Noob - getting started

[Joe Finnegan]

I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.

[1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

[2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Joe

[John Robertson]

Hi Joe,

Post by Joe Finnegan
I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.
[1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers
started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators
manual.

Post by Joe Finnegan
[2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also
helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.

Post by Joe Finnegan
Thank you for your patience and support.
Joe

John :-#)#

[Ron Kral]

Post by John Robertson
Hi Joe,

I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.
[1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers
started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators
manual.

[2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also
helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.

Thank you for your patience and support.
Joe

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd.
MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
[phone] (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

John --

I looked up the Dow Corning product you mentioned and the description says it's DIALECTRIC
and an insulator... Are you sure this is the right stuff to use???

I've been trying to use this:
CAIG Laboratories D100L-25C Contact Cleaner
but i can't point to any successes yet.....

Ron Kral

[John Robertson]

Post by Ron Kral

Post by John Robertson
Hi Joe,

I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.
[1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.

Older EM games you only get schematics, in the early 70s manufacturers
started to include more information for EM machines by adding an
Operators manual with replay info, and playfield rubbers, etc, then in
the 80s and 90s they started to put the game play RULES in the operators
manual.

[2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.

I use MG Chemicals NuTrol and other contact cleaners for wipers, and
also I like Dow Corning #4 Electrical Grease for higher current pins
like Jones plugs and connectors. Makes them easier to separate, and also
helps reduce oxidation and corrosion.

Thank you for your patience and support.
Joe

John :-#)#

John --
I looked up the Dow Corning product you mentioned and the description says it's DIALECTRIC
and an insulator... Are you sure this is the right stuff to use???
CAIG Laboratories D100L-25C Contact Cleaner
but i can't point to any successes yet.....
Ron Kral

Hi Ron,

Yeah, it seems counterintuitive to use an electrical insulator to
protect connections but that is what this flyer from Dow recommends:

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/319850.pdf

I've been using it for decades after being introduced to it at al
electrical suppliers shop - they use it to both insulate and protect
connections from corrosion and other bad stuff.

It reduces contact resistance so connections separate easier too.

John :-#)#

[Joe Finnegan]

John - I have the schematics, but from everything I've found, there are no manuals for my old games. On the other hand, I just watched your 2019 video, "Reading Pinball Schematics 101" and it really helped get my brain in gear to figure out what's going on. Thank you!

John & Ron - Another product to protect connections is (was?) "LPS 2". My friends at the power company told me about spraying down relay contacts to protect them from an incoming flood, yet the contacts worked after the flood waters receded. Don't know if it's still available.

Joe

[Ron Kral]

John - I have the schematics, but from everything I've found, there are no manuals for my old games. On the other hand, I just watched your 2019 video, "Reading Pinball Schematics 101" and it really helped get my brain in gear to figure out what's going on. Thank you!
John & Ron - Another product to protect connections is (was?) "LPS 2". My friends at the power company told me about spraying down relay contacts to protect them from an incoming flood, yet the contacts worked after the flood waters receded. Don't know if it's still available.
Joe

Amazon has everything.....
https://smile.amazon.com/LPS-Labs-00216-Heavy-Duty-Lubricant/dp/B001QFBS18/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=LPS+2&qid=1636833912&sr=8-3

When you say "relays", do you mean things like pinball switches?
Really shouldn't be using gooey stuff in a pinball which will collect dust
and eventually gum up the works.
Ron Kral

[Joe Finnegan]

Post by Ron Kral
When you say "relays", do you mean things like pinball switches?
Really shouldn't be using gooey stuff in a pinball which will collect dust
and eventually gum up the works.
Ron Kral

No no no! The relays used on the power system are massive devices. They take up to five amps on the input side to activate their contacts, which then will trip a circuit breaker at high voltage - 34,000 to 765,000 volts. And the time is measured in cycles - 60th's of a second. Very specialized devices.

[Kerry Imming]

Post by Joe Finnegan
I've been lurking the web for a couple years, and I'm getting my feet wet with repair/restore projects: Miss Annabelle (Gottlieb, 1959) and Pro Football (Gottlieb, 1973). I have two generic questions at this point.
[1] Is there any simple documentation for how a specific machine works? For example, "If you hit the white bumper, then the stepper advances, you get ten points, and the chime rings." Or, maybe I just read the schematic.
[2] I have read and believe the gospel that you never use lubricants and contact cleaners. However, after watching an electrician work on a panel box, I was wondering if an anti-oxidant compound (Ideal NOALOX, Gardner Bender Ox Gard) would be useful on electrical contacts.
Thank you for your patience and support.
Joe

Some EMs had start-up sequences in the manual.

https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=EM_Repair#Start_Up_Sequences

I find these very helpful because it's tricky to understand the function
of SCORE MOTOR switches just from the schematic.

- Kerry