• Noob - getting started

    From Joe Finnegan@joe@finneganfunnyfarm.net to rec.games.pinball on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 14:33:19
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.
    [1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.
    [2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.
    Thank you for your patience and support.
    Joe
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From John Robertson@spam@flippers.com to rec.games.pinball on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 15:45:13
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    Hi Joe,

    I'll try to answer your questions below:

    On 2021/11/10 2:33 p.m., Joe Finnegan wrote:
    I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.

    [1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

    Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers
    started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
    Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
    the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators manual.


    [2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

    I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
    also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
    like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also
    helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.


    Thank you for your patience and support.

    Joe


    John :-#)#
    --
    (Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
    John's Jukes Ltd.
    MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
    (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
    www.flippers.com
    "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Kerry Imming@kcimming@pobox.com to rec.games.pinball on Thursday, November 11, 2021 09:17:22
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    On 11/10/2021 4:33 PM, Joe Finnegan wrote:
    I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.

    [1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

    [2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

    Thank you for your patience and support.

    Joe


    Some EMs had start-up sequences in the manual.

    https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=EM_Repair#Start_Up_Sequences

    I find these very helpful because it's tricky to understand the function
    of SCORE MOTOR switches just from the schematic.

    - Kerry
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Ron Kral@ronkral@gmail.com to rec.games.pinball on Thursday, November 11, 2021 12:09:38
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 6:45:27 PM UTC-5, John Robertson wrote:
    Hi Joe,

    I'll try to answer your questions below:
    On 2021/11/10 2:33 p.m., Joe Finnegan wrote:
    I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.

    [1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.
    Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
    Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
    the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators manual.

    [2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.
    I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
    also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
    like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.

    Thank you for your patience and support.

    Joe

    John :-#)#

    --
    (Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
    John's Jukes Ltd.
    MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
    (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
    www.flippers.com
    "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
    John --
    I looked up the Dow Corning product you mentioned and the description says it's DIALECTRIC
    and an insulator... Are you sure this is the right stuff to use???
    I've been trying to use this:
    CAIG Laboratories D100L-25C Contact Cleaner
    but i can't point to any successes yet.....
    Ron Kral
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From John Robertson@spam@flippers.com to rec.games.pinball on Thursday, November 11, 2021 16:56:32
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    On 2021/11/11 12:09 p.m., Ron Kral wrote:
    On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 6:45:27 PM UTC-5, John Robertson wrote:
    Hi Joe,

    I'll try to answer your questions below:
    On 2021/11/10 2:33 p.m., Joe Finnegan wrote:
    I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.

    [1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.
    Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers
    started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
    Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
    the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators
    manual.

    [2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.
    I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
    also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
    like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also
    helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.

    Thank you for your patience and support.

    Joe

    John :-#)#

    John --

    I looked up the Dow Corning product you mentioned and the description says it's DIALECTRIC
    and an insulator... Are you sure this is the right stuff to use???

    I've been trying to use this:
    CAIG Laboratories D100L-25C Contact Cleaner
    but i can't point to any successes yet.....

    Ron Kral


    Hi Ron,

    Yeah, it seems counterintuitive to use an electrical insulator to
    protect connections but that is what this flyer from Dow recommends:

    http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/319850.pdf

    I've been using it for decades after being introduced to it at al
    electrical suppliers shop - they use it to both insulate and protect connections from corrosion and other bad stuff.

    It reduces contact resistance so connections separate easier too.

    John :-#)#
    --
    (Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
    John's Jukes Ltd.
    MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
    (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
    www.flippers.com
    "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Joe Finnegan@joe@finneganfunnyfarm.net to rec.games.pinball on Friday, November 12, 2021 13:35:26
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    John - I have the schematics, but from everything I've found, there are no manuals for my old games. On the other hand, I just watched your 2019 video, "Reading Pinball Schematics 101" and it really helped get my brain in gear to figure out what's going on. Thank you!
    John & Ron - Another product to protect connections is (was?) "LPS 2". My friends at the power company told me about spraying down relay contacts to protect them from an incoming flood, yet the contacts worked after the flood waters receded. Don't know if it's still available.
    Joe
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Ron Kral@ronkral@gmail.com to rec.games.pinball on Saturday, November 13, 2021 12:11:25
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    On Friday, November 12, 2021 at 4:35:31 PM UTC-5, Joe Finnegan wrote:
    John - I have the schematics, but from everything I've found, there are no manuals for my old games. On the other hand, I just watched your 2019 video, "Reading Pinball Schematics 101" and it really helped get my brain in gear to figure out what's going on. Thank you!

    John & Ron - Another product to protect connections is (was?) "LPS 2". My friends at the power company told me about spraying down relay contacts to protect them from an incoming flood, yet the contacts worked after the flood waters receded. Don't know if it's still available.

    Joe
    Amazon has everything..... https://smile.amazon.com/LPS-Labs-00216-Heavy-Duty-Lubricant/dp/B001QFBS18/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=LPS+2&qid=1636833912&sr=8-3
    When you say "relays", do you mean things like pinball switches?
    Really shouldn't be using gooey stuff in a pinball which will collect dust
    and eventually gum up the works.
    Ron Kral
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Joe Finnegan@joe@finneganfunnyfarm.net to rec.games.pinball on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 13:00:16
    From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

    On Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 3:11:31 PM UTC-5, Ron Kral wrote:
    When you say "relays", do you mean things like pinball switches?
    Really shouldn't be using gooey stuff in a pinball which will collect dust and eventually gum up the works.
    Ron Kral
    No no no! The relays used on the power system are massive devices. They take up to five amps on the input side to activate their contacts, which then will trip a circuit breaker at high voltage - 34,000 to 765,000 volts. And the time is measured in cycles - 60th's of a second. Very specialized devices.
    --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113