Introducing... Triple Strike

This is a real treat to get down in to the basement!  A member in Pinball Women Ottawa had a machine that had been in her family for decades, but no place to really set it up and work on it, so we are going to work on it together and get it back running.

First thing to note is that a long time ago someone put masking tape along the back of the backglass.  The tape has dried and came off in strips, but with the artwork near perfectly adhered to it!
Luckily I was able to find someone on pinside who was ordering a repro from bgresto.com and offered to mail us their old glass!  HUZZAH!
So that is on the way.


It came down in more pieces than most games because that's how she brought it.  It's my new thing where I will put the effort in to take the head off, AND take the playfield out, taking the cab, head, and playfield down separately.  But she also had the central logic block / transformer removed, so made getting it around a snap.  EMs are great for coming apart in to serviceable bits.  I wish I knew quite how much back when I first started.


The game is not in playing order right now.  We turned it on and sometimes we could hear a relay coil lock on or sometimes pressing something that scores on the playfield causes a coil to lock.
I realized that you shouldn't be able to do much of anything with a playfield when it first comes on.
EM games almost all have a Game Over relay that controls all of the stuff on the playfield.  When not engaged, the playfield should not be activating anything.


Took a quick look at the Game Over relay and found a switch that was always connected.  Re-gapped it so that it was Open when the relay was not engaged.  Note the bottom switch here, one activated, one not.  Full contact.

------------------


Backglass arrived!

------------------




Getting back to the game after a long break:
Cleaned a bunch of stuff and put the coin switches in different positions, and suddenly we are in business, able to coin up.


Left flipper is strong and punchy.  Right flipper is weak as all heck, but no obvious reason as two why.  Took it apart and cleaned the parts, but still couldn't get it going much better.  Getting a full rebuild kit anyways.

The 4 standup targets all work, kickout saucer, and the rollovers mostly work.
Some of the 10 rollovers stuck on occasion but my EM friend JF taught me a trick:  A little bit of sewing machine oil, very thin and fine, to help stop it from sticking.


Rollover #1 wasn't registering at all, alas.  Under the playfield is a bank of relays for each of the 10 rollovers.  When we triggered the relay for rollover #1 manually, and then hit the rest, the bonuses advanced and they all reset, as they should.
Seems that the relay coil, one S27-500, had been getting super hot and managed to desolder.  New coil on the way.

One obvious issue was that the plunger housing was not attached, and no screws were to be found.
I did pick up a brand new plunger tip recently, but gotta figure the proper screws to secure it.

ahhh there we go

anyways, I'll get back to this eventually!