I have some flipper questions.....

sohchx

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I am tearing down my first playfield for cleaning etc and was wondering,what would be the things to look out for when deciding wether or not to do a complete flipper rebuild? While doing the teardown I was inspecting all four of the flippers and discovered that two of them move smoothly through their entire range while the other two bind slightly when pushed from rest,then are smooth through the rest of the range. It takes a slight bit of force to get them from the rest position. Should I feel any resistance within the movement range,or should they move smoothly throughout? My thing is,I don't want to do a complete rebuild if everything is as it should be.They seem to function fine when the machine is in play though I would like to replace what I have with something stronger coil wise.
 
Doing my Shuttle ones... first ones for me as well...

My coils were/are BLACK. I mean so heat and spark damaged that the paper wrapper was black, the plates were black, the switch contacts were black and falling apart from so much sparking and damage, one flipper was binding, the nylon bushings were partially MELTED, the flipper pawl was missing the rubber covers it should've had, the coil sleeves were stuck, either from dirt, heat, or both in the coil, and the ends were cracked and melted...

Mine was an obvious case, but yeah..just saying.

Oh, and don't forget, I had two different strength coils in there too, LOL.
 
Are they all original parts? That makes a difference for me, and if they are and work I would leave them, personally.

But, if you're tearing it all down anyway and aren't that concerned about that stuff, pull the ones that are binding and check them out. If they look like they're about to be shot anyway (mushrooming? sleeve damage?) then replace them, or at least the problem components. A rebuild, including new coils, can be a game-changer.

If you do that, I'd recommend rebuilding them all. Flippers are such a big part of the game they should all act like new, or at least the same.
 
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I'm in the middle of my 3rd shop job, a Twilight Zone. I am currently waiting on an order from Pinball Life which includes 4 complete flipper assemblies. My Bram Stoker's Dracula also got complete flipper assembies, it was my 2nd shop job, and I decided at that point that full assemblies were the way to go for me. Rebuilding them isn't hard at all, especially if you buy the full rebuild kits. My thing is that I order the parts I THINK I'm going to need, then tear down the flippers while waiting on the parts to arrive, only to find that I need more parts like a coil (due to sleeve's being stuck). Then I have to place another order and pay more shipping.

This happend to me while shopping my Dirty Harry. I left the flipper rebuild/re-install for last, and wouldn't you know it, the upper right flipper coil needed replacing. I live in Texas so NO pinball parts get here too quickly. Ended up taking like a week to receive the part due to what day it was that I placed the order. Not that big of a deal, but it sucks waiting when you are that close to being done.
 
Complete flipper rebuild kits are almost never required. It's just easier for people who don't necessarily know what to look for.

If there is a lot of material left on the EOS and cabinet switches they can be salvaged. If they look pretty burnt and like they've been filed a bunch of times then replace them. If the plunger is mushroomed slightly you can usually grind it out and use it again. If it's mushroomed badly it should be replaced. Same goes for the coil stops. The flipper link should be replaced if there is wear. That's one of the biggest things that will make the flipper weak. That and dirty/misadjusted EOS and cabinet switches. The pawl almost never needs to be replaced.

A lot of the time I end up replacing only the coil sleeve and flipper link. Occasionally the switches or coil stops. Rarely do I find myself replacing the pawl and plunger. It really depends on the game, it's age, etc...
 
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In that case it's extremely unlikely that you'll "need" the full flipper rebuild.

The same thing was said by Pinball resource when I spoke with them yesterday. I did by some NOS flippers for it though,previous owner put Williams ones on it with the "W" logo lols
 
Pretty much everything I can think of has been mentioned, however not much was said about bushings. Be ready to replace them. Sloppy bushings are aggravating as they can contribute to the flippers moving when a ball bounces off them when they are down, making bounce passes less effective. Plus worn bushings can result in flipper wear on the playfield.

I agree that a full rebuild kit is rarely needed. I usually replace coil stops if there is any mushrooming. I've found that when I file them, one flipper always seems to travel further up than the other due to the differences in thickness. I like both flippers to have the same amount of travel and for everything to be even.
 
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