Gottlieb Free Fall High End Restoration

[oldskool1969]

Perfection takes time.
FYI my Surf Champ is still going very strong and hasn't missed a beat, even after the West Coast Pinball Festival.

[Strangeways]

Sheesh... Been a long time since any of my threads have been updated. So now I have a new PC with photos etc moved across I'll update some of the resto threads, starting with "Free Fall" as it has had a ton of work done to it. Delays have been frustrating, with the shipping and service issues at PBR through the pandemic and post pandemic. But other things were done. This update concentrates on the apron, which is the most recent part of the resto completed (I'll jump back to other sections later). This was frustrating as my paint supplier was closed during the lockdowns, so I tried using rattle cans which was a DISASTER. The regulator on my Compressor crapped itself and the only place I could find a replacement was in the USA. I should have just waited..


Here is the Apron unique to the Add-A-Ball machines ;







Stripped and prepped for primer ( I used Rustoleum cans from Bunnings )







After 24 Hours, this started happening..














It was a little bit better on the ball arch, but not what I wanted, so I practiced the splatter effect from a can, which I did not like.









The Ball Arch does have a Serial number sticker that I wanted to retain. Took an hour to remove it without damaging it !









FINALLY the regulator arrived for the compressor, so I stripped the paint again, and used the tried and tested method of painting and it all turned out well.










The next step was to use the (provided) Pinball Rescue Apron Decals.







.. only to find the horizontal lines under the cards was not straight..







But the Ball Arch came up perfect ;









Now the question will be - Where is the webbing / splatter ? Well that will be covered soon..

[Strangeways]

The Baseboard was completed some time ago. It is stripped, cleaned, polished and then every contact is cleaned and adjusted.
























The stickers were impossible to remove, but the cards were removed easily as they were stapled.









The timber is carefully sanded.









Each Component or section is removed, checked and then cleaned. The Transformer in this game is not the factory transformer. But it will do the job.









One of the brackets was broken and I had to search for a similar transformer and replace it with that bracket. But I clean and polish the bracket before reassembly.









Score Motor is stripped, cleaned and contacts gapped.









.. until it looks like this ;









Huge Difference after reassembly ;









A New Power cable is installed, and we are ready to test.







The Chime Box is finished and looks great. A fair amount of work here. Replated assembly, polished chime bars and chime kit installed.

[GAP]

Love your work Nino 

[ddstoys]

Beautiful as always


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Strangeways]

Even though it is hard work, I still find Zinc Plating fun to do. It is time consuming, but these days the results I have been able to achieve are "as good" as professionals. I don't lose ports either ! So here are some longer pieces - some that are not even seen (playfield arch area) and the channel for the back door.









The HARDEST part to plate is definitely the Lock down Bar Receiver. Here's a finished next to an unfinished ;









Installing Plated Ball Trough parts ;












Coin Entry plate - The AUS Coinage cards / Decals are no longer available, so I had to make my own. I used the documents from Peter's site and printed them and then laminated them. They turned out ok.












The mounting bracket was replated and new lamp sockets installed.







While I had the laminator out, I also did the "Manufacturer's Certificate"







I used two sided tape to install back on to the ball arch. Looks better than I thought !







The Back Door was a different metal than I've seen, so I thought I'd clean it up and polish it... Section by section !







The Lockdown Bar gets a good clean, regrain and some fresh Beer Seal !

[GAP]

Incredible work Nino.
Someone will be very excited to get that machine !! 

[Strangeways]

Again, a long time in-between drinks, I will be updated the massive amount of restoration work on existing games and games I've started but not documented.
This one is a bizarre issue with a resourceful outcome. So the game is completed, but once every 5-10 games, the game resets fully but does not deduct the ball to zero to commence the game. I tried many different things and even started a post on Pinside - and I followed a couple suggestions which made the game worse. Anyhow, I did find a problem with the Score Motor when changing the game from 5 ball to 3 ball the game went bezerk. That is simply changing a Jone Plug ! So that did get me thinking..
The Circuit is below with the 3 Ball - 5 Ball Adjustment.



I located the switches on the Score Motor and after several minutes - spotted the culprit ;



The Switch stack on the bottom was preventing the switches on the switch stack above it to move and eventually catches the switches closed - this made the machine almost "dead".
So that issue fixed. But the next issue was the 10,000 score reel and 10 score reel intermittently not easily going to "0" position. This was a pain to work out, as the game was working fine and this issue basically popped up from nowhere. Again, intermittent. I stripped the unit for the second time to recheck my previous work and dropped the screwdriver when I saw this ;



This is the Score Reel PCB with 3 holes, one filled with a rivet. This rivet was like a "speed hump" for the wiper, causing friction and not allowing the score reel to advance correctly. This are NLA, but PBR do have NOS, so I had the friendly crew at Marco (I don't order from PBR direct - too many issues to list here - but you will get the idea - read on).

I ordered the correct part, but is seemed nothing had changed a PBR, and they sent me the incorrect part, twice, and not NOS, it was second hand.. So I gave up on PBR and Marco went back to PBR to correct their ordering system..




This was a continual issue with PBR - They sent the Score Reel coils without labels, their Score Reel EOS and actuator switch stacks were assembled incorrectly.. Just a nightmare. Months of waiting, re ordering, and then back to square one.. So here's what I ended up doing..



I ended up giving the original to the crew at "Coin Up Pinball" and they made me 20 boards. These are perfect reproductions and are testing fine in the game as I'm testing it.
Thus, ends the saga of trying to order NOS or even second hand (incorrect in both instances) - so we have our own boards now and we will use them on games like this that have similar issues. This is VERY common on Wedgeheads, so now there is a solution. We are working on other boards as we come across them.



Next Update will be the finished game, but before that, I'll update other threads and start the new ones !
 

[oldskool1969]

my fingers are itching. great days ahead

[Strangeways]

my fingers are itching. great days ahead

Can you see the photos - sounds like it works for you ?

[oldskool1969]

absolutely no dramas

[GAP]

my fingers are itching. great days ahead

Can you see the photos - sounds like it works for you ?

I see no photos