want to fix up my gorgar got a few questions for the experts

Deadpool66

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want to fix up my gorgar got a few questions for the experts

First off I want to rerubber the machine since the guy who sold it to me said he did but upon closer inspection he did not so I'm wondering which sites have the best prices for parts. Second the score displays are missing segments but I'm not sure where to start with fixing them don't want to have to buy a new score display. Finally It has a weak right flipper and the flippers aren't aligned with each other wondering if should get a rebuild kit or just buy new ones. I appreciate any insight anyone can provide
 
My #1 choice for parts is Pinball Life. Usually the best prices, always the best service, and often the ONLY place selling the totally correct parts. Particularly when it comes to flipper parts.

Oh, and lets not forget the obligatory reference to Clay's site. That place is really mandatory for any pinball repair info, it's just incredible how much info is there. You're going to want to read the system3-7 section, as Gorgar is a system 6. Oh, and stock up on molex pins and 9-pin connectors, you're going to need them. Electronics parts I always get from Ed at Great Plains electronics, he's just THE MAN with pinball circuit board parts.
www.pinrepair.com


The flippers are almost unavoidably going to need rebuilding on a 30 year old machine. If you're on a budget, a flipper rebuild kit will work wonders for you. A flipper kit will run around $25 and covers both flippers. If you want to get fancy, and really make them run fantastic, you can do a hybrid WPC style upgrade to them. I did this on my Black Knight (same flippers (Edit: not same flippers as shown below)), and the difference is just amazing. Here's my flipper rebuild page.
http://www.siegecraft.us/blackknight6.htm

Got a photo to show which segments are missing on which score displays? Usually that's a resistor problem on the master display panel if it's the same segments missing on multiple displays. Know how to work the diagnostics yet? Go through the display test, manually put it to show the 8's, and snap a photo of the whole backglass. It will REALLLY help diagnose it for you. Chances are it's an easy fix.

-Hans
 
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EDIT: See above :)

We even both used obligatory. Classic.

First off I want to rerubber the machine since the guy who sold it to me said he did but upon closer inspection he did not so I'm wondering which sites have the best prices for parts.

Marco has good kits but they're not the cheapest:
http://www.marcospecialties.com/

Pinball Life has good bulk rubber but don't sell kits (that I'm aware of):
http://www.pinballlife.com/

Second the score displays are missing segments but I'm not sure where to start with fixing them don't want to have to buy a new score display.

Obligatory reading:
http://www.pinrepair.com/sys37/index.htm
http://www.pinrepair.com/sys37/index3.htm#display

If you have questions that are beyond the scope of those links ask them here.

Finally It has a weak right flipper and the flippers aren't aligned with each other wondering if should get a rebuild kit or just buy new ones. I appreciate any insight anyone can provide

A rebuild kit is probably not a bad idea. You could disassemble and assess the flippers and buy just what you needed but you're probably better off with kits if you're looking to restore the machine. Kits are available from the vendors I linked above as well as several others. I usually get whatever I can from Pinball Life and then go to Marco, PBR, etc...

Good luck with the Gorgar. I restored and sold one and I have 2 more that will eventually follow the same path. Great looking and sounding game. Not such a big fan of the game play personally.
 
I did forget to add something.

Use White rubbers for Gorgar. White rubbers play faster and keep the game cleaner. IIRC it normally has red rubber on the flippers. Black rubbers can quickly make your playfield a grungy mess.

-Hans

Edit: I stand corrected on the flippers, I thought Gorgar had the 2nd generation type, not the 1st generation. That does change the parts list a bit for the WPC-hybrid upgrade, as you'll also need new coils and bats.... which drives up the cost of going that method. Cool to see somebody else that actually did the same style flippers as me, I love how they perform. And going with the external style return spring too! I couldn't believe how much the older type spring wore down the plungers and links when I tore out my old ones.

As you can see, Deadpool, lots of fans of old Williams machines around these parts.
 
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Pinball Life used to be a no brainer. They don't have the biggest selection but Terry is really nice and they are very reasonable.

