subject: Tips On How To Maintain Your Pinball Machine [print this page] If you have pinball machines, whether they are for a business or you are a collector, they are going to eventually need maintenance of some kind. Like anything else that needs regular maintenance, bringing in a professional pinball machine repair person is not cheap, but you can save yourself a lot of money by not calling anyone in. It is not all that difficult to keep your pinball machines in good repair yourself, as long as you have the right tools and a little bit of know-how.
In this article you will learn how to keep your pinball machines in tip-top condition, so they will remain in that shape for many more years to come. Too many people don't bother maintaining their machines, which can lead to problems needing repairs, which is a lot more expensive than regular maintenance. Regular maintenance will also help to maintain the resale value of your pinball machines. Don't forget to replace the pinballs regularly, as they do get worn due to play.
Supplies You Will Need For Pinball Machine Maintenance
You don't need to go out and purchase a whole bunch of special tools for pinball machine maintenance. In fact, you probably have most, or all, of the tools you need already in your tool box at home. Here are the tools that you are going to need:
- Q-tips for cleaning tight corners and other small areas
- Isopropyl Alcohol (the kind used in head cleaners)
- Phillips screwdriver
- Standard screwdriver
- Set of Allen wrenches
- Nut driver set
- Light bulbs (for replacements)
- Tree or carnauba wax
- Voltage meter
- Sandpaper, 400 grit, or a flex stone
- Novus #1 and #2 cleaners and Novus plastic polish
Cleaning The Playfield
Okay, now that you have all of the tools you need, it's time to get to work. The first thing we'll discuss is how to clean the playfield. The first thing you will need to do is lift the glass by opening up the machine:
Open coin door, and to the right, there will be a lockdown lever. Press this lever, and the front of the table will open, and with most games, you can slide the glass right out.
Now that you have the playfield open you can start cleaning. Using the Novus cleaners (these are often recommended by those who are experienced in pinball machine maintenance), clean the clear coated playfields, and the plastic polish to clean the plastic ramps. You should also wax the playfield, using the tree or carnauba wax, and you should do it on a regular basis. This not only makes the machine look good, it makes it play better too. After waxing, buff out any scratches with a soft cloth. This is also a good time to give the glass a cleaning on both sides. Do this just before you put it back in.
This is just the first step to pinball machine maintenance. Below, we will discuss how to repair and maintain flippers and rubber rings.
Above we learned about cleaning the playfield of most pinball machines. Now it's time to take it one step further, and learn about flipper maintenance and repair, which is not nearly as difficult as it may sound, and rubber rings.
Flipper Maintenance
Of course, the first thing you want to do is check to make sure everything is moving all right. Try out each flipper, and make sure that along with moving right, they are also not hitting the playfield when they move, because this can cause damage to the playfield. You may find that you are going to have to replace a few parts, because just us when we age, they wear down over time. You have two options when it comes to flipper repair: replace them altogether, or try to restore them, as long as they're not too far gone.
If you want to try and keep the flippers you have, you can try to work on them yourself. You will have to take the flippers completely apart, clean each piece with the isopropyl alcohol and Q-tips, and put everything back together. Of course, this is only a good idea if you only need to clean the flippers. If there are any cracks or breaks, you are going to have to replace them.
Replacing flippers is a pretty simple job. First of all, you will have to remove the old ones. When it comes to putting in new flippers, there are kits available that have all of the parts you will need, and most of the parts just require being put in with the tools that are listed above. Parts that probably won't be in the kit are bushing, and you will have to buy these separately. Also, make sure that the proper solenoid is installed. If your machine hasn't been playing properly, this could be why.
Rubber Ring Maintenance
There are all kinds of rubber rings on the playfields of pinball machines, and they do need to be replaced, as over time, they will get dry and begin to crack. You can get all of the rubber rings you need from a pinball parts supplier, and then it's just a matter of replacing them. If possible, try to get rings that are the same colours as the original ones, just for continuity's sake.
You are going to have to disassemble parts to change the rubber rings. It might be a good idea to take a photo of the playfield first, so you know where everything goes when it comes time to putting things back together. Take apart all of the components that have rubber rings, replace the rings, and put the components back together. It's as easy as that!
Now that you have cleaned the playfield and repaired/replaced the flippers and rubber rings, you can go on to the next step of pinball machine maintenance, cleaning switches, which we'll discuss below.
Above we learned about cleaning the playfield, and taking care of flippers and rubber rings. Now we are going to discuss how to clean switches on solid state pinball machines, as well as battery and light bulb maintenance.
Cleaning Switches
Cleaning switches is pretty easy to do, just make sure that you never use cleaners on the switches, because after all, electricity does run through them. The first thing you are going to want to do is test all of the switches and make sure that they are all working alright. If they work, you really don't have to worry about doing anything with them. But if there any that are not working, you need to do some maintenance. You will first want to clean the switches. This can be done with the Q-tips and a tiny bit of alcohol.
Some switches may require a bit of sanding to clean them, which is why you were told in the first article of this series that you would need sandpaper. These are the EOS switches (end of stroke), which are on the solenoid for the flipper. If your machine has Fliptronics circuits, you can not sand these. To clean them, use the alcohol and Q-tips. You also need to clean the flipper switches. Do not try to clean micro switches, Magnet switches cannot be cleaned.
Battery Maintenance
You may be wondering why we're talking about battery maintenance, when pinball machines plug into the wall. Well, this is true, but there are batteries in pinball machines that are used to maintain memory, such as preferred settings and scores. Check and make sure that your battery is not leaking, as battery acid can cause considerable damage to your machine (and everything else). You should replace the battery in your pinball machine each year, but if you see that it is leaking before the annual replacement, do it right away so you don't risk any damage to your machine.
Light Bulb Maintenance
Just like the bulbs in your house, the light bulbs in pinball machines are going to burn out over time, and just like in your house, you are going to have to replace the bulbs. This is almost as easy as changing the bulbs in lamps. First of all, see what size the bulbs are (if you are well-prepared, you will already have a little maintenance kit on hand that has extra bulbs of all the sizes you will need). If you don't have the bulbs you need, you don't need to visit a pinball parts supplier. Bulbs can be purchased in any electronics or hardware store that sells electronic equipment. You may even find what you need in lighting stores, but you should try the other options first.
Now all you have to do is remove the burned-out bulbs, and put in the new ones. Take out the backglass and test the bulbs there too. This is another good opportunity to do some cleaning, and you can clean the glass while it is out. Once you have the new bulbs in, you can put your machine back together, and start playing. Of course, there are many other aspects of pinball machine maintenance, but now, you have a basic idea of how it works.
