Pinball get!

For those that are not familiar with that playfield, what is the game title?

Did you get a bargain? Did you make a new friend?

Details, Details, Details!! :)

Marcus
 
Lol you know all the details already!

Its a Gottlieb Top Card. I was interested because of the artwork on the backglass on ipdb. It was posted on craigslist for 500 or barter in ar parts. I talked him down to 350. I still prob paid too much but I have wanted an EM for a while but never found one with features I liked...

This one has 3 pops and 4 sligshots so appears to play a bit faster than the average EM. Got some interesting Specials, one is on a rollover in the middle of the pop cluster. 13 standup targets, good to practice making shots with.

The metal is all a bit rusted and the cab is well smoked, I'm taking a gamble on it cleaning up nice. The lockdown bar came off without any problem whatsoever on the slide mech, leg and head bolts came out without any issues either. Seems the rust is all cosmetic.

Playfield paint is excellent, no BALL wear at all that I could tell. Its dirty. Theres one chipped plastic. The playfield Paint is planked. I plan on cleaning it as gently as possible and if I get it satisfactory I may try waxing a small area to see if the planking is not as noticeable. If it still noticeable I may give varathane a shot.

Will get some pics ince I actually get it in the house.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39867093@N06/sets/72157630309583112/

Image gallery so far. Inside of the game is *very* clean. I seem to have misplaced the manual packet...think the guy didn't hand it to me before I left...will have to swing by and get it. 40 miles of gas costs less than 20$ from Steve Young.

VERY promising inital results with Magic Eraser and 91% alcohol on cleaning the playfield. No results at all from trying to clean the cab and see if there's still white somewhere under all that brown....no such luck. Think the cab will stay yellow red and blue. :(
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39867093@N06/sets/72157630309583112/

Image gallery so far. Inside of the game is *very* clean. I seem to have misplaced the manual packet...think the guy didn't hand it to me before I left...will have to swing by and get it. 40 miles of gas costs less than 20$ from Steve Young.

VERY promising inital results with Magic Eraser and 91% alcohol on cleaning the playfield. No results at all from trying to clean the cab and see if there's still white somewhere under all that brown....no such luck. Think the cab will stay yellow red and blue. :(


Remember to go small and slow with the ME/91% cleaning process. It's very easy to go from "Wow, that's almost perfect. Let me try one more attempt." to "Shit! I took off paint!".

As for the cabinet, what solution are you using to clean the cabinet?

I recommend using a full brick of ME with Simple Green as the wetting agent. Use the full brick to work on a 6-8 inch square section. Your ME should be "foamy" with Simply Green. That's a good thing. Don't use too much pressure when you are cleaning.

Remember to clean, then wipe. I never let the foam sit very long.

The game looks very nice. The planking should not impact your game play. Once cleaned, you can simply give it a good 2-3 coats of wax.

You should have that game up and running in short order!

Marcus
 
Yeah, I have the simple green but the obly piece of magic eraser I could find was one tiny shred. My wife apparently thiefed some for the bathroom and my kid tore up the other one. Just had enough to test it out on the playfield. Going to pick up more today and see id I can start going through Clay's guide.

I'm pretty happy with the result I got out of it too far. If i can get the rest of the pf like that card area, I can live with that. :)
 
Oh hell yeah! Progress! Been looking through Clay's and got up to the stepper motor part...there's some connections on my stepper motor which appear to be missing? Jury rigged them with some alligator clip connections for a moment...still no-go on game start. So I did what any reasonable person would do.

I started firing off relays to see what they would do. Hit the start game relay. "WOAH, HEY! ALL THE LIGHTS JUST CAME ON!"

Flippers still weren't working, score motor still going. Xerico had told me it's because the score reels aren't resetting, but they are zeroing out when the machine is powered on..... *trigger reset complete relay* "Oh hey..the score motor stopped...uh.. *press flipper button, flipper goes off*

"Sweet!"

Put the ball in the drain, it kicked it up to playing position, fired it with the launcher, and everything seems to be working normally at that point. The game NOW does not run the score motor on power-up nor try to reset the score reels as it was doing, but if I go in there and trigger the reset complete relay, it zeroes out and the score motor turns off when it's done.

Very promising to know that at least all the stuff in there is semi-functional, there's actual hope now of getting it working knowing that it APPEARS to be just the startup/reset process that is not working. There is a "F" relay, which looks like an AX-type relay (tiny-ass stepper?) that is dirty as all getout, looks like the contacts need to be cleaned badly. The credit assembly is not functioning well, and the flippers need a rebuild BADLY.
 
3rd score reel missing EOS switch blade, is also having trouble getting from 8 to 9 position and 9 to 0.

Credit counter reel has a broken switch stack bakelite separator, and the zero switch was not opening properly. I was fiddling with it, when one of the posts attached to the cog came flying off. I think I'm going to have to unsolder it to get the entire unit out, figure out the alignment and reattach it. The screw post doesn't seem busted and it came off with a nut on the end? WTF? Like the nut was supposed to go on the other side I think and someone attached it on the TOP, then put the post through it and through the gear... lol...

Anyways, with the game effectively in "free play" per Clay's guides, guess what? IT WORKS! I turn it on, the backglass lights come on. Hit the start button, it resets (with some difficulty due to the score reel) and kicks out the ball. There's adjustment, cleaning, and rebuilding galore that needs to go down, but it PLAYS. Chimes sound great, it's a hoot to finally have a game without electronic sound. :)
 
Adding to the list of problems as a mental footnote:

Stepper motor assembly is loose, causing game to show wrong ball active...
 
Stepper motor fixed by resetting the motor, loosening screws, turning the backplate with the "skates" to the first position, then tightening back down. Get correct ball count and game over notification now. :)
 
Stepper motor fixed by resetting the motor, loosening screws, turning the backplate with the "skates" to the first position, then tightening back down. Get correct ball count and game over notification now. :)

Uh Oh. Sounds like somebody's learning how to work on EMs.

Next thing you know, you'll be trying to snag wedgies in the DFW area before me! ;-)

Marcus
 
Uh Oh. Sounds like somebody's learning how to work on EMs.

Next thing you know, you'll be trying to snag wedgies in the DFW area before me! ;-)

Marcus

Doubt it. I got it into place in the lineup tonight. Had to move the Gyruss cocktail to my bedroom. We basically reorganized our entire closet to do that. I just spent 4 hours moving crap around just to make this pin fit where the cocktail was......and I realized part of why I sold Stargate was because having a third pin just takes up too much damn room in my place.

Now suddenly wishing that I could put Shuttle and the EM in storage until I can get a real house, (or TPF...I'd pull them out for that.. ) and have a modern second pinball beside STTNG until I can get a place that more a home and less a hovel. :( Need something with some depth to it, like a LOTR, or TSPP, or looking like X-Men maybe... :\ I would *murder* for two months of overtime to pay for a permanent "placeholder".
 
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