However, recently shipping has gotten slow. Marco and Bay Area have always shipped the same day (if I order before 1 or 2pm their time). I placed an order at 8:30am on Monday at Pinball Life, the status went to "completed" on Monday night but didn't ship until Wednesday.
 
Your flippers might just need a good cleaning. Take them apart and use some degreaser on them. Dry them off and let them air dry over night. Usually that will work, but usually when I have them apart I throw in new coil sleeves and stops, or the plastic bushings if it has that kind of flipper.

Most of the time, grime really slows things down on those flippers, and a good cleaning will be the cheapest best way.
 
Thanks guys I really appreciate the links and info. I will put it to good use.

Heres a photo of the score segements. player 1 dislpay on the bottom left segement is twitchy but kind of there its hard to see in the photo. Here are a couple shots of the problem areas so far.
 

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Yep, looks to be a bad resistor on the master display board, that's the 4-digit display on the bottom left. I'll look more into which one it is tomorrow, no time tonight.

-Hans
 
Im guessing this is the problem. So now I need to buy a soldering station anyone suggest good one in the 50 to 70 range the model mentioned in the repair guide is no longer availible. Finally where can I get this resistor radio shack maybe and does anyone know the value? Forgive my ignorance this is my first pin ;-P

Thanks so much guys can wait till I get my first pin all fixed up.
 

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Yep, that resistor is your exact problem with the displays. It's a 10k ohm 1/2w 10% resistor as per the diagrams. Radio Shack might carry them, otherwise E-bay is one of the cheapest ways to get a bunch of them.

The resistor to the left of the burned one has already been replaced, and they put in a 1w resistor, which is more durable. Your call to either use 1/2w replacements as per the original part, or upgrade it. I'd upgrade it personally, as those resistors are a common failure point on that model display.

As to soldering irons, definitely spring for something decent that has some form of temperature control to it. The one that Tom recommended is quite nice, weller is a great brand. If it's too spendy, there are some analog control Weller irons that are still quite good. I'm still doing all my work with an old portable army surplus Weller iron that's older than I am. Just make sure whatever you get has controllable temperature and a good variety of tips available.

-Hans
 
This thing is turing into a nightmare now the machine is making scoring sounds and giving out points before the ball is even in play arrrrrrgggggggg. Sill waiting on my iron anyone have any idea what could be wrong now? On top of the other obvious issues more just keep popping up.
 
This thing is turing into a nightmare now the machine is making scoring sounds and giving out points before the ball is even in play arrrrrrgggggggg. Sill waiting on my iron anyone have any idea what could be wrong now? On top of the other obvious issues more just keep popping up.

I had the same problem with my System 6 game when the PIA chip for the switches went bad. You would start a game, and immediately it would act like some switches were being activated and score points. You might try going to the switch part of the diagnostic and seeing if any are being read as stuck closed.
 
If it hasn't been done yet, start with a power supply rebuild, and replace all the wiring connectors going into the power supply and CPU boards with crimp-pin types.

There's unfortunately a lot of stuff that can make a system-6 go haywire, and a bunch of stuff that needs to be done to make it reliable.

-Hans
 
You may not have a weak right flipper, per se, it may just be slightly loose on it's shaft or bushing.
Which could explain why it is the one that is a bit low in your picture.
You can energize the flipper by holding in the button, and see if you can wiggle the flipper some (clearly don't break anything here).

It goes without saying to clean and adjust the EOS and flipper switches too.


Watch where you grab your playfield when you're lifting it. Its real easy to smash an outlane roll-over switch, or something. Spinners are notorious for hanging up sometime too with lots of messing around under the playfield. Isolate the noise/scoring habit, and look at all the switches associated with that scoring.

When something new happens, try to remember what you did last!
 
Amen! And if YOU didn't do anything yet, look at what work the previous "tech" did.

Yeah Im still waiting on my iron ;-( although on the bright side seller said he would send me two to make up for the slow shipping I got a TENMA 21-7940 in the mean time Ive been practicing on a broken router with my ten dollar weller in preperation. I really appreciate the advice guys hopefully I will get a free moment this weekend to put it to use.
 
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