Restoration and repair of electromechanical pinball machines
Electromechanical pinball machines (ca. 1950-1977) - a world of their own
Due to their construction, the repair and restoration of electromechanical pinball machines is a world of its own and completely different from electronic pinball machines. Here, no complicated electronic circuits and programs control the machine. Rather, everything here is controlled on an electromechanical level by simple circuits (switches "on" or "off").
And this is where the real work lies: the main focus in the restoration of this class of equipment lies here in the maintenance of the mechanics, i.e. all the stepping switches, hundreds of contacts, relays, etc. must be very clean and, above all, correctly adjusted in order to guarantee error-free, long-lasting playing pleasure.
In the following we present the restoration of these devices.
The checklists
As with all our restorations, we work strictly according to checklists. On the one hand, we want to ensure the greatest possible transparency in a sometimes very opaque market - after all, we want our customers to know what they are spending their money on.
On the other hand, we also want to ensure a consistently high standard. Our employees thus carry out the same work over and over again strictly according to the checklists - so no point is overlooked and everything is worked through bit by bit.
Technical restoration
Laying ground strap
Many EM's from different manufacturers never had a ground strap installed at the factory. This was not usual and not necessary at that time. From today's point of view and legal situation a grounding of the flipper is indispensable. Therefore, in many cases, the complete so-called "grounding" must be retrofitted throughout the flipper.
Relay bank
The complete relay bank from inside the pinball machine is disassembled. If just one of the many hundreds of contacts is contaminated or incorrectly adjusted, a lengthy troubleshooting process is the result. Therefore, each individual contact is cleaned and readjusted. This is certainly the biggest effort in the restoration of electromechanical pinball machines. However, if this very time-consuming work is carried out conscientiously, nothing stands in the way of many years of unadulterated gaming fun.
New fuse holders
The old fuse holders are a major source of faults. We therefore always recommend installing new fuse holders to eliminate these sources of error from the outset.
Cleaning the connecting plugs (Jones plugs)
The so-called Jones plugs connect both the playfield with the relay board and the relay board with the backbox mechanics. Thus, a clean and flawless connection to these intermediate plugs is the "be-all and end-all" for the functionality of the pinball machine. Therefore, these are intensively cleaned and also adjusted.
Cleaning and adjustment of stepper units
Also of great importance: clean and easy-to-operate stepper units. The stepper units are responsible for various functions of the pinball machine: Bonus Count, Point Count, Ball Count, Match Count, various game situations, etc. The stepper units are disassembled, also cleaned and the contact surfaces are lubricated with a special grease to make them very smooth.
Cleaning the Scorereels
Many EM owners know the problem: the scoreboards do not rotate cleanly or are not able to take the zero position. This is usually due to dirty, resinous, stiff mechanisms that also need to be disassembled and cleaned. Likewise, the actual rollers are cleaned very gently with a special cleaner. Caution is required here as the imprint is very sensitive. If the imprints on the rollers are already worn, the lettering can also be renewed by means of foils.
Check the screw connection of the contact stacks
The permanent switching of the contacts and the movement often loosens the screw connection of the contact stacks on the relay board. All screws of the contact stacks are retightened before adjusting the contacts.
Cleaning and adjustment of the playfield contacts
Of course, all pitch contacts are also cleaned and readjusted to ensure that they trigger reliably and cleanly.
Lamp base
Especially with electromechanical pinball machines, a nice, bright illumination of the playing field and the plastic is what makes them so fascinating. A permanent nuisance are flickering or only half glowing bulbs. Restoring" or repairing the lamp bases makes little sense. We therefore recommend replacing all lamp bases that show weaknesses with new ones.
New wear parts
Powerful pinball fingers, pop bumpers and slingshots make up the actual fun of playing pinball. Therefore, we generally recommend to replace all wear parts of the pinball machine: Flipper finger mechanics, pop bumper completely rebuild, renew slingshot mechanics. Of course, you should also replace all the bulbs with new ones and replace the rubbers as a matter of course.
Tuning
For those who want to have that little bit of extra power in the pinball machine, we offer small but very effective tunings.
Bronze axle bearings
For example, the conventional, plastic axle bearings of the pinball fingers can be replaced by specially developed axle bearings made of bronze. Here, no more power is lost in the transmission of the shaft of the pinball fingers. These axle bearings also produce a very "crisp", precise feel. Comparable to the feel of more modern pinball machines - you've never played an EM like this before.
Stronger Flipper and Pop Bump Coils
Our partner in the USA - specialized in parts for electromechanical pinball machines - has developed special pinball and pop bumpers coils, which still run within the specifications, but are much stronger than conventional coils. These are only available there, but it's worth it: the times when you could only get the ball to the top of the playing field at an EM with a lot of effort are over. Full pinball power - unimagined fun is guaranteed.
Installation of bridge rectifiers
For all those who want to get the maximum coil power out of their electromechanical pinball machine, we offer the installation of bridge rectifiers for each coil. These supply the coils, which were originally operated with AC voltage, with pulsating DC voltage and thus increase the power of the coil by approx. 25-30%.
Optical restoration
Of course, all other components of the pinball machine are also refurbished. The following is an overview:
Plastic parts
Plastics and clear plastics
Plastics on EM's are often damaged, yellowed or heavily scratched. If defective plastics are not available on the market, we can reproduce them. Intact plastics are reconditioned by polishing with polishing paste or by flame polishing. Completely yellowed, transparent plastics can be reproduced by our partner by means of laser from very soft and thus very stable Vivakplastik. All other plastic parts on the playing field are reconditioned or, if too badly damaged, replaced directly with new parts.
