EM pinball switch stack questions

Spbeyond

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Hey guys, Im trying to get my Bally El Toro running. ON the reset and tilt stack of switches there appears to me to be a 3 way switches. So one long switch blade with a short on the top and bottom. At first glance it seems to me that the long blade should be connecting with the bottom one when the stack is down and the top short blade when the stack is being triggered.

But then as I look though the other stacks these short ones on bottom never appear to be touching anything when they are down or up. So if they are supposed to be touching when down I would have to be adjusting almost all of them. I drew a thing real quick to try and get what I am saying across.
Switches.jpg


Can anyone lay some wisdom on me on the topic?

I really wish there was someone I could just send the whole thing to and have them fix it up for me. Im not sure how I would package it though haha.
 
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Just got done going though pinrepair.com's guide.. still cant find an answer to my question. Someone must know.
 
Usually those switches are like you said, touching in one position when the coil is not engaged, and touching in the other position when it is engaged. You typically don't move the center tab at all, but close the gap on the others so you get good contact with each as the coil engages and disengages. it should only engage one side at a time....
 
So is it unusual for many of the bottom ones to need adjustment. Many of them are not touching when the stack is not engaged.
 
Sometimes the screws that hold the stack in place get loose. Tighten them down and sometimes the stack is right back where it should be.

BUT - it all depends on whether the game came to you like that. Sometimes other people mess with them not knowing what they're doing. Other times loose items bounce around inside and can mess up switches.

And sometimes they are just barely touching, but are dirty and not making good contact. That was fine when they were clean and new, but now don't work. They should just barely move the other contact when they touch, using the self-wiping feature to help clean themselves...
 
Ok, thank you for the insight. Everything looks to be in fine condition, other than the switches I suspect to be out of adjustment. I cant really see any evidence of anything having ever been adjusted before. I tightened all the stacks down good. I will now attempt to adjust them. I wish there was a way to unplug that whole reset bank so I could work on it easier... Thanks again.
 
Before you start adjusting things you should look at the schematic and verify that those switches should close. Most likely they are supposed to but you don't want to add extra problems by connecting switches that shouldn't be...
 
I will give it a shot! But those schematics overwhelm me really quick. Thanks
 
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