Pinballs

What happened to the Whoopee since the vitrification of the playfield? Quite a few things, since the game is now (almost) playable! ;-)

The quite standard procedure (and as usual very well documented on Pinrepair), has been adapted to the particular case of this machine:

• Tested all coils and relays (checking resistance with a multimeter).
• Checked and cleaned up all switches. Jet bumpers EOS switches are all broken. Since they are NC switches, and since they all have a broken blade, they thus become "NO" switches, making it impossible for the bumpers to lock-on (which is a good thing). They will probably be slightly less punchy, but it will not hamper their function.
• Checked fuses (some were, as often, highly overfused). The label says it needs a 10A for the main power fuse, but that's for a 110V service voltage. To adapt to the 220V that I have here in France, it will thus only need a 5A.
• Replaced the power cord: the original 2-conductor one was visibly dead. In order to not take any silly risk and way before even thinking about turning the game on, I replaced it with a 1.5mm2 3-conductor cord, which was a 5m extension which I cut the female plug off. This will allow for a grounding of the metal parts of the chassis, increasing safety.
  
• Cleaned up the Jones plugs: male plugs in particular were very oxidized, which induced an excessive resistance (a few ohms) suitable for a dangerous warm up. Some sand paper and here we go again.
• First power up with all but the mains fuse removed, in order to check the transformer: all good (voltages are ok), I took the opportunity to rewire the 24V on the normal lug (instead of the High Tap, cf previous picture), in order to preserve the coils and relays. The game will be slightly less punchy, but having a punchy game is not what I'm after on such an old machine.
• Repaired insulation and properly resoldered wires to the playfield male Jones plugs (the insulator was totally worn out, leading to numerous short-circuits)
  
  
  
• Checked all Stepper Units, which were all jammed. Cleaned using meths, adjusted and lubricated (using Teflon-based lubricant) all steppers and their rivets (to protect them from corrosion and improve gliding)
  
  
  
  
• Readjusted the Coin Unit switch (NC, which should open when the 4th player is coined in), before/after:
  
  
  
• Shunted the open playfield switch in order to be able to work while the playfield was open, cf this picture's upper left corner
  
• A few discoveries in the bottom of the machine: the 25c Relay has been customised and does not match the schematics anymore. I had to investigate to identify all the wires and establish the new logic schematics. I also did a modification to the wiring, which was bridging transformer's primary and secondary! Furthermore, the 25c adjustment jack is also missing.
• Finally, aiming to reduce the numerous electrocution risks, I disconnected the mains connection to the left flipper button, which is normally used to trigger the initial power up. I simply connected both ends together, away from the switch.

At this point, the machine had been sufficiently checked up to allow for a general power up and I could commence practical testing. This is where trouble arises! A good thing to have around is a wattmeter, to keep an eye on the patient during surgery ;-)

• Slingshots started to fire like crazy: no big deal, a quick switch adjustment and the problem was gone.
• Immediately, it appeared that the hundreds on Player 3 would not reset back to zero. Turned out the issue came from the 100-900 index switch which was poorly adjusted and permanently open, thus the zero detect would not happen.
• While there, I cleaned up all the score wheels (beware: never use meths to clean them, it will destroy the silkscreen numbers), and I cleaned up and checked the adjustment of all switches (consequently to the problem on P3). As pinrepair says, I found a lot of dry solders on the score wheels switches.
  
  
  
  
• I also took the opportunity to do a complete relamping (using #47 bulbs) of the backbox.

At the bottom of the machine, a few more issues and their solutions:

• A classic one: the Score Motor would sometime stop between its Home positions, leaving some random coils locked on (watch out when the Bank Reset Coil locks-on, it makes a lot of noise and sucks a lot of power: 600W peak!). A deep cleanup and adjustment of the Home Switch (Index-C) has solved most of these "weird behaviours".
• Another problem: 100, 10 and 1 Point Relays would randomly lock-on, in particular with Player 1. The problem was located with the Player Unit, on which there still was a few bad contacts. Another deep cleanup of the rivets and a slight modification of the bakelite disk seem to have greatly improved the situation
  
  
  
• I also had to redo the ugly solders (or lack thereof) on the flipper coils, which disconnected part of the ground plane (which would manifest with non-working jet bumpers).
• To solve the problem of the top playfield lamps which were very dim, I also had to cleanup and modify the bayonet holders, making particularly sure that there was a good ground contact between the mechanical support and the bayonet body (added a solder joint between them).

Then, the game could be played. I made it Free Play (bridging the zero switch on the Replay Unit). I dismounted the ball launcher which was jammed in order to replace it. I also unplugged the Coin Switch/Cheat Switch (rendered useless by the Free Play mod) in which there's also Mains power, and which is a potential danger since it's hooked to the front metal door. Still remains some potentially dangerous residual currents sometimes present in the metal chassis: I have to perfect insulation and ground everything properly. Finally, the Large Bell is missing; it's been rewired on the Small one and the Small Bell wire has been cut off. I need to find a replacement Bell ;-)

Finally, I vitrified the back of the backglass using Krylon Triple Thick, applied using a paint brush (since I couldn't find the spray version in Europe) in order to prevent the backglass from further damage. Beware: do not use "aggressive" products (such as Red Devil or meths) to clean these painted backglasses as they will also remove the mask paint!