Fixing “weak” pinball flippers

What happens when one of your flippers seems “weak?” What could cause that? I investigate on m y 1979 Bally “Paragon” pinball. But the cause of this could happen on any game regardless of era. Let’s take a look at how the flipper works and the different things that can cause “weak” flippers.

You’ve Got A Pinball Machine! Now What?

This video addresses a common scenario that I often hear about – mostly from people who aren’t very familiar with these games. Someone gets a pinball machine and it doesn’t work. Now what? Let’s walk through this situation with a game I just picked up and explain the process of what to do when you have a new pinball that you don’t really know what condition it’s in or what’s wrong? What do you do? Are there things you should not do? How do you tell what’s wrong? Let’s get into it.

Be sure to subscribe: https://youtube.com/pinballhelp?sub_confirmation=1

How to properly clean battery damage off a MPU board

This is the next video in my series of work on Paragon. After the first look (http://pinballhelp.com/first-look-bally-paragon-pinball/) I discovered there were still issues with the MPU board that were the result of continued corrosion even after the battery was removed and the board was supposedly cleaned. Whoever did the previous work didn’t clean the board enough and corrosion continued. I’m going to do my best to salvage the board.

How to make a test bench rig for Bally-18/35 MPU boards using a PC power supply

I found this old video the other day and realized I didn’t have a post on my main site showcasing this video so I wanted to add it (also, this was before I learned the proper pronunciation of “Bally” LOL…. bah-lee).

How to add a switched power outlet to your pinball machine

These days modding games is all the rage: adding fancy toppers, custom lighting, subwoofers and powered speakers and more. But many pinball machines don’t have a facility for you to plug in extra stuff in your game. Many games do have a “service outlet” inside the game, but this is what’s called “un-switched” meaning it’s on all the time – mainly so technicians can use a soldering iron on the game with the power off. In this video I go over the process to tap into the switched power lines of the game to add your own extra outlet(s) that come on when you turn the game on.

Fixing / Rebuilding Stuck Pinball Flippers on Early Ball/Stern Solid State Games

This is a short video going over the steps to repair/rebuilt/refurbish early solid state pinball flipper assemblies, such as those on Stern and Bally games (but this also basically applies to most pinball machines). I go over the process specifically on a Stern Trident and show the specific style of plunger and assembly they’re using, but most games use similar parts. You can use these techniques to rebuild/refurbish pinball flippers on most games.

Also, there’s another thing I don’t cover on the video that may also be a cause for stuck/sticky flippers, and that’s crud around the flipper button. Sometimes the flipper button assembly can be dirty and the button may stick – that can also cause the flippers to not behave properly, so be sure to check and clean the flipper button regularly too!

Rebuilding Drop Target Assemblies on Early Stern/Bally Solid State Games

Here is a series of three short videos covering the process of removing and refurbishing the drop target assembly on early Stern/Bally games. This is done on the Trident I’m working on restoring.

After unscrewing the switch stack and the reset coil, you can remove the drop target assembly from the game. Then you an remove the individual drop target coils from the assembly by unscrewing four small screws.
Note the inner plate behind the drop targets that has slid down – this is what the switch stacks screwed into, so you’ll want to connect them back to the assembly first, before putting the individual drop coil bank back in place.
Since I wasn’t replacing the targets, I simply soaked the assembly in hot soapy water, then made sure to dry it completely before applying some dry spray lubricant. I also shortened the springs by just a tiny amount to make them work better. If you have replacement targets, they should be removed and replaced, which is done by removing the retaining clip and axle holding the assembly together at the bottom.