On my to do list for awhile has been rebuilding the flippers. I only have one flipper kit at the moment, but that’s a start. I’ve decided to rebuild to upper set of flippers as these areas are the dirtiest of the two sets and also have plastics and posts that can be cleaned up and installed again. On the right hand side of the playfield we have a single outlane and a single in lane that sit behind the upper flipper. The flipper position is where normally you would expect to have a slingshot. The artwork damage isn’t as bad on this side as it was on the left (when looking at the sling shot). The condition of the plastic is unbroken and just dirty. There is another post cap missing, but I have plenty of spares to cover it.
service
All posts tagged service
The progress is going really well right now on Counterforce and these updates are coming faster than I had expected. My plan was to focus on one set of the flippers for this update, but that got pushed back so I could complete a few other things off first. In recent updates I’ve had my attention at a few sections around the playfield with sling shots and targets. This update will focus on the remaining targets and also the bonus saucer. Next update will be the flippers 🙂 The first part of the update will look at the small target and switch located above the left (upper) flipper. The plastic here is broken in two points.
Time for another update on the repair and service on my Gottlieb Counterforce. The momentum has been pretty good, although playing Pinbot is cutting into my repair time 😉 For this outing, I’ll be looking at the two sling shots and top area of the playfield. Normally my next step after the apron would be to look at the flippers. But while waiting for flipper kits to arrive, I decided to shift to the slingshots. There are two sling shots on the Counterforce playfield. The first is on the left, above the lower flipper. The second one is not directly opposite (as you’d normally expect), but a bit higher up on the playfield – across from the upper left flipper. I’ll start with the lower one first. Sitting behind the slingshot, we have an out lane and two in lanes. Like with the entire machine – it’s seen a lot of action and had much neglect. Lots of cleaning required and some damage I can’t undo. Thankfully the plastic is reasonably good and is not cracked. The green lane hoods are damaged (melted) from the bulb that sits below them and one has a few cracks on the front. I’ll try cleaning these up, but will most likey replace them.
Progress on Counterforce has been good over the last few weeks and the machine has served as an excellent introduction to the System 80 platform by Gottlieb. My attention is now turning towards the playfield and the various assemblies that make up the game. I like to start working from the bottom of the playfield and progress up to the top. It helps break the overall task down into a more manageable state and also allows me to test things as I go. So first up on the playfield will be the apron and ball serve assembly. The apron and shooter cover are in reasonable condition and won’t need much more than a clean. I have the alternative score and instruction cards that were unused and can go on once complete. The shooter rod has already been removed and rebuilt (included in my last update).
Continuing on from my previous update, the non working display is first on my hit list for this post. I’ve checked the cables and swapped the displays around to verify that the issue is indeed with the display itself. Last time, I tested the two UDN6118 chips on the display and they were OK. I did this on the chip pins however and not the solder joins on the rear of the board. This time, I flipped the display over and tested the chips using the joins. Both tested OK again. After some further research I decided to modify an old power pack that can refresh the displays by burning off the crap that becomes attached to the filaments. I was hopeful that the issue was simply a very faded display. For this, I found an old powerpack for a 28.8K modem I purchased back in 1995 or something. I’m amazed I still have it. It’s rated at 9V and 500ma. I replaced the connector with two alligator clips. I put some red tape around the positive lead.
