Archives

All posts for the month April, 2014

Fireball Classic – Under the Apron (Part 1)

Posted by Andrew Burch on April 20, 2014
Posted in: Fireball Classic - Bally (1985). Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

With the sound issue issue covered, and the ball serve issue to look at, I wanted a bit of a break from problem solving to exploring the different assemblies on the machine and giving them a clean. The problem was – where do I begin? I want to cover the entire machine. In the end I figured I start from the bottom of the play field and work my way up.

So to begin with, I’d remove the apron and see what lurks below.

The apron on these early Bally machines are secured by two small metal brackets at the front and two screws at the back. The last person to work on the machine didn’t secure the apron to the brackets at the front and as a result it was lose (which isn’t good when you go to lift the play field by it…)

I have to say the two screws at the back don’t feel like the most sturdy attachment for the apron. I may be that due to age, it has just seen better days – but I don’t trust lifting the play field via the apron like I do on my Nugent and Space Orbit machines..

Fireball classic apron
Continue Reading

Fireball Classic – Servicing the Shooter

Posted by Andrew Burch on April 19, 2014
Posted in: Fireball Classic - Bally (1985). Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The shooter rod on the Fireball Classic was in pretty good condition. It still operated fine, but was in need of a good clean and service. The shooter rod is fixed to the cabinet by 2 bolts that are part of the face plate. Once removed you can just pull the shooter back away from the cabinet. I found that I needed to remove the rubber first though to get it through the cabinet hole.

Fireball classic shooter rebuild

Continue Reading

Fireball Classic – Sound issues

Posted by Andrew Burch on April 19, 2014
Posted in: Fireball Classic - Bally (1985). Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The first issue I wanted to look at was the lack of sound. Although I could play a game on the machine, I got no sound at all in most cases. When I could hear sound it was very very quiet or distorted.

I went into maintenance mode using the switch inside the coin door and to the sound test mode. I couldn’t hear anything.

There is a volume control inside the coin door which I adjusted. Again no sound.

Next up I wanted to check the plugs and sound board in the head box.

Fireball classic cheap squeak
Continue Reading

Fireball Classic – New Restoration Project

Posted by Andrew Burch on April 18, 2014
Posted in: Fireball Classic - Bally (1985). Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I enjoyed working on my Nugent so much that I had to get another machine to work on.

I knocked back a few machines in the process of searching which I’d love to own (and had the funds for) – but they required no work.

I wanted a machine that was in need of some love. After a few false starts in the hunt for a project machine, I ended up getting a Fireball Classic by Bally (1985).

As a game, it ticks many of the boxes I was looking for. Pop bumpers? Check. Multiball? Check. Messenger ball? Check. Ball save? Check. Early Bally/Stern SS? Check.

As I’ll show shortly, the machine does need some cosmetic love, along with some fixing up to the game play. I will be able to apply much of what I learnt while working on my Nugent here, and also extend myself into areas not yet explored. Perfect 🙂

I expect my work on this project to take a few months at least as time and funds permit. Given I now have two other machines, getting this finely tuned is less critical as I can always turn to my Nugent or Space Orbit for some awesome fun.

To start with, the machine boots up and does allow you to start a game. This wasn’t a requirement in my search, but is a bonus.

Fireball classic - Powered up
Continue Reading