Metal parts
Almost all metal parts are often badly affected by environmental influences or dirt deposits of many years. If the surface of the metal has not yet been attacked, these metal parts can be restored to as-new condition by grinding and machine polishing. Here, the customer decides whether these are to be refurbished as in the original with grinding or in a high-gloss finish.
If the surface is too badly damaged, the metal parts can be re-galvanized (blue or yellow galvanized) or chrome-plated.
Other playfield parts
Also all other playfield parts like posts, bumpers, targets, laneguides etc. will be refurbished or replaced by new parts.
Playing field
We are specialists in the restoration and high-quality painting of playing fields using airbrushes and brushes. If the playing field is to remain in its original condition, it is restored to a high gloss using a multi-stage, machine polishing system. Minor damage can be partially repaired and partially protected with clear lacquer.
Housing
The housing can be partially repaired and painted. The difficulty is that the colors of the old housings simply change over the years due to UV radiation. Therefore, it is difficult to partially repair the case so that it is simply not visible. A much better result can be achieved by a complete restoration of the case.
Below we show you the partial restoration of a Surfchamp case. According to the customer's request, the front and the backbox rim should be renewed.
And this is how it works:
- The housing was photographed and the spray stencils were created
- By means of a colorimeter the colors were identified (especially the yellowed white is hard to hit here)
- The case was prepared as described (case reconditioning)
- Then the painting in cream white was done
- After that, the typical Gottlieb speckles were applied with a special airbrush technique.
- Final painting of the other two colors and varnishing with silk matt clear varnish
Apron
Aprons often don't look good anymore either. They are scanned and the graphics or fonts are reproduced on the PC as contour cut stickers. The old apron is repainted in the base color and then covered with the stickers.
Service/Case Stickers
Typically, the service and housing stickers in the housing itself are often barely legible or even disintegrate. On request, these can be reproduced and re-glued.
Commissioning and trial games
Once the restoration process is complete, the pinball machine is far from finished. This is followed by the commissioning process, which can take days: approx. 50-100 test plays, minor repairs and reworking, and fine-tuning. Every pinball machine that leaves our factory plays perfectly. We know exactly how a pinball machine should feel and play.
Prices:
The calculation of the restoration of an electromechanical pinball machine is always very individual. The prices depend on several factors: of course, the initial condition of the pinball machine - especially with EM's the differences can be enormous. Also it plays a role how exotic the model is (are there technical documents, circuit diagrams, all spare parts ?).
Our recommendation with this generation:
Of course, you can technically repair such devices WITHOUT cleaning all contacts, without disassembling all stepping gears, without readjusting all contacts. In our experience, however, this makes little sense. The pinball machines of this age have probably not been serviced for 40 years. If you have repaired one thing, the probability is high that after a few days or weeks the next error occurs, because the contacts are simply dirty. We always recommend at least to restore the technology completely, as described above. Of course it is a big effort to clean and readjust the hundreds of contacts - but the big advantage here is: once you have done this work, experience shows that the EM's will work for many years afterwards without any problems. Therefore, we simply recommend to invest in the technical restoration.
Price for a complete restoration: from* 2.500 Euro incl. VAT.
* This is an indicative price for an electromechanical pinball machine in good condition. This price may vary depending on the model and the initial condition of the instrument (e.g. all metal parts with rust, mechanics and stepping mechanism rusty, etc.). The basis of the offer price is a calculative hourly rate of 40 hours. We work with a detailed time recording system. With EM's, it is impossible to estimate in advance exactly how long the restoration will take. Therefore, this price should be used as a guide. Of course, a price range can be defined after viewing the unit.
Services included:
- Disassembly of the playing field (top side)
- Multi-stage high gloss polishing of the playing field
- Sealing with carnauba wax
- Reconditioning of all playfield components (polishing of metal parts, polishing of plastics, cleaning of all components)
- Fitting with new wear parts (pinball fingers, pop bumpers, slingshots)
- Disassembly, cleaning and adjustment of ALL contacts, steppers, relays
- Cleaning of the housing and the base plates (relay board)
- Cleaning of the scoring rollers (Scorereels)
- Cleaning of the bottom side of the playfield (without complete disassembly)
- Assembly of the pinball machine
- Commissioning incl. intensive testing of all functions
- Approx. 50-100 test games incl. fine tuning for a perfect playing feeling
Additional costs:
- If applicable, flat rate for research and spare parts procurement (this can take a few hours depending on the model) if this exceeds the usual time and effort required
- Spare parts after consultation with the customer
- Flat rate for consumables during restoration (approx. 40-100 Euro)
- Exchange of defective, dilapidated lamp bases per piece 5,00 Euro plus base (1,50-2,00 Euro) incl. VAT.
- If necessary, pick-up and delivery of the pinball machine (incl. commissioning)
Additional services (all prices on request and agreement)
- Chroming/galvanizing of metal parts incl. necessary preparatory work
- Partial painting of the cabinet
- Partial repair of playing field
- Production of specific plastic repros, apron stickers, cabinet stickers
- Tuning of the pinball machine as described above
- High gloss polishing of all metal parts that were originally polished
- Retrofitting of grounding strap (grounding, which was not provided ex factory)
- Complete disassembly of the playfield underside and refurbishing of all components
- Restoration and painting of the playing field
- Refurbishment and repainting of the cabinet
The alternative - repair, partial restoration:
Of course we can also just repair your pinball machine. After knowledge of the task, you will receive a corresponding offer from us at short notice.
