Having made some good progress on Playball in my last update, it’s time to continue the push forward and get this reset issue sorted out. I took a couple of days away from the machine to clear my head and (hopefully) prevent myself from making any assumptions on the machine. The fact I can play a game on it when manually pulling the control bank arm in tells me the game is close – something is just not quite right. There isn’t a lot on this game that has to be reset in order to start. My primary focus here is the control bank – and quite specifically, the SB armature switch.
repair
All posts tagged repair
Since the playfield swap, Pinbot has been running really well and been a joy to play. Recently though, an error appeared when the machine was switched on. The game detected there were errors with 3 of the switches, and reported them during the start up sequence. They are reported as “switch adjust” errors and the knocker fires off 4 – 5 times for each one. It’s an obnoxious sound, and certainly gets your attention that there is an error. The game reported that there was an error with switches 35, 36 and 37.
Not long after finishing up on my X-Files machine, I was contacted by a guy who needed some help with an EM machine he owns. After reading the various posts I made on Space Orbit (Gottlieb) and Mariner (Bally), he was hopeful I might be able to assist with fixing his Playball machine. EM’s are really interesting to work on (plus a challenge), so was happy to offer my help. No promises were made, but I’d do what I could. Playball is a baseball themed pin released by Gottlieb in 1971. It has two sets of score reels, one to track the score and the other to track the home run count. It lacks a plunger to launch the ball, instead the ball is launched from between the flippers using the right flipper button to trigger a slingshot style arm. This actually gives the playfield area a little more space and room for features. Another really cool feature is the game has a ball save – if you fail to hit a 10 or 100 point target, the ball can be played again. I didn’t realise this kind of feature was present in EM’s – neat! I like the playfield on this game and I think it would be a fun title to play. That’s enough incentive to get cracking on it and get it working again so I can get a few games on it before it goes back to the owner.
Time to wrap up the servicing on my X-Files machine – I’ve missed not being able to play it. At the end of the last update, I was working my way through getting everything back onto the playfield. I had already made good progress getting the lower playfield area done and was chipping away at the upper sections. All the posts had been installed, so the next bits to go back onto the machine were the plastics. All plastics were cleaned (both sides) and polished before being installed again. The right side of the playfield came together first.
Time for an update on the service and repair on my X-Files pinball machine. After the work done so far, the game has been holding up well. I have really come to appreciate it and going by the audit menu, I’ve put just over 150 games into it. It’s a fun title and I think does not get the credit it deserves. While it’s playing well, it can be even better. To get the machine into the state I want it, I need to give the playfield (and all its surface components) a really good clean. I also want to rebuild the pop bumpers and add LED’s for the GI. That means it’s time to take the machine offline for the next week (maybe two) and give the playfield and it’s parts a solid clean.
First to come off the machine were the ramps. This then allowed me access to the plastics below. With the plastics off I could then access all the various posts and ball guides. There are quite a few to remove. The plastics all need a good clean and these will get the novus treatment before being installed again. Often, dust and crap attaches to the underside of the plastic too, which can affect how well they look lit up. So both sides of each piece will require a clean. I also removed the sling shot parts and return lanes.
