Problem with Gottlieb Buccaneer/Ship Ahoy Pinball

[bumpnthump05]

Hello everyone, I just picked up my first pinball machine yesterday for $80. Its a 1976 Gottlieb Buccaneer (also known as "ship ahoy"). I purchased it and was under assumption it needed rubber kit and power cord repaired someone rigged it with wire nuts after getting cut. Well i got it home and plugged it in and nothing turned on. Well long story short, i found out the plug itself was bad. So i spliced in a new plug (for temporary) and plug it in.

The head lights up and the tilt light is turned on. I get NOTHING out of the playfield. No lights, no reaction to anything on the playfield. I try to coin up or start a game and still nothing. Well i ended up finding someone that talked about manually turning on the tilt hold relay, and when i do, my playfield turns on the lights but still get no coin up, no reaction on the playfield either. Ive wedged the tilt hold relay on to test things and still nothing. I have turned the score wheel and it does its 120 degree turn and stops. I read something about an ax relay in the head and i manually activate it and it sounds like it resets the score wheel and a relay or two but im super confused. Basically a dead duck. Can anyone give me some advice?

[size=+2]When the tilt hold relay is wedged on, this is what i get.[/size]

Heres some pictures of the machine.

 

[bumpnthump05]

Also wanted to note, that ive checked all the tilt and slam switches and im pretty sure they are oriented like they are supposed to (open or closed)

 

[sjfreddy]

$80 for a Buccaneer ? You stole it !!! What game is the spinner from ?

Any way, about your questions, I`d start with manually stepping up\down the credit unit in the head. By the pic you can see it`s blank. So it`s out of whack. It should sit at 0.

 

[bumpnthump05]

$80 for a Buccaneer ? You stole it !!! What game is the spinner from ?

Any way, about your questions, I`d start with manually stepping up\down the credit unit in the head. By the pic you can see it`s blank. So it`s out of whack. It should sit at 0.

Yup $80! Its super dirty from sitting up (seems to be for 20+ years) but other than that its pretty solid! And ill try that see this is my first pinball machine and ive never dealth with EM before so im sill learning. I didnt know what that wheel was for. Im not sure of what game the spinner is from but i didnt realize it wasnt the original till u said something. I need to trade it out with someone.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I'd start by checking all the relays, and cleaning the contacts of the relays. You've got a bad contact.

If you have some leather or rubber gloves, I'd suggest putting them on, and running your fingers along the contacts to see if you hear anything / see anything change state. That will give you a general idea of what the problem is, and where to focus.

You'll need to go to Steve Young's The Pinball Resource, and order some flex files for the contacts, and their contact adjustment tool. You're an EM owner now - you can't live without these two tools.

 

[bumpnthump05]

I'd start by checking all the relays, and cleaning the contacts of the relays. You've got a bad contact.

If you have some leather or rubber gloves, I'd suggest putting them on, and running your fingers along the contacts to see if you hear anything / see anything change state. That will give you a general idea of what the problem is, and where to focus.

You'll need to go to Steve Young's The Pinball Resource, and order some flex files for the contacts, and their contact adjustment tool. You're an EM owner now - you can't live without these two tools.

I appreciate the info! Im going to definately clean EVERY peice of this pinball machine and fully disassemble it and do a full restoration, but i wanna make sure the thing at least works to an extent (i just wanna have the game coin up and be reactive on the playfield to an extent. just so i know when i put it back together that ill have a working game after cleaning, painting, polishing, etc. I purchased a ignition point file yesterday (same as PBR's metal contact file (for tungsten contacts) so im just sort of plugging away at it.

I do know though that i manually pressed the ax relay (heard it was problematic) and it rotated the score motor wheel inside 120degrees and heard the af (i think to the left of the ax) relay click (noticed it was gummed up and not moving properly) and i manually moved the score wheel and it does its 120 degree turn as well. When i manually press the tilt hold relay, the playfield lights up but i still get nothing as far as coining up or starting. Im going to see if the credit wheel not being in the right position (as stated from sjfreddy) has anything to do with it.

 

[creepykenny]

do yourself a favor and find a copy of clays em repair guides and read in its entirety before starting in on this otherwise you will be creating more problems for your self to repair later

and btw, you want a flex stone not a metal file, and you will also need some rubbing alcohol, q-tips & teflon grease

 

[MTPPC]

Understand the start-up sequence and get a schematic.