Playball has come along nicely since it was first dropped off for repair and it’s a satisfying feeling each time a forward step is made. Getting old machines back into a fully working state is what I love most about this hobby. I finished up my last update with an initial look at the three man on base relays. These are the interlock style relays, which have 2 coils to toggle its switches between state. In Playball, these control if a man is on the base or not. The specific problem I’m looking into is why the man on base relays do not reset as part of the game reset sequence. Currently, their state is carried between games.
stepper
All posts tagged stepper
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.
During my initial inspection of the machine in the first update, I had noted down a few things to look at before I attempted powering it on for the first time. This update will focus on these items. First on my list is the fuse panel. Located just inside the coin door, there is a small panel which is home to 4 fuses. My understanding is that the fuse clips on Bally EM’s are crap and a common source of problems as they often break. One of the fuse holders has already been replaced, with the new fuse holder being installed over the old one. The fuse holder on the far right (8A line fuse) is missing one of the clip arms, so this will have to be replaced.
One of my favorite times has arrived again – it’s NEW project time! Just as good as NEW pin day in my book 🙂 This time around, I’ll be performing a repair and service on a 1971 Bally Mariner machine that has made it’s way here from Germany. I’m stepping outside the comfort zone I developed while working on solid state machines and diving into an EM project. All of my Pinball projects to date have been solid state machines that were built between 1979 to 1986. I’m pretty excited about this project as it’s a chance to look at something different and gain more experience with EM’s.
Something that has been been on my to do list for awhile is to make a few adjustments to the chimes. Space Orbit has a 3 chime setup (10’s, 100’s and 1000’s). The chimes work fine, but most of the grommets holding the chimes in place have aged and need replacing. Some posts are missing the nylon washers that sit between the grommet and lock nut too and these need to be replaced.
