Will's Gaming Projects

Flipper #1 Rebuilt (Almost)

Lower right flipper doesn't smoothly return to the original position. Here goes!

• Removed coil stop
• Return spring removed
• Pawl assembly loosened
• Flipper and pawl assembly removed
• Flipper cleaned; rubber replaced
• Flipper bushing attached with nuts behind assembly plate. Gotta remove the whole thing.
• Desoldering EOS switch. Long blade is connected to the 2 orange wires, shorter blade is ground. Note to self: next time, remove the mounting plate from the EOS switch before desoldering so it doesn't go clattering down when the solder joint breaks.
• Interesting. Mounting plate is tapped so the flipper bushing screws in, but the plate is stripped. That's why there were nuts back there.
• Replaced rubber flipper plunger stop.
• Replacing flipper bushing: oh, good. The original screws were stripped, not the mounting plate. New screws working just fine to secure the bushing. Next time I won't have to remove the mounting plate from the playfield.
• New EOS switch installed on mounting plate.
• EOS bracket removed from plate to ease resoldering; EOS resoldered.
• Mounting plate reinstalled on playfield.
• EOS reattached to mounting plate.
• Wow, old coil sleeve was in there super tight. Had to bash a fresh one in backwards to get it out, then more bashing to get the new one in. Replace the coil next time. This one is FL-15411. Is it right?
• Coil and new coil stop installed. Don't do it backwards.
• New return spring installed.
• Flipper aligned, pawl tightened. Done!

Now the motion is perfectly smooth, but it still isn't right. I get a buzzing sound for a few seconds when holding the flipper down (the buzz eventually stops), and the flipper seems weak. I wonder if the high-power side of the coil is bad?

Well foo.