I had planned to begin this update with a really bad pun, but I’ll save you the anguish and get straight in to the good content! This update will be focusing on the assemblies in the lower section of playfield, along with cleaning up the drop target areas. I’ll also the look at the upper orbit shot as some screws that attach the metal rail to the playfield live under plastics in the mid section – so easier to do that all now in one go. The game has been played a lot over the years, with broken plastics across most areas of the playfield. The sling shot and return lane plastics are cracked or missing a few pieces. The bikes are still in one piece though, which is good news.
up post
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The Apollo 13 overhaul has continued over the last couple of weeks. Sometimes progress can feel like slow going, but it’s surprising how quickly time gets sucked up as you work through sections of a machine. Plus, it’s getting cold at night time, so working on games once the sun has gone down is getting tougher. The previous update was heavily focused on the apron area of the playfield. Shifting my attention 30cm higher up the playfield, this update will be focusing on the next lot of assemblies – so things like the flippers, up post (ball save), ball return VUK and sling shots. Technically the VUK lives under the apron area, but i’ll ignore that fact for the sake of including it in this update instead of the last one 🙂 I also want to get the CPU controlled lamps switched over to LED’s as the kit arrived. So let’s get started and begin removing some parts!
The work on my Bally Mariner is coming to a end. Since my last update, I’ve had the chance to play quite a few games on it and the machine has been holding up really well. Mariner has been very reliable and no issues have come up. There are just a few last things to do and then I’m done. First item on the agenda for this update is sorting out the relay coil for the up post. This one spends a lot of its time energised and as such was showing strong signs of stress. A new coil was purchased to replace it.
With the apron area completed in the previous update, it’s time to move up the playfield and service some more of the assemblies that make up the game. Shifting my focus about 3cm higher than the apron, the first feature to look at in this update is the “up post”. This feature is pretty cool in game and a welcome addition given the lack of in lanes beside the sling shots. I’ve covered it slightly in previous updates where I sorted out some issues with it not functioning correctly, but this time i’ll be pulling it to pieces for a good clean.
