Recently, a new machine entered my line up – X-Files. Release by SEGA in 1997 with 1500 made, it’s the most modern machine to enter my pinball fleet. As you know by now, I’m not one to just get a machine in and play it. There’s always work to be done cleaning, fixing and tuning my machines. This one is no different and I’ll be working my way through the machine in typical fashion for a full service.
flipper
All posts tagged flipper
Just when I say I’m not doing anything extra to one of my machines, I decide on an additional something to fiddle with. I’ve been keen to add lighted flipper buttons on a machine for a little while and I’d really like to do it on Pinbot. I’m going to use LAH as the guinea pig and give it some flashy looking buttons. I’ve seen people discuss kits online, but it’s much more fun to try it yourself (and pretty cheap too). To start with the buttons need to be transparent – I have transparent red ones on LAH already, so will run with those.
Time to report in with the progress made on servicing the Mariner. It’s a been a little slow lately with other things taking priority, but I’m getting back into the swing of it now. First on the hit list for this update is the shooter rod. It’s in dire need of a clean as the rod sticks when pulled back, preventing it from returning to it’s normal position and applying any force to the ball. I’m keen to reuse as many of the parts as possible after servicing it since I’m not performing a restore. It doesn’t have to look “as new” since the cabinet is not being repainted – I’ll be happy with it cleaned and operating correctly.
While I haven’t quite finished my previous (or should I say current) project – Pinbot, a new project popped up a few weeks ago that felt like a good opportunity – so I grabbed it. This time, I’ll be looking at a Counterforce machine by Gottlieb. It’s part of the Star 80 series and was released back in 1980. This particular machine started life in Italy, before being imported here to Australia. I was attracted to it as the gameplay looks kind of neat – seems like a mash of missile command and space invaders played out on a pinball playfield. Plus it’s an opportunity to work on a System 80 machine, which is something I’ve not yet done – so it should be an interesting experience. My last few projects have been restorations where I’ve spent a bit of money doing them up. But this project will be a little different. Due to the damage on the playfield, the machine won’t gain much value with everything else restored around it. The detail in the artwork makes it impossible to paint or touch up. Therefore, my plan is to keep spending limited. Any worn or damaged parts considered important will be replaced (globes, rubbers, broken drop targets, coil sleeves, etc). Anything that is still usable will be cleaned up and put back into the machine. So the goal here is to service all parts of the the machine, clean it up (wow does it need a clean) and repair anything broken to make it a fully functional game once again. I’ve set myself a reasonable budget to prevent over capitalising on it, but I may run into some nasty surprises along the way. So we’ll see how that turns out 🙂
Continue Reading
My Fireball machine came with 1 orange button and 1 yellow button. Both very old and dirty, so needed to be replaced. I wanted to swap them out with new red buttons (to match the red credit lamp and red t-moulding). Brand new flipper switches were installed, along with the buttons. I had a bit of an issue tracking down the correct size buttons.
