relays. Cleaned and tweaked, popped it back together, and bam, shot solenoid works, flippers work consistently, everything on the playfield works, SWEET! Since I don't have new rubber or pinballs yet, I manually hit targets to bump the score to see how the game would progress. It worked GREAT until it got to around 40 runs, then poof, went dead. Fuses were good, so I cleaned and checked things again. Power cycled and tried again, still stuck. Cleaned/worked switches some more and again, it just worked great for a while until it stopped after a handful of runs (I think a couple lights may have been on, otherwise the game was stuck). When it's in that state, powering off/on doesn't reset it, the score and run motors seem to still respond when advanced to kick on manually, but otherwise it's out cold. Clearly, fiddling with one of the relays when I'm cleaning it seems to make it happy, but I'm not sure which it is yet. How do the start and hold relays normaly function in these elderly woodrails?
I figured that I should speed up my progress on cosmetics, since even if I get it 100% working, I can't play until the playfield is ready. Some cleaning, polishing, and waxing spruced things up nicely!
[quoted image]
Mike, here's the switches in the flipper solenoid area.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]

Not sure if you are still interested in this game and my progress, but I thought I would post that my project is done. I do have some weak flippers, but other than that all is working correctly with the game. I re-lubed all the assemblies, adjusted all the switch contacts and had to create a new playfield. As my intent was to keep the game looking as close to how it was when I picked it up, I had to tone down the paint. All in all it's a nice little game.
Mike
PXL_20210510_001804270 (resized).jpg

Post last edited 2 years ago: “Typos”

#11 2 years ago

SLM

SilverLiningMan

Pinside+ Addict

5y 58,550 180

Great job on re-creating that playfield and bringing her back to life. That old playfield really was ratty! I have a Williams Star Series from 1949 (which is a pitch and bat style game but still with the same vertical running man unit as yours) and these really are cool games. Congrats to you and the OP on bringing your games back with a lot of TLC.

2 years later

#12 9 months ago

BPG

pinballnut

Pinside member

14y 61,400 178

Amazing job! A friend gave me a Lucky Inning that lived outside. It was a mess too. Then I found another one that was not so bad and acquired it. They have been in storage until recently. Spent some time on it today and fired it up after making sure it looked safe. Needs lots of TLC.

Both my games are missing a mystery part. I found another game missing the same part! I will post an image pointing to this part on the back of the pf, maybe you could tell me what it is or perhaps you wouldn't mind taking a photo of yours it that location?

Bottom of playfield, under bat motor. Cannot figure what this is? One of these photos is from above on this thread, the other is from elsewhere on the internet. Thanks in advance for any help.
Brad. Vacaville, CA

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