In 1992, after seeing this problem many times, was time for change. I had
just shopped out a Xenon pinball playfield, which was in a machine that sat
in a warehouse for several years. Both of the flippers stuck up (easy fix),
all the rubber rings were shot, and the lower slingshots each had two rubber
rings on them. After I shopped it out, only one rubber was installed per
slingshot. I was playing the game, when, an ever-popular problem arose. The
right sling kicker slipped out of the backside and began to
rattle. Naturally, I shut the machine off. Had I not, eventually the coil
would've burned, and a driver on the board would've fried. I was getting
this game ready for a location, and this problem had to be corrected, and
not with a second rubber ring per kicker. This stops the problem with ball
going under the rubber and under the slingshot plastic, but makes play of
the game terrible and affects the light on playfield around the slingshot. I
started by looking for a way to raise the slingshot mechanism, but this
would've required major modification. Then I took a very careful look at the
actual playfield posts, and noticed the center of the ring does not meet the
center of the ball, but just a little above same. So I took the posts (3 per
side) to the grinder, and removed about 1/16 off the bottom of each post,
and put back on the machine. This caused the ball to hit the center of the
ring, and made the overall ring sit lower, which made it almost impossible
for the sling to get out ever again. Then, the slingshot plastics sat too
close to the sling kicker, which required spacers only on the studded
posts. This has also stopped the head screws from being tall enough to wear
paint off other plastics, and since have used one bigger washer under the
slingshots to keep ball from breaking off the corners. I noticed what
Williams did on their later games, installing washers under the sling
plastics, to keep ball from breaking them. This removes small amounts of
paint off these plastics. Instead of installing the washer next to the
plastic, it fits really well on the bottom side of the post bolt, next to
playfield post, giving about 1/8 space between the washer and the
plastic. After seeing what a difference it made for Xenon, I chose to do
every post on the game, and have done many games entirely. But who wants to
do all that work?
Just think how much time was saved as there were less service calls for ball
stuck and kicker coil burnout as well as driver board damage. In addition,
it makes the whole game play faster. You can leave a playfield extremely
clean and fast and not be afraid of a ball getting stuck or parts coming
out. Reliability and performance are the rule here.
Dan Tiemeyer
Amusements & Games
Wichita, KS
since 1989
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