Cleaning and Adjusting Backbox Relays and Score Reels on a 1976 Bally EM FLIP FLOP Pinball Machine 

Yeah there's this little anxiety part and then once they start again you kind of think "the crazy Bastard's gonna make it!" lol

I'm gonna do a Bingo one of these days just to show everybody, maybe I'll just open one up for you so you can see how crazy it is :)

@@LyonsArcade I was wondering if you had any videos on one of these or at least a video of at least open them up! Might even be more subscribers! New be more of them will give a thumbs up and hit subscribe at the the beginning of the video even before you say it! As you say the video is going to be awesome anyways. You've not let me down once! But getting back to the pinball machines sort of! But having to do with switch contacts in general. One of the things people use for some contacts not necessarily a pinball but may not be recommended either! An automotive Point file! I have a feeling that the pinball machine contacts would be too delicate for this! Have used in other situations where where contacts are in really bad shape and inside like thermostat contacts and other switch contacts especially line voltage. Or heavy duty contacts! Also I've heard using a a back of a matchbook the Striking surface! Even part of a matchbook might be good for contact cleaning instead of like a business card but of course your mileage may vary either way! And also I've seen in some cases saying specifically not to use a striking surface from a matchbook for burnishing contacts. So-called Precision contacts! AKA very delicate ones! I've worked hard enough equipment that uses electromechanical relays motorized switching who knows what else anything like that would that would have contacts of any sort. Also I've repurposed relays and other electromechanical assemblies in my own projects. I'd get ahold of things are obsolete and repurpose assemblies and other gizmos and gadgets out of it. One of my favorites it was a beefy shaded pole motor that had two shafts. But one had a slip coupling that would allow the shaft to slide in and out but still be same length on that end connected to one part of the device. The other end was attached to a gearbox in a few other gizmos inside don't know how to describe it did not dismantle it since I wanted to keep it intact. Essentially it was a stepper at least on the one shaft. 1 shaft that would turn continuously whenever the motor was running actually drove other things in the device. But often times when this device is operating yes there was more than one motor. But that one would be triggered on and off but yet still be left running at times. But with each time it was energized. The second shaft on the stepping side of things. Would rotate a certain number degrees each time the motor was energized. Can't remember what that was out of! But rather unique mechanism for sure. By the way no separate solenoid for the stepper. The motor rotor was the Motive Power and the solenoid all-in-one! Probably one of the most clever AC Motors I've ever seen other some other weird ones in a reversible ones. Also I had one that was similar except it could be stepped in both directions. Reverse was a solenoid. And the same idea with the other except bi-directional stepping. Also I once built a doorbell for someone that was interested in pinball. Used more than one chime box and a suitably beefy Transformer. Also the doorbell did multiple doors on the same doorbell assembly and yes could play Westminster chimes. However that was not doorbell. Leave it to your imagination what it was and how it was displayed. Yep clock and doorbell in one Gadget. Also pretty much as far as possible salvaged pinball machine parts! And yes when it would synchronize. And also if the power was cycled. Or went off and came back on. Also this was intentional to indicate wrong time. The time display hours and minutes would be all zeros! Of course score reels four of them! The logic of course electromechanical. The outer box was part of an original signal system of some sort he happened to have the box that would work cutouts with the right size and shape and stuff. Even the original glass door was still intact. That probably at least whatever she was in that case probably came out of a hundred-year-old plus house probably like a maid call system. Or perhaps something that would indicate someone needing something in another room. He had heard something that this had been used in a multi residence place and if someone needed from the caretaker of the residence! But very much unknown for sure. Labeling was too far gone unfortunately pretty much unreadable on the little tags. Not like your typical maid or servant or Butler kind of thing very different. It was not just indicators it had other Hardware and was somehow combine of an old phone system or intercom. And also alarm system of some sort never had seen something like that previously. Seen other things along some of the functions but that is a new one for me! Obviously antique so old but you get the idea

Some of the Bally pinballs from the '50s and '60s were really sophisticated. Gottlieb made some machines in the mid-'60s which made '70s machines look simple. And then there were the tic-tac-toe machines Chicago Coin used to make...

Hahaha o.k. i'll think about it

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching Reuben!

Thanks for watching Marshall!

No problem Jack, keep in mind all the other Bally games from around this time period work the same way so those videos may have something in it too that could help…if you run into a problem email!

You're paying attention!

Thanks Danijel!

I try!

@@LyonsArcade you make it look easy my friend. Understandable and enjoyable.

Yeah all I can say is here in person it looks brand new, all the colors are perfect and bright!

Auuu stop being such a blue meanie

Thanks MegaSpamBox!

I haven't, did you click the bell by the videos? I think they stop sending notifications for each video unless you ring the bell :)

Well I guess I'm going to have to go back down there then

An old Panasonic 1080 camera

I believe they're copper usually, but some may be brass, usually they're copper colored but I have seen some that are brass colored, they may be some sort of plating though.

Thanks Six Toes!

You can purchase a tool made to adjust those contacts @ pbresource.com The tool, L shaped like an allen wrench, is round with very thin slots cut in the center on both ends.

Yes there's a special tool like Kevin mentioned that you're supposed to use to bend them. To be honest, I don't bend very many of them, 99% of them are in adjustment. It's a bad idea to adjust each switch, just the ones that are obviously not adjusted right.

@@LyonsArcade I use my fingers too, when I can easily reach them. 😎

They usually have the match unit move with every 10 points, theoretically if you knew that you could always win a free game if you kept playing a 1 player game after you matched... because the 10 reel and the 00-90 unit would be in sync.... If they're in nice shape I don't do anything to them... once I fix them they're more likely to stay in air conditioned storage wherever they go so less chance the glass gets damaged then there was in the past 40 years (which allowed the glass to stay Mint anyways!) Thanks for watching!

Yes, they can. You may have to get certain ones but I've seen plenty of EM's with LEDs in them.

I like working on the EM's better I think, but mainly I just like working on games I haven't fixed or played before. So if it's a new title I haven't worked on I really enjoy fixing them and bringing it back to life. The EM's are more of a problem to fix, so it's more fun to figure out why they're doing what they're doing, the Solid States usually if there is a problem it's apparent why it's doing it (it's easy to figure out what's wrong so not as much fun)

@@LyonsArcade and at least with EMS you don’t have to worry about battery leakage 😂

Yes, in a perfect world you want the whole blade straight and bent back where it leaves the switch stack. So it comes out of the switch stack at an angle, and then goes in that angle all the way to the end (you don't want it bent in the middle).

@@LyonsArcade Awesome, thanks! I’m new to pinball machines and trying to diagnose a score motor that just keeps running. One of the score reels wouldn’t reset, so I took it apart and cleaned it. Still won’t really reset so I’m going to take a closer look at the switches

It's not that hard like you said, just take it easy and put it back how they made it, if everything's adjusted and clean it'll work pretty much!